<h4>Chapter 1: Whispers of Tragedy Part-1</h4>


    A young many down in the shelter of a huge tree as the light rain obscured all the sounds around him.


    Raindrops dripped down his body, mixing with the blood that coated his ripped garments. His left hand was gripping a sword, the hilt slippery from rain.


    While his other handy twisted and mutted, the bone beneath the ripped tissue was a horrifying sight.


    "Huff...huff..."


    As he tried calm down himself, his breaths cut through the silence of the forest.


    He was dressed in a ck leather jacket that matched his raven hair and matching trousers.


    His rugged features and sinewy muscles identified him as a seasoned hunter, but it was his eyes that drew you in—an intense blue with silver specks, like distant stars in a midnight sky.


    "I am sorry Neil. I am truly sorry. I should not havee here, I should have listened to you."


    Another 16-year-old girl sat beside the young man, crying as she tried to patch the young man''s broken hand with cloths and apply pressure to stem the bleeding.


    She was dressed as a huntress, with a purple jacket and trousers thatplemented her brown hair wrapped in a ponytail.


    Her face was delicate, with a lovely oval shape and a few bruises and cuts all over it. Her iris, which was deep ck in hue, was as stunning as the night sky. A bow and quiver were strapped to her back.


    "Haah...haah... Neh, stop crying like a baby.


    Haah.."


    Neil, the young man, tried to stop her crying, but seeing his condition made her cry even harder.


    "Hic...hic... I am sorry, I am sorry."


    She began repeating herself like a broken machine, her face filled with remorse and regret.


    "haah...haah... It wasn''t your fault; you didn''t know the wolf...haah... bastard would attack us as soon as we entered his territory."


    The young man responded, taking a deep breath between phrases and attempting to recover as much as he could because he knew it wasn''t finished yet.


    "But...but...I was an idiot. I should not have decided that I wanted to return home. I should not havepelled you to apany me. I shouldn''t have thrown a tantrum ,I''m such a moron."


    She began to hate herself for her decision to return to her former home, drowning herself in her own self-hatred.


    "Stop ming yourself for everything, Neh; we both agreed to it, so get yourself together."


    The young man, remarked in a strain voice, trying to lift himself up, but with some difficulty and with the help of the girl, he sat down before ncing about the area with a mncholy heart.


    Crumbling buildings inteced with nature''s relentless approach, as the twisted bones of monstrous creatures gave witness to the horrors that had urred.


    These monstrosities, the size of vehicles and bristling with threatening spikes, appeared to be the result of a feverish nightmare.


    "Eight years have already passed."


    The young man muttered under his breath as he gazed about at the devastation of the three-day struggle.


    His mind was engraved with the recollection of that horrific event—the day the world changed forever.


    On October 2, 2023, a meteorite collided with Earth, bringing death and chaos with it.


    An unknown entity, resembling a malicious shadow, had erupted from the impact site.


    Nobody knew if it wastent within the meteorite or was in the world before the meteorite struck.


    This unknown parasite, known as the "deathworm," clung to live beings, twisting them into puppets of violence and terror, forcing them to kill every living organism they came into contact with; humans became zombies, and animals became monsters.


    And so humanity''s quest for survival started.


    They were fighting against the thing that was walking down the route of evolution in a war against a merciless opponent that devoured its victims, getting stronger with each life it imed.


    Within eight years, the human poption had shrunk to a meager 2% of its former size.


    To survive, mankind ate the mutant monsters that now roamed the world, creatures created from the same cmity.


    As a terrible sustenance known as "Parna," which granted superhuman skills, was harnessed into the humans, they had a chance of survival.


    However, this came with a risk, as ingesting too much would result in self-destructive conduct due to too much of energy for human body to handle.


    Morden weaponry like guns were rendered ineffectual against the horrible abominations that now ruled the globe; only antique weapons like swords and spears stood a chance when covered in "Parna."


    As the girl stopped crying and looked at him, the young man carefully rose up.


    "Stab".


    Stabbing the de into the ground, the young guy began to pat the girl''s head before saying,


    "Get up, Neh, we havepany."


    As the young man mentioned, the girl felt the weird silence of Forest recognizing the danger and began to take a battle stance by drawing her bow and arrow from her back.