Ares: Never Grow Up
The beginning!

POV: Ares

"What the hell is this gas?!" I covered my nose with a handkerchief from my pants pocket. As far as my eyes could see, all I saw was this painful red mist. I don't know what gas this is, but .. People who inhale this gas directly, they collapse suddenly.

Bzztt!

"Report a recent incident! Thousands of rockets have landed all over the world and caused chaos! The red gas that is now spreading is still unconfirmed what the impact is!

The death toll to date is estimated at 2% of the entire human population!"

I stared at the LCD screen that was stuck in a building. The news is still going, but it can be seen clearly that the red gas is also starting to enter the building as well.

"Now what day is it? Why does it feel so bad ...," I murmured while trying to stand up. My legs were still trembling, either from fear or my muscles were shocked. I look around me.

Whahuh? Is no one conscious? I can't ask anyone for help then.

I began to move my legs forward, but only half a step, my legs were no longer strong. I fell forward with a heavy head. My gaze grew increasingly blurry, my eyelids seemed interested in continuing to close.

Ah ... I'm really sleepy.

***

Where'sisthis?

It felt like my body was floating.

Darkened. Is there no light?

"Hey son, wake up."

I stared at a glowing hand, outstretched to me.

"Little boy of dream world."

"Your dream starts now."

"Dream as much as you can, but don't let the chast, the heart in his left hand is full."

"Or there will be a divine punishment coming down, his name is infic."

"But don't worry, a fairy at 12pm will always give you a blessing by emptying a heart stained by the power of god."

A liver? The chast? Little boy of dream? Infic? A fairy?

"We'll meet again .. maybe? Now get up."

I stared at the man's face, but .. All I saw was a light covering his face.

***

"Uh ... "

"Oh ... How long have I been unconscious?"

"His laugh was also hot enough, why didn't anyone move me when I fainted?"

"And whose voice is this chatty little boy?"

"..."

Aye?

"Did?"

Huh huh?

"A. .. aaa?"

My voice?!

"YYYYYYYYYY!"

REALLY VOICE!

I stood up and looked at my hand.

Proms.

My pants immediately sagged down because the size of my shoulders were also shrinking. I stared at the sleeves of the white shirt that wrapped my hands until they were invisible. Even without pants, this shirt can cover me up to half a knee.

"Hupla!" Even so, it is not good to wander around without pants! I'd better keep wearing these pants even though they're stupid. I just want to bend the bottom, right? I also had to bend the arm of my shirt.

"Well! Already!" I look around me instead.

That red gas ... disappeared? How could it disappear so quickly? Swept wind? Wait .. How many hours have passed?!

Must have been because of the bump.

"Hm, by the way ... of my current body size .. does it look like I'm 12 years old, or 11? But it looks like 12. All right, let's say 12 years!" I firmly believe that the body I am wearing is my body when I am 12 years old. I walked towards the highway, and realized other things.

"Ke-to-why is there a corpse in front of me?" I paused for a moment and swallowed my spit in fear. With a restless feeling, I crouched down and touched the stiffened body.

"But ... His body size is still normal really?" I said confused while staring at the size of his body which was still as big as an adult.

Will not .. Those who do not shrink die? Means I'm lucky, right? After that weird dream ...

Oh yes .. dream!

I immediately looked at my left hand, and looked for the image of the heart that the man mentioned. It turned out to be true, there was a strange, tattoo-like image on the back of my left hand. Heart-shaped tattoo with an empty middle.

Whuss!

A strong wind suddenly came and brought the cloud over here.

"Tck, if only at a time like this I had an umbrella." I clucked in annoyance as I ran towards the nearby building for shelter. In my mind, I imagined how comfortable it would be if I had an umbrella.

CRING!

"HUH?!" I was surprised not to play when a dark blue umbrella appeared in front of me.

Exactly what I was thinking. I stared at the umbrella in amazement but was also curious. The umbrella was still floating in front of me, as if waiting for me to pick it up.

This is ... real?

I tried to open the umbrella.

Sretti.

Can ya? This for real? So this is little boy of dream world?

I turned to look at the picture of the heart in my left hand. It was exactly what the man said in the dream, the image of the heart that was originally empty, now the bottom of it began to be black, very little. Maybe it shows the limits I can wear today.

Then, my power reset time is 12pm.

JDERS! ZRASS!

"Rain yes ... actually ... what happened to this world?" I stared at the dark sky from under the umbrella I was wearing.

The monotonous world that I used to know, is now turning into a new foreign world. The heavy rain that fell this time, as if erasing the traces of my old world, along with the corpses lying on the streets. It's weird, isn't it? I just had a pretty big disaster.

But my heart just felt empty, and .. there was a little bit of pleasure. Indeed I pity those who die, but .. I do not lie that this world ...

More interesting to me.

"HEY! YOU'RE THE ONE STANDING IN THE RAIN! WHO BROUGHT THE BLUE UMBRELLA!"

JDERS!

There was the sound of the girl calling me, her screams were so loud, even in this heavy rain I could still hear her voice. I moved my body to face him.

He stood in the rain with his whole body drenched. But he smiled at me, his shoulder-length brown hair, and ... red eyes? Just this time I saw a person with red eyes.

The eye color is unique.

"Hey, what are you doing in the rain?" ask me to go back to the girl. The girl looked happy when she saw me responding to her call. He immediately ran towards me and took shelter under the umbrella I had made earlier.

Fortunately this umbrella I made is a big umbrella, so it's enough for 2 kids. He smiled broadly while looking at me. "I can't believe there are still people alive! I thought everything was dead in the area!" he said without burden with a smile of relief. My body immediately became stiff.

"What do you mean?" ask me with a stifled voice. The girl squeezed out her hair then glanced at me.

"In this area, only you survive. Besides you, everything's dead."

Whahuh?

"One ... city?"

"Hm? Not one city, in this city of course there are still about 1500 people alive. You are one of them. All I said was, in this area alone," he said again, extending a hand to me.

I was silent for a moment thinking about his words.

Only 1500 left? Isn't the original population around 10,000?

"Hey, what are you thinking? My hands are tired waiting for you" said the girl, shaking her hands forcefully.

"Actually ..."

"Actually who are you?" I looked at the girl with a cold look.

To be continued ...