"Leox, do you still believe that your healing power was a one-time thing?"

  Ivy asked Leox this question as they walked through the forest south of their village. It was a common hunting ground, though being so close to the Black Sea, children were supposed to avoid it.

  "It was a one-time thing. Every other time I injured myself, I never healed back. At least not like back then anyway."

  He had told Ivy this many times. Anytime he had fallen and scratched his knee, or rolled his ankle while pulling crops from the farm land, the injuries took weeks or months to heal, just like all other regular humans.

  She nodded her head at this before turning around to face Leox. The sun had started to fall, but light still peaked through the tree leaves, highlighting her blonde hair and youthful face.

  "I think I've figured out why you haven't been able to heal yourself since that injury," Ivy said with a smile.

  One of Leox's brows raised.

  "Oh yeah? What reason have you managed to come up with?"

  Ivy reached under her dress. For a moment, Leox's young mind thought she was going to commit a sinful act that might have her banished from the church. Instead, she pulled out a knife, lunged forward, and used all of her weight to thrust the blade into Leox's chest.

  It entered with a sickening squelch, followed by a dull thud. Leox fell to his back with the knife still in his chest, and Ivy fell on top of him.

  The entire time, the girl was still smiling.

  It was obvious that the knife had pierced his heart. It was so deep that he could only see the handle coming out of his chest. Leox remembered wanting to scream, but he couldn't. She had placed her hand over his mouth to stop any noise from escaping.

  "Shhhhh, shhh! It's okay, Leox."

  Squelch!

  Ivy removed the blade, before thrusting it into Leox's eye. The same eye that had been pierced six years ago. This time it lodged even further in, probably reaching halfway into his brain. She then proceeded to twist the knife, opening up his eye socket and carving his brain like beef.

  The pain was unimaginable. All Leox could see was red and black in his vision. He could barely make out her voice.

  Squelch!

  Ivy removed the knife again and, this time, plunged it into Leox's stomach. Immediately his ability to breathe was gone. His lungs had been punctured.

  After this, she finally removed the knife. Her body was covered in blood as she fell to Leox's side, panting for breath. For a moment, they stayed there as she tried to control her breathing. He could hear her heart beating incredibly fast.

  At least she still had a heart.

  "It's weird, killing somebody." The blonde girl mused, as if talking about an everyday event.

  Then she rolled onto her side and looked at Leox's bleeding, brutalised form.

  "But I haven't killed you, have I, Leox?"

  Ivy Graceful's theory was proven on that day, despite her methods being far from conventional. As she looked at him, Leox felt his body remaking itself. First, the skin, muscle and fat around his chest were coming together again, followed by his abdomen, and the structure of his face.

  Then, his eye, heart, lungs, and brain slowly came back together, returning to what they once were. The immense pain that Leox felt previously was fading away. His senses were returning to him, as well as his ability to think and breathe.

  Ivy flashed a pleased smile. There was no relief in her expression. It was almost like she knew that Leox would survive.

  Whilst his body was still remaking itself, she started to explain her actions.

  "Leox, you only heal like this from an injury that would usually kill you. It's why you aren't able to recover from small cuts and bruises like this. It seems that for some reason, you just can't die."

  Leox was finally able to move now, but he chose to remain lying beside Ivy.

  "Why..." He croaked, almost helplessly.

  "Why did I do this to you? Because I knew that if I told you what I planned to do, you wouldn't let me. I'm sorry, Leox. I really hope you aren't mad at me..."

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  Leox corrected her. "No... Why can't I die?"

  That was what he meant to ask.

  "O-oh. I don't have the answer to that question, I'm sorry Leox." Ivy responded.

  I thought so...

  Minutes of silence later, his body was fully returned to normal. Ivy rose to her feet and held out her hand for him to take. He looked her up and down. She was completely bloody, and so was he.

  It seemed that Leox's strange powers didn't come with the ability to clean his body.

  "Come on..." She said urging him to take her hand. "We can't return to the village like this. Our parents will think we're murderers."

  You are a murderer.

  Leox took his friend's hand and rose to his feet. She flashed him a smile as they began to travel through the forest once again.

  "Where are we going?" He asked.

  "To clean ourselves at the Black Sea."

  ---

  Even though Leox was hesitant to go to the Black Sea, he knew that Ivy was right. If he returned to his parents' house with his own blood all over his body, that would probably be the last straw that his mother could take. He wouldn't be surprised if she decided to execute him herself, claiming that he was a demon of the apocalypse.

  When they emerged from the trees and onto the black sand of the beach, an endless sea of blue water stretched out ahead of them.

  Ivy led him over to the water, and they began to clean themselves of his blood. Leox was wearing brown farmer rags, but she was wearing a white religious robe. It took longer for her to clean herself.

  As he watched the young girl humming a song to herself, he couldn't help but feel afraid. The way that she had killed him was incredibly brutal, and would surely stay stuck in his mind.

  Why did she have to stab him three times in three different areas? If she wanted to simply prove her theory, wasn't one death enough? Why kill him three times?

  She could argue that to truly test her theory, three times was necessary. But Leox didn't know. At that moment, he saw her as a maniac. A beautiful maniac who was capable of sick acts.

  Yet still, she was his friend. His only friend, and the only one who had accepted him for whatever he was. Except for Doctor Frost. He seemed to have accepted Leox as well. However, a year after treating his wound, he had suddenly gone missing without saying a word to anybody.

  Leox always wondered where he had gone, and why.

  Could it have been linked to my immortality? He often wondered.

  "What are you thinking about?" Ivy asked, noticing Leox staring at her.

  "About the future, and what my life might look like."

  It was partially the truth. After discovering that he was unable to die, his eleven-year-old mind was filled with existential dread.

  What if he were unable to die of old age? Would he be forced to see the destruction of the fourth world, the fifth, and the sixth? The thought of watching the world collapse countless times, or even having to experience death more times than he already had, made him shiver with fear.

  "Isn't it obvious?" Ivy asked as she rose to her feet with a smile on her face. "You have to prevent the end of the world."

  "..."

  "..."

  "..."

  All Leox could do was stare at her in silence.

  Prevent the end of the world? Maybe Ivy really is crazy.

  This was a task that the world had been attempting for millennia. The Fourth World was once the First, Second, and Third worlds. As the years passed, the Apocalypse Demons would attack their world with increasing strength, until eventually everyone was dead, and civilisation was destroyed.

  However, each time the world was destroyed, one corner of the world lived on. They would repopulate humanity, and leave records describing what had happened during their apocalypse, in hopes that in the future, humans would be able to prevent the next apocalypse.

  The Forever Empire built academies in every country of the world, where they would raise up the strongest students, whose tasks would be to fight against the beasts, and hopefully save the world.

  Each time, the humans failed. This was why it was believed that the world would remain stuck in a cycle of destruction and reconstruction.

  "Why would my existence make any difference? Just because I can't die, doesn't mean I am strong."

  Ivy shook her head. "That's not true."

  She then began to explain.

  "With the power to never die, you can face death again and again, pushing your body to its limits. With this, you'll be able to reach ranks that no other human has before."

  Leox couldn't help but palm his face. "For that to work, I would have to Awaken."

  Ivy nodded her head. "I know. And I believe that once you become a teenager, you will awaken."

  Leox couldn't understand this faith that she had in him. Didn't she understand the training and education that a kid had to receive in order to be blessed by the Allfather? Before Leox could say anything, Ivy pointed out at the black sea. The sun had now set behind the horizon, turning the sky dark.

  "One day, evil will travel across the seas and kill everyone we know. The Apocalypse Demons are ruthless. You've read the stories about them, right?"

  "Yes."

  There were many. Tales of the strongest of warriors and mages fighting against demons that were beyond their comprehension. These humans had reached the highest ranks known to their knowledge, and some had pushed even further. Yet still, they all arrived at the same fate.

  Ivy knew this, but she had faith.

  "The demons have never faced an immortal human. You're the change that we need, Leox. You can change the world!"

  She turned to him. A smile was on her youthful face. Much faith. Oh, she had so much faith. Yet Leox struggled to share that faith.

  She must have noticed this as she didn't say anything else, and simply took his hand, guiding him back to the forest from where she came. They travelled back to Everhurst Village and went their separate ways.

  ---

  As Leox entered his house, the lights were off. There was a figure sitting at the dining table with a mug in front of them. After getting a closer look, he saw that it was his mother. Her cheeks were red and her clothes messy.

  In other words, she was drunk.

  "Oh look, the devils returned home." She said with a laugh.

  Leox ignored her. Whenever she was drunk, which was often, she made these remarks. He walked past her and started making his way up the stairs to head to his room and sleep. Before he was able to close the door, he heard her mutter downstairs.

  "Can the apocalypse come faster. Take me from this world. Take me from this demonic family."

  Leox entered his room and closed the door behind him. For some reason, her words filled him with conviction that he didn't have before.

  He felt as though he wanted to prevent the apocalypse. He knew that it was so far from his capabilities, but that night, Leox was determined to do the impossible.

  Not because he wanted to perform a righteous act for the greater good of the world, but rather to spite his mother and deny her of her wishes.