Echoes of the First World

Millions of years ago, before humans ever existed, this world was filled with creatures far beyond imagination.

And this world was created by six elements.

Fire.

Water.

Air.

Land.

Ice.

Sky.

Each element possessed its own personality and power.

Fire was fierce and short-tempered, but deep inside, he had a kind heart.

Water was calm and intelligent.

Air was charming and carefree.

Land was graceful and strong.

Ice was elegant and mysterious.

And Sky was wise and responsible.

Together, the six elements created life.

They gave birth to the Earth, the oceans, the skies, and even the stars surrounding the planet. Over time, they took human forms and lived among the world they had created.

But along with them, another power was born.

Naizo.

The creator of the six elements.

No one knows what truly happened between Naizo and the elements.

But one day...

War began.

The skies split apart.

Mountains collapsed into the sea.

Creatures screamed as the world burned.

And then-

Everything exploded.

The ancient world was destroyed completely. The six elements vanished along with Naizo, sealing themselves deep within the Earth's core.

After millions of years, the planet slowly healed again.

Life evolved.

And eventually...

Humans were born.

Many billions of years later...

BOOM.

A massive explosion shook the Earth.

Buildings collapsed one after another. People screamed and ran for their lives while smoke swallowed the sky. The entire city burned as if the world itself had gone mad.

In the middle of the destruction stood six figures.

And in front of them...

A strange glowing light.

Fire raised a gigantic fireball in his hand.

"You should've stayed sealed, Naizo!"

Wait.

You're probably confused right now.

How are the six elements alive again after billions of years?

Who exactly is Naizo?

And why does the world look like it's ending again?

Well...

This story actually started two years ago.

Hi.

I'm Kai.

And unfortunately for me, this whole mess somehow connects to my life.

June 1.

First day of school.

Honestly, the first day of school is always weird. Everyone walks in pretending to be confident while secretly hoping they'll find good friends.

Meanwhile, I was standing in front of my new classroom having a mental breakdown.

Ika High School.

Class 11-B.

I stared at the classroom door nervously.

Should I open it... or run away?

I'm an introvert, okay? New school, new people, new place - I genuinely had no idea how I was supposed to survive here.

I slowly reached for the door.

Suddenly-

The door opened from the inside.

My soul almost left my body.

A man wearing glasses blinked at me before smiling warmly.

"You must be the new student."

Teacher.

Thank God.

"Come in," he said.

I awkwardly nodded and walked inside.

The classroom was surprisingly quiet. Honestly, I expected a huge crowd, but there were barely any students there.

Maybe this wouldn't be too bad after all.

Then suddenly, a girl walked toward me with a bright smile.

"Hi! I'm Ice," she said cheerfully. "You're the new student, right? If you need anything, just ask me."

I froze for two whole seconds before slowly nodding my head.

Talking to people was difficult.

Seriously... how do extroverts like her even exist?

Before I could continue overthinking, a huge group of students suddenly entered the classroom laughing loudly.

So much for peace.

At exactly 9 AM, class officially started.

Our teacher asked everyone to introduce themselves one by one.

As each student confidently stood up and introduced themselves, my anxiety quietly prepared my funeral.

Then-

"Kai."

My turn.

I slowly stood up.

"H-He... Hell... Hello... I'm Kai..."

My voice came out embarrassingly quiet.

Everyone stared at me.

I wanted the floor to open and swallow me alive.

Then Ice suddenly smiled brightly.

"Welcome to our class, Kai!"

A few other students smiled too.

Honestly... that small moment helped more than they probably realized.

After introductions, the teacher clapped his hands.

"It's the first day, so no classes today. Just relax and enjoy yourselves."

The guy sitting beside me immediately leaned toward me.

"I'm Pop," he said casually. "Actually, I'm from 11-A. Our class already has forty students, so they moved some of us here."

"That many?" I asked softly.

"Yep. Nobody wants biology. Computer science has more than fifty students."

The only difference between our classes was one subject. Biology students stayed separately during biology periods while everyone else studied together.

Pop later introduced me to his friend Sha, who somehow acted more childish than the rest of us combined.

Another new student named Tamot joined us too. Unlike me, he looked completely relaxed, like nothing in life could ever bother him.

Ice later introduced us to her childhood friends.

Zo - the class topper.

And Thar - a commerce student who laughed more than he studied.

Little by little, our group naturally formed.

And honestly?

For the first time since changing schools...

I didn't feel lonely anymore.

The months passed quickly.

After school, we traveled around the city together, studied together, celebrated birthdays together, and slowly became inseparable.

Ice and I became especially close.

Pop turned out to be an amazing singer. Sometimes he randomly sang during lunch breaks while the rest of us sat there pretending we weren't emotionally affected by his voice.

Tamot treated every problem in life like it was no big deal.

Zo practically lived with textbooks.

Sha acted like a child half the time.

And somehow...

Everything felt perfect.

Too perfect.

Soon, our final exams arrived.

We studied together almost every evening, suffering through biology diagrams and endless notes while pretending we understood anything.

Somehow, we survived.

And before we realized it, we had entered twelfth grade - our final year of school.

During vacation, our group went to the beach.

I've always loved the ocean.

Even as a child.

Actually... when I was younger, I almost drowned once. My brother saved me that day.

But strangely, I never became afraid of the sea.

The sound of the waves.

The cold sea breeze.

The smell of salt in the air.

Everything about the ocean felt peaceful to me.

Almost...

Familiar.

School life was amazing after that.

We laughed together.

Cried together.

Fought sometimes.

Then became normal again the next day.

Biology period became our personal heaven because there were only seventeen students and our teacher was incredibly friendly. Me, Ice, Zo, and Tamot spent most of our time messing around in the bio lab while Pop and Sha enjoyed life in the computer lab.

Poor Thar suffered alone in commerce class.

Somewhere along the way, I also met KD - my birthday twin. Same date. Same year.

Life honestly felt perfect.

Until July 13.

My birthday.

My final birthday as a school student.

That day should've been one of my happiest memories.

Instead...

I ended up in the ICU.

The doctors called it an accident.

But deep down, something about it felt wrong

I suffered severe injuries and fell into a coma.

And sometimes, late at night, I still remember those headlights rushing toward me before everything went dark.

People say I survived because I was lucky.

But deep inside...

I couldn't stop thinking about one question.

Was it really an accident?

Or did someone try to kill me?