Volume 1 : Humanity ?
Human beings live for their deepest desires. To fulfill his dreams, he's capable of doing a lot of things. Until he forgets the first thing he lives for: to live. But what is living?
But was it really to live that Marc had decided to go to school today? Was it really what he wanted to live for?...
Like most teenagers, Marc hated school. He didn't get picked on. He even had lots of friends. Buddies, rather. He'd never considered any of them his friend. He thought they were all fake.
It seemed that in this world, people only cared about being accepted. About blending into the crowd. And it was not hard to understand that the easiest way to achieve that was to please the popular person.
And it annoyed him a little. He did not want to change just to blend into the crowd. And he wanted even less to be a bootlicker. All his life, he had lived in the shadows. Because in all of this, people who do not fit into the mass are pushed a little aside.
Yet it was not as if he had never thought about that kind of group life. About getting closer to the popular person, or trying to make more friends by being social. It was not as if he had never dreamed of being accompanied by a pretty girl during his days, or of being the rich and arrogant guy.
It just did not suit him. It simply made him uncomfortable. He really could not do it. So he would settle for smiling from afar and leaving.
He didn't go to parties because he didn't drink and he simply didn't want to go. And he played club sports, so he no longer had any way to make real friends. As a result, he was a bit lonely.
That was his life. It was a mixture of joy and unhappiness. A perfect gray blending into the crowd without anyone noticing. A gray on the outside, yet very much present in this world. Who could notice such a color? It did not have much impact in this world.
He had no plans for the future so his parents forced him to work and find a plan. He didn't really like it, but he had no choice. He'd never had a choice. Like the day he was forced to go back to school. He'd understood that day that he'd never have another choice in his life.
Sometimes, on a whim, right in the middle of a conversation, he would casually say that he wouldn't mind dying. Then, all faces would turn toward him.
Death was a sensitive subject for many, something not really meant to be brought up. A lot of people were afraid of it, and the mere mention of the word often caused unease when they grasped its meaning.
But Marc would smile every time and eventually say it was just a joke, avoiding a cold, depressive atmosphere while everyone else seemed at peace with themselves. Nevertheless, even his little joke failed to draw any lasting attention, as everyone had already moved on to another topic.
This was his life. Marc's life. He neither hated it nor loved it—he simply lived with it.
But that day, Marc's life would change completely....
**
That day. It was a Monday like any other.
Marc got changed, said goodbye to his father, took the bus and set off for 8 hours of classes, each as boring as the next.
He bumped into one of his friends - well, buddies, at last - an acquaintance he talked to more than the others. He didn't really dare call him a friend, because he knew he wouldn't be there when he needed him. He could ignore him for the star of the school, and they were so different. So much so that one wondered how they'd ended up as friends.
Truth be told, they had a lot in common too.
"Hi, Gibbs"
"Hi."
They talked for a long time, about everything and nothing.
After that, he knew that the popular guy and his gang were on their way, and there was no way he was going to be able to talk to him properly.
The first class of the week was math and Marc was good at math, but he didn't want to do it all his life. And despite the fact that he was good, his average was around 5.5/10. For one simple reason: he wasn't studying hard enough.
But Marc didn't care. His motto was "No problem", so it was easy to see why he didn't want to bother. He was just too lazy to get good marks. The proof was that the one time he'd decided to study properly, he'd gotten 8/10 on his test. That was going to raise his average, but the next test he'd got a 3. You'd think he was deliberately keeping his average at 5.
He was sitting in the 3rd row of the class. The rightmost bench. It wasn't a bad place to be buthe didn't like that he wasn't on the window side. It was his other friend, well, his other buddy he talked to the most. Less than the other one.
This one listened even less than the other, and he thought he was a clever idiot. At the same time, that's what he was : the intelligent idiot.
On this particular day, the subject under discussion was trigonometry. Sine, cosine, etc... Marc found it easy, but that wasn't going to stop him from getting 6/10 on the test.
Already thinking about the big wheel stamped at the top of his paper, along with a grade as ordinary as his life, Marc rolled his eyes.
"How amusing."
he class turned out to be painfully boring, and Marc could tell that no one was really paying attention. He hadn't slept much the night before, so his mind was slowly starting to wander. If there was one thing Marc definitely wasn't, it was focused. At the slightest moment when the professor's words failed to capture his attention, he completely drifted away from everything around him.
Marc knew he was daydreaming, and honestly, he kind of liked it. He already pictured a small, completely imaginary and nonsensical scenario where he found himself lying in bed, asleep. And the strangest thing about all that was that he was looking forward to it.
But after a long minute spent staring into nothingness, neither the bed nor sleep came, and Marc found it very strange. Usually, these kinds of daydreams lasted only a few seconds, and the dreamer would naturally drift into slumber. But something was different this time. Something felt… off…
The spot he'd been unconsciously concentrating on seemed to glow from a point.
A blinding light, so intense it felt like it was burning his eyes. Marc struggled to see, yet despite the disruption of his daydream, he couldn't tear his gaze away from the glowing point that seemed to grow brighter and brighter.
He was frozen, hypnotized, as minutes slipped by while the light assaulted his vision, almost terrifying in its intensity.
Five long minutes passed in a haze of confusion, the blinding light expanding relentlessly. And finally, after an enormous mental effort to turn his head, a calm, gentle voice whispered softly into his ear:
"Aregis"
Marc slowly lifted his head, completely disoriented. But as he tried to gather his thoughts, he noticed five other people in the same state as him—lost, frightened, as if something that had just seized their minds had finally released them.
He didn't think too much about it and decided that the maths class must be so boring that many people felt they were leaving.
"It's probably just a coincidence."
The class ended normally.
Marc put his chair back in its place, and headed for the exit to his next class. As he passed, he glanced at one of the people who had looked up at the same time as him.
She was a girl whose name he constantly forgot. His memory failed him terribly. But he knew her well enough and liked her quite a bit, despite her being somewhat isolated from the rest of the world. At the very least, he tolerated her. Seeing her in that state, however, tugged at his heart. It was as if whatever she had witnessed was so horrific that she couldn't bear to live through it.
She still looked a little dazed by the moment.
He was about to leave the classroom when he heard the young girl speak in a weak, restrained voice..
"Aregis"
Marc stopped in front of the door, blocking the way to anyone who wanted to get out.
"Move over a little Marc."
He turned and went to stand in front of Elie. That's it, he remembered her name.
"What did you see just now?"
Elie looked at him distraught. As if she'd seen something horrible.
"Did you see it too?"
Marc didn't know if she'd seen the point of light or something else.
"You saw a point of light too?"
"A point of light? "
Obviously that wasn't what she'd seen. She'd had to see something else but still had to hear the word Aregis at the end.
"No. I...I saw... ?"
Marc didn't like people who stuttered. He couldn't stand waiting for someone to string 5 words together before he could speak.
But then, Elie finally mustered the courage to speak—and her words sent a chill down his spine.
"Did I see.... the end?"
The end. These words echoed in Marc's head.
"Hurry up, I haven't got all day."
**
A few hours later, Marc found himself in the school courtyard. It wasn't really a proper courtyard—it was more like a large hall where different groups gathered to chat during breaks. As usual, Marc was there alone, lost in thought. They weren't allowed to use their phone during breaks, so these moments felt especially empty for him.
But it was a perfect opportunity to try to get his thoughts back in order.
Marc was trying to get his head straight. The words he'd heard Elie say were totally ridiculous. The end of the world. It couldn't be possible.
According to the Bible, the end of the world was supposed to arrive in a world of peace, after the millennium. And Mark was sure that neither the millennium nor the end of the world was here yet.
Marc tried to connect what she had said with his own vision. There was clearly no link between the two, yet he had still heard the same word.
Suddenly, Marc felt a tug on the sleeve of his sweater. When he looked down, Elie was already pulling him, dragging him several meters across the hall toward a more secluded corner. At first, Marc didn't resist, letting himself be dragged like a dog, wondering where such strength could come from in this fragile girl. Then, he calmly lifted his eyes and noticed that all gazes were fixed on him.
Depending on the circumstances, this could prove strange. That a girl should invite a boy to talk when they never did was usually the start of a little story.
Elie wasn't a repulsive girl, she was even pretty. Not as pretty as the most popular girl in school, but still. Simple and kind. But if she came to talk to him, it was for something other than love.And nobody knew that.
So beyond the fact that this moment was absolutely very embarrassing for him, he got over it and stood back up as soon as they arrived at the isolated corner of the hall.
"What is it?"
"Can I talk to you?"
Marc, pulled along by Elie, looked at his group of buddies all shocked at the idea of a girl dragging him off to talk to her alone.
"What do you want?"
"You know what I want. What did you see? "
Marc knew this was going to be complicated. Since the vision, Elie hadn't spoken to her friends and she'd been looking in his direction all the time. Signs were unmistakable. And yet, it had nothing to do with it.
He sighed, knowing that coming after him by the sleeve might give people the wrong impression of them.
"I just saw a point of light and also heard Aregis."
Elie stared into his eyes for at least a minute. Decidedly this girl was shameless.
"We need to go ask the others what they saw."
"What? Why? Imagine for a moment that they were just lost in their own thoughts?"
"And then, at least we'll have tried."
Before he could say anything, Marc found himself tugged by the sleeve again. Elie pulled him into the middle of the hall.
She stopped under the astonished gazes of everyone, hands pressed to her mouth, and took a deep breath.
And that's when Marc realized.
"Wait, you're not going to--"
"AREGIS!"
Elie had shouted it loud and clear across the courtyard.
Marc suddenly felt uncomfortable.
He'd understood that she wanted to attract people who'd heard the word, but she really could have done it differently.
He wanted to hide deep beneath the earth. No—worse than that, he just wanted to die. At least then, everyone would be shocked and forget this moment of embarrassment. But just as his self-esteem took a hit, Elie turned toward him with the biggest smile in the world and spread her arms wide, like a magician after her greatest performance.
"Voila. This way, they'll come to us."
"What do you mean 'to us'?"
"Well, yes, from now on, we're companions."
That, too, she'd said quite loudly.
So high that Marc understood why people were looking at him as if they were watching a movie.
"No, for me, it's ciao. You're too embarrassing."
"No. Please stay with me."
That, too, she'd said out loud. Marc couldn't take it anymore. People were looking around as if it were a romantic comedy. He was about to take her back when he saw her eyes.
They were clearly not normal. They looked at him with despair and horror, as if they'd been through war. No, worse than war, the end of the world.
Unfortunately for him, Marc couldn't help looking at her eyes. Which made everyone think they were about to kiss. After all those words, he was bound to fall in love. But just as everyone was waiting for the show to peak.
But at that moment, the tension was at its peak, another boy emerged from the crowd. Those watching held their breath, thinking it was Elie's guy who'd come to fight Marc.
It was a young, handsome blond boy with clear, light-blue eyes. He was dressed in a way that made it obvious to everyone that he lived comfortably, and he walked with an effortless grace, as if the world belonged to him. As he approached Marc, he put on a wide, sarcastic smile and began to clap slowly.
"Interesting Marc. I didn't know you could have a girlfriend. Maybe the world really has come to an end. Maybe I should go see if chickens have teeth now. "
As soon as Marc turned his head and saw who had stepped forward, the tension rose again—but this time, in a completely different way.
"That's not funny, man."
"I know, I know. I guess the reason you're here is because you also had that vision and heard that word."
Elie turned towards the young blond, her as well.
"That's just it, we didn't see the same thing but heard the same thing."
"We should talk about this somewhere else don't you think?"
The crowd complained that they couldn't hear what they were saying.
In the end, they saw the three simply walk back into the building without a fight. Disappointed, they went their separate ways.
Chris wasn't the type to talk to Marc. In fact, he was Marc's least favorite person at the school. The star, the handsome, the popular, etc... But the fact that he didn't like him, he didn't show. To tell the truth, it wasn't that he hated him, but since the Bible says you should love your enemies, he liked him less than the others.
He avoided talking to him, but Chris tried to talk to him often.
After walking for a while, they found an empty classroom. The three of them sat down on a bench, one each. Chris closed the door and began to speak.
"I think we're isolated enough as it is. I wouldn't want the others to see me with you."
That was what he thought. He only talked to her because he could see that her popularity was growing. He didn't want to sully her image by talking to her face to face. They weren't on the same level.
And suddenly, Marc wanted to leave.
"Let's get this over with. What did you see?"
"I suppose you don't have the same version of events. But what I saw were feathers. Lots of black feathers littering the ground as far as the eye could see. I saw myself in the middle of these feathers. It was dark and I was alone. Just as I managed to turn my head, I also heard the word Aregis."
The three looked at each other. Their visions had nothing in common, but they were all strange. None of it made sense. Maybe they'd all had a dream and the teacher or someone else had brought them out of it by saying Aregis. But Elie countered this theory by saying that she'd asked her friends and no one had heard it.
So it was only the word that united their dream.
'How could a single word connect the daydreams of five ordinary students in a boring math class on a day just as ordinary as any other? What is happening?'
But while Marc still had his mind caught up in this nonsense, another student burst in on them.
He was a young, brown-skinned boy called Nathanaël. He was rather tall and muscular, but very friendly. But more importantly, he was also one of the students stunned by the absence he'd had in class.
"Have you heard that word too?"
"Yes, but we didn't see the same thing."
"Okay. Since you're all here, I can tell you what I saw. I saw a tall man, dressed all in black with a robe. He had six wings on his back and you couldn't see his face. He stood in the middle of a field of black feathers. He held a sword and brandished it high into the sky. At the end of the sword, a light shone so brightly that I couldn't look at it. Just as I turned my head, I heard him say 'Aregis'."
By now, everyone had fallen silent. The vision they had just heard gave them cold sweats. It was as if Nathanaël's vision was the fusion of all the others. The light Marc had seen at the end of his sword and the field of black feathers Chris had seen. The one vision we all didn't know about was Elie's. But we understood that it was the man in the black robe who had surely brought about this famous end.
Marc was slowly starting to panic. What was the connection between them? What was going to happen exactly? Who… had sent them those visions?
Another girl appeared in the room.
Nathanaël immediately recognized him and realized that it was another classmate.
"Manon. Don't tell me you too..."
"Yes, I heard the word Aregis. At first I thought it was a joke you'd played to wake me up. But when I saw you gathering here, I knew something was wrong."
Manon looked at Chris before sitting down next to him.
Marc, and everyone else in the room knew one thing about her. She was one of Chris's groupies. One of the pretty girls who followed him everywhere. They called themselves friends, but deep down everyone knew what she really wanted. Marc liked her a lot less too. This made him want to leave even more.
The only thing he didn't understand was that Elie kept sticking to him. Like a cat hiding behind its master to protect itself from a dog. His trauma was such that he hadn't let go since the last time.
It took Manon a few minutes to explain what she had seen.
"What I saw was a sky. I was above the clouds. But the clouds were so pure black that I couldn't see anything below. When I tried to see what was below, a red light came from above. When I looked up, I saw a horror. The light was coming from several falling meteorites. But in the middle of these meteorites were two eyes watching me. Crimson-red eyes that seemed to contain something. But I turned my head before going any further."
Manon's vision complemented Nathanaël's. If it was dark, it was because of the dark clouds.
But what worried Marc most were the eyes. The eyes that were all looking down. This confirmed one of his theories. All this was being organized by someone. Not really someone. Something. A being more powerful than them. The man in black? No, the eyes didn't belong to him. But what if it was? Nathanaël had said they couldn't see his face. And why them? Why had they had these strange visions? What's going to happen to this world?
Everyone's killing themselves while they think. Elie had gripped Marc's sleeve even tighter. Nathanaël didn't look very well. Manon had stuck to Chris.There was silence in the room for another 5 minutes when Chris spoke up.
"I think we should all just forget this weird stuff."
Manon nodded immediately.
Nathanaël continued:
"He's right. I don't want us to think about it. I don't want us to organize meetings to talk about it. Or try to solve the mystery. Let's leave it aside, it'll be better for everyone."
Marc said nothing. Something wasn't right. Where was the fifth person?
He'd seen her in the yard when Elie had cried out, but she hadn't come.
"I don't think we should tell anyone about this. "
'Hadn't they seen him?'
It was true that Marc was in the 3rd row. So it was easier for him to see the whole class. He was the only one who had seen her. Except he'd forgotten her name.
"Wait, I saw..." Ring
Marc didn't have time to finish his sentence. Ringing had replaced all sounds in this school. The ringing sounded louder than usual.
"Good. I hope we won't be talking after this."
Chris had gone first, followed by Manon.
Nathanaël looked at Marc.
"Marc. You'd better forget it."
He stood there for another 2 minutes. Marc was the kind of person who arrived late. So much so that the teachers hardly ever remarked on it. The one he was worried about was Elie. She was still clinging to his sleeve."Shouldn't you be leaving too?""What about you?""Me, it's normal.""Is it? It's normal for a student to often arrive late for class.""For me, yes."Marc had to leave too. Besides, he had science and he really shouldn't be late for this class. If there was one thing Marc had never done at school, it was get expelled."Listen. I know this may sound strange to you, but it's best if I stay close to you."He couldn't believe his ears. As much as Marc had never received a compliment from a girl, none of them had ever told him she should stay by his side. To him, it sounded more like a declaration of marriage. In his head, he was already imagining the children, the house, the dog, kindergarten, the nursery, the bottle, the car, death."We're too young for this.
Bye."For him it was the best way to get rid of his embarrassment."Wait. You just don't get it. You're one of the only ones taking this event seriously and you're the first one to come to me. I can't trust anyone else, least of all Chris."There was one thing he liked about her and that was that she wasn't a Chris groupie. He sighed."I understand, but right now we've got to get to class. We might get yelled at if this keeps up. We'll talk about it after school.""We go to the same class.""We are? Let's go then."They both climbed the stairs. When they got to class, the other students started teasing him about being late with a girl. But he didn't care. The only thing on his mind at the time was this collective vision. Or not. Maybe it was just a coincidence. But why was the word Aregis common to everyone. Was it just someone who said it? Why were the visions all complementing each other? Why them?
And why hadn't the last person come forward to talk about it? She wasn't the shy type.Marc thought about it. He didn't understand what had happened to them. He glanced around the classroom but didn't see the last person. She probably didn't have class with him at the time.It had been a very long day for Marc. He left the classroom with a heavy head. Several times the teachers had asked him to concentrate on the lesson, but if he'd seen what he'd seen, he probably wouldn't be talking like this.He walked out of the school and was surprised to see Elie waiting for him with her pals. They glowered at him. Marc knew why. He walked with Elie to his bus stop without saying a word. Elie seemed tense and Marc seemed in a hurry. They looked like a couple on the verge of breaking up.Marc was waiting for his bus as usual. Elie was waiting for hers."Don't you want me to go to your place?""Huh? ""Nothing. "Marc couldn't take it anymore. What did she mean? There were limits all the same."Listen. We're not a couple. We're not friends. So you're going to have to stop acting like one. This is a joke, right?
A hidden camera of your buddies? Because if it is, it's really not funny. ""It's not.""I know the vision you saw has most certainly traumatized you, but am I really going to solve the problem?"At these words, Elie turned pale. Marc thought she was going to die instantly. He was already imagining the consequences of those words."No, that's not what I wanted...""You were in my vision."Silence reigned for a moment. Marc didn't know what to say. Maybe she'd finally let out a few words of what she'd seen, but Marc didn't want to have heard them. He was in it. The others' visions had no people in them, so why was he appearing in Elie's?"I....I was in it."He didn't want to insist and ask for further details given how pale she'd turned the last time. The bus arrived late as usual.Marc got on without saying a word or looking back. Perhaps if he had, he would have noticed that Elie was getting on with him. It wasn't until he sat down on a seat that he saw him get on the bus."Wait a minute. She's on the same bus as me."Marc figured he really had to work on his memory sometimes.The journey was also interminably long. The road he'd been traveling for 5 years seemed longer than usual. Elie looked out of the window. Her gaze seemed lost. Marc said nothing. Just as he was about to go out, he picked up his bag and turned back to her."I'll still be here, don't worry."Elie turned around. She didn't know what to say. For the first time in her life she felt really comfortable with someone.
She felt a warm breath pass through her body. Marc, completely embarrassed, turned and rushed out of the bus. He'd never had a girlfriend, and since fate had given him a girl to protect, he had to take a chance. Marc was taken for a guy capable of anything, a no-nonsense type. He could talk very easily to girls he didn't know and to new people. But deep down, he was a great stressor. He did all this to make himself look comfortable wherever he went, and to please other people.Marc was just starting to walk home when he turned around and saw that he wasn't the only one to have got off the bus. Elie was there, watching him. Red as a tomato. For Marc, this was already the most embarrassing moment of his life. After all that talk about her staying on the bus, she happened to be getting off at the same stop as him. Marc felt even more ashamed than the time she'd screamed all over the yard."Why are you here?"I live on the same street as you.""If you want I can come over to your place" made more sense now."Ah."The two companions set off in the same direction. This time, the tension was palpable. Marc hoped to disappear and Elis wanted to go back in time."Well, I guess you're stopping here.""Yeah.""Hi then.""Hi."Elie turned right to go home. Her house was a large estate. The garden, on the other hand, was small but the rest was covered in flowers. It suited her personality. As she passed through the door Elie turned in Marc's direction."Thank you. Thank you for not leaving me alone."Marc turned too. He'd already had his fill of embarrassment for the day. He didn't want anyone to see them."You're welcome. I'll see you tomorrow. Bye."With that, he pressed on and hurried home. Elie liked Marc. He was a nice, intelligent boy who often played the fool. Although she couldn't imagine him being her boyfriend, she couldn't help it now.Marc jumped out of bed as soon as he entered his room. What a hard day. He needed some rest. He looked at his phone to see if a new chapter of his favorite novel had come out. To his surprise, the first thing his phone showed him was the death of a man on a building site. He had stumbled and fallen five stories. He was apparently unrestrained."These things happen. May his soul rest in peace."Marc wasn't an insensitive person. He just didn't want to feel guilty about everyone dying. As far as he was concerned, everyone died and that was life. There's nothing you can do about it. Death is normal.He wanted to forget about this man and concentrate on his novel, but another piece of information appeared on the screen. This time, it was the death of a head of state. Murdered in his home."Wow.He passed on the information without a hitch, but another came, and another, and another. Marc couldn't believe it. People died and that was normal, but why was he receiving so many death notifications.They'd all died in different ways, and their deaths were either accidental or not. So why was he receiving all this?"I guess I must have unintentionally asked for the death notifications. I should remove them."As soon as he had done so, all the notifications had disappeared. Marc was relieved not to have to feel guilty about so many people.Finally, he read his new chapter without a hitch. The main character had succeeded in defeating the archdemon and had succeeded in destroying the throne. But the appearance of the new enemy troubled him. It was a man dressed in black and carrying a sword. He had six wings on his back and his face was invisible.This man was the perfect description of the man Nathanaël had seen in his vision."Well, there aren't many details. This kind of person dressed in black who reminds us of death often appears in stories. Maybe it's a coincidence."Marc didn't want to believe it. But deep down he knew something was wrong. He wanted to show Nathanaël the next day because an image of the man had been published. The illustration itself was by the author.At the end of each chapter, the author always left a message for his readers, who were few in number. Marc opened his eyes wide when he saw the message."This world is going to change."