1600 Years later, just outside of Electrogon, was a remote VoltenCrown village where many VoltenCrowns try to find solace and peace from the outside world.
The name of the village was Ataraxia
A remote location surrounded by hills and tall trees and greenery spread around.
Near Ataraxia was a small river which flowed from the mountains of the Electrogon region.
Due to the frequent heavy rains and thunderstorms, there was no scarcity of water for them.
The people of Ataraxia were carefree and also stress-free. They believed in helping others in need and to avoid fighting if unnecessary.
Most of the residents of Ataraxia were people who wanted to connect with nature or struggling artists looking for inspiration, so people used to showcase their talents every weekend.
Every year during April the people of Ataraxia hosted a festival where people come together and try to learn other's talents whilst also enjoying it.
Among them was a young boy with black hair and grey eyes who's name is Ruven Ryder. Ruven came from a lineage of locksmiths and so he was the next to inherit the business.
Most of the locks in Ataraxia and in other Pentagon cities were crafted by Ruven's family.
Ruven was just 7 years old but he had great talents for picking locks and to understand the mechanism of things. He had a knack for making gimmicks and to see them as he found it very interesting.
On the day of the festival Ruven was asked to fetch some sticks from the forest by some of his friends
"Hey guys, are you going to gather stuff for the bonfire as well?" asked Ruven.
His friends nodded their head and said "yeah, are you coming with us too?"
"of course, I know these forests like the back of my hand!"
He in fact, did not know these forests like the back of his hand.
They went into the forest and gathered a good amount of sticks.
"This festival gets boring after a while, there's really not much to do because the adults do most of the talking. I know! we can play a game" said one of his friends.
Ruven thought of it for a while and then finally agreed as he realised he was getting pretty bored.
So they dropped off the sticks at the place where the bonfire was supposed to take place, and went into the forest to play hide and seek.
Couldn't they have found a better game to play?
The time was around 4pm in the evening during this.
Ruven and his friends decided to play in the forest. They came to an agreement that they wouldn't go too deep into the forest and that they would just play near Ataraxia and so they set off to play.
Ruven was chosen to be the seeker and so he started counting. Once he reached to 20 he started searching for his friends. Ruven wasn't really fond of being the seeker, especially in the forest as it was hard to search for his friends.
30 minutes passed and he didn't find a single one of his friends, naturally being frustrated, he starts to think they lied about them being near the village and are actually in the deep forest.
Ruven goes deep into the forest thinking he'd find his friends. On the other hand, his friends were actually going back home to the village when they saw it was getting dark.
"Why do I always get stuck with these things man" Ruven said under his breath.
Ruven was officially lost.
He tried to find his way back but instead he got more lost.
As he was still searching, he suddenly felt a raindrop on his cheek.
he didn't really think much of it since it rains a lot over there. The real turning point came when not even 5 minutes later Ruven heard a thundering, he started to worry.
Ruven's parent's perspective
"It's getting late, about time he comes home, we have to get ready for the festival too." said Michael, Ruven's father.
"Dear, did you check with his friends?" Said Flor, Ruven's mother.
"No, but I guess I better talk to them, I am starting to get worried, he's not this late, never been."
Michael calls Ruven's friends and inquired about Ruven.
"We were playing hide and seek in the forest, he didn't find us and it got pretty late so we figured he had already went home."
When Michael heard this, his heart sank.
"B-but, he never came home.."
His friends stared at each other awkwardly, but Michael called his wife and ran off into the forest, before leaving, he informed his neighbours and friends, but before they could even do so, as they heard thunder across the sky, they froze.
The climate of Ataraxia and Electrogon were so that any thunderstorms would be attracted to Electrogon's mountains only.
they continuously saw lightning and thunder flash across the sky.
not a moment later a large bolt of thunder striked Ataraxia.
Ruven's perspective
The sound of thunder was so loud, it caused him to faint.
When Ruven woke up, he was drenched in rain, he might've even caught a cold, but his first instinct was to rush towards his village.
He sensed something weird from the site where the lightning had striked, maybe a VoltenCrown's instinct?
He rushed through thorny shrubs and spikes, and ran as fast as he could, but when he reached there, the place where the town or Ataraxia once stood with pride, was now just a burnt field of ashes.