The lights flickered inside the elevator, clearly indicating the power supply was erratic.
A boy about the age of nineteen could be seen inside the elevator. He was wearing a red t-shirt that had a company's name written on it and a cap that matched the colour of the t-shirt he was wearing. With his right hand, he was holding a plastic bag that had groceries inside it .One could infer he was a delivery agent.
Currently he was heading to the thirteenth floor to deliver someone's groceries order.
The building he was in was part of one of the well known apartment complexes in this town and even beyond the boundaries of this town as almost all of the richest and well off people around these parts lived here with utmost comfort one could think of.
It was the only apartment complex that existed in this town and had almost 20 apartments inside it.
As such it was not uncommon for these people to order groceries and get it delivered to their door steps hassle-free without even needing to step outside.
The boy named Zeelafar was very familiar with the apartment complex as he had delivered hundreds of orders here.
The boy currently wasn't thinking of anything special , he was just waiting for the elevator to reach the thirteenth floor.
After about ten seconds , the elevator ai announced the arrival of the thirteenth floor. Zeelafar stepped out of the elevator and navigated his way through the complicated layout of the floor with ease until reaching door number '1306'
The customer didn't mention to leave the order at the doorsteps and hadn't paid the money so Zeelafar rung the doorbell and waited.
After some seconds , the door was opened and a lady came into view.
The lady looked to be slightly older than him in age and looked like she walked out of a runway.
Very beautiful that it was almost impossible to believe someone like this existed. But Zeelafar's mind didn't even stir a bit. He treated as this was a common sight. Indeed it was a very common sight especially among the rich and well off people, someone, the lady before him certainly was.
The lady also had a strange aura that made the boy to feel somewhat out of place and a little bit oppressed.
The lady didn't even look at the boy and handed him some money. Zeelafar didn't mind and took the money. As soon as he took the money the lady almost snatched the bag at a speed Zeelafar couldn't even comprehend.
All he then heard was the sound of the door closing shut and it was almost as if nothing happened a few seconds ago.
Without thinking too much about it, Zeelafar began making his way back to the elevator. On his cell phone he opened the partner app of the delivery company he worked for , Cartload. It was to notify the app that he wanted to end today's shift.
Cartload was a multinational company and a powerhouse in delivery services , especially day-to-day deliveries that focused on delivering essentials, groceries and food.
In major cities and towns delivery was mostly done through drones and highly sophisticated devices but where Zeelafar lived it would take some more years for that service to reach or maybe never.
Zeelafar lived in what was once an obscure town called Revanchal. This town was so insignificant and backwards in the past that most people didn't know about it.
Its mentions weren't found in many historical sources and even in some official sources and thus were very scarce.
One can only know about it when they actively searched for its name in administrative and bureaucratic records.
But this all changed some five years ago.
About five years ago a dungeon opened up in the vicinity of the town. No one in the town expected that something horrible could happen right at their doorsteps.
They were just mortals who had no power themselves to do something about the situation.
Many people died just due to the outburst of the energy released by the dungeon at its time of appearance and many got serious injuries.
Monsters began coming out of the dungeons en masse and started hunting people who had escaped the initial tragedy.
The town didn't have any militias or was it near any other prominent towns or cities that they could contact for help. The nearest town that had any significance was about 100km away.
It wasn't even located near any hamlets or villages.
It was an isolated town that was nestled between hills and valleys ,far away from any human contact.
To top all off , It didn't even have telecommunication services and internet facilities.
In this situation , all they could do was wait.
But fate wasn't in a good mood that day.
The town was annihilated in the same day the dungeon appeared and the monsters started ransacking. It almost held no signs of life.
The sad thing was that aside from the people who died due to the mana outburst, almost everyone else could have been saved.
The country Adghaal which held jurisdiction over this area knew of the dungeon appearance almost immediately as they had detected it through their equipments and experts.
They confirmed it within minutes when they ordered stationed troops who wear near the location to scout the location and send in the details.
Yet, they didn't act.
Not out of fear or incompetence.
They just didn't care.
They just let the town be annihilated.
Then only did they send out the soldiers, knights, mages and practitioners to secure the perimeter and the dungeon.
The government didn't even glance at the thousands of dead and paid almost no heed to the some lucky who were still breathing but mortally wounded.
To look benevolent and appeal to the general public, they offered some medical assistance to those injured and announced some condolence money and support.
Aside from doing almost nothing , they just moved swiftly to assess the dungeon and secure it before private guilds and organisations could.
Even worse, other strong countries near them that didn't give a damn about other weak countries and just took it in disregard to international laws.
Even though on the surface it appeared that it was an unfortunate situation , Zeelafar knew that it was not.
Some might say it was negligence or even indifference but it was none of that.
It was silent hatred.
Silent hatred towards his type of people.
He belonged to a minority group called Olyndra.
An ethnicity with a rich history and long inhabitance around the Serene clear valley nestled between the Samanite mountain ranges.
These people occupied relatively fertile lands and lived in tribal groups undisturbed for many millennia.
They passed down their traditions through oral means and had little to no technological advancement. They were primitive even when it came to matters of magic and arts.
It was that way until population of other ethnicities started to migrate and encroach on their tribal lands.
These people being more advanced and sophisticated and not to mention numerous in number easily overwhelmed the Olyndran people.
Although violence was relatively rare , an hierarchy developed naturally between the various people with Olyndran people ranked at the bottom of the list.
They were made to be slaves and most Olyndran people living close to major settlements were assimilated and their language and customs destroyed.
People who were unwilling to be assimilated moved closer into the mountains and isolated themselves.
The various conquerors and ever changing list of governing authority although asserted authority over their lands on paper , in the end they just let the people who they called barbarians to do their own thing which was to isolate themselves in the mountains.
These people who isolated themselves were to be the last people who held on to Olyndran customs and tradtions which were unique only to them.
But time wasn't kind to them.
Over time the population dwindled quickly due to poverty and natural calamities.
They were still officially one of the ethnicities who could be sold in the slave trade for a long time.
Even after the republic of Adghaal took charge and slavery was officially abolished , targeted kidnapping and underground slave trades did happen.
Eventually it reached a point where only one town remained in which the Olyndrans lived.
It was Revanchal.
How the other major ethnicities of the region viewed the Olyndrans were akin to how people thought about ants.
No one thinks or cares about ants and their daily lives.
It was the same with the sophisticated folks who lived inside the republic of Adghaal.
Most people living in Adghaal didn't even know that the Olyndran people existed especially those who lived in the opulent regions far far away from where the Olyndran people lived.
Zeelafar found it ironic.
A republic which prided itself on its ideals of liberty, equality viewed one of its own people who called it their home as almost ants and not worth attention of.
Zeelafar went through the same elevator and reached the basement floor.
Navigating his way around , he came across his scooter parked in a corner.
Letting out a sigh, he ignited the engine of his scooter and began making his way out of the apartment complex.
After some five minutes of navigating his way through the complex and confirming his departure with the security guards , he finally came out of the apartment complex that stood out from the rest of the buildings in the town.
Up in the sky, the moons were shining bright and the atmosphere was clear of any pollutants.
This was an advantage of living in remote towns...well that was not the case anymore but still it was good living outside of major cities and towns where only pollution dominated.
While on the road just after some minutes of leaving the interior of the town , one could see stark contrast in development.
The interior of the town after its destruction was rebuilt from scratch five years ago, not that they were many things to rebuild from scratch anyway.
Although at first built solely as an outpost of sorts for easy access to the now important and fairly high level dungeon , over the five years it had developed into a decent town.
Lots of residental buildings were built , shops were opened. Many people started moving in permanently including ordinary people who weren't proficient in the arts and were there in search of economic opportunities.
Many minor guilds even made the town their headquarters of operation hoping they could profit off the appearance of the new dungeon.
Although dungeons appearing was a common sight and occurred on a regular basis , it was still a major event that had many implications.
But for people like Zeelafar who had no affinity and thus no means to practice any of the arts could only think about these things and know the outline about them.
After almost an hour of driving , he finally reached the foot of a hill.
There was almost no one to be seen around and it was completely silent.
One couldn't even hear the voices of animals.
Zeelafar parked his vehicle beside a tree and then followed a barely visible track that led to the top of a hill.
After walking for five minutes , he finally reached a cave of sorts.
The cave was his home.
It was big and spacious and had torch holders and some lanterns hanging here and there.
Some mats were laid here and there to offer protection from the coarse and rough ground.
Some furnitures like stools , chairs and a simple table occupied the space.
At the end of the cave there was a mattress laid down with a blanket and some pillows lying on top of it.
People would call him weird for living in a literal cave but he didn't care.
First of all aside from his job , he didn't interact with anyone else so social interaction was limited.
Second of all , this was how he lived for almost his entire life.
Sitting down in front of a small table after retrieving a pre made dinner set from his storage , he began to be lost in thoughts as he slowly ate his dinner.