Law of The Web - Zetro Translation

I kept my mouth shut, my jaw clenched so tight it ached, trying to shove down the unease clawing at my chest. Every creak of the cart’s wheels, every stifled sob from the other captives, hit me like a hammer, as if the world had cranked up the noise just to mess with my head.

The scarred man up front barked an order, his gravelly voice slicing through the heavy air. A few kids flinched, curling into themselves like they could disappear if they tried hard enough.

My eyes darted toward him, my mind spinning. In that other life, or timeline, or whatever it was, a single wrong move had screwed me over. That voice in my head had warned me my “fated death” was just over a minute away.

Time was running out fast.

I clenched my fists, nails biting into my palms. Think, Gideon. Don’t fight fate; bend it to a point where it doable. The voice had been crystal clear…I had to survive.

Still I need more information, so I looked at the boy beside me, the first person I had ever talked to in this world.

“Hey I never caught your name.”

He looked at me, the joy in his eyes where dead.

But he answered me nevertheless.

“Elias.”

He said, causing me to nod as responded back to him, my attempts to gain his trust.

“Elias.”

I whispered, keeping my voice steady.

“Thank you for the warning, just sit still, okay? Don’t draw any attention to yourself.”

Because if he did, it might pull eyes to me, too.

Elias just nodded, his face pale.

A minute dragged by, and the cart fell silent. Then, that voice echoed in my head again, cold, robotic, like it was just reading off a script with no feeling behind it.

“You have successfully defied fate; your Law Beast, Primordial Spider Lily, has grown stronger, and as a result, so too has your soul. You have reached the second step of the Awakening Stage.”

My eyes widened a bit.

A strange, electric rush surged through me, nothing like I had ever felt before, not in this life or the last one.

“You have awakened a new Stage 1 Level 1 Law ability under the Aspect of Origin (Decipher). This ability allows the user to uncover hidden truths and pathways by looking at the very origin of something. Be warned: if the complexity of what is revealed surpasses your comprehension, the feedback will manifest as madness. Use with caution. Your sanity is a finite resource, and excessive depletion risks irreversible consequences… IF YOUR SANITY REACHES ITS LIMIT, YOU WILL TURN INTO A FALLEN!!!”

The voice faded, leaving me to chew on its words. Fallen? I sighed inwardly. So much I don’t get.

I thought to myself, and in the end, I decided to just asked directly.

‘Hey, voice in my head, any chance you could explain this differently? Because I have no idea what you are talking about.’

No answer came to me sadly, how typical. Guess it doesn’t work like that. Still, this whole situation is messed up, isn’t it?

My gaze swept over the kids around me, and my new ability kicked in without warning. It was like a veil ripped away, showing me things I wasn’t ready for.

It goes without saying this supernatural visual ability goes against anything I knew humanity was even capable of.

But I try to adapt, pushing the thought at a corner, as I scan my surrounding.

And as I looked I saw the world in a new light.

Veins glowed faintly under their skin, pulsing with life. Organs lit up like they were glowing from the inside. And above each kid, crimson text floated in sharp, glowing letters, dumping info straight into my brain. It was too much, and I had to fight the urge to flinch.

Then I saw it, a swirling blue mass in each kid’s chest, like a ghostly flame or something straight out of a fantasy manga.

Their souls, I realized, laid bare. Some flickered weakly, others burned steady and bright. Pure essence, right there in front of me.

‘So these are souls, huh?’

I focused on the girl right in front of me. She was small, with neat blond hair in a bob and nervous green eyes darting around the cart. Her delicate frame and clear skin made her look like a porcelain doll, fragile as hell. But my ability showed me more, her veins, her organs, every bruise on her tiny body. Text floated above her head, unasked but precise, like reading a holographic report.

Name: Stacey Harold

Age: 9

Current cycle: 753

D.O.B: 7th September, cycle 744

Date of Death: 11th June, cycle 752

Classification: Unawakened

Soul Quality: Low Grade

Status: Hungry, Kidnapped, Scared, Misses her Mama

Injuries: Light Bruises

Danger: Easy Prey

Seeing this up close, my mouth open in shocked.

I could see all the basic information, but also I can decipher things that has yet to happen as yet.

For example I was somehow seeing the date she was set to die.

Or if I had to guess the date of her fated death.

Her date of death… If she just turned nine, and it already 752, she has got less than a year. Maybe only months, depending on the date. Cycle means year, right?

I needed more info, so I turned to Elias. He was different, paler, like he hadn’t seen the sun in forever, and tall for his age, though his round face gave away how young he was.

His shaggy, curly brown hair framed tired hazel eyes, and like the rest of us, he wore ragged clothes and flimsy slippers. We all looked like some grim, matching set.

But his soul, it flickered wildly, bright one second, dim the next, like it couldn’t make up its mind. Stacey’s soul had been steady, but Elias’s was all over the place.

I zeroed in on his stats.

Name: Elias William

Age: 9

D.O.B: 8th June, Cycle 744

Date of Death: 23rd June, Cycle 752

Classification: Unawaken >> On the verge of Awakening

Soul Quality: Low Grade >> On the verge of evolving into Mortal Grade

Status: Sad, Worried, Fearful

Injuries: Light Bruises

Danger: Easy Prey

I frowned, piecing it together.

Stacey and Elias’s deaths are close…too close. And it is not just them. All 28 kids in this cart… their deaths are set for the same month, in different periods of June.

“Hey, Elias.”

I whispered softly.

“You would’t happen to know today’s date, would you?”

He glanced at me, a flicker of sadness crossing his face.

“The date? Oh…

He paused, then said.

“We have been traveling for two nights now, going off that, it’s 4th June, Cycle 752.”

When I heard this, my face went from calm, and composed to extremely worried and fearful.

‘Oh fuck me.’

Those were the only words that left my mouth in that moment, it would seem that the future may hold an even grimmer fate for me.