Beginning Beyond The Horizon

"Come on!!" Michio grunted trying his best to keep Yul's body upright, and they slowly walked towards the hill in front.​

"Don't leave us!" 

"Help me!"

"Please don't leave us!"

Michio is filled with guilt and sadness as he walks past the dying people interceding for him, but he has no choice but to leave them behind. He knew very well that if he helped others, the seriously injured Yul would not survive, betraying his beliefs for the first time in his life. In order to alleviate his inner guilt, he turned his gaze to the top of the hill ahead to avoid seeing the dying people around him. He murmured in his heart: Buddha, please forgive me.

"Look out!" a man screamed and started running away.

Just as the two Tanzanies were halfway up the hill back to the south gate of the city, a man's scream caught their attention. The two Tanzanies turned around and Zahog flew straight towards them, her flames burning everything in her path.

To avoid being burned by Zahog's fire breath, Yul quickly pushed Michio away from him, and as Michio stumbled away, Yul lost his balance and fell several feet toward the bottom of the hill.

"Yul!" Michio screamed as Zahog flew past them.

Yul stood up slowly and found that the ground beneath his feet began to crack. Then hot lava began to pour out of the cracked earth. At this moment, he discovered that what they were standing on was indeed another hill filled with hot magma.

"Just go! Get everyone out of here," Yul yelled. "This is an order!"

With a heavy heart, Michio helped the other injured man before continuing to walk away, leaving Yul behind as lava spewed from the cracked ground.

Suffering from blood loss and a broken collarbone, Yul slowly climbed up the burning hill and the breaking ground and lava slowed Yul's progress. As Yul walked up the hill, he did his best to avoid stepping on the bodies of those who had been alive just a moment ago. As he was about to step over a dead woman, the woman grabbed Yul's ankle.

Yul looked down and saw that half of the woman had been burned beyond recognition, but the other half was not burned.

"Sir..." she pleaded. "Please take my child with you." She pointed to a back basket. She took a few breaths and died, still clutching Yul's ankle.

Yul shook his ankle out of the woman's hands and walked to the tall back basket. Inside the back basket, there was a little baby wrapped up, and it looked like it was still alive. Yul knew he wouldn't be able to carry the basket on his back due to an injured left shoulder, so he picked up the baby with his only working arm. When he stood up and looked up the hill to the south gate of the city, he found that the route people were walking was completely covered in lava. He looked to the left and found two boulders standing side by side. It seemed that the lava had not yet raising to the platform, so he quickly walked to the boulder and climbed up the boulder. He looked down and saw that some of those who had survived and were seriously injured had done the same thing as him. Although he had just escaped death, he still felt insecure. He knows that death is coming, but now, he is just prolonging his death time, but he does not know how long he can prolong his time.

Yul felt dizzy, so he sat on a boulder and leaned his back on another boulder. He looked at the baby who cooed at him. He looked around and saw a sea of ​​lava. As time went on and the temperature increased, the lava rose higher towards the boulder he was sitting on. He heard the screams of people being swallowed by the lava. Deep down he hoped for a miracle, but he knew it was wishful thinking because he refused to accept his fate.

Yul know soon he'll be swallowed up by the lava too. He looked down at the baby in his arms and saw that it was still purring at him. He smiled down at the baby and thought: His Meiji will be as cute as the child in his arms.

"Thank you, little one, for staying with me in my last hour," Yul said with a smile. Yul sighed, closed his eyes, and leaned his head back. He knew that his death was approaching, and the only person he wanted to see most at this moment was Hajime. "Hajime..."

Zahog's screams continued to ring in Hajime's ears. With each scream, Hajime found that he was not concentrating, his abdomen began to tighten, and Meiji began to kick and twists violently inside Hajime's belly. Hajime suddenly screamed in pain and pulled his hand away from the tree. The eagle that was about to take off suddenly turned into leaves and fell to the ground. Hajime screamed in pain and fell to the ground, covering his stomach with his hands.

"Hajime!" Abrafo and U-ri shouted worriedly.

"U-ri..." Hajime groaned in pain. "Meiji...Meiji want to come out..."

"U-ri, do something!" Abrafo shouted.

U-ri quickly untied the rope that tied Hajime's robe and seeing Hajime's belly, frightening U-ri and Abrafo. Hajime's belly swelled and Meiji seemed to be looking for a way to escape Hajime's belly.

"What are we going to do?" Abrafo asked in horror.​

"It's been less than three years, why is Meiji born now...." U-ri said.

Although he was in pain, Hajime still looked up at Abrafo and asked, "Has Yul return yet?"

Abrafo said, "I don't know..."

Hajime groaned in pain, "I saw him on Mount Zin... has he return yet?" 

Seeing that the city was on fire, most people had already fled the burning city. The only ones left behind were the old who could not walk fast, or those who were seriously injured and waiting to die. Abrafo and U-ri knew that the longer they stayed here, the smaller their chances of escaping alive, so they grabbed Hajime's arms and pulled him up.

U-ri said, "Don't worry about Yul, let's get out of here first."

Abrafo looked at Hajime who refused to leave and said, "They are coming. They know where to find us." When a group of people and some soldiers rushed in, he and U-ri pushed Hajime towards the city gate.

Abrafo soon attracted the attention of a soldier and asked, "Are these people the last group of people from Mount Zin?"

The soldier shook his head and said, "No, there are still two outsiders with the others trailing behind. They are coming." He quickly broke away from Abrafo and walked towards the city gate with the others.

Abrafo returned quickly and said, "The soldier said Michio and Yul are coming. They are with the last group of people. Let's get out of here first." He looked at U-ri and motioned his head towards the gate.

Abrafo and U-ri dragged Hajime toward the city gate, but Hajime refused to continue walking.

"Hajime, keep walking," U-ri said.

"I... I have to wait for Yul." Hajime groaned in pain. "I have to...ah..." he screamed in pain, feeling violent contractions.​

Abrafo and U-ri felt Hajime's hands gripping their arms tightly, and Hajime's lips trembled and began to turn pale.

U-ri witnessed many women giving birth, so U-ri knew that Hajime was about to give birth and realized that if the child was not taken out, Hajime would die. "Summon Kaizen now!" U-ri shouted at Abrafo.

Abrafo looked at U-ri blanky and said, "I... I don't know how."

U-ri said angrily, "You have hunted with Kaizen for so many years, why don't you know how to summon Kaizen?"

Abrafo said, "It was all Michio... not me." He was so angry with himself that he kicked away a rock. He looked back at the burning city and found that the three wolves had returned carrying some people on their backs. "Look...someone is coming towards us. Yul and Michio must be among them."

The three Tanzanies waited at the gate of the city. It was not until the last person passed by that they discovered that Yul and Michio were not among the crowd.

"They must still be on Mount Zin," Hajime said with trembling lips. "I have to go to Mount Zin and look for them."

"You're in no condition to go look for them. You can't even stand on your own," Abrafo said. "I won't allow it."

"I'm their only chance of surviving this," Hajime burst into tears as the contractions became stronger each time. He tried to pull his arms away from U-ri and Abrafo. "Let me go." He could have pulled away his arms, but three consecutive strong contractions traveled from the middle of his back to his navel made him fall to his knees after taking two steps forward. He put his hands on his belly. "Meiji, be good... be good for half an hour and let me save your father."

Hajime stood up slowly, his eyes began to turn red, tree roots spurted out of the ground, and oak leaves quickly transformed into eagles.​

"Hajime!" Abrafo shouted.

Abrafo knew that such a bold move must be Hajime's last energy. Abrafo reached out to grab Hajime's hand, but a tree root rushed out of the ground and lifted Hajime into the air and placed Hajime onto the back of an eagle. Hajime and the eagles he summoned flew toward the burning Mount Zin.

Looking at the lava flowing on the red-hot mountain, Hajime whispered with trembled lips, "Yul, hold on. I'm coming. I'm coming..."