Haj

A strong wind blew incessantly against the Tosh family's small shed, making the Haj moss and fluffy hay used for insulation rustle.

Sitting on a bench with one leg missing in front of the shed, Gabriel Tosh gazed intently at the rolling waves, watching one after another crash against the shore and shatter into pieces.

The ocean in Haj is ice blue, and the lukewarm sunlight in early winter is like an unwetted gradient layer on an oil painting, with various spots and stains, which are the murky sewage discharged from the city and the coastal heavy metal smelting plants.

A dilapidated diesel fishing boat with a clattering motor is on a similarly run-down little dock on the shore, its blue-green flag fluttering in the wind at the stern like a tattered rag struggling in the wind.

The fishermen of Grandi sail out to sea day after day in their small, seemingly centuries-old boats, their only chance to earn some money or even identification, but none have ever succeeded.

This ocean, once abundant with seafood and picturesque, is now on the verge of extinction due to the brilliant splendor of human civilization here. The people here seem to see no hope, but in this impoverished and backward world, tomorrow will never be worse than today.

The clouds in the sky were loose, and a strong wind was blowing them around like a scene played at ten or a hundred times faster. Sometimes Tosh would try to figure out what was on the other side of the ocean, only to find that as he kept going forward, the sea was still the sea, and on the other side was a wilderness even more vast than the ocean.

When Tosh realized that his increasingly elderly grandmother was calling him, he stood up and looked back from the roof of his shack, where he saw an endless expanse of dilapidated houses and shacks built of bricks, rotten wood, and scrap metal.

Every few hundred feet there is a wind turbine, its huge blades spinning with the gale-force winds that sweep through the slums, bringing precious electricity to the poor. This is also the cheapest resource in Haj, a moon world constantly churning with Hurricane and tornadoes.

The noise of the windmill and the sound of the wind are the sounds that never fade in this world, surpassing the cries of birds and beasts. Only the restless heavy metal rock music can bring a touch of excitement and passion to the pale, despairing, and oppressive life here.

At the edge of the slums, on the other side of this bay, lies the brightly lit Geladi City, with its towering buildings, factories, shops, and clean streets. The slums and the bustling cityscape are so close to the locals that they can cross the distance in less than forty minutes on foot.

Tosh had never been to Geladi City; he had lived in this slum, a place devoid of any hope, for as long as he could remember. Like the other people in the slum, Tosh was unable to go to school, or even receive the most basic education.

The people living in the slums could always look up and see the magnificent city that seemed to stand in the sky, but no one could ever set foot inside. In a corner on the edge of the city, the filth, stench, poverty, hunger, and disease that even strong winds could not dispel continued to ravage the lives of everyone here, causing them to age prematurely.

This place is also a den of iniquity, a haven for illicit interests and rampant gangs. The Geladi Slums, which have existed since the Geladi City's founding, are the dark side of the entire city.

"Little Gabriel, go back inside," Tosh's grandmother was still calling to him.

"Manan Ceres told me that a powerful storm is coming. She will destroy everything; even the high walls will collapse."

Tosh's grandmother was incredibly old; her dark brown skin was covered in wrinkles and spots, and she was so thin she looked like skin and bones.

Grandmother had always been a powerful family patriarch and the leader of this small tribe. She was completely wrapped in the robes of a high priest of the Haj Voodoo Cult. It was a dark linen robe, with twisted and absurd totems painted in blood-red ink. The most prominent VEVE symbol represented Manan Ceres, the Haj Manan.

Hearing his grandmother's words, Tosh turned and went back to his dilapidated little shack.

His grandmother firmly believed that she was protected by Manan Ceres, and red was the color of the goddess of death. The followers of the Haj Voodoo Cult believed that the goddess of death was real, and that totems and ornaments symbolizing Manan Ceres would bring them protection and power.

Low levels of education, superstition, and ignorance led the people of the Geladi Slums to regress to a chaotic structure of gangs, families, and tribes after a dozen or so generations. In those more remote corners, nomadic tribes, detached from civilization, were the main worshippers of the prevalent Voodoo sect.

Tosh's shack was built with a few Hover Car frames and a rain shelter, and it wouldn't last long in Hurricane. But even stone houses are the same; after Hurricane destroys everything, people always have to rebuild their homes, day after day, year after year.

In the shack was a five-foot (about 1.5-meter) long bed, which was Tosh's most prized possession. The rest of the things were bottles and jars, animal pelts, or other things Tosh had scavenged from the rubbish heap, expired food, or rotten apples.

"Take it, then kill it. Manan Seres needs blood for the sacrifice." Grandmother lifted the blue gauze curtain that served as a shack to keep mosquitoes and thieves away, and handed Tosh a squealing, Geladi Blue-Eyed Rat.

Haj originally had no rats. Like flies and mosquitoes, they came to this remote lunar planet by following the footsteps of the Terrans colonists. These cunning rodents adapted perfectly to the environment, and their populations flourished far more than those of humans.

Tosh pinched the tail of the screaming mouse to prevent it from biting his finger.

Then, Tosh pulled a sharp triangular dagger from the pile of bottles and jars nearby, plunged it into the rat's brain, and pinned it to the ground. Tosh then used another knife to cut open the rat's throat, drained the blood, and cleanly peeled off its skin.

"You've done very well, Gabriel, child, the angel Manan Ceres gave me." The grandmother knelt down in front of the small pool of blood from the rat's blood.

"An angel who proclaims God's will and announces the time of death."

"But remember, next time before you skin it," she kindly instructed Tosh, writing the VEVE logo on the rat's blood, "Keep it alive."

"Manan Ceres will tell you when the time is right for the sacrifice. Blood, slaughter, and death will earn the favor of the Goddess of Death."

"But why is it that we have been offering sacrifices to the goddess of death, yet she has never responded to me?" Tosh asked his grandmother.

"It's not time for destiny to be decided yet." For a fleeting moment, her grandmother's expression turned angry, which frightened Tosh for a moment, but fortunately, her anger quickly subsided.

"Manan Seres is deep in the soul world, in your heart and in ours." Grandmother had always been kind to Tosh —despite being a powerful figure feared by the tribe.

Grandmother was a devout follower of Manan. She was eccentric and mysterious, a fatalist, and even Tosh, who could read minds, could not see through her.

"Am I not doing enough?" Tosh's black eyes gleamed with a milky white light, and a red glow swirled around his body.

"Oh—she's looking at you." Grandmother's wrinkles gathered together with joy. "That's witchcraft, but don't show it to anyone else. Except for the Voodoo Cult. Fate will guide you; it will never betray you."

"Witchcraft." Tosh focused his mind and released a powerful mental force, causing everything in the shack to lift off the ground and float in mid-air. He knew he could crush them easily, as easily as crushing soft tissue in a brain or a throat.

However, Tosh cannot reveal his power, because that would attract the attention of the police or other departments of the Terran Confederacy. Nothing good ever comes of it when the Confederacy comes here; they are more fearsome than murderers, synonymous with trouble.

That will bring misfortune.

Tosh displayed his "witchcraft" when he was young, which triggered a terrifying supernatural phenomenon. People around him were terrified of Tosh's power and drove his family to the edge of the slums, which is why this shack is so close to the sea.

For a long time, Tosh had believed his grandmother's words without question; her words were authority, the absolute truth. His power was, of course, a kind of witchcraft, a power bestowed upon him by the goddess of death, and his mission was to bring her blood.

"When you are ready, you can bring some higher-grade offerings for Manan Seres." Grandmother picked up the skinned and deboned rat, sucked the blood from her fingers, and said, "She said that water makes up all things in the world, and humans are part of water."

"I don't like killing. I don't like doing it, Grandma." Tosh refused his stern grandmother again. "Forgive me, I can't kill. I can't. I can't hurt innocent people."

"I only hear the cries of the souls of the unjustly killed, while Manan Ceres remains silent," he said. "If possible, I wish I could kill some of the most heinous criminals instead of the homeless and the homeless on the streets."

"Beneath that face that instills fear in those people, you are so kind." Grandmother showed no anger. "Then who shall define the measure of crime? Haj is a lawless place."

"By me, Grandma," Tosh said.

"You will be an honorable leader, and one day you will rule the world." Grandmother chuckled, but her laughter was as sharp as glass scraping against a concrete wall.

"Gabriel, you are Haj's savior, the gospel of this world," she said with a smile. "You must save others and proclaim the death of Manan Ceres' enemies."

"Praise be to Manan Serres and her gifts, for she made you extraordinary from birth; you are destined to be a leader and the Overmind of the world."

As she spoke, her grandmother took several strings of beads from her long priestess robe and placed them around Tosh's neck, one string after another. Finally, she took out a necklace with a small rag doll attached and put it on Tosh's neck, smiling as she looked at her grandson.

It was a small, human-shaped doll, only a few inches in size, made of cloth and buttons. The doll had two expressions on its two sides: one happy, the other sad.

An ancient spell doll.

"What if you encounter an enemy you cannot defeat?" Grandmother said slowly and deliberately.

"Just nail it in," Tosh replied.

"Many roots."

At this moment, the howling wind outside suddenly intensified many times over, roaring like a mountain collapsing and a tsunami crashing, as if a god were raging. This Hurricane was far stronger than ever before, and the shack was shaking violently; it would soon be gone.

Tosh suddenly felt uneasy. Through the billowing curtain, he saw a gloomy, overcast sky. A tornado was forming, poised to sweep across the ocean and bring terrible disaster and death.

The sky darkened in an instant, as if night had fallen. The small fishing boats that couldn't make it into port were among the few remaining lights on the ocean, racing against time, or they would be swallowed up by the tornado behind them.

The rain poured down, soaking Tosh's waterproof awning in just a few seconds.

In the distance, the Geladi City remained brightly lit, its neon lights shining even brighter at this moment. The city stretched out amidst the colorful lights, resembling countless Christmas trees adorned with dazzling lights or a beetle carrying fireflies.

The creaking and shaking of the shed intensified, but Tosh detected something different in it.

"A monster is coming," Tosh told his grandmother.

"The monsters might be messengers of Manan Seres. Where are they?" Grandmother asked.

"In the sky," Tosh stood up and replied.

Meanwhile, in the distant Geladi City, the wailing of air raid sirens blared. Storms were commonplace in Haj, and sirens would sound when they struck, but this was never the sound that should have been.

Several old-fashioned Avenger fighter jets sped across the slums, their taillights flashing as they flew into the dark clouds amidst the torrential rain.

The accumulating cumulus clouds triggered a thunderstorm, and in a flash of lightning, Tosh saw hundreds of black dots falling from the gaps in the clouds.

In an instant, the face of a howling monster suddenly appeared in Tosh's mind—a creature forcibly mixed with a dragon-like head, bat-like membranous wings, and worm-like body. In another flash of lightning, a large number of enormous, flying beetle-like creatures fell from the sky, like debris falling from gaps in the clouds.

Several bright orange flashes of light appeared on the horizon, marking the final fate of those brave Avenger pilots.

"Run!" Tosh suddenly burst out of his shack and ran wildly through the slums.

Run!

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