Bill’s mother had taken her own life after realizing she had given birth to a boy—her son had the same organs as his abusive father.

  Despite the cruelty of the world, Bill grew up a quiet boy, content with bugs and stones. He spent hours reading old comics of superheroes, staring in awe and dreaming of a life where heroes could make a difference.

  His father, however, saw him as a boy with the heart and mind of a girl. That twisted view led to abuse, followed by feeble apologies.

  “Why don’t you stop the drugs, Daddy?” Bill asked one day.

  “They’re my medication for this disease called life,” his father replied.

  Bill wanted to help his father. He begged for money on the streets, sold whatever he could, hoping to ease his father’s suffering. And though his father smiled at his efforts, it never stopped the abuse.

  One stormy night, thunder cracked the already broken roof, and rain poured through the holes. Bill was bedridden with the flu.

  His father, no longer happy, handed him some of his drugs. They made Bill feel as if he were in heaven, and he ventured into the rain to sell his small wares. But the feeling never lasted.

  Later that night, a neighbor returned him home, shivering and weak.

  “I’m sorry, Father,” Bill whispered, wrapped in a worn blanket.

  “No problem, sonny boy. Your daddy’s a strong man!” his father laughed, revealing the last of his yellowed teeth.

  Bill woke the next morning to find his father speaking to a huge man. He was tiny—only six years old—while the man towered over him. Today was his seventh birthday.

  “Happy birthday, son. You’re going on a vacation with this man,” his father said, shoving a stack of cash into his tranch coat.

  “But Father, I want to go with you!” Bill protested.

  “No, you’re my hero. And my hero needs a vacation,” his father replied.

  “I want to save you from your sickness,” Bill said, tears running down his cheeks.

  “I don’t want to be saved, Bill",he muttered.

  Bill struggled against the man, but he was too small. He was taken to a warehouse filled with other children like him. Some glanced at him briefly before staring at the floor or ceiling.

  “Where am I?” he asked.

  “Hell,” a girl replied, drawing a game on the floor with a stone.

  “My dad said I’d go on vacation. Vacations are fun,” Bill said.

  “They’re scum,” she said, not looking up. “They bring us into this world, fill us with crap, then throw us away like trash.”

  The kid spoke like the adults he saw but she was tiny like him . Had his father betrayed him and become a villan?

  “My father would never do such a think...it..it his disease … we’ll get out of here, and I'll conquere it !” he vowed. The other children gave him dull stares.

  “Suit yourself,” the girl said.

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  When the guard opened the door, Bill struck him with a stone. The man stumbled, and Bill grabbed his gun and oversized helmet.

  “Leave your stones and worries and follow me , you were once once in darkness but today you are heroes. ”,Bill reached out , the outside light pouring on him but not the children.

  "You'll get killed for doing that don't you realize that there's no such thing as freedom ",the girl replied.

  "Follow me and I will give you freedom ",Bill replied.

  The girls stopped playing and everyone looked at him . Had he gone mad? It wouldn't be surprising to go mad in this environment, but his eyes say otherwise.

  Everyone turned their backs on him .

  “Fine. I’ll do it myself!” Bill said. He ran of.

  "Good luck ",the girl muttered before resuming her game .

  Bill spotted a truck passing through a large gate, he sprinted towards it. But a bullet was shot infront of him and he stopped .

  "I missed ",one the guards muttered.

  Guards swarmed him, but one lowered his gun and approached.

  “It’s just a kid… didn’t your mom teach you not to—”

  Bill grabbed the gun he stole and in one swift movement he pulled the trigger. Blood splashed his face. “My mom died.”, he replied.

  The remaining guards drew knives and guns. Suddenly, a man larger than the first, with an eye patch, appeared.

  “You’ve got balls, kid. I’ll give you that,” the man said, laughing.

  “I don’t have the Dragon Balls,” Bill muttered.

  The man laughed harder. “Put this kid in the war. Teach him the basics.”

  “But sir, what can a kid do against Ja—”

  Thunder cracked overhead, silencing the man as another figure crashed down.

  Bill was taught the basics of guns and hand-to-hand combat. They told him the man with the eyepatch had once escaped from Ecardwark and was now trying to instill its culture on him.

  Bill believed he was still the hero of his story—the boy who would defeat the villains, save his father, and bring peace.

  Later one night Bill sneaked out out of the army and ran towards the warehouse.

  He opened the door.

  "See I told you I'm gonna set you...",the warehouse was empty.

  All that remained were clothes. He grabbed the dress of thar girl in disbelief.

  "Your friends are gone, they've been sold just like your old man sold you ",the man in an eye patch whose name was James talked behind him while lightning a cigarette.

  "She said there's no such thing as freedom ",Bill muttered.

  "She isn't wr-"

  "No ! Freedom exists and I'll prove it ",Bill cried.

  "The only people who decide that aren't the king's in the chess board nor the queen or player but the board itself",the puffed some smoke .

  "The day you accept reality as it is and make the most of this godforsaken world maybe only then maybe just maybe you'll taste freedom ".

  Bill didn't understand the man but he wiped his tears .

  "I'll never cry again ",he swore.

  The war began .

  Bill entered Jame's office, "we're ready for attack ".

  James tossed a bomb up and down ,"you know kid I've always wanted to play catch with my son , but what the heck he bombed himself in the enemy's layer ".

  James tossed the bomed to Bill before lighting a cigarette, "be a good boy and stay alive ".

  Bombs flared shaking the ground, bullet fell like rain and the sky was coveted by ships .

  It was just like the final battle he saw in the comics, Bill thought to himself before charging in .

  His subordinates fell one by one, their bodies mangled and unrecognizable. Bill killed a few enemies by turning his childhood hide-and-seek game into a weapon—becoming both the hidden and the seeker.

  “Can you revive him?” Bill whispered over a fallen comrade, as he remembered one of his comics.

  The dying man let out a hollow, defeated laugh. “You only get one life, kid.”

  His ears ringed like sirens , he stood there frozen in place with a knife in his arms .

  "Snap out of it Bill!",James tugged at him .

  "Freedom...is there freedom after you die ",Bill muttered.

  James punched his chest, "As long as this keeps beating you'll find your answer "

  James handed Bill his lighter ,"let play catch Bill ",James patted his head .

  Bill nodded.

  He threw the bomb towards James who seemed to be getting shot yet smiling and maybe crying beneath the sweat .

  James opened the fuss and threw the bomb back . The rules were at the third throw Bill would run into the cockpit.

  "Bill threw it back and ran ".

  He waited for James to join him but only an explosion followed.

  He waited...and waited....and waited...and waited...and waited...and waited...and waited...and waited...and waited , yet he never came and the war sounds never seeeized.

  Bill broke the rules and crawled out of the cockpit to look for James . If his in trouble I have to save him , he thought.

  "Where's commander James ",Bill went around asking.

  "We were playing catch did you see him ?",he asked a dying soldier.

  "Look around you , people die every second , their lives are waisted you either die in the soul or in the mind ,looks like you lost both...",the soldier fell asleep.

  The words shattered Bill.

  "Why can't I save them ?! Why? Why? I couldn't save my mom ! I couldn't save my dad ! I couldn't save the children ! Why ? Why does everyone keep dying ? Why don't they come back ? ! Why don't they want freedom ?!",Bill collapsed in fury.

  He looked around—bodies shot to pieces, bombs bursting, soldiers ripped apart by land mines.

  He clutched his head, tears mixing with dirt and blood.

  “Stop… stop! Stop it! It’s not a game anymore. I want to go home. Mommy… why did you leave me?”

  His screams echoed through the battlefield. “Stop! STOP! STOP!”

  And suddenly—silence.

  Bill opened his eyes. Everyone around him was frozen in ice. The battlefield, once a storm of death, was still. He looked at his trembling hands in awe.

  From the stillness, a man walked toward him—the priest. Unlike the others, he wasn’t frozen.

  "Follow me and in will give you freedom ",Jack reached out .

  The boy for the first time accepted.

  He took Bill in, giving him shelter among Tana and the other children.

  Tana became the mother he lost, and the priest, the father he thought he needed. The priest shared Bill’s love for comics, though he spent long hours alone, often drawing blood from Bill to “keep his ice powers under control.”

  The children there were different. Their eyes held something he had never seen before—freedom. All except Tana.

  “You have the same eyes as my father,” Bill told her one day. “Do you also not want to be saved?”

  Tana’s eyes filled with tears as she hugged him tightly. “Some people can’t be saved, even if they want to. That’s the brutality of life.”

  Years later, as Bill fought Blaze hand to hand, he stared deep into Blaze’s eyes. And for a fleeting moment, he wondered—

  Did Blaze want to be saved?

  Did he not want to be saved?

  Or… had he already made peace with his fate?