Hishima plopped lifelessly onto his bed back at the orphanage, his face moist with tears. He had lost her, she was gone. His mind was filled with conflicting emotions. He could tell from the look Maaya had given him that this was something she HAD to do, yet he simply could not accept this outcome. They had been together for years, she was his rock after the sad events which had happened to him. With all these thoughts flowing through his mind Hishima could not help but think back to the time they had first met...
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GOLDHORN CONTINENT - BLACKWEIGHT TERRITORY - MAY YEAR 9980 - ORPHANAGE IN AMDALE
"Everyone gather round, we have a new arrival today" shouted an old granny to a crowd of youngsters,“this is Hishima, take good care of him."
“Yeeeeeeeeeesssssss” chorused the group of children.
“Now Hishima introduce yourself to the rest of the children.” Hishima stepped forward slightly, allowing the many children to get a clear look at his face for the first time. Hishima’s skin was a light brown colour, it almost appeared to be the same colour as sand. He had dark green eyes and an extremely skinny frame; a stranger may believe that he had been starved for weeks. However, what stuck out most of all to the many children was the expression he wore, and, more specifically, his eyes. Despite the uniqueness of them, the colour of his eyes was not what stuck out, but rather it was their emptiness. It looked as if his eyes belonged to a man who had journeyed into the depths of hell, and had spent a great passage of time there.
The woman noticed Hishima’s lack of response and vacant eyes “Ah, you must have a lot on your mind young one, no to worry, take some time to rest” she said in a comforting voice. She put a hand on his shoulder. “Remember this, you are safe now, absolutely nothing bad can happen to you here.”
Noticing the woman's kind intentions and not wanting to be rude Hishima looked up and gave a small nod along with a small smile. However, even a young child could have told that this smile was empty, forced and fake.
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Hishima was an only child. He had lived happily with his mother and father for six years in a remote village. However, one year ago a war had broken out in the territory Hishima lived in.
The Goldhorn continent was comprised of 26 different territories, each of which contained numerous cultivation families, with the most powerful family being the ruler of their respective territory. The Territory that Hishima and his family originated from had been called the Greymedal Territory and had been ruled by the powerful Greymedal family. However, roughly a year ago the Greymedal family had somehow offended the rulers of the continent, the Goldhorn family. As a result the Greyhorn family had been uprooted and destroyed. This led to the next most powerful families who resided in the Greymedal Territory, the Pinelight and Rustruler families, to begin a war to vie for ownership of the now leaderless Greymedal Territory.
Hishima’s family had been forced to flee from their village and find a new home. For almost a year they had been travelling toward the neighbouring territory, the Blackweight territory. They had to travel slowly and cautiously as various dangers were present. Massive beasts trained by the warring families to kill all non-family members. Elaborate traps such as nets linked to explosive spells. They also had to avoid any members of either family who might suspect any wanderers of being spies or messengers for the enemy family. Despite these dangers Hishima’s family had made it all the way to the border of the Greymedal Territory and were only a day away from the Blackweight Territory. From Hishima’s point of view, it had seemed that everything was going to be fine. He believed that the war would soon end and he and his family could return to their village and go back to their old lives. Sadly, this would not come to pass, the last of the three dangers had occured.
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“Tomorrow we should be entering the Blackweight territory” exclaimed Hishima’s father excitedly. “We’ll finally be safe, no more four meter tall bears or crazy lightning spells to worry about!!”
“Safety” Hishima’s mum whispered “one truly only appreciates something when it’s gone”
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“Honey, there seems to be the remnants of a village up ahead, we can camp in a random house tonight.”
“A warm place to sleep” Hishima smiled joyfully “camping is nice but I prefer a bed”
“Me too darling, me too” Hishima’s mum said as she stroked his head lovingly.
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Later on that night.
“Did you hear something” said Hishima’s dad as he scrambled up from the floor of the shack they had been sleeping in.
“Oh god, we need to hide quickly.” With that Hishima’s mum grabbed her son who had been sleeping beside her. She pushed Hishima into the small clearing beneath the stairs and hid him behind the furniture and rubble “Shi, listen to mother. This is the most out of site spot so you should be safe. Me and your father will hide upstairs. If anything happens stay hidden until it’s safe. Then run in the direction we’ve been travelling in these past few days, towards the sunrise okay.”
“Yes mum” Hishima said obediently.
“Good boy. I love you. Be good and stay here” Hishima’s parents then proceeded to run upstairs to try find a hiding spot.
A few moments of silence passed.
Suddenly a scream was heard echoing through the house along with loud shouts.
“Thought you could hide from us huh” spat out a giant man. He entered the main corridor of the shack, within viewing sight of Hishima’s hiding place, dragging Hishima’s mum along behind him by the hair. The man in question was fully 2.2 metres tall and had a nasty scar running along his cheek.
“LET HER GO” shouted Hishima’s father as he wrestled with another man as he tried to reach his wife. “DONT TOUCH HER U PIECE OF SHI… urggg” Hishima’s father was barely able to looked down to his chest before the light faded from his eyes. Lodged in his chest was a luminous-green coloured, one meter long spike. The spike had suddenly appeared when the giant man waved his hand……… it was magic belonging to one of the two warring families.
“I couldn’t have vermin like you call me such a disgusting thing now could I???” The giant man said menacingly and with a savage condescending look on his face.
“And you, hag” he said pulling on Hishma’s mums hair “Admit it, you're from the enemy camp right? You work for those bastards rigghhhhtttttt”
“No, no, my husband, why”
“I’ll take that as a yes then” grinned the giant man. With another wave of his hand a second green spike flew towards Hishima’s mum’s heart and pierced straight through, blood spurted everywhere. She was dead before Hishima had even registered his father’s death. Everything had happened so fast. Between the first scream and both his parents deaths barely twenty seconds had passed.
“Two spies killed in one day” said the giant man “great work Ming”
“Boss, how do you know they were spies” asked the man who had been tussling with Hishima’s father “We didn’t even get to ask them questions before you killed them.”
“Shut up Ming you idiot. They actually started insulting ME, a great sir from the majestic Pinelight family. How the hell could they be anything other than spies. Anyway, if we report them as spies we should get some reward or another”
“Right, right sorry boss”
“Anyway let's get out of here” The giant man waved his hand, and again luminous green light was emitted. It enveloped Hishima’s parents and with a shhhhhh sound they burned up into ashes.
Both men left as swiftly as they had arrived, all the while not knowing that barely two meters from where they had killed the ‘enemy spies’, Hishima had watched the entire thing.
All he had been able to do was watch, for he was frozen with fear. He was confused. His parents were gone? Just like that. Why? Because they were spies? Their murderer hadn’t even interrogated them before killing them.
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Hishima didn't really remember what happened after that. His eyes had a dead look in them as he shuffled in the direction the sun rose from the next morning. His mind was blank as he trudged along to the extent that he didn't even bother hiding, leaving himself vulnerable to attack. However as he had already been at the border, he somehow made it to the Blackweight territory safely, where he had then been found and brought to this nearby orphanage.
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Following Hishima’s first supper at the orphanage, he was permitted to roam the grounds freely. The orphanage was located at the border of a town, and closeby was the an enormous forest, with trees that towered over the buildings that made up the town. Upon being set free, after a quick detour at the orphanage’s kitchens, Hishima dashed into the forest, not bothering to remember which direction he was walking in. Once he felt that he was a great enough distance away from the orphanage, Hishima pulled out an object that he borrowed from the kitchens. An extremely sharp kitchen knife. It was clearly a knife that could slice even the hardest of vegetables with relative ease, which meant it could just as easily pierce flesh. It was for these reasons that Hishima had chosen this knife to end his life and reunite with his parents.
Hishima closed his eyes which had dark black bags under them. He saw luminous green light flash and felt that he could hear his mother's dying scream. This obviously caused his eyes to snap back open. This had happened every single time he had closed his eyes in the past week.
“I’m sorry mum, dad” he muttered, tears rolling down his eyes “but living, it’s just…. just so painful”
Hishima held the knife tightly with both hand, raised it into the air, and.. slash!