In the forest
"Niro, can I play with you guys too?" Yuri asks while looking at the group of boys wielding wooden swords and sparring.
All the boys seemed to be at least a few years older then him, after hearing Yuri they all looked at Niro who had been Yuri's friend for quite a while, he had very unique hair, half being white and the other half being black like his eyes but he was always outgoing and friendly so everyone in the village liked him and the boys his age always followed him.
"Sure Yuri, but you have to be the monster again." Niro said in a awkward voice.
Yuri was always the monster whenever they played, it was a game popular between the boys, knights versus monsters, the rules were simple, the knights had to protect the throne which was often just some big rock while the monsters had to either sit on the throne or defeat all the knights, that being said whenever Yuri played he was always the monster alone, surprisingly winning almost half of the time since he was strong compared to kids his age but it made him feel a little alone since when it came to duels no kids could hold their own against him except Noir and Molly.
Molly is what you would call the popular girl in our village, she was the same age as Noir making her only two years older than Yuri but she would often mock the boy for it and being slightly shorter than her, she would also flaunt around her short red hair and green eyes making a lot of girls jealous of her, even older girls were a little threatened by her beauty and potential, she also had a great affinity for magic awakening it from a very young age showing she had a lot of talent for it.
"No fair, I always play monster, I want to be a knight too!" Yuri said while pouting and crossing his arms.
Noir lets out a big sigh, he looks at the other boys behind him then back at Yuri.
"I'm sorry Yuri, I'll make it up to you later ok?" He ruffled Yuri's hair playfully.
Yuri was frustrated and annoyed but he knew Noir had always been kind to him and always helped him train and let the boy play with the rest of the children, if it weren't for Noir the other boys probably wouldn't even approach Yuri so with a sigh of defeat he responds.
"Fine, I'll be the monster, I'll give you guys one minute to get ready to defend the throne." Yuri, after which went and sat down by the rocks where the girls were and waited for the game to start.
"Oh how sad, our cute little Yuri is the monster again like always." The mocking voice came from Molly who was sitting on the highest rock nearby with the other girls who were giggling and gossiping.
"You really think you're so funny, huh?" Yuri says, annoyed at her comment, while irritating it's also true as always so he can't help but feel even angrier about it, Yuri gripped his wooden sword tightly, the handle of the wooden sword slightly cracking under the strength of his grip while he watch the other boys plan how to defend against him... "They look like they're having fun huh, I want to be a knight with them too..."
Suddenly Yuri is brought back from his thoughts to reality by Noir's voice.
"Ok Yuri, we're ready!" The boy screamed out while waving his hand.
Truth be told Yuri never understood how to swing a sword properly, even though Noir trained with him so much, whenever Yuri fought he just relied on instinct most of the time, maybe that made him even more of a weirdo in their eyes.
As Yuri gots up from the rock and started walking towards the other boys he could feel everyone's gaze bear upon him, the boys are putting up their guard while going in formation while the girls watch attentively with a smug look on their faces and whispering to each other.
Yuri suddenly leapt towards the others, the boys forming a line in the front while Noir waits beside the 'Throne'.
The first boy tries to block him after Yuri baited him into thinking he was going to stab him in the stomach then change the direction to an upwards swing hitting the kid's chin and knocking him out.
As soon as Yuri is ready to move onto his next opponent two boys come from opposite sides, Yur barely dodged the side swing from the boy on his right and get scraped by the upward swing from the kid to his left grabbing the boy's wooden sword in the process and pulling it towards himself after which he kneed him in the stomach making his opponent drop to the ground.
The other kid tries to sneak behind Yuri and hit him with a stab from behind however Yuri turned around just in time, dodging his attack and hitting the other boy's hand disarming him then following it up immediately with a slice to the neck making the boy drop to the ground and gasp for air while he cupped his neck.
The two kids that are left both managed to hit Yuri with a simultaneous strike, one to the back and one to the knee, they manage to get a few more cheapshots in before Yuri threw his sword at one of the boy's solar plexus knocking the wind out of him, knocking him down then punching the other one in the stomach making him drop to the ground and taking his wooden sword.
Yuri is pretty hurt right now but has to face his last opponent, Noir who is sitting on the 'throne', normally if Yuri wasn't hurt it would be a pretty equal battle but now he doubted if he stood a chance or not.
"Just the two of us now Yuri, you know you can't beat me in that state, so what will you do, rush to the throne and try to sit on it?" Noir's voice is calm and collected.
The girls in the background were cheering for Noir, chanting his name and how cool he is, except for Molly, her gaze never left Yuri.
Yuri always knew he could never compare to Noir in anything else except strength, the two colored hair boy was older, cooler, more handsome and taller, all his techniques with the sword were cool while Yuri just swung his sword wildly based on gut feeling and instinct alone, he couldn't help but feel a little jealous, but probably all the other boys felt the same.
"Oh, what's this, the annoying Noir fan club is going at it again huh." Noir looked at Yuri with confusion then just shrugged his shoulders.
"It's not my fault you know."
We start to exchange blows, while he used his sword techniques Yuri used everything he had, his wild and unreadable swings, dirty tactics like punching, grabbing and kicking, but Noir countered it all, finally after a few more minutes of fighting they both clash with they're wooden swords but due to their strength they break, or at least Yuri's did, Noir cleverly used his technique to always hit the same point on Yuri's sword, slowly chipping away at it and when Yuri noticed it, it was already too late, with on final downward swing Noir hits Yuri's collar sending him to the ground.
"You did well Yuri, you're getting stronger." Noir smiled as brightly as always before leaving, everyone else following him.
"Damn it."
Suddenly a shadow appeared, standing over Yuri's body, it was Molly, her dress blocking the sun, she had her arms crossed and was pouting.
"What, you came to make fun of me again?".
"Dummy, you alway get hurt, Healing Light." Suddenly she casted a healing spell over Yuri's small defeated body, the warm rays of light were making Yuri's wounds get better and numbed down the pain.
"What are you doing, shouldn't you go with your friends? Why are you healing me?"
"Dummy, just shut up and let me concentrate on my spell, it's only a 2nd tier spell so not like I'm wasting much of my mana or anything, --hmph--." Molly looks away pouting, her face has a small blush.
As she continues to heal Yuri the boy can't help but wonder why she would do something like this, it's not like they were friends or anything, plus they barely spoke, maybe she just wanted to practice her magic spells, that's probably it... yeah. After five or six minutes she completely heals Yuri's wounds, she looks a little tired.
You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.
"Tomorrow at the well near the village stalls at noon, you better come, if you don't I'll seriously be mad." Molly screams out with a flustered face, after which she runs away without another word.
"What was that all about? Is this a prank?" Yuri finally managed to get up.
He dusts myself off still a little confused by what just happen but deciding head back into the village, as Yuri walked alone through the forest he noticed that it's gotten quite late now as the sun is starting to set, he's way past his curfew, his mom is going to give him an earful for sure.
A few minutes later he got to the village entrance and saw a figure of a man that quickly went into hiding in the fores after spotting the boy, Yuri just shrugs it off as his imagination playing tricks on him and went into the village, everyone was either closing up shop or going home.
As Yuri walked through the small village he decided to stop by the smithy and talk to the blacksmith who was still there, working all day long until the last drop of light as always.
"Yo old man, how are you doing?" He was working at the anvil until finally he heard Yuri, looking up at the boy.
"Brat, I heard tomorrow's your birthday, how old are ye' gonna be?" The smith says stil striking a piece of metal on it with his hammer while sparks fly everywhere not even looking, that just showed he was a skilled smith.
Suddenly it dawned on Yuri, he had completely forgotten tomorrow was his birthday.
"Oh, uhm six I think, yeah... six." Yuri said while counting on his fingers.
"Yer' a big boy now huh, I remember when ye' were a little bugger running around the forge and yer’ parents came running after trying to get ye' home, anyways, don't ye' worry, I got one hell of a present for ye' kid." The man's laughter echoed while cooling the steel he just took off the anvil.
Yuri's eyes light up with excitement. "Really? Are you really gonna give me a gift?"
The smith laughs before nodding, after that he waved his hand indicating that Yuri should leave since it's late, the boy nods and leaves, his heart pounding with excitement about the thought of tomorrow.
The boy finally got home and opened the front door quietly and went in on his tippy toes, hoping nobody would see or hear him.
"Yuri." The gentle voice of a woman can be heard, Yuri looked over his shoulder and saw his mother sitting in the kitchen besides his father, while her face was smiling kindly, he could tell she was very angry at him.
Yuri looks down apologetically and walks over to her, his feet almost dragging on the ground as he kept his head low, Yuri's father looks at him with a face of relief, he was always the more gentle one and was probably just happy to see the boy was ok.
"I see, since you're turning six I guess you think you're an adult and your parents opinion doesn't matter anymore huh." THe tone of Yure's mom was calm and soft however he could hear the fury behind it.
She puts up her hand slowly and Yuri gets scared thinking she's going to hit him, he closed his eyes and braced for the slap but nothing happened. THe boy opened his eyes and saw that she was gently caressing his hair with tears in her eyes.
"I was so worried, never do it again ok?" Her tears fell down as she hugged Yuri tightly.
The boy is a little taken aback by her actions but it makes sense, she never did actually hit him in his entier life, only giving him scoldings, she was very gentle to begin with, her warmth was calming and made Yuri feel safe.
"I'm sorry mom, I promise I won't worry you again, so please don't cry"
"Ok son, time for bed, tomorrow's a big day ok?" Yuri's father says while patting the boy's shoulder.
Yuri nodded at his father then gave them one last hug before heading to bed. Next morning he woke up late since he had a hard time falling asleep, the boy looked out of the window and saw it was almost noon, he got ready and left his room, strangely nobody was home, he went into the kitchen and found a note, it read.
"Son, me and your mother have gone to the market, there's bread in the pantry and some margarine on the counter and sure to eat and brush your teeth before heading out. Love Dad & Mom"
Yuri hurriedly made himself some breakfast and brushed his teeth, after that he rushed out of the house.
"Oh man, Molly's going to be super angry at me." He runs through the village, bobbing and weaving through the other villagers going about they're day until he gets to the well, he sees Molly standing next to it with a look of defeat thinking Yuri wouldn't show up.
The blonde boy screamed out Molly's name while waving my hands, she quickly perks up, her expression lighting up, he ran up in front of her, panting from the sprint from his home up to the well, he look up at Molly who has a small blush on her face, her hands playing with her hair.
"Sorry I'm late Molly." Yuri says while panting for air before taking one big breath and recuperating his vigor, now standing straight and with a calm breath he talks again. "So what did you wanna talk about?"
Molly's blush grows larger as she doesn't even look in Yuri's direction while playing with her hair, under her breath she mutters. "P-Present"
"Huh? I didn't hear you, what did you say?" Yuri got closer to her.
Before he could even react she gave him a small kiss on the cheek, she covered her face with their hands while looking at Yuri through the space between her fingers.
"W-W-W-What was that about?" A blush appearing on Yuri's cheeks
"A-As a present for your birthday I-I decided to be your girlfriend." Molly mutters while playing with her hair looking away from Yuri as the blush on her face only grew larger as she kept fidgeting around.
"W-Wait Molly, does that mean... that you." Before Yuri finished his sentence Molly cut him off.
"Yeah, got a problem with that dummy?" She says with a small pout.
"But I thought you liked Noir, I mean all the girls do!"
"Huh? I don't like him, he's cool for sure but I think you're cooler since you always fight even though the odds are always against you and also... "
"Also I always kind liked yo-" Before Molly could finish her sentence an soft thud can be heard, her body dropping to the ground in a instant, it took Yuri a few seconds to process what had just happened, an arrow hit her in the neck,
"M-Molly." He looked down at her lifeless body, lying there on the ground, it all happened so fast he didn't even understand what was happening, his face distorted in horror.
Why is Molly lying there on the ground? Why isn't she moving? Why is there blood? What the hell is happening here? The thoughts in his head were running wild as he dropped down to his knees, he looked away from her body and vomited, he felt like the world around him is distorting, Yuri looked for the source of the arrow and saw the most horrifying scene he had and would probably ever witness, a sight that would scar anyone for life, it was a group of bandits carrying wooden spike with the heads of everyone he knew and all the other villagers on them.
His father's head with a expression of anger and anguish, his mother's head had a calm expression, her eyes closed with tears of blood running down her pale cheeks, Noir's head with a expression of horror and pain, all the heads of the people in the village were impaled on those spikes and all he could hear were the terrifying and blood curdling laughs of the bandits, monsters in human skin, bastards who killed and destroyed for fun.
One of the bandits spotted him and immediately started running towards him as Yuri looked at him in horror, suddenly his throat seems to burn up, he could feel the flow of mana inside of himself burst, it was hard but Yuri managed to open his mouth, a small ball of flame launched out and hit the bandit's face, he grabs his face screaming in pain trying to put out the fire.
Cough, cough. "It hurts." Yuri grabbed his own throat, it hurts so much, his lips feel dry almost like breaking apart and his throat felt like it was burnt, he somehow managed to force a 2nd tier spell out of his body, It was a known phenomenon that few experienced when the need for survival and strong emotions clash causing the body to forcefully use whatever mana one has in order to save itself and awaken one's core.
The bandit puts out the fire that was on his head, his face now mutilated by Yuri's Fire Breath spell, he looks at the small terrified boy with pure anger, the bandit picks up his sword.
Yuri is defenseless squirming on the floor, the pain in his throat is too much for him to handle, he can't move, much less think logically because of the pain, the bandit swung his sword, it almost reaches Yuri's body, however somebody pushed the bandit, sending him flying, it was the blacksmith, before Yuri could even make a sound the blacksmith picked his small body up and ran away carrying Yuri over his shoulder, not a single word was asi, blocking my view and shielding me from the bandits only seeing the chaos, the village starting to be set ablaze and one last glance at Molly's dead body, after running for what felt like hours they finally stopped near a river in the middle of the forest, look like they lost the bandits, the blacksmith lets Yuri down.
"Mister blacksmith... Molly and the others... they're all dead." Yuri's words felt empty, almost as if he still couldn't believe what had just occurred.
The blacksmith looks at Yuri with an expression of sadness and nods, he reaches into his robe and pulls out a dagger, it was the same one he made a while ago and he handed it to Yuri.
"Happy birthday to ye' kiddo." The man said in a weak voice before collapsing on the ground face first.
"M-Mister!" Yuri dropped down on his knees and shook the blacksmith's lifeless body before looking up and seeing that his back was filled with arrows, with such wounds it was surprising he could even move, much less run with Yuri in his arms all the way here.
A few minutes later Yuri finally understood the reality of what just happened, he shook his head and got up.
He buried the blacksmith using stones near the river since he was too weak to even dig a hole, each stone felt like another piece of his sanity being ripped apart, the emotion draining from his eyes as he finished burying him. Yuri grip the dagger tightly before going to the river and cleaning up.
The boy purified some water by boiling it using mana by spreading small amounts in his palm, making heat and boiling it, then he drank it. 0th tier magic is usually useless but it helps with miscellaneous things like this.
He looked at the grave one last time before walking away going the opposite direction from where they came from, he felt completely empty, he lost everything and everyone.