I did it guys! Pat me on the back! My wrists feel horrible. :( It's a pretty important chapter though. Don't miss it.
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A young boy sat alone in his room. His face hurt. Earlier that day, he had been pushed around by his group of "friends." Rubbing the side of his head, the boy continued to stare emotionless out the window. The rays of the sun still lingered, its orange light plastered across the sky. What thoughts ran through his mind? What did the boy want to do most in the world right now?
*Boom Boom Boom*
Three knocks from his door. Snapping from his stoic state, the boy stood at attention and said, "C-come in."
An average sized, plain looking, man stepped through the doorway. He wore a thin brown v neck shirt with a matching pair of brown trousers. Scratching the stubble on his chin, the man carelessly looked swept his eyes around the room as if searching for something.
"Kid." the man said.
"Y-yes uncle?" the boy responded while tightly clasping his hands together. The boy wearily looked at his uncle's hands.
"Go and help your aunt with the clothes." he ordered.
The boy nodded reluctantly, "Yes uncle." he said again. Hurrying to leave his uncle's presence but also dreading meeting his aunt, the boy's steps were between a scurrying rat and a lumbering giant.
"Go faster." his uncle commanded while slapping him across the cheek with just enough force that the boy would stagger but not fall.
"U-understood!" the boy yelled out. Recovering, he hastened his feet and exited the room.
Reaching the living room, the boy turned and headed out through the back. He was greeted with an unsightly scene. Forcing himself to look at his aunt the boy said, "A-auntie, I'm here."
"Clean the clothes." she said while leaning against the side of the house, doing nothing in particular. "Do three shirts then three pairs of pants."
The boy did as he was told and crouched down. Each day that he had to wash the clothes were like this. His aunt would give him strange orders on how to wash the clothes then she'd leave for a while before returning to tell him how much of a mess he had made. Pulling up his dirtied sleeves, the boy let his fingers pick a shirt from the top and place it into the large bucket of water.
He did his best to ignore the sting he felt from the soapy water. On his third shirt, the water's color was no longer that clear blue with a few bubbles on top. No, now it was a light muddy brown with the slightest tinge of red. The boy shook his right hand in an attempt to combat the sting before sinking them back in the dirtied water to begin washing again.
The boy started to sweat as he noticed his aunt was still lingering. She should've left already! Why is she still here? He didn't want her to see the slightly blood stained water so, while still rubbing the dirt away, he inched over to the side to block her view.
During his crab like walk, he lost balance. Falling over to his side, he reached out for support. Accidentally, the boy grabbed onto the bucket and, with a splash, sent the water with the shirt still within onto the ground. He rolled on his stomach and pushed himself up.
"Stupid boy!" his aunt screamed while hurrying to pick up the shirt strewn on the ground.
The boy looked at his hands, which were adorned with various cuts he had received earlier in the day. Now, in addition to the bloody cuts, specks of dirt were all over, sticking to his wet hands.
"AAh!" he let out a small cry as the large empty bucket was thrown at him. He rubbed his head where it had struck.
"Get some more water and finish these clothes before sunset or you won't be eating anything tonight!" the woman screamed.
The boy nodded hurriedly and rushed to the well. Though running as fast as he did, he did not once trip. This was what the boy was best at, this was the skill that allowed to boy to avoid the bullies in his life. All the boy had was the speed in his disposal.
In no time flat, the boy reached the well and started gathering water from there. Throwing the bucket, from which a rope was attached, from the top of the well, he would hurry to heave it up. Eventually, he was able to fill his own, basin like, bucket. Lifting up the water filled object, the boy made his way back to his uncle's house.
"Hey!" someone yelled out. "Look who it is."
Within no time, the boy found himself surrounded by his peers. He stopped cold at the girl's voice.
"Nathan." one of the girls, the one who stopped the boy, said. "Why don't you do something this time?"
The boy wanted to run away from the situation, especially from the girl.
From further back in the small group of boys and girls numbering six, Nathaniel stepped out. "All right." he said. He locked his fingers together and pulled, making a cracking noise. "Why are you carrying around a bucket?" Nathan asked. "Shouldn't your mom be doing that?" he said, a smile peaking through his lips.
The boy said nothing and looked down.
"Oh, that's right. You don't have a mom like us you orphan." Some of the others in the group giggled. "So why are you doing this and not your aunt?" Nathan asked again.
They waited in silence for a while before the boy spoke up.
"If I don't do this, then I don't eat." he said, shooting a slight glance at the girl who called for Nathan.
Nathan noticed this. Rolling his sleeves up, he grabbed the other end of the big bucket and flipped it. All of the water fell onto the young boy's head yet, he still held onto the bucket.
The group of kids laughed. The wet boy glared at them, sending chills down their backs.
"Don't look at me like that!" Nathaniel, the bully's full first name, pushed the bucket which in turn made the wet boy fall into the mud by his feet. Seeing the boy who was now on the ground covered in mud, Nathan's initial fear died. He wasn't anything after all.
Still feeling a little malicious, Nathaniel put his foot on the boy's chest and slowly forced him to the ground. "Now maybe you won't smell so bad. Hopefully the mud will cover all of it up."
"Hey guys!" a boy who came out of the nearby shrubs said. "I got the ball!"
"Let's go." a boy named Ethan said. "I'd rather play some ball right now."
Nathan, who was the boy's best friend, nodded. "Okay. Let's go then." Nathan started to turn but paused. "Oh, since I made a mistake and hit that water out of your hands, you might not get to eat. Here, since it's your birthday I'll give you some bread." Nathaniel rummaged through his pocket and pulled out a nice clean chunk of bread.
The muddy boy reached out for it.
"Whoops!" the bread fell into the mud. "My bad. I dropped it. Anyways," Nathan turned around. "happy eleventh birthday."
The malicious group left and the boy got up. Brushing some of the mud off, he picked up the bread and bucket and headed back to the well.
By the time the boy had finished washing the clothes back at his uncle's home, the sun had set. He could smell the aroma of soup his aunt had made which made his stomach churn and growl. He opened the door and stepped inside.
"I'm done." he said.
"It's past sundown." his aunt said. "We've already begun eating. We can't just waste time to get you a meal too."
Their only child, also an eleven year old boy, laughed.
"You can eat in the morning." his uncle said. "Go to your room."
"But-"
"No buts!" his uncle yelled. "I am letting you live here for free! Now go to your room and don't say another word unless you want to get hit! Do you want that?"
The boy felt his forearms which were marked red from previous smacks and shook his head.
"Good. You can eat breakfast in the morning. Leave."
The boy walked back to his own room and shut the door. As he started to crawl into his bed, he noticed that his sheets were missing. Thinking back on it, the laundry which he had just done held his cousin's sheets. The boy grit his teeth and curled up into a ball. Since his cousin's sheets were dirty, they had taken the boy's and given it to their son.
Ah, how the boy hated his life here. He wished every day that his parents would show up and take him back to their old loving home where they would cherish him so. But he knew it wouldn't happen, he had been waiting four years now, he also saw with his own two eyes their charred bodies.
Thinking about it almost brought a tear down from his eyes which had dried up long ago.
*GROWL*
The boy patted his stomach. He hadn't eaten a good meal all day. Morning and lunch were nothing but scraps. It could hardly be called a meal. Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out the bread with mud stains. With his shaking and bleeding hands, he carefully tore apart the pieces soaked with the mud and ate the little clean chunk.
His face turned into a frown as he couldn't tell whether the bread was sour or sweet. He waited a moment after devouring all of it. Not satisfied by the little amount, he grabbed the mud covered pieces and shoved them into his mouth.
Ahhhh. It's not so bad.
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A month later
"What a raggedy village." the well built man thought. Standing at five foot ten, the man was taller than most in the village, handsomer too. With short brown hair and a sharp face with attached calculating eyes, the man appraised the village as he walked through it.
Should I stay here for the night?
He glanced up at the sky. Not a single hint of yellow or orange had graced it yet. The man shook his head. I'd like to make it there faster. I'd rather not stay at this village, probably isn't even an inn.
Not that the man neccessarily needed an inn. He was used to the rough life of traveling. Often times the man would have to sleep on the hard floor with nothing else but a small tent which he carried on his back with his other essential items.
Not a single thing about the village caught the man's interest.
It's location was boring, being right in the middle of the Kaldora Empire, and it also didn't have any adventurer guilds or martial art temples nearby. The forest, or wood, that surrounded it held nothing but squirrels and a variety of wild plants like every other gathering of trees does. Not a single interesting or dangerous beast inhabited the place.
And so, with a sigh, the man lumbered forward hoping that he'd reach another settlement before nightfall. Though he was used to traveling, he didn't like not having any place to rest at and to socialize with others.
His journey through the small village eventually brought him to a strange sight. He furrowed his eyebrows and stared disgusted at the scene before his eyes.
Three children, all boys, were beating down on one who hid behind his arms while another group of children watched. The man glanced around, trying to see if anyone else had noticed. Strangely enough, the people, the adults of the village, seemed not to care.
From what the man could tell and what he was seeing, this was nothing but an outcast child being picked on by the ones stronger and older than it. He looked closer with his eye and saw something which shook him. With a rumble in his chest and a quickening of his pace, he roared out, "Hey! You kids need to stop this now!"
Upon seeing him, some of the younger children ran but the three boys and a few others who were watching stayed.
"What's going on here?" he asked.
"Nothing." one of the older boys said. "We were just rough housing."
"Yeah." the other two nodded in agreement.
"Would your parents call it rough housing?" the man asked.
Two of the boys looked at each other but the other one answered instantly.
"Yeah." he pointed at the boy on the ground. "They know that we're just messing around with him. His aunt and uncle don't mind either."
The man's ears perked up. Aunt and uncle? Though not uncommon, he found it strange that his aunt and uncle would be okay with this. It looked too much like bullying. Maybe his relatives were in on it too.
The man stared coldly at the three boys.
"Are you okay with this?" the man asked the fallen boy.
One of the older ones stepped forward, "He's totally fine with it."
"I'll talk to the boy." the man gently pushed the other out of the way.
"No!" one of them yelled. "Y-you can't."
"Why not." the man crossed his arms while rolling his eyes.
"H-he can't talk."
Shaking his head, the man snapped his finger and fire appeared.
"EEEE!" all three boys let out a shrill shriek.
"Get out of here or this fire might go a little bit out of control do you understand?"
They didn't bother to nod, the three simply ran away.
He wiped his forehead as if it were filled with sweat and as if he were tired from dealing with the bullies. With a pitying look he sent a glance down at the boy. His raven black hair was filled to the brim with spots of brown, his clothes were torn, and his face had many bruises and cuts.
How could any guardian let this happen? he asked himself.
"Boy." the man called out to him. "Where are your guardians? I want to have a talk with them."
The boy looked up at the man.
"W-why?" the boy finally said. The thing that shook the man was no longer there, and the boy seemed shocked that someone had came to his aid. "I don't want them to think that I've been bad again."
Been bad? the man narrowed his eyes. Disgust welled up in his chest. Something was definitely wrong with his guardians. Why would they think he's the bad one in this case? The man knew that something else was happening, in fact, he suspected the boy's relatives simply did not care.
"Are you worried about them?" the man asked, kneeling down. A slight chill ran down his back. Just for a moment, a single flash, he thought he saw a smile appear on the boy's lips, and then, it was gone.
"Something happened. I don't think that my uncle's feeling very well." the boy rubbed his left arm, but in doing so, he had revealed dark blue and bright red marks.
The man immediately seized the opening before the boy could cover it and studied his arm.
"Did your uncle do this to you?" the man asked. "Did he hit you?"
The boy stood silent for a moment before saying anything. "No. He didn't hit me."
"Then was it your aunt?"
The boy stiffened like a statue. Nothing came from his lips.
"I'm right aren't I?"
The boy refused to answer.
Sighing, the man stood up. "Don't tell me that they didn't hit you From your reactions I already know that they did."
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The boy said nothing.
The man wasn't sure of what the boy was thinking but he still did his best and guessed. "Are you afraid that if I tell them, if I confront them, then you'll get in trouble?"
The boy nodded slowly as if he wasn't so sure.
The man seemed to know that this wasn't the entire story. The man knew that there was something other than this as to why the boy hadn't ran away yet, he knew that the boy was more afraid of something else rather then being beaten. But, the man accepted this, it was close enough for him.
"Then how about this?" the man reached out his hand to the little boy. "Hey there." he said. "Want to come with me?" He watched the unnerved boy with a wry smile and a pitying stare. The boy didn't seem to notice at all, the boy simply looked at the man's hand for a while.
Eventually, his shaky arms started to move before finally, the clasped their hands together. With a firmer grip, the man shook the boy and the boy did so in return.
"Hey kid. Name's Reinhard. What's yours?"
"Nobody ever calls me by it but, it's Rainen."
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"Rainen!" Reinhard called out. It had been a year since the two met. Right after shaking hands, Reinhard went straight to the boy's house and declared that the boy chose to go with him and would no longer be under their care. He immediately left, leaving the boy's relatives no time to respond. In the weeks that followed after the start of their journey, the young boy, Rainen, had constantly asked Reinhard to teach him how to become stronger.
After multiple refusals and constant explanations that if Rainen chose that route, Reinhard could no longer be as nice as he once was, Rainen still persisted. In the end, Reinhard gave in and trained Rainen but with the utmost strictness and harshness befitting that of his own master.
The tones that he had once used with the boy became much more familiar and harder in their edge. To his young student, Reinhard drilled the rigor of the world into him and pushed him far beyond that. Constant, boring, and repetitive actions was what the boy was made to do.
Reinhard once said, "Jump five hundred times then drop down to your stomach and give me five hundred push ups before kicking and punching the tree two hundred times." Rainen would nod and follow the commands given. Reinhard was a harsh man but he wasn't expecting the impossible. Upon his return he found the boy collapsed on the floor gasping for breath.
Reinhard told Rainen that he didn't exactly mean it that way and continued giving harsh but more reasonable orders.
Today, Reinhard told Rainen to go on a break. It was the least that he could do for him, since he worked so hard and so diligently. Recently, Reinhard also started teaching Rainen how to read and count. It didn't really amaze the man that his student didn't know how to read, as most commoners didn't, but it surprised him that the boy could barely tell the difference between copper and silver coins.
Again he called out, "Rainen!" waiting for a few moments by their campsite which was near a stream, no response came. Reinhard started to look for some tracks, any kinds of signs that would lead him to where his student was. After a while of no luck Reinhard finally found some crushed leaves and patted down grass. Following the trail, found Rainen at the end sitting on top of a small hill that overlooked the village they were near.
Underneath his bottom on which he sat, were a plethora of colorful leaves. It certainly was the season for it. Larbram, the last month of fall before winter struck.
With a few more steps, Reinhard was leaning against the tree and trying to follow his student's gaze. Rainen turned to him.
"Is there something you need?"
"Not from you kid." Reinhard responded. "Resting properly?"
"Can't you see me sitting down?" Rainen held his hands out and kicked his feet in the air which were hanging just a little bit off over the hillside which resembled more of a small cliff.
"I can see that." he replied annoyed. "I thought that you'd go out and hang around the village or something like that. The tavern is pretty lively."
"I doubt an eleven year old like me can drink." he said.
Ludicrous.
Reinhard waved his hand dismissively, "Anyone can drink, just don't drink so much that you pass out or get hung over."
"I've always been told not to drink as a kid." Rainen responded while continuing to stare.
Reinhard squinted his eyes, trying to see what his student was seeing. "Well who said that?"
"My mother." Rainen replied bluntly.
His throat was instantly caught, he had been trying to cheer his disciple up but instead he brought up some bad memories. In the little time that they had been together, Reinhard had managed to learn and infer a lot from his student.
"S-sorry." Reinhard said, not actually knowing what else he could say.
"Hahaha." Rainen's shoulders shook. "She never said that to me." Rainen rubbed his arm with a wry smile. "Don't you remember that one time you came back drunk? You were the one who said it."
"Was I?" Reinhard could hold his drinks, he didn't once remember getting drunk, though that's mostly what happens when you do get drunk.
Rainen blew some air out of his nose, "Mmm. Whether you said it or not, I think we can both agree that I shouldn't be drinking. Unlike you, I don't think that I've experienced enough of life yet." Standing up, the young boy pat his master's shoulder as he went by.
With Rainen out of the way, it was much easier for Reinhard to see what he had been missing. A group of kids, young children, around Rainen's age, were playing around with a ball.
"Hey Rainen." he called out without looking back. "Did you perhaps want to go join them?"
"Hmph." he blew air out of his nose again. "What are you saying, it's my break from training right? If that's true then I want to sleep."
"Hmph. Got too much of me in you already kid. Get back to your resting."
Rainen left without saying another word.
He stayed for a little while longer before heading back to camp. As he drifted there, following the path his student had made, the roar of a bear echoed through the forest.
Hurrying his pace, Reinhard hopped over fallen trees and easily traversed over the rocky paths, leaping off of some of the higher platforms.
By the time he had gotten to where he initially heard the noise, which was by a cave a little far away from their campsite, Rainen stood over a fallen bear with a branch sticking out from its neck.
"Rainen." Reinhard called out calmly. "Are you alright?" he gripped the boy's shoulder and Rainen nodded. "What happened here?"
"The bear was attacking an injured deer." Rainen pointed his finger over at the bleeding deer whose leg was twisted awkwardly, it was limping away.
"And you just killed it?" his master said, baffled by the boy's decision.
"It was hurting something weaker than it so I killed it." he responded as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
"Rainen," Reinhard paused. "don't you think it's sad for the bear that it's dead just because it was trying to get some food? It's almost Winter, they need to store food."
"It doesn't change the fact that it was attacking a deer that couldn't defend itself." he said.
"Yeah, but nature is like that. What do you think's going to happen to the deer now that it has a bummed leg? What if another animal, maybe a lone wolf sees it? Don't you think it's going to die a more painful death?"
Rainen shrugged. "I just did what was right."
"Rainen." Reinhard said. "Go back to the campsite with the bear, we'll do something about it." Reinhard bent down and cast a spell on the bear's body. "It should be easier for you to carry it now."
"I'll see you there." Rainen said while lifting the bear over his small shoulders.
Reinhard stared at Rainen as he walked away. "Maybe you've experienced too much of the wrong side of life." Reinhard muttered to himself. A few faint cries, three maybe, came from the cave from which the bear emerged. "How sad."
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Seven months later, Northern region of Ouruan, Jahlor Kingdom.
Reinhard walked around the town seeking nothing in particular. He wasn't really looking for anything rather, he was trying to kill time until a certain meeting could be had between himself and the local orphanage. He wasn't particularly planning to adopt anyone, but to speak to someone within which whom he had ties with.
Reinhard thought back to his student who should be training diligently at the campsite. Maybe I should've brought him along. This involves him too.
He still remembered the events from six months ago. Though Rainen had not done anything of the sort again, after Reinhard properly scolded him about how nature worked, he still felt worried for the boy's lack of friends. So that's what he was here today to do, take on another student and hope that the two would become friends.
As the hours passed, Reinhard finally got to meet with his friend. There they discussed about the boy that would be joining Reinhard on his journey.
"Alright thanks."
"No, thank you for taking him along."
"It's fine if I swing by later tonight?"
"Fine with us. He'll be ready by then." the woman replied.
"Bye."
"Goodbye."
Reinhard, happy with the outcome, headed back into the forest where Rainen was being trained harder than a knight. Like a nightmare from before, Reinhard saw a scene that shocked him. His student once again was standing over a dead body with a stick protruding from it, but this time, "it" was a person.
"Rainen!" Reinhard said with careful, appraising eyes. "What happened here?"
Like with the bear, Rainen pointed through the forest as if expecting his master to be able to see that far and said, "Earlier, I saw him hurting some children and their parents on the street."
"What was he doing?"
"He was robbing them, so I grabbed him and dragged him over here."
"And then you executed him?" Reinhard's eyes were widening.
"No. He fought me." Rainen responded while looking down at the criminal.
"But you had the upper hand the whole time right?"
"Yeah."
"Could you have knocked him out?"
"Yeah." Rainen nodded.
"Then why didn't you?" Reinhard waited with baited breath.
"Isn't it easier and better for the world if trash like him just die?"
Reinhard clenched his fists and stomped forward. Rainen recoiled back. He placed his hands firmly on the boy, who was only a few days away from twelve years, and said, "Rainen, listen to me. Killing, you only kill people when you HAVE to."
"B-but don't you kill people too?"
"Have you ever seen me kill anyone?" Reinhard asked.
"Have you ever killed anyone?" Rainen asked.
He waited a moment before responding, "Yeah, a lot of people. But, Killing is bad. Remember that okay? Only kill when you absolutely have to." he held up his pinky finger. "Promise me that you won't kill unless you absolutely HAVE to."
"I-I promise master."
Reinhard nodded. "Right. Now, let's go meet my new student and your new rival."
"Rival? I-I'm not sure I want one of those. W-what if he beats me?"
"Then you work harder. Just work hard enough so that you can overcome him." He led Rainen from the campsite. "Now, go on to the town and don't cause any trouble, his name's Hadrian and he should be waiting at the orphanage." Rainen nodded and walked off.
"Remember!" Reinhard yelled.
"Killing his bad!" Rainen responded.
Nodding, Reinhard lifted the body up and carried him towards the city.
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Two years prior to present day. Winter, December. Age 14
Sitting on his bed, the boy hand his back against the wall. His whole body was on top of the bed, covered by nothing but his clothes. The cold air didn't seem to affect him much, he was almost entirely still, only rocking back and forth.
He held his hands up to cover his ears, as he rocked back and forth.
"I, I, I can still hear it. Haaah, haaaah. Haaa." So hard was the pressure of his fingers on his head that his head started to feel pain. His hands were shaking uncontrollably and he stared at nothing.
*BANG BANG BANG*
"Rainen!" His master called out from behind the door. "It's me! Open up!"
Rainen ignored him, no, he couldn't hear him. All he could hear was the crunch of the snow, that's right, it was the crunch of the snow. It drove him almost insane.
Blood covered his knuckles and his legs were pressed tightly against his chest.
"The sound, the sound won't stop." He rocked back and forth. "Killing, killing is bad. Killing is bad. Murder is bad. Don't murder anyone. Killing is bad. Don't kill anyone. It's bad, it's bad."
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Current Day. 8:30 pm
Rainen sat on top of the giant white pillar which had become a landmark for Aurora City purely based on its size alone. Up there, over thirty meters high, Rainen watched over the bright city which was blanketed with a cold white sheet. He swung his feet allowing the back of his feet, his heels, to hit the hard stone.
He wore his black clothing which concealed his identity.
Rainen Anne called him by his name, he preferred it like that. The criminal is at at the southeastern side. I think he's hiding in the abandoned buildings. Me and the new guy are chasing another one, please take care of that one for me.
Getting to his feet, Rainen opened his arms wide and fell off the side of the pillar. The wind which pressed up against him was cold. It did its best to slow him down but at this rate, if he hit the ground, he would die, there was no doubt about that.
Halfway down, he looked up. "Close enough." he said, and disappeared.
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"Haaaaah. Haaaaa...."
The criminal leaned up against the wall of the abandoned house. He was inside it, inside one of the rooms which had long been forgotten to be cleaned out by its owner.
With the entire weight of his body, the criminal laid upon the wall and sought to catch his breath.
"I hope that Steven made it out okay."
"Who's that?"
As if a ghost had spoken to him, the man froze up for a moment. In a swift, jerky motion, he twisted his upper body and attempted to stab at the person who had spoken.
"UUUGH!"
"Uh uh uh." the person in black waved his index finger back and forth. Effortlessly, he held the man's wrist in place, the dagger was only an inch or two away from his face.
"So, wanna tell me what you thought you were doing trying to loot the barracks building? If you wanted to do that you should've done it two weeks ago when it was first destroyed."
"I, I wasn't doing anything like that!" the man denied.
Rainen smiled, "Right. That's fine too. You know? The group that performed the attacks, some of their members are still missing so any suspicious people need to be questioned. I hope that you'll come more quietly than the others, or, I might have to break a bone or two."