As the doctor, or uncle, instructed I went to sleep, actually I tried to go to sleep but when you think about somebody attacking you and tormenting you from gods know where you can’t really sleep.

Hours went by standing as in a trance until I heard the door loudly closing. I jumped and looked and there was standing my uncle Klaus? At least I believe he is my uncle.

“Come boy! Your body should be well enough to walk!” He told me with a grin on his face and a cigar in his left hand.

I test his claim and he’s right, I can walk! It still hurts but I can walk now. He gets out of the door frame and makes a sign to me to go, a cold shiver went down my spine but I get out of that room.

I enter a big hall, chandeliers can be seen from time to time to light up this place. I could see dozens of rooms on this hall alone and my art pieces, from paintings of different persons and scenes to old weapons decorated with gold and silver, from swords to pistols and muskets.

Klaus leads the way, I only now see how thin he actually is but he seems agile and he was certainly fast, he was is walking but I need to almost run to catch up with him.

I sporadically look at different paintings, I can see scenes from wars, from The American Revolution to Napoleon's Hundred Days. They were beautiful, whoever painted this was a genius.

Down the hall I can see portraits of people, probably family members. I again look sporadically and I stop looking at a portrait of a man and a woman. They’re holding a kid and look happy, they look like my parents, they probably are. That kid is me, so I actually was at this manor.

I snap out of my trance and look to see Klaus, I can’t see him but the hall takes a turn so he should be there and I can see him at the end of the hall, entering a room with double doors.

I run towards him and arrive exactly when he was about to close the door. In that room I can see furniture that people would imagine only in castles, everything sparks of cleanness and emits a floral smell, almost intoxicating.

On a leather armchair sits an old man in a black suit smoking a cigarette, small clouds of smoke going thru his gray moustache. His gray slick hair could probably reach his chin but was pulled back. He looked amazed at me.

“Uhm...hello your greatness!” I tried to make a bow for this man. “I’m glad to see The Gray Raven...”

“Ohoho, how can my dear grandchild not recognize me!” The man said with tears in his eyes. He then jumped up like he was 13 and stopped crying as fast as he begun. “I’m not The Gray Raven my ignorant young man! I’m Ibus’s older brother, your great uncle if you want, Ferruccio! I’m the sword and shield of The Gray Raven!”

This old guy was a sword? Maybe in his good days, he looks so much older than my grandpa and he’s thin, although he’s taller than my grandpa, he’s about 6 feet tall so about as tall as me, but still.

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He seemed to notice my surprise and his face seemed to darken, I blinked for maybe a second and he closed that distance of 30 feet before I opened them again. He was in front of me, he seemed angry.

“Now listen here my dear grandchild, I’m the sword and shield for over 30 years and nobody entered that room without my permission!” He pointed at the door behind his armchair. “So I want to see some respect from you!”

He stopped and rapidly blinked and looked again at me with a surprised face.

“Oh Salazar! I’m so glad you came along! Please sit down and have a tea with me! Maybe you want some coffee actually, you’re quite old now, do you want a cigarette?”

He got to a small room connected to this one that I didn’t observed until now and started brewing some coffee.

“Um uncle Klaus? What’s happening?” I whispered towards him.

“Quite simple to explain, he’s playing with you, don’t buy into it. This one is dangerous and a little senile.” He threw away his cigar and looked in his pockets until he found another one. “Remember the integration of the black steel in your body? A stupid move usually but this guy developed it when he was still young. From what I heard his bones are made from balck steel now.”

I suppose this is what I should expect from a so called shield and sword. I wonder how tough he actually is, I mean he has a strong skeleton but what about his power in general? With that thought I sit down and wait for the coffee, I didn’t drink any in... a couple of weeks? Maybe? I don’t remember at all.

The sofa I choose to sit on is just marvelous, I slip deeper and deeper in it until I’m woken up by uncle Ferruccio. He smiles and sits back in that armchair and started smoking again, he offered me some cigarettes but I refused.

“Now Salazar I suppose you need to meet with Alexander.”

“Alexander? Is that the name of The Gray Raven?” I ask and both of them nod in tandem.

“Well, this is one of his names, the name he was reborn with after he accepted his gift.” Ferruccio said sipping some tea. “Now I suppose you don’t know many things about Alexander, except from the usual things being told to children, I will also assume that you don’t know why you are here, am I right?”

“Yes! I’m don’t know why I’m here! I get that you wanted me to become a hunter or whatever it’s called but why do I need to be here?”

“Simple! Alexander wants to measure your worth and give you the first task you’ll have to accomplish!” His face once again darkened and sweat appeared on my face once again.

“Is there no way to get out of this mess?” I ask even though I know it’s not a good idea.

“To get out of this mess?! Are you stupid? My grandchild is that stupid?!” He stands up now yelling. “Listen here Salazar I know you suffered, I know you might even be traumatized but I frankly don’t care and neither does the god that gave this family power! We shall protect humans from what lurks in the darkest of corners, it’s our duty! Humans are weak and our duty as the strong are to protect them now swallow your demons and get to kill some real demons!”

“I think you’re a little too rough to Salazar, Ferruccio.” Klaus told calmly while looking straight in Ferruccio’s eyes.

“Too rough? You your brain is too full of beer to get it? You know what you had to go thru and you know what I had to go thru, this kid is nothing different from us, he doesn’t deserve special treatment! Alexander lost everything and swore himself to never let normal people go thru this!”

He seemed truly angry now, he was read and his hair was all over the place.

“You can go boy.” He fell back in his armchair and let a big sigh. “You can’t escape, accept your fate, that’s what we all did.”

I was more scarred now then when he seemed ready to chop my head off, I could feel true sadness in his voice. I got up almost startled and went in that door.