1 chapter one...the middle of the beginning.

Where should I start? The beginning? The middle? Not the end, the ends no fun. Ah, I know, how about the middle of the beginning? Now that's an excellent place to begin. But before I start, I should at least introduce myself. My name is Kieran Cyriac, let's start in the middle of the beginning.

I knew he would be after my family now, there was no way he would let them live now. Not this time.

I ran up the street to my house quickly opening the front door and running inside not bothering to close it behind me. I ran into the living room and pushed open the doors to the dining room.

"Mom!" I called, "quick mom, we have to go-" I stopped in the doorway of the dining room.

There was supposed to be a table with four chairs in the dining room, yet it was empty. all except for my mother who was on her knees, with clarion standing behind her holding a blade to her throat. Her left eye was black and swollen, her cloudy blue eyes full of tears threatening to spill over, her dark red hair was messy at her shoulders and she had a split lip, with blood dripping down some cuts on the side of her face.

"Well, look at that you're just in time, Kieran," Clarion said with a cold smile. Clarion's long black hair was pulled back in a ponytail, his cold brown eyes shining with amusement, his light skin coated with splatters of blood, most likely from those he recently slaughtered, he wore a dark suit just as bloodstained as his skin.

I took a step forward with a flick of my wrists summing my blades one in each hand. Ready for a fight. This was obviously one of Clarion's illusions. He has the power to create illusions meaning he can make something look and feel real. So much so it could seem like reality but in truth, it would just be whatever the illusionist wanted it to be.

But I've learned that there is always a little thing, (I like to call them kinks) something that always gives the illusion away or something the illusionist got wrong, and if you can spot it, you can expose the illusion and break it. If not then you're stuck in the illusion until the illusionist deactivates the illusion or until someone else breaks it.

And the thing about the kinks is it always seems to be something simple or overlooked.

I instantly saw the kink, the small thing the illusionist got wrong, I saw it the second I saw my mother. this was an illusion, it wasn't real. this was a trick it may not seem that obvious to anyone who has never seen my mother but for me, her daughter who has looked into her eyes many times. It was obvious to me at least.

"This is as close as you will ever get to my family," I growled, my eyes changed from cloudy blue to my left, a flaming red, and my right a pitch black. "I can see right through this ridiculous illusion, so let's stop playing games shall we?" with that I threw a blade right into my mother's heart and her body tumbled to the ground. Before shifting into a pile of dirt.

"What gave it away?" Clarion asked, a little taken aback.

I scowled, gripping my remaining blade. "my mother's eyes are green, not blue." I said before charging at him. Of course Clarion has never seen my mother so it wouldn't be much of a surprise for him to assume my mothers' eyes were cloudy blue like mine, but they were a beautiful green.

He had no time to dodge yet my blade didn't even graze him. but went right through him.

Of course, I expected as much. I lined my blade with white fire and tore through his illusion revealing the empty room to have a small group of armed children blocking the doorway to the living room ready to attack.

Clarion was part of his illusions which was to be expected, he liked having other people do his dirty work, which means these kids were real, and of course, Clarion would expect me to cut through them like grass, but I had already made it clear I don't kill children under the age of ten.

I could see how truly scared the younger ones were, most of them shooking in either fear or excitement, maybe even a little of both.

I straightened looking at the young faces, "I'm not going to hurt you, and I won't fight you either," I told them. I looked them all over carefully, I extinguished my blade proving that I had no intention of fighting, although I wouldn't need a blade to fight I do just as well with my hands, but that's beside the point.

There was a younger girl. She looked about five as she was clutching a small dagger tightly in her small hands, she had green hair that went to her ears, she wore a small blue dress and grey eyes her skin we like weak coffee and her voice quivered when she spoke, "Who are you?"

I sighed deeply, "my name is Kieran, and I have no intention of harming any of you," I looked at their faces, they all seemed so young. "I need to find Clarion and you're blocking the exit."

A young boy with blond shaggy hair and dark eyes stepped forward with a hint of authority in his voice when he spoke, "We were given orders to keep you from leaving if you broke through the illusion. And if you try to leave we have orders to kill you." he looked about twelve, close to my age, he must be the one in charge of the young group around him. he took a stance as if ready to fight at any second and the others followed his example taking similar fighting stances.

"Well, I'm not going to fight you much less kill you if you try to stop me from leaving," I admitted cocking a hip, looking them over. "I don't kill children and I certainly don't fight them for no reason."

"Then I suggest you stay where you are until we get new orders," he replied.

I rolled my eyes, "I don't have time for this, I have things to do." I started stepping toward them, "so either you let me pass or I will make you all move." I took another step forward.

The boy stepped toward me warningly "if you so much as take another step I won't hesitate to take you down." he warned holding his dagger tightly in front of him.

I scuffed in annoyance rolling my eyes. I don't have time for this kind of crap! If I don't find my family quickly, Clarion will kill them without a second thought. "You really think that you can take me down?"

"I've taken down people like you before." he sneered.

"Is that a fact? Well, I doubt you're anywhere near as good as you seem to think you are. But no matter I don't have time to deal with this. I'm going to leave even if I have to take you out to get through the doorway." my voice taking on a sharp and deadly tone. "So either you move, or I will move you and I won't be gentle."

The boy seemed to consider this, as the group behind him shifted uncomfortably but didn't move from where he stood.

"Hmm, interesting offer, but I think we're going to stay where we are." he had a cocky smirk on his face now. "If you want through you're going to have to get through us first and I can promise you we won't hold back."

This boy was obviously trying to challenge me, he really thought he could win against me. Well, he was about to be proven wrong.

I scowled at him and took a step forward and the blond snapped into action, he tried to stab me and I grabbed both of his wrists as if they made no threat, twisting his right hand behind him painfully, and pressing his left hand which held the blade, pressing it to his throat making sure his friends could see that if he so much as made one wrong move I could slit his throat in a second.

It all happened in a bit of a blur,

The blond slipped one of his legs behind one of my legs pulling hard, tripping me, I fell back still holding him tightly, causing him to fall with me, and just before my back could fully touch the floor I rolled taking the boy with me flipping so that he was lying flat on his stomach with me on top of him, pinning him there, keeping his right arm behind him so he wasn't able to use it. I quickly released his left wrist taking the blade and sharply pressing it to his throat forcing him to lift his head from the floor to not get his throat slit, so fast he had no time to use his now free hand to stop me or defend himself.

I could hear the gasps from the group looking down at their leader pinned to the ground, they all looked horrified.

I looked at the group with a warning glare, "Put down your weapons and move unless you want to see your friends blood cover this floor." I pressed the blade more tightly to his throat causing him to gasp in frustration, a little blood dripping from the blade tip.

my eyes held no humor but a silent challenge for them to try something.

After a moment they all dropped their weapons and moved out of the doorway to the living room. The boy struggled beneath me,

I leaned over his back to whisper in his ear, "next time don't get so cocky, that was your downfall, quite literally."

I carefully got off the boy pulling the blade away from his throat, but keeping his right arm pressed behind him until I was completely off and able to walk into the living room without him being able to grab me.

I looked at them from the living room, holding the blade threateningly in case any of them thought about trying anything, the boy quickly got to his feet wiping blood from his neck, he looked angry and like he wanted another go at fighting me.

"I normally don't end fights so quickly, but I'm in a hurry." I lined the blade with glowing fire, "maybe next time I'll go easier on you." with a smirk I threw the blade into the floor with an audible thump that spread fire through the doorway so they couldn't follow me, "better luck next time." and with that, I ran through the entry room to the front door slamming it behind me running down the street to find my family.