Where It All Started.

"Alex, what do you want to do?" An old man smiled, sitting on a tattered black couch, looking across the table toward his grandson. "The power you hold is great, you can't waste it,"

"It's not my power alone," Alex replied, staring forward at his grandfather, "Sister and I are twins, cursed with contract."

"It's the nature of contract. They give you as much weakness as they give power," The grandfather replied, standing up and walking toward the cabinet.

"Both of you got the good and bad," He pulled a small charm, "Do you understand that?"

"I do not," Alex replied, "My power is different from sister Emil, and unlike her, I'm not bedridden," He glared at his grandfather, "Mom and Dad died protecting us, and now it's on me to protect sister until the end,"

The grandfather threw the charm toward Alex, and the kid caught it, "What's this?"

"Look inside,"

Alex opened the small satchel charm and looked inside, finding a nail-sized purple scale, "A good luck charm. A scale of the great gravity dragon."

Alex put the scale back in the charm and put it on the table, "How much did you buy this thing for? Five coppers? I didn't think you'd fall for those scammers,"

"It was six coppers," His grandpa replied with a smile, "Looks real, doesn't it?"

"Fake as hell, a real scale would go for billions of gold coins. War rose for them, do you remember," Alex sighed, "You fought in a war, didn't you?"

"I'm already eighty years old, it's been thirty years since then," The grandpa sat back on the couch, "Keep the charm, for goodwill,"

"Fine," Alex picked up the charm and hung it around his neck, "I'll keep it,"

"Hehe," The grandpa giggled, "That's my grandson,"

"You're always…" Alex was about to speak but he suddenly stopped, his head turning toward the window, "Shit!" He grabbed a plate from the table and threw it at the old chandelier in the ceiling, putting the light off.

****

Emil sat on her bed, struggling to lift and open an old, tattered book to read.

She had used to read a bit of this book each night for the past month. Its five hundred pages were quite the story.

From beneath the old wooden floor, she heard something shatter. Her eyes blinked as she stared down. ^It's midnight. Shouldn't Grandpa be asleep?^

Her mind wasn't distracted for long. Grandpa has been working on the house lately. And he usually gets the urge to fix something at night.

She started reading with a smile on her face. Entertainment, diving into stories of a long-forgotten time.

The gravity dragon finally reached twilight. An immense being as large as the night sky, his body twinkles with countless stares akin to jewels.

But such a being wasn't allowed in the mundane world. The dragon's body crumbled into bones and scales. He died, but some speculated he was just asleep.

But, none had heard of him for the last ten thousand years.

BAAAAAAAAM! The house shook, scaring Emil and forcing the book out of her fragile hands. The glass bottle Emil kept on her bedside table fell and shattered. She stared at the door with a scared face. "That was loud." She mumbled.

But in the back of her mind, a voice screamed. ^No, the house shook. That wasn't a mere loud noise.^

Gathering all of her power, she forced herself to stand. Her knees shook like a newborn animal as she approached the door, "Grandpa! Brother, did something happen?". She prayed that they didn't break a support beam or something important.

The door burst open, and she gasped, closing her eyes. A white-haired boy, her brother Alexander, jumped into the room, his back covered in blood.

"Brother?" She cried, her knees giving up.

Alexander snatched her and jumped out the window, landing on a tree branch like a monkey. A dart flew and hit his back as he growled. "Bastards!"

Emil coughed, feeling her brother's shoulder digging into her chest like a pike. She ground her teeth and stared at his back, seeing the dart stuck in him.

^Probably poison.^ Emil barely managed to extend her hand and pulled the dart off his back as he jumped from one tree to another.

Emil got the urge to throw the dark, but she knew better. ^We need it for an antidote.^ She tucked it close to her chest and held it as tight as possible.

Her breath froze as she looked back, seeing soldiers rush into the room with her grandfather pulling them back into the hallway. "Run! Alex!" He shouted.

The house zoomed out in her vision as Alex landed and started running, "What's happening!" She cried.

Alex's eyes darted across the dark forest, seeking shadows. "Damnable moon!" He growled, the moonlight illuminating the forest. He knew the bastards surrounded the place. They had to fight out of there.

CLANG! His hunch came true almost instantly. Several soldiers emerged from the darkness, pointing their blades at them.

"We located the girl, but her brother is here as well. Call reinforcement." One of them backed away, pulling a crystal ball from his pocket.

BAM! Alex shifted Emil to his back and held her hand tight beneath his chin, "Hold well. I need my arms to fight."

"Hoi! Hoi! Brat," One of the soldiers walked forward with a smirk. "Do you think you can escape from us?"

"Fool! Back away!" Another soldier growled, "The girl might be nothing more than a sick battery, but her brother is rabid. We already lost fifteen soldiers to him."

"He's an animal, don't be hasty." Another growled, lifting his shield.

"One hit and he's down, look!" The soldier ignored the warning and rushed forward, swinging his blade down at Alex and Emil.

Alex swung his thin left arm to the side, deflecting the sword. His right hand extended behind the soldier's head and grabbed his helmet. CRACK!

For a split second, he saw his comrades who stood behind him before blacking out.

Emil clenched her hands as hard as she could, but she was already getting exhausted, but that didn't matter. "Brother, leave me and run," She said, seeing the soldier's neck snap as he fell to the ground. Another ten approached with shields up.

Alex heard her, but he could feel her hands tightly holding his neck. He stepped over the fallen soldier and clenched his tiny fists.

"Listen, kid," One of the soldiers walked forward, "Leave the girl, and we will pretend we didn't see you here."

"Do you think an animal can understand human speech?" Alex replied with a grin, kicking the dead soldier's sword from beneath his feet and catching it with one hand.

"The bastard got a blade!" A soldier cried, rushing forward with a shield, shouting at the top of his lungs.

"Am I not allowed one?" Alex sighed, dodging the shield bash with ease.

The soldier smiled, swinging his mace at Alex's back, targeting Emil. ^From our information, this kid is keen on protecting his sister. He would take the hit for her.^

Alex found himself sandwiched between the large shield and the mace. Without any option to dodge without exposing himself to a lethal bow, he lifted his hand, blocking the attack with his forearm.

The soldier gasped, unable to believe it. The kid's thin arm blocked his heavy steel mace.

Alex took the chance and attacked with the sword, dropping him to his knees with a stab to the stomach. He then used him as a platform to jump into the trees, grabbing a branch with one arm and swinging from one tree to another like an ape.

The soldiers roared, "Catch the nimble bastard!"

Alex flew gracefully across the forest, and the soldiers couldn't catch up to him due to their heavy armor and weapons.

"Call reinforcement! Spread and search for them!" A soldier shouted his lungs out.

That night, Alex and Emil started their journey, a strive for survival.