Death

"Shian...Shian... are you there." Charles hoarse voice resounded in the small room.

Shian swiftly got by his father's side and held his hands closely to his chest.

"I'm here father." Tears streamed down his eyes as he began to remember all what he and his father had been through. All the tough times and hardships they had faced together, was all coming to an end.

"Is that tears I see in your eyes. Wipe them away quickly, you can't break down now after all that has happened." Charles berated. He coughed lightly before he continued speaking

"Shian, I know this is my last moment... I can feel it, my body is too weak to fight this disease anymore and any moment from now... I might die" Said Charles weakly.

"But I don't want to loose you father. I...I..don't have..any..where to go. I'll be alone." Shian stammered with more tears flowing down his eyes like water from a broken dam.

"Shian my son. Young men may die, old men must die. And it seems like my time in this harsh world is over. Don't worry about yourself because I know you will be okay without me in this world, just remember after a storm comes a calm."

Shian you must keep on training before you awaken your ability, it'll make you more powerful, and with power, you will be thoroughly prepared to face all those out there who might want to ruin you.

"Ruin me!?" Shian was surprised. "Why will anyone want to ruin me, I barely know anyone. We've been alone most of the times our whole lives, and the only things I've fought are not human beings but beasts. So why will anyone want to ruin me!?"

"That's what I'm about to tell you." Charles said then paused for a moment before speaking again. "Don't think all those rich people who act upright are actually what you think they are, most of them are two-faced, in the eyes of the public they are the people who can change their lives but behind that upright face, they fiends worse than demons."

"I never told you but.... Did you know I once worked for the government? I was a very skilled hunter and I and my team were used to take out most of the beasts that attacked the city from time to time.

"I worked under a man called Eric Solar. He was nice and all at first but when I overheard him speaking with someone one day about killing the current president of the continent, I realized that he was just like those two-faced rich people so I decided to quit, but he didn't want me to spill his secret and he didn't want to kill me because I've been so good and helpful to him, so I was kidnapped before being sent to a place called The Den."

"The Den was a place where the government kept those with diseases that were very deadly. When I was kidnapped, I was blindfolded and taken away, I tried to use my super speed to get away. I took off the blindfold and ran as fast as my legs could carry me, I was about to leave that was when I caught a glimpse of my boss Eric standing in a corner, I ran towards him thinking he will save me but instead be used his powers to push me back to my attackers."

Charles slowly raised his shirt up with a groan and pulled something from the surface of his arm that looked like a second layer of skin. Beneath it was a black mark that seemed to be slowly spreading through his veins.

Shian seemed shocked because his father had never showed him that mark before until now.

"You see this mark?" Charles asked and Shian subconsciously nodded to the question. "That's the spot in which I was injected with the serum. They locked me up for days to let it circulate round my body and it kept spreading day by day, until it circulated up to my brain."

"After two weeks, they sent me back home weak and tired. Your mother took good care of me and nursed me back to a better state, I told her about all what happened, how I was betrayed by Eric and forcefully injected with a disease serum. After a while I began to see signs of the disease coming up. Sometimes I just feel weak and tired for no 'reason', sometimes... I just forget how to talk."

"It was funny sometimes not knowing how to use my mouth to make sounds." Charles said and chuckled which ended up in a fit of coughing.

"But that was when things became really hard. My friends whom I trusted so much to always stand by my side in times if struggle began to leave me one after the other until I had friends no more. It felt like words got out that I was a carrier of a disease, a deadly one at that."

"You were still very young when your mother eventually disappeared just like my trusted friends."

"She told me one day that she was going to visit one of her friends and will be back in a few hours. A few hours turned to a few days, I didn't worry because this wasn't the first time she did something like that, sometimes she just disappeared for a whole week some times even weeks and any time she left, she always went with you, but that day she didn't, so I felt she will be back soon. She didn't return for a few days so I began to worry. I took care of you and even went out to go and get groceries myself."

"I did this for two weeks before I realised that all the credits I had that could have lasted for even two lifetimes were gone."

"She had taken them all and barely left enough for us to live. I had to make a decision quickly so we could manage what we had left efficiently, and that was how we began to live on the outskirts of this goddamn city."

"So you see, you can't easily trust anyone in this world."

Charles sighed and continued. "Shian, before I go, I have something to give to you. In the center of the living room, there is a chest buried beneath, there is a space ring there and some other stuffs that has been passed down in our family that I don't really know the use of. Use the space ring wisely, don't let people see you use it because they might think you stole it. After all what will someone who lives on the outskirts be doing with a high grade space ring."

"I love you son, take good care of yourself and make sure you strive to be at the top, remember a journey of a thousand miles, begins with a single step."

Those were Charles' last words before he closed his eyes and died.