Jake Benson (II)

His father stood in horror, while his mother covered her mouth in fear. The boy, though young, understood that something bad and dangerous was about to happen. His father immediately commanded the boy to hide underneath the patio, and that he will take care of it.

The boy, trusting his father did just that. But when he went under, he started to fall asleep.

Not wanting to leave his father and mother, he immediately cried to them. Before falling unconscious, all he saw last were his parents smiling sadly at him, with tears in their eyes, telling him that they will always love him no matter where they are.

Six hours after he fell asleep, the boy woke up, and when he did, he awoke to the police covering him in a blanket, while asking him where his parents were. Not understanding what happened to them, all the boy had said was that he did not know. Seeing this, the police decided to tell him what they are dealing with, with pity in their eyes.

Everything was trashed, the entire patio was blasted into smithereens. The pool had been contaminated with unknown radiation particles from a Duality-Reversed Polarising Beam. This indicated that whoever came, certainly came prepared.

The house was certainly in fine condition, albeit a bit ransacked. Nothing worthwhile was stolen. Except, some documents and photos were taken, which oddly seemed counterintuitive for the situation.

When asked whether the boy had any relatives, he said no, as his parents had no known relatives anywhere. Although the police wanted to put him up for adoption, the young boy kept on refusing, fearing that of he did so, he will lose everything that his parents ever did. This stubbornness of his seemed to have been inherited from his father, as both, when their mind is set on something, will keep on doing it no matter the consequences.

In the end, despite the boy being only 10, due to his obstinacy, was left to fend for himself (although the police did say that they would help him whenever possible).

For the next two years, the young boy did whatever he could to fend of the potential predators from consuming his remaining link to his parents. Although harrowing, the boy succeeded despite all the attempts. The closest he had ever gotten to have his house stoeln was when the most dangerous gang in the city, the Zeabod gang, launched an attack at his home in order to use it as a launchpad to enter the city of Los Dhaman.

However, this all changed at his twelfth birthday.

One day, when the boy was about to give up, the neighbouring building nect to him got renovated into a shop. The outside looked rather plain, with only the name 'The Legendary Emporium' being held up. Despite this, the shop held an atmosphere of antiquity and respect. The owner of it was an old man of around 60 years of age. Yet despite this, he seemed hale and springy.

When the shop first opened, out of curiosity, the young boy peeked into the shop. He expected it to look cheap, dirty and crummy. What he saw shocked him.

The inside of the shop was sleek, smooth and shiny. Each counter was laid with smooth, mahogany wood, which spoke a lot about the owner's wealth. But what shocked him the most was the design of the shop.

Despite his lack of knowledge in the field of home design, the boy could instantly discern that the design was not of this age, but seemed to predate time itself.

When he wanted to get out of the shop, he seemed to have hit a solid wall. After looking up the wall, he saw an old man, with bright, brown eyes, filled with wisdom. Though stern looking, he seemd to radiate kindness.

This prompted to boy, without any reason, to tell him his name and who he was. Despite the oddity of the situation, he still told the owner about what had happened to him. After hearing this, the old man decided to take custody with pity and compassion in his heart.

This relationship continued until the boy was nearing adulthood, until which the old man suddenly informed him to come to his office to get a gift from him, no matter what happened to him.

Though perplexed, he still followed the old man's instructions, and went to his shop, despite having a stink radius of 3m.

While reminiscing the past, the young man reached his destination, and rang the tiny bell on top of the door.

The old man, despite being engrossed in his ledger, knew immediately who he was, and greeted him with his usual jolly jest, " Well, well, well, if it isn't our dear guest of honor, Mr. Jake Benson himself. Looks you had quite the nice 'shower' on the way here, hmm?"