1 Chapter One - A Rough Start

A calm world where fantasy means reality, magic exists just as naturally as anyone and anything. Peace was deemed everlasting, until one day, he showed up. Someone that had been brought to this world to perpetuate peace grew corrupt with power and soon enough, was at the top of the food chain. He was at the top of the world. Many more like him were brought over to stop him, but they defected to his side. Those that didn't agree were slaughtered without so much as a hint of remorse. The years went by and these people weren't showing any signs of ageing past a certain point. They ruled this world. They ruled this world that belonged to none of them. Such is the nature of people.

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The flicker of the flames. The sound of wood burning to a crisp. The scream of the innocent, from men, women and children alike. The metallic sound of their weapons hitting an impenetrable, immovable wall. The sight of his beloved village burning down right in front of his eyes. His chest heaving as he tried his best to breathe. His legs frozen in place, yet trembling as if his surroundings were frozen, betraying the intense flames he watched. The maniacal laugh of the one who caused everything echoing around the blazing village. Every time he closes his eyes, that's what he sees. Every time silence settles in, that's what he hears.

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The sun shone bright on this boy's face. The gentle breeze cooled it down a little bit. The sun was slowly setting and the shadow of the tree wasn't helping him rest. The day had gone by faster than he wanted, but there was nothing he could really do about it. Complaining certainly didn't improve this grumpy boy's mood. He stood up and looked around, observing the small village at the foot of this hill he stood on. A village flourishing with life and chatter, happy smiles and laughs.

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The door to the establishment creaked as it was opened and the woman at the counter noticed the boy who was late, as usual, yet before she could scold him, he promptly apologized.

"Do you really believe a simple apology is enough, young man?", she asked him with her usually sweet voice, yet it had a hint of concern behind it, "You can't disappear for so long, Cyrus."

"I was out for a couple of hours, that's nothing short of normal.", the boy named Cyrus answered and the woman groaned, "Got any news for me?"

"Have you thought about doing something else, Cyrus?"

"I don't care about anything else. Anything for me?"

"No, nothing yet. You know you have to be around most of the time for that to happen."

"Give me something to do, then.", he asked, seemingly uninterested in what she had to say.

The woman sighed and rummaged through the papers at her desk before producing a single sheet of paper and pointing it at the boy.

"I know what happened to you. I know you want to get stronger, but you can't throw your life away like this.", she said as he was about to take it, pulling it back and staring him in the eyes.

"If I happen to lose my life while doing a job or two, then so be it."

"No!", the woman shouted, gathering the attention of everyone inside of the establishment, "I made a promise to your parents. I promised them that I'd keep an eye out for you once you became an adventurer, but I won't let you throw your life away like this!"

"My life's mine to do with as I please. You have no say in it.", the boy said as he forcefully took the paper from the woman's hand, which scared her.

"Cyrus… Fine, then. Throw it away. See how much I care!"

"I'm off, then."

"Be safe!", the woman immediately spoke as the boy walked away, contradicting her demeanor of a few seconds ago, "And Cyrus, the Royal Guards are around here, so be careful not to pick a fight with them."

"As if I cared about those bootlickers.", the boy groaned and the door behind him closed quite abruptly.

The woman sat back on her chair as people talked within that establishment and the lady next to her placed a hand on her shoulder,

"Don't worry, Claire, he'll be fine."

"It hurts, you know? To not be there when he needed me. When the village needed me. I wish…"

"I know you do, Claire, but what happened is something that can't be changed. All we can do is make sure it doesn't happen again."

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Arriving near the entrance to the quiet village, a group of well armored men barred the way out while talking among themselves, showing no sign of clearing the way out. Among those men wearing silver armor was one wearing golden armor, along with a red cape and a more detailed helmet. "Captain, sir.", one of the men whispered.

The captain turned around and faced the boy with a strong glare and, as the boy was about to talk, the man interrupted him

"Leave, kid."

"I am trying, sir, but you and your men are in the way."

The man in the golden armor raised his right leg and kicked the boy back, to which some of his men were confused and one went to check on the fallen boy. Cyrus pushed that man away while dusting off his shirt and the man nodded.

"Are you saying my men and I are inconveniencing you? You low-life commoners should learn your place!"

"Sir, with all due respect, that's a bit extreme."

"Quiet!", the power hungry man shouted.

"What's going on here?", a soft, feminine voice asked and the several men straightened up near instantly.

"Your Highness, this kid began making a fuss around us."

"Well, I happened to see something else, Captain."

The owner of this voice was a fair girl with dark hair that reached her lower back, as well as a short right-side braid, beautiful deep purple eyes and an attire that, surely enough, matched with being called "your Highness". A seemingly normal shirt, yet it hid lightweight chainmail within it to protect the torso, the legwear was made of a tough yet flexible fabric to allow the wearer to move about as they pleased and at her hip, a sheathed sword within its leather casing. Her red cape with a golden fluffy outline waved every time a soft breeze crossed by, showing off her kingdom's insignia and the girl reached towards the boy with a warm smile, yet… he slapped her hand away, getting up on his own.

"You…!"

"For someone tasked with protecting the nation, your damn captain sure likes picking on those he deems weak, no?"

"I should have you executed right here, you imbecile!", the captain gripped the collar of the boy's shirt and brought him close, "Such disrespect deserves nothing short of it."

"Enough, captain. It's that same behavior towards people that causes them to not trust us."

"Your Highness!"

"I said enough. Let him go."

The man released the boy while making sure he heard how lucky he was for being saved by the girl, but also that he wouldn't have the same luck next time. The men watched the boy leave the village's main gate and the girl exhaled a soft sigh.

"Next time…"

"You'll stay put. If you want to talk, do so where you don't block the way."

And with that, the girl walked out of the village's main gate as well before looking back at the armored bunch.

"What are you waiting for? We have a couple of bandits to catch, don't we?"

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The boy tightened the leather gauntlet he had on his left hand and pulled out the short staff he carried on his back, armed for the opponent in front of him. A man with blood on his face and around his mouth, drooling a green liquid, with patches of hair growing here and there around his uncovered chest and at the end of his arms were two deformed hands with long, bloodied claws. Next to him were several dead boars, ripped apart and with chunks of their bodies missing. This man's eyes had nothing but hunger in them.

"Another mutant. You keep showing up more and more nowadays, huh?", the boy whispered and the man groaned before screaming, "Fair enough."

This mutant man ran towards the boy and tried to slash at him with his right hand, but he defended with his left arm and he returned the strike with one of his own, hitting a straight punch on his opponent's stomach. He stumbled back and that allowed the boy to strike him on his face with his staff in a left-to-right motion, taking the momentum from the hit to spin clockwise and roundhouse kick the man away.

"Is that all you have?"

"Ki… Kill!", the man shouted while turning it into a scream.

He jumped towards the boy who hit him in the chest with the end of his staff before turning it around rather quickly and hitting the man once more, throwing him onto the floor. He shrieked while flailing wildly in an attempt to get up and, once he did, he launched himself at the boy once again, slashing at him over and over again. The power behind these slashes was abnormal, but that's to be expected from a mutant person. One last slash broke the staff in half and hit Cyrus in the chest, ripping his flimsy leather pad and leaving three scratches on his body. While the boy took some steps back, he noticed the mutant licking at his bloody claw like a thirsty animal laps at a pound of water.

"More…!"

He quickly made his way to Cyrus once more, who was still dumbfounded that his staff had been broken. The mutant jumped at him while reaching towards him with both claws and the boy grabbed both of the attacker's wrists before jumping and kicking the man in his stomach with his right leg and then hitting his chin with his opposite knee. He then placed his left foot on the floor and leaned backwards while still keeping his right foot right on his stomach. In a quick motion, Cyrus jumped as high as he could with just one leg and back flipped with the man in tow while moving his left to his other leg's side, stomping him on the floor with as much power as he could muster. Cyrus moved away from the coughing man and watched him slowly get up.

"This was supposed to be an easy job, but you had to go and kill those boars I was supposed to shoo away."

"Meat… Hunger!"

"It ends now!", the boy shouted, wielding the two halves of his staff.

The man began running as if it was a four-legged animal before standing up and trying to slash at the boy's head. Cyrus dodged just in time and stabbed at the man's chest with the broken end of the staff on his right hand, followed by a sideways motion with the staff on his left hand to throw him a few meters away. The now wounded mutant groaned and cried out as he got up and Cyrus exhaled. He took a step forward and moved his empty right hand to his side before throwing a quick open palmed punch at the man.

"Straight forward, Cyrus. As hard as you can.", he thought to himself while focusing as much as he could.

"Let me eat you!", the mutant shouted, "Meat!"

The course was set and the boy's palm reached its destination, hitting the mutant man's nose and effectively killing him instantly. Once the man fell to his knees and then back, Cyrus lost his focus and exhaled once more. That's when the pain hit him. He was so focused that he didn't notice the man's right claw and pierced the left side of his belly, but thankfully it was a very shallow trio of wounds.

"I need better armor when I get back. Claire's gonna kill me for sure, but this job wasn't as easy as it should have been.", the boy sighed.

Many screams were suddenly heard not too far away from him, followed by a single feminine scream and the boy let out a soft chuckle as he began walking.

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