Arc 0 - Chapter 2 (The Story Of Hai)

"Mr Petelunica, your child's been born, it's a boy.", The midwife stepped just outside the door of the normal city house, peering around the corner onto the street to face a nervous looking white haired gentleman wearing an alabaster suit. "Ah! Is my love okay, and the child too?", the man asked, concerned: it's not a rare occurrence for there to be deaths during pregnancy, whether it's the mother or the offspring- it's a risky procedure. "Yes sir, she seems very happy, you can come and see the child now too", Petelunica followed the nurse in and with a hopeful smile on his face, he hurried to his wives side to look at the child: offering his arms to carry the baby.

Now carrying the baby, the man breathed a silent sigh of relief. It would be bad if the Sense Sword gene wasn't passed onto his child. He needed for the characteristic to pass on: if an outsider to the Petelunica bloodline obtained a Sense Sword, it would not be good. But that wasn't the case, his new born child did have the gene, he could tell from the blue eyes and the white hair: he could rest easy now. This child was going to achieve great things.

"HAI!", a distant voice woke a lethargic Hai from his slumber- the voice was that of his mother's, she had been stressed out and on edge ever since his Dad left. "It's a shame I never got to meet him", Hai would think: "she said that he was a knight, an amazing one at that. Though she never did elaborate much further...". Hai, after doing some minor stretching, walked to his chest of drawers. He got out some black dress trousers, a white shirt and a blue blazer. This blazer was another thing that his father left for him before he disappeared to wherever he went.

After eating his breakfast and kissing his Mum goodbye, he walked the short distance to his school. Hai had no friends to walk with: a completely isolated soul- nobody wanting to talk to him partly due of his lack of ability power, that and that it's considered taboo to be the child of a knight who abandoned their other half. Most people just let Hai be, not talking to him at all. Though some took it to the next level: Half-Breeds, those who are gifted with excessively high amounts of ability power, often bullied and abused him. It was not an uncommon sight for him to come home with scratches, bruises or grazes from being attacked from those more powerful than him. Which was pretty much everyone.

"...and, we are pleased to announce that every single one of you passed the preliminary stage for the Kingdom Knight General Examination, that is of course minus young Petelunica. See me after", the headmaster of Hai's school would speak, an old man with a stern expression and grey hair. He stood on the stage of the school hall, everyone in the room shot Hai a cold glare. "He's such a disappointment", "How did a weakling like him have the money to go here?" and words to that effect mocking Hai mumbled throughout the room. Honestly, he knew he wasn't going to make it to the Exam. His father had left money for him and his mother, as well as that- he had given Hai a recommendation to this posh, expensive school full of people that will kick him down at any opportunity.

"You will never amount to anything, why do you even bother: just return to the slums from where you came. Haha, or maybe you might not even be wanted there!", a girl half-dragon with orange hair and eyes sneered at him: Hai looked terrified, sprawled across the floor of the school hallway with his books burnt into ashes. "Oh, what's this? Your journal? How cute.", "No! Don't touch that! I'll do anything", Hai panicked: for the past few years he had wrote a journal for when his father returned so that he could catch him up with what was happening at home, it was really important to him. "Anything, huh? Okay, kiss my shoes", the girl had a devilish smile on her face while still holding his notebook. Hai hesitated for a second but he didn't want to lose his journal, he got down onto the floor, down to his knees and started to kiss her long leather boots slowly. After ten or so seconds, she kicked him away and vaporised his journal in a puff of flames. "Whoops", she said in a sarcastic tone, "anyway, I have to go- I have training to do for the Exam. Remember, Claressa will be the name of one of the new knights this year. See you, weakling", she walked along the corridor they were in away from the sobbing Hai.

Hai wiped his tears, getting up from the floor and brushing himself clean, he collected all of the books that weren't burnt and walked himself home.

Hai marched through the forest from the way he came with his new sword strapped to his belt. The trees curved over the light brown dirt track, forming a tunnel and preventing much light from entering. Every once in a while, the trees had large, jutting branches reaching above the main pathway, this was a main road heading all the way from the capital to the border mountains, most of the journey being in these woods. The Kingdom Knight General exam would be the obvious way to be able to train using this 'strongest sword in the kingdom' safely. It was going to happen this week, he might very well get back in time.

After he retrieved the sword and his eyes had reverted to their normal nature, Hai had his mind set on his goals. He was going to go to the capital, pass the exam, become a knight and train himself to be able to find his father. After his dad went, all he left was a light blue crystal and a note. The note simply read:

"This crystal will be devoid of colour when I die. I love you. I'm so sorry, Haruka Petelunica"

Hai's mother was distraught for at least a couple of months afterwards, of course she didn't want Hai to see this. Though, it was only a matter of time until the curious mind of a thirteen year old begins to wonder what the contents of a parcel that has been there for months are.

"Hm? It's been quite a while since I saw a Petelunica around here, must have been about 30 years", a playful voice emanated from the branches over the dirt path, that of a young girl: maybe about Hai's age. Hai looked around, looking for the source of the voice. "Up here pretty boy!", the taunting called as Hai looked up to the branches. She wore what looked like a rag for a dress and a big leather witches hat- coral coloured curly hair stuck out from under the hat. Hai was intending to ask her what she was doing but his mouth refused to budge to say anything. "Are we just going to stare at each other for the rest of eternity or are you going to say something?", she pouted, swinging her legs on the branch.

Hai came up with an idea, the ground was made of dirt, with a small layer of loose powder laying above the path: Hai saw a stick that was about a foot long and picked it up, holding it towards the ground. He wrote: "I can't", "Hmm, I'm illiterate in capital scripts but would I be right in assuming that you cannot speak?", she put her index finger up against her bottom lip as she tilted her head cutely. Hai nodded violently- pleased she got the message. "That sword... Looks just like the ones in the folklore I used to read... Strange. Anyway, I must be off: I still have four of my seven odd jobs for today to do, it's been a pleasure to meet you!". She disappeared into the forest, just as she finished her sentence, Hai remembered something about another Petelunica she had seen. He reached his arm out and tried to call for her, to return. He hadn't gotten used to his newfound inability to talk, this was going to be a lot harder living like this than he had first imagined.