Tragedy

"Mom, Dad, can we get some ice cream now?" A six year old boy with black hair and blue eyes asked his parents.

His mother was beautiful, with dark flowing hair and dark brown eyes. She was petite, but taller than the average woman, in other words, it wouldn't be strange for her to be mistaken as a model.

The boy's father was a tall and muscular man, he was also attractive and had short blonde hair and blue eyes. He looked like a cross between a farmer and an actor.

The three of them had been for a day out to an amusement park for Lucian's birthday and then had watched a new film about cars. 

"It's dark now honey, I don't think any ice cream shops will be open. I'll get you one tomorrow, okay?" 

"Okay Mom, are we going home now?"

"We sure are, where'd you park the car, Jack?"

"Just around the corn- Oh shit, Eve, take Lucian and run." Jack had a terrified look on his face.

"Babe, what's up?"

"Just run, take Lucian and run. Trust me."

From the bushes to the right of the three of them something began to emerge, the thing that Jack had seen which had made him tell his family to flee. 

A large humanoid creature rose up, taller than the bushes which it was in. It was ten feet tall, with grey skin, a single large yellow eye and one horn positioned just above it and it was holding a large wooden club in one hand. The creature was a cyclops, a monster which must have escaped from a nearby dungeon.

If the dungeon break hadn't been reported then it would be a while until a Hunter would be dispatched to take care of it. This meant it was up to Jack to try and hold off the monster while his wife and child fled.

"Run Eve, before this damned thing kills us all."

"I'm not going to leave you behind, I know our powers aren't particularly strong but we can at least hold it off, I'm not letting you die here, our son needs a father."

"Fine, Lucian go and find help, I love you, son."

"I love you too Lucian, we'll see you in a minute, okay?"

Lucian, being too young to know what was really about to happen was more than okay with running to find help, "Okay, is that big man your friend?"

"Sure honey, now go find help."

Lucian ran off as fast as his little legs could take him, unsure of why he was looking for help in the first place. 

While he was running, his parents were face to face with the creature which had fully emerged from its hiding spot. 

"If we don't make it, I want you to know there's no one else I'd rather spend my final moments with than you."

"I feel the same way babe, but thinking negatively will only get us killed."

Jack, despite his muscular build, didn't exactly have the greatest power in terms of combat. The only thing that he could do was make his hands slightly larger, which didn't even increase his strength, just the size.

The cyclops looked down at the two insignificant humans, not sensing anything about them that would make them a particularly dangerous threat. With its free hand, the cyclops swiped at the two of them, hoping to take them out in one hit as it assumed that they would both be swept away. 

However, even though his power didn't increase his strength, Jack was able to grab onto the cyclops' arm, stopping it in its tracks. In terms of pure genetics for strength, Jack had always been better than everyone around him as long as they didn't utilise a power.

Annoyed that its attack had failed, the cyclops raised its club into the air and slammed it down towards Eve. A cloud of dust was created from the shock that ran through the ground, but when it cleared there was no sign of Eve anywhere. 

Just as her husband had always been strong, she had always been fast, and using the cover of the dust cloud she had managed to get up behind the cyclops to try and attack it with her power.

Eve's power allowed her to penetrate things much more easily than other people with her attacks, however, this didn't extend to weapons and it was much too risky to fight monsters head-on. This made her power essentially useless, which was made evident in this situation.

Her attack which had hit the cyclops in the back of the leg didn't even cause it to falter. In fact, the cyclops seemed to get even angrier, swinging its club back around to its back, much faster than the first attack. 

Jack couldn't see what was happening as the cyclops blocked his line of sight. 

The sound of a bone-shattering crunch was all that he heard before the body of his wife, now with a flattened skull, was sent flying onto the concrete floor.

Her body skidded along the ground, leaving a trail of blood wherever she landed.

"No, no, no, why, Eve... You can't be dead." Jack's face lost all of its colour, never in his life did he think that the time he could spend living his happy life with his family would be cut this short.

In a world where monsters beyond human comprehension lurked around every corner, the likelihood of a regular woman being able to dodge a mid-level monster like a cyclops' attack twice was low.

"You fucking bastard, I don't care if you're stronger than me. I don't care if I've got a shitty power. There's no way in Hell I'm letting you leave here alive."

Jack felt his blood boiling, a mix of hatred and sadness filling his entire body.

He forced his body to move through the pain he was feeling in his heart, and he ran towards the cyclops. 

The beast slammed its club down at Jack, unlike his wife who was fast enough to dodge it, Jack had no way of escaping the blow. 

He put his hands above his head, facing the brunt of the attack. The attack was powerful, so powerful in fact that the noise of bones breaking, similar to the sound of his wife's skull being crushed, entered Jack's ears again.

This time it was his arms, his bones were in bits.

Despite this, he carried on moving, fuelled by rage and adrenaline. Jack was right in front of the beast now, and he jumped up towards it, grabbing onto its neck and pulling himself up despite the pain he was in. 

He could barely move his arms, yet he managed to hang on with a single hand. With the other, he grabbed the monster's face.

He dug his hand underneath the Cyclops' one eye, enlarging his hands. The pain was unbearable, but he got a firm grip on its eyeball.

He pulled on it, and the cyclops tried to pull him off, but Jack's grip was firm. So firm, in fact, that the cyclops ripped both Jack off and its own eye. 

A long line of nerves attached to the eyeball went with it, like a ball on a string. 

The cyclops fell backwards, ripping the final part of the nerve that was holding the eye inside of its head. 

The pain and overuse of his body caused Jack to drop to his knees, his whole body was numb. He had survived, his wife hadn't and he would never recover from the loss of the love of his life, but he was alive to take care of his son.

"A paw? Why's there a paw?"

The paw that he was referring to was right in front of him, right in front of his chest.

Right through his chest.

"Shit, I'm sorry Lucian."

The paw belonged to a large wolf, a monster which had left the same dungeon as the cyclops.

"Mom, Dad, I've brought help." Lucian ran back to where his parents had been, not yet seeing the tragedy.

"Kid, stay back." A man with blonde hair shouted at him.

He drew his sword and he flickered in and out of sight, appearing next to the wolf, and within a second its body slid in two.

"Mom, Dad, where are you?" Lucian shouted out, but there was no reply.

"Mom... Dad..."

His eyes panned around the area, and he saw two bodies. His mother, and his father.

"What... No... Mommy... Daddy..."

His dad was closer to him, so Lucian ran over to his body, shaking him, "Dad... Wake up, please Dad!" He shouted.

"Come here kid, you shouldn't see this. I'm sorry I didn't get here quicker. You're a brave kid coming to look for help, I'll make sure you're taken care of alright?"

"Why did this happen, why didn't they win, I should've stayed with them."

"It isn't your fault little guy, make sure to get as strong as possible to make sure nothing like this happens to anyone else you love. If you become a Hunter in the future I'll consider you for my guild, I'm A-Class Hunter Jackson, also known as Vanguard, but I'm going to be S-Class soon."

"I swear, I'll get strong enough to kill all of the monsters in the world."

"I hear you, I'll help you with that goal if you still feel like it when you're older. For the time being though I'll try and support you as much as I can."

*Twelve Years Later*

"S-Rank Hunter, Vanguard, dead at thirty-five after entering what was thought to be a B-Class Dungeon alone. After a re-evaluation of the Dungeon's rank, it has been discovered to be an A Rank dungeon."

"Fucking news, nothing good ever happens in this cursed world. He was a good man, another reason for me to destroy every dungeon. If only I would awaken my power already." An eighteen-year-old young man turned off the TV which had been on in the background while he was exercising.

Since he was six years old, Lucian had been living alone, and after receiving help from the only person whom he looked up to after his parents had died. 

"Best be off then, I can let myself have a treat on my birthday at least, I never did have my ice cream that night after all."