[3.1 What Am I?] New Hope

The whole kingdom of Avflam and its royal capital Deltum are thrown into chaos. The Black Flare has broken free several days ago, not leaving a single trace behind.

In a large hall the old king sits at the head of a large "0" shaped table, with a young princess, and a younger prince at each side. The king is a large muscular man wearing clothes appropriate to his position. The nobles sit all across the table. Each one of them is nervous from the current events. They are debating among themselves. Some even yelling out of frustration.

The old king is quicky angered by the bickering of the nobles. He stands up to take the initiative. "ALL OF YOU, SILENCE!" A few seconds pass as the room turns dead quiet. Even though the nobles are willing to kill each other now, they all respect their king.

After a few more seconds, the king speaks up again. "The Black Flare has broken free. And the hell that happened fourteen years ago may very well repeat itself once more if we don't do something! And yet here you are fighting among yourseves." The silence in the room remains as the king sits back down. The nobles are all avoiding the king's eyes, due to the shame of not living up to the expectations of their king.

After a few brief moments of silence, one young noble speaks up. He has long brown hair tied in the back. "Your Majesty, if i may speak up. I would like to clarify that the Black Flare was seen heading South-West. I have already sent several of my servants to investigate it."

The king thinks for a while. He knows the only city in that exact direction would be Haranard. Though why would the Black Flare want to head there remains a mystery for the king.

The king turns to the noble that spoke up earlier. "Head to Haranard yourself and report to me directly. Take however much guards you need. We must not allow the Black Flare to wreak havoc again."

The young noble stands up and bows his head, hiding a sly grin. "But of course, your Majesty."

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Akuma lies somewhere. He feels the gentle wind racing right above his head. Far too tired to move a muscle. His eyes slowly open as the occasional sunrays make their way through the crown of the tree right on to Akuma's pale face. His dark brown hair covers his forehead and his left eye.

He places his hand on his face in a response to the occasional tickling of the sun.

Something hard pokes his forehead he just covered. "What the?" He thinks to himself tiredly.

He moves his hand and opens his eyes. He finds a strange, muscular man looking down on him while poking him to see if Akuma is even alive.

When he sees Akuma's grey eye that reflects a bit of the oncoming sun, revealing a bit of the blue hidden there, he smiles broadly.

"Yo, you up, kid?" The energic words have no effect on Akuma who is still trying to figure out what is even going on.

He thinks to himself, trying to recollect the events that happened. "I fell somewhere...i killed a lot of things...and then there was some wierd feeling...but...how did i end up here...?"

Many questions race through Akuma's mind, yet not even a single answer. The muscular man now flicks Akuma's forehead for a change.

Akuma lets out an "Uuuuhhh" as he attempts to at least sit down. After a few tries observed by the man, he finally sits down.

His greasy brown hair falls down in some places, in some others it stands tall. Akuma rubs his eyes in an attempt to see properly. There are several vagons drawn by horses around him, stopped in a circle, and a lot of people relaxing.

"Good morning." The man says with a raised hand and a big smile.

Akuma takes a proper look at the man for the first time. He is wearing bandit-like armor with a shoulder pad at his left shoulder, and revealing his abs. He has a dark skin tone. Akuma can't even tell if it's natural or he was in the sun so much. Well it doesn't matter much anyway.

The man looks Akuma in eyes, and through the greasy hair falling down across Akuma's forehead, he sees his left eye as well.

"What happened to your left eye?" He says with a surprised look on his face.

"What do you mean?" Akuma asks, clearly confused. "What do i mean? Well it looks like blood will burst out of it aby second."

Akuma continues to stare at the man for a few seconds. The man speaks up pointing past the tree. "I mean i you don't believe me just go look into the pond. You'll see."

Akuma does as instructed and slowly walks by a tree towards a small pond. As he reaches it he kneels down to take a look.

As he glances towards his reflection in the water his expression turns to that of pure terror. The sclera of his his left eye is completely black with his iris being crimson red and a regular black pupil in the middle.

"What the fuck is this?" He asks himself repeatedly. He keeps this up until the large muscular and bald man walks behind him.

"You alright, kid?" He asks with a concerned look on his face. Akuma slowly turns to the man without changing his expression. "Do i look fucking alright?!"

The man backs away a bit upon seeing Akuma's expression, though he soon comes back. He changes his surpriesed expression to a gentle smile. He walks up to Akuma and sits down beside him.

"Don't worry, kid! I'll help you figure that out!" He says as he gently places his hand on Akuma's head. "If you don't know that, i'll help you!"

Akuma stays silent as the man speaks. After several days at the bottom of the dungeon where he had to fight for his own survival someone was now offering a helping hand to him. He wants to take that hand, yet he doesn't want to be betrayed like he was with Zack.

Though hesitant, he decides to take the helping hand. As the man's hand is running through Akuma's hair, in a mix of relief and joy Akuma bursts into tears.

"HEY, HEY, HEY, DID I DO SOMETHING WRONG? I THOUGHT THIS WOULD HELP!"

Still sobbing, Akuma manages to blurt out a single "Thank you."

The man looks relieves as well. He takes his hand off of Akuma's head.

"I still don't know what you got through to end up looking like you do, but you can be sure that i'll help you!"

Only now does Akuma realize that he still had the wolf hide thrown over him to keep himself warm in the depths of the dungeon and his shirt covering his wounds.

At last, after Akuma endured all that he finally saw a glimmer of hope.