Family

The sound of footsteps resounded and both Alex and Emma had made it in front of Peter's room.

"Brother. What's all this?" Alex asked, looking at the smashed door pieces on the ground.

"I've found him, Alex. He was hiding in this room by himself." Marcus said joyfully, cracking his knuckles looking at the skinny boy in front of them.

Peter had wavy black hair and pale skin. Apart from his frail and skinny build he had a handsome face. Since he was blind, he always wore a bandage around his eyes to cover them instead of sunglasses as they were impractical.

Peter didn't know what was going on but he could hear 3 different heartbeats and he distinguished the 3 people in front of him from each other.

From their breathing patterns, voices, and weight distribution on the floor boards he concluded that the people in front of him were 2 boys slightly older than him and 1 girl younger than him.

"Ohh! This is the kid that mother informed us about. Hello Step brother. I'm Alex and the boy over there is Marcus, the girl behind us is Emma." Alex briefly introduced before he exchanged nods with Marcus.

"Oh ok. You must be my new siblings. My name is Peter Mag-"

Before he could finish his sentence a sharp blow impacted his stomach making him curl forwards. All the wind in his lungs siphoned out of his lungs as he struggled to breathe.

"Good punch little brother but I don't think that was painful enough. This is how it should be…" Marcus smiled before roundhouse kicking Peter's head.

But to his surprise Peter was able to lift up his left arm in time to minimize the damage. However, he was still sent flying to the right and crashing into a wall. Peter could feel the slight movement in the particles of air as they threw their attacks but his body was too weak and slow to fight back.

There was no chance for him to survive their attacks.

"Nice! My turn." Alex appeared in front of the groaning Peter and kicked his stomach again making Peter cough out blood. Marcus then switched with his brother and knelt down and punched Peter's face repeatedly until his face was bloodied.

After a couple seconds, Marcus felt a tug on his arm and he twisted his head to look at Emma.

"Brother… Please, that's enough. You're gonna kill him." Emma cried, looking down at the floor avoiding her brother's gaze.

"Tch-" Marcus got up, removing his sleeve from her grasp violently, before leaving the room, Alex following right behind him. He looked back at the still boy on the ground and smiled.

Emily immediately knelt down and took out a white handkerchief from her pocket and wiped the blood from his bruised face.

"Are you okay Peter? I'm sorry that I couldn't step in earlier. If I didn't let this happen they would have done it sooner or later. At least now you'll be safe for a while before this happens again. Here. I'll help you stand up." her voice was sweet and soothed Peter's ears.

"Why… Why are you helping me?" Peter asked. His chest would send spasms of pain every time he took a breath of air. He must have had several broken ribs.

Emma stayed silent as she helped Peter up and onto the bed.

"Do I need a reason to help someone? Stop asking silly questions. I'll go get a maid to treat your wounds." She replied, leaving his side and exiting the room.

Peter smiled, leaning back on the bed, remembering his brother's words. Was he really handsome?

**

The clanks of cutlery resounded in the quiet dining hall, as everyone ate their food silently.

"Boy, what happened to your face?" Franklin turned his gaze towards the blind and bruised boy.

Both Alex and Marcus stiffened as they heard the question. Would he tell on them? What would Franklin's reaction be?

Sabrina shot her two sons a bone chilling stare as if telling them, 'Couldn't you do your job more discreetly?!'. The boys gulped when meeting their mother's gaze, they immediately looked down at their food and carried on eating.

"Oh… It's nothing. I tripped and fell; Miss Rose attended to my bruises. It's nothing serious." Peter covered his mouth with his hand as he coughed, he felt a warm liquid on his hand and the smell of iron wafted up his nose. Blood?

"Excuse me." He said, getting up from his seat. He walked towards the exit of the dining room. He knew the whole mansion like the back of his hand so walking blind was not a problem for him.

"Young Master, can I be of assist-" The head maid (Miss Rose) was cut short, as Peter ignored her and continued walking past her.

A faint smile appeared on Franklin's face but he got rid of it immediately.

"Let's carry on with our meal."

**

-A couple days later-

Peter walked through the park, his hands in his pockets and his headphones in his ears. He walked lazily, to the usual meeting spot. The wind slowly brushed past his face and the sun shone brightly. Leaves tiptoed against the floor by his feet, the wind swirling around his hair, as he let out a deep sigh of content.

"Peter!" A young boy's voice appeared from the swing area. A 10 year old overly big sized boy got off the swings and rushed towards Peter hugging him and enveloping him in his embrace.

"Mark, You're hurting me." Peter said in a low voice.

"Oh sorry bro. I forgot your ribs are still broken. Hahaha." The fat boy let him out of his grip and walked back to the swings. Peter followed right behind him and joined Mark on the swings.

"Have they hurt you since the last time then?" Mark asked, looking at his frail friend.

"No."

"Tell me next time they do. I'll go and smack those bullies up myself! I'll sit on them. Hahahaha!" Mark giggled imagining the sight of his fat self crushing 2 boys underneath him, making them beg for mercy.

Peter smiled wryly at his friend's confidence. He knew he wouldn't be saying the same thing if he was in the same situation as him.

"You know School's starting in a month. Are you ready? I hope both of us are in the same class. I can't wait! Your dad's rich though so I reckon you're going to be in the higher ranked classes." Mark said, swinging higher and higher.

"Yeah, I guess I'll do some shopping tomorrow and get it out of the way."

"What about your cultivation? Have you been able to absorb mana?"

"No matter how much I try I still can't feel anything. The doctors' diagnosis was right. Due to my poor meridians I won't be able to absorb or use mana like everyone else." Peter sighed with a hint of dejection.

Was he truly destined to be doomed? Was his life always going to be filled with suffering like it was currently?

Sometimes Peter would even get thoughts of ending his own life but he would always shake those thoughts away. He knew his brother wouldn't want that and he still had Mark, his childhood best friend.

"Don't worry bro, we're on the same boat. I don't think i can use mana either or at least I think I can't.

"By the way I've been wanting to ask you this since our past couple visits but I kept forgetting. When did you get a tattoo? It looks so cool." Mark asked ecstatically looking at the black symbol on Peter's neck.

"What are you talking about Mark? We're 10. Why would I even think of getting a tattoo?"

"Peter, I'm serious. Here I'll show you where the tattoo is." Mark got off the swing and landed on his feet with a thud.

He then walked over to Peter and placed his index finger right on where the black mark was, near the right side, at the base of his neck, close to his collarbone.

"It's literally right here. It's some weird ancient symbol or something. I don't recognise it." Mark inspected the ancient symbol on Peter's neck.

'Isn't that the place where I felt the burning sensation. It was after Noah's death, a sudden pain erupted on my neck. What could this black mark mean? Why did I get this after Noah died?' Peter's mind went into a frenzy as many questions ran through his mind.

"That's strange. Why don't we just ask Friday? He might know." Peter suggested.

"Oh yeahh! This is why you're the smartest guy I know. Friday, scan this tattoo and find out what it means or represents." Mark raised his bracelet and let the scanner move across the black tattoo.

"Scan and Search is complete. No results were found." Friday replied in a monotonic voice.

"Damn." Mark kissed his teeth in frustration.

"Do you want to make a forum post about the tattoo and ask online if others know about it?" Friday asked.

"Let's not do that. It's too dangerous, I don't know what this black tattoo is or why I got it but I just know it's something special. Posting it to the world to see will be a stupid idea." Peter spoke with a stern voice.

He might have been blind, weak and unable to use mana, but he wasn't dumb. In fact academically, he could even be perceived as above average but no one had ever acknowledged this apart from Mark and his deceased brother.

"True but I still think we should post it. I can do it anonymously and I'll even use a VPN, so I won't be tracked.

"In fact I'll change your skin tone too, darkening it a little and cropping the picture so only the tattoo can be seen." Mark tried to persuade Peter and it seemed to have been working. Mark's words made Peter think.

"Actually, it wouldn't hurt not to know its true symbolism especially before the start of school. If it really is something special, It could prove dangerous for me in the future, exposing it like this for everyone to see. Sooner or later It could put me in danger. I'll have to cover it.

"Fine. Post it to Friday's Forums Page. Make sure you use the Strongest VPN." Peter sighed, giving in to Mark's intense curiosity.

"YAY!"

[Does anyone know what this Black Tattoo is? Img.1626]

[Posted by crazy_monké69]

"Okay done. Now we wait." Mark smiled with excitement.