Meeting an Old "Friend"

Lionel was currently walking back home. His house was situated in the Outer area of the city even though he was part of the Golden Horde. He was offered to live in some luxurious dwellings that were in the inner region of the city however he had refused as he was raised in the outer area. The outer region became home for him, and despite the ugliness of the outer region, Lionel saw true beauty inside it as he knew some people who were genuinely kind that lived here.

Lionel was worried about who to exactly find as his partner, as he kept on thinking about this matter he suddenly heard a scream of help which not uncommon in these parts. Lionel did not want to participate in this matter and was going to ignore the cry. The scream for help sounded out once more, this time Lionel did not overlook the yelling as he felt that it was familiar. He could not help but walk towards the origin of the screams and what he saw had shocked him.

In front of him were two thugs, both looked like any other typical thug with ragged clothes that were patched a many times and scars all over their bodies with faces that signified them as "high class" thugs. In front of these thugs was someone Lionel Knew all too well. It was his childhood bully, Mason.

Mason had always bullied him since young, whether it was dunking his face through the sewers or creating all types of bad rumours about him, Mason had always been feared by all the thugs in the Outer Area, whether it be new ones or the old ones hence Lionel was confused as to why he was getting beaten up by these thugs. Hiding in the shadows, he decided to eavesdrop on what the two thugs talked about.

One of the thugs raised his hands and gave a resounding slap to Mason. The other thug laughed as he looked at Mason and soon he started to talk "Little Master what are you going to do to us now huh, are you gonna call your dear papa on us or your Brother" The thug spoke in a demeaning tone that had a sarcastic edge to it.

From the thug's words, Lionel could infer the reason that Mason had always ordered around people that were much stronger than him was due to a strong backing that he had.

Mason soon started to talk through his snot-filled sobbing face "Big Bro you know we've had many good times, My father and brother may have been captured by the Enforcers, but they still left behind a lot of money, and we can talk about this and share the spoils.

Lionel upon hearing this was shocked and could not help but feel pity for Mason and his family even though he was his bully at young. There was a simple reason for this, and it was the enforcers capturing his brother and father.

The Enforcers were under the jurisdiction of the Second Young Master of the Auguste Clan, Kelios Andras Auguste, they were the law keepers of the Endless Mountains, and they were well known for their brutal antiques and tortures that they inflicted on the criminals that they captured. Lionel could only feel sorry for Masons family.

"Hehe Little Master are you stupid, of course, we know that you know where the money of your father is stashed at and there are a lot of "good" friends of yours out there looking for you, I'm just really happy that we found you first" The thug landed a Brutal kick on Mason's abdomen all while emitting a creepy laugh.

"Jalis don't you think we should start "working" on him and get the money already, I'm sick and tired of you beating him up already" The other thug who was snake eyed spoke in an impatient tone as he revealed a long snake-like tongue while licking a black dagger. Lionel did not see where the dagger came from in the first place probably due to the darkness in the alley he was currently hiding in.

Upon hearing this Mason seemed to collapse, his wet eyes seemed to lose all emotion as if he accepted what was to come to him, however, Lionel could see something burning deep in his eyes, The determination to die whilst not giving the secrets of family out to these thugs.

At first, Lionel was going to leave him as he did not want to involve himself in the underworlds dealings however he came to respect Mason and decided to take action against these thugs. Coming out the shadows Lionel stretched his hand out and formed a fist directing it at the snake-eyed thug and released a swirling dragon that went towards the thug. The thug unsuspecting at first turned his eyes around as light started to fill the alley, turning around he saw a flame flying towards and immediately tried to dodge however he was too late as the fire burned him to death.

The other thug took a moment to register what had happened until he had turned around and started screaming as he saw a red-haired boy looking coldly at him, that was the last thing he saw as in the next second he was dead.

The only two people left in the dark alley were Mason and Lionel, and as Lionel turned around to walk away from what he had done, he heard a voice behind him.

"Lionel is that you?"