The black smoke bellowing from the village was a clear indicator something was wrong. As I stumbled down the hill, everyone burst out the forest quickly passing me by.
"Whats going on?" Someone said
"I don't know but what ever it is, it can't be good!" answered another.
This type of murmuring continued until we reached the entrance of the village. Thats when everyone got quiet...too quiet. Pushing and shoving my way to the front of the thick crowd I instantly understood why.
The sour stench of death permeated the air like a thick fog invading my lungs. The lifeless bodies of most of my clansmen mix in with a few new faces. They seemed to be soldiers. Amongst the corpses, three of the five beauties showed signs of rape and abuse. I had to swallow the puke that was building up in my mouth.Looking around in despair I noticed a flag bearing the same sigil as the soldiers was mounted on each of the burning log cabins. They featured a serpent devouring the moon, this was the symbol of the imperial army.
"The Orion Stigmata, they did this!" said a voice beside me. It was my little brother Zero. He look like a carbon copy of Father with his muscular physique and almost permanent frown. Speaking of father, I couldn't find him anywhere. Looking around once more, I finally saw that there was something sitting on top of a flagpole. Long white locks doing ballet in the wind. My gaze becomes intense when i see it.It was a head, Father's head. Unconsciously i take a few step closer as i gaze in the eyes of my father. Images of him race through my mind. Only to be brought back to this moment.
Falling to my knees, I hung my head in despair. With nothing left to do, I cried. A scream pierced the night sky. Not only of remorse but also rage. As I felt the tears I shed run down my face, I made myself a solemn vow. 'Even if it kills me, I will find a way to heal this broken body and kill the bastard responsible for this.'
"Wait...doesn't this mean Ren is the new patriarch?" I heard someone behind me ask. I turn my head in rage at how calmly they said that. Only to be reminded of my younger brother who surely is mortified by the sight.
"I guess so" answered Zero as he walked up to a burning log and picked it up. I think to myself how can he be so calm I'm positive he sees father's head. After inspecting the log, he walked up to me and said "That's one down." Confusion filled to the brim like a cup, but before i can speak.
*Thwack
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I slowly awoke with my left cheek throbbing in pain. I looked down and saw that my leg brace was missing. Looking around I saw that I was in front of the clan vault.
'How did I get here?' I thought. That's when the memories of the day's events came rushing back to me. 'Zero that slimy piece of shit. He knocked me out.'
As if summoned by my thoughts, Zero appeared in front of me. "Well well well, looks who's awake. It's the clan's biggest failure or should I say the patriarch." He said gleefully while looking at me with contempt. I heard laughter behind me, turning around I noticed it was the rest of the survivors. They were glaring at me as if I were less than an ant in their eyes.
"So let me guess, you idiots want me to open the vault?" I said in a nonchalant manner. Delphine walked up to me and kicked me in the face. " If you already know why ask cripple." Like the whore she was,she slow walked over to zero and threw herself on to him while staring back at me with a smirk. Laughing off the pain of my now broken nose I smirked at my brother, "You better keep your slut in check before I forget how to open the damn thing." "Slut" she screams take steps before Zero grabs her by the arm.
Zero laughed, "See this is why I won't kill him yet. The bastard needs to be broken! He always got some shit to say like he's the king of the world. You must have forgotten father's not here to protect you now." Images of father floods my mind again. I push them back, needing to stay focus on the now. "That's why after we empty out the vault, we're selling him to Slug." My mind froze in fear. Slug was a slave trader who bought anyone, no matter how useless and tortured them until they begged for death. The sicko got off on the screams of his victims. It didn't matter if it was men, women, or kids. This was something we did to the worse of the worse criminals of the clan.
I definitely had to kill everyone here, and the only way to do that was to open the vault. As I struggled to my feet, I heard everyone laughing and jeering. "Come on, you can do it, hahaha!" " i bet he falls after five steps." "I bet he can only do three"
"Aww look the wittle baby's trying tk walk." said Selena, the only other surviving beauty.
"I feel like a proud father." As everyone kept thinking of new sayings to humiliate me I finally made it to the vault. I placed some of my blood on the locking mechanism and said "As the first born of Kota Takahashi and the current patriarch, I hereby grant you permission to enter the vault."
The door lit up as it slid open. Everyone gasped as they looked at the abundant treasure inside. There was more pills, money, and weaponry to fuel a large army. "And to think Father would've given all of this to a loser like you." With a look of disdain, my brother pushed me out of the way and ran inside, followed everyone else. They were smiling like children, that just got a new toy.
That smile didn't last long as some one picked up a sword and immediately started vomiting blood. I smiled as everyone watched in shock as he died a slow and painful death. Zero was the first to recover. Turning toward me he yelled "You little bitch! What did you do?" Everyone else follow suit "Yeah, what the hell was that"
With my most innocent smile I looked him in the eye and said "Oh whatever do you mean brother. I simply gave you permission to enter, but I didn't give you permission to touch anything." Zero in a fit of rage charged toward me, but an invisible force knocked him back inside.
With a scornful laugh I said "I didn't give you permission to leave either. Only the owner of the vault could freely enter and leave with or without the loot, anyone must have express permission to do either."
Sweet, unbridled fear spread across everyone's face. They knew what came next. Zero looked at me and said "Don't do it!"
"Oh but I must." I answered. This made everyone dropped to their knees and begged for their lives. Delphine being the main one. "Renkoudo, you know i was playing right i only love you. It was Zero he forced me to. If you let me out I'll do what ever you want. She said while pushing her breast together." "Anything I ask ? Yes baby anything"
"Can you do an orgy with the people inside the vault and show me how much of a whore you really are?" The disrespect hit her like a slap in the face and with a maniacal laugh I yelled "I hereby revoke your permission to enter, and I now see you all as thieves." I said these words looking directly into my brothers eyes. After I said that, the room was engulfed in a ball of light.
Shielding my eyes, I listened to the screams of agony coming from my traitorous brethren. It sounded like a beautiful symphony. As the light died down, so did the screams. When I could see again, I smirked at how clean the vault was. "That's one down" I said to myself. Image of my father plagued me again and the dedication and rage returned.
Walking inside of it I inspected everything trying to find something useful to me. "It's as if they were never here." I look at all around and that's when i seen it off in the corner. A box with my name on it. Placing it to the side, I grabbed a three spaces bags and started to place everything inside of them. One bag full of coins, one bag full of pills and elixirs, and the final bag full of weapons and armor.
After a while the only things inside the vault were me and the mysterious box. I studied it for a second. It was a metal box with the same locking mechanism as the vault. It was pretty heavy too. I sat it back down and stared at it. The handwriting on the label wasn't one that I recognized. What could be inside of it? Was it one last prank from Father? The only way to answer that question was to open it, but what was stopping me? With a heavy sigh, I opened it and was instantly confused