Tatio woke up with a start in the evening, looking around, he noticed he was alone in the alley. A pungent smell sobered him up, he noticed disgusting vomit on the floor beside him.
HISSS!!!
Gasping in pain as soon as he stood up, he noticed his whole body was aching as looked at himself. No trouble breathing, no broken bones or fractures only aching muscles. This surprised Tatio as he thought he should have been in a coma or have worse wounds to show for it not just sleeping for...
Two hours?
He looked at the sky as he determined how much time had passed. Remembering the beating he got earlier, his body shivered unknowingly as he hoped for the day he would be free from this kind of life.
Putting his misfortunes at the back of his mind, he started trudging back to his house as he still had his mother to take care of. As soon as he thought of his mother, he had a bad feeling, quickly he sprinted as fast as his aching body could take him to their shack.
Outside the shack, the bad feeling became stronger as tears start to pour out of his eyes as he saw people crowding outside his house. Paupers like him. Utensils and everything else were littered on the floor and Tatio knew his tormentors had gotten to his house first when they were looking for him.
Powering his way through the crowd, he rushed into the house only to find a few elderly women and friends of his family outside the bedroom in the house. Sorrow etched on their faces, turning their heads away from him as soon as they saw him in guilt.
No No No No No
His mind kept screaming.
When he felt their guilt, he realized he had not felt the one emotion he knew the most, guilt. His mother's guilt. It is absent. By this point, he was already standing before the door of her room, but that was the only thing he could do, stand. His legs were frozen, and even though he knew what was behind the door, he still could not bring himself to open it.
The door was carried, and that was when he realized the hinges were broken. A man and a woman came out, the man carrying the door. They were startled when they saw him, and he when he saw them.
"Little Tate." The woman said sorrow was in her voice.
"Uncle Mark, aunt Del... My mother---" He said with a voice choking, these two were the ones who took care of him when he could not find food to feed himself, giving him some of their son's leftover clothes.
They said no words, they just moved out of the room and the way.
He knew they knew, everyone knew.
He saw his mother, still on her bed but with the addition of blood on her forehead. Some of the blood had been cleaned and the rest was already drying out, but she was still in her sleeping position.
NO NO NO NO NO NO!!
The voice screamed as he bend over to his mother's side.
"Why? WHY? WHY? WHYYYYYYY?????!!!!" Tatio screamed, "MOTHER!!!!!"
The whole shack shook as his screams echoed in the neighbourhood with the sorrow of the neighbours serving as background.
It was obvious what happened to her, the door was kicked with tremendous force and hit her on the head while she was asleep. It must have been his bullies, who came to vandalize his house when he wasn't present, accidentally killing his mother.
AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!!!
An extremely sorrowful cry echoed
...
...
Shadowless was climbing the mountain when he looked up startled as if he was hearing something. Confusion clouded his face before sorrow, confusion and then more confusion.
"What are you confused by?" A voice reached his ears, causing him to lift his head as he smiled.
"It's with you!!!" He exclaimed happily, as he hopped about ten times to the peak.
On the peak is a cottage, with two cats outside yawning as they lifted their heads lazily to glance at him.
"Apathe!! Pragma!!" The boy greeted the two cats as he passed by them moving into the house. In the house was a boy about ten years old drinking tea from a cup and a golden-haired woman who was standing behind him watching him enjoy the tea.
"Father, Ma!!" The boy said his greetings as he enters the house, and the two occupants nodded. Orion gestured with his hands to a chair to which the boy responded by sitting.
"Little Lightless... What have I told you about karma?" Orion said with a sigh, looking at the boy before him. This troublesome boy had grown from just being a stupendously large heart to a cocoon, to being a nosy brat.
Indeed, this is the group of people many are searching for. Orion, Fidele, the two cats and new addition.
Lightless.
"I know, they were being mean to the boy and... and..." Lightless exclaimed in his defence before his face started to cloud with sorrow.
"Out with it," Orion said with a straight face, Fidele behind him hid a ghost of a smile.
"I want to help him!!" Lightless said with a serious face, "I'm not powerful enough but I want to help him."
"Are you certain?" Orion asked, looking at his son's face.
"Yes!" Lightless was serious.
"How many?" Orion asked.
"Three." Lightless.
"Haih... What a troublesome boy." Orion said with a pained face, "I gave you five favours for your circumstance, now you spend three?"
Lightless looked down shyly.
"Why?" Orion asked with a confused expression.
"I need to finish what I've started." Lightless said, raising his head with a determined expression, "Since I've interfered with his destiny, I do not want my first action to be mediocre."
"His destiny must not be mediocre."
He said facing Orion with a determined expression.
"Good... good!!" Orion clapped as he stood up with a proud expression, while Fidele's face was also alight with happiness, even the two cats walked in with a meow.
"As expected of my son, my training for the past fifteen years paid off well."
"Is he ready?" Fidele asked with expectation colouring her face.
"R-ready for what?" Lightless asked stunned about their reaction to a simple statement of his.
"To be independent." Orion said, "After ten years of training, you've taken your first action outside this courtyard."
"We were all waiting for you to take your first action, and you didn't disappoint."
"Sit down, a show would unfold soon, and we would watch together what happens when someone falls in despair."
With that, they all sat down as Fidele activated a formation on the table.
...
...
Tatio stands alone in front of his mother's grave. The neighbour helped with digging the grave, he had buried his mother in their backyard. Everyone left for their homes as it was already dark. Their help has been greatly appreciated.
Looking at the grave one last time, Tatio went back to his house, his back was straight. Straight like a pillar.
Inside the house, Tatio went straight to the kitchen as he started grounding some herbs and mixing them. This went on for a few minutes as he ended up with a powdered mixture. Putting on his cloak and a bunch of ropes he tied around his waist like a belt.
Standing, he left the house and the slum, moving towards the heart of the town before stopping before a blacksmith shop. He entered the shop, attracting the attention of the blacksmith dwarf.
"NO more commissions for today." He said without looking up from his hammering, he was hurrying to finish this job before tomorrow.
Getting no response, the dwarf looked up only to find himself wobbling, he could only catch the masked boy with brown hair before swearing, "Fucking brats--"
Thud!!
The dwarf collapsed.
Tatio didn't bother with the dwarf before him, as he went into the pile of finished works by the side before grabbing five knives and twenty pikes. He tied the pikes together at both ends before tying them to the back. The knives were secured in his cloak.
Leaving the unconscious dwarf, he moved forwards until he reached a mansion. There were no guards in the mansion and the lights were out meaning they were asleep.
Jumping over the fence, he moved for a tree in the backyard. Struggling for a few moments before he reached a branch close to Miho's window which he helped himself open up a bit. With his other hand, he slipped a handful of the powder into the room, sending Miho to deeper sleep. Opening the window gently, he entered the room.
Tatio fetched some of the ropes on himself, tying Miho securely to the bed and his mouth shut. Pulling out one of the spikes he stabbed Miho at the elbow joint, nailing him to the wood on the bed.
Pain!! Extreme Pain!!!
This was the sensation that woke Miho up.
Fear!
Miho felt scared when he realized the situation he found himself in, especially when he looked up to see Tatio's face. He tried to grunt even through his gagged mouth, hoping he could alert anyone to his plight.
SHHHH!!
Tatio shushed him.
"How does it feel?" Tatio said, "You look better now that only fear and remorse are what you feel."
Tatio's voice was low and his face was calm, this was all the more unsettling to Miho who already had tears in his eyes, either from pain or fear or both.
"It was always you!" Tatio whispered, "You were always the one to start the torture and you were the one with diabolical ideas."
Tatio said as he stabbed the other elbow to the bed. Miho was trying to grunt but his voice would not come out, Tatio stabbed both of his thighs next, firmly erasing any form of movement he could have.
"I endured everything because I felt, I only need one lucky break to change my life." Tatio said as tears were also staining his eyes, "But, you guys just had to go to my house."
"You just had to kill my mom..."
This time, he stabbed his spike into his stomach slowly, making sure not to kill him fast.
Miho's eyes were bulging, showing another emotion. Submission. He was begging for his life.
"Hmmm... I think I know what to do now." Tatio whispered with his eyes shining bright, " I won't kill you..."
"I won't kill you and Dario. The rest can die fast for all I care..."
Despair.
Miho was in despair, knowing the state he was in, he knew he would never recover from these injuries.
With that he stabbed into Miho's ears gently, only to deafen him. Another to his spine, to cripple him.
Two spikes protruded out of the shoulder from the armpits and the final strike was the testicles.
Miho's eyes had rolled over by now, fainting.
For good measure, he sprinkled more powder into the house to make his work last a little longer before he is noticed. With that action, he lifted the window as he escaped once more, to the houses of the other targets.