"GRAB THEM!"

"DON'T LET THEM ESCAPE THE CITY!"

It was a dark, looming night. Four silhouettes were trying to flee from the city's guards, high ranking Crawlers.

Two Men, a woman and a Child all wearing cloaks, tried to escape Iudicium.

The City Guard's surrounded them, blocking their escape routes.

"DAMIEN! NOW!" the older of the two men shouted to the other.

The younger man raised his hand, and suddenly, a blinding light sprung forth from it, stunning the guards and physically enhancing the two men, the woman and the child.

"LIGHT MAGIC!" screamed a city guard who resisted the stunning light as he charged at the four silhouettes.

"FATHER!" shouted Damien, the younger man.

"I got it!" the older man pulled out his sword and gritted his teeth.

~slash~

The older man slashed at the guard, injuring him lightly to stop him from pursuing them.

"Scilla!" the older man addressed the woman as they passed the stunned guards.

"You don't have to tell me Peter!" Scilla froze the ground behind them so as to make it harder for the guards to reach them.

They ran towards the big looming wall that surrounded the city.

An arrow flew past them and hit the ground.

"ARCHERS! LOOK OUT" Peter shouted to the others.

~multiple arrows whistling~

Peter and Scilla took out the arrows that were flying towards them, Peter slashing them down, and scilla by shooting ice balls at the arrows.

While the archers were busy reloading their crossbows, Scilla took advantage of the situation and manifested a bunch of ice spikes, throwing them at the archers.

"NOW! TO THE WALL!" shouted Scilla.

They now were about 500 Meters away from the wall, running towards it with all their might.

"Who would have thought you would make it this far!" a voice reverberated from the top of the wall.

~BAAANM!~

A big, burly armoured man wielding a hammer jumped down from the wall, cracking the ground in the process.

"AMETHYST!" shouted Peter, being visibly distressed.

"PETER VI FIORE! DID YOU REALLY THINK YOU COULD ESCAPE!? AND THEN WHAT? YOU THINK THE OUTSIDE WORLD IS JUST FLOWERS AND SWEETS?"

Amethyst shouted at Peter as his armour got covered by sturdy Rock, boosting his defences.

"It's bound to be better than this hellhole!"

Peter retorted.

As they had come to a complete stop, the child hid behind Scilla, scared as it was, and Scilla stroked the child's hair, keeping it calm.

City Guards slowly started surrounding them.

Amethyst rubbed his eyes and face.

"Peter, to think you'd abandon your post and life for a foolish dream. I'll make your death quick since we were once colleagues."

"DAMIEN! Can I count on you!?!" Peter asked his son.

"You don't have to tell me twice." Damien pulled out his sword and buffed both him and his father, their swords shone in yellow light.

"Scilla! Provide support! But most importantly, protect our child." Peter didn't dare to look away from Amethyst, even while giving orders.

"You done with the goodbyes? I was getting tired! Amethyst then hit the ground with his hammer and extracted a boulder from it, swiftly hitting it towards Peter.

Peter blocked the boulder with all his strength

As Damien rushed at Amethyst, aiming to stab him.

~clu-ck cling~ 

Damien's sword shattered upon contact with Amethyst's armour

"You really thought you could hurt me? With just that?"

Amethyst's hammer made contact with Damien , sending him flying back.

But right behind Damien, Peter appeared as fast as ever.

"No! But this can!" shouted Peter as he swung his sword, catching Amethyst by surprise.

Peters sword skilfully cut through the rock surrounding Amethyst's armour and sliced at the gap in his armour on his side.

Amethyst touched the place where he was slashed and brought his hand to his face, seeing blood.

"A minor scratch, but I acknowledge your strategy."

Amethyst then swung his hammer at Peter.

Peter tried to block, but the bones in his arms shattered and he got sent back towards Damien.

Damien had already stood back up, ready for round two, picking up his father's sword.

The child clung to Scilla and its eyes started watering.

~Sniffle~

"I'm sorry, Arden, I couldn't give you a better life" scilla said, addressing the child, she squatted down and wiped his tears.

~sniffle~ "I-I can help too..." Blue light started surrounding Scilla after Arden uttered those words, water magic.

Replenishing a little bit of Scillas mana as well as strengthening her ice attacks.

Scilla has been constantly keeping the city guards in check with her magic, so this was very helpful.

"Thank you, child" Scilla then shot ice spikes from the ground all around them to keep the soldiers at bay.

She quietly told Arden,

"Arden, the situation doesn't look so good, you are just a child, so you might get to live. I'm sorry, but remember, never show the officials your other power, keep it as your trump card, always remember this. Always keep part of your strength hidden."

As all of this was going down, Damien started defending his father from Amethyst.

~Clung~

"Look at that! Your injuries have already healed! Light magic sure is convenient!"

Amethyst said, his amusement for light magic grew even larger.

~Clung~

Sword struck against hammer, useless as it may be.

"IF ONLY I WAS A BIT STRONGER!" Damien was frustrated with his strength, fully knowing that fighting against Amethyst was pointless.

Amethyst struck Damien with all his power.

"I'm done toying with you"

Damien was immediately downed.

Soldiers quickly apprehended both him and his father.

"DAMIEN! NO!" shouted Scilla.

As Scilla got distracted, an arrow pierced her from behind, piercing her heart and making her fall to the ground.

"MOM!" cried the child as soldiers apprehended them as well.

Scilla slowly rose her hand to her child.

"Do not cry... Child"

Scilla then drew her last breath as she spoke to her child.

"Remem..ber.."

A lot of chaotic emotions where going through Arden's head

~sniffle~

The soldiers gathered around and brought everyone in front of amethyst.

"Peter, this is the price you pay for going against our wishes." Amethyst said, approaching the now bloodied and beat up Peter.

~Cough~ Peter coughed up some blood.

"Your... wishes? You are nothing more than a dog."

"I'm saddened that we have to end it this way."

Amethyst took a sword from a subordinate, leaving his hammer on the ground, and raised the sword in front of Peter.

Peter took a look at his family and Damien's eyes widened,

While Amethyst asked a question.

"Any last words?"

Peter smiled widely as blood ran down from his mouth.

"Fuck y—"

~slash~

"FATHER!"

"DAD!"

Peters' head flew.

Arden was too shocked and fear ridden to move or speak.

Damien on the other hand.

"DAMN YOUU!!"

Damien, in a fit of rage, escaped the guard's hold that had apprehended him by breaking his left hand.

"Wha-" Amethyst was caught off guard.

"AMETHYST!!" A sword of light materialised in Damien's right hand as he run towards Amethyst.

Amethyst tried to block with the sword he was holding,

But the sword of light cut right through it in the blink of an eye, and finally reached Amethyst.

But to Damien's surprise, it only produced a tiny scratch on his armour, and now that Damien had over exerted himself, the sword dissipated.

"Commendable, Peter's son, Damien was it?"

Amethyst punched Damien to the ground.

"Really commendable! Such talent and such a Rare ability! You have the potential to become very strong in the future. What would you say? Join us, become one of us and I'll spare your life!"

Damien Raised his head.

"NEVER! I DO NOT WANT TO WORK FOR A PIG LIKE YOU! I don't care about my life.."

Amethyst signalled to the guards.

And they brought the now apprehended Arden closer to Amethyst and Damien.

"Wha-?"

Damien's eyes widened.

"No.."

Amethyst started speaking and walking towards Arden.

"Unlike Arden, you are useful, too useful to get rid of. I heard Arden has water affinity and is traumatized by an event of being used as bait in the tower by some crawlers. Hah! Isn't that funny? He doesn't even want to go into The Tower because of that! HAHAHURHA! TALK ABOUT USELESS! A bad affinity and no will to fight on top of that!"

Amethyst put his hands on Arden's shoulders.

"How about this. I'll even spare your little brother's life if you comply. Join me DAMIEN!"

"DAMIEN DON'T DO IT! DONT WORRY ABOUT ME! PLE-"

Even if just a child, Arden loved his brother and didn't want him to sacrifice himself for Arden.

—Thunk—

"Gah! Da-mien..." Arden fell to the ground, starting to lose consciousness after being hit by Amethyst.

"HOW DARE YOU!" Damien screamed.

Amethyst walked towards Damien while speaking.

"Oh I just knocked him out, don't get angry over nothing. I didn't want him to butt-in our conversation. So..."

Amethyst got close to Damien and whispered to him.

Arden couldn't hear what he was saying and fully lost consciousness.

*

*

*

Arden opened his eyes.

'An unfamiliar ceiling?'

"Oww.." Arden held his head in pain as he looked around.

He lay in bed, in a barely furnished monotonous room with a door and a single window.

~Creak~

The door opened with a slight creaking sound.

A figure wearing a formal looking attire, with glasses and cold looking eyes walked into the room and towards Arden and spoke coldly.

"I see that you've awakened. Welcome. To the Sunscreen Orphanage, Arden Vi Fiore."

.

Chapter 1 End