Disclaimer: the disclaimer is already stated in the prologue, so please read both the prologue and the disclaimer before you start reading this chapter. Thank you.

Prologue

A Place to Call Home

I have no friends now. Worst of all, I have nobody to talk to anymore. Every person I know hates me. They think I lied. They think I lied about my talent, my abilities. They assume I was born to be a killer, to be a gun wielder, and murder. I wanted to prove they were wrong. I wanted to show them I’m benevolent.

I decided to alter my identity by changing my appearance. While I traveled, I hid my identity by wearing a white fedora hat, a polo shirt and blue jeans, wearing blue-colored shades. I dyed my hair red. I wore a wristwatch that can both tell time and protect my wrist, and also wore black shoes. I looked in a shattered mirror in the alley, and evaluated my look. An absolute strange greeted me from within the mirror. I smiled when I saw my new look; I loved my new appearance.

I sauntered around the town of Henesys, wandering around and looking for something to do I stuffed my left hand in my jeans pocket, and used my right hand to cover my eyes with the fedora hat; some people could tell others by their eyes, so I became cautious with that issue. As I drifted around the whole town, I noticed the place was extremely peaceful. No fights went on anywhere; merchants were being kind to their customers; everybody greeted each other. I went through the market, interested in most of the merchandise. One item caught my attention: a necklace. The silver was in shape of a sword, and it had a representation of a cross in the middle of it. 15,000 mesos, the label said. I checked my wallet. I had 25,000 mesos. I thought about this. The necklace is really appealing, and I really wanted it, but I will only have 10,000 mesos left. What will I do for living, for food? I kept thinking for a few minutes. The merchant just stared at me.

“Thank you for shopping!”

I could not resist the urge to buy it, and temptation became victorious. I finally bought the necklace. I wore it around my neck, and excitedly dashed to the alley to look at the shattered mirror again. I arrived, and looked into it. The necklace matched perfectly with my outfit. My smile grew wider, and I stared at myself for a while. My appearance changed by a lot… I liked it. I looked like a different person.

I walked out of the alley with enthusiasm; my new name, my new look, they all satisfied me. As I approached the exit of the alley, I noticed something. From a building, streams of ice flowed onto the concrete floor. It started forming letters. S… O… S… SOS! Immediately I dashed towards the building. I twisted the doorknob. Locked. I closed my eyes, and did a hand gesture. Two claws struck the door, and the door broke. I ran inside.

Within the building, there were approximately thirty people and I also saw two people on the floor with ropes around their wrist, and cloths on their mouths. I couldn’t see their gender clearly; I was too far away. They looked at my direction. They probably found out about my invasion when I broke that door. Darn, I should have not used Magic Claw back then. They took out varieties of weapons: swords, throwing knives, daggers, bows and arrows… and prepared to attack me. I took my fighting stance, and dashed towards them.

I started by kicking an assassin in the stomach, then punching a warrior on the face. I knew I couldn’t penetrate warriors’ armors, so I aimed at their weak spots. A bandit attempted to strike me with his dagger, but I dodged it swiftly and elbowed him. This pattern of evade-and-attack continued for a few seconds, until five enemies remained.

The hostages watched me with amazement, observing my fighting technique with wide eyes. I came close to them, so I could find out who the hostages were. One was a guy, and judging from appearance, about fifteen years old, my age. The other hostage was a girl, also around fifteen years old. I continued to focus on the fight, and I accidentally evaded a throwing knife that aimed towards the hostages. It scratched the girl’s shoulder, causing her to emit a gasp in pain. I couldn’t really hear it clearly. I immediately dashed to her, and healed her shoulder. A man tried to ambush me but failed; I quickly chanted Magic Claw, htting him directly in the chest. He collapsed to the floor. I aimed at the second man, the Magic Claw also hitting him. He fell beside the first man. Immediately, the remaining three charged at me, all at once. One was an archer, who tried to stun me by attacking using not an arrow, but his bow. Next was a bandit, his dagger stained with blood- The final man was a warrior, but this time, not only his body but also his face was covered with armor. I teleported behind them, causing the bandit to look around in confusion, his target lost. As soon as he turned around, however, I kicked the bandit in the face, resulting in him skidding back a rather long distance. The bowman swung his bow, but missed. He stepped back, and prepared to shoot an arrow at me. I teleported again, but this time, backwards. I made a gesture like holding a bow, and concentrated my energy into my arms. An arrow produced, covered in light, aimed at the bowman. I shot it, paralyzing him- He fell to the floor.

‘Two down, one to go.‘ I thought, but I had a feeling this final fight will be troublesome. How will I penetrate his armor? I shot a couple of holy arrows at that warrior, but his armor deflected my arrows. Suddenly, an idea struck me. I began to lash out with Magic Claw, continuously aiming the electric blue magic at one spot on his armor. Again and again, I attacked. He charged at me, laughing, telling me it’s useless, but I kept on continuing. After several dozen attacks, the Gods finally began to smile upon me. A crack had formed where the Claws have been aimed. I rapidly sprinted towards the warrior, and kicked his armor as hard as I could. As expected, the armor demolished. I followed through with a punch to the stomach. He was thrown forcefully against the wall from the power of the blow, quickly elapsing into unconsciousness soon after. I did it. I’d defeated everyone in the room.

I walked towards the hostages, who stared at me with astonishment. Like any other sensible person would, I freed them from the grasp of the ropes which bound them, via Holy Arrow. The girl, after removing the cloth used to gag her, suddenly charged up and hugged me with great force, causing me to stagger back a bit. She then proceeded to sob her eyes out. The guy wiped away tears of gratitude. “Thank you for saving us!” they cried in unison.

We walked out of the building, both of my hands in my pockets, and immediately their attention were locked onto me. The boy, with his short, brownish black hair and his dark, innocent-looking eyes, and the girl, with her long, jet-black hair and her shining eyes, introduced themselves to me before I could ask. The boy was first.

“My name is Francis,” he said, his hand held out in front of me. I gladly shook his hand, “I’m a fire and poison wizard. I’m also a monster anthropologist. I study the lifestyle and cultures of a species of monsters. Nice to meet you!”

“My name is Madeline,” the girl spoke next, and hugging me for the second time. “Thanks again for saving us again! I’m a wizard of ice and lightning, and I’m an assistant for my brother’s work. I’m also an artist; I draw the monsters my brother studies. I have a whole book full of monster drawings!” She released me, and stepped back. They both smiled at me, and I smiled back. Suddenly, Madeline asked, “And you, who are you?”

I answered while smiling, “Oh, my name is Kazu—Akatsuki. Akatsuki. Nice to meet you both!” I fixed my fedora hat. Madeline kept staring at me, along with Francis. The latter then suggested something, that surprising me. “Well, you saved us both, so we owe you. Where do you live? We can give you something in return, if we find something…”

I quickly replied, “I don’t have a home. I’m a drifter. And you guys really don’t know who I am, right?” Good, that means the disguise is working. “Well, if I tell you guys, will you two keep it a secret?” They both nodded. “Okay. Well, here I go. I’m the gun wielder.” To prove my point, I showed them the gun. They stared at the weapon, then me, and then back at the gun. A couple minutes later, Madeline snapped out of her trance.

“We don’t care if you’re the most evil guy on earth,” She said, “you still saved us. And, if you don’t have a home, you can live at ours! It’s the least we can do, right, Francis?”

I bet Francis had something on his mind at that time; he didn’t respond. “Francis?” Madeline asked, poking him on the shoulders. “Oh, huh? Oh, right… sure, of course Akatsuki can stay! We are friends, right? And he saved us; we owe him lots! So, let’s go home now?” They both continued to smile at me, and I smiled back. Happiness surged into me; I had friends now. They cared for me. They didn’t mind if I was the gunslinger, the murderer.

“Wow, this is a nice house!” I exclaimed with astonishment. Their home was like a regular family’s home, but it was very clean. All their furniture and work materials were neatly placed on desks and cabinets. Everything looked so organized. “Do your parents live with you?” I asked.

Francis looked down at the floor. Madeline, tears welling up in her eyes, answered in a barely audiable voice. “Our parents passed away recently, but we don’t know why… They just disappeared.” No longer able to hold back the urge, she started weeping. Tears fell from Francis’ eyes, as well.

I mentally kicked myself. I shouldn’t have asked. They were doing me a favor, and now I’ve rubbed salt into their wound. They gave me a roof, friendship, and I let them down so quickly.

“I should have not asked… I’m sorry…” I apologized sincerely. I bowed, causing my fedora hat to fall. My red hair shined.

“It’s okay…” Madeline replied, sniffing. “Don’t worry about it! But, right now I need a nap… I’m so exhausted!”

We started talking during dinner. Madeline served spaghetti, and I got 3 servings.

“I haven’t eaten anything this good for so long! This is delicious, Madeline!” I complimented. She flushed a bright, fire truck red, stuttering a quiet “Thanks”. A few hours after dinner, fatigue began to kick in.

“Where shall I sleep?” I asked, yawning. Francis answered very quickly, “Oh, sleep on my bed; I can sleep on the sofa.”

I declined his offer politely. “No, I will sleep on the sofa, or even the floor. I am the guest, after all.”

We bid each other good night, and left to our sleeping quarters. Today’s events ran through my mind. I smiled to myself, I was so glad I helped them. I was so glad to have a friend, a home. From this day forward, I knew my life was going to improve, and become much better. Madeline and Francis—They were the keys to my new life; the beginning of a new journey.