I stared out the window. It was pouring. The sun was hiding behind a shield of clouds to keep itself away from the rain.

A dark figure stood in front of the door below. He continued to knock on the door in a steady beat. I kept staring and waited. My thoughts swirled around in my head. Should I open the door? He’s been standing out there for twenty minutes already. Mom and Dad won’t be home for a while. They said they were shopping for something.

I waited a few more minutes and decided to open the door. I tip-toed downstairs. The stranger kept knocking.

“Coming.” I decided to call out. The stranger stopped knocking. I slowly walked towards the door.

“Who’s there?” I asked hiding the fear inside with a stable tone of voice. The stranger ignored my question. Maybe he left.

I took a breath and turned to go back to my room. I froze as another knock echoed through the house. I sighed.

“Who is it?” I asked annoyed as I unlocked and opened the door.

I felt a hand thrust into my chest. I was immediately thrown backwards. My chest burned in pain. I coughed out a spray of blood.

I tried getting up, but the stranger leaped forward and jumped on me. I heard the clink of metal as he unsheathed his dagger: a gleaming Angelic Betrayal. He placed it dangerously close to my throat.

“Where is the Crow?” the stranger hissed. My heart started beating faster. The Crow was Dad’s nickname due to his pitch-black Doombringer.

“Tell me now!” the stranger spat. He poked my neck with the end of his Angelic Betrayal. I could feel a small trickle of blood drip down. I felt tears forming around my eyes. Dad please come save me.

“Stupid kid! Good for nothing brat! You’re just like my son!” the stranger shouted angrily. He got off me and grabbed me by my throat. He rose me into the air as I desperately tried to release his grip. He threw me across the room.

A pain blossomed in my back as I crashed into a wall. A few picture frames hung on the wall fell down. The shattered glass pierced my skin. Trickles of blood formed. I silently cried careful not to be too loud incase the stranger came to attack me.

“That stupid Crow! Where is he?!” the stranger roared kicking a chair into a wall. I saw it break into pieces. That chair could be me next. Fear started to eat away at my insides.

I laid there for an hour or two. I could hear the stranger digging around for food the whole time. He mumbled under his breath between bites.

“Ken! We’re home!” Dad’s cheerful voice rang into the house.

The stranger silently ran into the room with the front door. He turned to me and placed a finger onto his lips. I saw a slight cloud of smoke surround him. It quickly disappeared along with the stranger. Dad won’t see him in the Dark Sight!

The door slowly opened as Dad and Mom walked in. The moment Mom saw me she screamed and ran towards me.

“Mom!” I screamed out as the stranger revealed himself. Mom tried to get away, but she was too late. The stranger put his arms around her and held her roughly.

“You may have gotten away last time, but this time it won’t be the same!” he hissed into her ear. She tried struggling, but he held on.

“Let her go!” Dad shouted angrily. I saw him instinctively reach behind him for his Doombringer, but his hand only grabbed empty air. I suddenly remembered he was getting his Doombringer repaired after it had cracked in two during training. He eyed the long package in his hand.

He looked from me to Mom to the stranger and finally to the package in his hands. He tore the paper revealing a shiny, black scabbard. His grabbed the grip of a blade and pulled it out. A Red Katana beamed in his hand. He gripped it with two hands and pointed it at the stranger.

“Drop the sword or the kid dies.” The stranger grunted. He wrapped his arm around Mom’s neck while with the other hand pointing his Angelic Betrayal at me.

“Dad…” I whispered tears streaming down my face.

“Wolf!” Dad shouted out. Wolf? Did they know each other?

He used Ice Charge as his blade covered with ice. They jutted out, following the point of the blade so it was like he had a bunch of blades fused together. He rushed forward and slashed the floor.

A line of ice started jutting out of the floor. It reached Wolf. It cut into his arm that was holding the Angelic Betrayal. He dropped it as blood streamed out of his arm. He let go of Mom as he desperately tried to get his arm out of the ice. She quickly crawled away.

“Wolf just die.” Dad said calmly silently appearing next to him. He released the magic on his blade. The ice on the blade quickly evaporated as did all the other pieces of ice.

Dad raised his blade and slashed it across Wolf’s back. He let out a slight gasp and fell to the ground as blood poured out his back.

“Ken are you ok?” Dad asked walking towards me. He slashed the air with the Red Katana. The blood flung off. He sheathed it.

He reached out a hand towards me. I grabbed it and he pulled me up.

“I’m so glad you’re all right!” Mom cried as she hugged me tightly. Tears were falling down from her face.

“Never put your back to an opponent!” Wolf’s voice crackled. I looked behind Mom to find Dad standing there with his sheathed sword.

Wolf dashed forward as blood dripped off his back holding his Angelic Betrayal. He slashed at Dad, but Dad side-stepped it. Wolf tripped and accidentally trusted his blade forward.

“Mom!” I screamed out. She let out a small squeak as the blade dug into her back, puncturing her heart. She fell forward, leaning against me. Blood was pouring over her and onto me.

I sat there frozen as the blood fell over me. She…..she…..she….can’t be gone…

“MOM!” I screamed out with all my pain. Tears streamed down my face as I held her in my arms. I started crying for her.

“Ken…..” Dad whispered patting my head. He slowly unsheathed his Red Katana. I looked at him. He looked like my Dad, but he felt like a totally different person. He looked up. His normal black eyes were now blood-red.

“Wolf! You’re dead!” he screamed out. He suddenly disappeared and reappeared behind Wolf. He slashed upward and Wolf flew into the air. Dad started dashing around slashing at Wolf constantly.

Wolf slowly dropped towards the ground as Dad stopped his attacks. Time seemed to slow down as Dad spun around on the ground. His feet slid into a full circle as he used Final Attack. He lowered his blade, turned and jumped up slashing across Wolf’s body.

He landed behind Wolf as Wolf continued to fly in the air and land behind him. He turned and kicked Wolf into the wall. He dashed forward and stabbed his sword into Wolf’s chest.

“Dead.” He proclaimed. I saw his eyes turn back to black. He was about to move away when Wolf’s hand shot out.

“You’re going down with me…” Wolf whispered as he grabbed Dad’s arm. With his other hand he pulled out a giant sack of Mesos.

It started to glow brightly. My Dad tried to escape, but it was too late. The bag exploded. Both their bodies were covered up by the explosion.

“Dad!” I shouted. I let go of Mom and ran towards the smoke. I waved the smoke away as I approached the bodies. I felt nauseated. Wolf’s arms were both blown away. Half his head was gone, too. I spotted Dad’s body a few feet away.

“Dad?” I softly called out walking towards his body. I heard him laugh a bit.

“Dad!” I shouted rushing to him. I felt a throb of joy at the fact that he was still alive.

“Ken. Here. This is yours.” Dad whispered holding out the sheathed blade. I accepted it slowly. I tried unsheathing it, but the moment I pulled the handle out I could tell it was strangely light.

As I pulled it out completely I saw why. The blade had cracked during the explosion. It was about one-third its original length.

“Sorry. It was supposed to be your present for mastering all your second job skills.” He coughed out some blood.

“Dad stop talking! Save your energy!” I shouted out desperately.

“Ken. Go to the Orbis Tower. Find the eighteenth floor and find Tech. He’ll help you out.” Dad whispered. “Good bye….” He drooped his head.

I screamed out as loud as I could until my throat was sore. I heard people starting to come. I quickly sheathed the sword and ran to the back door. I quietly sneaked out into the rain as I heard people go in through the front.

“Good bye Mom and Dad.” I whispered as I caught a last glimpse of my house before running through the streets of Orbis.

I spotted the Orbis Tower up ahead. My legs ached as I had been running for a good forty-minutes. I approached the tower. The entrance was just a stone archway. Normally it was crowded with people, but with today’s weather not a soul was in sight.

“Eighteenth floor. Look for Tech.” I kept repeating to myself as I walked into the tower. A couple Jr. Sentinels were floating around. I’ll have to be careful. I only have a broken sword and a scabbard.

I cautiously went down the tower avoiding Jr. Sentinels. Whenever any came too close I whacked it away with my scabbard. I soon reached the eighteenth floor. By now I was dry. Luckily the tower had a roof.

“Tech? Anyone here?” I called out. I was pretty sure it was the eighteenth floor. What now?

I sat against a wall. I tightly gripped the scabbard. I looked around. There was no one. A few Jr. Sentinels eyed me, but left me alone. A sat there for a few minutes.

Suddenly nets started protruding from the center of the tower. They grabbed a few Jr. Sentinels. One of them launched on top of me, capturing me in its threads. I desperately tried to escape.

The nets all started going back towards the center of the tower. A few slabs of stone moved aside as the net dragged me closer to the center of the tower. I fell into a slide as the net released me. I flew into the air as I reached the end of the slide.

I was in a giant cell full of Jr. Sentinels.

“Help!” I called out.

“Who’s there?” A voice replied. I couldn’t see the person, but by the voice I could tell it was a male adult.

“Are you Tech?” I asked. The person didn’t reply.

“Who are you?” he asked.

“My Dad sent me. He’s the Crow.” I quickly answered.

“Ok. I’ll let you out.” Tech said. He let me out and led me to a room where we started talking.

I first told him about Dad and Mom dying and Wolf. He then told me the history behind it all.

“Your dad is the Crow as you know. He’s infamous in most places. He’s a bandit. Not the job, but as a person. Although he stole he was kind at heart. He only stole from the rich and helped out the poor. Well one night he was scoping around for a place to loot Wolf attacked him. Wolf is another bandit like him although he is actually a real one, too. But Wolf was evil and would steal from anybody. Wolf said he was taking away all the loot that should’ve been his. Anyway they fought and your dad won. Wolf ran off. When your dad checked he found out Wolf had taken all his money during the fight. So he tracked him down to his house. Your dad there met your mom. She was being horribly abused by Wolf. He broke in and fought Wolf again. Your dad won again and your mom decided to go with him. So that’s how your parents met.” Tech explained.

“How about a kid? Do you know if Wolf and my mom had any kids?” I asked thinking back to how Wolf had compared him to some son of his.

“Not sure.” Tech replied sitting down at a bench. He was examining my Red Katana.

“Hmmm…..Badly cracked. I can’t repair it completely, but I’ll do my best.” Tech promised smiling at me.

“Um…Tech. Um….I kind of don’t have a place to go…..So….I was wondering…Maybe….I could….” I tried to find the right words to ask him.

“Of course you can stay here. Your dad and I go way back. I wouldn’t just throw his son into the streets.” Tech said patting me on the head.

“Thanks!” I beamed. I jumped up and gave Tech a giant hug. Although I had only met him for a while I had grown to like him like the brother I never had. Unless I really do have a step-brother. I kept thinking back to Wolf’s words.

“Ken how old are you?” Tech asked.

“Twelve.” I replied.

“Whoa. You should be asleep by now. Here I’ll show you your bed.” Tech said. He lead me into a hallway. There were multiple doors, but he opened the first one. Inside was a pretty plain room with a closet, a bathroom, and a bunk bed. Tech went into the top bunk and cleared away some junk.

“This is your bed.” Tech said patting it. I climbed into it and suddenly felt drowsy.

“Good night.” Tech whispered as he closed the room door.

“Good night……” I whispered. I wonder what I’ll do now…..I guess I’ll just have to see…..

I felt the sleep overtake me as I closed my eyes and let out a small yawn.

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Well time for a new series. Please only post comments about THIS series/chapter. Hasrsh/cruel flames welcomed along with advice and maybe praise.

~ That Asian Kid,