Date: A flashback back in 14th March 1988:Location: The Outskirts of Jedylyn TownTime: 8:55pmThe weather showed no remorse as the heavy snow and the strong wind combined to form the worst, most vicious winter storm the country has had in years. Despite the street-lights operating at full power, it was near-impossible to see anything further than 30 yards into the dark abyss ahead. The timing of this snowstorm was pretty strange itself, but what was even more strange was seeing a family of 3 inside a single Range Rover Velar driving through the vast, isolated area."Why?" The boy began impatiently questioning his parents. "Why wasn't I allowed to stay home with Grandma?" "Why are you taking me everywhere you go?"The boy's father grew increasingly frustrated. Since his father's retirement as Protector, crime rate in Jedylyn drastically sky-rocketed. If that hadn't stressed him out enough, his powers have been slowly getting weaker and weaker since the horrible summer of '87, forcing him to retire. What once was an untouchable hero with unshakable status in the country, was now a shadow of his former glory, a man with a short fuse. The mother worked as a nurse so work for her has been getting harder and harder because of the increase in patients and injuries."Listen Dari", the father said through gritted teeth, "those days are over. You think Grandma is fit enough to take care of you, considering what's happening back home? "Dari opened his mouth to protest but his dad was quick to angrily shut him down."I have to take you everywhere with us because you can't fend off whatever befalls you alone! You have any idea how dangerous it is back there?!" He turned his gaze back to the snowy road ahead. "We're doing this for your sake, dammit!"For a moment, everything went quiet apart from the humming of the engine and the windscreen wipers going left and right, scraping off the snow that momentarily accumulated on the screen. Dari's mother turned to meet Dari's gaze and spoke up."Your father is right. There's just so much going on right now and the last person we would want to lose is you, Dari. We have no choice but to do this until things go back to normal."Dari looked down on the floor with an angry stare. Normal. When were things ever normal in his life? Growing up as a kid who barely got to see his own mother and father, things were emotionally tough for him right from the start. Life as the son of the Protector of Jedylyn was anything but easy. Tears started swelling in his eyes. All he ever wanted was a normal family, even if he had to trade the envy and fame he received on a daily basis.Stupid villians, he thought to himself, his right hand curling up into a tight fist. They just love to ruin everything. I'll show 'em --The car suddenly began skidding uncontrollably off the icy road and tilted on its left-hand side. Before Dari could even let out a terrified scream, Dari's father instinctively pulled him and his mother out of their car and to safety before the Range Rover took a second hit, causing it to violently explode.With the assistance of the bright light emitted from the explosion, Dari could just make out a tall, dark silhouette facing them, hand stretched out and shaped like a finger gun. The figure tilted its head slightly, almost in recognition, and trotted slowly in their direction. His father's eyes opened wide in disbelief. Surely it couldn't be.... In an instant, he turned to his wife."Lara, go and find the nearest Protector Station to call for help. Take Dari with you.""B-but Svenn, your powers...they won't keep up! You might die!" He hesitantly breathed, steam coming out of his mouth. It's true that he was getting weaker, but the thought of battling again rekindled a passionate fire inside of him. In that very moment, the fearlessness of the Svenn Protector the public all knew and loved was back again."I'll hold him off. Please, just go! It's me he wants, not you!" Lara, who done her best to hold back her tears, didn't know what to do. Dari was completely frozen.Svenn turned to whatever was approaching him. His eyes were now filled with blood-curdling rage and a bright white aura began shaping around him. The slim figure was now in clear vision ahead of him. It sported a white tuxedo and fedora that was still surprisingly dry, even though the snow kept piling on. It had a crimson mask that only showed his wide eyes filled with insanity. Svenn was no shortie (at least 6'4), but that thing made Svenn look like a dwarf. It let out a raspy breath and you could just make out a smile from his gruesome face. Svenn was the first to speak."So you escaped from jail....Pin!""Ah yes. What a tasty treat. It's been a while.....ex-Protector Svenn." he hoarsely replied, the cold air slowly escaping from his mouth."You coward....you almost killed my family! You shall pay!" Svenn pulled out his trusty sword behind his back and all the white aura that was circulating around him transfered to the blade of the sword itself."Hah..." Pin jerked his head up and started laughing maniacally. He then fixed his wide eyes back on Svenn and grinned. "I'm weak. I know you will. I'm not a fool to underestimate your power...."His arms slowly stretched to his side. From the darkness, Svenn could make out around 4 deformed figures walking towards him, 2 on each side of Pin. The sizes of those beasts were incredible; they were all around the height of a 5 storey building. Svenn couldn't believe it."....which is why I brought some friends."Svenn immediately charged at Pin. If he was to come out of this duel alive, taking out Pin first was the priority for him. He leapt up hight and brought his mighty sword down to crash right on his head. Despite his size, Pin was no slouch. He swiftly evaded Svenn's strike, pointed his hand like a gun at Svenn's left-rib and shot. Svenn was fast to react and blocked the bomb air-bullet with his sword, sending him flying from the resulting explosion. A normal person would have been killed instantly from that close-quarter attack but to Svenn, all he suffered was a heavily-sprained left arm. He was clutching his arm in pain, but the determined look in his eye seldom faltered.Pin gestured the deformed beasts by his side to attack and they were now rushing to Svenn at full speed. With a heroic battle cry, he jumped and began spinning around on his right foot and swung his aura-sword 360°, slicing two of the beasts in half with ease. The third beast took this distraction as an opportunity and tried to grab Svenn to eat him, but with the handle of his sword, he bashed the creature on the eye and stuck his blade into its open mouth so deep, that the creature's heart came out through its scaled back. The impaled creature let out one final shrilling, unearthly screech before dropping to the ground, black juice oozing out the hole and darkening the pure blanket of snow beneath it.Pin's eyes were now showing boiling anger. He aimed at Svenn's chest while he distracted and shot again. This time, there was nothing Svenn could do to stop it and he crashed onto the bloody, white floor of thick snow. Clutching his chest, he tried to clutch his sword and get back up, but he vomited blood and remained confined to the ground. Pin and the fourth beast, the biggest of them all, were slowly trotting towards him."Whoops...it seems that I've ruptured your lungs...." Pin now took off his mask, revealing the rest of his hideous face. He had pieces of flesh missing from his cheeks and nose. His lips were non-existent, thus, showing his deranged set of yellow and black teeth. He was smiling now...and so was the big, black beast. Svenn couldn't move. This was all he could do. Pin looked at the beast with a certain look in his eye and the beast nodded.Svenn, all bloodied and bruised, tried resisting as the beast effortlessly plucked him off the ground and they stared eye to eye. The beast was squeezing Svenn, causing him to vomit out even more blood like a waterfall."What better statement than killing the hero who spent so many years protecting his people!" Svenn coughed out more blood. The steely look that he had in his eyes was beginning to waver. Fear washed his face. "Tonight.....we feast.....on the blood of the people! Starting with you, ex-Protector!"The brainless beast opened its wide, stenchy mouth revealing its dagger-like set of teeth. They were spinning menacingly, almost welcoming Svenn's arrival. Before Svenn could react, it tossed Svenn inside and chewed hungrily, bones and muscle and blood generating a sickening crunching sound.Dari and Lara saw it all, faces stricken with horror. They still didn't escape. Seeing that gruesome scene must've flicked a reality switch in their head, because they began sprinting away. Anywhere away from that thing was a safe place, it seemed."HELP US! PLEASE SOMEONE! ANYONE!!"Pin must've heard the sudden cry for help because within moments, the beast leapt far and high and crashed on Lara's back, crushing all of her bones and squashing her flat like a pancake. She let out one final spine-chilling, desperate screech - "Run Dari!" - before her soul departed from her shattered, mangled body. All that's left was a young Dari, whose face was now filled with terror and fear.Pin was beside the beast now. They both towered over the boy, but they didn't know what to do with him. For a small while, they were staring at each other; one was in shock and the other was in consideration.Slowly, Dari's blood started bubbling in vexation. His small hands curled into tight fists and despite the weather, boiling heat started emerging from his body. His innocent watery eyes were now crimson-red. He was pissed.Finally, something snapped in Dari's head. The faintest of white auras appeared around him and in a split-second, he leapt up and gave Pin a right-hook right across the face, sending him flying into a nearby street-light. Dari charged at Pin, who was slightly concussed and came flying in with a devastating kick. Pin rolled away just in time - the street-light ferociously crashing to the snowy ground. Any later and that would have been his head. The beast delivered a gut punch to Dari and Dari was clutching his chest in pain, knees on the ground. His mind went blank, unable to contemplate what has happened in the past 5 minutes.Pin approached the boy for the second time now, this time a lot more cautious. He wiped the blood from his lip-less mouth and stared down at the kid with surprised yet angry eyes."My my....you're quite a threat." He then pointed his finger-gun at Dari's head, who wasn't able to move at all from the shock of the beast's blow. Pin's eyes squinted."We don't want any threats to my plan...." Dari closed his eyes and slowly began accepting his death. This was the end....Suddenly, Dari was travelling at fast speeds and the sudden change of lighting blinded him for a few seconds. He somehow was at the entrance of Jedylyn Town again. What has just happened?, he thought. Was this some sort of crazy nightmare?"I heard a call for help all the way from here. It's my superpower." Beside him was a teenage boy who looked around 17-18 and was wearing a long bathroom robe and cap. The stranger then crouched beside Dari."My name's Pero. You alright, kid? You must be cold." He had a concerned look on his face.Dari stared expressionlessly at him. He didn't know what to say. There was an awkward silence, before Pero spoke again. "Come on, let's get you to your parents."Dari immediately remembered and looked to the ground. Tears started streaming from his eyes. "O-oh yeah...."It didn't take a while for Pero to understand and he wrapped his right arm around Dari's shoulder. The kindness in his character and the slow way that he spoke brought warmth to Dari, who was shivering from both the trauma and the extreme cold."Any family members that live here?"Dari still didn't look up, but nodded shyly while battling the tears. "My grandma....I wanna see my grandma..."Pero let out a sigh of relief and grinned. "C'mon, let's take you to your grandma, kid!".I remember that night crystal-clear. It still haunts me to this day. The death of my parents, the sheer evil that I've witnessed first-hand, Grandma's frightful expressions as I told her everything that has happened while she was hugging me and apologising profusely but most of all, the boy who saved me that night. Indeed, this was the very beginning of how I made my journey to the top... via /r/Fantasy https://ift.tt/35a9CQs
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