Prologue: The Balloon Man
The wind grew louder in the boy's ears, although the silent tread of his boots somehow cut the pain. For a boy of thirteen, he was of soft build. His arms where unusually long and spindly, much like his legs in all. He turned a corner, his soft hair swaying with his movement, sweat gathering at his pores. His breath became heavy, with each step his life shortened.
The boy leant forward, and peered around each corner before he proceeded. He had too know, was it really true? His eyes began to water, but his soul remained strong and he forced his body forward into the bowels of the castle. The boy crept so ever slowly, his breath now as heavy as the castle foundations until he reached the great oak door into the king's bedchambers. He placed his hand over the wrought-iron handle, he pulled and brought the door open ajar.
"No… how could you… wha-what happened?" The man sobbed, clutching the limp shoulders of a woman. He continued too shake them, until his own sadness overtook his brain and he fell beside her adjacent corpse.
"I-I didn't know… why did you die?" He continued, burying his head in his pillow. "Why-why can't you explain? I don't… Why has God forsaken me?" He continued wailing.
"It seems that you have encountered, well, unfortunate circumstances…" The man looked up. It was a strange sight, although his demeanour was relatively light. He resembled a balloon, or at least the boy thought with what seemed like a death mask that covered his face with a simple, but effective grin.
"WH-who are you? Thi-this is the most secure place in all the British Isles?" The balloon-man's smile widened.
"I can be very, very persuasive when I want to be…" He answered. Then something clicked into the boy's brain. This was supposed too be the most secure place in the British Isles, what happened too the guards on the way in?
"Anyhow I digress," The balloon-man continued. "I run a very, unique company. I represent a board of men that whose technology will revolutionize the future of tomorrow. But for us too perform such a miraculous task, we require a special substance. A substance, brought here too earth by God himself. You may have heard of this phenomenon. High king of the British Empire, I must ask you. Have you heard of 'God's own crystals'?" The king swallowed his own pride and for a man who led a fearless nation, he acted as like a swine.
"I-I have heard of these crystals, but why should I answer to you?" The balloon-man's face swelled yet again.
"That my friend is a question of what you can do for me," The big-man began to pace. "My company gives happiness to those who are sad, those who have lost. I give hope, too those who have none." The balloon-man then stopped. "I can resurrect your wife." He finished, stepping mysteriously too the side revealing a pop-out like suit of armour, or so the boy thought with two long then blades for arms and a long visor-like strip that covered most of the head. "But there is a catch. Because you are the one that loved her most, the one that she loved most. You are the only one that can call her back from the dead." The king gulped, took a deep breath and the boy knew he saw a tear gather at his eye.
"MY WIFE! MY DARLING!" He screamed, it must've woken the whole castle. The boy almost fell at the king's cry. A huge gust of wind picked up, filling the room. Which seemed too puzzle the boy, seeing he was indoors. The boy glared at the armour like suit. It swayed every so slightly and then, almost if an invisible nib had touched it like parchment. A scrawl appeared on its skull. Elizabeth. It read, glowing as if it where afire. A pentacle appeared on its head, emblazoned almost as if it where chiselled in. The door swung wide, and the boy fell backwards landing on his back. The suit clicked several times, and pulled itself out of the pull out section.
"Hon-honey?" The suit asked. The king's eyes became crystals, reflecting his sadness, happiness joy and lust all in one simple emotion.
"I'm here. Darling…" He answered trailing off mid-sentence pulling himself up too hug the dark-walking suit. The suit hit the king across the face with one of its blade-like arms. The king recovered almost instantly to face the suit. His eyes now revealing the great power the British wielded.
"Honey, what was that for?" He spoke, in a deep sense of confusion. The eyes of his love returning the deep angry and passion of the resurrected.
"What have you done?" It answered tightening its robotic body. The balloon man smiled yet again.
"She has become Akuma. Devils, born too rid the world of the unholy, and too follow my every order. Now, High King of the British Isles. You will tell me where the innocence is located." The king took a step backward in intimidation.
"It-it's in a village, on the slopes of Italy. It's well hidden, even I know not its exact location," The king finished, mumbling slightly in his final sentence.
"Good. You where of some use after-all. Now, my demon! Kill this man and take his form!" The balloon man finished. The robotic figure that the boy now knew was a demon cracked the man's back with his powerful limbs, and pulled itself inside its fragile body. The king writhed in pain, until he was finally silenced by a final click of magical suit. The body took its full height, stretching its newly found limbs and body. It turned his head.
"You know what you must do," The balloon man completed before he disappeared into nothingness leaving nothing but a baffling shadow. The boy stared up at the new body. He was scared. He was hurt. He did the only thing he could, the only thing he knew. Run.