Prologue

Tenson has never had a particularly good time, for him life was hard and everyday was a struggle. His struggles however were not that of financial problems but of those who were around him. His parents hated him and as an only child his existence was completely ignored, the only attention that he received was that of the bare minimum for his survival.

He had his own cupboard in the kitchen where he could find the food that he was expected to eat. If he ever got in trouble that required his parent's attention he knew that there would be severe punishments to follow. School was also not a great place for him as he was the one who always got picked on. Life for him was a handled one day at a time with simple objectives; don't bug parents, avoid getting picked on.

His day started like most, get up and eat breakfast which consisted of some of the most flavourless cereal in existence then walk to school. Learn, or at least pretend to and then recess. Today however recess would have an odd occurrence. Whenever he when out, he always sat against the wall as it was out in the open and near where the teacher on duty sat. They honestly didn't care too much what happened so long as no fighting broke out and kids were not too rowdy.

He was approached while sitting by a group of three much older boys who were often ones who bullied him. "why can't they just let me be" He thought as he looked up at them, The spoke one at a time, a different one speaking each time they had to have something new to say "Hey loser… how is the miserable life going" the one in the middle asked. "Good, it's only miserable because of miserable people like you guys though" Tenson said in a dead voice "Hey cheer up loser… it really sucks to have someone like you hanging around" "Ya, your such a piece a crap that we have decided that we don't want to deal with it anymore". "Then don't, you don't have to be over here bothering me. I'm sure you have much better ways to spend your time" Tenson responded.

"Nah, instead we're going to teach you how not to be a loser at out secret base" One of them said with a confident look on his face. "Secret base?" Tenson asked a little interested, "Ya, you the mountain over there that ever body says not to climb because it's really dangerous?" Tenson listened doubtfully "Well we made that rumour a while back to keep people away from our super cool base. It's perfectly safe" He said seemingly completely honest. "And how do I know you aren't lying" Tenson said trying to not get his hopes up.

"Because we are sick of you being a bum and bringing everybody down. We'll teach you how to be cool, after this nobody will pick on you" Tenson was sure they were lying, but he was tired of being picked on so much that he felt like he had nothing to lose. "If you follow the trail to its end, then follow a small stream at the end and look for an absolutely huge tree in comparison to everything else you'll get to our secret base. Be there, this is a one time offer".

Thankfully tomorrow was the weekend, thus he was able to spend the day off on his own without being missed by anyone. He proceeded out of the small village along the dirt road path, the sunlight beaming down on him and the trees that surrounded him. The sky was completely un-covered, he could hear the sound of wildlife around him sing their sweet song. The only unnatural sound was the sound of his feet hitting the path, he would stop, but he has places to be.

Tenson took a turn off the main road onto a side dirt road that lead up the mountain he wished to visit. From here the trail narrowed and you could see the signs of the brush creeping in on the trail from it's under use. The canopy overhead began to close in, leaving the light to stream in between the leaves causing the heat of the day to leave him and be replaced with a comfortable cool. He heard a noise to the left of him seeing that a group of four deer were standing about 50 yards from him, looking in his direction. He kept on walking.

The trail continued and began to climb the mountain, snaking along out of the way of exposed rock that signalized the mountains fortitude. Soft moss covered its surface, he ran his hands along it, and the presence of slight moister and soft moss caressed his skin. It was times like these where he realized that nature was the kindest thing he knew, it never took anything un-needed or underserved, it painted the landscape a beautiful setting for those who took the time to enjoy it.

Today was going to be a good day.

The trail stopped abruptly against a rock face, signalizing where the effort to continue the trail through the mountain had ended, a stream, turned waterfall, turned stream cut across here moving in front of the rock face. He turned his path to follow the river, moving downhill at a very slow rate, just enough to keep the water flowing. A breeze swept through the trees above creating a course and the leaves collided together some fell the river turned out to follow the side of a clearing.

Around him leaves were falling, birds were singing, deer were grazing, the sun was shining, on the clearing grass was blowing, nature continued as it did every day. Here he could see a tree that shot out from the rest its age must be immense, it spread its arms out from it like somebody stretching, reaching far away from its base. A rock wall separated him from the tree, but he could see a hole in the side of it that looked like an entrance to the glade.

He walked to the opening and it was in deed a pathway through. He emerged out into the clearing and scanned it he the tree was the only thing that shot up from the ground in the area. The area itself was completely isolated with great natural walls of stone reaching high on all sides, at the back of the clearing there was a great chasm to which he could not see into from where he stood. On the tree base sat the three people who had invited him to this spot. "Like it? This is our secret base" Said one, Tenson approached "The scenery was very enjoyable, it's isolated from prying eye's" Tenson said. "Ya, it is awesome but more on why you're here" The middle one said, they approached him "We're going to let you be a part of our club we'll show you what clothes are cool, how to carry yourself, how to fight etcetera".

"But we can't just give you such awesome lessons without expecting some reward." "Am I surprised? Not really" Tenson thought to himself "We want you to do things for us, like if we want something from the store we want you to run down and get it for us. The teachers all know you wouldn't dare lie to them so we want you to cover our backs when we need it. If one of use wants you to carry our books we expect you to do it without question. Capiche?" "No thanks I've got enough to worry about thanks" Tenson said and turned around "I should never have come here" Tenson though.

The collar of his shirt was grabbed however and he was pulled back, two of the other boys surrounded him. He was spun around and before he could even it coming he was punched straight in the face "Looks like we'll give you those fighting lessons early" One of the three boys chuckled, Tenson jump to his feet as fast as he could. He was pushed just has soon as he became stable, he was pushed again and again before he was pushed straight into a punch causing his legs to give out. They drifted deeper into the clear as it went on before Tenson received a solid punch to the driving out all the air in his lungs.

He laid there on his back, trying to suck back air into his lungs "How does our offer sound now?" One of them asked. "fah you" Tenson managed to wheeze out, one of the bullies stomped on his right arm. An audible crack could be heard and Tenson screamed out "JESUS dude you broke his arm" the three of the boys took a step back "we weren't going to go that far dude" the other said in agreement. Tenson, mixed with pain, adrenaline and a fight or flight response he struggled to his feet with rage in his eyes much to the surprise of the bullies. He lunged at one of them that was closest to him who pushed him hard backwards.

The entire time they had been edging towards the back of the glade, inching ever towards the black chasm. Still a decent ways away, although close they were not concerned but propelled backwards Tenson covered the distance shortly as his wounded body tried to keep him on his feet before one root that stuck up from the ground which caused the final edge to be needed for Tenson to fall backwards into the abyss.

Tenson could see the sunlight slipping away going faster and faster Tenson was spinning before his left leg collided with an out cropping causing him to almost stop spinning completely and without a doubt breaking his leg.

Today was not a good day.