My first story...
Story series: Dragon Key
Anime based on: 07 Ghost.
Sorry for the rather short chapter, but I just figured it would be a good spot to stop. :P
Lisel, a 12-year old girl, strayed in the town of Nyinse. It has been 5 years since the death of her parents, and then 4 year after that, the ultimate death of her brother. Her parents weren't exactly the best of the best, they never cared about Lisel really and their primary focus was on their "work". Lisel's parents were Zyphon Wielders, and one of the tops at that. They used to be praised as, "One of the best ones yet!", or "They are truly a miracle!". Only if they were as good as parenting as they were in magic.
For Silei, Lisel's brother, was another story. When their parents were being complete jerks, Silei always kept good care of her. They have always been the closest. Silei was 7 years older than Lisel but they almost never argue and always seem to upset their parents together. His job was being a teacher at the Barsburg Empire's military academy and the youngest one there too. He was always been teased by his older colleagues but he never really minded. His death was the harsh one for Lisel.
In the present, Lisel is now listed as an outcast. Normally, youths without any siblings or parents are "collected" and sent to a the war front to fight for the empire, but she fortunately escaped and is now living a life of cat and mouse, always escaping officials when she could. She hated fighting, she hated her parents, is there anything to really love anymore?
Lisel passively hid between two houses behind some crates that she now calls home, the makeshift spot has a blanket of paper over it and several sharpened sticks to drive through the ground and pierce the paper to form a kind of tent. The paper isn't exactly needed, however, since the house's roof blocks the rain if there was any, but it looked more official when you have a tent of sorts. She has been hiding there for the past months trying to avoid large hordes and normally people themselves but there has been some close calls and some slip-ups. Sometimes she wonders, "Why do I still try to survive, why not just accept death and end my misery?" but inside her, a force is driving her on, call it the will of fate if you would. She looked up and saw the darkening clouds, rain will be coming soon, and she will have to hide here until it subsides. She pulls out a bread from her pocket that she stole earlier and takes small bites of it. When you are surviving, you must be aware of your food supply for when an emergency occurs, you have a mobile food source.
Out of the corner of her eye, she see's her cat, Checkers, named for his appearance of black and white dots. Lisel found him when she was attempting a fief on a local bakery when Checkers was standing off to the side. At the time, he seemed innocent and just a stray, so Lisel ignored him as she hid in the corner. She watched as the baker finally came out and locked the door, or so he thought. Earlier, Lisel configured the lock on the door to not be able to lock when keys are inserted. She learned the skill from a local thief, Ziles, and he has helped her in many occasions, such as the one then. Lisel waited patiently as she spots Ziles beside the door. His job was to make sure the baker doesn't notice the lock doesn't work. The baker looked suspiciously around him and he slowly walked from the door. She lets out a silent breath, unaware that she has held it. She focuses her attention on Ziles as he tackles the baker, taking the keys, and running towards out planned meeting spot. The baker seemed confused for a moment as he notice his keys have gone. The baker shouted, "HELP! HELP! I've been ROBBED!" as loud as he could and he attracted quite the attention. She was about to call Ziles back and distract them when she remembers that she is hiding. She sits down again as she waits, once more, but fortunately, she wasn't alone. The cat that has sat off to the side slowly walks over to her and sits down in her lap. She notices that he has a collar on him and the name tag said, "Checkers". She looks around for the owner but there was no address on the collar. She also starts to notice the increase attention the baker was getting, and Ziles showed no sign of coming back. So in the end, the robbery was a fail... but she gained a new friend.
Lisel snaps back to reality and she notices she was day dreaming. Checkers firmly sat in her lap as the rain has already started to pour. She gently stroked his back and he purred with delight and Lisel started to giggle. Maybe these few years or more of running won't be so bad after all.