The past which she lives

Hello everybody! I've been working on this story for a long time now and I thought it was about time to post this for all you guys. I've been working on this for a few months in trying to perfect my ideas. I hope this first chapter will be alright.

It was a relatively peaceful day in my village; bright blue skies with hardly a cloud in sight, soft winds brushing past my face and rustled my hair and, of course, my little brother playing happily and laughing as he tried to catch the little white fluffs that floated around above his head. He ran around, raising his hands and clasped them together before bringing them down to his face and slowly opened them to find nothing then restart the whole thing again after he spotted another fluff, which made me chuckle. He never seemed to get tired of this game, which amazed me, since he'd been playing it all day and well into the afternoon.

My little brother's hair was thick, spiky and unbelievably long for his age just like our father. He had startling red, serpent-like eyes just like our mother, and he had my attitude. He was young, just about five years old, and was the cutest little boy in the village. In general, he looked like me, although I had clear blue eyes lined with a jagged ring of red and my dad's thick black hair, but it didn't stand out as much as it did for my brother.

Next thing I know, a weight is pressed on my back and small arms wrap over my shoulders. A head is pressed against my cheek and childish laughter rings in my ears. I laugh in return and reach my arm around to pluck the child off my back, bringing his feet into my line of sight. I took off his shoes as quickly as possible and started tickling. He tightened his grip, but soon let go and landed on the floor with a soft thud. It didn't seem to hurt him, or bother him, as he was still laughing loudly and trying to squirm out of my grip. Eventually, he manages to get out of my grip by twisting himself around and trying to crawl away. Once he managed to get out of my grip, he jumped on my back once again, laughing with pure joy.

"Silly goon." I laugh. I stand up and he holds on tighter, becoming clingy. Out on the horizon, the sky is a light shade of blue and the clouds stand out in their white beauty. "Alright, little monster, time to go home. You want to walk?" He nods and I set him down, holding out my hand for him to take as we start going home.

As we're walking down the path, I take in the scenery. The path had large forest life on either side of it, the long leaf covered branches created a small canopy that blocked most of the sun's rays. At one point, the branches become shorter until there were none to block the sun, letting us see the sky and the disappearing clouds. The sun is just about to touch the horizon, leaving the sky a dark red and giving the clouds a purple hue. I take in the beautiful scene for as long as I can, knowing this was by far the nicest I've ever seen and I wanted to remember it. I feel a pull at my hand and look down to see my little brother yawning and rubbing his eyes with the back of his hand.

"I'm tired." He said quietly as he yawned again, his eyes already half closed. I smiled as I bent down and picked him up. He put his arms around my neck and put his head on my shoulder, trying to find a comfortable spot to lean his head. I started walking again and soon enough, after maybe a half hour of walking, he fell asleep. What a kid. I looked up at the sky again, only to see it being covered by long branches once more. Oh, well. I thought. I'll see it when I get home anyways.

I didn't know how wrong I was. I patted my brother on the back a few times before giving him an awkward hug. He shifted ever so slightly, but didn't wake up. When there was another part of the canopy that was open, the sky had an unnatural touch of red to it. I mean, it didn't just look red, the whole sky in front of me had a bright red glow. As I got closer, I could see some buildings and the few buildings that I could see had grey clouds bellowing from the roofs. My heart sank and I subconsciously tightened my hold on my brother. He groaned lightly and lifted his head off from my shoulder, turning his head to look at me.

"What is it?" He asked. Soon waking up completely as he turned and saw the village. His eyes grew wide and watery. "What...?" His voice cracked and I took his head and gently lay it on my shoulder, turning and running into the undergrowth of the forest. He tried to protest, but I suddenly stopped running and gently put him on the ground.

"Stay here." I said, my voice thick with worry and warning. He tried to protest, but upon seeing the look on my face, didn't. I put on a more gentler tone. "Try not to worry, I'll just go in town to get mom and dad." I kissed him on the forehead.

"Promise me you'll be back." He said, his eyes watering, but his voice was strong and full of hope. I couldn't destroy his hope, even though I knew I might not be back for a little while.

"I promise." He gave me a big hug and then he pulled away, eyes still watery as he watched me depart. I felt bad about leaving him in the forest all alone when darkness descended, but I didn't want to risk bringing him into a burning town. I didn't want to lose my little brother.

I ran all the way to the village. I didn't want to waste any time. I dodged branches, fallen trees and then found the entrance. The wooden frame that used to accommodate travelers was burnt beyond recognition, falling apart where it was once joined by screws. The buildings were falling apart and tumbling to the ground right in front of me and people ran everywhere. As I ran, I had many close calls with burning beams falling in front of me. As soon as I spotted my house, I rushed towards it, hoping for so many things.

It was engulfed in flames. The door was hacked down from the outside and I could heard sounds of fighting inside. Suddenly, the roof exploded and my parents, surprising enough, were fighting two strange individuals. The man attacking my dad had grey hair and a very peculiar costume. The person attacking my mother was a strange man wearing a black and yellow outfit with no top, and was laughing like a maniac.

I was frozen in fear and amazement as my parents held off these strange attackers. However, they were bruised, bleeding and were obviously tired, and the others obviously weren't. The attackers, from what I could see, were using a dark type of magic whereas my parents were using some common magic they learned in the village, being simple fire and ice.

I unfroze when I saw my dad being held down by the old man, who was trying to say something to him, but also beating on him. I looked around and did the stupidest thing imaginable: I ran into the burning house. I felt the heat of the fire as soon as I ran through the doorway. Incredibly hot, I knew it would burn my skin if I touched it, so I tried to avoid it as much as I could. I made my way to my room, which was harder said than done, but I managed to find it.

I kicked my door down and looked around, trying to find an object in particular. Why did my room have to be such a mess? I was careful to move the objects that were only starting to light on fire, which was hard because everything was on fire, but I managed to find what I wanted. It was wrapped in a blanket, with only the handle visible and I made a quick grab for it. Once I lay my hands on it, the wall beside me burst apart, showing me a small, young girl with short pink hair and a costume I found to be inappropriate for someone her age to have. She just looked at me for a few moments, as if observing me from head to toe before she said anything.

"Target spotted." She raised her hand and just around ten pinkish-purple blades appeared over her head, pointing straight up at first, but then flipped and pointed to me. "Come with me quietly and I won't hurt you." I tensed, instinctively putting my hand on the handle. A threat. Anyone who pointed a blade at me was untrustworthy.

"I don't trust you, but if you want to play with swords, then let's play." I challenged, even though I only wanted to get out of here, like, right now. For some reason, when I looked at the girl and saw how calm and confident she looked, I had a small doubt that I could win this fight unscathed. I wanted to go back to my brother and make sure he was safe. I wanted to help my parents with those two attackers, but I might as well be another obstacle and besides, now that I think about it, even though I don't really want to, they would probably already be dead by the time I reached them.

I took the blanket off the object and under was a jeweled sheath for a blade. It had a specific pattern that none could figure out at first glance, which was a dragons head, all made of different jewels. The handle was roughly the same, only with less jewels and more material to allow a comfortable and secure grip. I took the hilt and waited for the girls move. So far, she wasn't doing much except look at me with a strange expression I didn't like. She lowered her hand until it was level in front of her and the swords around her shot forward. I barely had any time to dodge or block any of the swords.

They ripped through my clothes and tore my skin. I gasped as the heat seared the fresh wounds, and seemed to intensify with every breath I drew. It almost seemed to intensify even more with the blood that coated my arms and legs. I stumbled but clutched the sword with my fast fading strength. The girl came near me just as I fell to my knees. The wounds were deep and throbbed terribly.

"Your family is doomed. Your parents will die, you village will suffer and your brother..." Somehow, I found the strength to stand and even swing my sword in less than a second once she was within striking distance. The sheath of the sword came to her neck and the jewels were enough to impersonate a blade, sharp and deadly. I glared at her with all the hatred I could muster and for a moment she betrayed an ounce of fear.

"You will never mention Gajeel again." I hissed, baring my teeth and applied more pressure to the sheath, making her gulp and unable to move away. "If anything happens to him, if you lay a single finger on him, I will find and personally kill you and your friends first. I don't care how many of you there are. You will all die by MY hands." Her expression slowly turned to terror and as she looked into my eyes, she seemed so transfixed and wasn't able to look away.

I continued to stare for at least a minute until something very hot and hard hit my head, turning my house full of fire into a house full of darkness.

...

...

I woke up in a dark room. There was nothing too special about it except that it was incredibly white and bright, which hurt my eyes. I tried to rub my hurting eyes but found that I couldn't; my arms felt as though they were bound by thick leather straps, as well as my legs. My mouth had a dirty gag that tasted like dirt and tar.

I scrunched up my face in disgust and closed my eyes, sighing lightly. Where the hell was I? Was my brother alright? What about my parents? What happened to me? I was so focused on trying to find answers to my questions that I didn't hear the door open and the footsteps of the people that entered until I heard them talking right next to me.

"Looks like you're awake." A deep, old sounding voice said, somehow seeming surprised. "I didn't think you'd make it through the first phase." A few people at his side snickered, others chuckled and some had blank faces.

"The first phase?" I asked, my voice muffled by the gag. I didn't know what the hell they were talking about and I wanted to find out, perhaps stall them enough to think of an escape. As I glanced over the group, I recognized the little pink haired girl and glared at her. She tried to keep her composure, but she started shaking and turned to cower behind a woman with long dark hair.

The weird man with the black and yellow outfit came forward and stared at me from head to toe. Now that he was close, I saw that his eyes were shaped almost like the inside of an onion with the three rings in them. The thought would've been funny if I weren't tied down. Now I just wanted to punch the man in the face. He reached out a hand to touch me. I didn't really pay much attention to him as I kept glaring at the pink haired girl.

"What are you going to do with her, Master Hades?" He asked. As soon as his finger touched my arm, I turned my glare to him and blue sparks flew from my arm to his finger. He pulled his finger back with a hiss and returned the glare. Honestly, I didn't know how I did it, but I didn't let it show.

"Don't touch me." I warned, although it didn't sound like much with a gag muffling most of the venom in my voice. He looked at me and stepped towards me threateningly, but the old man stepped forward and put a hand on his shoulder. Reluctantly, he backed down and joined the rest of the group behind the old man.

He smiled as he neared me and believe me when I say this, his smile was all but friendly. "Well now. I suppose we'll be ready for phase two. I hope you're ready."

...

...

I sat waiting in what they called my 'room', but it looked more like a cell. It certainly felt like a cell. I couldn't do anything until they showed up again for what they called my 'training lessons'. I thought different. Finally the door opened and I quickly turned off the lights, taking care to silently move to the side of the door, where it was darkest. A figure stepped in and by the sound of the voice, I could tell who it was pretty easily.

"Why is this room dark?" Zancrow asked. His voice was by far the weirdest. It was higher than most male voices and it annoyed me to no end. He moved to turn the lights back on but I closed in, catching him by surprise. He had a look of confusion written all over his face, but he didn't have time to do anything else. Once my hand touched his face, a bright beam of light lit up my room faster than anything else, sending the God Slayer flying into the nearest wall and also setting off an ear shattering explosion that utterly destroyed my room, creating a hole in the wall and revealing a grey sky. Good thing I didn't value anything in this cell, except my jeweled sword, which I had with me at all times.

"Time to get out of this hell hole." I growled. I thought of my very few friends and I knew I would've felt bad for leaving them here, so I left my now destroyed cell and walked out the door, knowing for certain that I would come back to this cell for my exit to the real world.

I went around, freeing my friends and the magnificent creatures known as dragons they rudely locked up for experimental purposes. It took me a little while, as to avoid the guards and Zancrows other friends. They were such a pain. I freed the ice dragon, the water dragon, the elemental dragon, and a few others who followed me to the exit and together we made our escape.

I thought we went unnoticed, but I was clearly wrong. A voice behind me yelled for us to stop, but I told them to keep going and I turned to face my opponent.

...

...

I barely got away. The wounds on my arms hurt and my legs were sore from hours of running, but I couldn't stop no matter what. I couldn't follow the others, otherwise it would slow them down and give away their position. I had to get away. I had to lose them, shake them off my trail and confuse them. I didn't know if I could throw them off again, but I had to try.

...

...

I managed to shake them off, but I couldn't stand anymore. I leaned heavily against a tree and eventually fell to the ground in a puddle of my own blood. I don't remember how long I've been there, leaning on this tree, just waiting for death to finally claim me. As my eyes closed, I saw two figures walking side by side in front of me. Did they find me? I thought, slightly panicking at the thought of being found. The two figures stopped and looked at me, first in wonder, then as they started getting closer, in their own panic.

I tried to get up, to brandish my sword and make them go away, but they seemed truly worried, frightened even. I didn't recognize them, even with my fading vision. I barely lifted my head off the floor before I collapsed onto the ground again, grunting from the terrible pain that arose from that small action. The girl ran towards me and I panicked even more. I gripped my sword tighter, but it didn't seem to faze her as she knelt down beside me and looked at me from head to toe.

It was getting harder to breathe, the air seemed to leave my body faster than it came in and my eyes wanted to close for good. I didn't want it to happen, as there were so many things that I had promised to my brother. I had probably fulfilled most of them by now, seeing as I freed the other prisoners, broken out of a prison and managed to lose my attackers. But I had yet to fulfill my final promise.

They tried speaking to me, but I couldn't hear them over my thoughts, but I knew they thought I was going to die. Pfff. I didn't want to die. Correction, I wasn't going to die.I didn't intent on dying, not without at least seeing my brother again and fulfilling my promise to him. I managed to crack a small smile before my sight turned the grey, rainy afternoon into total darkness once again.

...

My body felt weightless. The darkness had completely obscured my vision, but somewhere in front of me, I saw the smiling face of my little brother. His image was frozen in time, changing occasionally to refer to different moments of our time together. One image was his face right before I had gone into my burning town. It struck me in the heart like a dagger to see his face so sad, so terrified. I reached my hand out to try and comfort him, but as my fingers brushed his cheek his image shattered and vanished into thin mist.

"Why bother fighting death, when death will come naturally? It's a horrible waste of time." A part of me reasoned. I wondered for a few moments before a different part of me answered.

"Why is it a waste of time, when I promised to return? Why is it such a pain to fight it? To promise to live another day and return to see his happy face once again? To hug him as I used to? To play like I used to? To smile like I used to?"

"To live like I used to?"

Hi there. I hope this chapter was alright. I have a lot in store for this story, but don't worry. The Fall of Minecraftia and Ender Dragon are still coming along, and I don't plan to stop writing them any time soon. I'm writing Chapter 15 right now, but this story was bothering me for a little while, so I finally decided to post it. Tell me what you think in the reviews, I love reading those.

-NilakantaDragonQueen619