Memories of Ice
Your nothing more than some bastard kid!
A monster in and of yourself!
That was the childhood he had. Nothing more than a nightmare. It would
have driven a normal boy to kill himself. It wasn't even a childhood...just
some hellish nightmare.
"Reigansei!", the loud voice of the Count boomed. He was displeased, just by the sound of his voice.
"Yes sire?", Reigansei asked as he kneeled before the goulash throne of Magnus Lee.
"You have not been fulfilling your tasks. You were to take the talisman
from the Hunter before you killed him. You gave him the chance to destroy
it before you could aquire it.", the Count said in a monotone voice.
"Now the power the talisman held is gone, and I am unable to use it!"
Reigansei lowered his head a little more, to look shameful. "I am sorry my lord. Please forgive me."
The Count narrowed his already thin eyes.
"You hope to become a nobleman, and join my House. If you do not become more accurate with your missions, you will find that your quest will be nothing more than a fool's dream."
Reigansei winced at the thought. "Yes sire. I understand."
"Very well. Get out of here." The Count motioned Reigansei to leave
the throne room. Rei bowed to his master, and left.
He's some kind of demon! A monster of another world!
Those were the first words that were said of him when he was born. A mutant had raped his mother, and he, in turn, was a mutant as well.
Get out of here, you freak! We don't want your kind!
The kids he grew up around. It was always the same.
At least he didn't look like a mutant. He had always had light skin.
Maybe it was the white hair with the red streak down the middle that made
him stand out.
No. It wasn't that. He remember what it was. It was that one time, when a bully had knocked him over. He went reeling into a sharp point of a tree. It went through his back.....he remembered feeling it go through him. Then, he saw the point come out, but it was through the chest of the bully, instead of himself.
The bully looked down, and saw the sharp point coming out of him, with blood gushing. He looked up at Rei, with glossed over eyes, and coughed. Blood came out of his mouth. He then fell to the ground.
Rei walked forward, and pulled himself from the sharp tree's point. He saw the point disappear from the bully's chest.
And then it hit him.
He had done it. He had made it happen. He wanted it to happen. He hated
that kid.
He had killed that kid.
Oh my God! Look what he did!
He's one of them! He's one of those monsters!
He was, but he didn't quiet get it at first. He had the mutant ability to twist space around him. He made it so that the point of the tree went through him, but came out through the bully. But it was the bully who was killed, and not Rei.
It wasn't long before the people ran him out of town.
Get out of here! Freak! Murderer! We don't want you here!!
It's not like it mattered. His mother was long since dead. He had nothing in that town. He sometimes wondered why he stayed as long as he did.
The next town was the same. Word spread quickly as soon as a person from his home village saw him at the town, and alerted everyone. He was run out again.
He was a teenager now, and he was getting very good at just staying so long at one place at a time. He slept wherever he could. He stole whatever he could. He actually got himself a reputation for being a master of theft.
He had always been amazingly agile. Maybe it was another one of his mutant inheritances.
But he couldn't keep a low profile for long. No, his "curse" made that impossible.
It had happened again. He had made the mistake of stealing from a boozehound, who was always angry at everyone who encountered him. The man found that Rei had robbed him, and gave chase.
He cornered Rei. The man was drunk, as usual, and didn't feel forgiving. He pulled out his knife, and stabbed Rei in the stomach.
The man's eyes widened, as blood pumped from the knife wound from out of his stomach.
As the man fell, he took the knife with him. Rei saw his eyes glaze over.
A couple of older teens, who had seen the action, ganged up on Rei.
Another one of those damn freaks!
They closed in on him.
A gun shot rang out.
"Back off, if you don't wanna get hurt!"
A girl, a couple of years older than Rei, stood behind the gang of boys.
He's a freak. A mutant! The bastard needs to be killed!
The girl shot at the feet of the boys. "I said back off, or your gonna be the one's getting hurt!"
The older boys glared at her, but then ran away.
The girl walked up to Rei. She was a bit taller than he was at the time. She had brown hair that reached to her shoulders, and green eyes that sparkled like stars. She held the rifle in her hands with ease, as if she were an expert.
"Come on.", she said, motioning to Rei to follow her. 'It's not safe here."
Rei eyed her carefully. He didn't trust her. He didn't trust anyone.
She noticed this. 'I won't hurt you, I swear."
Hesitantly, Rei walked up behind her. She lead them to the outskirts of the town.
"I saw what you did.", she said to him. He looked at her, sort of surprised.
"I want to help.", she continued. "I know what it's like to be ridiculed because your different." She turned to him.
"My name is Kathryn."
She took them to her house; a rustic place. Small, but secluded from the rest of the town.
Once inside, she looked at him with her green eyes. "If you'll let me, I can help you."
Rei eyed her again. He didn't know what to make of this. Here was a older girl, who out of the blue, wanted to help him, just because she claimed to know what it was to be different?!
She smiled, and turned around so her back was to him. She then lifted the back of her shirt.
On her lower back, where her pants met her shirt, there was a strange looking mark. Rei squinted at it. It looked like an animal had left four small claw marks into her skin. Four claw scars.
"It's supposed to symbolize a werewolf's claw markings. My great-grandfather
from my mother's side was a werewolf." She sighed.
"I'm descended from werewolf blood."
Rei's eyes widen at the information.
She turned to him again. "So, now do you know why I'm doing this? I know what it's like." She walked to the table, and sat down on a chair.
"We had to move 100 miles away from our home 2 years ago. Once the locals found out, they wanted to burn me. My mother died not long after I was born, and it's just been me and my father all this time." She sighed again, recalling her own horrific memories.
"I saw what happened with you, and I remembered my own childhood. I just don't want you to have to live like that anymore."
"So what do you say? Will you let me help you?", she asked. Her eyes met his, and he tried not to let his emotions get the better of him.
Rei nodded his head. "Alright."
Kathryn smiled. Rei liked that smile of hers. It looked so calm and serene. So human.
Kathryn stood up from the the chair, and went to the door.
"Father!", she called to the outside. "I have someone I'd like you to meet!"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
It's been a week now. A breezy day, but warm.
Out behind the house, two figures are training.
Something whirls in the air. It spins for a moment, but then falls to the ground.
'That was better this time.", Kathryn's father proclaims. Rei goes and picks up the curved throwing blade.
Kathryn's father is a good blacksmith, but a master of the throwing blade. He makes them himself in is little workstation off the house.
"The trick is in the way you snap your wrist.", the father said. He grabbed his own, foldable throwing blade. He then threw it, showing Rei the proper way.
Rei nodded, and did the same with his. This time, the blade came back to him.
"Very good. Your learning very quickly.", the Father congratulated. 'And the discipline will be good for you."
Kathryn came out of the house, and walked toward the two men.
"See, I told you it was a good idea to teach him.", she said. The wind blew her hair into her eyes. She immediately brushed it away from her green eyes.
Rei is actually happy. He can't remember when he's felt this happy. He has a home, with these two people. He doesn't have to steal or fight for his life. Everything is almost........
Kathryn stops abruptly. An arrow is sticking out of her chest.
....perfect.
Kathryn falls to the ground, choking on her own blood.
'Kathryn!!!", he father yells, as he goes to help his fallen daughter.
He falls. He is shot too.
"NO!!!!!!!", Rei screams, and he runs to the fallen body of the father. He is already dead.
Rei then runs to Kathryn, who is bearly breathing. He takes her in his arms.
That's what happens to those who associate with freaks!
It's the same boys who bullied Rei a week before. They have rifles and bows in their hands. They laugh, and make there way toward him.
Rei looks at Kathryn, who is hanging on for dear life. He then look at the boys walking toward him.
With an explosion on anger, Rei grabs the throwing blade he used, and throws it at the boys.
Unprepared, it strikes two of them; slicing one through the stomach, going completely through, and slicing the boy behind him. They fall to the ground, blood pooling around their corpses.
The another one of the boys comes after Rei with his rifle. The blade comes back to Rei. Before the boy has a chance to fire the rifle, Rei throws the blade. It cuts the boy's head clean off. The stump squirts blood as the body falls.
The last boy sneaks up from behind Rei. He grabs his sword, and stabs Rei in the back.
It happens.
The boy stops. Rei can here him coughing from behind him. The boy's breath is hot on Rei neck. The boy takes the sword out from Rei's back. Rei can hear him fall.
Rei turns around. The boy is on his knees, blood staining his shirt. He tries to grab for Rei, but falls short, and collapses on the ground. Rei looks down on him with a hate he had never had for anyone before.
Rei turns, and runs to Kathryn. She is fading into death.
She looks up into his eyes, and him into hers. She weakly smiles at him, and places her bloodied hand on his face.
"Don't be filled with hate.", she whispers, fighting to get the words out.
"Don't die the enemy of mankind. Don't die with hate for them in your heart. Overcome their...". She coughs blood. ".....hate."
She smiles again, but it fades. She fades.
Rei has tears running down his face. He screams. He allows it to overcome
him.
It's been a long time since then. He is a man now. At least, he looks like a man. But underneath, he doesn't know what he is.
Nothing but a mutant freak! Nothing but a monster! That's all
you'll ever be!!
"I'm sorry, Kathryn.", he says in his room, in the Count's Castle.
"I let the hate consume me. I'm sorry." He touches the folded throwing blade in it's sheath but his side. He took it as both a weapon, and a memory. They didn't even know she was part werewolf. Harboring a mutant was the only thing she had done. They figured it deserved death.
He wanted to become a noblemen, and join the house of Lee, to take revenge against those like them
"I'm sorry"
But, perhaps, Kathryn's kindness had a deeper effect than even he realized.
Don't die the enemy of mankind.