~ Chapter 2 ~

Izuna was standing in the middle of a house, for a reason he didn't know. He went to stand in front of the window, and saw a clash of swords outside. There was a woman there, she was holding a baby. The woman and child were crying, Izuna didn't know why. He tried to shout to them, but it didn't work. Izuna could see another clash of swords. Another one. And another one. Then there were two figures in cloaks. One of them slashed at the other's face. The other one fell to the ground. The figure who was still standing ran to the woman, sword in hand. The woman ran toward the house, the figure right behind. The figure slashed at the woman's right calf. She fell forward, but the baby flew forward, toward the window where Izuna was standing. The baby crashed through the window and through Izuna, landing in the couch. The figure stopped running, and stood outside the window. The figure through a torch through the window and the house went up in flames. The baby cried louder than before. Izuna was stuck in the middle of the burning house with the baby. They were going to die.

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Izuna jolted up out of his bed, and landed on the floor, breathing heavily.

"What was that?" He asked to nobody. He stood up and got dressed. After he was fully dressed, he opened the door of his his room and headed downstairs.

"Hey!" His sister, Harali, called to him, "You missed breakfast again."

"Sorry." Izuna responded,

"I left you a bagel in the table." Harali said, sympathetically,

"Thank you." He responded, grateful. His sister had always been the kindest in the family, even if it was to a criminal. She was shorter than Izuna, but what can you expect if she's two years younger. She has long light brown hair, dark and light cream colored fur, and sympathetic brown eyes, just like her brother, Ruhto. She also has a beautiful voice. Sometimes people would only come to the shop to listen to her singing. Bartu said she gets the talent from her mother.

Izuna headed to the kitchen and saw the bagel in the dining table. He grabbed it and headed to the delivery-item-storage room while eating the bagel. After he finished the bagel, he wiped his hands and grabbed the crate. He gently put the crate in a leather bag, and hung the strap on his shoulder.

This is the first time I leave the slums. He thought to himself.

He headed to the shop downstairs, and his brother and father were waiting for him.

"You're ready?" Ruhto asked,

"I don't know." He responded,

"Well, maybe this will change your mind?" Bartu said, and then grabbed a excellently carved guitar from behind him, and handed it to Izuna.

"What is this?" Izuna asked while admiring the guitar,

"It's yours." His father told him, "I have been working on it for 7 months now. It is made out of an ancient tree, our family calls the wood Nanuka. It is the best wood you can use to craft instruments, there is no wood better than this. There is very limited supplies of this wood, only the 5 woodsmith clans have access to it."

"And we are the Onuka clan, the instrument maker clan of the 5 woodsmith clans." Izuna interrupted,

"Good. Seems someone payed attention to the late night stories." Bartu gave a "look" to Ruhto,

"What did I do?!" Ruhto exclaimed/asked,

"Nothing." Bartu said, and laughed, Izuna as well, "You better get going, or you're going to be late." He directed to Izuna,

"You're right!" Izuna strapped the guitar to his back and ran for the door. He opened it, stopped, and looked back at his family, "I'll miss you guys."
"You are only going to be gone for a day." His sister exclaimed,

"Get out of here!" His brother said, as an encouragement,

"Remember to respect anyone you see." His father told him. Izuna gave one more look to his family and left the house.

It is time to leave the shell.