Chapter 2 What A Cliche

Paradox was running through the woods with Tupay flying high above the treetops without a care in the world. He turned his head looking behind him thinking of the life he left behind. Paradox sighed as he climbed up a tree jumping from branch to branch and sat there. Tupay circled around and perched next to him his blue beady eyes full of concern for his friend. Paradox patted tupay on the head and smiled slowly.

"So, Zora said just keep heading north right?"

Paradox asked his friend who just tilted his head. Paradox giggled

"I wonder what type of stuff we'll see"

He said jumping off of the branch he was sitting on. He looked to see the sun had started to rise above the trees giving life to the woods.

"So it's morning huh, I wonder how long we've been gone"

"And when will these woods end."

He thought. And just as he said that he stepped forward pushing through a bush and out of the woods to see a town up ahead. He looked at Tupay who was asleep on his shoulder.

"Rest up bud our stories start now."

He said making his way to the town. It was a five minute walk since tupay was sleeping on his shoulder. Upon entering the town he noticed it was full of life. The streets were filled with dancers, street performers and what seemed like tourists. A little girl carrying a crate of fruit bumped into paradox waking tupay who then glared at Paradox in anger. Paradox pointed down at the little girl as Tupay closed his eyes dozing back off.

"Sorry mister didn't mean to bother you"

Paradox shrugged

"You didn't really do anything to be honest."

The little girl wore ragged clothes and had cuts and brusies all over her bronze colored skin. Her hair was matted and covered her emerald green eyes. She couldn't be any older than seven, but before he could examine her any further, Paradox began to hear a group of street thugs sneering and snickering. One of them, obviously the leader, shoved his shoulder into her and knocked her and the crate to the ground. Fruit spilled all over the filthy cobblestone road. The girl bent over and began picking up the now dirty fruit. She had the sad eyes of someone who had been oppressed and bullied and had lost all signs of hope.

The leader smirked. The corner of his mouth curled like that of a sly fox.

"Sorry." the boy said in the most unsorry of ways. He laughed, obviously enjoying himself and the attention of his thug friends.

"Yeah go back home to your hobo mother!"

Paradox could see the tears starting to form in her eyes.

"She's not a hobo, she's sick!" she yelled. She looked into the boy's eyes, only for hers to fill with despair and her gaze fell back to the ground. Her tears made small wet spots on the ground.

"Stop it Marko. Leave me alone Marko!" "I just wanna bring this food to my mother." Eva pleaded. But her pleads fell on deaf ears.

"Stop?" Marko chuckled. "And why should I do that?' he asked, taking his foot off of her back. He then leaned down and grabbed the top of her head. "Your nothing but a low life, piece of shit and a street rat!"

Paradox moved his shoulder.

"Move tupay!" He said anger burning

Just as tupay flew away, Paradox brought his shoe into Marko's face, knocking him to the ground. He got to his feet blood gushing from his now broken Nose. Seeing the sight of his blood sent the other boys into panic. Marko on the other hand was now burning red with rage… and blood,

"Who the hell are you?' he scowled.

Paradox chuckled. "The real question is who the hell are you to be calling someone a street rat." Paradox's eyes then sharpen as he stared him down.

"Why don't you go clean yourself up, you're dirtying the streets with your blood peasant."

Marko didn't take too kindly to the insult. He charged Paradox blinded by anger and the embarrassment of being punked in front of his own crew. With each swing Paradox evaded easily making him make more a fool of himself. The townspeople had finally noticed what was going as someone had come over to break up the "fight."

"Stop this mindless squabble at once." a man said as he began to step in between them using his arms to push them apart. Marko then moved the man's arm from his chest as he then began to point at his nose in a panic

"GUARD GUARD!!, look he attacked me for no reason."

Eva who was still on the ground looked up at Paradox and mouthed the words thank you." Paradox simply nodded before the guard turned to face him. The guard was wearing brown light armour with a sword on his hip. He was quite muscalur and his shoulders were broad and wide. He had black hair stuffed into a ponytail and a scar on his left cheek which only seemed to give him a permanent scowl. Most intriguing of all were his scarlet red. To make him even more intimidating he was massively tall, even for most men. Paradox's neck was beginning to feel sore from looking up at the man. He was like a mountain… The guard locked eyes with Paradox, his scarlet red eyes, burning like fire in the sunlight. The guard's constant unflinching glare began to put Paradox on edge. His expression didn't change, like he was some kind of insane person who most definitely shouldn't be dressed in battle armor. Paradox scanned the nearby rooftops for Tupay but couldn't find him.

"Damn." he mumbled, sighing through his nose.

The guard took his hand away from Paradox's chest and kneeled down to see his face more clearly.

"Well I don't believe I've ever seen you around here before." he said so quietly he might as well have been growling.He then stood again and placed his large hands on his sword belt. Marko, who Paradox had forgotten even existed, found his voice again so that he could try and worm his way out of trouble.

"Yes guard, he just walked right into town and kicked me in the face!" Marko was playing the good boy and trying his hardest to sound earnest and thoughtful, despite his voice being nasally and muffled from using his hand to cover his broken nose, wincing with every word. Of course Paradox knew he was full of shit and intentionally being over dramatic with the wincing but the guard was clearly fooled by the jerk's terrible acting. This guard obviously wasn't lucky enough to get the best of both worlds. He was probably a powerful fighter, but no smarter than a baby cow.

"My friends and I" Marko continued, "were just walking through town when we found this little girl being harassed by him, sir."

The guard then looked down at Eva who hadn't even attempted to get to her feet yet. Then looking back at Paradox with enforceable eyes said through the grit of his teeth.

"Continue!"

This made marko smirk; he knew he had hooked the guard with his story, now it was just time to seal the deal. "And when I tried to help this young helpless girl, this brute kicked me in the face causing the damage you see now." he concluded, taking his hand off his face to show the guard his face once more. This made Eva get to her feet as she had obviously had enough of Marko's little tragedy. Before she could even get a word out the guard had his sword to paradox's throat.

"So you come into this town unknown to anyone and attack its people? I should deal with you now, terrorist!" he growled pushing the blade closer into his neck.

Paradox sighed as he wasn't worried or threatened at all. He just knew he owed Marko his left foot next instead of the right next time. If he ever got next time. The guard took his blade from his neck pulling out a pair of handcuffs from his back pocket. "You will come with me" he said, turning him around, placing the steel cuffs on his wrist. As he took Paradox away he threw Eva a sheepish smile before mouthing "I'll be ok"

()

Paradox sat in a small cell. His hands remained cuffed, but now the cuffs were chained to the wall. Rats scurried in and out of his sight on a floor covered in smelly blood stained hey. Warm sunlight filtered in through a small window above his head the iron bars, casting shadowy lines upon the cell floor which lengthened as the day went on. He could hear the clatter of pottery and the clang of money being exchanged by the merchants. The sounds of children laughing and playing and the occasional bark of the security dogs that were on standby with the guards in prison.

Paradox sighed. "Great now what would my mother have to say about all this." He heard footsteps above his head then heard a familiar voice.

"I think she'd bust you outta here in a flash." Paradox smiled. He couldn't look up to see her face but he knew it was Eva.

"Did you ever get that food to your mother?" He heard her shuffle before she answered.

"Oh course! I told her what happened and what you did for me." She paused. "She is very grateful."

This made Paradox smile. At least someone felt he was right. Although he knew if his mother was here she would think differently. He shook his head. That bastard deserved what happened to him. Someone had to knock him off his high horse. Eva cut him from his brooding.

"So um, mister? Where do you come from?"

Paradox sighed and took a long deep breath. There was no use trying to hide it from everyone. He then proceeded to tell her everything. About his mom, his home life, the bar they owned, and even the stories of his father. He closed off with his reason for leaving.

He could hear in Eva's voice she had stars in her eyes.

"Wooooow, so your dad was the leader of the Seven Deadly Sins they're like… legendary."

"Were…" Paradox said quietly. "But then they disappeared, even my father."

Eva was silent for a while and Paradox didn't blame her. It's not like there's any real comforting words to do him any justice.

"Still…" Eva's voice seemed a little shaky like she was trying to be cautious how to go about saying her next words.

"Will you try to find him?"

"No."

"Why?" Eva seemed a little hurt. Maybe there was something personal…

"He's your dad! And he's a hero and this nation…" Eva seemed at the brink of tears. Paradox thought about breaking his bonds right then and there, but he didn't want to scare her. Plus the sun was still up and there were still too many guards to make an escape with less casualties.

Paradox sighed and mustered his courage. He felt bad sending Eva away in the state she was in, but it wasn't safe for her to be here for long. He didn't know what the other guards might do if she lingered here too long.

"You should go home, Eva."

"Huh?" Eva sounded hurt as he had feared.

"Go home, Eva. It's not safe for a girl your age to linger around a prison." Paradox didn't mean to be harsh, but it was the honest truth.

"Oh…" Eva went silent again as if just noticing her surroundings.

"Right…" she muttered. "Will you be ok?"

Paradox laughed. "Of course. I could've broken out as soon as they put me in here. I'm just rethinking my strategy as all."

"Oh." Eva seemed a bit weary now. Good she should be. It's better she be afraid of me than get attached to me. It would be impossible to protect and escape without making a huge scene…

"W-well, when you do break out, I'm officially inviting you to dinner."

Shit.

"... To thank you for earlier."

"I'm not that hungry." Paradox tried to lie, but his stomach disagreed and let Eva know otherwise.

Paradox took a deep breath and sighed. No way out of this one.

"Sure, hope you don't mind eating late."

Finally the 3rd shift guards showed up. Eva had gone home hours ago, skipping and humming to herself. As expected the late shifts are a lot lighter than during the day. It only took an ounce of his strength to break the chains silently. Surprisingly the padlock to his cell was in place but not locked. When Paradox reached the room where the guards were, he found 3 asleep and one more who could've been asleep, but it was hard to tell with his helmet over his eyes. Paradox eyed the man for a moment to make sure he was asleep and to listen for any more guards that might've been outside.

There weren't any and the guard with the helmet on his face was definitely asleep.

As quietly as he could, he crept for the open door that led outside.

"I thought as much." The gruff and familiar voice of man sounded from under the helmet. It was the Holy Knight from earlier, the one that arrested him.

"Do you plan to stop me?" Paradox prepared for a fight.

"No." the large man said. "I don't. It wouldn't be worth my time."

"But you-" Paradox was too confused to take his leave, despite the easy invite.

"I know." the man paused and got up stretching and yawning. "That you did not commit that crime."

"Then why did arrest me in the first place?" Yelled Paradox, irritated by letting himself waste so much time. "You should've arrested that arrogant brat and his thugs since they did do the crime."

"Ha!" The Holy Knight waved his massive hand, dismissively. "I would've done so in a heartbeat, but he and his friends are sons of nobles. And that boy that you did me the liberty of breaking his nose, was the son of my boss." He sighed. "I couldn't turn away from that even if I wanted to…"

"Oh…" Paradox lowered his guard a little. "I see. I'm sorry if I cause you any trouble for escaping."

The huge man laughed so loud this time that one of the guards jerked awake with wide eyes, like he had been woken from a nightmare.

"What is it?" The guard sputtered, rubbing his eyes to try to get the sleep out of them.

"Nothing, you slacking piece of shit!" The Holy Knight yelled. "If you wanna sleep, go back to sleep. You obviously need it."

The guard looked taken aback. "Huh? Major? Seriously? Well if I can go to sleep could I al-"

"Don't push your luck." The Major grumbled making the guard whimper like a dog.

"Of course, Major, sir. Right to sleep." And with that the guard put his head down so hard he appeared to have knocked himself out.

The large Holy Knight in front Paradox seemed to shrink with age. He must've been heavily overworked and seriously deprived of sleep. He sighed and then yawned again.

"Where were we?" He then turned back to me and a dead serious look shadowed his tired eyes.

"I will be fine, kid." He told me. "But you on the other hand…" The major stopped as if he was not supposed to disclose any information on whatever he was warning me about. The major took his helmet off, revealing a large shiny bald spot in the center of his head. He rubbed at it and massaged his temples. Whatever this information was, it was definitely stressing him out.

"I give…" he said finally.