To Light The Future!

by Dantheman2000009

Fate is always moving things along a set path. But what if something happened to that path? Or if someone new stepped on it? This Story is about a young man whose fate is undecided. Will he play along and let the world burn once more? Or, will he take up arms and fight to not only protect who he loves but to Light the Darkness that hangs over the future. (TioXOC plus others)

2. A rough start

So chapter 2 is here! Yeah it's going to be forever until this story is fully done haha! anyways on to the reviews

TheGreatdoaistDumpling: Well read to find out about some of that stuff and I can say there will be no weapons like that lol

Now for the normal can of beans! I do not own the Legend of Heroes series or anything in it! Just a few Oc's and ideas behind the story!... Yes I did copy this so what!

'Thinking'

"Letters"

(Whispers)

"Talking"

Change of time/Pov

Artist of Shade in the story cover is Iwonn on Twitter and they have their own blog where you can get yourself some nice art as well but for a price.

Iwonn's Art Blog ( )

Enjoy this roller coaster folks!

Septian Calendar: July 18th,1211.

Time: 11:30 AM

Location: Vali House

It's been a few days since Vali agreed to train me and within that time whenever I could sleep my dreams would be plagued by nightmares of that day. I would wake up in a cold sweat every time… I'm not sure how I feel about it but I guess it's something I have to live with.

But other than that Vali finally said it's time to start my training. So here I am standing in the middle of the training mat wearing a type of training grab with Vali off to the side looking at me.

"So Shade until I say so will we only work on muscle and stamina related training. For now I'll help you out at the start but you will have to do these all on your own in the future."

"Yes sir." I stare at Vali as he explains the types of exercises I will be doing.

Vali walks up and stares at my face. "Now until I say you will not touch any of these weapons, you can't lift half of them and despite your healing I don't want you to hurt yourself. Do I make myself clear?"

I nod and look him in the eyes but as I do a weird feeling washes over me and I can see a type of aura around him that makes me feel… safe and makes me trust him more. I continue looking until a spike of pain hits me and blood comes out of my eyes.

"Shade!? What happened?" He quickly grabbed me as I clutched my eyes from the pain.

After a few seconds the pain went away and I opened my eyes again and looked at him. "I'm fine now but when I looked into your eyes I saw… something but I could tell that you were nice and I could trust you… Is this another power I have?" I say while looking at my hands seeing the blood on them.

Vali looked at me and for a second his face looked like it was uncomfortable. "Hmmm… Well you will know more one day and if need be we will test it out again but for now training!" And so after cleaning the blood I began the start of my training which was somewhat tough but I was able to handle it… but the way Vali looked at me when I told him, made it feel like something was wrong… Maybe I just imagined it...

5 Months later

After 5 months of physical training he finally decided to let me pick my weapons to train with, but during those 5 months our friendship grew but whenever I brought up the graves outside he always says nothing and the air gets uncombable… so I decided to not bring it up anymore.

"Pick whatever weapons you want to learn with, once you do I will get a wooden one made to practice with and if you pick a gun I'll load it with blanks. Now go on pick them out."

"Umm why now all of a sudden?" I stand there slightly confused.

"Well somehow you overcame anything I threw at you and your body has developed nicely along the way to the point where we can start on this and far earlier than I thought we would."

"I see well… I already picked them out."

"Oh? Well tell me then."

"A sword, a pair of handguns and a scythe. Those are what I want to learn." I look at Vali as he crosses his arms and comtemplates my choices.

"Hmmm… Well I can make that work just fine but when we begin it will be sparing so you will be hurt from it so don't cry when you fal-"

"I don't care about the pain, so please don't hold back and teach me the best way you know how."

He stares at me then sighs before walking away but he turns to me and says one final thing.

"Fine if you want it but if it ever gets too much just tell me alright." And with that he walks away and up the stairs.

"He looked upset again… Is it me?" I cleaned up and headed outside to the graves area and sat in front of my mother's grave that Vali made for me. He made them away from the others and despite not having her body here I still come here once a day to say hello. Besides this and training, the rest of my day I spend drawing or learning from any books I can gather around the house.

The next day Vali walks into the training area with two wooden swords and passes me one of them. "Today we will start with the basics, afterwards we will do a small spar and we will do this everyday from now on until I say otherwise. And after that we will start target practice to end on."

"Now try to strike me down!" I nodded and rushed forwards but before I could even swing I'm knocked to the floor.

"Again!" I got up and rushed again only to meet the floor once more and this is how it was for the day until shooting practice came up.

"Alright here take this gun it's loaded with blanks to get you used to firing it but it's still dangerous so be careful." I grabbed it with both hands and fired my first gun, the kickback almost made me drop it but I held it more tightly and kept on shooting until it was empty.

"Good job if we do this everyday and add some technique I'll say you will be a decent fighter."

"What about the scythe? Are we not doing that one today?"

"Not at the moment. That weapon takes a lot more skill, once you get good enough with your sword skills then we will start on that."

I nodded and began to put down the gun but I accidently pulled the trigger and even though it was empty a blast came from it and hit the target that Vali had me point at blowing it up and the gun along with it hurting my hand.

"Shade?! You alright?" Vali looks around at the destroyed gun and the target before looking back at me as my hand heals itself.

"That's odd, maybe another power you have… But still that blast looked electric in some way?" Vali looks over things again then picks up what remains of the gun and leaves it on the table.

"That's enough for now. Tomorrow we will start again and I'll come up with something so we won't lose anymore guns… Oh and one more thing."

"Huh?"

"You can call me Val from now on alright?"

"Alright then Val." After he went upstairs to make lunch leaving me alone in the room.

3 Years later.

Ever since that day when my power's manifested, my emotions have been nullified so to speak. Ever since, I haven't felt sad or happy. Not even pain affects me in any major aspect. I feel it but I'm not bothered by it… Because of this I didn't mind the pain Vali put me in no matter what it could have been.

Over the years, I started getting better. I started feeling a little happy whenever I learned a new technique but I still felt dull most of the time.

Speaking of techniques, my training has progressed pretty well. My strength is around that of an average adult male even though I'm 8 years old. Because of this, I'm able to learn how to use weapons faster. On the downside though, Vali started using real weapons instead of the wooden ones which caused me quite a lot of pain but that's how I wanted it. I wanted to learn from all of my mistakes...

Not only that but it's gotten harder to sleep since my power seems to be based off of electricity. It's always going through my body which gives me plenty of energy as well as sleepless nights. It has its pros and cons. Such as the fact I can never be knocked out by anything. Not even varying poisons. Sometimes I felt like Vali was a masochist with finding out my strengths and weaknesses.

Other things that happened was Vali teaching me basic academics and other topics I should know. Although, he was never good at it so I tended to just read whatever book he threw at me like I did before.

Training room

I hold a practice sword in my right hand while staring at Vali who stands across from me on the other side of the mat holding a real sword. Rushing towards me, I side step out of the way and block his next attack before jumping back.

"That was a little slow old man. I think your age is catching up with you!" I tap on the floor with my sword taunting him.

He rushes again at a greater speed and aims at my chest. I turn my body as the sword slashes my chest, wounding me and making me fall to the floor.

As I hold my chest, a sword hovers in front of my face.

"So boy, it's now 188 Losses and 0 wins. Now clean up this mess and then continue practicing. I'm getting bored of cutting you up at this point." He walks towards the table.

I'm not exactly used to getting cut or stabbed but I'm able to endure it to some extent.

"Well, glad to see cutting up little boys is pleasurable for you. I'll make a note of that for a birthday gift." I get up and begin to clean up the mess as my wound heals up, annoyed that I lost again.

Vali begins reading the newspaper that he bought the other day while drinking his coffee, the flavor being black like his soul.

"Damn Dominion." Vali says under his breath with an irritated look.

I finished cleaning and made my way to the table for a short break.

"What about a Dominion?" I ask confused about the name and why he would be angry about it.

Vali looks up and sighs, putting the paper down and drinking the last of his coffee.

"The Dominion… I guess you never cared about the news so it makes sense for you to never hear about them so I'll tell you all I know." He takes a deep breath before continuing.

"They showed up around 1210 so 4 years ago, off the coast of Erebonia and Liberl with a massive fleet of ships. Heh, they made the empire's fleet look like an ant on the side of the road. Anyways, they sent out a notice to all the nations that basically said 'submit or die!'" He holds his empty cup tightly as I listen intently.

"Next thing anyone knew, the port city of Ordis was annihilated with barely any survivors… And that's when the war began. Over the course of the last few years, it only grew worse as more people died and nations fell." He lets out a sigh as his expression saddens.

"Even groups like the SSS or Class VII could do nothing against them and they saved the world from some type of demon or whatever it was… They were good people. I don't know how many of them are still alive. But The Dominion finally took Calvard so now we are under their damn rule!" He slams his fist on the table, his breathing heavy.

My eyes open wide and the memory of the drawings I made from back then on that day resurface all the while Vali slowly calms down.

'The SSS?... That name was for a group of people? And they fell to this Dominion?… Why do I feel sad about that? Who were they? But this Dominion must be who Bennett was working for... They conquered everything. Not only that but it sounds like they don't care about hurting innocent people. They just toss them aside if they don't follow them! I want- no... I Need to stop them!'

"Val?" His head turns towards me. "I don't hold any attachment to this nation, it's people, or anything else they have conquered… But some part of me wants to stop them. Maybe I can't do anything, or it's already too late to help but I want to help those people in some way!" I put my hand over my chest and continue to stare at Val. "I want to use my power and training to help those that are fighting back. And that is what I will do, so please Val help me become stronger!" I declare loudly followed by an air of silence.

Vali looks on, a blank expression on his face that slowly turns into a smile and then he begins to laugh.

"HAHAHA! That's what I was waiting for! You now have that spark of a warrior! Oh, how I've waited for this!" He continues to laugh.

I stare at him and begin to laugh as well and for the first time in my life, it feels like I can actually do something that's important so I'm going to give it my all!

"Haha! Now then, it's going to be a while before you can take them on but I will make sure you are ready for it and when the time comes, I'll get a close friend to come by and help make your equipment if he's alive by then." He gets up and begins to leave the room.

I watch him exit the room as I make my way to a scythe, the one weapon I haven't gotten a handle on yet. I reached for it with my right hand and picked it up and began swinging it around but no matter what I did I couldn't use it the way I wanted.

I sighed and put it on the table before I lost another arm to it. I closed my eyes and leaned against the wall but as I did the drawings appeared again but they looked distorted.

'What? These again? There has to be a reason. I drew them. I want to know why?!'

I began getting frustrated and even more so when the drawings begin to fade away but before they do a flash of blue hair suddenly shows up and disappears just as quick but in that moment all of my frustration vanishes and a sense of calm washes over me that I have never felt before.

"What was that?... Blue hair, it felt like it belonged to a girl but I never met anyone with hair like that…" I sigh and decided to think about it later tonight, so I reached to grab the scythe to put it up, grabbing it with my left hand. I began walking back to the rack but I stopped and looked at it as it somehow felt right in my left hand.

"Well, what could go wrong, haha... "

So I walked back towards the mat and I began to do the movements Vali showed me a few times and I'm actually pulling them off for once. After about 20 minutes of this, I heard Val behind me.

"Well, well, left handed huh? About damn time you figured it out. At least you got over that little problem." He walks over to the table where a simple lunch of sandwiches is at.

"Yeah, I decided to see what would happen. Like the worst that could have happened was me losing an arm again." I put the scythe down and make my way over to enjoy a nice little meal.

"Yeah, an 8 year old saying that is something I never thought I would hear but yet here we are." He says while taking a bite of a sandwich

I laugh a little as I sit down across from him. We laugh and talk as we enjoy our meal. I feel happy with today's events. With a new sense of determination, I will train as hard as I can!

4 Years Later

Septian Calendar: June 21st,1218.

Time: 4:10 PM

Location: Forests

Not much has happened over the years. My training improved and now I can keep up with Val and since he can forge weapons, I got to make my own pair of Handguns out of Zemurian Ore that his friend got and shipped to us. How he was able to get his hands on this stuff is beyond me.

But before we made them, we did a few practice runs so I can get used to it and during them, I accidentally cut myself and my blood mixed with the metal. At first I didn't notice anything wrong with the test daggers I made until Val pointed out that they shouldn't be able to cut metal the way they did. So after a few test runs to make sure my blood was the cause we made the handguns.

So now I got Dawn and Twilight; the first piece of my arsenal and when I practiced with them, I didn't even need ammo for them and I can even choose how powerful the shots are. Seems like they can handle me firing my blast unlike other guns.

The looks of both of them are identical with each of them having an extended barrel but still a decent size that isn't too bulky, the color is also black all the way around.

I named them after my favorite time of the day since I always feel more calm during those times.

And over the years I gained/learned a few more abilities. A sort of field that's always around me notifies me whenever someone or something gets within range. I'm not sure how big the range is but it gives me enough time to shoot bullets out of the air if they are coming at me. Downside, I can't turn it off but I got used to it. And for some reason any clothing I wear will regenerate whenever I get cut or stabbed. Why this happens is still unclear since it only started two years ago around when I turned 10, so maybe that has something to do with it?

Now that's it for the combat nonsense as for my off time well I continued my arts and got better at it. I'm able to even sketch stuff within minutes and I learned how to drive much to Val's dismay. His car survived and after that joyride, I wanted to drive something more... free I guess so I've been learning how to build a bike as well as doing whatever maintenance I can. Val's friend has been sending me parts I need and maybe the best thing to happen to me is my emotions. They finally came back so I'm no longer an emotionless husk half the time now. Yay.

And that's it. For what's happening right now. Val is leading me through an area of the nearby forest to spar. I presume at least since he told me to bring my weapons. My sword dulled enough to where it can't even cut butter so he wouldn't get hurt but of course he brought with him his best gear meaning I'm going to bleed which is annoying since it gets everywhere!

The both of us eventually make our way to a clearing in the forest. Val steps ahead of me and takes a deep breath. On him is a sword and a massive handgun. Both of them seemed to be his normal weapons for a battle. He turns around to face me and puts both hands behind his back.

"Shade, you have made great strides in your training and I'll admit you even surpassed me in some fields. So today I will face you in combat and if you can beat me, you will have completed your training!" He pulls out his sword and gun slowly getting into his stance.

"Well, well, I knew we were fighting. Just didn't think it was going to be like this though guess I can't hold back huh? Well, time to mark my calendar as today is the day I beat up an old man. I just knew my dream would come true!" I pull out Twilight and Dawn that were sitting in their holsters, on my back sits my sword ready to wreak havoc on him.

We both smile as he points his gun and shoots. I easily shoot the bullet out of the air as Val closes in on me with his sword. I dodge it and begin making my way to the tree line as he starts shooting, making me either dodge or shoot them. I begin to laugh.

"Is that all you got, old man?! It will take a lot more than that to end me- OH SHIT!" I barely dodge a sword slash that would have cut my head off ducking below it and jumping away, turning to see Val come at me again with great speed. I put away Dawn and grabbed my sword and blocked his next attack and started shooting Twilight at Val making him back off.

"Still think this will be easy? I'm going all out today so use everything you've learned!" He comes at me again shooting while preparing another attack with his blade.

I move towards him blocking the rounds with my sword and then our blades clash multiple times. He swigs low aiming for my legs. I quickly jump over it and fall back jumping onto the trees hiding among them.

'Okay, a few close calls but I got this in the ba- SHIT!.'

The branches next to me get destroyed and blasted away from an explosion. I start running through the trees as more explosions go off around me

"Did you really set bombs here, you crazy bastard?!" I yell while jumping down on the ground avoiding the debris.

"It's always good to set up traps if you know you're going to fight so remember this!" He mockly says while calmly standing in the clearing.

"Ok, new plan attack!" I put away Twilight and dash forward and begin attacking, putting a lot of strength in my blows and it pulls off.

As I'm able to break his defense, I use my sword and knock him into the air jumping up after him. I deal a few blows before grabbing him and throwing him into the ground. I swing my sword downwards using the momentum to deal a massive hit. He rolls out the way just in time and gets up but I begin to slash at him before grabbing him with my free hand and throwing him into a nearby tree. The moment he hits it, I attempt to kick him though it but he recovers and starts shooting once again making me dodge.

"Jeez, you really are a tough bastard if you can stand all of that!" We begin to circle each other. He puts his gun away leaving only his sword out.

"I've taken on more annoying assholes than you so this is cakewalk!"

We both stop and dash forwards. Our swords clash and after a few swings we both attack and lock our blades "Give up old man!" I smiled at him.

"Nope, not in your wildest dreams kid!" I push back and duck below his swing and using all my strength, I do an upward slash and knock his sword out of his hand. I quickly pull out Twilight and put it in his face ready to shoot.

A bang rangs out as a bullet went into my side. I quickly jump back slightly kneeling as my wound heals. I look up to see Vali holding his gun at his hip. He slowly lowers it and walks over to pick up his sword.

"Almost had me there kid but in a fight for your life every little trick that can save you must be played!" He exclaims then he yells and from what I could he powered up?

'Well shit.'

He rushes at me and slashes my side and then at my back making me fall to the ground. I try to get up to counter but he puts a bullet into my knee and slashes my chest two more times and finally ends it with a shot to my head.

I black out but it doesn't take long for me to regain consciousness. My eyes snap open to see Val aiming his gun at me again but I roll away as he shoots, almost hitting me again.

"Still kicking? You may have the skill in how to use those weapons but!" I quickly get to my feet as he starts attacking again.

"You lack the experience!" I block another strike. "You lack the need to defend yourself!" I duck below a swing and block the next one. "But most of all! You lack the resolve to do what must be done!"

I had enough so I blocked his attack and swing hitting his blade staggering him and within that moment I raised my right arm above my head. I swing down towards the right and then to the left, finally ending it with a spin and a final slash across his chest. "Helix Strike!" As I finish I notice small bits of electricity scatter and disappear in the air.

Val is knocked back and falls landing on his back with his weapons thrown behind him. I get on one knee and let my wounds from earlier heal fully. "Yeah I don't have any of that yet." I sit down on the ground slightly panting from the battle.

"But that doesn't mean I won't get any of that either. I will fail out there but… That also means I will learn from it, but for now…" I stand up and make my way towards Val who's still laying on his back panting.

"Thank you for teaching me!" I say while lending my hand towards him.

He looks up at me and then reaches to grab my hand. "You know I never did teach you Helix?" He makes it to his holding his side.

"I still remember the day you used it so I was copying from that, haha." I say while scratching the back of my head.

"It was sloppy but it still worked, mostly because you put so much power into it." He smiles and begins holding his side while he walks towards a nearby fallen tree "Sloppy? It wouldn't be if someone taught me this stuff!" I say while grabbing his weapons off of the ground and putting them on my back I begin making my way towards Val who is barely able to stand.

I ran over and helped him sit down on the tree.

"Easy old man. Guess that fight took more out of you, huh?" I sit down next to him letting my muscles relax. "I was going to wait a bit longer until we had this duel but I knew my age would get the better of me by then." He lets out a heavy sigh while he holds his side.

"Shade… You did good today. I'm impressed." He looks to the side before saying those words I've been wanting to hear for a long time now. "Your training is done. I'm proud of you." I stare at him slowly blinking and begin to look down as a few tears begin to surface.

"Thank you, Val. I'm glad it was you that I found that day." I look up at him wiping the tears away.

"I'm glad I found you passed out on my doorstep. If I'm being honest I was so close to just leaving you laying there but I'm a gentle soul after all." He said with a smile

"Glad to know I was this close to being wolf bate in the who knows maybe someone or something could rescue me, like maybe a bomb tree!" I exclaimed as a bird landed to my right, chirping.

"Ha ha, very funny. Anyways, let's head back and rest. Soon, more stuff should arrive for your bike and scythe." He says while getting up and walking towards the path.

"Yeah works for me and hey, sorry about the trees. I'll make sure there's no more bomb trees alright?" I say to the bird as I follow behind Val.

"Are you ever going to let the tree thing go?"

I stop to think for a moment.

"Hmm Nope! Like who does bomb trees! And hold on, there aren't any more right?" As I say that, the bird flies towards a tree and as it lands, a bomb goes off killing it and taking the tree with it.

"Hmm, maybe a few are still around." Val says as he continues walking along the path.

As he walks away, I stand there looking at the fallen tree with a dumbfounded stare. After a couple of seconds, I begin to follow Val along the path back to the house.

As I walk behind Vali, he stops and says something I wasn't expecting, something that shocked me. "Shade, the reason I decided now to test you is because…I'm dying." He never turns to look at me and I stand there with my eyes wide and I feel my legs shake.

"What!? Vali, what do you mean?" I ask, my breathing becoming heavier.

"Cancer. It ran in my family for a long time now and I'm surprised it took this long to get me… And before you ask the doctors said it might take a while but who knows really." He looks down and a small chuckle comes out of his mouth. "I guess I can join them soon." He says quietly under his breath. "Anyways, don't worry too much about me. Let's just get back, I'm not dead yet after all!" He begins to walk again leaving me there to process what happened.

'Val… Damn it, he's right! There's not much I can do but why… Why him of all people! I don't want to lose you…'

I calm down and begin walking forward again, Val now a good distance ahead of me. As I walk, another explosion goes off from the area behind me. I turn to see a tree fall. I give a small sad smile as a single tear goes down my cheek. I rub my eyes and continue walking.

2 Years later

Septian Calendar: February 12th,1220.

Time: 9:25 AM

Location: Val's House

Val's health has deteriorated badly over the past two years to the point that he's now bed ridden. For the past few months, I've been taking care of him. Luckily, he showed me where he gets his food from which is a town (about an hour drive away) so I usually take my bike which I completed a few months ago along with a sidecar that I use to transport the supplies I get.

Apparently, Val's friend sends supplies to a shop in town where they are to be picked up by either him or myself. The town itself isn't half bad, bigger than what I'm used to. It even has a train station in it. The town is called Zennor, a small place with a couple hundred people living here. And here I was able to see what The Dominion looked like as there were a few troops stationed here.

They seemed like assholes from what I could tell. They have grayish white painted armor on most of their body with a black suit underneath. And from what I can tell most of if not all of their vehicles are painted white.

They also seem to punish anyone that worships Aidios, even going as far as to remove anything to do with her from the continent. And the worst thing I have heard about them is the treatment of the people that have a eastern look or heritage. From what I was told they would keep them as slaves and make them work in mines, brothels, factorys and far more… It makes me sick to hear it all and I can't imagine what it looks like.

Well that's all there is to say about Zennor and The Dominion. Now about what I've been up to. For one, I finally got my scythe made. The design of it was tough mostly because I made it to be compact for easy transportation and if I need to use it I can make it unfold and extend. Very useful!

It's name is Harvester. The name came to me the moment I saw it finished. It's a decent length when it's fully opened up and the color scheme of it is pretty nice with a dark metal for the handle and back part that the blade connects to with the blade itself being black with a white on the edge of the blade. But I couldn't come up with a good idea for my sword so I just used a basic one for now. Oh and my eyes do work on other people so I know who to trust to some extent in that town. I just wish I could do more...

Things could be better but there's nothing I can do. I have to take care of Val. Speaking of which, I should go and feed the old man.

I get up from my chair in my room and begin to head towards the door. When a loud bang happens signaling the approaching storm, I ignore it and make my way to Val's room that's down the hall. I knock on the door and then enter.

"Hey Val, it's around dinner time so whatcha want to eat?" I lean against the door frame while looking at him.

Val doesn't turn to look at me and just continues to look out the nearby window silently. I begin to worry a little and make my way to the chair next to the bed.

"Shade, there's something I have to tell you. Something I should have told you long ago." He turns to look at me.

"Sounds important. So what's it about?" I lean forward resting my arms on my legs.

"It's about your father." He looks at me dead in the eyes in complete seriousness.

"My father? Val, I don't even know who he is. I never met the guy."

"Let me tell you what happened 35 years ago and then everything should make sense to you..."

35 years ago

Vali's POV

Back then, me and my friends were just adventurers killing monsters and having a good time… We didn't care for Bracer work since we just did it for fun, and all of us were strong so we didn't think anything bad would happen… We didn't know the shit storm we walked into.

"So the monster is around here right?" I ask turning to look towards my friends as we walk along the road leading towards some farmland.

"A bit further ahead I believe!" Sasha responds.

She's has been by my side since as long as I could remember. Her playful personality always cheers us up.

"Hey Val, make sure to leave us something to beat up alright!" Mat adds.

He's still rather new to fighting monsters but he can at least handle himself. Before this, he used to work at a weapon shop and was always inspired to fight so we took him along with us.

"We should be more cautious! The reports said this monster killed dozens already!" Ali warns.

She's like the big sister to us despite being the youngest of our group.

Recently, a monster has been killing people in the area around Celdic so we took it upon ourselves to get rid of it before it can do more damage. So far, nobody lived to tell what it was. Only that bodies were being found in the area and that they were disfigured.

We walk along, Sasha takes point with me just behind her and behind me is Ali followed by Mat.

"Shhs, I think I heard it over there just a bit ahead." Sasha pulls out her crossbow and begins to look ahead of us trying to spot it.

I pull out my sword and ready myself for the fight to come as Mat pulls out his rifle. I look over to see Ali with a giant hammer over her shoulder ready to be used at a moment's notice.

It suddenly gets quiet, not even a bird or the wind makes a sound. And then we see something that can only be described as a nightmare come out of the forest ahead of us flying at us at full speed with a giant demonic looking sword.

I rush ahead and block the attack while Sasha and Mat begin firing at the creature. It jumps back and me and Ali take the front ready to defend but it does something that catches us all off guard.

"Hmm you are strong. At least for a human." The creature's masculine deep voice sends chills down everyone's spine as he stops flying and lands.

I'm able to get a good look at him now and from what I can tell his entire body is mostly gray scales but underneath is like lava or a fire, something I've never seen before.

"You can speak demon?" I ask as a bad feeling starts to creep up my spine.

"But of course. Does this surprise you? Well it doesn't matter anyways for you all will die now. " He begins to look at us and then waits to see what we would do. Before I could figure out what to do, Mat shoots his gun at him and it bounces off like it hit a wall.

The demon rushes forwards knocking both me and Ali down in one swing of his blade. I quickly get up and turn around to see something I never wanted to see in my life.

The demon stands there while Mat lays on the ground cut completely in half with blood everywhere. "Noooo! Mat!" I reach down to grab my sword but I see him rush at Sasha.

I hear Sasha scream as she fires a bolt at him. The demon hits it mid air with his blade and flies towards her grabbing her by the neck and smashing her into the ground with such force that it breaks her neck. "Sasha… Nooo!" My legs begin to shake as my stomach wants to throw up.

I ready my sword and begin rushing at him but he flies past me and heads towards Ali who's on her knees praying He kicks her head knocking her down. I rush over to stop him before I can. He then stomps on her chest crushing her before slashing his sword cutting the ground and her.

"There we are now alone. I hope you can be a better fight than these worthless fools!" A sudden energy comes from him and he shifts into a human.

He has swept back black hair and red crimson eyes. He is wearing black boots and black leather pants. He's also wearing a black button up leather coat with red on the edges and on the buttons. It goes down to his knees in length.

"ALONE! YOU KILLED MY FRIENDS, YOU SON OF A BITCH!" I charge at him swinging my blade wide. He puts his up to block and then kicks me in the chest, sending me back a little.

"Please don't let your emotions control you. It will only get in the way." He charges forwards and attempts to stab me but I manage to dodge out of the way. Gripping my sword, I swing and slash at his side making him stumble.

"Oh? You are the first to draw blood but still you are not enough." I watch in horror as the blow I just did heals even the clothing like nothing happened. "What are you!?" I yell out as my legs give in and I fall to my knees.

"Me? I'm the soon to be the Lord of Gehenna, Cronan!" He looks down at me and some type of energy surrounds his hand. "Now here's a little gift for you." He sends it out towards me and it absorbs into me.

"What!? What did you do to me!?" I can feel it bury itself deep within my heart.

"One day, that will kill you but until it does, you will be on par with a normal demon in terms of strength. I hope you enjoy it, heh. " He turns and begins to walk away.

All of a sudden, I see 4 more demons show up and turn into human form. At this point I fall over and the only thing I see is darkness.

Flashback End

Shade's POV

"So his name is Cronan… And that's why you're dying? Because he gave you some type of power?" I say while leaning forwards in my chair.

Val looks at me with a confused expression.

"Yes… That power was cursed so I decided to not use it… And you aren't mad that I kept this from you?"

I give him a small smile as I respond.

"Why would I be? I never once cared about who he was at all. And look Val, I'm sorry that happened to you. I couldn't imagine what it must have been like but it's okay, alright?" I give his shoulder a small rub to reassure him.

"Shade, I… Everytime I cut you or stabbed you or hurt you, all I saw was that man's face! I took joy in doing it but I knew it was wrong!" He starts crying, his hands gripping the blanket.

"Val… It's okay, I don't blame you for anything, so don't feel bad about it, okay? In fact, meeting you was the best thing that happened in my life so thank you." I reach over and hold his hand giving it a small squeeze.

He looks down at it and smiles using his free hand to wipe away the tears and leans back into the bed and relaxes.

"Shade, I'm proud of the man you've become so far so please do this old man a favor and never change the way you are. Always be kind and understanding to others. Please. And if you ever see your father, give him a good punch for me alright?"

I look at him surprised by what he said before I give a smile back.

"Of course Val I'll do my very best!... I'll do my best for my real father!"

"Real father… Thank you so much Shade you have no idea what those words mean to me… Now let me rest a little. That got me tired..." He closes his eyes and lets go of my hand looking relaxed as an old man can be. "Goodnight, my son." I hear him whisper those words under his breath making me go stiff at those words.

"Val… Why do you make it sound like those are some type of last words or something huh?" I looked at him and noticed he stopped moving. "Val?... Val!"

Sometime later Outside.

The rain pours down from the sky above but I didn't care about it because the only thing I could care about was the now freshly dug grave in front of me.

"Well old man, I guess it's about time I head out. I'll give them hell for you alright and make sure you give them hell wherever you are but I'm sure you already are." I bend down and leave a bottle of his favorite liquor and a flower on his grave before getting up and walking towards my bike in the garage.

As I walk in, I look over at the outfit I had made for me in town and after a couple of minutes I managed to get it all on. I have on tall black boots, dark pants that's held up with a dark leather belt, a shirt that's also black as well as a pair of black fingerless gloves on my hand. I have an attachment around my back for my handguns and for my scythe to stay but the most noticeable part of my outfit is the long black coat I have which has coattails at the end. It also has a hood attached to it, And finally the last piece is the metal mask I made. It has a red lens for the eyes with a slight grin to the mouth area. The mask itself has a camera and microphone in it that I can use whenever I want.

Before I leave this place I walk around giving everything one last look and to say goodbye for now. I walk into Val's room and look around but my eyes catch a letter on his desk in the corner, making my way to it. I grab it and open it up reading it's contents.

"Dear Shade. If you are reading this then that means my time has come, and it also means your time to journey the land is here. There was so much I wanted to say to you but I couldn't bring myself to say it, maybe during my dying words I did but I'll say them here as well.

Shade I'm so proud of the man you become so far, finding you that day was the first blessing I've had in some time and I'm proud to call you my son.

Now I must say sorry for what I have done to you over the years, with all the training and pain I've caused you. And for the path you chosen, that path is full of death and chaos. I'm sure you can handle whatever fight is ahead of you but I'm afraid of the man you might become at the end of it.

So please Shade, never change who you are. Stay true to yourself and your ideals!

Oh and you will most likely meet many people on the way so make sure to befriend them alright! Don't want you to be alone forever now haha.

And finally one last thing, my full name Vali Junge. I never told you it and I wished I had earlier. I love you Shade and I pray and hope that your life from here on will be a good one, take care my son.

I stand there staring at the paper as tears flow from my eyes forcing me to take off my mask which I laid on the desk. I smile at the letter, deciding to keep it. I fold it up and store it in my pockit. "Goodbye Vali." I say one last time before closing the door and leaving the house.

I walk out the front door but I see a man standing outside in the rain with an umbrella looking at the graves. He seems to be wealthy judging by his clothing.

"Hey! You looking for someone?" I call out to the man.

He turns towards me and a look of surprise spreads across his face most likely from the way I'm dressed. The man himself looks to be around Val's age, he holds a cane in his right hand and his entire suit is gray even his bowler hat.

He stares at me then breathes out looking much more calm. "Well you must be Shade? I came here to talk to Val like he had ask in his last letter to me. But I guess I was too late." He looks back over at the grave.

"You knew Val huh? Well come inside so we can talk without the rain getting in the way." He nods and we make it into the house where we both sat down at the dinner table.

"So when did he pass?"

"Early this morning… So you must be the 'friend' Val also mentioned and where he gets his stuff from?"

"Guess so. Name's Nicholas or Nick for short… Well this is an awkward conversation."

I lean back in my seat and look out the window. "Haha only if you make it awkward. So you a businessman or something?"

"Well I run the entire trade for southern Calvard. So yeah you could call me a 'businessman or something', haha."

"Damn you are high up there huh? That means you work for the Dominion yeha?"

'If he works for them I could gain a lot of info. But now I'm wondering if this guy will try something…"

"Well considering I'm always invited to Drugone's parties, yes I am haha." He leans back and pulls out a cigarette and lights it.

"And from what I can tell you seem to be on your way for something yeah? Like maybe a fight perhaps?" He smiles.

I look into his eyes and I can feel… Deceit? I'm still not sure how it works but I know to not trust this guy… Especially since I now sense movement on the edge of my range.

"I hear the roads can be a dangerous place. a lot of monsters you know. But who's Drugone? Val never really told me much of him or the Dominion really."

"Ahh I see. Well I always knew Val hated the Dominion haha. But sure, let me tell you what I know in simple terms." He leans forward and outs his hands on the table.

"Around 1209 a new continent was discovered but to be safe a group calling themselves The Dominion which was a part of the Septian Church sent one of their own to it for many reasons. That man was Drugone, he found a nation on the brink of ruin and he helped rebuild it to be something greater than what it was. He ended up in charge of it and built an army, after that he went to war with all of the nations after he gave them the chance to join his new found nation called The Dominion."

"Huh sounds like a shit show. But what happened to the group from the church?" I keep my gaze on him as I sense more people getting closer to the house.

"He killed them all of course. But anyways let me ask you something… Will you work for me?"

I smiled under my mask as I saw this coming so I already knew my answer.

"Hell no."

His reels back from my answer. "No? You might want to change your mind then because I will make your life hell if you refuse!"

"Alright. Fuck no." I see him stand up and storm out the door so I get up to follow.

"What's wrong Nicky? I thought we were getting along like childhood friends!" I look around to see a bunch of Dominion troops rush out of the woods and point their guns at me, around forty in total.

"Shade, I can tell Val taught you how to fight just by the way you look. So surrender now or your life is over!" He stands off to the side with at least four soldiers.

"Jeez now you bring uninvited guests to my house as well? So rude." I lower my hands to quickly grab my handguns if I need to.

"That's it! Take this asshole down!" He points at me and I grab both guns and point them at the troops in front of me.

'Okay Shade you got this, first battle… I got this!'

I shoot both guns and I watch as the bullets go into the head of the closest soldier killing him instantly. I quickly jump up and into the air as all of them start shooting me, while in the air I shoot down below killing three more before landing and dashing around.

"It's one damn man! Just KILL HIM!" I stopped moving around and crouched down and shot a few more times killing five more. I jump out of the way of more incoming fire but once I land I see two armored vehicles meant to move troops coming up the road. APC's.

The guns on top of it start firing all over the area even into the house behind me. I look over at the damage they are doing and grip my guns hard as I turn towards them and run at them.

"Don't touch my home!" I yell out as I shoot at them with supercharged rounds which went through the armor with ease blowing them both up, killing even more along with them.

I turn to look at the house to see a fire started inside somewhere but I'm unable to do anything because the rest of the soldiers continue to fire at me. I put both guns away as I pulled out my scythe.

"Leave me alone!" I charge at the two soldiers that are closest and quickly slice them both in half, their faces distort to fear and pain before falling limp in the mud below. I pull my left arm back and throw my scythe at a few more, it spins as it tears through four more soldiers. During that time I pull out a single gun and shoot two more soldiers in the head before catching my scythe and putting my gun away again.

I look around at what remains and count twenty two left. They stop shooting and group around the destroyed APC's.

"Idiots all of you." I pull out my sword and now with both hands holding my scythe and sword I run at them, the ones in front seemed to scared to fire their weapons so I cut the two of them down with my scythe I kick the guy to my right in the knee making him go to the ground as I stab into his back before swinging upwards cutting another trooper.

I throw my scythe again at one side while I rush the other, cutting off one of their heads I go pat the body and stab the next one though the chest, grabbing his gun I fire it into the last five killing them all as my scythe returns after it killed the three on the other side.

I look over to where Nick is at to see the last remaining soldiers aiming at me.

"You are a fucking monster! You hear me! A MONSTER!" I glared at him through my mask and decided to end this. I run at them and before they could fire their weapons I slice through all of them with both weapons tearing them apart, leaving only Nick alive.

"What the fuck are you!?" Nick falls to the muddy ground below as he tries to crawl away but I stop him by stepping on his back.

"I honestly don't know anymore." I stare down at him as he tries to get out from under my foot but I simply swing with my scythe cutting his head off only then do I take my foot off.

I turn to look at what I've done and reality slowly sinks in as I stare at the death, the fires, the bodies. "Well shit…" I slowly put my weapons away as I walk to the garage.

I look at the house to see it completely ablaze in flames and I can only watch as the house I grew up in is turned to ashes before my eyes.

"Why… Why did I have to lose everything!" I yelled out as the roof caves in on it.

'Val… I'm so sorry for what I've done! I didn't mean it!'

I grabbed the handle of my bike and luckily nothing in the garage was damaged so I sat there on the seat for a bit trying to get myself together.

"Val… I'm sorry for killing him like that, he was your friend but I just lost it… But I must move forward to the goal you helped me work towards for so long."

With those words I made sure everything was good to go and turned on the bike and drove out of the garage. I noticed that the rain stopped but all I could look at was the burning house.

"So this is the feeling of killing someone with your own hands… I don't know if I can get used to it." I look away and drive around the wreckage then on to the main road heading towards Zennor for information and last minute supplies.

'I'm off now Val… See you Dad.'

Oh boy that really escalated quickly. And yes a lot of time skipping but there's not much that happens during those times so it works… What else can I say?

Ummm if you enjoyed leave a review and maybe follow along this story for i will not leave it like many others on this site (If I do you will all know)

So yeah and if at times it seems sloppy and not really good well this is my first time writing and this is my passion story that's been in my head for months! So any support will be great and now I'll stop lol see you next time!