Prologue

A young boy with silver hair and an expressionless face walked the dirt road of Sen. He was looking down at the ground, passing other kids who were playing various games. Those kids didn't bother paying attention to him, yet he wished they would. It had been a while since he last played a game with anyone. His most recent game was hide and seek with Chiyo, but his father scolded him because she was a girl and he wasn't suppose to play with only girls. Now that he thought about it, Chiyo had been his only true friend. Where was she though, he thought. She was probably at home helping her mother and sister.

"Zerion, inside now!" A deep voice called out from a house not too far away. Zerion picked up his head and saw his father standing by the doorway to his house.

"Yes sir." Zerion mumbled. He quickened his pace and got to his front door before he knew it. "What's the rush?"

"Zerion, I want you to go upstairs and hide. Can you do that for me and mommy?" his father said, falling down to his son's height.

"….Hide? But..."

"No buts, just go." His father said calmly. Zerion thought of only the worst and made his way towards the stairs. He glanced at his mother who had a worried look on her face, her silver hair, which Zerion inherited, framed her beautiful characteristics.

"Where's Setsuya?" Zerion asked his mother, hoping she would comfort him with some additional words that would answer what was going on.

"He's upstairs, hiding already. Quick Zerion, go!" she shouted. Zerion nodded and quickly ran upstairs. He reached the wooden hallway and walked up to one of the traditional sliding doors and opened it. It was Setsuya's room.

Setsuya is Zerion's older brother, only by one year. They've had a very close relationship over the years and always spoke to each other. Lately they started separating from one another. Especially when they became "rich."

A while back, Zerion's father opened up a fishing business in Sen. He knew it was going to make a lot of money, and boy it did roll in the dough. They flourished in riches and bought themselves a new house and a new wardrobe. Being rich was probably the reason kids didn't play with Zerion, jealousy got to them. Well, the King and Queen heard about this and were in a money jam, a much more powerful Kingdom was setting out to conquer Sen and they certainly did not want this to happen. They started to raise taxes and people in Sen were complaining.

This is where Zerion's family comes in. The King and Queen taxed them the highest, just for being the richest family in Sen. But not just a bit higher, but a lot higher. Other townspeople were complaining for Zerion's family. Finally, his father refused to pay. No matter what they would not pay the absurd tax.

This of course, made the King and Queen mad.

Now, Zerion walked over to the closet in Setsuya's room and opened it up.

"Zerion, get in! Quick!" his brother ordered him.

"Setsuya what's going on?"

Just then, a loud noise was heard from downstairs. Then a gunshot. Scream. Another gunshot finished that off, and Zerion just stood there looking at his brother. They both were thinking the same thing, what the hell was that? Zerion quickly ran inside the closet and Setsuya closed the door. They heard a bag crumbling, then footsteps. Zerion was sweating, his heart racing. What were they going to do? What happened to his parents?

"Setsuya!" whispered Zerion. "Since this is more like a storage room, there's a window over there!"

"Don't you think I know?" Setsuya said. "It's my room." Zerion sighed and nodded.

"Let's get out!" Zerion whispered once again. Setsuya nodded. They walked to the window quickly and opened it.

"You go first Zerion." Setsuya said. Zerion was going to refuse, but he knew it wasn't the time. He climbed onto the window, and looked down.

"Not that high, right?" Zerion asked.

"Just jump, Z!" Setsuya said. Zerion nodded and jumped down, landing hard and holding in his cry. He waited for Setsuya next, but suddenly he heard a scream from up there….and a gunshot followed.

"No…." Zerion whispered, tears forming in his grey eyes. He backed away from the house, but as he looked down the dirt road another shocking event occurred. Soldiers were everywhere, running into peoples homes. Only one thought came to Zerion. "Chiyo…I have to save Chiyo…"

Zerion ran quickly down the dirt road in the opposite direction to Chiyo's house. He passed by all the houses and noticed the soldiers have not gotten there yet. Relief washed over him as he neared Chiyo's house and burst through the door.

It was empty.

Zerion looked all around for Chiyo or her family, but no one was there. He then ran outside and noticed their carriage was missing.

'They left….I'm alone…" he whispered, and felt all the pain coming back as he started to cry. He quickly kept running and running, not knowing where he was going and not caring either. He went wherever his feet took him, they had a mind of their own now. When he reached the outskirts of town, something happened though.

"Hey, kid!" a man called out. Zerion quickly spun around, his heart pounding. It was a man in his twenties with black hair that partly covered his face. He was tall, and had a sword in his hand. "I'll take you away from here."

"What…?" Zerion asked curiously.

"I'm here to save you and any other kid that survived." The man said. "Have they already gone through the whole town?"

"What? No…they haven't reached this side yet."

The man nodded, and motioned to his carriage. Zerion nodded in agreement, not sure where this would lead him.

But this begins his story.