"I often look to the past and wonder how things came to be. If I had never met Yuan, my best friend. Would I even be alive right now? I doubt it. There were times where he was the only reason I continued on with life. Or my life before I met Mithos… I wonder if there was anyway I could have prevented some of the more traumatic events in my life from happening. I sometimes even wonder how life would have been if I had not saved that little elven boy. Sometimes I wish I hadn't. But unlike some humans, I was born with a heart, I just temporarily lost it at some point. I couldn't leave him there to be beaten to death and his sister, I couldn't leave her there to be treated like some sort of experimental tool for those humans to engage in various crude acts with. Mithos, my friend, how he meant well, but there are many who mean well and end up devastating everyone around them. I can't say that he is entirely evil. No one can be entirely evil. But he was a little off from time to time. I sensed it from the beginning. When we first met. When the Four Seraphim came together. When my journey of 4,000 years truly began…"
"Get him Rip!" A stocky boy yelled.
A small circle of boys gathered around a fallen half-elf boy throwing rocks and sticks at him. They yelled horrible things of his mother and father, they cursed him to lowest pits of hell. They verbally abused him with every vile word in the book, and a few they had probably just made up. To make matters worse one of the older boys held onto a large dog that barked madly snapping at the boy. It's jaws came dangerously close to him, but every time he tried to crawl away one of the boys would kicked him back towards the animal. "Let Rip tear his arms off!" Another one of the boys yelled. This made the half-elf child curl himself up tightly, shaking in fear. He could hear the dog growling viciously and he could feel his hot breath on his neck. If they had let the dog go, the boy would have been dead for sure. "Come on! Let him take off those cursed arms before he starts throwing that crazy magic shit around!"
"You think he can still cast spells with no arms?" The stocky boy yelled giving the leash a little more length. "I guess there is only way to find out." Before he could let go off the leash completely a unfamiliar voice cut through the shouting.
"Hey! Get away from him!" a feminine voiced yelled to the group. They all turned to see a blond girl in a tattered white dress.
"What the hell? There is another one of them!"
"No! M..Martel just get out of here! Run--!" Before the boy could finish his sentence he was kicked swiftly in the face by one of the older boys. Blood began to run down his face and drip onto the ground.
"Mithos!" Martel began running over towards him, but was stopped by the dog that turned it's attention to the girl. She gasped and backed away slowly holding her hands to her chest. "Please, stop hurting him." She begged, but the boys only ignored her pleas.
"Yea! That's right. Get out of here you freak or else Rip will bite off that pretty little face of yours." The short stocky kid laughed. He still held onto the leash, but gradually let it out so the dog could reach closer to the girl.
"Martel please run…" He managed to say. Blood still dripped from his mouth. He tried to pull himself up onto his knees only to be stricken down once again.
"Keep your mouth shut you filthy elf!"
"Please just stop this, let him go. He hasn't done anything wrong to you!" Martel begged. She only received a cruel smile from the stocky boy with the dog.
"He has done something wrong. He was born!" Again Mithos was kicked squarely in the jaw knocking him down onto his side. With a few heavy twitches his body fell still. He wasn't moving. "There. One less freak in this world." The boys began to laugh.
"No…" Martel whispered. She closed her eyes and still held her hands to her chest. She tried holding back tears of anger and sadness, but it was no use. They began to flow freely from her eyes.
"Aww look, the little freak is crying." He laughed. "Hey guys, do you think half-elves have the same body as normal girls?" Martels eyes shot open and her heart jumped with a gasp. "How about we find out?"
"Or how bout you don't?" A voice said. The boys stopped laughing and looked around. It seemed to have come out of nowhere.
"What the hell…?" One of the boys said looking up towards the trees, but nothing was there. While boys were looking around puzzled by the mysterious voice, they didn't notice that the fainted boy and the girl were sneaked off behind the nearby bushes.
"Hey! Where did they go?" The stocky boy yelled.
"Damn it! They got away." Another boy cursed.
"Wait, not yet. They couldn't have gotten far. Rip, find'em!" He let go of the leash and the dog took off sniffing around the area wildly.
Meanwhile, behind the bushes and young boy with gentle blue hair cast first aid over the fallen boy repeatedly.
"Hurry it up Yuan. It is only a matter of time before that dog finds us and we can't run if we are carrying him."
"Shut it Kratos. I am doing the best I can." He shot back casting the spell a few more times. Finally the boy slowly came too. His vision slowly focused and looking up he saw Kratos and almost jumped in fear.
"It's ok. I am not going to hurt you, but if we do not get out of here fast that dog will." With that Yuan helped the boy onto his feet. "Can you walk?"
"I…I…" Mithos mind was still a blur.
"Damn. We don't have time." Kratos peaked out the bush and saw the dog as well as the group of boys getting dangerously close. "Yuan, get them out of here, I will hold them off."
"You're the boss." He lifted the boy over his shoulder, which he did not protest because he had fallen out of consciences again. "Come on, you too." He signaled the frightened girl. He grabbed her hand and started through the long winding path of the woods. The dog caught there scent and started barking madly.
"Shit! We gotta move." He pulled on the girl even harder nearly dragging her behind.
"W..what? What about the other boy?"
"Don't worry about him, he will catch up later."
Yuan had complete and utter faith in Kratos. Though he was only human, he was a strong brave one at that. He could handle a couple of foul mouthed kids and a rabid dog any day.
With a speed that almost seem inhuman, he pulled out his Steel Sword and slashed at the advancing dog. He managed to hit it hard enough to ward it off, but luckily didn't kill it. It wasn't his intention. The boys watched as the dog ran off with its tail between it's legs and then turned back to the sword wielding man.
"If you wish to engage in combat I advise you to bring sword." With a warning glare the group of boys ran off back into the woods and until they were out of sight. "Heh." He re-sheathed his sword and ran his hand through his spiky brownish, almost red, hair. "It is disgraceful how they wish to pick a fight with a solemn boy, but when presented with a challenge deicide to run." He shrugged and started down the path the other three had ran earlier.
Yuan, Mithos, and Martel found a tree-less area and decided to stop there. Yuan gently placed Mithos' body on the ground and began digging through his bag. He pulled out a few blankets and a pillow and situated Mithos to where he was most comfortable. He was unconscious, but alive.
"Will he be ok?" The girl asked.
"Yes. He should be fine. I used as much First Aid as I could on him. If I had used anymore I wouldn't have had the strength to carry him this far."
"Oh…yes of course. I cannot thank you enough uh…"
"Yuan."
"Yes. Yuan. Thank you for saving my brother." She sat next to her brother and placed her hand over his forehead. "He was already sick enough to begin with."
"Well, when he awakens I am sure he will be fine." He gathered a small bit of wood that was within the area and pilled it onto the ground. "I would offer to take you back to your home, but it is dangerous around here at night so…"
"No, this is fine… It is not like we have anywhere to go anyway."
"What do you mean?"
"We…have no where to go."
"Oh. I see. You can always stay with us…but we don't really have anywhere to go either." He laughed nervously.
"Uhhg…" Mithos shifted under the covers and his eyes fluttered open. "What…Where?"
"Oh Mithos! I was so worried!" The girl cried. She wrapped her arms around him and held him tightly. He grunted in slight pain causing her to back away. "Oh I'm sorry, I forgot you are still hurt."
"Yea, but I guess it could have been worse."
"How can you be so stupid!" She yelled smacking him in the back of his head.
"Ow! What the hell?" He cursed rubbing his head.
"You are sick and when you are sick you can't use your magic! You should have known better than to wander off alone!" She again grabbed him tightly into a sisterly embrace ignoring his pain. "You could have died… And what would I have done then?"
"I…I'm sorry Martel. I didn't mean to trouble you…I never meant to be such a burden on you."
"You are not a burden, you are my brother and my only friend. I was just worried, and if it wasn't for Yuan here--"
"And Kratos." A voice suddenly spoke. Kratos approached the camp and sat next to Yuan.
"Kratos… He is a…" Mithos stammered in slight fear of the man.
"Yes. I am a human, but I assure you my mind has developed far more than the other narrow-minded humans in this area. I have no qualm against half-elves, full elves, dwarves…"
"What he is trying to say is he loves everybody." Yuan cut in.
Kratos sighed heavily at his friends interruptions and continued,"Yes, I suppose that is another way of putting it."
"Well uh…Kratos…thank you." She said meekly. She feared making full eye contact with the somewhat intimidating man.
He only nodded. "Something like this should not have happened to begin with. It is horrible, but I assure you I am nothing like them."
"You are certainly well spoken for a human." The boy said rubbing his sore jaw.
"Mithos! Don't be so rude. He just saved our lives."
"Yes, He saved us from his own kind." He mumbled.
"Mithos…"
"No, it is fine. He has every right to feel the way he does about me. I do not blame him one bit. There are many humans who are shallow and easily persuaded to believe these crude stereotypes about Elves and such. I know they aren't true, and even if they were we as humans have no right to despise you as so many do." He sighed and crossed his arms over his chest. "It is sickening… It is sickening how we cannot live on one planet and get along…"
"If only there were some way to stop all of this." Martel said quietly. "I want to be friends with everyone." She said with a heart-warming smile.
"Anyway, we should probably get some rest." Yuan yawned. "We can talk more tomorrow."
"What? I am not staying here all night with this human around." Mithos said thoughtlessly. Kratos raised his eyebrow at the sudden cockiness of the boy. He knew that a half-elf would not willingly accept help from a human, but he figured that he would at least trust him enough to stay within the same forest for one night.
"Mithos would you just stop this? You are acting like those humans. Be bigger than that." His sister said.
"Fine…but only because you say so. I will stay here, but I want him to sleep as far from me as humanly possible." He emphasized the word 'humanly' and leered at the swordsman.
"If that is what you wish." He rose to his feet. "I will keep watch then." He said blandly and wandered off a little further into the woods until he was completely out of sight.
"Mithos…" Martel knew how stubborn her brother could be, but to cast away the man who just saved him was just down right rude. "How can you be so obnoxious? That human just saved you."
"Listen my dear sister, you may see the good in them, but I do not. Just because he comes to aid the real hero in this situation does not mean he can be trusted."
"Me? The real hero? Hardly. If it wasn't for him constantly keeping a watch I would have never noticed." Yuan cast a small fire spell onto the pile of wood. The small flame instantly started a gentle fire.
"Constantly keeping watch?" Martel asked.
"Yea. We are sort, you know, off on our own…" He trailed off.
"It may be none of my business, but may I ask why?"
"It isn't really important. We just don't have a village to go home to anymore. It was destroyed."
"Let me guess, by humans right?" Mithos said dryly.
Yuan looked away and didn't respond. Mithos took that a solid yes
"See what I mean? What good are they? I bet even if we tried to make a truce with them they would refuse. Humans are fueled by hatred. They need something to hate. It's how they survive."
"Mithos stop it!" Martel yelled.
"No he is right. That does sort of seem like the way humans are…but not all of them. Kratos… He is my only friend. He has always been there for me. So I don't care what you think of him, because you are wrong." With that Yuan bitterly left the siblings to themselves.
Deeper into the woods, with his eyes closed, Kratos could hear the faint screams of humans and elves alike. He could hear the world calling for aid, yet alone, there was nothing he could do. It nearly drove him insane on the inside, but refused to show any emotions on the outside. It ailed him to see the world around him, fighting, struggling, dying and not being able to do a damn thing about it.
"How many more must suffer?" He yelled to the sky. "What is the purpose of existence? Is it truly to suffer than die?" That same question constantly swam around his mind. It refused to leave, and it seemed near impossible to answer. He pulled out his Steel Sword and began swinging it skillfully, making clean cuts through the tree branches. After he cleared all the branches from the tree he moved on to the next only this time he hacked away at it using no skill at all. It became a frantic, no, violent sword swinging motion. He began cursing the innocent tree. Stabbing it and slashing it madly. He just wanted something to rip apart, but after a while he stopped realizing that the tree had done nothing wrong.
"I wouldn't have the urge to take out my mindless anger on a defenseless tree if I could learn to express myself more freely." He sighed and re-sheathed his sword. " But then, there are times when mindless violence and anger seems to be the only fix for me."
"You know, there are other ways to relieve stress." Kratos almost jumped at the voice. He didn't even hear Yuan coming, which was odd because normally he could hear things or sense them rather, before they got to close. He then thought of how idiotic it was of him to lower his guard. He felt morer stupider thinking of how much Yuan may had actually seen.
"Hmph." Ashamed, he turned away from Yuan and crossed his arms.
"What a minute…Did I just startle you, The Mighty Kratos?" He started laughing as he walked over to the brooding figure tripping over wood along the way. "Gees, what did the tree do to you?"
"If you have come to harass me I would appreciate it if you would kindly reconsider."
"Nah, I just got sick of that kid and came out to see what you were up to…but if you are busy I will go." Yuan started to walk away, but took his time waiting for Kratos to say 'No, it's ok, please stay.' But of course he never did. Yuan sighed and went back to standing along side him once again. "Alright, you don't have to beg." Yuan looked up to catch a glimpse of what appeared to me half of a smile. It was a rare event when he could actually get the man to smile, but when he did it made his day.
"Yuan, you are the only person who can get me to smile."
"Naturally." He nudged him with his shoulder and Kratos instinctively nudged back. Yuan really was the only person who has ever been successful in bringing out the 'child-like' side of Kratos. Ever since he meet him 7 years ago, at the age of 10 he was still as stone-faced as he is now. But Yuan grew to accept it just as he accepted him.
"Why? What is the solemn purpose of war, Yuan? Why do we do this? Why…no, how can people hate each other based on the way they were born?"
"Heh, you know I don't know. I don't think anyone knows. It is one of those mysteries of living. I guess as one grows they discover their own reasons and beliefs for why things happen the way they do."
"You are not as foolish as you look, Yuan." Kratos again gave a faint smile and glanced over at his only true friend. He simply could not imagine life without him. It would be lonely, and seemingly purposeless. But he shook off the questions of the world and looked around him where the wood had been hacked to pieces. "I guess it would be bad to leave this wood to waste. Help me carry it back to camp." He said gathering a few pieces in his arms.
"I know you are more than capable of doing it alone," He announced in a full heroic voice, "But because I am such a great person I will aid you in your journey to bestow wood upon the raging infernal so it may burn hotter and stronger than it did once before, thus warming the earth and ensuring comfort for all!" The blue haired man lifted his arms towards the heavens and yelled at the top of his lungs. The echo was swallowed up by the surrounding tree. He then looked over at Kratos waiting for him to laugh, but of course it never came.
"I see." He simply replied.
"Come on Kratos, you should consider laughing a bit more or something." He knelt down and began gathering wood into his arms. "You spend too much of your time creating thoughts and ideas within that noble skull of yours when you should share them with the people around you."
"I figured what I had to say was irrelevant to all of you."
"Nah. Perhaps to that Mithos kid, but not I!" Yuan laughed.
"I suppose I should be grateful to have a friend like you."
"You really should, Kratos. I am a great guy." He said with a smile.
They continued to pile up as much wood as they could so they wouldn't have to make a second trip and started heading back to camp. Along the way Kratos was more quite than usual. Yuan hated silence. So he decided to break it.
"Kratos?" He said still facing forward. He replied with a 'hmm' and Yuan continued. "Why don't you ever speak to me?"
"What are you talking about? I speak."
"But it is always so well thought out. I bet you couldn't go through a single conversation without having a 30 minute pause between each statement. Just talk!"
"I have nothing to say."
"So! People rarely ever have anything to say, but they speak anyway. It is how life works. You keep running your mouth until someone tells you to shut up."
"Shut up."
"Kratos!"
"I was just seeing if it worked…"
"Seriously… I mean if there is every anything you really want to talk about…"
"No… Nothing."
Yuan knew Kratos well enough to be able to tell when something was really eating at him. Those questions he would always mumble to himself have simply become apart of his social vocabulary, but he rarely left the subject of the meaning of life. He would never just talk! About the trees, about the sky, about food, about girls, about anything! Yuan almost got him to talk once, but Kratos was pretty wasted and even then he still managed to hold his tongue. He was impossible to break! Or perhaps not impossible.
There have been times when Kratos would take out all of his anger and thoughts of the world on random battles. It was somewhat of a ghastly sight. He never knew a human that could hack and slash so ruthlessly one moment and fall completely silent the next. Either way, it wasn't healthy to keep everything inside. He just wanted Kratos to feel at ease for once. Or at least trust him enough to be real with him.
"You know…You wouldn't have to have those random "slashy slashy stabby stabby" moments if you would just let me help you." Yuan kept his vision forward, somewhat nervous of how he would respond. This was the second time he brought up Kratos' anger problem, the first ended in him just running off for a few days. But Yuan really just wanted to help.
Though he was prepared for the worse, Kratos simply didn't not answer. Almost as if he were pretending that he hadn't heard him and continued walking forward.
"Fine." Yuan decided to drop the subject once again but he would never fully leave it alone until he got his best friend, his only friend, to open up to him.
They continued trudging forward in silence until they reached the camp, but it wasn't the way they left.
Yuan dropped the wood and ran over to the nearly dead fire and looked around. All their stuff was gone accept for the blankets. There was also signs of a struggle.
"What the hell happened here?" Yuan said looking around. Kratos started walking towards Yuan until he saw movement out of the corner of his eye, and in less than a blink 3 Thieves jumped out of the trees with their swords drawn heading towards Yuan.
"Yuan look out!" Kratos yelled pulling out his sword and charging in as quickly as he could. But it wasn't quick enough. By the time Yuan had turned around he was back handed swiftly knocking him to the ground. Everything began to fade black slowly as he heard the sound of swords clashing, and then there was no sound at all…