Chapter 0-1: Beginning.
Within a lush, green forest, the cries of a newborn baby echoed throughout the entire area.
An adventurer, holding a large backpack, was wandering around the forest at the very same time. The cries caught his attention, which made him searched for it.
Every step he took made him nearer, yet further away from the child. The cries seemed to be coming from all over the place, and it has completely confused his sense of direction. Cutting through a bush, he tripped over something…
On the ground, groaning as he recovered from the fall, he examined his surroundings and has finally found the source – the baby, in a basket that was being covered by the bush that he tried to cut through.
Pulling the basket out and dusting away the leaves, he searched the baby and found a small card. On it had "Take good care of her…" scribbled over it. A small red print ended the sentence. However, after closely scrutinizing that very print, he discovered the print to be made of blood!
Casting the card away, he pulled back the cloth that was covering the baby. No hair at all, her eyes weren't even opened too. Just how old could the baby be?
With his basket in his hands, he slowly walked away from the forest, towards his destination.
Without being noticed, a figure stood out of hiding but was still being covered by the shades.
"May the great, Lord Odin be with you, young chosen one…"
A few months later…
"Honey!" The voice of a man exclaimed loudly throughout an odd-looking, wooden Comodo house. "I'm finally home!" the very same voice added, the person barging through the door happily.
His cloak was still worn over his sage outfit. At 6 feet 2 inches he stood high up, with a really straight posture. His light brown hair was fuzzy and messy all over. Thanks to his cloak, his skin is still on the fair side, but it still looked like a Payonese's. In his hands was a basket – what's inside the basket is unknown. What could a big, black riding hood bring home to granny? Well, not granny… but still.
From the stairs, came down a female person who was wearing a sombrero hat along with a tank top and long pants. "Oh, you're finally back, dear!" she finally gasped after gazing at him.
The man chuckled. "Yeah I am, with a present too… but, I think you might want to remove that silly looking hat first," he said light-heartedly.
Excited, she literally threw the hat onto the couch nearby without damaging it. With a smile, she ran down and hugged him tightly. "A present, eh?" she whispered into his ears. Her eyes then spotted the basket that he was holding. "Is it that thing?" she giggled out.
"Yeah…" he then broke the hug and invited her over to the living room. "Shall we? That Kafra transportation really gave me a headache," he added.
"Okay… but first!" Her hands grabbed the handle of the basket, her muscles contracted and began pulling the basket out of his hand.
"What are you trying to do!" he said in a raised tone before he tightened his grip on the basket. It was a game of Tug-o-War… except with the fragile handle of a basket.
"Let go already, dear! You did say it was a surprise for me… right?" she then pulled with all her might, which shoke the basket really hard. It woke the baby up, which let out a loud cry that completely stopped both of them from pulling the basket anymore.
Her face immediately turned gloomy. "You call that a surprise?" she said before she let go of the handle and turned the other way around.
"She was left in the forest, okay? That time she would've probably died or something, especially at her age," he tried to convince her. She merely shook her head.
"Please, Rachael…" He paused for a while, but her lack of response was rather predictable. "She was barely a few days old,"
"Do you have any idea how many children we have right now, Sam?" Rachael whimpered out. "Do you know just how old we are?" she added loudly. Sam looked down onto the ground, before turning towards her again. "Take a look at the baby," he said softly before handing the basket towards her.
Knowing how stubborn her husband is, she took a glimpse of the baby and still didn't give even the slightest movement.
"Please, for me?"
Rachael turned around, with her breath taken away, she whimpered a really faint "Fine," and added a "But," before collapsing onto the ground, shocking Sam who panicked like a mad man, sending him yelling for help around the house, which eventually spreaded to his faithful neighbour who was, with such a coincidence, also a priest.
All the presence of sound began to be blurred, messy and was beginning to fade away – become softer and softer. Rachael was immediately carried out and into a nearby Priest's Shrine to be treated immediately. All the villagers came out to aid, but 4 women were left with their mouth wide agape, standing there motionless. With a hand closing the mouth, or turning away with tears in the eyes, even staring at the ground with eyes closed, they just stood there. Why didn't they help?
Sam finally emerged from his house and noticed the ladies. He called out to them, which made them all gathered in a circle.
After gazing at each other for a long time, all of them then hugged each other – their sobs of sorrow were finally let loose.
"How is she?" asked the worried Sam who was sweating all over.
The leader of the priest group merely shook his head. "She's escaped death, but she's really sick…" the priest then turned his face away.
Sam held his hand on his forehead. "Isn't there anything?"
"It's like cancer. It may be treatable, though not guaranteed, but if it strikes the second time…" he then paused for the words to sink in. Cancer is among the most common diseases these days and it's not surprising if Sam does know a lot about it.
Sam couldn't make a decision. What if the treatment fails? What if the side-effects are too severe? What if it strikes again too soon? He couldn't take everything into account. A racing heart made his mind so nervous that right behind his thoughts of confusion was simply a blank void.
"Dad, just do it," Stood out one of the women from the bench. Standing 5 feet 4 inches, her unique, silver, shoulder-length, and braided hair rested on her large chest. Her bronze eyes were staring right into his amethyst ones. "Please…"
Sam let out a deep, long sigh. Knowing how this would be painful, he made up his reasons and gave the doctor his best wishes. Somehow – he knew something was going to happen. A grim look implanted itself onto Sam's face as the doctor proceeded to Rachael's room to begin the treatment.
Mean while, back at the Priest's Shrine, every single person who are friends with Rachael; who actually know her, gathered to pray to God Poing for her protection over her kind soul. Everything won't be the same without her – and that statement is seriously literal.
Turning back towards the ladies, he ordered them to return back to work – or at least try to do so. Obviously, all of them denied it but seeing how they needed the money, they hadn't a choice.
"But, Miya, if this will seriously affect your dance…" his sentence froze there. Miya – his eldest daughter, who asked him to let the doctor proceed with the treatment barely minutes ago – faced him again.
"It won't, Dad… as long as I dance a sad one," she wanted to smile but how could she?
He send her his last words right when she was about to go through the entrance. "Just… try to cheer up, okay?"
A faint smile knocked his serious looks off when he saw her nod. From there, he headed towards and made himself comfortable on the bench that was right outside of Rachael's room. He wasn't allowed inside during treatment – but he was dying to get in. What if it would be the last time he sees her? Only the Lord knows what to do with him…
With his hands held together, he closed his eyes and prayed from the bottom of his heart… especially for the baby to see her…
Unfortunately, his prayer was interrupted when someone in a dark cloak called out to him… "Sam Cresentfall?"
"You're interrupting his prayer," he returned the call spontaneously, because the voice was of a voice that he was too familiar with.
The person pulled his hood back. "You're due,"
"I know,"
"Then you should also know what to do,"
"Not today,"
"Oh it'll be today alright," the sound of a sword unsheathing was created. Sam's eyes opened slowly.
Staring at the unsheathed katana, he asked, more like he stated bluntly, "That a threat?"
"It depends…" the person held the handle. Immediately when he tightened his grip and was about to send it swinging at Sam's throat, Sam calmly told him, "Take this outside,"
He loosened his hand on the katana and withdrew it. "Very well, narrow places like these are your thing too, not mine," and through the open window, both of them jumped out and while both are still in mid-air, Sam launched an energy bolt at him without delay.
The person used his unsheathed katana to deflect the bolt. When both landed on the ground, Sam remarked arrogantly, "So you plan to cheat with that oridecon sheath?"
"It's not like I'm the only one who cheated," the person said while he shrugged.
Sam smirked. "I guess that's true now, isn't it – Roachy?"
A face of annoyed, rekindled anger took over the person's face. "I have a name, you ass!" he exclaimed before he dashed at the speed of sound towards Sam, who had already charged an energy bolt. He backed off to barely avoid the powerful swing of the person's katana and at the same time he swung the energy bolt at him, only to be deflected again by the oridecon sheath.
The person took a step forward and had successfully knocked Sam down with his oridecon sheath. He quickly drew out the katana and placed it near Sam's face. "So, remember this name as you go down to hell – it is…!" Before he could finish, he immediately backed off as Sam shot out a large energy laser towards the sky – which he thought was suppose to hit him.
"Yeah, yeah, Roachy, I know you used to be called Nova, but that name sucks… besides, you do look like a Roach," he said sarcastically as he pointed towards the two strands of hair sticking out like a cockroach's antenna.
Nova had dark skin, his eyes were chocolate brown – but seemed black. His hair was jet black and was tied to the back – but he has the tendency to leave two strands sticking out the front.
He stands 5 feet 4 inches tall. A tad bit short, but his agility makes up for it, like a super charged roach. Moving at the speed of sound is merely child's play for him. If he's pissed, he could "teleport" if he wants to.
Right now, he's wearing a back shield that is dark brown in colour. The only missing property would be two extra legs.
His right eye was twitching. "If you don't want to play nice…" he held up both the oridecon sheath and his katana and then switched into his battle stance. "…then I won't play nice either!" Moving slightly faster than the speed of sound, he appeared right in front of Sam with an evil grin. Sam, however, simply smiled before casting a curse onto Nova that decreased his agility. The effect slowed down his attack speed, which made it easy for Sam to avoid his attack.
"Sht," Nova cursed into the air. Now, Sam might be a sage, but he's one of a kind. Well, how many sages do you know that have actually mastered other job's skills?
Sam chuckled. "That's a present for you, so enjoy it" he then surrounded himself with an enchantment – it was the Increase Agility skill. "Now that that's done… we should be on par, right? Well, only for now…" Sam cockily "informed" Nova of their current state, at the same time he took out a small knife – no, it wasn't just a knife, it was a Damascus!
"We'll see about that!" Both of them then leaped at each other with almost identical speed – of course, Nova was faster, but Sam has caught up immensely. The metal clashing between Sam's Damascus and Nova's katana pierced through the whole village – catching everyone's attention, especially Miya – who was the only child of Sam who actually know of his problems. After all – she's already 25.
"Dad, use your Mighty Staff!" she shouted.
"Oh, yeah, forgot about that one," he slipped the Damascus into a small pouch, located at the back of his. Out of nowhere, he took out a long, dull-looking, metal staff that had a large, glowing orb on top.
Nova held up his weapons again. "Stupid btch," he cursed again before dashing towards Sam – this time, as fast as he could.
Even so, he wasn't fast enough. Sam held up the staff and blocked the powerful blow without even being pushed back a bit. With a smile, he turned the staff around and side stepped out of the way before Nova had the chance to withdraw all the force he was using. Because of that, he fell forward and Sam stomped once on him.
"You're lucky I feel merciful today," he told Nova. "Who knows what this staff can actually do… right?" Fear finally began to crawl into Nova's heart.
"Now, tell your cute little boss – Shorty – that he won't be getting his cash today, and dumb little lackeys like you aren't enough to take someone like me down. If he really wants me, ask him to send God or something," Sam used his psychic powers to transport the staff to somewhere else. He crouched and with both hands, he carried Nova up. "With that said, you be a good boy and fly back, okay?" Right after Sam said that, Nova struggled but to no avail.
Sam swung him in circles – building up the momentum. At the same time, he was building up an artificial energy force at his hands. After a few rounds, instead of just letting go of Nova, he pushed Nova using the momentum and the energy force, literally sending the screaming kid flying home.
Dusting his clothes, Miya hopped towards him and gave him a hug. "Thank God…" she said with a relief. "Although, you did make that fight looked like it was effortless…" she joked.
Sam chuckled loudly. "Nothing to worry about. That was an easy fight…" his face then changed into a grim one. "…the real one's about to come,"
Miya stopped hugging him. She knew what he was talking about. Sam noticed her looks and quickly tried to joke, "Anyways, try to dance a happy one now, okay?" before heading back into the Priest's Shrine.
Everyone returned to their usual activities. Two women returned back to Sam's house because they were worn out and tired. Comodo's the city of night – there is no such thing as "day time" over there. The sky is always dark, no matter what.
After unlocking the door with their house key, both of them entered the house.
"Dad sure had a fight today, huh?" The tall, green-haired lady said.
The petite, scarlet-haired lady replied, "Nah, fights like that are child's play to him," she immediately entered their "specially customized" laundry room that seemed no different than any other laundry rooms. She took off her vest and her white blouse – only leaving her bra on – and made a three-pointer shot into one of the baskets. Clearly, her breasts were ample.
"Hey, do you want to visit Mom later?" The green-haired lady asked. She took off her scarf and her blue, archer blouse – also leaving only her bra – turned them into a ball and attempted a long, fluke shot into the basket. But, the other person was in the way so it ended up landing on her head instead.
"Damn it, Ayla, you really should stop doing that" she said grumpily before picking up her younger sister's clothes and dumped them into a different basket.
"Sorry, Natty!"
"Don't call me Natty! My name is NATSUMI!" she screamed at the top of her voice, only to have the cries of a baby follow through. Ayla murmured out with Natsumi's notice, "You're shorter than me anyway," which was further muffled by the baby's cries. Wait…
"A baby?" Both of them screamed out with shock in exact unision.
