Note as of 10/14/11: I would like to reiterate a warning I posted in my profile. The formatting of the following chapters is God-awful (I think this website must've done some updates regarding the way the stories were parsed since I last dropped by). Content-wise, it's passable (not up to my current standards, though), but the formatting may drive you nuts. I am too lazy to reformat the whole thing. -Kaylee

Hi everyone!

This is my first ever published fanfic in this website. Well, I've written a bunch of fanfics, but I never actually finished them or published them.

Anyway, here is the prologue. If you hate reading prologues and stuff, you are free to skip this and jump to the next chapter.

Well, that's all!


Prologue

It was a dark, rainy night in the city of Prontera. The rain poured in torrents, forcing merchants to wheel their carts away and closing their shops. The residents of the city locked their doors and windows. The streets were empty, except for a hooded stranger with a bundle in his arms. The person darted from corner to corner like a cheetah being hunted down.

The rain started to fall harder. The stranger looked around, looking for something. Then, he spotted a building in the horizon. He ran swiftly to it and stopped at the doorstep. Next, he pulled out something from his cloak. It was a baby girl, which was sleeping as of the moment.

The man laid the baby carefully on the entrance of the structure, and started pulling out something from his cloak when the baby started to stir from its sleep.

The man immediately went to the infant's side. Once again, he held her in his arms and started humming a song. The baby gurgled a bit, and then started to fall asleep again.

As soon as she fell asleep, he finished pulling out a box wrapped in brown paper, and a rain-soaked letter from his cloak. He laid it beside the baby, and breathed a sigh of relief.

But his relief vanished as fast as it came as soon as an arrow landed beside him. He immediately moved back as another arrow came his way.

I must get out of here, he thought. He ran away, running toward the nearest exit of the city.

After several moments that lasted an eternity, he neared the eastern exit of Prontera.

Almost there! He thought.

But suddenly, a shout came. Something he dreaded to hear.

"Arrow Shower!"

He noticed the arrows and tried running faster, but it was too late. The arrows hit him squarely in the back.

The arrows that missed him landed on various spots on the ground, just as he collapsed.

He noticed that the arrows were Rust Arrows, with were of course, poisonous. If the arrows did not kill him, he knew very well that the poison would reach his vital body parts sooner or later. So either way, he would be killed.

He turned to face the direction of the church, thinking of the beloved baby he left there. Even though he could not actually see the church itself, he closed his eyes in prayer, since his vision was starting to blur anyway.

"Please protect her, K—"

But suddenly, the world went black.