The first scene I saw when I was born was one I could never forget. Black shadowy figures were running around fighting each other all around me. The figures were outlined in the darkness surrounding me. So I could see them within the darkness, but I couldn’t see anything else. Not their eye color, hair color, or anything else. Not even if they were a boy or a girl. At that time the scene felt distant to me, I couldn’t understand it. 

That feeling of confusion made me feel afraid at the time, I was scared of the darkness and the shadows that I couldn’t understand. But at the time I couldn’t express these emotions, and so I cried and cried. Until her warmth surrounded me, the familiar warmth that I’ve grown used to. It wrapped around me, and caressed me. Making me feel safe. It calmed me and made the darkness fade away. Allowing me to see my Mom, Serah, the person who gave me that warm feeling that helped me escape that scene at the time. 

The only thoughts I had at that time was to get closer to the warmth, so I stretched out my arms towards my Mom’s beautiful figure that was looking down at me with her warm red eyes. I think she understood what I wanted, because she brought me closer to her chest embracing me with the warmth I wanted. I think she told me something that day, but I didn’t understand anything she said that day. The only thing I could remember was her warmth, the darkness, and the shadows.

• ●●

That scene never left my mind, and as I grew older sometimes I would see it again in my dreams. Each time I saw the dreams, things started to become clearer. It started off with the surroundings, the dirt and grass started to look their natural colors, the buildings’ colors began to appear. Before I knew it, I was able to see where I stood. And eventually I was able to see the shadows’ true forms.   

By the time I turned 6 years old, I could see everything clearly. On one side were the people surrounded by reddish-black aura similar to the one that surrounds Mom when she’s training with Dad. Then the other side was full of people wearing different colored clothing surrounded by all types of things I’ve never seen before. One guy was surrounded by bright red flames like the flame from the candles inside the house but bigger. Then there was another person surrounded by strong winds that kept blowing her gown around. There were others similar to them but those two left a bigger impression on me. Both sides were fighting with each other, destroying the buildings, and painting the dirt and grass with their blood. But even compared to the chaos of the battlefield, the fight going on in the middle of it all always drew my attention the most.

Two men a little younger than my Dad, were fighting in the center of the battlefield. The taller one was wearing shiny gold armor fighting with a beautiful golden spear that gave off a golden aura like the rest of his body. He thrust his spear toward a slightly shorter man wearing simple silver armor starting the fight in the same way he always did. The shorter man released a reddish-black aura from his body and covered his sword with it. The sword covered in the aura was frightening. Just looking at it makes me shiver, and combining both the man and the sword. I felt as though I was looking at a demon, one that would send into an eternal darkness. 

That demon-like man blocked the thurst with his sword and began to attack. Every step he took made the ground cave in slightly and every slash seemed to tear the air. But the taller man simply dodged his slashes with a calm expression showing no fear, before attacking back. Like that the fight got even fiercer. 

I felt both amazed and scared watching their fight. But looking around at the surrounding my amazement turned into sadness and fear. Looking at that scene my body felt cold and my shivering would get worse. There were a lot of times where I woke up from the dream shivering, tears falling down my face. The first few times I saw it I even vomited. 

After their fight started, the number of people in black decreased and the number of bodies on the ground increased. Some died with blood pouring out of their wounds, their bodies covered with deep gashes and holes. Some didn’t even have the top or bottom half of their body anymore. 

As the battle around them continued and the shorter man’s people died, his expression got worse and worse. His face became paler with each corpse added to the ground and his attacks became weaker. Eventually, the man could no longer swing his sword, the taller man didn’t miss the chance and slashed off both his arms with one swing of his spear.

‘Cruel,’ that was my impression of the taller man and it got worse and worse every time I watched the scene.

When I took a closer look at the shorter man’s expression. Tears of blood flowed from the corner of both his eyes as he stared at the taller man with a frightening expression that left a permanent mark in my mind.

Even now I haven’t made it past that part, my eyes would grow dim and my Mom’s warmth would surround me pulling me away from the scene. Her warmth calmed my messy mind, and just like that day, I would open my eyes to Mom’s beautiful face with a gentle smile that made me want to bury my head in her chest and cry.

“It’s okay honey. Mommy is here,” With those words, I would give into my emotions and cry my heart out on her chest releasing my pent up emotions.

• ●●

I wanted to tell Mom and Dad about the dreams once they became clearer, but something inside of me would always stop me from talking to them about it. Eventually, I gave up on telling them and just hoped it would get better. Then, a couple years later I realized how innocent my thoughts were. 

• ●●

I currently live in a small forest at the bottom of Cara Mountain, inside of a wooden cabin that Mom told me Dad built before I was born. The three of us live in the cabin together and I rarely see anyone else around. Sometimes I see a hiker or hunter roaming around but I never talk to them because Mom gave me strict orders,

“Never ever talk to or approach anyone without me or Dad’s permission.” She reminds me of this every time someone finds their way up here with a really scary expression on her face.

So I always stayed inside the Cabin. Sometimes I would go for a walk with Dad to stretch my legs. I didn’t have any friends, but I never felt lonely because I have Mom and Dad who love me and care for me. I remember I told them that one time and Mom cried and gave me a big hug along with Dad.

Whenever we need something Mom and Dad take turns going to the Cara village right outside the woods to get it. I enjoyed that lifestyle but I couldn't help but feel like something was wrong. But I did my best to hide that from Mom and Dad so they wouldn’t feel bad.

Then I turned 7 and I had a new dream, one where I was riding a giant dragon with reddish-black scales. The dragon flew me around the world with its giant red wings. I don’t know how long we were flying but soon, we came to a stop in front of the cabin where it sat me down and stared straight into my black eyes with its own scarlet eyes. The dragon took a deep breath and, the last thing I saw was a world surrounded by blackish-red flames that gave off a heavy feeling making it hard to breathe. The flames danced around me getting closer and closer until…

• ●●

And then I woke up. I washed my face in the basin of water in the back of the house. When I opened my eyes, I paused staring at my reflection in the water.

‘What happened?’ I asked myself confused by the changes.

My left eye was no longer black, but instead a deep red like the Dragon in my dreams. The tip of the bang on the right side of my face also turned red. I felt scared. Although they weren’t big changes, I knew that I couldn’t hide them from my parents. 

Mom called me in for breakfast and when I entered the dining room, she dropped the plate she was carrying onto the floor causing a low thud to echo through the quiet room. 

Dad was the first one to calm down, and he asked me about my eye and hair. I didn’t really have an answer at the time, so I told him about my dream instead thinking that it might have something to do with it.

“Damn the spirits!” My answer shocked Dad and he understood something, the same thing as Mom.

At that time, for the first time of my life, Mom pulled me into her embrace with shaky hands and held me tight, for the first time I felt fear from her instead of warmth. 

“Why? Why? Why!?” I heard her cursing under her breath. At that time I felt something was wrong, but I didn’t know what yet.

• ●●

Later that day Mom and Dad finally calmed down and called me to the dining room with serious expressions. Dad was the first to speak.

“Ryner, do you remember what I told you before, about the blessings of the spirits?”

“Yes, I remember.” I nodded, since I knew what he was talking about. 

“Well, last night or rather this morning you received a spirit’s blessing.”

I didn’t think that it was a good thing, when I looked at their faces even now.

“Normally it would be something to celebrate, but there's an issue with the blessing you received, well not the blessing itself but rather the time period.”

Before learning anything else at that time, I wanted to know, “What blessing did I receive?”

“The same one as me honey, the blessing of Xygen the Spirit of Destruction,” Mom told me.

“What’s so bad about having the same blessing as you Mom?” At that time, I didn’t understand, even now I don’t fully understand all the problems.

“It’s-” Mom couldn’t say it so Dad told me, “A few years ago there was a civil war on this continent that involved both your Mother’s clan and the Royal Family that ended with the Destruction of your Mother’s clan.”

When I heard that, something inside me clicked and a scene appeared inside my mind, one that I had forgotten about, no, maybe I just blocked it out of my mind. Inside of that dream where the two men were fighting, I saw it, my Mom and Dad running away. Escaping that terrible scene with people defending their backs helping them get away. 

That was the moment where I realized my dream wasn’t really a dream but a memory, one of the days where my Mom’s clan was destroyed. Realizing this I fainted.

• ●●

I woke up late that night in my bed with tears flowing down the sides of my face wetting the pillow. I felt a mix of relief, sadness, and anger. 

I was relieved that my parents managed to escape that tragedy and that I hadn’t told them about my dreams.

 I felt sad for my parents who had to watch and go through all that first hand. I also felt sad for those that died remembering their pained expressions that I saw in the dream. 

Anger, I felt so much anger in my heart and for a moment I believed it would swallow me whole. I was angry at the royal family who put my parents through all that. I was angry at the people who participated in the war to destroy my Mom’s clan. I felt anger for those that I died that day.

‘I want payback’

‘I want to get revenge on those people’

‘The ones that brought my parents pain’

‘The ones who killed the members of Mom’s clan.’

‘Especially him-’

‘The tall man, the one who caused it all’

‘I want to kill him’

That night my urge for revenge was sparked.

• ●●

I woke up late the next day to my Dad’s shaking. After I fainted they continued their talk and decided that they would start training me. Dad would teach me how to fight and Mom would teach me how to use Qi.

With my new schedule, my life changed and I no longer rested in the house or played around as much with Mom and Dad unless it was Saturday or Sunday my break days. Every other day I would train. In the morning after breakfast I would train with Mom and in the afternoon I would train in either martial arts or swordsmanship with Dad. At night I would continue my studies with both of them learning about different subjects.

My life continued like this and I turned 9. My parents told me that on the 30th of the 12th month, I would leave and take the entrance exam at the Mystic Arts Academy Arcadia in Synthasia the city of knowledge and opportunity.

“There you’ll be able to grow stronger and gain more knowledge under the protection of an old friend of mine,” Dad told me.

I nodded my head feeling that it would be a good opportunity to get stronger, strong enough to get payback for my parents, and mom’s clan.

---

Author's Note: Pyris

So first off, I want to thank everyone who read the chapter for reading it. I hope you all liked and enjoyed it. I'm always looking to improve so if you have any critics on the chapter hit me with them. But I won't be responding to anyone badmouthing the story, if you don't like it you don't have to read it.

I'll be posting more often on our site so you can look at it there, I'll leave a link on the end of each chapter in case you want to read it there.

Read it on our site: https://deceitfixation.wixsite.com/mysite

Anyways thanks for reading and I hope you're all looking forward to Ryner's journey!