4

It did not turn out well, when the sun set and the moon rose as stars glittered in the night sky, I became privy to a family secret. Apparently, being petty actually runs in the family, infact, one of our most followed rules that must be respected and followed was too never, ever, in any circumstance, accept a loss. If loss is accepted, it must be on the premise that a suitable and equal gain was to be had immediately or in the coming future. no loss was allowed in the Elen family. This it was no surprise when father doubled the intensity of the work out he put me through earlier that morning, though I was indeed given adequate rest to recover and continue, it was not enough for both my fragile body and mind, thus as I laid on my bed with my eyes containing vicissitudes of life, it became clear to me that perhaps, my family was indeed crazy. Okay, it wrong to generalize, it simple, father was absolutely out of his mind, after all, what sort of father held grudges with his own flesh and blood? One who has lived for just a decade no less! As I pondered how it was I got birth as a looney's son, my body took a power nap, sending me into a world of darkness I was not conscious of.

Three days of pure torture, yes that what I called it. It was so bad I had forgotten why it was I had to pass through this anyway, I needed a break, but the world was not on my side, because on this day, the 22nd day of the 4th month of year 344RC of the 4th Era, my ever elusive elder brother returned home. But the news he brought this time was neither adventurous or humorous, no, it was the worst news possible, it confirmed what father had told me some pretty night ago, the scavengers where coming and we had lesser time than what father thought we had. Estimated time of their arrival was 28 hours at most, just over a day ones. While I worried intensely about what was too come, as even 4 days of non-stop work out would not suddenly turn me into some superhuman to defeat a considerable number of both properly trained and extensively geared hunters.

Though embarrassing to admit, I seemed to be the only one who was worried. It was acceptable if it where just my parent who where unconcerned about our possible demise my brother seemed just as unconcerned. It was grating, annoying, it felt way too thorny to be easily accepted by me, not after the hell I went through, hell which father deemed to be simply early morning workouts and nothing more. Na, I had to see for myself what his basis for such confidence emanated from.

Safe to say, I ended up with one black eye, chipped front tooth but none missing and severe pains on every joint I could possibly think of. Sigh, the bastard didn't even go easy on me even though I kept trying to play the brother card when things went awry 15 seconds into our mock duel. Alright, I'll never forgot this, Salvatore, just wait for me, in the coming future I will have my vengeance, for now, I shall lick my chops and recover from my wounds. Just wait for me, with this silent proclamation made to myself and a goal set for me, I was destined to be great given time to train myself, but even time was my enemy as it was uncertain whether I would survive the onslaught to come. At this moment, I was nothing more than dead weight holding them back when time for battle came, I would probably even get in their way. Sigh, the weak truly have no say.

They came just as they said they would, on the 24th day of the 4th month, year 344RC, 4th Era, they appeared, from the shadows of midnight, when both sky and land slept, they crawled out of the very earth itself, others rode the winds that made the night chilly. We where surrounded on all sides, with no hopes of escape. We where all dressed in black, except for father who of course had no shirt as usual, my brother, though 14, looked nothing like his age, dressed in all black, a mask covering his nose and mouth, and googles, as much as I was reluctant to admit it, he looked badass.

'Knock, knock', "Mr. Ed Elen, may I come in?". Wow, for someone who wants to enslave us, he is pretty polite about it, there's no reason to keep him in the cold now, it would be rude, after all, you can't slap a smiling man. "Come inside, the doors open, you can bring your friends in too, it cold outside". To be honest, I don't know what I expected him to look like, the one who spoke, but a dying old man didn't even cross my mind. His staff was all crooked and so was his back, he seemed like a slight wind would blow him to the ends of the Rheath and back, but his eyes... they where anything but dying. They exuded power and cruelty, they spoke of a man willing to burn the world just for laughs, there no sympathy or mercy in his gaze as he stared at us and for once I was glad I had a faceless mask on my face, I was certain my expression was contorted in fear. My body screamed at me to run, but five days of pure torture administered to me by father yelled at me to kill him right there and then.

"Young Ed, it been awhile", said the old man before going into a coughing fit, father didn't reply, we all watched as he calmly took a kerchief from the goon standing to his left and wiped the blood of his jaw. Even now, while my mind registered the three that had come in with him, he was priority on my kill list. "Sigh, young Ed, I am dying, I need one last victory to commemorate my death, cough cough". As he spoke, he went into a more violent coughing fit, dyeing the kerchief red with his blood, it was a disturbing sight and though he looked to have aged even more his presence became even bigger.

"Old man Bridigand" dad began, "does your commemoration involve taking me and my family with you to the grave?". Dad's voice though deep as always had a gentle edge to it, him and mum though still had their game faces on, their poker faces where simply unbreakable. "No no, just you and your wife, I have vastly different plans for your children". As he said this, he looked at us, and when he did, the world turned black, blood sprouted from the blackness around me, as the wails of the dead echoed in my ears.

"Hm", and the blackness shattered like glass, the sea of blood and the wails of the dead disappeared like it was never there, leaving me gasping slightly for breath. I thanked father silently in my mind, a few more seconds and I certainly would have fainted from the pressure. "Old man Bridigand, when you go over yonder to the place where the dead frolick and darkness is eternal, tell your family I said hello", this time, dad's voice was anything but gentle as he said that.

"You will die". Old man Bridigand said, he spoke like father was already dead and at that moment, hell descended.