2 Beginning of the journey

"Listen, Kevin! You gotta stay strong, after all, you're my....".

The rest of the sentence was static in his mind. The silhouette of the figure vanished, while he kept drifting into the dark endless abyss causing him to wake up abruptly.

"Ugh! My head!" the boy spoke aloud.

His head had been ringing with pain upon waking up. It had been dull, but constant without any signs of stopping anytime soon. He tried to recall how he got into his current situation, yet to no avail. He could not remember his age, or events of the past but yet still retained memories of some basic things. However, he had assumed his name was Kevin based on his dream. Although in his dream, he could not recognize who the darkened figure was, he was certain that its gaze was upon him before it mentioned the name 'Kevin'.

Fighting through the ringing pain, he managed to stand up only to stumble back to the ground. After his eyes adjusted to the dark surroundings, he tried once more to stand. Looking behind him, he noticed a light source ahead, probably an exit out of the area he was in.

Walking out, he was nearly blinded by the light coming from the sun. He was previously in a cave which explained why his surroundings were so dark. Looking at the environment, he stood on top of a mountain heavily engulfed by snow. The mountain he stood on provided a beautiful view of the area, as far as his eyes could see he was in a mountainous area all covered in snow. From the top, he could also make out an abundance of trees suffering the same fate.

Cold winds lashed against his face, making him shiver. Only then did he notice his clothing, a ragged shirt with fairly neat jeans accompanied by a pair of average-looking shoes. Despite his clothing, what stood out most was the symbolic tattoo engraved on his right arm.

"What is this?" he asked himself in shock as he tried rubbing it, to check whether it was permanent. Despite, all his best efforts it did not disappear.

Grumble! After concluding that the tattoo was permanent, his stomach began to make its declaration for food. As a result, he began to descend the mountain, in search of fruits that would grow in the cold weather. His body was fine physically but mentally it was in turmoil, desperately trying to recall his past. It was tearing his mind apart knowing he had forgotten about his potential friends, parents if he had any, and mostly himself.

After a few minutes of searching, Kevin was now depressed.

"Aaah, why can't I find anything to eat in this godforsaken place?" Kevin shouted in an attempt to release his stress. Not only did he not find food, but the pain derived from his aching head began to increase whenever he tried to remember, almost as if it was warning him not to remember.

Chirp! chirp!

Upon hearing the animal cry, he turned his head expecting to see a bird of some kind yet he only saw an odd-looking fox which disappointed his expectations.

'I guess a fox will have to do for a meal,' Kevin thought inwardly as he released a sigh.

The fox just stood in the snow, gazing at Kevin as though it found its long-lost brother. It had snow-white fur and a pair of brown eyes which could bring even the bravest of men to tears. What was rather odd was the three tails that moved around from its butt area almost as if they were alive.

Seeing such a cute creature would usually bring one to tears, however, Kevin was not mentally fit for such a dramatic process. His eyes locked onto the fox, with saliva visibly dripping from his mouth.

'I guess the first thing I will experience is the taste of barbecued fox!' Kevin thought while giggling like a little girl.

Almost as if the fox could predict his thoughts, it released a yelp while running back in the direction it arrived from.

Of course, Kevin being a starved person was not going to let his men... fox run away. Giving chase, Kevin noticed something odd about his body apart from the tattoo. The speed of the fox was comparable to a horse yet Kevin was not falling behind in terms of speed. His body had incredible speed, so much so that if the fox had not gotten a headstart, it would have been caught by now.

During the pursuit, the fox got entangled in a net trap which raised it to the height of the tree it was tied to. Seeing this, Kevin hid behind the nearest tree, it could not have been a coincidence it was caught? Playing it cautious was the safest way to go.

About three men appeared from the bushes, speaking a language unknown to Kevin. Maybe highly due to his memory loss, but he could not make out anything they said. While intently staring at the men, his head once again began to ache but this time much worse. It felt as though one impaled his temple with a knife followed by a twist.

Kevin could not help but moan in pain, also causing him to stumble to the ground. Unfortunately for him, his cries of agony did not go unnoticed.

"Ah, so it was you who attempted to steal our prey!" a middle-aged man said as he wore a smug expression on his face.

Kevin was flustered that he could now comprehend their words. It was almost like the headache was caused by some auto-translation of some sort.

"Pray for your sake, that it is still there," said the same man.

Kevin was silent for a while, just because he could now understand then within seconds did not necessarily mean he could do the same for speaking. Slowly opening his mouth, he said, "W.. What?T...aken what?".

While Kevin was still getting used to speaking, one of the men took the liberty of checking the fox.

"Boss, it is not here. The Gem is gone!" one of the men who carried a pot belly shouted to the one far behind.

"The brat must have taken it!" the man nearest to Kevin accused.

The calm mood they managed to maintain dropped within a second leaving only anger towards the innocent boy.

"I did n..it ta..ke anything. I mean just look at m..y cl...othes," Kevin said still failing to make a complete sentence.

However, his words fell on deaf ears as they all looked at him, brimming with anger.

"After all our hard work, I'll be damned if I let a brat take the gem!" the man closest to Kevin said slowly getting nearer with every word, "WHERE IS IT?".

In a rage, he grabbed Kevin's neck, lifting him to his eye level. He applied a tremendous amount of strength to his hand, squeezing the air out of Kevin.

"St..op it, you'll ma...ke me ma...d," Kevin tried to blurt out yet his attempts were futile. The man's grip did not lose any strength.

Swoosh! Forming a blur, Kevin instinctively rammed his foot through the man's temple producing a cracking sound. Kevin's leg twisted in an inhuman way to perform such a feat, which surprised the men.

All strength was lost in his hand, like a fallen angel, he plummeted to the ground making a thud sound. Blood began to ooze from his nostrils painting the surrounding snow red.

Panting and gasping for air, Kevin bore an expressionless face saying, "Now! You ha...ve rea...only do..ne it!".