Gray

Noah had lost track of the years since his life was thrown into complete disarray. He stood there as the rain started to come down just a little bit harder as he looked at the makeshift grave site he had made for his original family. Life was annoying. Not only was his family taken away from him at a young age, but Noah was angry with the fact that due to that tragedy, he had found so many more blessings. Without the unjust murder of his happy family, he wouldn't have been able to meet the people that he has come to love at this point. Why did a blessing have to come from a curse? It's a thought that is so unbearably frustrating. Why can't life allow blessings to give birth to blessings?

Noah is currently sixteen years old. At this point though, he was much more mature than others his age. He was forced to grow up faster than the other kids in the village he now inhabited. At the young age of seven his life was altered, and there was no going back.

His family consisted of his mother, father, and sister. All three of them had magic while Noah had none to speak of. Noah had gray eyes, which was rare in it of itself, but magic was much more appealing to him then some eye color that meant nothing in the grand scheme of things. It wasn't beneficial for anything. His father had destruction, mother creation, and the sister healing. It was the perfectly balanced family if you think about it. However, no matter how beautiful something may be, that doesn't protect it from the ugliness of reality. Misfortune doesn't discriminate.

Noah had always dreamed of becoming a swordsman. Without magic, his options were extremely limited in terms of finding a job that he found interesting. He basically had all the time in the world. Since he was young, he couldn't do much manual labor because he was too small, and he didn't have magic to help out elsewhere around the home. His family lived out in a forested area, isolated from the world. It was a convenient lifestyle. His father would hunt and his mother could create water, so there wasn't really a need to go elsewhere that often. The family was held back in terms of socializing with others, obviously. Despite this, every now and then Noah's father would take Noah or his sister and go into town for supplies that the family couldn't make themselves. Noah's mother had once described to him that Creation magic was draining already, but trying to learn to make new resources was extremely difficult the more complex said resources were. Water was easily produced so his mother still had a vital role to play in their laid back life.

Taking the world in at his own pace allowed Noah to get rather smart at a young age. His mother would home-school him and his sister at the start of the day. Afterwards his sister would go off to do her chores as she was six years older than him. Noah's mother would make what she needed to for the day while Noah played outside, randomly swinging a wooden sword as if that actually counted as training for his swordsman dream. Once his mother finished what she needed to do, Noah would actually ask for extra schooling. This allowed him to get much further ahead then most anyone could dream of. He was already smarter than his sister, though he wasn't quite as mature, playing tricks on his family during free time as well. If his mother wasn't able to give extra lessons for the day, Noah would run around the woods until late in the afternoon.

The day that changed everything was ironically sunny. It isn't like the weather bends to accommodate people's tragedies, but even so, it was ironic. That day was luckily for Noah, one of the days he was not given extra lessons. He returned later in the day, even forgetting about lunch. By the time he started to head back, the sun was starting to set. Something seemed off though. Despite night time approaching, there was a bright light at the tree clearing. As he got closer, it became horribly obvious what had happened. The house that he cherished more than anything was on fire. His heart started to beat rapidly and he had a sinking feeling in his chest. His father was able to control Destruction magic, and his mother and sister were smart enough to avoid causing any issues on their own. Noah knew deep in his heart that this was an attack on their home. Clenching his wooden sword, Noah forced himself to run forward, his body trembling in fear. The closer he got to the home, the harder it got to keep going. The smoke emitting from the house was stinging his eyes and it got harder to breathe.

As he rounded the corner, tears started to spill from his eyes. Noah saw his family lined up on their knees. His father was already lying in a pool of blood as he was too dangerous to keep for long. There were two knights who had come to deal with Noah's family. Likely someone had ratted them out from a nearby village as there were a couple villages that they went to for supplies. The knights likely caught Noah's father off guard since the family knew nothing about the decree the king had made to cull all magic users. Noah was confused and angry. He gripped his wood sword tightly and ran at the two knights while screaming. One knight simply scoffed and hit him to the ground. The other knight then bent down and grabbed Noah's face.

Unknown Knight #1: "Well, unless gray eyes suddenly mean something now, this kid doesn't have magic."

Unknown Knight #2: "Damn, I guess magic really isn't inherited after all. Interesting how it works like that."

Both of the knights chuckled a little. The one who had grabbed Noah then threw him to the ground. One of them gave a sigh and started to walk towards Noah's mother and sister. At this point Noah had given up. Time seemed to slow down as the remaining two people he loved, were slaughtered by a group of people that he one day wished to join. Life is cruel.

The knights walked away, satisfied with their job. Noah was surprised that he was left alive, but they likely figured that he would die if just left alone. Noah lied down next to his now dead mother. Flames still erupting in the background, Noah closed his eyes and cried himself to sleep in a pool of his family's blood. He wished for death himself.

Noah woke up in the middle of the night from a combination of nightmares and the sounds of the house falling apart. Inspiration struck Noah. It wouldn't be fair to his family if he didn't use the life that was spared to its fullest. Revenge didn't fill Noah's mind. He thought of it for a brief moment, but knew that as he was, there was no chance he could ever do it. Noah also didn't want to kill. He didn't want to stoop down to the same level of those that ruined his life. Noah decided to head in the direction of the one village that he had never visited, as it didn't sell anything useful enough for Noah's family to ever continuously visit. It was also the farthest away village. His options were few and far between as the other villages were likely responsible for his family being found.

His sleep having been interrupted, and having no food or water with him, Noah was extremely worn out. He had walked a good distance despite this, but he was running out of steam. The inevitable caught up and Noah began to falter. Not too long after he started to stumble, Noah blacked out in the middle of the woods.

There was no telling how much time had passed since Noah had passed out, but that wasn't an issue. Noah had woken up in a room that was unfamiliar to him. He didn't have much time to contemplate this because soon after waking, he just as quickly passed out again. The sleep he entered would be interrupted by yet another nightmare. The nightmares of his family being murdered would continue each night until present day. It was a never ending onslaught. The image was the same each time. He was alone in the middle of darkness. Fire would spring up in a circle around him as blood rained from the black sky. The fire started to spread inwards and Noah heard the screams of his family, seeing them killed on the outside of the ring of flames, but he could never reach them in time. Noah woke up screaming and crying. The screams stopped, but the tears kept rolling as Noah had to turn his attention to two new unfamiliar things. Sitting down looking at him was an elderly couple. Noah had been saved from death by them, and in turn, he would get a chance at a new life in this world.