“There’s always time to learn”

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Dear diAry,

I sAw A bunch of mysteriOus peOple Outside. Mom and Dad went to check. They're—

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A large smudge of ink trailed over the paper.

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The child abruptly slammed his door closed, in a rush to the living room.

******

"*What's happening!?*" Azrael stopped at the exact moment as a group of tall men barged into their home.

His parents were running around the house, telling him to hurry and help meanwhile, leaving no time to explain. Some of the men suddenly collapsed to the floor. The situation was getting messy.

The atmosphere grew chaotic as the group started groaning in pain. Poor Azzy couldn't process what was still happening, panicking inside and looking all around. "…I—"

Just as he was about to continue, he could hear a faint cough from behind him. He slowly turned around to try and check it out. He saw what looked like a person wrapped, or rather, mummified in blankets. The size of which was similar to a child most likely around his age.

His young mind was still in the midst of processing. The coughing then grew louder.

One of the men hurriedly crawled to him, weakly gripping on the long sleeves of his nightwear. "P-please… help." He pleaded. Azrael looked down and saw. The man was shivering cold, his voice was hoarse, steam puffing out of his mouth as he'd weakly cough.

"P-please, help the young master." The man gently tugged on his clothes once again. Azrael was still speechless, he then noticed how the man's coat was almost frozen solid. He took a quick glance at all of them.

They were all drenched in snow and extremely pale, but the worst part is, you could see huge claw marks, burns, and severe wounds of some sort, poorly hidden by their torn clothes. The young boy was horrified. Just what did these men run into?

But he decided to throw all the confusion out of his mind away. One thing was for sure, that he had to help them. He bent down, holding the man's hands. He could feel the frost forming on the man's skin. Finally, he replied to the man's plea, "What can we do to help?"

Jack came back with buckets of warm water and Alana following close behind him, her hands full of clothes and sheets. They both looked over to their son.

They looked somewhat shocked. Just a second ago, they saw immense fear and confusion in his eyes; that suddenly went away, as it was replaced with a strong and brave expression. The parents marvelled at how quick this boy adapted to the situation. That of which was utterly new to him, and way different from the peaceful life he had lived so far.

They both snapped out of it when Azrael immediately ran to them, with a serious look in his eye. "Mom, Dad, we need to help them! I'll go take care of Lucy." He declared. Jack chuckled and patted his head. Meanwhile, Alana giggled as a tear formed in her eye. "*Oh, how children grow so fast these days.*" She thought as she watched him run over to his sister's room.

Azrael went inside to find Lucy, the little bundle of joy sleeping soundly in her crib. He carefully patted her head, making sure not to wake her up as he made his way back to the living room.

Seeing how the men were all bandaged up, the situation seemed to be getting better, but it was still freezing cold inside.

Azrael returned and went to his parents, noticing the worried looks on their faces were still there. "Mom, Dad, what's wrong?" He questioned.

"Uh, we run out of matches," Jack replied. "That explains why it's still freezing." Azrael chuckled as his skin shivered. Azrael looked over to the bandaged bunch huddling with each other due to the cold, they looked like little chicks in a bird's nest. "How are we going to start a fire then?" Azrael added.

He noticed his parents giving each other looks, making him wave his hand between them as he awaited an answer. Alana looked back at him. "Oh dear, it seems that I have no choice." She nervously responded.

Azrael still had a curious gaze fixated on them. "W-well…" Alana knelt towards the fireplace, closing her eyes. "fire" she whispered.

Just then, a bright blue flare formed upon the firewood. "What the?" Azrael's eyes widened, he waddled closer and paid close attention. "You might want to back away a little, Azzy."

"Huh? Oh, ye—"

"ignite!"

The small flame grew bigger as Alana chanted, the flames raging as the heat spread all over the house, filling it with warmth. It was jaw-dropping, well for Azrael that is. The others were not as surprised except for him.

He was left speechless, the blue flames reflected in his dazzling silver eyes. His parents chuckled, seeing his reaction.

A pair of hands suddenly clapped in front of the awestruck boy. Leading him to get back to his senses. "First time seeing magic, boy?" Azrael looked over, it was the man who spoke to him earlier.

"Yeah, never thought it'd exist for real," Azrael replied with a smile. The man warmly smiled back. Now that he was all warm and patched up, Azrael closely observed him. He seemed to be middle-aged, but he showed a strong and tall physique even though he was only sitting down.

"Oh yeah, I believe we haven't properly introduced ourselves. I'm Azrael! Azrael Raven. This is my mom, Alana and my dad, Jack right here." The boy politely stated, pointing to his mom and dad behind him.

"Quite the manners 'ya got. Well, mine's Denzel. And these here are my companions." Denzel pointed to the smaller men huddling with each other besides him. It was silent for a while until Denzel turned around. The men all perked up and cleared their throat.

"Unlike you, my boy, these punks here got no manners at all. Quit huddling and go and introduce yourselves." He commanded while glaring at them, making Azrael and his parents chuckle.

"Name's Lloyd." One mentioned and soon did the others.

"I'm Troy!"

"Vincent."

"Greetings, I am Sla—"

"And I'm Anthony! You can call me Tony." The last one announced in joy, not seeming to mind the pissed reaction of the one before him.

"Pardon, I'm Slater." The man said after he gave Tony a playful smack. He looked quite young for a noble guard, and good-looking at that.

"We're glad to meet y'all," Denzel added, the warm smile seemed to be glued on his face. He looked over to Jack and Alana. "So, an Arcanus and a Vigor, I presume."

"Mhm!"

"That's right." Both replied.

Azrael listened to the terms that Denzel used. "*Arcanus? Vigor?*" He closely listened to the adults' conversation, but just as Denzel was about to say another word, the storm decided to barge in uninvited.

*THUD.*

The front door burst opens, leaving gusts of snow flurry into the house.

"Kyaaah!" They all got startled, interrupting the conversation.

A snowstorm brewed inside, extinguishing the fire as Jack, Denzel, and his men were led to shutting the door closed. They were struggling even with all their might and strength combined, the snowstorm outside was just as strong. But they managed to close the door and barricade it.

Finally, they all sighed in relief.

Alana cast another fire as the warmth was brought back. Azrael stood up, observing all the snow inside slowly melting. But what caught his attention was a weird glowing snowflake floating right above him. "Mom, look!" He tugged at the woman's clothes, his eyes still fixated on a peculiar-looking snowflake.

The snowflake caught all of their attention. It was ever so slowly falling, managing to land on top of Azrael's forehead.

The boy giggled, feeling the frostiness of the snowflake as it melted. They all chuckled and laughed. Meanwhile, Azrael suddenly gets drowsy.

His vision slowly blurred, watching the joyfulness in front of him as it slowly faded into the pitch-black abyss that took over his sight.

*Thump.*

The boy had suddenly collapsed onto the floor. The laughing bunch came to an abrupt stop as they all rushed to his rescue.

…