Author's Note: I am sorry for the absence of new releases from last week. I spent the Thanksgiving holiday week and weekend with my family and wanted to enjoy the time with them. Thank you all for your understanding!
Episode 11: The Newcomers
The Sanely family was high tailing it out of Leffel, which had been their home city for all of their lives. They passed through the city of Veen and into Fumo where the safe house was located. As they pulled into their destination, all they could see was a single door. There was no house, no tunnel, no safety as far as the eye could see. "Hey Travis, are you sure this is the right place?" Brittany asked. He looked around and was obviously confused. "I mean, I thought I did. I checked it a few times just so we didn't run into something like this."
Just after Travis responded, everyone saw the door open up. Strange enough, nobody was ever seen in the doorway, nor had anyone left out from it. "Hello there!" a voice was heard next to them. It was weird though, because the voice seemed like it was just outside of the car. They all turned their heads to the passenger side and could see a very pale man with short white colored hair. They could only guess what the bottom half of his face looked like, because he had on a mask that didn't cover the top half. It had the appearance of a mouth, but it didn't look human. The mask looked as if it was the jaw of a beast that was glossed out in a shiny charcoal color. The contrast from the man's general paleness and the dark mask made him seem quite menacing. The one thing they could all agree on was his eyes were beautiful. They were mesmerizing with the waves of icy blue piercing back at them.
"Are you all mute?" the pale man asked with genuine concern. His reaction didn't fit his look at all. "Um, no sir." Travis answered. "We just didn't see you come out and, sorry for asking but, who are you?" The man cocked his head sideways kind of like a confused puppy. "Now, this is pretty strange, isn't it? You just decide to drive up to our place and ask us who we are. How are we supposed to know you aren't the enemy?" It was Travis's turn to be confused. There wasn't a building in sight and this strange man was worried about them finding out about their imaginary playhouse. "Oh no sir, we are not your enemy. We were actually sent here in hopes of finding a safe house, but all we found was that door I think you came out of."
Travis glanced back at the kids and saw that they weren't looking in the same direction as Brittany and himself. He turned and caught sight of someone bent down close to his driver side window just glaring at him. It startled him so much that he let out a small chirp of a squeal and nearly jumped into his wife's lap. This actually forced a laugh of an incredible magnitude from Liam. Due to all of the emotional distress he was put through in a short amount of time, everything inside him was fluctuating sporadically, and that included his power and emotions. As the laugh grew, it sounded as if it began screeching right out of a megaphone. It started low, but it felt like someone was upping the volume pretty quickly until it began to hurt the other's ears. At the same time, Liam's hair began to shine brighter than normal. They covered their ears until Liam calmed himself down.
Both people on the outside of the vehicle stood up and talked with each other over top of the car. "It's him. We need to get them inside fast." the pale man said. "Yeah, this bunch will do nicely for the cause." the other man stated. "What are you talking about? That boy is our cause. He's possibly the biggest symbol of everything we are fighting for!" The pale man jumped back and drew a katana like blade from his back and slashed the door apart where Brittany was sitting. The metal of the car hit the ground and it looked like it was cut in an X shape. Travis noticed that even his door was missing. "Whats going on? He only cut Brittany's door, but…" Travis thought and took a look back, "every single door is cut up the same way." Then he screamed, "My car! We could have just opened the doors! You didn't have to cut them." The pale man spoke in a polite tone, "I am Deeno and my colleague there is Ren." Ren waved at everybody as they stepped out of the car carefully. "Before we continue I want to talk to you." Deeno was pointing at Travis and in the blink of an eye, they both were several feet away from everyone else. Travis had no idea how that was possible, but did everything he could to keep his composure, especially after already embarrassing himself.
Grabbing Travis's shoulders and looking right in his eyes, Deeno asked, "I need you to be up front and honest with me. Who sent you here?" Travis regained his focus quickly before replying. He knew this was a chance to possibly get some insight on their situation. He just hoped these were the right people, because he was at a dead end. "His name was JK. That's what we know him as. I believe his actual name was James. Please tell me that's someone you know." He was a little worried since he was the only one speaking on secrets that could hurt them if this wasn't the right group. Deeno smiled, "Yeah, we know that old geezer. That must make you guys the Gray family right? He only mentioned the boy, but training the girl up won't be a problem either."
A sad expression slowly grew on Travis's face hearing the words from Deeno and he could see it. "No, we are not the Gray family. They won't be coming. We are the Sanely's and we are protecting the boy. He was entrusted to us by his parents." Deeno straightened up and asked the question that Travis was not wanting to hear, "What happened?" He spoke slowly, already grasping the gravity of the situation. "I don't want to bring up trauma, but we need to know so we can move forward together. Do you understand where I'm coming from?" Travis had some frustration in his voice mixed with sadness, "Yeah, I get it. I really do. It's just that kid has just been through hell. He needs real protection." He paused in thought, "We all need real protection if I'm being honest with myself. His parents were murdered right in front of him and it happened less than a day ago. I'm not sure if you could get any clearer answers out of him than I got, but you're welcome to try. All I ask is that you wait for him to settle down. I got the full story from him, at least from what he could tell me. It had to have been one of the king's assassins."
Deeno looked deep into Travis's eyes, "I believe you. This world is beyond messed up and don't worry. We will teach and train you all to hold your own against the best of them." Travis blinked and they were next to the car again with the rest of his family. "Alright you guys. As I said, my name is Deeno and from here on, you all will be under our protection. We are an unknown group to the world, but we have made extraordinary strides in hidden events that have helped us in our goal against the king." He gestured for everyone to follow him as he turned and headed back towards the door. It felt to them like he was a tour guide or something of the sort.
Ren chimed in from the back of the group, "Everyone tell me your names and one interesting thing about yourselves. Quick, rapid fire! You there. Start us off!" Paisley realized she was picked first and began, "I'm Paisley and I really like playing video games. Challenge me if you dare!" Ren was pleasantly surprised by the confidence of the little girl. "Next!" Ren said excitedly. Brittany took her turn, "I'm Brittany and I can cook anything perfectly just from smelling a dish once, even if I've never made it before. My ability allows me to smell at an atomic level. I'm just glad I am skilled enough now to select what I want to smell. You don't know how bad this ability was when I first got it." She shivered remembering the horror of her childhood years because of some really grotesque odors. This also got a chuckle from Ren and Paisley. "Next!" Ren said slightly louder than his normal voice. "The name is Travis and I can solve a thousand piece puzzles in seconds. Just like Brittany, my ability comes into play with this. I can make my brain calculate things at a much faster rate than others. I'm a situational genius. Ha ha!"
Ren took a few extra moments to peek at Liam as the kid walked. He couldn't help but continue to stare directly at his hair and the enchanting look it had. "And you little man?" Liam glanced back, which gave Ren a quick look at the equally enchanting eye color. While he continued to walk forward he stated coldly, "I'm Liam. There's not much that's special about me." If Ren and Deeno had anything to drink in their mouths, this would have made them spit it out like a fire hose. "What?" Ren couldn't believe what he just heard from the most unusual looking person. He had to be far from lacking any special qualities. "How is that possible kid? You are literally a walking, talking beacon of light." "I am Liam. That's my name." he said as if he was irritated. "Liam Sanely. My parents are dead and it's because I couldn't do anything for them but run away. One day I will be Liam Gray again." He spoke with unwavering conviction. The seriousness and, so sure of himself, attitude that Liam was giving off, immediately brought the mood back around to the devastation they went through earlier in that day. The way he was speaking, it didn't sound like it was an almost seven year old kid. It sounded like he was an experienced adult, emotionally worn down by the hatred of life, who swore devotion to his goal given to him by tragedy. Deeno and Ren couldn't help but understand the pain Liam was going through. Even they had their fair share of losses. Deeno was the last to speak before they reached the door. "Make sure you all follow your instructors when we go inside. Each of you has been assigned someone to personally take care of your needs, and that also includes training. While you're here, you will have to do your part. This is not, nor will it ever be, a vacation. Work hard and you will reap your rewards."
As they reached the door, Deeno stepped through and made sure to hold the door open for the rest of them to follow. One by one, starting with Travis and ending with Liam followed by Ren walked past Deeno. The door shut and on the outside, not even the door was visible anymore. On the other hand, the newcomers found themselves speechless on the inside. Travis stuttered and just spoke gibberish. Brittany stood silent in awe. Paisley took baby steps over to Liam and held onto his arm for comfort. Liam himself had his mouth wide open and couldn't believe this was here. All they could see from the outside was a single door, not this. They seemed to be standing on a balcony of sorts that wrapped around the open room as if it was a floor for spectators. There had to be several dozen floors wrapped around and each floor had a door about every thirty feet or so. Every floor looked to have a hundred rooms. The other baffling thing to note was when they walked in at ground level, they were already high up in the floors the building had. "Wow." was all Liam muttered.
"Hey Travis and Brittany." The two heard Ren call from behind. They all turned and could see a screen pulled down behind them that showed their car that was still outside. "Watch this! You'll love it! I know I will!" he said with excitement. They all watched fire erupt almost instantly from their vehicle. As an explosion followed, it was as if it was hit with so much fire power that something caused the whole car to burst at once. "Wasn't that exciting?!" Everyone had a similar thought run across their minds. "Maybe Ren had a few screws loose." Paisley started crying, "My Territ! I didn't get it out of there!" Without missing a beat, Ren pulled out a Territ game system and handed it to her. "I swiped it for you. No worries, little miss. I'm a gamer myself and that would have really sucked." He smiled and Paisley felt relieved.
Deeno spoke, bringing matters back to something more important than the Sanely's car and a video game. "Listen well. The people you are being protected by and now work with have a long lineage in the dark. It's important to note that I said you work with us, not for us. We believe in treating people like people and protecting the innocent. We can go further in depth about it later, but for now, our organization is called 'The Order of the Black Dragons'. Remember it well." All of the newcomers nodded their heads as if they already committed it to memory. "Liam and Paisley, follow your assigned instructors here." Deeno extended his hand out to his right and two people were suddenly there without a sound being heard. "This is Raijo and Bella. You all should get along swimmingly. Brittany and Travis, you guys come with me and Ren. We have some more to discuss. We are going to meet the organization head, Lord Thanatos."
End of Episode 11: The Newcomers
Author's Name
ClodiasManga