The beautiful island city of Oars. The island itself was in the shape of a crescent, with another island in the middle. The two were connected by many grand bridges. The island in the middle housed a huge, glowing tree, that reached up into the air further than any skyscraper could hope to touch. Its leaves and branches hung down, peeking through the clouds and enshrouding the middle island in a shadow of mystery.
The main island was littered with Romanesque buildings, scattered in a maze of dirt roads. The city was buzzing with life, children running and playing in the streets, bards strumming together melodies and choruses, and vendors calling out their deals to all that would listen. Celebration was in the air, and for good reason.
From an outsiders perspective, it would seem as if the entire city was moving in one direction. The waves of people were gathering towards a large coliseum in the center of the city. The coliseum already looked to be filled to the brim, but those who looked on from the outside of the grand structure were blessed by a large screen, revealing the match that was going on inside.
In the center of the arena there was a very large four corner ring, seemingly made of cement. Standing in opposition of each other were the two competitors who had everybody's attention.
There was a slim, vanilla-skinned, teen with long black hair in a sleeveless white karate gi with straw sandals. He wore a red robe over it with fingerless red gloves. About 10 meters across from him was another teen with short brown hair and a much bulkier frame, in basically the same outfit, aside from his gi and robe, which was brown instead of red, being sleeveless.
The teen in red launched himself at the one in brown.
"You need to try harder than that, Seito!" The one in brown said, shrugging off a left hook from the now identified Seito.
"As long as you know I wasn't trying." As if to put emphasis on his words, a red aura burst to life around him, the heat in the arena visibly distorting the air around him.
"Let's see how you handle this! FLAME KINGS DEMISE!!" Seito threw his arms into the air, and a vortex of fire surrounded his opponent. "This is my win! Kone!" The vortex condensed, and then swirled up into the air and burst in a grand display.
Seito's smirk didn't last for long as the now-named Kone came barreling out of the smoke, descending towards the ground with worrying speed. Aside with being covered in ash, he looked just fine. He winded back his left fist, and swung with ferocious force as he got close. "PULVERIZE!" As soon as the words left his lips, the ground underneath their feet was torn asunder.
Seito flipped into the air, jumping between pieces of debris as he tried to find somewhere to land. His search would be interrupted, though, as a huge chunk of rock flew at him with great speed.
He dodged left, jumping off more of the flying debris, and as he sailed through the air, he reached his hand back, almost as if grabbing for the sky.
"RED LANCE!" He shouted, as a giant lance made of fire began to materialize above his palm. The smoke cleared out in an instant as Kone clapped his hands together in focus. Seito Released the attack, and it streaked through the air with the intent to hurt.
"Great Wall!" Kone shoveled both of his large hands into the ground, and then flung them up as if flipping a table. A massive section of land came up between them and blocked the attack. The ensuring explosion caused a large cloud of snoke.
One boy stood next to his mom, outside of the arena, watching the exchange in awe. He stood at about 4'11, with dark skin and dark purple locs, tapered on the sides. He wore black jeans and a white shirt that said "WARRIOR!!" On the front in big yellow letters. The shirt seemed a bit big for his 9-year old frame. His feet were adorned by some white sneakers.
He tugged his mothers hand, the middle aged woman watching him with a smile. She had long black hair and brown skin. She was about 5'4, wearing a white long dress and a black jacket with sandals.
"Mom! Did you see that!? He basically just flipped the whole ring!" The boys grin was blinding.
" I saw it Zero. Elementalists are amazing, aren't they?" As if by magic the boys grin grew even wider as he nodded with glee. Elementalists, practitioners of martial arts.
She then grabbed him by the back of his shirt. "Now let's hurry before the market closes, we still need to grab some candles."
Zero pursed his lips. "You mean candy?" He said hopefully. "No." She said flatly, letting a dry chuckle reverberate through her body.
They walked, away from the coliseum and towards the commercial district. The peeked up at his mother.
"Do you think I'll be able to do cool stuff like that one day?" He asked. She smiled at him warmly. "Zero, you can do anything you put your mind to!"
He beamed back at her.
She adopted an amused look on her face, finger on her chin as if in thought. "Now, candles."
They walked down the dirt road, entering a building with a dull grey sign, the red lettering read "General".
"Go grab some candles… and some candy too, I guess." The mother winked.
"Awesome!" Zero did not need to be told twice, and he dashed into the aisles in search of candles….and candy.
The mother walked into another aisle by herself, smiling as something caught her eye. It was a purple and lavender checkered scarf, one that matched Zero's hair perfectly. She picked it up and immediately walked to checkout.
Over on the other side of the store, Zero, candles in hand, ran excitedly towards the candy isle. In his haste, it felt like he collided with a wall as he found himself sitting on the ground. "Wha-"
He looked up as his head reeled from the impact. His eyes widened as he realized he had not bumped into something, but someone.
The man stood at about 6ft tall, with lavender hair that was just a shade lighter than his own. His amber eyes peered down at him from behind half framed square glasses. He wore a black suit coat, the white dress shirt and black tie underneath. For trousers he had black suit pants, and black steel toe boots adorned his feet. A red checkered scarf hung loosely from his neck.
"I'm sorry! It was an accident I swear!" Zero pleaded. The stranger looked at him and glared, but said nothing and continued walking. Zero only glanced after him for a moment, hurriedly picking the candles back up and resuming his trek to the candy isle, now walking instead of running.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The day so far had been a blur. Zero got up from bed, brushed his teeth, took a shower, and walked downstairs to be greeted by a chorus of happy birthdays from his mom, who had invited a swarm of relatives. Today was his 10th birthday, and the day he would find out if he had a gift.
A gift was something everyone wanted to have. 7,000 years ago, the human race was in an intense war with the dragons. When humanity was on the edge of being wiped out, the goddes Tistina took pity on them. She planted the Giving Tree, a giant, divine tree that bestows people with unique powers called gifts. The people who receive these powers are called gifters.
Zero yearned to be a martial artist.
Something about the skillful movements and large, flashy techniques just resonated with his very being. Though the knights were cool, growing up in Oars, basically the center of martial arts, elementalists were the coolest thing in the world to him. Having a gift could make him a stronger martial artist in the long run with another skill in his repertoire. This was a day he had been looking forward to.
But first…
"A-Are those all for me?" He questioned in awe.sitting on the oak dining wood table, was a stack of presents as high as he was tall.
"Who else would they be for?" He looked to the left to see his Uncle Clyde raising an eyebrow at him.
"Uncle!" He exclaimed happily, hugging the man. Clyde was quite the presence. A dark-skinned man with a muscular frame, he stood at about 6ft tall, his bald head shining in the light. He had a small black goatee that matched the shade of his black shirt and black cargo jeans.
"I'm just coming back from a mission, so I wasn't able to grab you a present." Zero pouted.
"But how about this… I got permission from Grandmater Puck to take you and Lisa on a tour of the Wind temple tomorrow!" Clyde exclaimed with a smug look on his face.
"WOW! Really!?"Zero said excitedly.
"Yes!"Lisa celebrated. Clyde was a First-Rate elementalist, so he could be afforded these kind of perks every now and then.
"Consider this my early birthday gift for you, Lisa." Clyde stated. Her birthday was next week.
"Here, I want you to open this one first."
Behind Zero stood his mother. She was holding a small box in her hands with a ribbon on top.
"What's this?" He questioned, taking the box.
"Hey! Stop skipping the line!" That voice was Lisa's dad.
His Mom rolled her eyes. "Shut up Corey."
The man laughed loudly from the couch. He was a taller man standing about 6'4, with brown skin, glasses, a suit, with his suit jacket nowhere to be found, and a scruffy afro. The picture of an office worker. His wife sat next to him, the 5 year old Braxton fast asleep in her arms.
Zero paid them no mind, opening up the white box. Inside was a neatly folded long, purple, checkered scarf. Zero took it out, unfolding the scarf and beginning to inspect it. It matched his hair.
He looked up to see his mother smiling at him, and beamed back.
"Do you like it?" She asked.
"Of course!" He said as he tried it on with a grin.
"I don't know…it kinda brings the stupid out of your face…" Lisa cupped her chin in thought.
"Hey!"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Are you ready? His mother looked at him.
He was sitting at the oak dining table, eyes glued to the cake in front of him. It was huge. Two big candles on top marked his new age. His family members all gathered around the table. All eyes were on him.
The giving ritual itself was really quite simple. It was said that after you blow out the candles on your 10th birthday, you have to say a prayer to the giving tree, and if you are worthy your gift will manifest. All things said, only 40% of the world population even receives a gift in the first place. If he didn't get one, no big deal. It wasn't like he wanted to be a knight. Oars was independent and managed by both the church and the wind temple.
Zero nodded and took a deep breath.
"Im ready." With no further hesitation, he blew the candles out.
Everything exploded into chaos. The moment he blew the candles out, the small boy was throttled to the ground from his seat by what felt like an earthquake. Many of his family members were either on the ground or holding onto something, and scattered glass from the vases and fallen drinks that once occupied the table littered the ground.
They were not spared another moment as more impacts followed. Some had started to come to their senses when the whole house started to shake.
"Everyone! Hurry!! We need to get out before this place comes down!"
Zero recognized that voice. It was his uncle Clyde. He picked himself up off the floor, grabbing onto a bookcase. The ground started to rumble once more. The lights flickered off.
"Zero! Where are you!?" He could hear his mom calling. "I'm right here!" He called back. Zero felt a tug at the back of his shirt. "The door is this way! Everyone follow my voice!" It was his uncle Clyde, pulling him through the door.
They burst out of the house before it came crashing down. Outside wasn't much of a better sight. Everything was on fire. There were people panicking and running away from a group that was casually walking down the street of the hellish landscape, seemingly having fun in the midst of the chaos.
"Where's Braxton!?" Oh no. Braxton. His 5 year old cousin. He and several others immediately turned back towards the ruins of the house. Before they could even move, something flew in front of them at a speed they could barely register, and landed a few feet in front of Zero, lodging itself in the ground with a heavy 'thunk'.
It was a sword.
"Leaving so soon?" the deep voice boomed behind him, confidence dripping off each word.
Zero turned to the direction that the thrown sword had come from. It was the group from earlier, though now they were standing a mere 5ft away. There were 3 of them standing right in the middle of the dirt road.
On the left stood a mountain of a man. He was about 6'4 with long dark blue locs that rolled down his shoulders. He opted to go shirtless with a black jean jacket that seemed to be ripped at the sleeves. He had on black jeans with combat boots, and bandages tied around both his ankles.
On the right was a slim, tan-skinned man. He stood about 5'11 shaggy black hair and cloudy gray eyes. He wore a black facemask, black joggers, and black sneakers with a white shirt under a black high-collared jacket. He stood with an unreadable expression, left hand in his pocket.
The third, standing in the middle, was a tall man with a milky white complexion. He had sunkissed blonde hair with a brown goatee and blood red eyes. He wore a black hoodie with white sleeves and black boots. Three small golden earrings dangled from his left ear. He had a condescending look on his face, and from his outstretched hand, Zero could tell he was the one who had thrown the sword.
"Zero, get behind me!" He didn't know when he got there, or how long he had been there, but uncle Clyde was now standing between him and the group.
"Who are you people? And what do you want??" He glared at the group of strangers with a hint of confidence. Clyde was a first-rate elementalist, and had every right to be confident in his ability. First-Rate martial artists are warriors who can fight on par with a high ranking knight officer.
"It seems you still don't understand the situation yet…" the animalistic man on the right said, trailing off with a feral grin. Long, sharp claws extended from his finger nails. They grew until they dug into the ground, slicing through rock like a hot knife through butter.
"Oars is being attacked, you see…." All of a sudden he was upon them, swinging down both claws at uncle Clyde with untold fury.
"And we were told to leave no survivors!"
Clyde reacted instantly. He jumped back, snatching Zero by the collar of his shirt and tossing him back towards the group as the claws passed through empty air.
"If that's how it is…" Uncle Clyde shifted into a battle stance. His left leg was straight, foot pointed forward as his back leg bent at the knee. Both arms were spread wide, palms facing the sky.
"Then I'll be the one to take you on."
The beast-like man's grin grew even more manic. "Sounds like fun!" He boomed, leaping forwards with renewed vigor.
The man swiped at his face, but was shocked when Clyde caught his arm by the wrist, and flipped him right over his shoulder. A cloud of dust filled the street as the man was slammed viciously into the ground.
"W-What the-" Those were the last words he managed to spit out, before Clyde rained down on him a flurry of punches so fast Zero couldn't even tell what he was looking at.
The once-intimidating man now lay there on the ground, face bloodied and unrecognizable. Clyde turned his back to the man to face his two companions. Zero laid his eyes on Clyde's back in amazement, stunned by the strength his uncle displayed.
A shadow was cast over Clyde's face, hiding his expression.
"You would've had a better chance if you all came at me at once with your friend here." He motioned to the broken man behind him.
The blond man scoffed. "Don't get ahead of yourself trash. Talon was the weakest one of us by far." Then he smirked. "Finn, take care of him."
The talk one with black hair stepped forward. The mask in his face made his expression unreadable.
"Don't hold back either."There was a certain weight to his words, as if something would happen if the man disobeyed. The only response he got was a slight grunt from the one named "Finn".
Clyde said nothing, merely lowering himself back into a battle stance. Finn dashed forwards with unexpected speed.
His hand reached out for the bald man's face, but Clyde, still unfazed, easily brushed the man's hand aside with his left hand. He then grabbed Finn by the side of his face with his right hand and lifted him high into the air, before slamming him headfirst into the dirt road.
A small plume of smoke rose into the air from the impact. The smoke cleared to reveal Finn, face mask now gone, buried in the cratered section of land and pinned there beneath Clyde's large hand.
His head was bleeding, but he smirked as both of his hands quickly clasped Clyde's arm in a death grip.
"This is check." He rasped out, as Clyde's body burst into flames. Clyde's screams ripped through the night air as he tried to tear his arm away from Finn. They were silenced a moment later as a blade pierced his chest. The same blade that landed at Zero's feet earlier.
The blonde man smirked on the side. "Dumbass." He muttered under his breath.
"Clyde! No!!" Zero could hear his Grandmother cry out from behind him. He was too in shock to move, his eyes glued to Clyde's flaming corpse as Finn kicked it to the ground.
Clyde's body rolled over on its side as Finn got up. He grabbed the handle of the long sword and pinned the body to the ground using his heel. He removed the blade from Clyde's back with a loud squelch, and flicked the blood from the blade.
Zero's Grandmother immediately ran towards the body. Finn rose the blade, before swiping down sharply at Clyde's neck. The head rolled clean off his shoulders.
"Mom, wait!" That was Zero's Mother's voice. But it was too late.
"You monster!" The elderly lady winded back and slapped Finn on the cheek as hard as she could. Finn stood there unfazed, making eye contact with a smirk.
Everyone watched with very different reactions as she, too, burst into flames.
"GRANDMA!!" Zero screamed his lungs out, tears in his eyes.
"NOO!!" He heard his mother scream behind him.
"YOU BASTARD!" He lunged forwards at Finn, only to get batted to the side with a nonchalant kick. Finn turned back to the blonde man.
"So King, what do you want me to do with the kids?" He gestured towards Zero, and then to his cousin Lisa, who was cowering behind her mother in fear.
"What do you think? We were told no survivors." The blonde man, now known as King responded.
Finn shrugged. "I don't really like killing kids but…" he trailed off, staring at the group with a sadistic look on his face.
"A job is a job." He finished, dashing forwards with the long sword clutched firmly in his hand.
Zero could feel his left eye swelling shut. He cursed his own powerlessness, wishing that he had the same type of power his uncle displayed.
The longsword passed through the throat of Lisa's mother. Zero and Lisa could only watch in despair as her head rolled to the ground.
"Lisa, get behind me!" Her dad rushed to stand in front of her, pulling her to stand behind him. Finn grabbed the man by his neck, lifting him into the air.
"Let go!" Those were his final words as his body burst into flames. Finn stabbed him through the chest with the long sword before tossing him aside.
Zero looked around. Him, Lisa, and his Mother were the only ones left. Braxton too, if he survived the house coming down.
He looked back at Finn, who was brandishing the sword at Lisa. He looked down at his own hands, covered in dirt and grime. Teats rolled down his cheek as he scrambled to come up with something, anything, that could get them out of this situation alive.
His eyelids squeezed shut as he started to pray. He prayed to Tistina, to the Giving Tree, to anyone who would listen. All he wanted was for the family he had left to survive.
He felt something well up in the center of his chest. A knowledge filled his mind. Knowledge of a power he had never used, but knew the name of. He picked up a rock as he wiped the tears from his eyes. He spoke the name of this new power moments later.
"ADDITION!" He shouted as he launched the rock at Finn, unable to mask the emotion behind his voice. Mid-flight, it looked like there was another impact behind the rock. It accelerated, flying towards Finn at double its original speed.
All of Zero's hope came crashing down as Finn unceremoniously caught the rock. Finn smirked.
"You just gave me a wonderful idea." This bastards voice was the last thing Zero wanted to hear right now. He could only watch as the rock started to glow and steam in Finn's hands.
"You see, my gift lets me do more than light things on fire. If I choose, I can store the heat inside of an object, condensing it in one point until it becomes a bomb." A menacing grin spread across his face as he turned to Lisa. Her face dropped.
Zero's expression turned to one of pure despair.
"No! Lisa Run!!" Zero's Mom shouted as the child dashed towards the man with all the remaining strength he could muster. Lisa turned in the opposite direction and darted towards Grandma.
"So what should I do here?" Finn questioned aloud. Zero grabbed a piece of wooden debri from the house off the ground as he picked up speed.
"Maybe something like…This?" He finished, before launching the rock full speed at Lisa's back.
Lisa looked back and made eye contact with Zero for a second before the rock made impact. Zero stopped in his tracks, a spectrum of emotions flashing through his eyes.
The rock exploded the instant it touched her.
The force of the explosion flung his Mother a few feet. With tears in his eyes and pain in his heart, Zero continued his charge with a renewed fury. He drew back the piece of wood and lunged at Finn, aiming for his head.
"Addition!" He called out. But just before impact, Finn rose his arm and blocked the blow, satisfaction apparent on his face as the piece of debris splitered and broke the moment it made contact. Zero's face fell.
Finn grabbed him by the neck and slammed him into the ground, hard.
"Ughh…" Zero groaned, now barely able to move. Finn's foot stomped down hard on his chest, starting a small coughing fit.
"Do you know why I haven't killed you yet, kid?"
His Mom got up from her position on the ground with tears streaming down her face.
"Let him go! Right now!" She shouted, charging at the villain. Finn ignored her.
"It's because your annoying…." He continued, reaching inside his pocket. A grin spread across his face.
"It makes me want to see what kind of face you make as you fall into despair." He pulled a coin out of his pocket, it was already steaming and glowing red.
Zero's eyes widened as he realized what was about to happen. He looked down. His hand was still clenching onto the splintered piece of debris from earlier.
He made a decision.
Finn drew his arm back to throw the coin, but mid-throw he felt a searing pain tear through his ankle. The pain threw his aim off, and the coin exploded right in front of the elderly woman.
A loud 'Boom' rocked the area, now laden with dust and smoke, as she was sent flying back once more. This time though, she was much worse for wear. She was bleeding in several places with various cuts and bruises. Her left leg had also been blown clean off, and was now nothing more than a bleeding stump.
Finn looked at the boy with malice in his eyes while King laughed on the sidelines.
"You fucking loser! It looks like your going to need a new foot!" His eyes watered in his fit of hysterical laughter as he pointed to Finn's left leg, now impaled at the ankle by the piece of debris in Zero's hand.
"I'm going to turn your skin inside-out." With the look on his face, Zero believed it. Finn's hand reached down towards Zero's face. The boy flinched, closing his eyes. He was pleasantly surprised when the pain that he was expecting never came.
He opened his eyes to find himself in the arms of a stranger.
He looked to be a brownskin young male in his mid-20s, with shoulder legnth white hair. He had big tuqouise eyes, 5 O'clock shadow, and a long white robe with a black yukata underneath. Black gloves crawled up the length of his arms, disappearing into the white sleeves of the robe. There were white bandages wrapped around his exposed chest under the yukata, and on the back of his robe read the kanji for 'Wind God'.
They were now about 8ft behind Finn, who looked both angry and confused as he stared where Zero once lay on the ground.
Those big blue eyes reached out to his like a soft embrace, and for a moment, he couldn't help but think that everything would be fine.
"Are you okay?" The man asked.
Zero's head whipped over to his grandmother.
"I'll be ok-"He broke into another coughing fit."She's the one who needs the help!" He gestured towards the woman on the floor in a pool of her own blood clutching her bleeding stump. She would go into shock soon if she continued to bleed.
The man's face turned serious.
"I'll take care of this quickly. Do your best to stop the bleeding for now." The man put him down, and when he turned around, Zero saw the kanji on the back of his coat.
'Wind God….. There's only one person with that name…' The individual on Zero's mind was the Grandmaster of the wind temple. One of the 5 strongest warriors in the world, and currently ranked #1 among martial artists. Grandmaster Puck.
As Zero began to run towards his Grandmother, he felt a gust of wind blow behind him. He turned his head to look, and was greeted to the sight of the man squeezing King's blade between his thumb & index finger.
"Go on, boy. They will not lay another finger on you." The man said. He could see King gritting his teeth far in the back as he pushed the sword with all the strength his telekinesis could muster.
"Thank you." He nodded his head as he continued running, stopping in front of his Mother. She was covered in wounds and the pool of blood was only getting bigger. He dropped next to her on his knees. His hoodie flew off his person at record speeds.
"Mom! Move your hands so I can wrap it!" Tears streamed down the woman's eyes as she just continued to hold her leg in pain as if she didn't hear him.
He placed his hand on one of her hands that was clutching the residual limb as a tear rolled down his cheek.
"Please Mom… we have to stop the bleeding!" Gritting her teeth, she complied, slowly loosening her hold on the limb.
Zero wasted no time in wrapping the wound.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
King was angry. That wasn't very unusual at all for him, but the unusual part was that no matter what he tried, he couldn't kill the source of his anger.
Stabbing. Slashing. Well, that was it. He never really needed anything else. He stood 15 feet across from the stranger who was now arrogantly holding his sword in one hand.
He clenched his jaw. Turning his head left, he made eye contact with Finn who was standing next to him.
"Kill him. Now." He spoke the words with such malice that one could almost feel the air tense up, his eyes glowing red. He was seething.
Finn leapt forward recklessly with incredible speed, completely disregarding his injury, the moment the words left his mouth. He threw a strong right hook as he bared down on the man.
The white-haired stranger simply stopped the blow in its tracks with his right palm. Finn flashed a feral grin.
"GOT YA!" He exclaimed, glee apparent in his voice.
On the side, where Zero was, along with his Mom, the child looked back at the battle. His eyes widened as he saw the stranger make contact with Finn's bare skin.
"NO! DONT TOUCH THAT GUY!!"
His words were too late, as the stranger too, burst into flames.
But weirdly enough, no screams followed.
Finn narrowed his eyes at what should have been the flaming corpse of a dead man. He was immediately proved wrong when the palm clamped shut on his fist, before shattering it like his bones were made of cheap glass.
"AHHH!!!! THE FUCK!?!?" He cursed painfully, as he tried to pry away the broken limb, panic evident in his movements.
"Allow me to introduce my self." A voice boomed beyond the flames. White eyes glowed in the midst of the fire.
"I am GrandMaster Puck, the leader of the Wind Temple. Today I will be teaching you a lesson. What's todays lesson you ask? Empathy." Every sentence was met with a scream from Finn, as the revealed Grandmaster tightened his grip on the murderer's hand.
Across from them, King was still using his telekinesis to try and pry his sword from the man's hand, with no success.
"Now, our first problem." Those intimidating white eyes peered straight into Finn's soul, as he was now on his knees, biting his lip hard enough to draw blood, all in an attempt to mask his screams. Finn looked back with murder in his eyes.
"So boy, let me ask you this. Can you guess what part of my body is not on fire?" Puck said with unwavering calm.
Finn's murderous look shifted to curious, and then to nervous.
"Why, it's the very part of my palm that's touching your hand."
Something shifted in the air, and suddenly, Finn was the one on fire.
"AHHHH!!! FUCK!!!! HOWWW?!?!" He rolled on the ground, trying to extinguish himself to no avail.
"This is what you've been doing to others. It's only natural that you should experience it at least once." Zero thanked Tistina for this man.
GrandMaster Puck, no longer on fire, was standing there without a scratch. He dusted off his robes, which were also somehow completely fine.
He looked at King, before inspecting the blade in his left hand. Finn's suffering was still audible in the background.
"A fine blade you have." He pressed the tip of his index finger on the tip of the blade. And kept pressing. The sword shattered to pieces in his hand.
King couldn't hide his flabbergasted expression. As far as he knew, the sword that was linked to his telekinesis was indestructible. It had never failed to cut something. Over the 38 years that he'd been alive, it had never suffered a dent, crack, or even a scratch.
Yet he had just watched it shatter into a million pieces.
He turned around and ran. He ran as fast as he possibly could. He had to get away from this monster.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Zero looked down at his Mother in his small arms. To say she didn't look well would be an understatement. She looked to be fading in and out of consciousness. Sweat drenched her body and her leg was still bleeding profusely.
"Zero…" She called to him.
"Don't worry. You're going to be fine." He said with a determined look.
"No…Braxton…" She said weakly.
'Crap!' He all but screamed inside his mind. How had he forgotten?
"I'll find him!" He replied quickly. He was about to get up, but felt a hand on his shoulder.
"Stay with her. Is there someone else?" It was Grandmaster Puck.
"My cousin disappeared in the chaos. We think he got trapped in the house when it came down." He explained.
"Give me a moment." The martial artist closed his eyes. After a couple seconds, his face turned grim.
"I'll get him." Before Zero could inquire any further, he was gone. Just like that.
"Zero…" he heard his Grandmother call out once more. He turned to look down at her once again.
"Yes?" He responded softly.
"Listen… it's too late for me…" she trailed off. Zero's face paled.
"No! Don't say that!" He cried. "Im sure we can find someone with a healing gift! We even have the Wind God here! I'm sure he can-"
"Zero… Stop…"
"Even if he can't, I'm sure he knows someone who can-"
"Z…"
"We'll save you! It's not too late!"
"ZERO VARUDRAS!" Her yell broke him out of his fantasy. She was panting heavily from the exertion. Tears streamed down his face as he hugged her closely.
"Zero… I want you to know… I'm proud…" She started. Zero cried even harder.
"Proud of you…I know you are going to be great in the future… I know you'll make me even more proud by then… I always love you… and no matter what… make sure you survive, and live happily… for me…" She looked around at the maze of dead corpses on the street. "For us…"
Her bloody hand brushed his cheek. "And… your Father…" She went silent, her hand sliding down to rest on the dirt road.
"Mom?" He questioned. No response awaited him. Everything was quiet. Too quiet.
"Mom?" He echoed again as he pulled away.
He looked down at her face, only to be met with a lifeless expression. The light was gone from her eyes.
His Mother had just died in his arms.
He cried. He cried until there were no tears left.