Itekan
A young boy no more than 12 ran through the woods of a mountain.
" Whooooo!!" He screamed, as he reached an edge, that led to a cliff.
Itekan smiled and sat down in the lotus position, breathing in softly, he was absorbing the spiritual energy in the air. He was there for about thirty minutes before he opened his eyes.
In front of him was a man wearing a long black coat, the man had purple hair and even darker eyes, both a deep shade of purple.
" Dad, dad !, I did it " Itekan said, a look of joy on his face.
" Yes, you did, congratulations you're now a 2nd ringed hero" Carpathia said.
Itekan got up full of joy, he knew the skill by heart now, he'd been practicing it for months but could not really get it done because he lacked enough spiritual energy.
He did the hand signs, and raising his hands to his side he roared, " Chajama!! ", a gush of spiritual energy condensed and burst into flames, creating fireballs, they in total numbered nearly 100.
Itekan released the attack and it burned its way through the forest behind him, a wake of flames were left where was once filled with trees.
" I did it, dad I did it" Itekan shouted energized, then he collapsed, his spiritual energy had run out.
" Yes you did" Carpathia said softly as he picked Itekan and literally disappeared.
***
The next few days Itekan spent them trying to increase his Spiritual Sea level by meditating by the cliff, it had the most dense spiritual energy across the entire mountain and by the end of the second week, he was able to fire two of the fireball attacks.
His father was the protector of this mountain and the towns that lay at its feet, it was said that dispite the towns closeness to monster zones, the sole reason they had not been invaded was because of his father, Itekan had always taken pride with the fact that he was the son of a man of great importance, at least till the events of the last months ago.
A month ago, Itekan and his dad arrived at town like every other market day, to restock for the month. Carpathia had told him to remain in their cart, whilst he'd gone into one of the shops.
Itekan obediently had remained there, when from the corner of his eye he saw three other kids glancing his way.
Itekan smiled and waved for them to come to him, and they did albeit a bit reclusive about it.
" Hi, what's your name?" Itekan asked
The other kids had responded enthusiasticly and they got into conversations, they had all been enjoying their time together, when the topic of cultivation was brought up.
Apparently there had been rumors amongst other kids that Itekan was barely 1 ringed, the rumor had spread and the other kids were making fun of this, which angered Itekan.
" Stop, that not very nice " itekan said
" Or, what you're going to call your father to spank us" one said.
Itekan face crumbled in shock.
" Unlike you, meatheads that are barely 2 ringed, I have cultivated my 3rd one and I just mastered my new absolute technique" one said smugly, his face creamy with pleasure, his name was Flocker.
" Yeah, Flocker's amazing, he's definitely not like the rest of us, he's even going to attend Four Stars Academy" another one said, sucking up to Flocker.
Itekan had them realized he was bringing shame to his father, despite being 13 years old, he in actuality had not even really reached his 1st ring. Most kids by 8 already had reached the 1st ring.
That event had propelled Itekan to training diligently everyday, his mood had shifted, every dad he ran to the top of the mountain before breakfast and spent and hour trying to absorb spiritual energy, to no avail.
This cycle went on for three weeks before Carpathia decided to step in.
***
That was three weeks ago, his spiritual Sea now had grow faster than he'd expected, but it didn't surprise him after all he was his son, but even then it made him proud. The reason he had not been able to properly cultivate was because he been doing it wrong fundamentally, once Carpathia had corrected him, the kid had surprised even himself at how fast he had grown.
" Well it's time for actual practice, yes" he said carrying Itekan, in his arms as he appeared on front of a cottage hidden in the woods that was their home.
***
Itekan woke up later feeling a bit refreshed, he got up from his bed he left his room on the first floor, roaming around, he subconsciously went to the attic, where he messed around, going through the boxes that were there. He stumbled across one that was hidden below the others and he reached out to It, taking and opening it.
Itekan reached inside and brought out the first thing he touched, which was a painting, it showed, him, his father and a woman, whose face had been blurred out. The woman held him to her as the portrait was drawn.
His mother.
Itekan touched the painting softly caressing it, he could barely remember her face, his mind went blank when he tried to recall it, as if someone had purposely blotted it from his memories.
Whilst he was still deep in his thoughts something deep in the box caught his attention, he reached in and brought it out.
' Diary of the Shadow King' it read, Itekan quickly flipped through it, bit met empty pages, suddenly he had a feeling of what he was supposed to do, he placed his hand on top of the book and released a bit of his spiritual energy into it.
Suddenly, a word was revealed on the first page, then another, another and soon a sentence was revealed.
Itekan shocked, read it out, " when I first came to, I open my mouth, and all that came out was a word, it changed me, the first of my kind born to live in the shadow of my God." Itekan read softly.
He stopped, thinking deeply, his eyes clouded turned pitch black, like an endless darkness, and Itekan whispered.
" Toitoi"
Behind him, his shadow moved ever so slightly.
Itekan came out of his daze and left the attic, the book and picture in his hands.
***
Itoyea
A ruined place, that, once was a reflection of a nice town, with nice people and nice affairs , however now they lay, dead, bodies mixed with rumble, with no clear distinction. There blood had covered the once green grasses with a metallic red.
A figure walked through this mess, what was remaining after a demonic beast invasion, it was terrible, he thought, he pulled himself together as he walked, he took had been victim to one of such tragedies, but that was in times long past.
The purpose of his doing here was livid, he picked through the rubbles and dug out a boy skinny to the bone, with golden white hair that covered his even larger eyes.
This boy, dispite being unconscious held to his chest a sword, this sword wasthe reason he was here, he attempted to pull it from the boys grasps but the boy didn't let go, his eyes opening weakly, he stared at this intruder with his eyes full of contempt.
The man shocked, let go then laughed.
" The old man was right, it seems you really have his blood, then this would belong to you" the stranger said, bringing out a ticket and handing it to the boy.
" Be at Four Stars, before the next exam or else this would be useless" he said.
The boy raised his head up and took the ticket, looking at it,he saw his name spelt on it.
He looked up and saw that the intruder was no longer there.
With only his voice ringing through the air.
"I would be back to see, if you are worthy of holding that sword, Pri..." His voice faded completely.
***
Kutote
A boy ran through a forest, suddenly he jumped, as a kunai was shot at him, he sumalsulted and landed dodging two more of those throw at him, one however had hit his leg.
Causing him to lose his footing, he shocked, looked and saw a green mist spread slowly through his veins.
Poisen!!
He had not expected they'd use that, feeling his consciousness fading he pulled himself up and ran through the clearing, he fell, slipping and rolled down the slope, falling into a town below.
The mercenaries chasing him stopped immediately at the clearing, moving no further, their prey remained just in front of them unconscious but they couldn't get him, one quite brazen jumped past it, he leapt attempting to cut of the boy's head in one feel swoop, immediate he felt a presence, he looked and saw someone standing before him, holding his hand, with the blade.
" You are not to pass, that pole" the stranger said, pointing at a pole, before the clearing which the others had stopped at, the mercenary felt himself sweat blood in the presence of this person, he knew he had made a mistake, the rumors that even demon beast dared not enter this place had always been that to him, a rumor, but now in the presence of this person he felt the truth of it was that he made the demon beast that we're all led by instincts realize that entering this place would result in more than just death.
A black void formed beneath the strangers feets and arm like tentacles stretched out, pulling him in slowly.
" N.. no, ple...ease!!" The mercenary wept, as he was pulled in.
Carpathia looked towards where the other mercenaries stood, one had wet his pants, and the other had fainted.
Hmph.
Carpathia scoffed as he turned and walked to the boy who had dispite, his increasing pain had willed himself to stay awake, watching in shock as this man had made useless his chasers, they were all 3rd stage heros. Yet they were made to look as children, he looked up, fear crossed his face as he cleared at the man who walked towards him, he slowly backed away, despite the pain.
" Stay still, kid!" Carpathia said, appearing by the boy, poking one of his pressure points, looking at the posien spreading up his thigh, he swiftly blocked it's progression by poking some pressure points, the poisen immediately dispelled like fog, from the boy.
Unconscious, the boy did not notice when he arrived at a clinic.
" Take care of him" Carpathia said to the doctor who nodded.
" No problem Chef C" the doctor assured him, nodding Carpathia disappeared.