Tale of the: Warrior of Innocence

Chapter 1

A quaking roar crackled by, throwing the bed sheets into asunder and forcing a heartbeat from what appeared to be a silent sleep. A young boy, who couldn’t have looked older than six, sat up and perked his ears to the noises. Normally thunder wouldn’t have caused him to be so startled or shocked, but this night he had honed his hearing to be especially keen towards the murmurs in the other room. It was a horribly treacherous storm that darkened the woods and flooded the plains, leaving only those with a reckless disregard for their own life to travel. The boy perked his inhumanely long ears further up and positioned them more towards the oaken door to try and understand what was occurring. Though as futile as it was turning out to be, something coherent finally came from his efforts and he was able to make out what appeared to be yelling. Which was odd, in that no one was supposed to be home but himself.

“Then you’ve done it. You’ve committed the final sin and have begun the workings towards our destruction. You knew what you had to do when this started. Our entire kingdom thought you were off on your little mission to do away with it. But no, here we are nine months later and that atrocity still gnaws at my nightmares. You are the greatest fool of all and if you will not kill it, we shall kill them both for you.” A voice the boy had never heard before spoke in a rather angered and disrespectful tone. Who was it talking to though? Father was out training the thieves’ guild tonight and mother was away on a mission given to her by the high council… Ah, that was it! Mother was back and she meant to surprise him the next morning. The boy smiled with joy and excitement, he could hardly wait till he could see his mother once more. She was always gone, busy with important missions so often that he knew more of being alone than of his own mother’s face. But when she was home, it was always a time of happiness for him, such happiness that he could hardly contain himself. The boy had to latch back onto his bed to restrain from leaping forth and rushing to her at that very moment. He was energetic and restless, but he was also exhausted. The combination soon mixed to the breaking point and without notice, his eyes grew drowsy and soon he drifted to sleep.

A bright light cut its way through what appeared to be more water than glass, as a rainbow spouted forth from the window and struck the young boy on his face. It was an absolutely beautiful way to wake up, but painful none the less. Squinting a moment in his dream, the boy suddenly opened his eyes and promptly had them burned shut again by the spectrum of light. After rubbing his eyes to soothe them for a moment, the boy remembered what he had heard the night before and leapt from his bed. After running around and about searching everywhere for his mother, he finally found her in the front room, sitting over a table, crying. Black rings encircled her eyes as if she had not slept for days and a sorrowful aura seemed to encircle her. The young boy quietly and sheepishly approached his mother until he was just within ear shot and smiled lightly.

“Mommy! What’s wrong mommy?” The child asked timidly to his mother. She looked up for a moment before leaping from her chair and grasping the boy, fiercely hugging him.

“My son… I’m sorry – I’ve ruined everything. I’ve destroyed everything. I don’t want you to know this pain or hardship, you should be let grow free and without darkness and malevolence surrounding you. I’ve caused this. I’ve caused this war.” His mother said, still crying, but now over his shoulder. The young boy looked at her curiously.

“What’s war mommy?” The child asked perplexed. He had never heard that word before. But his curiosity only furthered his mother’s crying as well as her grip on him as she hugged him tighter. Just as it seemed she would very well squeeze the life out of him with her ‘love’, a creaking sound alarmed the young boy. His mother released him and he looked to the front door to see who was there to greet them. Oddly enough, the door was still shut tight and there was no sign of a guest? The young boy stared at the door quite baffled. Even the most nimble of thieves left the door ajar when they came in, so who could it be?

A finger suddenly began to tap on the boy’s shoulder, sending shivers up his spine and forcing him to jump around in anticipation. The boy was just about ready to cry in fear when he saw it was his parent’s friend, Artano Lionse. He never came by the house though, why was he here now – and for that matter how did he get in? The young boy contemplated the issue deeply just for a moment, had his ability to sense magical spells such as teleportation become weakened? Rather then sit there dumb founded the boy put a stern look on his face and demanded an explanation.

“Mister Magi Artano! How did you do that? I want to know how to do that!’ The young boy shouted out rather brashly. But all Artano did in reply was smile and laugh. That’s all Artano ever did when the young boy saw him. Artano was a rather joyful fellow who never seemed to be hindered in his carefree and happy nature.

“You’re asking me about parlor tricks that any hack can show you when you have the greatest user of mind powers in our entire village as your mother. You should be asking her to teach you how I do my little mischievous deeds and how to use some of her psionic abilities as well. You’ll be better off for it. But before I take too much of your time with my ranting and lectures, I’d like to have a word with your mother in private about… business. Especially pertaining to the mission she just completed.” Artano said while looking up towards the boy’s mother with a sharp look in his eyes. His usual joyous demeanor had given way to a stern and serious tone just then.

“Oh…Yes, I see. Of course.” The boy’s mother barely was able to stumble out. “Be on your way then son. These are matters that you should not hear regardless of how direly they concern you.” She said with a look of scorn in her eyes directed at Artano. Artano merely shook his head and gave the boy a nudge towards the door. The child looked awkwardly at the two for a moment before making his way out, adults were so confusing.