I grew up in a small out of the way farming town in Lexia. It was a nice, quiet place where everyone knew everyone else and never had a real problem with each other that couldn't be handled by a short fistfight followed by much laughing, drinking and back slapping on the part of the two arguers as they made up....... I was so naive back then..... if I only knew what I would grow up to be.....
One stormy night a stranger came knocking on our door. He was terribly wounded, and seeking desperate help. My parents, being they type of people they were, took the stranger in and cared for him. I was sent off to the doctors house for help...... my parents probably didn't know it, but they saved my life that night.... I just wish..... I just wish that I had gotten the opportunity to tell them how much I loved them......
When I arrived with the doctor, we found the barn on fire, and my front door ripped off its hinges. The doctor rushed inside, telling me to stay put. When he reemerged several minutes later, he was pale and shaking. He stumbled to his knees right beside me and told me to run to town and gather up as many men as I could, just before he threw up all over the ground. I ran as fast as I could through the night, not paying any mind to my stumbling occasionally or the searing pain going through my twisted ankle.
In my seven year old innocence, I believed that there was still hope, that once I got the fathers and grandfathers together, that everything would be all right again. I was wrong, so terribly wrong and foolish. I never did find out what happened, or how bad it was, but looking at the blood-soaked sheets that covered their bodies as they were buried leads me to believe to this day that they were killed very painfully, almost tortured in their innocence at helping a complete stranger. Sometimes, late at night, I lay awake wondering, did they go to Heaven or Hell?.... What were they thinking just before they died?....
After that, I was sent to the capital city to live with my uncle. He was a money hungry scum that only ever did one thing for me, and that was send me to school and the only reason he did that was to get me away from him for most of the day. I needed some way to channel my energy, to focus it away from my murdered parents, if I didn't, I was going to go insane. I found a kind old man that began to teach me the ways of Akido.... it was him, not my uncle that pulled me through those first terrible years. It was him that sat with me at night as I had nightmare after terrible nightmare. He was always there, with a cup of warm milk and a gentle smile, shushing me back to sleep. He passed away, very peacefully when I was 15, and I was alone again.
I was very quiet and withdrawn all through high school, and that caused me to get picked on quite a bit. They stopped in a real hurry when I decided I had enough. I was 16, and walking to my next class, books in hand when a couple of bigger guys tripped me, causing my books, and lunch to fall all over the floor in front of everyone. That was it, I had had it, the embarrassment was too much.
I rolled to my back and vaulted to my feet with my hands. This took them by surprise, but not nearly as much as when I kicked one solidly in the throat, knocking him back through a two story window where he fell to his death. I whirled and drove my fist into another's stomach, and when he doubled over, I grabbed the top of his head a leapt straight up, pulling his head down and bringing my knee up sharply into his face. He fell back and didn't move. I turned on the other two and struck one sharply just under his ear. He fell like a bag of flour, and the other one broke off and ran.
I smiled coldly as his terror and common sense overtook his body's motor skills. I picked my books and lunch up, not even aware of the silent stares of my classmates as they looked on in kind of a wondered, terrified awe. I did, however, notice one person?s gaze. There was a soldier there that day that was recruiting for the army. He was personally in the special warfare field, and as I passed, he grabbed me and took me into an empty classroom, explaining everything to me. I nodded, and several weeks later, began my training, still going to school.
I wore my uniform to school every day, and was left pretty much alone, except for one person, that despite my best efforts, kept coming back. My career in the military consumed my being, and when I finally got into the special warfare branch, I all but stopped going to school. The only reason I didn't was because my patrol leader believed in education very strongly. Well, my disposition became colder and colder, as my kill's increased. I earned the nickname 'God' by my fellow soldiers, because of my deadly aim with my sniper rifle, and the ability of a bullet to hit anywhere at anytime I pleased, like a lightning bolt thrown from the sky.
When I was seventeen, I finally got sick of Tera's antic's.... always following me around, talking to me and being nice. Why couldn't she see that I just wanted to be left alone? So one day, I stuck a gun in her face. I had no intentions of squeezing the trigger, and she must have sensed this, because she just laughed, to my surprise, and pushed the .45 out of her face. She leaned forward and kissed me boldly and walked away, a giggle bubbling from her lips. All I could do was shake my head and put my gun away.
After that, Tera and I began to date. She brought out feelings in me that I had never felt before....I slowly wondered if I was falling in lerve, I mean live.....no, that's not right either....long? Oh well, you get the idea. We were sent on an assignment one Tuesday, the week of our junior prom. We were promised to be back by Friday, so I could take Tera, but we didn't make it......something went wrong....terribly wrong.
I was inserted first, and me and my rifle found a rooftop that suited us nicely. We waited. I watched, as the team rushed in the town square, guns blazing, cutting down soldiers left and right. The call came through, and I sighted in on the rope that was going to be used to hang one of our political leaders. I adjusted for the wind, and took the shot, not paying any attention to what was on the other side of the target.
The rope sliced free, but my .50 cal round punctured a gasoline barrel, the heat igniting it and exploding. Everything went white as another, and another and another exploded, until all 40 of them had gone, ripping everything apart. Several pieces of metal flew through my chest and cut my face.
When I awoke, I was laying on the grassy plains of RhyDin, a few buildings off in the distance. I limped and crawled to them, eventually finding out they were called the Red Dragon Inn's. When I got inside, a kind person healed most of what he could, and five years have done the rest. I have learned to wield a sword, and even though I still carry the MP5's of my past, I try my best to blend in, a stranger and outsider in a dangerous world, ever searching for a way home, trying to get back to Tera.....
I owe her a dance.....
One stormy night a stranger came knocking on our door. He was terribly wounded, and seeking desperate help. My parents, being they type of people they were, took the stranger in and cared for him. I was sent off to the doctors house for help...... my parents probably didn't know it, but they saved my life that night.... I just wish..... I just wish that I had gotten the opportunity to tell them how much I loved them......
When I arrived with the doctor, we found the barn on fire, and my front door ripped off its hinges. The doctor rushed inside, telling me to stay put. When he reemerged several minutes later, he was pale and shaking. He stumbled to his knees right beside me and told me to run to town and gather up as many men as I could, just before he threw up all over the ground. I ran as fast as I could through the night, not paying any mind to my stumbling occasionally or the searing pain going through my twisted ankle.
In my seven year old innocence, I believed that there was still hope, that once I got the fathers and grandfathers together, that everything would be all right again. I was wrong, so terribly wrong and foolish. I never did find out what happened, or how bad it was, but looking at the blood-soaked sheets that covered their bodies as they were buried leads me to believe to this day that they were killed very painfully, almost tortured in their innocence at helping a complete stranger. Sometimes, late at night, I lay awake wondering, did they go to Heaven or Hell?.... What were they thinking just before they died?....
After that, I was sent to the capital city to live with my uncle. He was a money hungry scum that only ever did one thing for me, and that was send me to school and the only reason he did that was to get me away from him for most of the day. I needed some way to channel my energy, to focus it away from my murdered parents, if I didn't, I was going to go insane. I found a kind old man that began to teach me the ways of Akido.... it was him, not my uncle that pulled me through those first terrible years. It was him that sat with me at night as I had nightmare after terrible nightmare. He was always there, with a cup of warm milk and a gentle smile, shushing me back to sleep. He passed away, very peacefully when I was 15, and I was alone again.
I was very quiet and withdrawn all through high school, and that caused me to get picked on quite a bit. They stopped in a real hurry when I decided I had enough. I was 16, and walking to my next class, books in hand when a couple of bigger guys tripped me, causing my books, and lunch to fall all over the floor in front of everyone. That was it, I had had it, the embarrassment was too much.
I rolled to my back and vaulted to my feet with my hands. This took them by surprise, but not nearly as much as when I kicked one solidly in the throat, knocking him back through a two story window where he fell to his death. I whirled and drove my fist into another's stomach, and when he doubled over, I grabbed the top of his head a leapt straight up, pulling his head down and bringing my knee up sharply into his face. He fell back and didn't move. I turned on the other two and struck one sharply just under his ear. He fell like a bag of flour, and the other one broke off and ran.
I smiled coldly as his terror and common sense overtook his body's motor skills. I picked my books and lunch up, not even aware of the silent stares of my classmates as they looked on in kind of a wondered, terrified awe. I did, however, notice one person?s gaze. There was a soldier there that day that was recruiting for the army. He was personally in the special warfare field, and as I passed, he grabbed me and took me into an empty classroom, explaining everything to me. I nodded, and several weeks later, began my training, still going to school.
I wore my uniform to school every day, and was left pretty much alone, except for one person, that despite my best efforts, kept coming back. My career in the military consumed my being, and when I finally got into the special warfare branch, I all but stopped going to school. The only reason I didn't was because my patrol leader believed in education very strongly. Well, my disposition became colder and colder, as my kill's increased. I earned the nickname 'God' by my fellow soldiers, because of my deadly aim with my sniper rifle, and the ability of a bullet to hit anywhere at anytime I pleased, like a lightning bolt thrown from the sky.
When I was seventeen, I finally got sick of Tera's antic's.... always following me around, talking to me and being nice. Why couldn't she see that I just wanted to be left alone? So one day, I stuck a gun in her face. I had no intentions of squeezing the trigger, and she must have sensed this, because she just laughed, to my surprise, and pushed the .45 out of her face. She leaned forward and kissed me boldly and walked away, a giggle bubbling from her lips. All I could do was shake my head and put my gun away.
After that, Tera and I began to date. She brought out feelings in me that I had never felt before....I slowly wondered if I was falling in lerve, I mean live.....no, that's not right either....long? Oh well, you get the idea. We were sent on an assignment one Tuesday, the week of our junior prom. We were promised to be back by Friday, so I could take Tera, but we didn't make it......something went wrong....terribly wrong.
I was inserted first, and me and my rifle found a rooftop that suited us nicely. We waited. I watched, as the team rushed in the town square, guns blazing, cutting down soldiers left and right. The call came through, and I sighted in on the rope that was going to be used to hang one of our political leaders. I adjusted for the wind, and took the shot, not paying any attention to what was on the other side of the target.
The rope sliced free, but my .50 cal round punctured a gasoline barrel, the heat igniting it and exploding. Everything went white as another, and another and another exploded, until all 40 of them had gone, ripping everything apart. Several pieces of metal flew through my chest and cut my face.
When I awoke, I was laying on the grassy plains of RhyDin, a few buildings off in the distance. I limped and crawled to them, eventually finding out they were called the Red Dragon Inn's. When I got inside, a kind person healed most of what he could, and five years have done the rest. I have learned to wield a sword, and even though I still carry the MP5's of my past, I try my best to blend in, a stranger and outsider in a dangerous world, ever searching for a way home, trying to get back to Tera.....
I owe her a dance.....