Chapter 1: The day it all changed
The morning of 21st September 1883 was the same as any other day in Middlewick. The Central Marketplace was opening up early in the morning, people were hurriedly having breakfast and leaving for work, traders were coming in and going out of town. Tom and the other drunkards who had stayed up all night were chatting away at the local pub.
In the midst of this bustling town, there was a house of a certain Military soldier by the name of James. He and his wife, Darcy had gone to the Capital for his promotion ceremony the previous day, while their 13-year-old son Kelvin was alone at home.
Kelvin woke up at 08:00 in the morning and started his morning routine. He took a cold shower, brushed his teeth, watered the plants, took the milk that the milkman left outside into the house, prepared and had his breakfast. After this, he washed the dishes and returned to his room.
A large part of his day consisted of him lazing in his room staring off into space, thinking about random things, and reading his book. Sometimes when he got bored, he would go out into the lawn to look at all the things in his surroundings and practice his sword training.
He also enjoyed conducting some of the small experiments which he thought he could do from his book such as grow caterpillars, find the fertility of the soil in his lawn and various others. These experiments made Kelvin believe that even weak creatures have their importance and role to play and it was the duty of the strong to protect them.
After reading his book thirteen times, Kelvin felt that he could recite the whole book by memory and despite not showing it to his parents, he was extremely excited about the new book he was going to receive.
~~I wonder if mom and dad are coming back today or tomorrow. It’s more fun to stay at home when they are here too.
knock knock
At 09:45, Kelvin heard the faint sound of someone knocking on his door. For a moment, he was in jubilation as he thought that his parents had returned and then he remembered that it was too early for them to return and that the promotion ceremony hadn't started yet.
Knock Knock Knock
As Kelvin idly descended the flight of stairs, the knocking become louder and more rapid. This made him think whether it was safe for him to open the door, which he suppressed by saying to himself that he would handle whatever came his way.
KNOCK KNOCK
Kelvin opened the door and shouted,
“WHAT DO YOU WANT? STOP KNOCKING ON MY DOOR!”
“uh…uh…”
Two kids stood in front of Kelvin who he recognized to be the two kids who asked him to not help them again when he chased he kids who were beating them away. He didn’t hold a grudge against them, but didn’t want to associate with them again either.
“It’s you two? What do you want?”
“...Big Brother Kelvin, can you please help us…?”
“Help you?”
“Yes, S-Samuel and his team are beating us a l-lot and we can’t do anything to stop them. Can you t-tell them to stop, please?”
“...ok.”
Kelvin felt a sense of pride and happiness when he was asked by these two kids to help them. It was impossible for him to deny their sweet request, and even harder for him to tolerate the abuse that Samuel and his gang puts on kids like them.
Kelvin wore his shoes and locked his door then followed the kids. They led him from his house to the Central Marketplace, where a variety of alluring smells were wafting in the air. Kelvin forced himself to not lose focus and followed the kids into an empty desolate street and then into a dark alleyway. The opposite end of the alley was another street but the path was blocked by a group of three kids.
“Are those the kids who were beating you?”
“y-yes.”
“Ah, you kids are back. And you did your job properly. Good, now run off, and don’t tell anyone about this or you two will be in a lot of trouble.”
As Samuel said this in a sing-song manner, the two kids ran off without looking back or saying anything to Kelvin.
~~Job? What job?……oh, I am so stupid.
Kelvin was angry and disappointing in the kids for taking advantage and angry at himself for being too foolish to realize what was happening earlier. But, he managed to keep his composure and not fall into a fit of rage.
“So you three told those kids to bring me here, so that you could take revenge on me for the other day?”
“It’s nice that you catch on so fast. Ya, that’s what happened. Are you pissed that those two were lying to you?”
“Not really. Let’s get this over with. What makes you think that you can beat me today, when I had all three of you crying a few days back.”
“Dumbass, this time we have backup. Come on out, you four.”
As Samuel said that, four more kids entered the alleyway from behind Kelvin. They were the other group of kids who would laze around town and beat up other kids. Kelvin would often get into scuffles with them when he was twelve and would go out regularly.
“I am sure you and David here are good acquaintances.”
“No, can’t say we are. Can barely remember this dude.”
“Don’t you worry. I will knock all our old memories back into you.”
“Do we have to do this first thing in the morning? Can’t we do this later?”
“Enough talking, surround him.”
As David said this, the seven people slowly started approaching him from both sides. Kelvin never took the liberty to remember the names of any of them since whenever they meet, they don’t talk much. He identified them from their physical features like how he called Samuel shorty for being the shortest in his group and his two lackeys, blondie, for his hair color, and bluey, for his eye color.
The nicknames that he gave David’s group was more creative. He called David toothless, as Kelvin had knocked multiple teeth out of his mouth while they were ‘playing’ and another he called scar as he had a scar going across his forehead. The other two were twins and he called them screamer 1 and screamer 2 as they would shout at the top of their lungs when they tried to attack Kelvin.
Samuel was approaching Kelvin from the front and David from behind. But before either of them could do anything Kelvin stated dashing towards Samuel.
“Eh…huh…What are you doing?”
Scared at the sudden change of pace, Samuel shouted impulsively, but before he could do anything Kelvin grabbed the back of his head and kneed him hard.
“Gah…”
Kelvin felt a force on his back and before he realized it he tumbled forward. David had caught up to Kelvin and before he realized it, David kicked him hard on the back.
Kelvin fell on his arms and got scraped on the ground. The skin on his arms between his elbow and wrist had been peeled and turned red. A sharp pain was rising through Kelvin’s arms warning him to stop, but he persevered.
Quickly getting back on his feet, he scanned his surroundings. Blondie and Bluey were approaching him from the left while David and his group approached him from the right. Samuel was slowly getting up from the floor while clutching his head from the shock of the strike.
Kelvin carefully monitored their movement, waiting for an opening. He suppressed the pain in his arms and prepared himself for sudden movements.
The alleyway was quiet and the bustle of the marketplace didn’t reach these abandoned corners of town. All that Kelvin could hear was the pattering of the approaching footsteps. Losing patience, Kelvin turned to his right and threw a punch at David.
David instinctively covered his face with hands and managed to block the strike. But, Kelvin followed his punch with another punch to the stomach which David wasn’t able to block.
Having neutralized David for some time, Kelvin turned behind and threw a series of punches at Blondie.
A straight punch to the face, uppercut to the Stomach, a hook to the ribs and finishing off with an uppercut to the chin. Left, right, left, right.
Blondie was knocked to that ground in three seconds. Without any hesitation, Kelvin next set his sights on Bluey who was ogling at Blondie’s fallen figure.
A punch to the face which was blocked, a jab to the stomach which hit, a solid hook to the face and-
In the spur of the moment, Kelvin had forgotten to look behind him. While he was occupied with his attacks, he had been grabbed by one of the screamer twins, he wasn’t sure which one.
After grabbing Kelvin firmly, he laughed loudly, attempting to assert his dominance. The other twin approached Kelvin from the front and punched Kelvin in the stomach.
Before he could punch him again, Kelvin used his legs to block the incoming strike. He then pushed his leg forward in a motion resembling a kick and pushed the Screamer 2 to the ground.
To free himself from Screamer 1’s grasp Kelvin pushed his whole body backward and before Screamer 1 could stabilize himself, Kelvin raised his legs and forced his whole weight on him.
Not being able to hold Kelvin up, Screamer 1 lost balance and fell head first to the ground while tightly holding onto Kelvin. Kelvin being prepared for this outcome, grabbed the back of his head tightly and prepared for impact.
Thunk!
The sound of skull hitting rock the ground was clearly audible throughout the alleyway and everyone tensed up at hearing such a sound. Screamer 1’s hands went numb and he let go of Kelvin. Kelvin hurriedly got off of his body and looked at his body and looked at the still body before him.
~~Huh…Did I…Did I…kill…him…?
Before Kelvin had the opportunity to collect his thoughts or assess the situation, he felt light headed and lost his footing, falling on top of Screamer 1’s body.
He had gotten bashed on the head, from behind, with a hard wooden object causing him to fall on the body before him. Kelvin felt a strong kick to his stomach and he rolled over to the wall on his right. Slowly regaining consciousness, Kelvin saw a blurred person in front of him who be assumed to be his assailant. Samuel was standing in front of him, breathing roughly, with a broken wooden spoke in his hand. He stepped over Screamer 1’s body and approached him.
Kelvin’s head throbbed rhythmically to his fast heartbeat and each throb brought with it a wave of pain. His ears were ringing and his vision was blurred. He tried to push himself up, but couldn’t muster any strength in his hands. He felt as if he had fallen in a small puddle and his head was drenched in mud water.
“WHY THE FUCK DID YOU HIT HIM WITH THAT?”
“It doesn’t matter what I hit him with. Asshole had this coming anyway. Don’t forget, you are in this too.”
“Oh no, I had no part in bashing his goddamn skull open. We have to take him to the clinic or he will fucking bleed out.”
“SHUT THE FUCK UP! I am not done with him. First, I will return the pain and humiliation that this piece of shit put me through, then you can do whatever the hell you want.”
“NO! We take him now or I am getting the fucking guards on you.”
“Don’t you fuckin’ dare!!”
“You are free to be a bloody murderer, but I am not gonna be one.”
“Gu-Guys. What bout Dex? He isn’t moving. We-we should take him to the clinic. So-something might be wrong.”
“Shut the hell up, you stuttering baby. He just fell on the ground, he’s fine. Now, let me get even with our good friend Kelvin here and then we will leave.”
Realizing that the liquid his head was drenched in wasn’t water, but rather blood, he touched the top of his head with his hand. Half of Kelvin’s hand was covered in dark-red blood, his blood. The awareness of the magnitude of his situation made Kelvin feel more pain and dizziness.
He was only able to hear bits and pieces of their conversation, but was sure that they weren’t going to leave him now. Kelvin frantically looked around for somebody to help him, but no one other than his assaulters were in sight. A feeling of dread creeped into Kelvin’s mind on what was going to happen next.
“Oye, what are you looking for, you little shit? No one is coming to save you, I am gonna put you through so much fuckin pain that you would wish that you were fuckin dead.”
“Wait a second. What’s that sound?”
“What sound?”
“That whistling sound. I think it’s coming from the market.”
“I can’t hear any…wait a second. The fuck is that sound?”
“I don’t know…let’s go see.”
“No, I am not gonna waste my time on this bullshit.”
“Fine, I will go check. Just wait a minute.”
David starts walking to one end of the alleyway to see where the sound was coming from. But, something unexpected occurred before he reached the end. A horde of people were running away from the marketplace from both sides of the alleyway.
“H-Huh? What’s happening?”
“I don’t know. Everyone’s running away from the marketplace.”
They all stared at each other for a moment, and then came upon a mutual understanding to abandon Kelvin and run with the crowd. Samuel’s crew entered the group of people on Kelvin’s right and David’s group carried the still unconscious Dex and ran with the crowd to his left.
Now, Kelvin was all alone in the alleyway being ignored by all the panicking people running past him from both sides.
~~Is this how I am going to die? A pretty horrible way…I didn’t even get to see my parents. Sigh, I guess I can’t die yet.
Gritting his teeth, Kelvin turned his frail body onto its stomach and started dragging himself to the exit of the alleyway to his right. Each pull made his body shake with pain and his head throb, but he powered through.
By now, the number of people running past had drastically decreased, so Kelvin had assumed that everyone had evacuated from the marketplace. The whistling sound was much more clear and closer now and was loud enough to drown the sounds of the panicking people and his own ragged breathing.
Kelvin had managed to pull himself to the end of the alleyway, to the street, and the sight before him was something he couldn’t have imagined in his wildest dreams. A huge metallic bird-like object was flying in the sky and a large cylindrical object was falling towards the ground near the marketplace. The scenery behind the flying object was even more shocking. Large smoke clouds were rising into the sky and Kelvin could see flames rising from houses. The few people who still remained in the marketplace were running as fast as they could, abandoning all their belongings.
~~What the hell is going on…? What is that thing? I gotta get as far away as I can.
Seeing what was in front of him, Kelvin completely forgot about his pain and managed to get on his feet. Covering his head to reduce the blood loss, Kelvin limped as fast as he could away from the marketplace, but even he knew that he wouldn’t be able to travel far.
The pain in Kelvin’s head slowly started to rise and just when he felt that his head would burst, he got pushed from the back, making him fall to the ground.
Some person had been wildly running away from the marketplace and had pushed Kelvin out of his way. He continued running, without even looking back at the injured person he had pushed to the ground.
Kelvin, on the ground unable to muster any strength in his body, helplessly looked at the cylindrical object, which was seconds away from falling to the ground.
~~Is someone going to save me? Maybe Dad will come…stupid kids got me into this mess…If I ever see them again, I will give them hell…
As the object hit the ground it burst, causing an explosion covering the entire marketplace. The buildings close to the marketplace were caught in the explosion and large and small pieces of rubble flew across the sky, and then came raining down on the ground below.
Small pieces of rubble rained down of Kelvin’s body, but none were large enough to harm him. He covered his face to ensure that none entered his eyes or entered his face. Just when he thought that he had made it out alive, a large piece of rubble landed on Kelvin’s foot, crushing it under it’s pressure.
AAAAAHHHHHH!!!
The rubble was too large for Kelvin to move and he didn’t have the strength to pull his leg out. The tiniest of movements caused him to experience a pain worse than death and all he could do was lay back, and hope that someone would come to save him.
The explosion had died down and had been replaced by fire and smoke. The whole marketplace was covered in flames, reducing everything it came into contact with to ashes. The large bird-like object had flown away and was nowhere in sight.
Kelvin slowly started losing consciousness and his vision got blurry. Seconds before he was going to pass out, he saw the silhouette of a figure standing at his head.
Gasp Gasp
“I made…time, you…do…want me…help you…”
Despite rapidly losing his consciousness, Kelvin was able to pick up a few words that the silhouette spoke to him. Using all of his strength, he forced his throat to produce one word,
“yes…”
“Fine, I…help…but…blame me…going to…next…”
Kelvin felt a hand touching the top of his head, but he was didn’t feel much pain. He wondered if his body was too injured to feel the pain.
He heard scraping sounds on the ground next to him as if someone was drawing on the soil next to him.
~~didn’t this person say he would help me…am i going to die…
The person then grabbed Kelvin’s hand and placed it palm down on the ground. Kelvin felt that he had touched something muddy and the person was pushing his hand deep into the mud.
~~where did he get water from…wait…did he use my blood…
-----------------------
Kelvin suddenly found himself standing in the middle of a dark room. But he couldn’t even call it a room. All that he could see was black. The ground, sky, and his surroundings, all that he could see was black.
~~Wait a minute…how can I see? Wasn’t I on the ground a moment back? Huh, my head is fine…and my legs! What is this place?
“Are you the one who requested for my help?”
James heard the voice of a man from behind him, it was deep and had a strong olden Angrish accent to it. Turning around, Kelvin saw a tall, lean man standing behind him.
The person was wearing a black clock covering his entire body, excluding his face. His facial expression was one of curiosity accompanied with amusement, and his blood red eyes contained within them a deep-rooted rage hidden by his playful expression and words.
But the most unique feature of his face was his horns. Large, black horns protruded out of his forehead. The horns were ominous-looking and Kelvin could see tiny white particles seeping out of it.
But before Kelvin could say anything, the being standing before him said,
“Well, let us get down to business.” |
