* * *
In a temple made of stone on the top of a mountain in northern Norway, three men walked up to a statue in the middle around the statue pillars with indents of a shape. “Did you find one of the keys?” asked a presence with a deep voice.
One of the men bowed. “No, my lord. It was well hidden, but I did find the sword of the one who banished you,” said one of the men as he held out a jeweled sword to the statue.
The Voice inside laughed. “Yes, a good gift, but I don’t tolerate failure,” said the Voice. “You did not look hard enough!”
Just then, lightning shot down from out of nowhere, hitting one of the men. He screamed, twitching on the ground as his body spasms, and then was silenced as he turned into ash. The jeweled sword the man had been holding clanked to the ground. One of the other men grabbed the sword and put it on a pedestal in front of the statue where the voice was coming from.
“Kira, you’re in charge of these fools,” said the Voice as a young woman with red hair and green eyes walked up. She was wearing pants and a coat with a diagonal stripe going across her chest, and on her back was a sword in its sheath. The Voice was cautious of Kira because he knew she served out of fear, not loyalty.
“I might be only at one-fifth of my strength due to the seal, but I can still deal with failures,” said the Voice.
The red-haired woman bowed down and asked, “What are your orders, my lord?”
“According to my spies, the son has one of the keys. Take it from his lifeless corpse if you have to,” said the Voice. “Don’t fail me.”
The woman bowed. “Understood, my lord.”
Kira and the two men walked out of the temple. Another soldier of the Lord of Shadows appeared to take the place of the other who had been reduced to ash.
* * *
Alexander was absent from school for a week due to the death of his parents. After school one day, in a nearby forest, he was practicing with his wooden sword, fighting an invisible enemy. His reflection is seen off the lake next to him as he goes through the form of his style.
“Why did this happen? What were you part of, Mother, Father?” asked the teen to himself.
For the previous two days, he had gone to the library to see if he could find anything about this Lord of Shadows mentioned in the note found inside the box, but his search came up empty.
I suppose it wouldn’t be public knowledge, thought the teen. Alexander heard a rustling in the forest. “Come out,” he demanded as he raised his wooden sword in a guard position.
Four people came out into a clearing in the forest. One of them was the red-haired woman, Kira. The other three were mere soldiers of the Lord of Shadows and decked in black tunics with cloths over their faces. For every one that was killed or dispensed with, the Lord of Shadows could replace them easily.
Stepping forward from the others, Kira said to Alexander in a smooth voice, “Alexander, you have something of my master’s. Lead us to it. It is a key, and your father had no rights to it. He stole something very precious from my master. Bring it to me, and you will be rewarded. It is of no use to you.”
Alexander’s eyes narrowed. “Who is your master?” he asked, backing away. “Were you the one who murdered my parents?” he growled from his throat.
“No, I did not get the pleasure of watching them burn,” said the woman with a maniacal grin on her face. “If you do not bring us the Key, then we will have to destroy you. Will you take us to the Key?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about. I don’t have any Key,” replied Alexander, lying. He had the box safely hidden in his room at Samuel’s house.
The woman smirked. “Nice try however you won’t be alive long enough to tell anyone. My master is the Lord of Shadows,” she said, making Alexander tense up. “We’ll find out where you have been living and kill all those in the house. Now will you take us to the Key?”
Alexander shook his head, still brandishing his wooden sword griping the handle till in preparation of the coming fight. He did not trust these people and knew the key must be very important. How can I protect Samuel and his family from these thugs? he thought.
“Kill him,” she ordered to the others as she stepped back before Alexander could answer his own question.
The three charged Alexander with their weapons as the woman looked on with a cruel smirk. The first man swung his duel short sword but missed and was kicked in the back by Alexander. The other two charged forward as Alexander blocked a staff with his wooden sword but struggled to push back against the larger of the two men. Alexander fell to one knee from the sheer power of the man. The man turned around and kicked the teen in the chest, making him gasp for breath. He then tripped the boy with his staff so that he fell to the ground. The large man raised his staff over his head, ready to deliver the killing blow, when he was sent back by a strong kick. The woman looked up and saw an old man who appeared to be of Asian descent. He was wearing a blue robe with a symbol of a white rose on his back. “Who the hell are you?”
“My name is not important to the dishonorable. You strike a downed warrior. This I cannot allow. You are a disgrace to warriors everywhere,” said the man in the blue robe. He pulled out a dagger and announced, “Come.”
The large man got up and charged forward and brought his staff over the old man. Quick as a flash, the large man was bleeding from his jugular vein as the old man slashed his neck with a dagger.
The old man wiped the blood off his dagger with his robe as the other two men charged in as well, but one was stabbed quickly in the chest while the other was cut in his throat. As he turned around, he asked, “How about you, young lady?”
Kira backed away with a little fear in her eyes due to this new threat. She looked at Alexander and said, “You got lucky, boy, but I will be back,” and she fled into the forest. Her companions lay on the ground lifeless.
The old man helped to lift Alexander up left the forest leaving the body unaware of them disappearing in black smoke.
The old man brought him to a small house near a stream. “He has already seen death, and he is so young. What brought him to this? thought the old man. The old man helped the young boy onto a bed, and the boy folded up in pain, and he slept.
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