Immortal Soul - Chapter 1

“Get back here kid!” A skinny guard with a mop of dirt brown hair yelled at a young boy, the guard had sweat running down him in streams. It looked as if he had been swimming, his limbs were drenched and he was panting desperately trying to suck in oxygen.

In Key Town the summer sun was unrelenting. Beating down on the people all day with unimaginable heat it was someone for people to be redder then a tomato. Then there was also the added fact that the town constantly stank of body odour.

The boy which was running from the guard was an outcast in Key Town for two reasons. The first reason was every single person here was extremely tanned, unlike the towns people the boys skin was extremely pale, and he never tanned. The second reason was because most of the people the town had brown or black hair, so having My hair ice white with single strip of black running down the side stood out among all of the people, additionally, the child had never dyed his hair. Being a misfit when he was younger he was constantly attacked and beaten, luckily for him though this town contained around a thousand people and not too many knew him so there were only a few that would hit him.

A single though consumed Daemon mind, ‘will pass the test,’ it played on repeat in a seemingly never ending cycle as he ran from the guard. “Stop right now!” the guard bellowed out, while it was meant to sound intimidating the guards had to pause in the middle of each word to suck in more oxygen still panting like a dog so it really was just hard to understand what he was saying.

Daemon the boy continued to run unaffected by the guards previous words, contemplating his choices, ‘how to get away from the guard that is following me, I’m not allowed to use my speed completely and I’m not allowed to initiate combat against him…’ his mind swirled with various possibilities.

Daemon’s mind then turned to his relationship with the giraffe following him called Otter. When he younger, just the age of five, every time Otter caught him in his tanned, bony hands quickly became was an extremely painful experience sometimes with just bruises, but occasionally with the so familiar red substance, blood and/or broken bones. So he learned to run faster then the adults by the age of seven, that was also due to Leon and Annabelle though.

Mr Leon and Mrs Annabelle were each run always and married, probably they were of noble birth as they were both well acquainted with fighting and swordplay. It brought a smile to Daemon’s lips just remembering the day he met them. They had sufficiently terrified him.

.. 3 years ago ..

Daemon hadn’t had a meal in three days, he was to young to run fast enough to get away and to hungry to care anymore. Usually he would steal and then hide somewhere a person can’t fit, in some hidden away crevice they shall never reach. But he was starving and it seemed common sense had left him.

Daemon saw two people in dirty brown commoners cloaks with three apples in a bag hanging from the one on the rights hand who he would later learned turned out to be Mr Leon. Daemon leaped of the hut roof he had been sitting on and pushing his malnourished form as fast it would go. The second he got close enough to the bag he tugged on it with all his might it fell to dirty pathed town path and the juicy red apples rolled out into the floor. The apples had a bit of dirt and dust on them but Daemon didn’t care in the slightest, with small nimble, pale hands he snatched two up. He then shoved one straight in his mouth and threw the other at the mans face to distract him before he turned and fled. Of course being young, uncoordinated and in a rush the five year old boy tripped over his feet… so it wasn’t a much of a challenge for the two people he stole from to catch him. The boy laid sprawled over the ground and absolutely filthy, just a whiff of his scent could make eyes water.

Terror filled his eyes when this giant bulky man he threw the apple at reached down and picked him up by the scruff of his neck. The boy desperately tried to get away, scratching, turning and twisting. But the mans grip was iron and he didn’t do anything other the hold Daemon further from his face so he couldn’t scratch his eyeballs.

After having struggled futilely for a few minutes the boy fell limp. His ever optimistic five year old self clung to the hope that the man would loosen his grip and he could get away. So he had a giant grin on his face when that’s exactly what happened, Leon loosened his grip, and Daemon managed to get out of his hold and tumbled to the ground. His knees dragged uncomfortably on the dirt getting numerous scrapes which he didn’t care about at that moment to high on success. Not even turning to look where he was going he moved backwards in an attempt to get away.

Unluckily for him he had forgotten about Mrs Annabelle. As the boy stumbled backwards he ran into a wall of legs which were concealed by a rough and itchy material. The child’s last hope was to play the innocent, protect me card. Of course he knew that had about a one percent chance of working because of how he looked. But still he ran behind the ladies leg clutching onto her itchy cloak with his small, pale hands. He peaked his head out from the skirt and looked up to see a smiling laides face looking down at me. She had clear pale skin with no visible blemished and flaming red hair that framed her face.

“Please save me Mrs,” I whimpered putting on my best scared, innocent child act, even though the scared part was completely real. She laughed at that an pulled me into her arms giving me hug before picking me up like baby.

“Leon, you’ve scared the boy!” She exclaimed still laughing.

“Oops…” the giant bulky man said looking at his feet and scratching the back of his head. The only word which could describe him at that moment would be sheepish. As he glanced at Daemon again the boy obscurely gave him the finger making sure the lady holding him couldn’t see. Unexpectedly, Leon fell to the ground laughing at this. That day they took Daemon to the local tavern they were staying at and let him shower and fed him a decent meal with meat and fruit.

… back to

Up till now they’ve been teaching me to fight, but they’ve made me promise I will not attack anyone at the town unless the situation is dire.

…back to present (forward three years)…

A sly grin graced Daemons lip as he campe up with a plan to escape while following the rules of his test. Picking up his pace slightly dust stirred ont he air behind the boy as he moved towards a small hut to the right of him. Once he reached it he scaled the brown clay wall and jumped onto the roof. The roof was straw but there were wooden beams used to support the roof which could support Daemon’s weight.

Standing on the roof Daemon looked down on Otter. Otter stood still looking slightly stunned before he started running at me again. So persistent.

“Good day Otter, but I believe it’s time to take my leave,” Daemon taunted with a flamboyant bow and sly grin. Laughing Like a hyena he ran over the roofs of many huts, leaping like a gazelle from roof to roof. He easily lost Otter due to his tactic.

The test had been easy and simple. Mr Leon had said he had to get away from a guard without just outrunning them or stopping them with physical means. He had been watching the whole thing from the shadows and Daemon couldn’t stop his lips from curving up at the thought of passing with flying colours.

Daemon arrived at the house that he lived at with Mr Leon and Mrs Annabelle. With an exaggerated movement he threw the door open and entered with a grin on his young eight year old face.

“You’re improving,” Leon said in a monotone voice. When he was fighting or training and assessing Daemon’s skills he was cold, hard and brutal but when he was just doing normal things he was a happy and jolly man. A truly terrifying sight to see him go from smiling to serious in a second.

Annabelle smacked Leon on the cheek then ran with a glare for wing so serious then over to Daemon. She lifted him off the ground with ease, swinging him around in a circle like a baby all the while singing praises. Don’t be deceived, Annabelle was much scarier then Leon when it came to training me herself but every other second she acted like a stand in mother. Annabelle was truly deadly with a passion for poison and alchemy.

“Let me down Annabelle,” the boy whined, but she just pinched his cheek making it go bright red. Following this Daemon glared at. After all he was an eight year old boy!