The Storytellar (Shadows Of A Massacre)

Nightmare IV

There was yet another victim that suffered from the purple-eyed man that very same bloody night, actually there were multiple, in what order or reason? That would be anyone's guess but the one constant thing was the fact that there always remained a single survivor.

One of those survivors was a child of tall height, dark skin, black pupils and curly hair. This survivor emerged from the wreckage of his family home, clothes tattered, head and arms bloody yet he walked out strong of the broken pieces of home with a single desire in his dark pupils; to kill the purple-eyed man that caused him all this pain, mercilessly murdered his family and scarred his life in just one night.

The boy was weak but had an unwavering will to survive, he slowly took each step down his shinto-like home, dragging his weakened body as he gradually bled out from his left arm. He had sustained a huge cut on his left arm from the purple-eyed man although this was not before he had also injured the purple-eyed murderer by severing his Achilles tendon, leaving him with a nasty leg wound and limp as he walked.

The determined boy would have attempted to also end the murderer's life right then and there, "I'll kill you!" the boy screamed as he ran full force towards the killer. Instead, the boy was sent flying into a safely covered area of his collapsing house by none other than his father, just before he too was killed in cold blood by a hidden blade of the murderer. "Nooo...!!!" Was the boy's last scream just before the entire building finally collapsed over him and the murderer disappeared into the wind.

It may not have looked like it then and the boy may not have known it at the time, but his father had saved him from losing his head that night.

Walking sluggishly down the stairs, "I have to...avenge them all..." were the words the curly-haired boy repeated under his breath over and over, before finally reaching the torii(gate) down the bottom of the stairs on the outskirts of his wrecked home.

Once he stepped out of the torii he met a man, a middle-aged man with grey hair and a full beard, a man that the boy had never seen before; this mysterious gentleman man wore a full white suit with silver trims along its hem, he also wore black shoes that seemed to be from an expensive brand, a black tie with red stripes and a walking cane made of redwood with a raven head carved on top of it. The cane was of course used to support his leg as it would limp as he walked.

It was dark that night, and the dark clouds seemed to have blocked the moon and night sky so it was a bit difficult to see clearly, but once the man got close enough to view the boy's face, he noticed the crazed look in the bloody boy's eyes as well as well as the pool of blood that surrounded him.

'Those eyes... I've seen such a bloodlust only once before, the boy is ready to kill...or be killed...' the gentleman thought.

"If I may, little boy, what happened here?" asked the mysterious man in a received pronunciation of British intonation.

With so little strength left, the boy held himself up by his feet, pointed a pocket knife he had on his person towards the man and asked in a rageful manner, "Is it you!?

"What?" the man was confused.

The boy angrily yelled out, "Is it you!? The purple-eyed bastard mage that killed my entire family!?" and charged at the man with his pocket knife pointed to the man's chest. 

"Hoho~!" The man excitedly exclaimed as he easily evaded the boy's attack.

A storm began to brew and thunder once again.

In a flash of lightning, with his cane, the man quickly struck the boy's legs which caused him to fall flat to the ground and lose hold of his pocket knife.

"Hey, pipsqueak! Just stay down. You're too young, you can't beat–"

The boy struck the wet mud in a rage. "I'll kill you!" The beaten mud splattered onto the gentleman's trousers.

"Hey, brat! These trousers are part cashmere, you know! That's very expensive!" complained the man as he hastily tried to wipe off the mud on his trousers. He seemed more worried about his suit than the boy's attempted assaults.

"So what... Old man?"

"Aigoo! Old man? Old man!? I'm only 35, you dumb brat!" The man was flustered by the boy's comment on his age.

"Hey, brat! I'm not that old!–"

"–And I'm not that young! I'm only eight!"

"You...!" The man gritted his teeth.

"I won't stop, old man! I won't forgive you for ending my entire family!" The boy's breathing hastened and steam suddenly escaped his gritting mouth.

"I can't stop now! I'll kill you!" Once declared, the boy reached for his pocket knife and weakly stood up to face the man once again.

A smile appeared on the man's face.

"Hoho~! I like you, kid. There's a fire in your eyes! It's too bad you're not a mage..."

The boy glared at him with rage on his face, tears in his eyes and his teeth gritted.

"I...kill you... I'll kill you... I'll kill you...!" grunted the boy as he wobbled towards the man.

"Come on then," the man chuckled.

As the boy staggered even closer to the man, the man's guard was up until all of a sudden, the boy lost strength in his legs and fell face-first on the wet ground just before the man's feet.

The man looked down on the boy with disappointment in his eyes and underestimated the boy with his words. "Huh? That was quite disappointing. And here I thought you had a bit more–!"

All of a sudden, the man grimaced from a sharp pain in his foot and then angrily grunted, "Ah...!! Hey now...!" The boy had gripped hard onto the man's leg with all his remaining might.

Before the gentleman could retaliate, he noticed something interesting about the boy, "Well, well, well... What do we have here?"

The hateful eyes of the boy were glowing...
"That's a rare colour, you have there, boy..." uttered the gentleman.

As the man observed the tenacious boy's glowing eyes with glee, his intrigued eyes glowed a profound golden amber.

The rain slowly began to show signs of falling again, but this time, it would be even heavier. Amidst the growing storm, the two curiously stared into each other's glowing eyes; one filled with intense misplaced rage and the other filled with intrigue. It was then that that boy realized...
"You're not...the purple-eyed bastard..." the boy faintly uttered, he looked as if he was going to nod off any minute.

Within the second the rain poured on them, the man leaned closer to the boy and then activated his cane which popped out from its bottom, the canopy of an umbrella; the external of the canopy was black while the internal was silver.
He held the cane-like umbrella over them as the stormy rain fell and said to the tired boy lying on the muddy floor, "It seems like you've been through a lot this night, I can see it all... You've...lost so much. Why don't you join me and I'll give you...what you truly want."

"Fine... Do what you want...old man..." the curly-haired boy said sluggishly uttered just before he fell unconscious to which the man replied, "I'm not that old, cheeky brat."

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