Chapter 1 - Letter 1: From Akuma to Tsuyoku

Letter 1
From Akuma to Tsuyoku


It seems more like a dream than anything... I'm walking alone. Somewhere, I don't know where, but I was alone, I think. It was strange. I was alone and not alone. As if there was always someone right beside me, watching me, protecting me. Someone, who was always there with me... like a guardian. I still feel that way sometimes.

I never knew my father... so I never really missed him. I knew him somewhere deep inside my mind that is only opened in dreams. That was the only place where I was able to see my father, and it was this way for the longest time. Once I woke up, I forgot everything that happened in my dreams. I had someone else with me too, a guardian, I guess. This guardian... you could say took over for my missing father. My father took care of me when I was small …but I remember someone else protecting me. From what? I don't know. Something terrible, something that can't be stopped. Something... most people call destiny…

A past I never knew... it was kept from me. That potion did it... It hid my scar... But it can't hide it anymore. I now know, I know what happened that day... long, long ago...

My father, he took me away from my mother when I was very small and he left my twin sister, Shinrin, there. He said that it would be safer this way. I didn't understand. How could I? I was just a little kid.                 
        
He took me far away. No one lived where we did. There were many animals and plants... but no people. That was the strange thing about it. My father said that he loved to be with people, but we didn't live near any. It never really bothered me because I was always preoccupied with other things. I loved to explore the forests and meadows that we lived by. One day while I was exploring I found something special. A place where all life ceased to exist.

I walked to that lifeless place one day while my father wasn't watching. I was about eight years old, and I didn't understand many things. This dead land that we lived near puzzled me more than anything I had ever seen before. The land... the plants just died there... as if the place was cursed and refused to let anything grow. It seemed to suck the life out of anything that stood near it.

My father saw me standing there. He came running to me, his long fiery-golden ponytail flowing behind him. He stopped as he reached me and said in a stern voice, ``Never come here again because this is the Land of the Dead. Only evil and hatred exists here.''

I didn't understand. So I asked him as we walked away, ``What do you mean?''

``Did you feel any fear while standing over there?'' he asked me. His soft purple eyes seemed to glow as he stared at me with concern.

``I'm not afraid of anything,'' I lied.

He replied simply, ``Fear lives there. Whether you felt it or not.'' He turned around and glared at the dead land behind us with an unusual look for my father's kind face. A cold wind blew through our wild fiery hair and sent a shiver down my back. Suddenly I wished that I had told him the truth, but I never did. I had felt something cold while standing there, something I had never felt before. It was like a thousand cold cursed needles, stabbing me all over my body.

However, that only made me more and more curious instead of afraid. I wanted to see more so I tried to sneak off to that land every time I could. After a few weeks, I got my chance… One day while my father was asleep; I crept silently away to the Land of the Dead. I ran and ran then stopped at the border between life and death. Then slowly I continued on into the curse.

The first thing I noticed was the strange smell the Land of the Dead gave off; like dead rotting flesh. The smell burned my nose and added to the cold needle feeling. I ignored the smell and the strange stabbing feeling and continued through the Land of the Dead. I walked and walked and noticed that all the trees, or what was supposed to have been trees, were extremely strange and as dead looking as the crunchy ground that I stood upon. They were so twisted and black... they seemed to be trying to break free of something. As if they were once human. Humans; turned into wretched twigs, snarling in pain, trying to break free of the curse that rooted them here.
        
I became very tired, and the needle feeling was starting to scare me, so I sat down next to a rock that was covered with strange black ooze. I tried to sit as far away from the gunk as I could. I closed my eyes only for a second. I was so tired from the long walk that I thought I might never wake back up if I fell asleep. But try as I might, I couldn't stay awake. Sleep quickly took control of me as I leaned against the nasty rock in the Land of the Dead. I awoke to a warm voice calling to me, from inside my mind. It was warning me I think. ``Wake up young one. Something is coming,'' it called to me.

I tried to answer it, ``Who's there?'' But I found no reply.

I suddenly heard a strange noise; it was the crunching sound of the dead earth that covered the Land of the Dead. It startled me and I opened my eyes instantly, but everything was black, as if my eyes were still closed. Another noise flew into my ears; a scream of utter terror. The noise grew closer; it was now standing next to me. It whistled and screamed in my ears. I turned to face the scream, but I saw only darkness. I couldn't see anything; the sky was pitch black, with no moon. I was in eternal darkness... in the Land of the Dead!

I started to panic. I jumped to my feet and ran. I didn't know where... I was just running and hoping that somehow, someway, my father would hear me and find me. So I called to him. I yelled as loud as I could. ``Daddy! Daddy help me please!'' No answer.

I grew frantic. I ran this way and that hoping to find something that looked familiar, so I could somehow find my way back home. Home with my father... and our house... I thought. Would I ever see it again? Would I be lost here forever? And become like those trees... dark, twisted, nasty, evil trees1 No! I didn't want that so I ran as fast as I could. It hurt to continue running, but it was better that staying here. My heart was pounding in my throat. It hurt when I breathed deeply.

This is it, I thought. I'm dying! I'm turning into a poor lost soul... trapped, behind a horrid cage that smells, tastes, looks and even feels like death. I don't want to stay in this nightmare forever! Then, suddenly... a branch snapped. I stopped dead in my tracks. Someone is coming! The figure stopped a few feet away from me. I could hear the ground crack beneath the feet of the huge figure.

I couldn't see the face so I called to it, ``C-Can you help me?'' The figure gave no reply... only walked closer to me... getting slower with each step. The crunching of the earth grew louder and louder. The figure then stopped right in front of me.
        
        ``A child?'' it asked me. I focused hard on the figure... It was a man, a giant man in dark armor. I stared up into his deep dark eyes and he stared back down at me with his emotionless eyes and face. His stiff, pitch-black hair barely moved in the soft breeze

Maybe, I thought, he could help me escape from the grim land, which we both stood upon. Wait... What was he be doing here? Was he lost too? Or... was he supposed to be in this barren wasteland?

``Sir,'' I called to him once more, ``can you help me... I...''

``Tenshi!'' The same voice in my mind made its appearance once again. ``Get away from that man! No good can come from one like him! He is covered with invisible blood! And he means to take more! Go! Run!''

But I couldn't run. Fear had taken over my legs and stopped them from moving. I wanted to run, but I couldn't. The dark giant took his sword, that was almost as big as he was, from his side and slowly unsheathed it.

``Now die!'' he laughed at me.

I stood there and in slow motion I saw his sword coming down upon me. I screamed and covered my eyes with my hands. I stood there for a while and strangely I felt nothing. Almost as though his sword didn't reach my body, like he tried to miss me. I slowly opened my eyes and saw someone standing in front of me. A human, protecting me. It was ``he'' who shielded me from that powerful blow.

``Akuma… the evil man… Who rules over a Dark land and owns a black heart. You will not touch this boy... Not so long as I am here.'' I recognized the voice. That was the body to the voice inside my head. My guardian wore strange clothes... ones I had never seen before. Strange armor that matched his wild, fire-like hair.

``A guardian? How is it possible that this pathetic boy... is an Ancient?'' the Dark man asked with surprise and hatred in his voice.

My guardian didn't do anything... he just stood there. What is he doing? Stalling... waiting for something to happen?

``What are you doing? Are you afraid of me? Ancient Guardian?'' the Dark man laughed arrogantly.

``Afraid… of you? What a laugh! Not a chance! Brace yourself... because here I come!'' My Guardian leapt forward and started attacking the Dark man, but he blocked every attack with his enormous sword.

``What is wrong? Are you having a hard time blocking my attacks?'' my guardian laughed confidently like an arrogant teenager.

``Not at all. You are very good... but not good enough!'' The Dark man started attacking again.

My Guardian simply blocked or dodged each swing of Akuma's Dark sword. The noise was so loud-- the clashing of the Dark man's sword upon my guardian's armor. I couldn't stand it any longer. I covered my ears. ``Stop fighting! Please stop!'' I cried.

They both stopped immediately and looked at me. My guardian turned his back to Akuma and then came over to me. As he came closer to me, I noticed the Dark man was smiling. The twisted man called Akuma raised his sword and began running towards my guardian and I.

``L-Look out!'' I stuttered, but it was too late. My guardian turned at the last second... right when the Dark man was going to cut him in half. It was all too fast. It happened too fast. I didn't see what happened to my faithful protector; all I saw was that he had disappeared.

Akuma, the Dark man stood there laughing as my Guardian's body vanished, as if it were only an illusion. Then I noticed something. The Dark man was bleeding. On his left cheek there was a cut. It must have happened in that moment when my guardian noticed Akuma behind him. He gave that evil man something to remember him by. The cut would become a scar that would never heal.
        
I guess he hadn't noticed that he had been cut. He didn't do anything about it... he just kept laughing. He suddenly stopped and looked at me with even more hatred than before. I felt my legs returning to me and slowly stood up.

``You thinking about running away boy?'' the Dark man cackled.

I gulped down my fear and answered, ``No...''

``That's good! You are brave... so then stay right there!'' I didn't even see him coming he was so fast, too fast for someone so big.

At first I didn't feel a thing, but then all of a sudden my forehead ached so terribly that I thought I would explode. A warm liquid ran down my cold nose and dripped onto my hands. My left eye began to see red... that was all... no other color except red.

What is happening to me? I thought. I lifted my hands so I could examine the warm, red liquid. ``Where did this come from? What is this?'' I asked myself. I touched my forehead. It stung. It hurt. It burned. Then I noticed more of that red stuff dripping from my forehead onto my hands.    

I started to cry. The red liquid frightened me. My head hurt and I wanted to go home. Was that too much to ask? I just wanted to be out of that awful place and be home with my father. I would never disobey him again... if I ever saw him again.
        
``I'd say we are even now! Wouldn't you? But don't worry... you won't have to feel that pain for much longer. I'll make sure of that... I'll make sure I kill you!'' The Dark man named Akuma jumped for me.

This is really it. This is the end of me. I can't stop him, I thought.

I heard something... but was too scared to look. I gathered up my courage and forced myself to open my eyes. I looked up and I saw my father. He was blocking the Akuma's sword from hitting me with his own sword. My father pushed him back with all the strength that he had. He then knelt down in front of me and examined my forehead.

My father said nothing, as he ripped off a small piece of cloth from his shirt and wrapped it around my throbbing forehead. After he was done my father stood up and glared at the Dark man with a look of hatred, one that I had never seen before on his kind face.

``How dare you do this to my son! You will pay!'' my father screamed and started attacking Akuma the Dark man without hesitation. All I could do was sit back and watch.

``Don't get hurt Daddy!'' I called to him. Their swords clashed as they threw comments back and forth to each other.
        
        ``Heh, heh,'' the Dark man laughed evilly.

``Is that all you are going to do? Stand there and laugh? Don't take me so lightly, you fool! Now fight!'' my father yelled at him and attacked again.

Clang! Clang! Their swords screamed as they hit one another. I noticed my father was smiling. He saw something, an opening perhaps? He swung his sword quickly in an upward thrust. I looked up at Akuma and now saw two wounds on his face. The one my guardian made and now one that my father had made. A fine slice across his nose bled quickly and he growled at the sight of it.

My father slowly lowered his sword and said, ``The fight is over and you lost. So my son and I are now leaving. Never to return.''

``Never... it's not over until I kill him!'' Once again, the Dark man raised his sword to kill me and once again, I could not move.

``Tenshi! Get out of the way! Move, move!'' my father yelled to me.

``I-I can't... I'm scared!'' I cried back to him.

``Tenshi!'' I heard my father screamed.

Then my father jumped for me. He isn't going to reach me in time. I am going to be killed by that awful, horrid man! I cowered and covered my eyes with my arms hoping that something would save me. That is when I heard it; a sound that I would remember forever.

I could hear Akuma's gigantic sword pierce through the flesh of someone. At first I thought that it was me that he had split in two. But after a few seconds I realized that I wasn't feeling any pain. I then heard a dripping noise and opened one eye to see what it was. My father had reached me in time to save me. He had protected me from that man. But where is that dripping noise coming from? I wondered.

I got my answer when I looked just below my father. A puddle of red liquid lay beneath him and more of it was dripping into the large puddle. I looked at my own hands and noticed that they were dripping red, too.

``Daddy?'' I ran to him as he doubled over, screaming in pain. ``Daddy... you and I are both covered in red... Why? What does it mean? What is this red stuff, Daddy?'' My father attempted to stand up but slipped in his own red stuff. He cursed as he hit the ground.

``That ``red stuff''`?'' Akuma laughed. ``It is a magical liquid of life.''

``A liquid of life?'' I asked as my father coughed some of that life liquid up as he wobbled to his feet. ``If it is life then why does it hurt?'' My father was suddenly surrounded by a golden aura. Akuma glared at him with annoyance.

``You little fool!'' he spat. ``That liquid isn't giving life... it's draining it. It's taking life away. As more of it falls, more of your life falls as well. The more that falls the less life you have! Heh... so I will leave you two here. You won't find the way out, nor will you live. See you in the underworld kid.''

With that he left, as quickly as he came.

If it's taking life away, I thought as my father fell onto his back and coughed up some more of his ``life''. I have to put it back!

I began scooping up as much of my father's ``life'' as I could and poured it onto the cut it was coming out from.

``No!'' I cried. ``Stop coming out! You're killing Daddy!'' I began to cry even harder as I continued to try to pour more of the ``life'' back into my father.

My tears mixed my father's ``life'' and slowly it stopped flowing out of him. The wound began to heal and became a huge scar. Then my vision blurred and I could barely hear my father call my name. I could feel my head hit against the stone cold ground. Suddenly, I felt as if I was floating and the pain slowly vanished. My thoughts and feelings vanished into a world of total darkness and complete silence.

It was my father who told me what happened after I passed out, for I have no memory of it. He told me the whole story. That potion can no longer hold my memories from me. I remember what happened that day. I can see and hear it clearly, as if in a waking dream.

``Tenshi!'' he screamed over and over but I gave no reply, he said. ``There's... there's nothing I can do,'' he said. ``Except... Oh Tenshi!''

My father reached into a little pouch that hung off his belt and pulled out a small jar filled with a light blue-green liquid. He stared at it for a minute then popped off the small cork. My father slowly gave me all of the liquid from the bottle and almost instantly after all the fluid was gone, the life stopped flowing from my forehead. The wound slowly healed and became a scar. Then the scar began to slowly vanish until it was completely gone. My father smiled at the sight, but there was still sadness in his amethyst eyes.

``Oh... my poor son. You cannot stay with me anymore. Now that Akuma knows who you are, it is no longer safe… Good bye, my son Tenshi,'' my father whispered quietly. His soft purple eyes became dark as water formed in them. He quickly wiped his tears away and picked up my unconscious body. My father with a sad look turned and then began running out of the dead land we that we were both trapped in. ``Tobi Soaru!'' he shouted. Suddenly two fiery dragon wings came out of his back and he flew out of the Land of the Dead.

My father, while carrying me, soared over the cursed land, past our house, and farther still. His wings began flashing, as if they were disappearing. He flew lower and lower, then, just as he landed on the ground his wings disappeared. My father then began running once again. Through the forests, and to the grasslands, far, far away, farther than I thought I had ever been, to a small town, near a small forest, in a large clearing.

My kind father, while still cradling me in his warm arms, silently ran to the last house in the town. It was a large two-story house next to the biggest tree in the surrounding area. This house was also next to a familiar two-story house. He jumped over the fence that belonged to the two-story house that was next to the gigantic tree and landed without making a sound.

My father stopped and checked to make sure that no one noticed him. When he decided that it was safe he crept to the door of the house and quietly knocked. He stopped and waited to see if anyone heard him. When nothing happened he started to knock a little louder, but not too loud that he would scares those who were sleeping inside.

``My friend. Can you hear me?'' My father whispered to the window above him. ``Hear me. Open the door... it is an emergency. Can't you hear me?'' he pleaded in loud whispers and lowered his head as if he were about to cry.

My father was about to hit the door once again when it suddenly opened. He raised his head and smiled at the door's opener. It was a young but wise looking man with silver-blonde hair that also had a tint of gold. Wisdom had worked its way into the man's hair and caused some of it to turn silvery-white in some spots. He stood there staring at my father in amazement, his golden-lime eyes flashing.

``M-Mukashi? It is you! I thought I heard your voice. I never forgot you. So how have you been these past few years?'' he laughed.

My father told me that Tsuyoku, the man who opened the door, was always so friendly. It wasn't until later did I realize how kind Tsuyoku really was.

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Okay I had to take this down for a bit because for some reason I was unable to post anymore chapters and it was really starting to annoy me... But anyway I have all the chapters ready and will be posting them again.

Seifer-sama

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