This is the village where I was born, and this is the village where I had lived for 7 years. In this village, everyone gets along very well, and the word “crime” is almost unknown to us villagers. This is the ideal community where everyone is equal.

Like everyone else, I am friends with all of the villagers here. Although my father is a mere carpenter and my mother is just a housewife, no one regards our family as poor. Every time I pass by the local shops, everyone greets me, and I always greet them back.

In the center of this village is the holy church, which houses a mysterious item that has been hidden somewhere inside for hundreds of years. It was said that this item, whose real appearance is unknown to everyone, is a magical item that grants its owner unlimited power.

But enough about the holy item of the church; it was the existence of this item that changed the course of my life for eternity…

I was wandering around the village as usual, greeting everyone I pass by, when I stopped by the wall of a store whose owner is a friend of my parents. I felt like taking a little break after all the walking I did, looking at the people and feeling the cool breeze that has always kept the village so…relaxing, so to say. I was sweating a bit, so I took a scarf that was tucked inside my pocket and wiped some of the sweat on my forehead.

In this peaceful village…nothing could possibly go wrong…or so I thought.

As I looked up at the sky, I saw something that looked like a thin and long stick heading towards the village. As I tried to make out what it was, several others of its kind started falling from the sky.

“Hey, everyone!” I shouted in an attempt to catch the attention of the villagers. They, of course, stopped what they were doing in order to listen to me, which was quite convenient. I pointed at the sky as I asked, “What’re those?”

The people looked above. As they soon realized what was falling from the sky, they started panicking. It was during this day, this fated day, that my destiny began to change…

The long sticks that were falling from the skies were called “arrows”, whose users are called “archers”. The villagers went inside their homes at once, with me still leaning on the wall, wondering what all the fuss was about.

I understood why they were all in a frenzy soon after. I saw an old woman struggling to walk, with a young boy around my age, who was most likely her grandson, beside her. They were escaping from the arrows, afraid of it. I figured it wasn’t safe to go out into the open, so I merely watched them from afar, with a worried look on my face.

Soon, the old woman’s struggling had finally ended…as an arrow hit her back. She immediately fell and died. The young boy, who suddenly realized the reason why her grandmother stopped running, stopped and tried in vain to “wake her up”. His sadness, too, ended as a bunch of arrows hit his back, along with the corpse of the old woman.

That was the first time in my life that I had seen someone actually die before my very eyes. The shock was too much for me to bear, and I started running towards the door of the store in order to seek shelter inside.

I tried opening the door and found out that it was locked. The arrows kept on coming, and I was really scared out of my wits. I banged at the door as I shouted, “Let me in, please! It’s me!! Open the door!! I don’t want to die here!!”

The owner never answered, much to my dismay. I couldn’t run towards my house because of the raining arrows, so I merely took shelter from the walls outside the store, fearing for my life.

Around a dozen or more arrows went to my direction at random times, and I was lucky enough to dodge them all. “I’m too young to die,” I thought for a second. However, I realized that mere tools that are used for killing spare no one; at any time, my life just might end. As the number of arrows falling from the sky increased, so did my fear. Never in my life had I been so afraid of the so-called “death”.

After quite some time, no more arrows came falling towards the village. Upon ascertaining this, I went outside and looked around. The sight of dead people covered in both blood and arrows left me speechless. I was lucky that I was able to avoid such a gruesome death.

I made a sigh of relief as I wiped off the sweat in my forehead; sweat that was probably cause by my fear. “At last, it’s all over.”

I walked towards my house, which was near the entrance of the village. Little did I know that the rain of arrows a while ago was just the beginning…

As I ran towards my house, I smelled…smoke. I ran faster, only to see my house and those around it being burned to the ground. I saw people evacuating, some of them being killed by soldiers whose faces were new to me.

The fire spread quickly, and many people died. I tried to hide, but it didn’t take long for the soldiers to see me. They went towards me, with their swords in their hands, as I ran away from them.

My exceptional speed really helped me escape them at that time. However, it wasn’t long before they got reinforcements and had me surrounded.

They took me by force and carried me towards the center of the village. During this time, the whole village was in flames.

Everything was being burned to the ground…that is, except the church. It seemed as if they spared the place for some reason...I didn't know what it was at that time, though.

There were countless people around; some who were alive, some who were struggling to live, with most of them already dead. As I continued to look around, I saw the most horrifying sight I could ever possibly see: I saw my parents tied up, with soldiers in front of them, holding torches.

I struggled to get away from the soldiers who were still carrying me, and I managed to run towards my parents. Tears were welling up in my eyes as I saw them suffering.

They smiled at me with teary eyes as my mother said, “My son…your father and I have a confession to make.”

The soldiers just stood there, waiting for the dramatic moments between child and parents to end before burning my parents to death. I was a few meters away, for the other soldiers managed to get me again.

“You’re…adopted,” my father said as they continued to cry. “…but you know that we loved you very much.”

I nodded as I, too, continued to cry. The soldiers in front of my parents immediately threw the torches at them, burning them to the ground.

I went crazy and struggled like never before in the hands of the soldiers who were carrying me. I kicked and punched in random directions, which hit them at times, causing their grip on me to loosen. Soon, I was able to escape their clutches and start running away. I ran frantically from the group of soldiers who were pursuing me, using up all the strength I had left and more.

It seemed as if my fate was decided, and I was soon reaching my limit. Soon, the soldiers would catch me…then they would burn me to the ground…along with everyone else. I fell down, my hope slowly fading away…

“Run for it!!!”

I heard familiar voices; it was the villagers. As I rose up and looked back, I saw them stopping the soldiers from getting near me. I stood up and looked at them, astonished.

“Don’t just stand there!” one of them said. “We’ll hold these guys back; you escape now!!!”

Without thinking, I ran away. I heard people screaming in pain. I heard the sound of swords piercing and cutting human flesh. I heard the sound of the raging fire in the village. Despite all those, I continued to run for my life. I kept running…and running…and running…

…before I knew it, I fell in the middle of a forest.

I was too weak to move, too weak to even think. I closed my eyes, not sure whether I would open them again or not…

The reason why the soldiers attacked the village was because of the sacred item. The king wanted to get his hands on that item at any cost, so he had his army raid the village and kill everyone to avoid any resistance. The village is isolated from the others, so the king spread word that a large group of bandits attacked the place. That same king is alive even until this day, yet no one knows whether he has acquired the power said to be in the sacred item of the village nor does anyone know if he was successful in taking the item.

But one thing is for sure…I will never forgive him for what he did.

Gosh...That beginning was so...terrifying. It literally struck fear in me.

XD It's his dark past. It's supposed to be full of death, since he's the only one who survived.

Btw, here are some notes:
1. This is a story that I made long ago, which lasted up to 5 chapters before my comp got reformatted all of a sudden. I'm remaking it now, adding and changing things on the way.
2. The original story never had a prologue; his past was revealed a bit during the chapters.
3. This prologue explains why the kid hates the king so much and would do practically anything just to get his revenge.

poor little guy. A little kid having to go through that is simply terrible.

Good beginning. I only noticed two things that bugged me. 1. wouldn't his memories of that day be a bit less detailed, considering his young age and innocence? Not judgin', just askin'.

and this... Everything was being burned to the ground…that is, except the church, wherein several soldiers went inside.

wherein covers that they were inside, you should say 'wherein several soldiers stood', or something more along those lines, cuz it's one of those things where you read it over again and say, 'huh'?

I, uh, changed it :psyduck:

woot


It was just like any other normal night in Scarlet City, and everyone was fast asleep…well, almost everyone. Somewhere in the city, two figures were running around, with one pursuing the other.

The one running away, a red-haired and blue-eyed 16-year old young man, was carrying a sack containing who-knows-what with his left hand. He was running away from an imperial knight who caught him stealing something valuable from the Royal Palace.

“Tch!” he thought. “And to think I was confident that nobody would catch me in the act…! I can’t keep running from this guy forever. Heh, guess I’ll just have to escape by force, like I always do.”

After a few minutes of running around, it seemed as if the knight had the young man cornered in a dead end. He smiled as he went closer to him. “Give the Royal Scepter back, you damn kid!”

Using his right hand, the young man took a dagger from its sheath which was hanging on his belt. He smiled as he faced the knight while holding the dagger in a reverse-grip. “How about beating me to a duel? If you can either kill me or knock me out, you win.”

Immediately after saying so, the young man didn’t hesitate to take the initiative and charge at the knight with seemingly lightning-fast speed, dropping the sack for the time being. After a split-second, he was able to dash behind the knight, place his left arm around his neck and point his dagger at his head. “Get outta here now.”

The knight was not planning on giving in just like that, of course. He attempted to step on the young man’s foot, but failed to do so when the young man foresaw this action and sidestepped out of the way. The knight then took his sword and charged at the young man, with the young man ready to block his attack.

The two pieces of metal clashed, with none seeming to have an advantage over the other. As the knight tried to push the young man, the young man made a grin.

“Gotcha.”

He let go of his dagger, leaving the knight falling forward, and punched him in the face, causing him to fall backwards instead.

When the knight fell, the young man stepped on his stomach as he looked at him with a grin, his left hand holding another dagger and pointing it at his face.

“Heh,” he laughed. “The Royal Palace’s knights really have become rusty, don’t you think? I mean, come on, you’re a good example here.”

The knight gritted his teeth. “How dare you...”

“How dare me what?” the young man asked calmly. “You still have the strength to talk, eh?” He kicked the knight, causing his to roll over for a bit, and stepped on his stomach again.

The knight was struggling just to say a few words. “W-why…do you want…the scepter…?”

The young man smiled as he pushed the knight’s stomach harder. “It’s the king’s most valuable thingy, right?”

“Y-yes…” the knight’s strength was slowly fading away.

“I never wanted you to chase me down,” the young man said. “I wanted the king to chase me.”

“And…why is that…?”

“Quit asking me questions!” the young man exclaimed. “Under the circumstances you’re in, you have no right to even talk to me! Got it?”

“…Tch.”

“Listen here, pal,” the young man said as he moved his left hand back and forth, putting emphasis on the dagger that he was holding. “One wrong move and I’ll throw this piece of metal on your face. Got it?”

“Y-yes…sir…”

“Alright, then,” the young man said. “What’s so important about the scepter? Why is it his most important treasure?”

The knight groaned. “I…don’t know.”

The young man knew that it’d be impossible to get any decent information from the knight, either because he really doesn’t know or it is some top secret information that must not be made known to the public.

“…it’s just a piece of metal with jewels and all…” he thought. “…maybe I shouldn’t worry too much about the significance of the scepter.”

He then removed his foot from the knight, took the sack, and started walking off. He figured the knight didn’t have enough strength to pursue him any longer, so he just left him there.

The knight tried to stand up, but it was no use; he could only sit down, at the most. Still, he struggled to speak before the young man would disappear into the darkness.

“W-who…are you?”

The young man stopped walking and turned to the knight. “I’m a member of the infamous Swift Thief Guild. The name’s…Jack Wolfedge.”

Upon losing sight of the young man named Jack Wolfedge, the knight laid down on the floor, in deep pain. “Jack…Wolfedge…eh…?”

In the darkness of the night, Jack continued running, this time with no one pursuing him. The whole city was quiet, and going out of the city was a piece of cake, since the guards who were standing by the city’s gate were also fast asleep. However, the reason why they were asleep was not because it was late in the night, but because Jack had knocked them down when he went inside to steal the scepter.

Upon getting out of the city, he ran towards the forest nearby. There were animals nearby, and there was no assurance that all of them were tame, but Jack didn’t mind; if a wild animal attacks him, he’d just kill it and use it to make some food or sell its skin or something.

No one attacked him, however, and he managed to reach a group of trees with a house hidden in the middle. He went inside quietly, careful not to wake anyone up.

As he opened the door, he noticed that the lights were on. As he went inside, he was greeted by three young men, all of them of his age.

“JAAACK!!!” one of them exclaimed as everyone charged at Jack with open arms. Jack was able to dodge them all just in time, and he immediately went to a “safe” place.

“Why are you guys still awake at this time of night?!” he asked as he dropped the sack gently on the floor. “You guys didn’t have to wait for me, you know!”

The other guys stopped going wild. They all sat beside each other on a large sofa while Jack sat on a separate one.

The red-haired guy is Mark. He’s, like, my best friend among these comrades of mine. His weapon is a short sword and close combat is his specialty.

The blue haired happy-go-lucky guy beside Mark is Luke. He’s a pervert by nature, but we don’t really mind. He loves girls…too bad girls hate him. He uses throwing knives as weapons. He’s good at hiding himself from his enemies’ sight and attacking from behind with his trusty knives. But when necessary, he can also be deadly in hand-to-hand combat.

The other guy is Kyle, our youngest member, who’s around 5 months younger than me. He specializes in making traps for the enemy, as well as explosives for easy victories in battles. However, he also has a weapon: a small dagger which he rarely uses. His creativeness is exceptional, and he can make weapons from almost out of anything.

Oh, and of course, there’s me, Jack Wolfedge. I’m an extremely nimble little brat who can steal almost anything. Whenever we steal something, I almost always end up doing most of the work, while the others fight against guards or other people who get in the way of our “thievery sessions”. My weapon is, as you have seen a while ago, a pair of daggers which I can use for both long-range and close combat.

“Hey, boys!” Everyone heard a large booming sound. Soon, a big round figure with a beard stood before them.

That big guy is Leo, the founder of the Swift Thief Guild and the person who found me in the forest back when I ran away from the village where I once lived 9 years ago. Back then, the guild was composed of just him and me, and we soon recruited the 3 others. He raised me as if I was his own son, and he taught me how to live on my own, without depending on anyone. He’s a father figure to me. Oh, and he uses a broadsword. His brute force is really something to be reckoned with.

“Geez,” Jack said as he slapped his face. “Even the boss is awake? It’s already past midnight!”

“Well, we can’t just relax for the night with one of our members missing now, can we?” Leo said with a smile as he went towards Jack and gave him several pats on the back. “We’re family here, and don’t you forget that, kiddo!”

Jack sighed as he stood up, took the sack, and went towards his room. “Yes sir. I love you too, everyone. Now let’s get some sleep, okay?”

He went inside his room, placed the sack near a wall, and lay down on his bed, staring at the ceiling. “Why don’t they just leave me alone…?”

Soon, Mark went inside. He sat on Jack’s bed as Jack rose up.

“Yo, Jack,” he said. “What’s with the sack?”

Jack stood up, took the sack, and went back to Mark. He motioned Mark to take a peek at the contents of the sack, and he did so. As Jack opened it, Mark froze. Jack closed it once again and placed it on the floor.

Mark was frozen, and Jack was waiting for Mark to regain his senses. He expected nothing less from normal people like Mark; anyone would be surprised to see the country’s most valuable treasure right in front of their eyes.

Soon enough, Mark regained his senses. His first sentence was, “You took the ROYAL SCEPTER!!???”

Jack immediately covered Mark’s mouth with his hand before he could say anything more. “Hey, hey, easy now, buddy; you’re gonna cause an uproar in this little house if the others find out.”

Mark removed Jack’s hand and took a quick, deep breath. “Well, it’s not gonna be kept a secret forever, right?”

Jack smiled. “I know. I’ll tell the guys tomorrow.”

“Just what the hell is it with you?!”

“Whaddaya mean?”

“The king’s gonna hunt you down!”

“Exactly,” Jack grinned. “It’s about time I took my revenge for what happened 9 years ago!”

Mark slapped his face, realizing that there’s no stopping the guild’s no.1 member. “Fine, do what you want. Let’s talk about it more tomorrow.” He then stood up and left the room.

Jack lay down on the bed once again, with his head leaning on his arms as he smiled. “There’s no way you won’t cooperate, guys…I’m telling you.”

Well it's been a really good read so far, pretty exciting too.

I somehow forgot that I had a thread about this...


That night, Jack had a good night’s sleep. He was already dreaming about getting his revenge on the king in some way…

“Take that!” he said while dreaming. “You’re paying me big time, you hear me? Big time!”

Too bad he just had to be woken up in the worst way possible. The door to his room was opened violently, and his 4 “family members” went inside; they had trouble coming in, most of the reason being Leo’s inhumane size. Jack was able to get up and realize what was going on while the others were busy pushing each other around just to get in his room.

“Took you guys long enough,” Jack said, sitting on the bed as soon as the others were able to get inside. “You really didn’t have to make such a scene, you know…unless that wasn’t intentional…which would make me think you guys are…really stupid. And I mean it.”

Leo walked near Jack with big steps as he handed a piece of paper over to him. “What the hell is this about?!”

“Hmm…” Jack said as he took the paper and started reading it. “‘Wanted: Jack Wolfedge, dead or alive...preferably dead’?! What's up with that?!” Leo placed the paper closer to him, motioning him to continue reading. “Sure, boss. ‘To those who can take Jack Wolfedge to the castle alive shall receive 500,000 G…and you will be rewarded 1,000,000 G for his corpse’?! That is way too twisted...” He continued scanning the paper and saw something written in rather small letters. “What's this...? ‘Also, a reward of 100,000 G will be given to anyone who captures a member of the Swift Thief Guild, dead or alive.’ Hey, why is the bounty on my head bigger than yours? And it even doubles if I die!”

“It's all because you stole the royal scepter,” Mark calmly replied. “Now we gotta find a way to get ourselves outta this predicament. Any bright ideas, Mr. Wolfedge?”

“Of course!” Jack grinned as he motioned everyone to sit on the floor, which they did. “Here's the plan…”

The plan was for Jack to break into the castle at night while holding a sack with a tube full of smoke bombs. Upon infiltration, he would get himself arrested and taken in front of the king's throne where he lies about being sorry for stealing the scepter. Then he throws the sack, causing the smoke bombs to explode, creating a large smoke. While the smoke is still thick, Jack would charge at the king, assassinate him, and make a run for it. His friends, on the other hand, are to escape towards Sunset City with the real scepter.

“What are you, nuts?!” Leo was the first one to burst out his own violent reaction. “How do you expect to break in at a time like this!? Security around the castle is bound to have tightened because of what you just did!”

“Didn't I mention?” Jack said. “I'm breaking in at night!”

“You did, and I don't even care whether you do it right now or at night!” Baku replied. “There is absolutely no way you can get inside the castle!”

Jack responded by smiling and placing his right fist on his chest. “Who do you think you're talking to? I'm Jack Wolfedge, the nimblest little brat in the Swift Thief Guild! I was able to break in to the castle once, and I can break in again! You'll see.”

“Enough,” Mark interrupted. “There's no stopping you now, right, Jack?”

“Of course!”

“Well then,” Mark continued. “We'd better trust this guy no matter how stupid his plan is. Let's make preparations to leave this base of ours tonight!”

The other thieves didn't have much of a choice, so they all ended up following Jack. They prepared all the things they needed: some snacks, a large amount of stolen money, and some other things like smoke bombs and traps of the like. Jack, on, the other hand, only needed a few smoke bombs as well as some pocket money for future use during his escape. When everything was taken care of, the group had no choice but to wait for night to arrive.

Soon enough, their time came. As soon as the surroundings were dark enough, Jack took his sack, along with a black, hooded cloak, and went outside. He was undoubtedly ready to break in and finally get his revenge on the king.

“I'm going now,” he said as he put the cloak on and got ready to leave. “See ya later at Sunset Village.”

With that, Jack left. Running through the dark forest, he quickly made his way to the gates of Scarlet City. The cloak he was wearing concealed his face as he confronted the two guards standing by the gate.

“Hey,” he said, his head bowed in order to hide his face, and the pitch of his voice lower than usual, just in case some guys know his voice. “Let me in. I got urgent business to do in this here city.”

“Oh, really?” one of the guards asked, growing suspicious. “Then you wouldn't mind if we confirm your face. You see, there's a fugitive on the loose right now and~”

Before the guard could finish his sentence, Jack immediately dropped the sack and, in the blink of an eye, punched the guard, making the guard's grip on his spear loosen a bit. As soon as that happened, Jack took the spear and, before the other guard could think of doing anything, hit him on the stomach with the wooden edge of the spear, causing him to fall. He then also used it to hit the first guard, who was just about to punch him.

With both guards lying on the floor, their heavy armor currently serving as an obstacle right now, Jack took his sack and climbed the city walls, thus making his break-in to the city a success. However, instead of seeing the place almost empty like he anticipated, lots of people were outside, and the sight of Jack entering made them all panic.

“Oh my!” one of them exclaimed while the others screamed in fear as they pointed their fingers at Jack. “It's the wanted fugitive who's disrupting the peace!”

This statement made Jack wonder. “Way to go in manipulating the normal people,” he thought. “Stealing some piece of gold with jewels decorated in it has nothing to do with disrupting the peace! I wonder what kind of things those royal guys said to the people...”

However, he no longer had any more time to think; the people were closing in on him. That's when Jack remembered the bounty for his head. “1,000,000 G for my corpse...” Taking two spare smoke bombs from his pocket, he threw it at the floor near the villagers, creating a large amount of smoke that was enough to aid Jack in his escape.

Running away from the people while he was still on top of the city wall was not easy, but Jack managed to distance himself enough for him to get inside. Right before the people noticed him, he made a run for it towards the castle. He can't afford to cause more of a ruckus.

That was his original plan at that time; to get into the castle as soon as possible. However, when he was about to reach the castle, a thought came to his mischievous mind. “What if...” he wondered. “...I lure the soldiers outside the city before getting into the castle? That way, it'll be easier to move around and get to the king...”

As he continued running, he considered the advantages and disadvantages of his plan. The advantage was that he could get around the castle more easily and that he wouldn't waste his time taking care of the soldiers. The only disadvantage is if he gets caught in the open. Once that happens, there's no way he could escape, since he would be surrounded by both the townspeople and the soldiers. However, Jack decided to take the gamble. Stopping in a dark corner of the city without the knowledge of the people, he took out a flare from his bag and, using some matches that were hidden in his pocket, lighted it, causing the flare to alarm both the townspeople and the soldiers in the castle. The soldiers went out and rushed to where the flare came from, and so did the townspeople.

Once all of them got there, Jack had already escaped. The soldiers, seeing that a lot of people had crowded the place, grew confused.

“So,” one of them said. “How do we find out who the fugitive is?”

“That's quite a problem,” another replied while making a thinking gesture. “With all the people present right now, it could be anyone!”

“But we mustn't ignore the possibility that he might not be here.”

“However, we must also consider the fact that he might be hiding here somewhere...”

One of the soldiers held his head with his hands. “Aww, this is getting so confusing that my head's starting to hurt!”

Meanwhile, with all the confusion in the village, Jack was able to reach the castle without any problems. As he entered the huge place, he was surprised to see absolutely no one around.

“That's strange,” he said as he surveyed the area. “It's true that a lot of the soldiers in the castle are out right now, but having everyone go to the city?! They could've at least left even a measly little group to guard the place in case someone like me suddenly appears to assassinate the king...” He chuckled a bit as he said that.

Taking the tube from the sack that he was carrying, he got 2 pairs of smoke bombs, and placed one pair on each of his pockets, leaving the others in the tube in case he was caught and the soldiers take the sack from him. When he was all set, he sneaked into the king's throne, careful not to let anyone, if anyone's actually around, see him.

When he reached the throne room, he was shocked to see it empty; not a single soul around. Jack looked around in surprise. “Why isn't the king in his throne?!”

At that moment, he had let his guard down and was immediately spotted.