Fireborne: Rashen Rising

CHAPTER 2: SECOND CHANCES

The townsfolk halted their assault on the little boy on hearing the screams of the man who stood before them. His head was completely concealed under a gold plated helmet with an opaque visor covering his face,he had armor covering his chest and abdominals, other than the gauntlets he wore and the piece of armour protecting his thighs and his armoured boots, everywhere else was covered in panafin material,a thick durable fabric used by the military in their uniforms and hanging on his waist was a sword,it was the badge on the left side of his chest that indicated that he was an Imperial Soldier. He stood before the angry crowd,he looked at the boy laying on the floor breathing heavily and then back to the crowd,

"Have you all no shame? Do you wish to spill the blood of an innocent child today?"

"He's not an child he's a monster!!!" Replied a member of the crowd and the crowd erupted with agreement,

"You say he is a monster but who has he killed? What did he destroy?" The soldier asked,

"Does a child that kills his mother from the womb and leaves his father in ashes be considered a child?" Another member of the crowd retorted but the crowd answered the question in unison,

"NO!!!"

"So we will kill him here and now while he's not as big a threat as he probably will be if he's left unchecked" another crowd member spoke up and once again they all erupted in agreement. The soldier was quiet for a few seconds trying to process what he's heard and trying to make sense of what he's seeing,he couldn't really believe that these people were willing and ready to kill the child,

"What ever excuse you all choose to delude yourselves with in the eyes of the law murder is a serious offense and everyone involved in the act WILL..." He emphasized on the will, "...be penalized to the fullest extent of the law"

After hearing all that the crowd went silent,they knew fine and good that what they were about to do to the child was indeed murder but they had never considered the consequences of actually killing him after all he was the reject of the prestigious Goldenfire family,cast aside like a piece of rag and all the townsfolk unanimously agreed that they hated him and the children are taught to hate him. The thought had never occurred to them that there would be legal consequences to actually trying to inflict harm on the child. As the soldier picked up the child in his arms and began walking away someone from the crowd called out to him

"Who are you anyway?" Someone from the crowd finally asked,

The soldier paused and without looking back at the crowd he replied,

"I am an Imperial Soldier charged with protecting the welfare of the citizens of Ephyre".

The soldier took the boy to the local park and laid him down on a park bench,he instructed the half conscious child to stay put as he left to get him something to eat. It didn't take long for him to find an food stall as he purchased apples and two bottled waters before heading back to the boy. When he got to the park bench where he left him he was surprised to see he wasn't there,panic began to set in as he started to imagine what could have possibly happened to the child, perhaps he was kidnapped by one of the angry townsfolk to kill him in secret and other unpleasant thoughts that popped up in mind. He calmed down and looked around the park standing where he was hoping who ever took him was still in sight, instead he saw the boy limping away as fast as he could. The soldier quickly caught up to him,

"Hey kid where do you think you're going?"

He asked casually still holding that sack of apples and water bottles in his arms,the boy didn't respond and just kept trying to get away,

"You shouldn't be moving too much you're clearly injured. Let's stop to eat" he suggested but once again the boy didn't respond,he was being difficult.

"KID!!!" He called out this time with a little bit more power in his voice,

"Just leave me alo-" but before he could finish that statement he tripped and fell flat on his face,he didn't get up. Soldier instead picked him up and sat him down on another park bench,one closer to the pond this time. He took a good look at the boy this time,he was tan skinned with big tired red eyes,his hair was rough and dirty just like the rest of him,he was far too thin for a seven year old and was practically dressed in rags. He offered him an apple but he refused,

"Child just take this from me as a gift, it'll make you big and strong" he said with a bit of playfulness in his voice but the boy pushed it back,

"Just let me die already. You should've just let the people from the market kill me" he said in a parched voice and the soldier couldn't believe what he was hearing.

"Why would you say that?" He asked genuinely surprised

"Because no one wants me. They all beat me up and laugh at me and call me a monster" the boy said at the brink of tears busy he held it in. The soldier was quiet for moment,he carefully thought of a perfect response,

"Stupid kid" he said plainly much to the boy's surprise,

"What?"

"You're a stupid kid" he said it again,

"I'm not the stupid one you're the stupid one... stupid" the boy replied frustrated

"I'm not the one who wants to allow himself get beaten to death"

"Shut up okay! You don't even understan-"

"I understand that you're giving up on life when you have a future ahead of you and so much potential"

"I DON'T HAVE A FUTURE BECAUSE NOBODY EVEN WANTS ME AROUND NOW!!!" The boy yelled back trying hard to hold in his tears,

"I don't know the circumstances of your-"

"EXACTLY YOU DON'T KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT ME SO WHY DON'T YOU JUST SHUT UP AND LEAVE ME ALONE".

The soldier was quiet for a while,the boy was right he didn't know anything about him but he what be did know was that the little boy sitting before him needed help. He sat next to the boy on the bench as the stared at the pond for a while,

"You know...if it makes you feel any better I don't think you're a monster" the soldier finally broke the silence,

"Why?" The boy asked, "You don't even know me...why do you care so much about me?"

The soldier took off his helmet revealing his short brown hair, brown eyes and basic facial structure,he grinned brightly,

"Are you a citizen of Ephyre?" He asked,

"Yeah I guess so... what does that have to do with anything?" The boy asked,

"Because what kind of Imperial Soldier would I be if I can't help a citizen in need" he said with so much sincerity in his voice. He picked an apple and handed it over to him,

"You must have faced a lot of hard times growing up if you feel the way you do now, but kid,you still have growing up to do. Don't you want to find your dream? Don't you want to feel what it's like to achieve your dreams? Don't you want to know?"

He asked, the boy couldn't hold back his tears anymore as he replied with a broken voice,

"I- I do" he replied before weeping out loud,

"Then you must live and live to work towards those dreams of yours. I know it will be hard and will probably get harder going further but you must experience life, everyone needs to experience life no matter how hard it gets do you understand?" He asked and the boy nodded as he took the apple from the soldier's hands.

Once more the two were quiet again,as the setting sun reflected on the pond the two viewed the scenery taking it all in. The boy turned to look at the man sitting across him and for the first time he had looked at someone with nothing but admiration.

"What's your name anyway?" The boy asked,

"Ganadel. Argins Ganadel of the Imperial Soldiers" he replied still taking in the view. He turned to take another good look at the boy,on the boy's back he could see what looked like outgrowths coming out of his shoulder blades but he chose to ignore it,

"And if I may ask yours?"

"Oh I don't have a name" the boy said casually as he took another apple from the sack,Argins was dumbfounded, this child didn't even have a name,he knew tidbits about the Goldenfire incident but he didn't think it was bad enough that the rejected child wouldn't even be given a name.

"Hey wanna see something cool?" He asked enthusiastically to which Argins, albeit confused, responded with a simple nod. The boy jumped down from the park bench and walked closer to the pond,he turned to face a confused Argins who looked on in anticipation nonetheless,

"You have to promise you won't freak out and try to kill me" he emphasized just in case,

"I would never" Argins replied as sincerely as he possibly could. The boy crouched down slightly and tensed his body to point he started shaking,Argins was now even more confused at what he was looking at and then right before his eyes the two outgrowths on the boy's back start glowing red. The boy tensed up even harder and the outgrowths kept glowing brighter and brighter till they erupted,the blood red flames,the very same that killed his parents and solidified him as a monster in people's eyes, like red angel wings growing out of the boy's back the flames danced in the air. Argins looked on in awe at the sight and for the first time in the boy's life his flames was looked at with different eyes.

Tired,he turned off the flames and sat down on the floor breathing heavily,but he was also grinning wildly,Argins walked up to him,crouched low to meet him and patted him on the head,

"Hey kid...I think I may have a perfect name for you if you still want one"

"Oh yeah? What is it then?" The boy replied with a bit of cautious optimism.