Chapter 2: Chapter 1
My name is Reiji Hashimoto, born 2290. I am part of a family of four: my younger sister Aya, mother, father and I. We live in our tiny, humble home in a small village named Blackbay in the central country of Staridge. There is no real reason why they call my village Blackbay since we do not live close to an ocean but our town is a farming and mining town. Mother has a slender built and amazing blue eyes that everyone says I got from her. Her eyes are kind and has blonde hair which was really pretty. That is probably where Aya and I got the blonde hair even though mine is a few shades darker. My sister and i both share many of mother's physical traits but my sister has father's green eyes. Mother occasionally goes to the fields but when she doesn't, she has a small shop that sells food from the fields. My sister and I mostly spend our time helping out at the shop. Father works in the mines with most men just outside the village and works a shift from 6 am to 4 pm. He is a very strict father but loving husband. He doesn't hesitate to punish us when we are in the wrong, neither does he hold back in complimenting us. He is built and extremely aesthetic but that is mostly because of the hard rocks he digs up in the mines I guess. Father is like the unofficial leader of Blackbay and people come to him in matters that involve the village. When he is not working or handling village matters, he trains me in swordsmanship. He always says that a real man protects his own. He always says to look after mother and Aya whenever he is not around and that is really a huge responsibility. It can get quiet at times at the shop with mother so whenever that happens, mother teaches us all about magic and its uses. I always wondered where mother learnt all the magic she taught us and why she made it such a big deal for us to learn it. She was not as strict as father and her smile was gentle.
On one hand Aya could cast most magic from the early age of two and on the other hand, I cannot cast any other magic besides enhancement magic but mother and father don't treat us any different. Instead they trained me harder in order to become strong and protect my sister. Those who aren't talented or gifted had to work harder than most to compensate for the difference. Those were my instructions from my parents ever since my sister was born and I intend to keep it. Aya and I were two of the only ten children in the village. The village is still a growing one which was no older than seventeen years since it was founded. We would play with the other children but we do not as much as we used to since we spent most of our days with mother in the shop or studying. Some children in our village would gain the ability to wield magic at a young age and as soon as that happened, they would be sent to try their luck at the mage academy or try to make a living in the big cities where most magic users lived. Mother did not want us to leave and preferred mys sister and I both all to herself and that meant hiding our magical gifts from the world. Those who could wield magic and came from humble backgrounds (Known as low-born) could not simply become mages and learn advanced mage-craft. Mage entrance examinations were too difficult to pass leaving them with very little choice but to remain in poverty. Most low-born people would end up becoming soldiers under the king and worked for minimum wage. The wage is big enough to keep them from starving and small enough to keep them from leaving the service. To common folk, working as a soldier would seem a lot better than farming or mining and the money was just as good as doing so. It just meant less labor for the same rewards. Since they were soldiers, earning very little, some would mostly send money to their homes in the village and they would have just enough to get by. That caused them to almost never come back home. On rare cases where one was skilled, they might get promoted and they would live a slightly more comfortable life but those who managed to reach such a level would rather quit and join a mage association.
Aya was a four years younger than I am and is very smart, a trait we both inherited from father. We both have matching bracelets that mother got for us last year that were imbued with magic that shown bright blue to indicate that we were alive and healthy. When the color turned green, it would show that we were sick and when in shown red then it meant that either of us are in danger. When it stopped shining at all, it would mean that one of us has died which was one thing that both Aya and I dreaded to see.
Living in our small town was bliss in a way but it had its own fair share of problems because most of the food our village made from farming was sold to the nobles for bottle neck prices and in order for us to survive and pay each family to get by. The field were communal and so most women would chip in terms of farming labor. On top of that, the nobles would come and collect tax to receive "protection" from the mage guilds from the monsters. We never had invasions but father always said that it was better to be safe than sorry and so that is why people paid without complaining but I would be lying if I said it did not bother them. The tax prices were so high that it would only leave mother and father with enough money to buy necessities and occasional treats. That was the day to day of everything until that fateful day that took away everything I held so dearly.
***
It was a normal morning when father went to work as usual. Aya and I went to open up shop with mother. The birds sang and the sky was clear. We laughed and smiled with the customers and they all came to buy their necessities. Mrs Lao and her sister came by every day as usually to pick up bread and herbs. Mr Wushi who worked in the rice field would come every now and then to trade rice for items at the shop. Money was not the only currency in small villages like Blackbay; barter trading was more favored because actual money would mean that one had to travel to an affluent town/ city in order to use it effectively. Money was mostly used to pay taxes or buy bulk farming or mining items in towns.
Later that busy morning, I felt a bone chilling sensation followed by a cracking noise that I will never forget. I quickly dashed to see what was going on outside. There was a huge crack in the sky. The crack opened up wider as each second passed and inside the crack was a darkness that was blacker than the night sky. The longer you stared in to it, the more you felt like you lost your mind. The darkness was so intense it felt like it was sneaking into my mind and I felt paralyzed. I could not move my body. I tried as hard as I could to move but nothing. Creatures I had never seen or heard of came flowing out of the sky with a screeching noise. The sound itself was enough to drive someone into madness if they heard it long enough. Those creatures looked like they were wearing white robes with black lining around them. They looked like they had no faces within their garments, just a hood with nothing inside. They had piercing screeches that would damage your eardrums if you were close enough. They were only visible as they came down but as soon as they reached the ground they shimmered and they disappeared. The next thing you would see were explosions, burning houses and screams. The screams belonged to both predator and prey. We were definitely the in this hunt. I was paralyzed with fear and all I could do was scream. As Mother grasped the situation, she told Aya to stay beneath the table and rushed toward me outside but before she could get to me, I felt something warm across my chest. As I looked down, my shirt was full of blood. I was surprised at how I got blood on my shirt but then I felt my energy flow out my body then I realized what it was. It wasn't someone else's blood, it belonged to me. I was cut and the wound was deep. Mother got to me as I fell, feeling cold and weak. As i began choking on my own blood on the ground and she bit her thumb, combining her blood and mine, she began chanting a few words and made a handful of hand seals then a green light came from her hands and I began to feel better. The blood that was oozing out reversed direction and flowed back into my body. The next thing I saw was mother's mouth bleeding and all she did was continue healing me as she smiled with tears in her eyes. Was she cut too? I was surprised at the fact that she could use magic because I was under the impression that Aya and I were currently the only one who could use magic besides me in the entire village. Mother quickly got up with me in her arms and rushed into the shop and placed me on the table. Then I heard a scream that sounded like Aya and when mother and I looked over she was nowhere to be seen and at the same moment the shop's roof was gone. It looked like it was cut clean off with a knife.
Screams and explosions could still be heard coming from all directions. A beautiful day had turned into a nightmare. My vision was still blurry and my body felt like it weighed a thousand tons. I could barely feel my body as mother carried me and placed me inside the shop. She handed me her cell phone and said:
"Call your father and tell him what was going on. Remember to stay put for me, okay?"
With my weak and frail voice I could only mutter
"Where are…" she stopped me and said:
"Call father and preserve your energy. I am just going to look for Aya, dear. Be brave." She then kissed my forehead and told me the words that I would always remember: "I love you my sweet boy, take care of yourself". After she said that she left.
I took a deep breath and then slowly dialed father's numbers. It rang only rang once and then a deep familiar voice answered:
"Speak."
I mustered what little energy I had as I cried: "Father! The village …!"
He instantly hung up the phone. Father was a man of few words and preferred action rather than words. I knew he was coming and all will be okay. 'staying here will be of no use and I'll find father and explain everything that happened and hopefully find Aya and mother before it is too late.' As those thoughts crossed my mind, I slowly got up from the table I was placed on and staggered to the door and as I went outside. I saw nothing but the horrors of this world. People lying lifeless on the ground, fire and smoke everywhere. The sky had turned black with smoke. Buildings were destroyed. A section of the bridge where we would cross to the other side of the river that ran through the village was neatly cut leaving huge gap in the middle of the bridge. So I decided to rather walk through the river to get across. The water was not as deep as it usually would during the rainy season so walking across was not as dangerous. I then ran as fast as my weak legs could carry me, trying to look for my family, and hoping they were not among the dead that lay on the ground but that was wishful thinking. As I ran searching around, I saw mother conjuring electricity from her palm but she was too slow as she was back stabbed by those creatures in those white garments. I tripped over myself as I witnessed my mother try to fend them off while protecting a few villagers who ran away from the scene. She then turned to me as she fell. Noticing me, she muttered a few words which I could not hear. With tears in her eyes and a smile on her face, she hit the ground and her life left her body.
"Mother…!"
I let out a loud scream as I cried my eyes out. Without realizing father was next to me and picked me up and hung me over his should. As he walked he pulled out his sword from the sheathe and he started fighting them off there were occasions where I was flung up in the air and I saw amazing sword skills as I was in the air. Most of them were so fast that I was not even able to see them but I did not have the time to be amazed. Even though father seemed strong but those things were stronger. The best father could do was fend them off. I just kept crying for mother who was cut down right in front of my eyes. "Scaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrr!" As the creatures let out that deafening screech in unison, the crack in the sky once again opened and with that the hooded creatures were gone.
One has to be careful when dancing with death before they become death themselves.
-Reiji Hashimoto
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
SilverAries12
SilverAries12 This is the only chapter I will write in Completely in Reiji's Perspective. I feel like writing in his perspective only will limit how you see all the other characters.
If you like this writing style then tell me and i will add auxiliary chapters in his perspective.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone