Chapter 1: CHAPTER 1: A NEW LIGHT
A boy sits on a desolate street in the city of London at night with only the moon shining on the street. Looking upon the ground with no light in his eyes. With no hope, no emotion, no motion. Only nothing. The boy looks up at the sky "This city is nothing." He then looks back at the ground. "All it is just a living hell," says the boy.
A man walks up to the boy "why the sad eyes child?" "I know life is unfair. But there is more out there than sitting out here with no emotion" the man said.
The boy looks up at the man with a surprised look in his eyes. With some light returned to the color of his eyes showing the boy's bright greyish blue eyes.
"There is light out there. Some people just don't find it. I guess it just depends on your journey, doesn't it?" The man says.
The boy looks more at the man showing a godly like figure with a muscular stature. His skin glowed in the light emitting from the street light. Seeing his defined rugged face.
The man brings out his hand motioning for the kid to take it.
"Its okay. Come with me. I promise it will all be worth it in the end." Said by an echo in a grown man's mind showing a pale man, with bright greyish eyes, a slim lean muscular look, with glossy black hair. Standing over a grave.
"He gave me everything," The man says.
"A home." envisioning the same rugged man opening the door to a penthouse. With the same dead-eyed boy with a new latent glow to him.
The home was something to behold to the boy. But with a dark, yet warm atmosphere. Warming the boy's heart even more.
The boy says "I can really live here?"
The rugged man chuckles "of course you can."
The boy turns around and gives the man a big smile illuminating a feeling of warmness like a nice breezy wind on a hot day.
"He taught me how to fight" the man at the grave continued. The same enlightened boy is sparring with the rugged man.
The rugged man stands over the boy with boxing mitts yelling "hit me harder. You can do it!"
The boy channels all the strength in his body shifts all his weight to his fist and hits the mitt, knocking the rugged man's back a couple of inches.
The rugged man gives a sad smile with the boy noticing it. Patting the boy's hair comforting him. "Good job Dirby."
Dirby looks up at the man saying "thank you!" With a giant illuminating smile.
"He gave me it all." The man in front of the grave continued "he showed me what it was truly like to be a man." A picture of the rugged man appears in his mind hugging young Derby and chuckling.
"He showed me the true beauty of this city." The rugged man walks with young Derby. The boy looks down at the ground with disdain.
"Why do you look at your home in such a way?" Says the rugged man, looking down at the boy with a curious look.
The boy looks up at the man saying "This city- all it has done is hurt me. I was abandoned here and was forced to go through so much pain because of it." The boy looks at the ground on the borderline of tears "I just feel like I should just get away from it all. You know?"
"But I found you here," said the rugged man. The rugged man adjusts his gaze to look in the boy's eyes. "You also were born here" the man continued.
Young Derby looks up at the rugged man with a sense of awe. But not understanding completely to what the man was saying.
The man kneels in front of the boy and places a firm hand on the boy's shoulder. "Taking those in mind you must remember that all of these good things happened because of this city too" saying the man as he raises his hand and waves them around, pointing them at the city to help convey his message. "You must understand that this city is what brought us together and that is one of the things that makes it beautiful," the rugged man said.
The rugged man points at Derby's chest still looking at the boy in the eyes with a stern glare. "Promise me that you will never stop loving this city. It is important to all of us. And there are people who corrupt it. That is why there are people like us to stop them. Never stop fighting in your own way" the rugged man said.
The boy looks at the rugged man with a stare that could even pierce the heavens. The boy never lost the man's gaze and kept it as his awe extended. Finally fully understanding what his father really meant.
Young Dirby looks around the city. Seeing how beautiful the sight of the city of London really is.
"You see it now. Don't you?" The rugged man continued "how beautiful this city really is."
The young Derby looking upon the rugged man nods with great admiration towards the man.
Standing up the rugged man looks up at one of the buildings with a sad smile. "That's my boy," the rugged man says.
Looking up at his adoptive father the boy notices the sadness in his smile. Thinking maybe he could change it one day to a smile of pure happiness.
This previous image fades to when the man in front of the grave thinking "then he told me his secret."
The rugged man walks towards a wall with a suit of knight armor in a somewhat vacant area in his wide vast penthouse. He puts his hand on the chest of the suit of armor. As he makes that action a magic symbol appeared and then faded away causing the wall to the armor's left starts to open.
Young Derby behind the rugged man looks into the giant doorway showing a dark corridor.
With Derby following behind him the rugged man walks into the doorway. Reaching his hand towards a switch the lights just turn on. Showing a superhero-like headquarters. As the lights shine over a high-grade computer, a suit looking as if it looked like a modern knight, a trophy case showcasing many adventures of many costumed heroes, and finally many magical artifacts on display across the entire compound. But with secure cases surrounding the artifacts that only a select few people can touch.
Young Derby walks towards the modernized knight-like suit of armor. He looks at it in awe. Admiring the suit to every single detail.
Noticing what Derby is doing the rugged man strolls toward the young 17-year-old boy. The rugged man looks at the suit with a sad look.
"Pretty cool isn't it?" Says the rugged man with a sad twang in his voice.
Young Derby still looking at the armor, says "Of course it is. It just looks so cool."
"It definitely is. I built it. But there is a sad story behind this armor" says the rugged man.
Realizing what his father said Derby turns around and looks at his father with a curious look. Noticing the sad look in his father's eye.
The rugged man sighs and turns his view towards Derby's young sparkling eyes. "I was once a superhero when I was young. One of the greatest this city has ever seen. I used these magical artifacts and my own skills to take down supervillains at night. While I was an Earl by day" motioning his arms pointing at all the artifacts. Until the rugged man gets back into his resting position still looking at his son continuing with "the reason I became a superhero was because my father was the original Knight and I was his squire. But then he died and I didn't know what to do with myself. I succumbed to drugs and alcohol. I just didn't know what to do with myself at all. Then she came along"
The rugged looks at the ground with a look of semblance. "I had a daughter before you, you see." The rugged man looks up at his son. "I found her on the street. She was smart, strong, and more of a fighter than I would ever be. But she saved me. She gave me hope." The look of semblance on Derby's father's face slowly dissipates into a look of some happiness.
Derby saw the light in his father's eye and was happy to finally see it. But soon the light slowly dimmed as his fists start to clench and shake with anger. After five seconds of dead silence, the rugged man started to continue.
"Then she was taken away from me."
A tear starts to stream down the rugged man's face as Derby gives his father a concerned yet curious look. "My arch nemesis, Springwheel Jack, killed her right in front of me."
"Then I killed him for it."
Dirby looked at his father with a surprised yet concerned stare.
The rugged man turns looks at the Knight suit. He begins to walk towards it but stops himself when he is three feet away.
"Promise me Dirby." Hearing this gathers all of Dirby's attention to his father.
"Please never become Knight in my stead. Don't become someone like me."
Diby looks at the ground contemplating how he should respond. As soon as he found the words he looked up at his father and says "yes, I promise."
The rugged man turns around and gives Dirby a sad smile. He then walks past Dirby saying "that's my boy."
Dirby has never heard those words before. So he turned to his father with a look of admiration and astonishment as his father left the room.
The boy turns towards the Knight suit. But looked away only after a few seconds. Leaving the room as the lights slowly start to turn off one by one. Until it reaches the Knight suit where it had some sort of a gray glow. But with eyes as dark of the pits of Oblivion itself. Then the room goes to black.
The man standing at the grave looks down at the grave with a sad but plain stare.
"Then it happened."
A gunshot is heard in the rugged man's room. Causing an 18-year-old Dirby to run into the room.
Showing the grim scene that is put upon the stoic teen.
He sees his father, dead from a gunshot wound, with the gun in his own hand. After a few seconds of looking at the scene, he concluded that his father killed himself.
Dirby dropped to his knees as tears start to flood down his face. He begins to hyperventilate at every passing second. Until all that was heard that night was a scream of emotional turmoil that sounded like it could even pierce the Heavens itself.
The man stands looking at the grave. Showing himself to be the same boy the rugged man found that day. Derby kneels over and touches the gravestone, feeling the engraved wording "Here lies Cyril Sheldrake, a loving father."
The young eighteen-year-old lad stands up and looks down at the grave once more.
"Father, I am truly sorry."
"But I must break the promise I made to you long ago."
"I hope you will forgive me."
"Just know no matter what happens I will always love you."
Derby turns around and starts to walk away from \ the grave. He stops. Then looks back at the grave once more. "Goodbye," Derby says as he turns around once more and starts to leave the graveyard. But he didn't have the same sad look he had earlier. What he had was far greater. Some may say far scarier. The look he had was full of pure determination.
END
BONUS FACT
It wasn't described in the chapter but Dirby and his father Cyril actually lived in a penthouse on top of a hotel that Cyril maintained. Explaining Cyril's apparent fortune.
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