• Chapter One: Beginnings

    "Man, I'm lost", says the kid, walking through the back-alleys of the City of Light,” I think I took a wrong turn back at that street, oh well". He keeps walking, taking a side alley to the right and then another to the left.

    Suddenly, he comes across a building covered in scaffolding.

    "I wonder if they are building, oh well I need to get to the store and buy groceries or my mom will kill me", he hurries a bit. Then he sees a man walk out of the building to his right, "Excuse me sir, could you help me?"

    The man turns towards the boy and asks,” What seems to be the trouble?"

    "I got lost, can you tell me how to get to the grocery store?"

    "Hmmmm, maybe but first", says the man, suddenly brandishing a long silver knife, "but first you can help me by giving me all your money!"

    "W-what?" whimpers the boy," bu-but I need that money for my family."

    "Oh well, give it to me now!" yells the man, smiling wickedly.

    "No!", screams the boy turning to try and run, unfortunately he didn't notice that there was another man behind him, holding a club.

    "Now lets try that again," says the man with the knife, kicking the defenseless kid, “give me the money!"

    "Oooff!" the kid coughs, getting kicked in the stomach, then starts to cry.

    "Hahahahaha, this is fun right?", the man laughs.

    "STOP!", comes a voice.

    "Huh, who said that?" asks the thief looking around for the source of the voice.

    "I did," calls the voice, the group looks up and sees the source of the voice.

    "No way, th-that's" stutters the thief, "The Crystal Defender, Barex!"

    "Yes, now what seems to be going on here?” asks Barex.

    "Oh nothing," says the thief ,trying to hide his knife, "we were just playing with the kid, right?"

    "Doesn't look like alot of fun for the kid", calls Barex, jumping down from atop the building and landing, gracefully, behind the man with the club. Then Barex elbows the man squarely in the back of the head, knocking him unconscious.

    "Ohhh," says the thief, "well it doesn't matter if you are the 'Crystal Defender', you're outnumbered"

    Suddenly, a group of more men wielding numerous types of weapons appear behind Barex, surrounding him.

    "Really?" says Barex, shifting his foot and stance, “Because I believe that YOU are outnumbered."

    All of a sudden, shadows appear behind each man surrounding Barex. Then each man turns around and swings their weapons at the shadows, utterly destroying them, but then the shadows turn out to be mere statues that had somehow appeared behind them.

    As the thieves were thoroughly distracted, Barex reached into his cloak and pulls out his hands, now adorned with two gauntlets. Quickly swinging his left arm, his hand is disconnected with his forearm, and attached to a chain that proceeds to swing in a wide arc, wrapping around the group of men and pulling them together with such force that they all fall unconscious.

    The thief realizing that he was outmatched turns and tries to run, but Barex swings his other arm and wraps the chain around the thief’s leg, pulling him to the ground and knocking him out cold. Realizing the thieves were out cold he wraps them in some extra rope he finds lying next to one of them. He then calls the police.

    “Thank you Mister,” says the boy, wiping a tear from his eyes.

    “You’re welcome, and the grocery store is right through that alley way to your right.” Says Barex, smiling.

    Then, he disappears.

    End of Chapter One.