ON

Chapter 1: A Sudden Rescue

It was a peaceful, sunny day in the Outer Kingdom. There hadn't been any attacks in the past few weeks, so everyone had let down their guard. Everyone except one boy. His name was V. His wavy, jet black hair and his simple, white, long sleeve shirt  and beige vest and his high-waisted, dark gray pants complemented the black veins running down his arm and up his neck across his chest and the jagged, black writing carved into his right cheek. He was laying on the ground, resting his head on a pile of tree branches, trying his best to relax in the sun. He looked to the side, and he saw his sister, Swan. Her long, blonde hair gently moved in the wind and her cloth blindfold loosely rested on her face. V smiled as he looked at her. Ever since the attack that left her permanently blinded, V took her on walks every day. She enjoyed being outside, and so did V.

V looked up at the sky, talking to himself out loud. "Ugh, relax, V, relax! Nothing bad is going to happen today. Just close your eyes, relax, and-" Suddenly, he heard something in the distance. It sounded like shouting. He quickly sat up and looked around. Then he saw some people in the distance. All of his thoughts about relaxing left his head and he went on full alert. "Brother, what is happening?", Swan asked, "I hear yelling." V walked over to her and held her hand. "I heard it too. I'm going to go check it out. I want you to stay right here. Don't move from this spot, okay?" Swan nodded. "Good. I'll be right back. If you need anything, just call me." "Okay, brother." Swan sat down on the ground. V looked back at her a little longer as he ran towards the sound.

After a while of running, he saw a small group of people. Three of them looked like they were from the Outer Kingdom and one of them looked like they were from the Northern Kingdom. V hid behind a rock and watched them carefully. The three Outers, two boys and a girl, were confronting the Northerner, a young man, a little younger than V. But the Northerner wasn't fighting back. He looked very scared. The three Outers were ganging up on the boy. One of the Outer boys stepped in front of the group. "We're tired of running from you.", he said angrily, "Our leader may not want to fight, but the three of us are sick and tired of you guys coming to our kingdom and robbing us of our food and materials." The Northern boy started to back away from them. "Look, I-I don't want to fight you guys. I-I'm not like the others. I don't want to hurt you guys." "That's a pathetic excuse. We're standing up for ourselves AND our kingdom. And we're not going to back down." "B-but I'm not going to hurt you! P-please, just let me-" The other boy punched him in the face, knocking him to the ground.

V slightly flinched, but he didn't make a sound. The boys and the girl started kicking and beating up the Northern boy. V hated the Northern Kingdom with every fiber of his being, but he just couldn't bear to sit and watch the boy get beaten up. He grabbed a nearby rock and threw it at a far away bush. The three Outers heard the rustling leaves and stopped beating the boy. "Run! Someone's coming!", one of the boys said. The three of them ran away from the scene. Once they were gone, V stood up from behind the rock.

He looked at the boy from a distance. The boy was beaten and bruised. V slowly approached him and kneeled down next to him. The boy was almost unconscious. Then he slightly opened his eyes and looked at V. V started to move away, but then he heard the boy whisper to him. "...help...me..." Then he closed his eyes again. V could only think of one thing to do. He picked the boy up off the ground, supporting his arm around his shoulders. He walked back to the kingdom, carrying the boy over his shoulders.