==Somewhere in another world==

Under the night sky there was a calm and peaceful forest. Two moons illuminate the forest from two directions, lending the forest and ethereal feel. Animals scamper through it and insects lie dormant with the chill of winter close upon them. Light flecks of snow fall down from the heavens and lightly cover the forest ground.

“Achoo!” A small sneeze comes from the direction of a poorly maintained and often untraveled road. The calmness, however, carries the sound throughout the forest making the shy animals flee in every direction. The sound reaches a small wooden shack which causes two dim, floating balls of light to vanish from someone’s palm.

The armored figure walks up to the isolated shack and knocks on the wooden door. “Hey Zeno! I’m here to check up you.”

Zeno opens up the door. “Thanks Neil. Gets kind of lonely out here in the middle of nowhere with no one to talk to for a week.”

“I bet…” Neil looks outside at the ever-present calmness and light snow drifting around. “Some ‘Important mission’ huh? Well someone has to do it I guess.”

“Hey I get a bit extra on top of my regular wages. You know how bad I need the money…”

“Right…your sister. Sorry to remind you about that.”

“Don’t worry Neil, you aren’t reminding me. Just seeing her so weak and helpless is reminder enough to not slack off. Anyway, how is your girl doing? The one you “met” at the pub?” Zeno grins.

“Ahh, don’t remind me. I swear she’s a demon inside I’ll tell ya! Do this, do that, why aren’t you blah blah…” Neil looks down in remorse at his alcohol fueled choice.

“Well it’s not official so why not just leave?” Zero asks curiously.

“Might as well be…with a magus behind her.” Neil contemplates.

“A magus huh.” Zeno ponders a bit. “Just leave with a good reason, or just be honest about it and I’m sure the magus will respect that.”

“Yeah, if the magus wasn’t the father.”

“Oh…yeah you are so screwed.” Zeno laughs loudly. “Give it up friend, either be stuck with her or risk being blasted to smithereens.”

“Yeah yeah, anyway I came here to relieve you so go home to your sister Zeno.”

“But the shift change isn’t until tomorrow right?”

Neil winks at Zeno and says to himself. “Man, good thing I came upon this little hut during my escape from that she-devil. Now I can relax in peace…”

“Thanks Neil.” Zeno quickly packs up his things and starts to walk down the very much untraveled road.

“ZENO!” Neil called out.

Zeno turns around to look at Neil. “The medicine should be in stock today at Ms. Prim’s shop!”

Zeno waved at Neil once again and quickly walked back to the castle town called Remford.

***

A girl adorned in luxurious clothing and jewels looks out from the castle’s veranda. Her blonde hair and ribbon swayed in the gentle breeze. She sees all of the people walking around in the daylight. Some are at the market haggling prices, while others are doing various other things in the city. “Disgusting.” She says as if looking at garbage. She didn’t understand why the Costa family had to take in these so-called refugees into their home and property. They only made things worse when they built houses outside the perimeter of the castle-city walls. Fights broke out every now and then and crime went up as well. These filthy people ate their food and slept on their property, so the least they could do was to pay for it, right?

She thought about a certain room with tools and the like in it. The fun sounds that the garbage made was enough for her to forgive them of their existence…for some time anyway. Soon, however, she definitely needed another “playmate” and it had to happen soon. She looked down at the market and saw a thin, weak-looking girl with silver hair getting food with a smile.

Perfect. She thought to herself with a grin. Another one.

***

Zeno walked for a few hours to reach the outskirts of the Remford castle. The various houses and what-not littered the outside of the castle-city walls ever since a huge number of refugees from Sandston came to find a new home. The war was hard on them all, especially when the war reached the inner cities.

Zeno came to the city gates just after sunrise and the guards immediately let him inside without any fuss. Having a brother who worked for the king worked wonders indeed. He thought about his brother Andreas and how he might be doing.

They weren’t directly related, but the Tobin family were a tight-knit group. Andreas and his now deceased wife would always come over to visit Zeno and his silver-haired sister Angela. Angela was always weak since she was born. Her thin and weak body could do very few things besides walk around and maybe get groceries every now and then. Andreas would always talk about his research or new theories about magic and the soul arts to his little brother Zeno. This actually helped Zeno a lot when his magic awakened while he was out hunting to support his small family of two.

Ever since then, Zeno would always practice the theories and anything he could learn from Andreas to help him control his magic. Unfortunately, he couldn’t be open about it, since it was royal decree that any mages had to be in the service of the king or their family would be put to death. Zeno heard the rumors about the nobles and really didn’t want to be stuck working with someone who might stab his back one day, or even hurt his sister.

After Andreas’s wife passed away, he holed himself up in the castle to bury his sorrows in research. Zeno hadn’t heard from him since the funeral, yet there would always be some extra money to help their sister every full moon.

Zeno went to Ms. Prim’s medicine shop to pay for Angela’s Medicine, and went towards his home to surprise his sister and see that radiant smile.

He walked around a corner and with a quick and excited pace, he arrived at his house…only to stare in shock. The house door was broken inwards and the gate was in pieces. He ran into the house to see things lying everywhere. Furniture was destroyed and what little they had lied broken on the ground everywhere. He rushed upstairs into Angela’s room and saw it completely destroyed with the signs of a struggle.

Not caring if he got caught, he activated his magic. The energy swirled around him and he focused on what he wanted to do. I want to find my sister. He thought to himself. He wished and focused strongly, as if it was the only thing that mattered to him.

Slowly an arrow appeared in front of him. He rushed out of the house while following the arrow that pointed to the castle...

***

A girl with blonde hair and a ribbon was standing in front of an oval shaped sack.

“Harmonia! Harmonia Costa!” She turned around to see who was calling her, only to see her father. He was angry that she partook in her hobby again, but didn’t really do anything to stop it. He loved his daughter no matter what she did. Then again, he couldn’t really tell her off when he had his own…hobbies.

“Yes father?” She asked with a smile. She was irritated about being interrupted but she had to listen to her father for better or worse.

“Did you really do this again? You have to stop this game…for now. This will be the LAST ONE! Swear this to me Harmonia.”

“I-I swear father.” She hesitated but swore to him nonetheless. She would have to thoroughly enjoy this one until she could fine more again.

“Good. Your mother and I will be leaving for some time and be back in the morning.” He gave her a knowing glare. “Be presentable when we arrive.”

“Yes father.” She said while turning back to the oval shaped sack, while her father walked out of the room.

Harmonia clapped her hands twice and two knights came in. “Open it.” She commanded.

The knights gave a sigh and walked toward the sack, knowing what horrors await the person inside. They opened it and took the person out slowly. After the sack left the person’s head, one of the knights were shocked and stopped moving.

“Something wrong Neil? Get her to the table.”

Neil couldn’t go against orders but he knew what princess Harmonia was about to do, and it would forever send his soul into damnation. He carried the girl to the table and began to leave the room. He took one last glance at the girl with her weak looking body and silver hair and walked way.

***

Zeno arrived at the castle walls while hiding behind bushes and trees, blending in with the shadows. The slightly blueish arrow pointed to somewhere inside. As a rogue, he knew ways to get around the lax security, but today, there seem to be more patrols out so he waited to figure out their pattern.

After waiting until night, he finally found a weak spot in the patrol pattern and climbed up the castle gate quickly. He landed without a noise and hid just as another guard patrol passed the gate. He followed the arrow to the main castle door but found it guarded by three knights and was well lit. Zeno thought for a bit until he noticed a window slightly open some distance above the main castle door and slightly to the side.

He snuck over to a portion of the inner wall that couldn’t be seen by the knights and started to get ready to climb. Carefully, he climbed the castle wall using a combination of his innate skill and magic. He moved quickly until he was directly above all three knights. He then moved slowly to make sure there was no noise, since being spotted or arrested was the last thing he needed to do right now.

After slowly passing the guards below him, he made his way to the open window and let himself in and followed the arrow silently. He softly ran past many rooms until he started to go down the stairs one floor at a time until he arrived at a basement door.

He reached for the door but stopped as a terrified and pain filled scream erupted from behind the door. Quickly he went inside only to see the first princess of the castle holding a blade against a woman with a thin body and silver hair…his sister.

He was about to move forward, but a sudden impact on his head knocked to the ground. He looked at his sister the entire time, until he lost consciousness.

***

“Who is this rabble?” Harmonia asked, very displeased to be interrupted again.

“He is Zeno Tobin. A rogue who works for the city guard.” A knight solemnly said.

“Neil, perhaps he knows this woman?” She turned toward the other knight who knocked Zeno out. She doubted it because the girl’s hair was silver, whereas the man lying before her had dark blue hair with streaks of silver.

“Yes, she is Angela Tobin. His only sister and family.”

“Hmmm~ is that so…” She thought for a bit. “Perfect he can join in the fun.”

Harmonia laughed for a while and ordered the guards to tie him up on a similar table.

***

Zeno woke up in pain. He looked around frantically until his eyes rested on what he was looking for. “Angela…” He saw her body covered in wounds. She was shaking terribly and couldn’t say a word with a cloth gag in her mouth. This kind of inhumane torture was only reserved for the worst of war criminals. He couldn’t believe that he saw this kind of treatment on his sister.

“Oh, finally awake are we?” Suddenly a princess followed by two knights approached him. He recognized one of the knights and scowled. “HOW COULD YOU! HOW COULD YOU, YOU PIECE OF-” He screamed at the knight, but never finished as the other knight brought his fist into Zeno’s gut.

*COUGH COUGH* “That’s enough out of you.” The princess said.

Zeno glared at Harmonia before talking again. “What did my sister do to deserve such treatment?” He asked while trying to be calm and shaking in fury.

“She existed. Just like you all of common birth. That is her and all of your kind’s sin.” She grinned.

“You Cun-!” Once again, the knight next to Neil planted his fist into Zeno’s gut and finished it off by putting a gag in his mouth.

“That should keep you quiet. Your voice is grating against my ears. Now where was I?” Harmonia walked to the table that Zeno was tied to and grabbed a knife. She looked at Angela with an idea.

“Strip her.” She commanded.

Neil and the other knight’s faces immediately scowled but they couldn’t go against her words. They slowly moved to the table Angela was at and stripped her one piece at a time and Zeno was forced to watch. There wasn’t much to strip so it was over soon enough.

“MMMM! MMfffff-mmfmMMM!” Angela tried to scream and get away from the knight’s hands but she couldn’t do anything at all as she laid bare before them. She paused with an evil grin and turned to the knights and said the one thing that should never be said by anyone.

“Now, violate her.” The princess commanded.

The knights paused at the command. “Do it and there will be a thirty percent increase in your pay for six months.” She said while looking at them.

The other knight began undressing with a hard face while Neil just stood there. “Or do you want to be my next ‘play-mate’ Neil?” She threatened with a low tone.

Neal brought his shaking hands to his armor. The armor he swore he would protect the populace with. “I’m so sorry Zeno. I’m so sorry…” He took off his armor piece by piece. “I need the money Zeno please understand…” He tried to reason with himself.

Zeno just looked dumbfounded as his best friend stripped to rape his sister. He kept looking as if he would kill him with his eyes. “Now while they are doing that, let’s have our fun…hehe.” Immediately a sharp pain pierced his shoulder. The princess stabbed him with some kind of knife. She stabbed his shoulder over and over again until he couldn’t take it anymore and screamed in pain.

“There it is! Ahh, what a wonderful sound~”

She then stripped his skin off one small area at a time on his left shoulder until his entire arm was only muscle and veins. Then she put some kind of liquid on his arm. “To keep you awake m’dear.”

When she applied it, it was a tingling feeling…then the feeling turned warm….and then into a burning feeling. Zeno screamed while looking at his arm that was dissolving as his arm felt like it was on fire. His screams then stopped as he heard his sister scream with him while she was beginning to be raped.

Zeno looked to his left and saw his best friend and the other knight on each end of the table starting their deed. His anger overcame the pain and he tried to break his bonds to help her. The princess simply stabbed his other shoulder. “None of that now. You have to focus on me okay?” She giggled while driving the blade into his shoulder until it touched the table. “How does it feel to be powerless Zeno? To watch your sister be violated in front of you and not be able to do anything about it?”

Zeno screamed at her and struggled, not caring that the blade was biting deeper into his flesh as he flailed around. “MMM commoner screams are the best sound…” She then repeated the skinning of his other arm while he was forced to watch the knights enter his sister over and over again until they finished.

With the unbearable pain of his other arm’s flesh melting away from the liquid, he watched the knights finish their deed with a few grunts. He stared at Neil with pure hate. He swore that if he got the chance, he would kill him and the entire nobility here in Remford.

“Done already?” She asked whimsically. “You boys really don’t have the stamina huh?” She walked over to his sister while holding the blade to her throat.

“MMMMM!” Zeno screamed. No please…god please save her. ANYONE PLEASE! He screamed mentally.

“Any last words for her?” Harmonia asked Zero while smiling at Zeno.

Unable to say anything, he looked at Harmonia with pleading eyes. Then he looked at his sister and his mind stopped.

Angela was smiling at him. That pure smile that held his world together since their parents died. His reason for living and working hard. His only family that still talked to him and loved him. She smiled at him…and then the blade slid against her throat. Even while bleeding out, she still looked at Zeno and smiled at him with love. Slowly her eyes went wide and her body went limp. Her eyes never left his, and even in her final moments, she was still smiling at him.

With every ounce of his rage and willpower for what was lost, he willed his magic to come into being and focused it on the knights that raped his sister. As the energy flowed around him the princess walked towards him. She was shocked that he could use magic, but then Neil rushed in front of her and stabbed Zeno in the chest, piercing his heart. The sudden pain caused his magic to go beserk and he simply laid still on that table. As he fell, the energy morphed into a sword and violently flew at the princes. She backed away in fear as the energy swiftly rushed toward her before one of the knights tackled her to the ground. The sword slid across the right side of her face causing a deep wound.

“I’m sorry Zeno…” Neil said as he twisted the knife in his chest. Slowly the world went from red to black as he looked at his sister and finally the fear-struck stare of the shocked princess as she held the right side of her bleeding face.

"You will pay for this one day..." Zeno whispered.

Then everything dissapeared from his sight.

***

When Zeno came to, he was somewhere he had never seen before. It was a void with many white lights dotting the distance. It looked like the night sky back when he used to stand guard at that wooden shack, except the sky was all around him. He saw a bright light and felt himself start to drift towards it.

Peace and calm started to fill him, and he realized that he was going somewhere else. His brother always talked about the soul arts, so he understood that he was going somewhere far away from his world. He was about to accept the light when suddenly, a giant hand reached into the void and grabbed him, tearing him from the calming feeling. He fell towards a swirling light and appeared in the palm of a woman. His brother never told him about this so he tried to escape in any way he could.

Knowing that he didn’t have arms or legs, he mentally tried to move his round shaped being around unsuccessfully, moving erratically a few inches here and there. Then the woman threw him at a young boy. Immediately, he felt a soul-wrenching pain. He felt himself slowly become wrapped around another existence. He can feel his mind tearing and becoming something new…someone new.

Then suddenly, he was somewhere different altogether. He was under a large tree with grass as far as the eye can see. A gentle breeze wafts against the grass making lazy waves across the plains. Zeno sat against the tree while waiting for the pain in his mind to pass. He went over everything his brother told him, all of his theories and magic. He waited in that place for hours. Hours turned into days while days turned into weeks. Months passed by turning into years, all the while his rage consumed his mind. He used his burning rage to focus on his magic. After years more of practicing his techniques to their absolute pinnacle, he finally accepted his place here in the calm grassland.

“At least it is far away from that damn princess…” He reasoned to himself.

After an untold amount of time to calm himself amidst the rolling waves of grass, practicing his magic, and accepting his new life of eternal peace and solitude, a boy appeared in front of him…