Introduction

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Thin clouds drifted over the night sky, hiding the bright full moon  in their wakes and casting eerie shadows over piles of rubble and  scorched bricks

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Thin clouds drifted over the night sky, hiding the bright full moon in their wakes and casting eerie shadows over piles of rubble and scorched bricks. The small town that once stood there had been completely obliterated in a quick flash that even the neighboring city hadn't noticed. Blood covered the walls and the streets, bodies laid out on the ground had long gone cold in the windy night.

A young man carefully stepped between the corpses and observed the heinous scene before him. If the surrounding cities hadn't seen the destruction, they would definitely smell it in the morning. Death was heavy in the air, he could even taste it. He coughed once and pulled his cloak tighter against his shoulders. The scene reeked of his father.

A swift of wind blow through his silky black locks as a loud cry rang through the silence. His sharp grey eyes searched for the source like those of a hawk seeking its next prey. Another softer cry joined the first, indicating it was a small infant. His tenseness eased a bit as he walked to the source and found two infants covered haphazardly with a worn out quilt, left to freeze in this weather. He assumed their mother was long gone with the other townspeople. He leaned down towards the babies and took them into his arms.

One was a boy who immediately stopped wailing as soon as he was picked up, while the other, a girl, looked up silently at the young man with wide grey eyes almost as bright as his own. He smiled faintly to them in appreciation of their beauty.

Not a moment after tucking the two into his his arms safely, he felt a dark heavy presence surrounding him, suffocating him even. He narrowed his eyes and spoke to the darkness hovering around him.

"... How cruel, father... But isn't it what you do best...?"

He sighed as his suspicions were confirmed when the darkness slowly grew tighter, implying it was angry.

"These are my siblings, and I won't let you lay a hand on them be it in harm or benefit. They are mine from now on."

His tone was fierce and cold. He wasn't afraid of whatever came next.

Thunder cracked above them and lightning struck nearby.

"And if you try to send any minions, hell hounds or demons to retrieve them, I will surely send you back their heads..." He continued with his tone growing colder and colder. His eyes had an ice cold hateful glare in them and his voice held venomous anger.

"I swear in my honor as your son, they will know the truth when the right time comes..."

All at once, the darkness vanished and he was finally able to breathe properly again. The coldness in his eyes left immediately as he looked down at his two new responsibilities. Wide-eyed and innocent, the boy began to cry loudly again while the girl remained silent, staring consistently at the young man.

He pulled them tighter to his body then looked around at the destruction the Grim Reaper had left in his wake. Ferrying souls to the underworld was expected, but murder to poorly coverup a small sin was unacceptable.

The young man exhaled and a cloud of fog surrounded him, seemingly out of nowhere. It smelled of death and decay. He walked slowly and silently towards its thickness. The three siblings turned into shadows and vanished into the night. Not a moment later, rain poured down, cleaning the atmosphere of the malice but surely increasing the bleakness of the scene....

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