A Strider's Curse

Introduction

In the year 1250, December 25th, a Strider appeared, beings who can use the five elements; fire, water, earth, Air and lightning as weapons but they can also strip the power from other humans with powers. When this Strider appeared and found a small town, it burned that town to the ground. Many people suffered and died and weeks went by before their bodies were found... burnt to a crisp. Panic spread because people didn't know what caused such a gruesome sight and everyone began losing trust in one another.

Until January 12th people tore others apart because of paranoia and distrust. Any one could have powers and if they did, they had to be killed. As misfortune would have it, this was the time the Strider returned and took even more lives.

However, there were also other Striders who started to emerge and they hunted the Strider that caused them so much trouble. He was killed in front of a small village and the Striders that killed him begged the humans for a truce; that they would live peacefully among them and right the wrongs that the one Strider did.

The humans agreed with the Striders and... peace seemed to be the one thing true between these races... for now. But the humans thought that they should find people with powers that rival that of the Strider's if they ever decided to turn against them. Thus, the "Council" was formed; an order of humans with the power to prevent Striders from using theirs. But the Council also had plans for the Striders.

250 years past and even more Striders began emerge. Among them was a Strider that showed more promise than the others ever did. His name, was Haywire, a devilish brute who's skills outmatched even the most capable Striders. He was also a foolish and cheating, thieving rascal, taking every interesting trinket the Council had.
Sometimes he would brag about how he looked and fought so much better than the other Striders, this would show most when he was talking with women. Haywire was blonde, had perfect complexion and a well-trained mind and body. His eyes were yellow and some might say that he could almost see into their soul. Luckily his likable personality made up for all the trouble he caused the council.

Haywire always saw the best in people and he pushed most of the other Striders to surpass their limits. He was an inspiration and all of the Striders thought of him as an ideal.

As Haywire proved to be the strongest Strider, the Council thought it might be time to categorize Striders. Which led to the creation of the "Strider stages". The stages are as follows: Strider, Shadow Strider, Dark Strider, God Strider, Shadow God Strider, Dark God Strider, Strider Overlord, Ultimate Strider and Ultimate God Strider. However, the Council thought that the stage of "Ultimate God" will never be attainable.

The Council placed Haywire at the stage of Dark God, as he was the strongest of the other Striders. He accepted with grace and then continued to train to become a Strider Overlord.

200 years later and Haywire was still at the stage of Dark God but he did not lose hope... he lost focus. Haywire managed to come across a woman who's beauty completely tore his attention away from his training.

Once they were together, they lived happily and had two sons, twins, Dust and Max. Max was born with the power of sound and could destroy objects with rings and waves of noise. Dust on the other hand was born with the Strider blood and was able to use the elements as weapons.

Haywire was extremely happy, he finally found something he thought would take his mind completely off progressing through the Strider stages and he could live a normal life. And although Dust was the one that turned out to be a Strider he treated his sons equally and fairly.

However, when five years past the boys seemed to start watching the other Striders training in the field across from their house. Haywire, taking this to mind called the boys in one day and asked them if they would like him to teach them some of what he knows. The boys had never looked so excited and eagerly said yes.

Another five years had passed and the boys had almost learned everything that Haywire knew. Dust even managed to progress to stage of Shadow God Strider in that time and this astonished both the Council and Haywire. Dust was the first Strider ever recorded to reach that stage in such a time.

The Council thought Dust might be the first Strider to reach the stage of Overlord but... in that same year... a storm was summoned and decimated nearly a quarter of the human population. Before the storm hit their city, Striders were rushed to sanctuaries for safety but Haywire stayed behind with some members of the Council to try and stop the storm. He said goodbye to his wife and children and they were also rushed to the sanctuary. Dust's mother was carrying him inside and before the doors closed... he witnessed the destructive power of the storm and his father's demise.

In the sanctuary Striders were put into vessels... and frozen, that is how they've lived this long. Of course, this was the Council's doing as they thought the Striders should be kept in "good condition" throughout the years so that one day they could fight powerful threats. Dust and Max were placed into these vessels and frozen like all the rest, their mother must have been too but... not much else is known about that event.

297 years later and Striders have been forgotten, not even a page from a book has mention of them. However, there was one teenage boy, who seemed to have abilities that not many other people had.