Armani Phantomblade: The end of time part 1

11. Past.

Armani looked down at his hands to see his old, teenager, human hands. He was having another dream of his past. He checked his phone to see his favourite song, Poison by Alice Cooper, blaring within his earphones. He was wearing a black hoodie with HP100 on and his black trousers and trainers. He was out running towards his old school, St. Olivia academy, when he ran into some old friends.

"Hey Armin!" a young girl called over.

"Hey Jess!" Armani called back.

"Armani, how's it going?" A young boy said back.

"Cole, not bad, you?" Armani replied. 

He was standing with his old school friends and it had been awhile since he'd heard his old name, his original name before Armani was Armin Phantom. He hadn't heard anyone use his old name in generations, he'd become a skeleton in the late autumn of 1999, he missed his family after learning of their passing almost twelve years after he became Armani Phantomblade, they had died in a freak car accident which no one was able to solve. He headed to his first Lesson, Drama, where he saw a black mass pointing at a someone he'd never seen before, an old man, suspicious looking, using a cane the same size as his cane-sword, walking across the courtyard, Armani watched him walk into reception before he, himself, went inside the drama studio.

"We've got a new script today, It's called, Loves lost cause." The drama teacher, Mrs Bibby called out.

"What happens Miss?" Jade, a small, blonde girl, asked.

"It's about two lovers called Maxine and James, who meet within a park, they become friends, best friends and eventually lovers. Jump to Maxine's 16th Birthday, James proposes to her and they agree to marry in a month. But, before the month is up, an accident occurs and the two lovers are no more." She explained.  

Armani got the role of Tom, a best friend of James who was one of the main characters in the play. A smallish girl, with dark skin and long, Auburn hair, was chosen to be Maxine and James' own friend, Cole, was chosen as James. They did the drama performance for the full hour and when the bell rang for period two, the fire alarm rang. They all filed out of the school towards the tennis court but they found out it wasn't a fire drill or even a real fire, a new teacher, Mr Mathews, was found dead. It scared the hell out of the students and Armani remembered the old man. He went up to the head of behaviour and told her about the old man. She gave a look of fear and could see it in his face that he was telling the truth. The end of the school day came early and Armani decided to get changed and go meet Cole. He got in the shower and decided it was time to relax before getting dressed. He got a message from Jade, "Armin, meet me at the park in an hour!" Armani jumped off of the bed, got dressed and raced out of the door. He saw the girl, dead with her face burnt off and the same old man from before. He morphed into the skeleton and as Armani tried running away, a fireball struck his face. He heard a laugh and the portal opening and closing before hearing Cole's voice in the distance shouting out his name. He heard running footsteps and then, nothing. Everything went black. He saw the dark lord emerge in the distance and watched him get closer.

"Armin Phantom, you were a member of the human race, the skeleton that killed you was rogue and now, he's being hunted down!" He said.

"What of me? I want to go back to earth! To see my family and friends!" Armani cried falling onto his knees.

"You will, in time, you have to serve me first, if I die, then go to my office and take this book. It will help you become a human again, erasing your mind, your friends minds and your families minds of every event that conspired." The dark lord replied.

"But, I want to remember it all!" He said, tears rolling down his cheeks. 

"Don't worry, you will, it will all seem like a bad dream though!" The dark lord finished and that's when Armani became the skeleton warrior he is known as today. 

He was tasked in hunting down and killing the rogue skeleton that killed him and his friend. He recieved his first blade which had a hilt with a curved cover so another blade couldn't damage his hand, a long, flaming blade which was able to kill anyone it struck, and information on how to kill the skeleton. Armani cornered the rogue skeleton in a distance alleyway before drawing their blades and beginning a duel to the death. Armani got the blade into the skeletons leg, pulled it out and decapitated him. He carried his body up to the dark lord to which he would burn the remains and pay him his first amount of Syra. He was allowed to spend time watching his family until they died. The area around him went black and then, a familiar voice came into the sound and a face, one he hadn't seen for ages, emerged from the shadows.

"I'm sorry Armin, I know I couldn't have been there for you. I need you now! Your father needs you! Cole needs you!" His mother sobbed into a picture of him.

He was at his funeral, all of his family, friends and the entire town was attending. The priest said a few words and the coffin was sent to be cremated within the fires. He couldn't help himself, he let out an ear-splitting scream and before long, the entire area faded to black. The area around him came back into view and now, he was watching The Dark Lords death once again. he shook his head in anger before going back into the darkness and finally waking up. 

"You screamed in your sleep, woke everyone in the vicinity up!" Tori said sitting at the end of his bed.

"I saw my past life." Armani said. 

He reached through his belongings and pulled out the same book that the dark lord had given to him before his death, he was willing to go back to his family, once all of this had blown over, once everything that had conspired with the Rogue cell, was gone for good.