Rebirth

"The night city, in the middle of a desert, Brackates..."

Lexis embarked on his first journey, it was his first time going this far.

"I've heard about it from my mom, the magnificent city in the east, The night jewel Brackates, and to reach it, I have to cross a big desert, and a village surrounded by mountains in every direction."

lexis said this to himself while he read the map he had in his hand,

the map was old, and lexis didn't even have enough food for a day, but he continued.

Although lexis had a power that increased his speed, he can't use it continuously as it was a massive liability to his stamina, so he can't use it to travel faster.

Many would perceive such power 'useless', and it may be completely fair to call such power useless if the price was 100 years of your lifespan,

But Lexis not once thought this power useless, hope was all he had...

"This time a young man, I hope he has some nice money, people stopped to come via this route after that incident in Brackates, he is a valuable prey for me."

A bandit, who was following lexis in the shadows, said this to himself.

The route Lex took to reach Brackates was a route that is always full of merchants and people traveling, and also full of mountain thieves and bandits, but as the bandit following lex said, A particular 'incident' affected the travel of people...

And Lexis was the one and only prey this bandit got in the past few weeks, so following him was all he could do.

"I think he is going to Brackates, yes, he is following the exact same route, this means he should have some great money on him."

As the bandit stepped up to attack lexis's neck from behind with a knife, he thought this to himself.

Bandits in this area usually kill their target and then do their deed, it can be anywhere between selling his body parts to snatching the valuables their target has.

"He vanished!!!???"

The bandit said this,

As lexis vanished just before being hit, the bandit was in utter shock!!

And then he noticed his knife was missing...

"The hunter becomes the hunted, huh?"

Lexis sarcastically said this while he pointed the knife at the bandit's neck, he was laughing in irony while the bandit stood petrified in utter disbelief!

"Wait, wait, wait sir! please don't kill me, I was just a businessman doing my business."

As the bandit pleaded, Lexis had some other serious stuff to ask.

"Answer my questions, or you will see the earth."

The fear struck the coward bandit, he was ready to tell lexis anything.

"Yes My lord, please ask, I will tell you anything I know"

Crying in a cowardly manner, the bandit yet again pleaded to lexis.

"I am..."

The bandit was in utter fear, he thought of lexis as a government agent, trying to find the boss of all the bandits in this area, and interestingly enough, the bandit was ready to sell his boss.

"I am..." Lexis continued,

"I AM LOST, Can you please tell me the way to fushio, I will spend the night there before traveling to Brackates"

"Oh, sir you are lost-"

The bandit didn't realise this,

but upon processing what he have heard, he realized that he wasn't in fact defeated by a government agent, but a lost traveler in his teens who couldn't even follow a basic map.

"Oh sorry sir, but it seems you are not the brightest because the location to fushio is given properly on the map."

The bandit started to calm down, but then he saw the face of lexis, which was scary, to say the least...

"Show me the way, Mr. thief"

Lexis said this, his mom told him to give respect to everyone, he was simply following her orders.

But this respect didn't sound good to the bandit, he feared he was going to be killed, but giving in to lexis he agreed to show the way.

Fushio Town, This town was surrounded by mountains in every direction, big Rocky mountains, that place used to be a lake hundreds of years ago, but it was transformed into a settlement by the miners and businessmen, the mountains surrounding Fushio were rich in minerals and are full of mines now.

Lexis wanted to see this town which was surrounded by mountains in every direction once, he found it bizarre yet interesting.

Little did he know that this town was filled with government officials who acted as dictators of the town, and all the miners were like hostages, working at a minimum wage, they were not allowed to leave the Town, Old and young, all worked to their death, starved, while the big fat rich officials and the kingdom

enjoyed the fruits of their hard work, and if anyone was unlucky enough, they could end up getting killed or worse...

The town was not a sight to go visit for fun...

...

Meanwhile, in the regions around The Capital City of this kingdom, Prince Neiron was looking for information about someone,

Neiron's mother Empress Lethy and her big sister Princess Shifia were killed, and her little sister Princess Marie was fighting for her life...

Prince Neiron nearly died too, in that assassination attempt of all the members of the lethy side, by non-other than Neiron's half brother and the 2nd heir to the throne of this kingdom, Prince Donquixote Cia!

It was Neiron's brother himself who murdered his mother and sister...

Don Cia and Neiron's family grew up together, to his sisters and Neiron, Don Cia was like a brother, something more than a half-brother.

But to Neiron's surprise, he saw his sister and mother getting killed, by his own brother, from his own eyes...

There are a total of 47 Heirs to the throne and 3 non-heir princes, and 19 Empress, Don Cia was the second child of the first Empress...

But he grew up along with Empress Lethy as his own son.

The reasons for the killings are unknown, but it is clear that Don Cia shouldn't be allowed to live anymore, or so Neiron thinks...

With his newly acquired powers, Neiron is in a rage to kill his brother, but revenge is far from his mind, he has some different reasons.

When Neiron was on his last breath, instead of dying, he took birth, one more time.

He wasn't aware of this, but it seemed that a. 'creature' had its eye on Neiron, and it saved him from dying, giving Neiron a share of its energy, and taking something else in return.

It was just like the case with Lexis, but instead of ruining his own life, Neiron was given another chance, one another chance to eradicate his brother who was too evil to be left alive.

"Did you hear this, there have been many incidents of people dying on the way to Brackates or out?"

While Neiron was enjoying his share of fable, a traditional drink to reduce the heat, seated at the table just behind him were a group of people talking about some incidents in Brackates, naturally, he was hearing it as he was looking out for information on his brother.

"Deaths of people, wasn't that common in the deserts in Brackates? what is special in those deaths?" someone said.

It was a small village around the great deserts, it was hot and the shop in which Neiron was in, was full of people looking for refreshment in this heat...

"No idiot, these deaths aren't natural, apparently, all of the dead bodies are found cut in half vertically! these must be the work of some new devil."

Neiron wasn't particularly surprised at the deaths, he wasn't paying it that much attention, Until he heard the word.....

CUT IN HALF, VERTICALLY...

The images of his mother and sister, who were cut down perfectly in half, popped up into his mind, it was the work of Don Cia, no doubt... by the time he appeared in the palace, both his mother and sister were dead, his little sister was on her last knees, covered with blood, he couldn't believe what possibly happened, and he can't even remember what happened afterward...

BUT THE IMAGE OF DON QUIXOTE CIA, SMILING AND HOLDING A SWORD COVERED WITH A BLOOD, FULL OF BLOODLUST, IS STILL PROPERLY ENCRYPTED IN HIS MIND.

IT WAS A SIGHT HE COULD NEVER FORGET...

Chapter 3/END

NEXT TIME: THE STORY OF THE FUSHIO VILLAGE