Love, Justice, Destiny

Chapter 1

The Beginning

            He was tired of it all. The pain, the anger, the sadness, he had had enough of it. For the last six years, they had treated him in a way most people would call barbaric. And that was probably an understatement. Barbaric couldn’t even describe what had been done to him. No more.

Sure, they had found him. No, that wasn’t completely correct. It was he who found him. She wasn’t around yet. Back then he felt safe. Now he wished he had never been found. It probably would have been better for everyone.

            He was in Seoul, the capital city of South Korea. That’s as far as his money (which wasn’t much) would take him. They didn’t know he was gone, since they had left for their honeymoon, and wouldn’t be back for a while. What could they do anyway? He was 18. He could leave anytime he wanted.

            Then he remembered that even though he could leave, they would look for him, and bring him back. Probably because they needed a servant, he thought. They didn’t do all that much work themselves. They once were a band, but they couldn’t be that anymore. They couldn’t go much anywhere without being recognized. And for them, being recognized was a bad thing.

            The young adult walked into a store. He had some American dollars on him, but didn’t know if the store took them or not. He looked around and grabbed a bag of chips and a soda, then headed to the register.

            To his fortune, the cashier took the dollars, and gave him the change back. The boy took the soda and chips and headed out to a bench and started thinking.

            My money won’t last long, and I’ll need a place to stay. I’ve only got 20 bucks left. There’s no hotel that will give me a room for that much. He drank some of the soda and shivered at the thought of being homeless. Maybe I can find a shelter and stay there for a while. Then he discounted the idea. Too much of a chance that he would be recognized. He needed to maintain a low profile. The streets gave him the best chance for that.

            He got up and started down the streets when he heard a “Hey, you!” He kept walking. It’s probably just someone getting someone else’s attention, he thought, Nothing to do with you. Then he heard “You, Hakkesnu!”

That made him stop in his tracks. He slowly turned around, and looked at who had called to him.

            A 7 foot, well built man with a lead pipe in his hands was staring back at him. One look at him could tell he meant business, and that he wasn’t one to be crossed. He looked eye to eye with the boy and said “Your Chris, aren’t you?”

            Chris went through the possible options in his mind. Denying it would be no good. He was in almost the same outfit he had worn in 97. It was only a bit bigger. He decided to try and stall the guy. “Who wants to know?” He asked.

            The man with the lead pipe looked down at Chris. “A representative of humanity,” the person said, other people starting to follow behind him. “Of the people who don’t wish to be eradicated off the earth by a demon.”

            Chris looked down, and said “That wasn’t my choice.”

            The man spat on the ground. “It’s not your choice that were going to beat you down either.” The man and the group, now numbering around sixty, started moving towards Chris.

            Chris knew immediately that he couldn’t hope to win a fight. Not against sixty. So he did the next best thing. He ran. The crowd immediately chased after him.

            He ran down an alley, then another, looking back to see that they were still following him. They were. He started running down the street, but with each step, they caught up more and more with him. He knew he could not outrun them for very much longer.

            He never saw who caught him, but he knew someone had gotten a hold of his leg and tripped him. He immediately turn onto his back and started trying to block the rain of punches descending upon him, but he couldn’t block them all. The man with the lead pipe started to beat his leg with the pipe, while three others were kicking and punching him. All around him were people screaming “Kill him” “Beat him” “Down with the Orochi” and other things. It seemed like there was nothing he could do. He closed his eyes and awaited for the inevitable.

            Then the punching and kicking stopped. Everyone backed off of him. Chris opened his eyes and saw the man with the pipe. He stood over Chris, pipe raised to strike. He locked eyes with Chris, and then smiled a sadistic grin. “Any last request?” He asked sarcastically.

            Chris smiled, and said “Sure. Next time don’t leave yourself wide open.” Then he sat up and socked the man in the gut, then uppercut him in the jaw, sending him to the floor. Chris then turned and ran.

            The  man spit out the blood forming from the wound. He looked around at the group and said “What are you looking at me for? After him.” The chase had started again. This time, Chris had a good head start, but his bad leg was weakening him, as well as the pain and loss of blood. He knew he couldn’t run for much longer. He ran into another alley, and seeing a dumpster, dived into that, closing the lid.

            The group turned the corner and started running down the alley. No one bothered to check the dumpster, since they thought that no one would be stupid enough to try and hide there. They all turn the next corner, and disappeared.

             Chris lifted up the lid and peeked through the small opening to see if the coast was clear. As soon as he felt it was safe. He crawled over the top and fell to the ground. He limped to one side of the alley and started to walk. Pain was taking over him, and he had very little strength left in him. He walked to where he had first come into the alley.

            He immediately he started to crawl. He couldn’t muster the energy to walk, or even do anything else. Then he heard a voice. “Are you O.K.?”

            He looked up and saw a young girl, about his age. She had a blue T-shirt with a frog in the middle, blue pants, and a cape hanging down her back, like the one Superman would wear. He would have laughed a little if hadn’t had the tar beaten out of him. He used the last of his energy to utter two words.

            “Help me.”

Then he passed out.