《Shattered Soul》 Prologue Immortal Realm 1 Janus.New year day. 1000 NE(New Era) Barren Arena As far as eyes could see the ground was cracked,scorched,parched and,broken.Remains and aftermath of old battles could be clraly seen decorating the land.Several skeletal remains of otherwordly Beast several 100 Metres huge dotted the landscape giving the already dead land a gloomy and abysmal feeling.A chill wind blew in complete contrast to the dry pockmarked desert land.No one would expect anyone sane to come here .But something unexpected was going on.Several 1000 immortals on various flying teasures had gathered around.Silent whispers and low hushings could be heard among them.All of them were gazing at the two figures floating few hundered Metres away. The older of the two figures was a masked man covered in a black robe who looked in his prime.His body was well muscled but sleak like a cat.Looking at him gave the feeling of staring at a poisonous snake.His green long hairs floated all around him like a halo giving him a domineering look.HW wore a viper mask which completely covered his face. two chilling green eyes were all that could be seen from the mask..In his hand was a 3 meter tall black spear with a long silver spear head.The black staff of the spear was filled with green runic designs which went until the spear head and stopped.the spear head was inscribed with several runic inscriptions which glowed with a ghastly pale green light.A poisonous and deathly aura was being radiated from this spear.Overall the old man looked like a viper who was preparing to strike at his prey.If one followed his gaze they would find him staring at a young man who barely looked 20. The youth was wearing a white robe with golden embroidery. His face was neither handsome nor ugly but looking at him gave a feeling of peace.His body was sleak like a panther and his muscles although lean were filled with explosive force.His silver hair was tied in a shoulder length pony.A slight smile could be seen on his face.He was holding a white coloured thin long sword.The sword was etched with several runes which radiated with a slight golden sheen.the handle of the sword was of a dragon curled around the hilt with his moth opened.The blade of the sword was coming out of the dragons mouth while two wings formed the guard. Few minutes passed and both stood staring at each other ,trying to intimidate the other opponent .Suddenly the old man spoke"Oye! Brat! I am still giving you a chance.Give the position of War Head to me.We don''t need to shed unnecessary blood over this matter.Anyway I will win this due,l so why are you wasting your life over it?You are still young, and have a bright future ahead.Calling you a genius will be no exaggeration, but you are still a million years early to fight with me.As your elder listen to me, and go back!" The boy calmly replied"Are you done? If yes then can we start? I have quite a lot of work pending and you are wasting my time old man." Loud exclamations could be heard from the audience along with several remarks prasing and criticising the young man''s bold behaviour and arrogance. This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.The old man''s eyes shone and he laughed."Impudent and arrogant. Good good...having confidence in yourself is good but boy this is over confidence and this will be your downfall.Let this elder teach you a lesson." Saying this the old man shot forward towards the young man.His spear pointing towards his prey he screamed with joy"Serpentine Viper First strike."A huge illusion of Divine Green Viper with his mouth open and fangs out could be seen behind the old man shooting towards the youth.The youth calmly readied his sword and slowly slashed downwards.Although a simple slash, several profound mysteries could be seen in this slash.A bright white light shot forward from the sword and the youth announced"Celestial Crescent".Both the spear and sword attack struck each other and a loud explosion followed.Both the old man and the youth were pushed several hundered meters away.Seeing this the old man laughed again and exclaimed"Good..very good .No wonder you became the war head at such age.Profound mysteries...complexity into simplicity...you understood it deeply...but sadly you will still die...SERPENTINE VIPER SECOND STRIKE....THIRD STRIKE...FINAL DEATH STRIKE".He stabbed the spear forward in the air,then brought it slashing downwards and finally again stabbed the air piercing it.The huge illusion of Viper again struck forward but this time it radiated a decisive aura of death.Seeing this the young man smiled and shouted slashing his sword several times in various angles "CELESTIAL STARFALL." And like several beautiful falling stars the sword ki struck the illusion ,breaking through it and shot towards the old man striking him cleanly on the chest.The old man spat blood and it could be clearly seen he was heavily injured.Giving him no chance to recover the youth shot towards him.The old man and the youth exchanged several hundered blows in few seconds.It could be clearly seen that the old man was in defensive while the youth was in over whelmingly offensive.It is a well known fact that continuous defence leads to lose.The old man tried to strike back but was denied each time by the youth continuous barrage of slashes and stabs.When suddenly the old man''s defence slipped for a second.That short time was enough for the youth to enter and break his defence.The youth slashed again and this time the Strike struck true and chopped off the old man''s left hand.A loud blood curdling scream could be heard from the old man as his left hand fell down.He had lost his hand.His loss and death was fixed.The old man knowing this madly laughed and threw his spear at the boy who had just shot away.The boy parried the spear and cleanly caught it.But the distraction was enough for the old man who using his true essence escaped through the air.A loudshout could be heard over the horizon as the old man called out"Boy I Sevinxus Barasus promise that I will kill you and shatter youl soul for today''s humiliation!!" Prologue-2. Immortal Realm 21 Noven 1990 NE Immortal Sword Pavallion What was so special about the Immortal Sword Pavallion that its name resounded throughout the Mortal and Immortal Realm? It was not the largest sect nor it was the strongest.It wasn''t the richest nor it had an ancient history to be proud of.So what made the Pavallion so famous? If you asked the Immortal residents of the realm you might only get two answers to your dilemma. Either it was because of the Pavallion''s beauty or paradise like surroundings. If not then it was assuredly because it''s founder was the Immortal Sword God and the War Head of the Immortal Realm. Spread over few hundered kilometres the Immortal Pavallion was more of a school of Martial way than it was a sect or group.Full of gardens and parks which had innumerous small and large streams which flowed from one end to the other.Numerous waterfalls filled the air with their crashing sound.Trees so ancient that even their history was forgotten dotted the landscape.Ancient and rare trees which you might never see anywhere else, decorated the Pavallion and acted a ls shades for couples and students both.Six pure white building stood in middle of this man made paradise.Five buildings several storey tall formed a circle around the tallest and the grandest construction.The sixth building.Or better named the residence of Immortal Sword God.Each building had hand carved motifs showing the history of the universe decorating their marble white walls.A statue of a dragon made of real Emperor Elemental Dragon''s bone stood in the middle of the path which lead to this collection of structures. Two people stood on the balcony of the sixth building looking at the garden and several students practicing their swords and sabers in the courtyard. "Lord,are you sure you want to continue in this endeavour?" Asked the older white haired man.His face was full of wrinkled but a great understanding and depth could be seen in his black eyes.Wearing a rich red coloured toga he stood along side a young youth who was simple in appearence. His silver hairs were tied in shoulder length pony.His eyes were like the deepest pool.He had the sharp aura of an expert swordsman which at same time was calm and tranquil. "Old man,you worry a lot.Everything will be fine." The boy laughed and replied to the older man patting his back. The oldman sighed and said"At least let others check it first.if anything goes wrong..." "Old man,you really are a worry wort.I am just fusing the soul crystals and yes, I am following the elders memory to the dot." Replied the youth, trying to appease the old man''s worry. "Forgive me milord, You are like my son and I can''t stop worrying about you.Please be careful milord." The old man pleaded. Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon. "Sigh, don''t worry nothing will go wrong.This day will be noted down in history as the birth of first Celestial soul weapon made in Immortal Realm by an Immortal.Let''s see who fights me for the council seat then.So old man go and prepare for the celebrations.And please for gods sake stop worrying.You have many more things to do than sit and cry" The boy grinned and claimed. "As you wish milord,as you wish" the old man replied back.Seeing the young man turn back towards his room, tears could be seen in the old man''s eyes. ---------------------------------------------; Kaboooommm.....a loud explosion tore through the Pavallion building.The space cracked and several streaks of Chaos could be seen.The 7Rainbow protective formation, the strongest protective formation ever constructed brightened.Rapidly changing its colour from red to orange to yellow like a rainbow it finally turned violet.A loud crash could be heard as the formation barrier broke.The restrained explosion finding an escape tore through the air and went on annihalting everything in its path.Several Immortal could be seen projecting barriers trying to protect themselves but to no avail.Barrier or no barrier the explosion completely devoured everything in its path.After few seconds and destruction of several 100 kilometers the explosion energy gradually weakened and vanished.Everything from tress to humans,from statues to pathways everything was annihilated to dust.Nothing remained but ashes.Several cracks in the space from few centimetres to few ten meters long could be seen.Chaos energy flowed through the cracks,poisoning the already desolate land.Only the six buildings remained of this once glorious paradise.The motifs protecting the building did their job, but no one was to ever come again and reside here.No one was going to come here to praise the gone beauty.The sun was setting.Its setting symbolising the end of the glorious era of the pavallion which had birthed numerous experts .The Immortal Sword Pavallion was no more. The sun had set and so had the Era of Immortal Sword Pavallion. A loud scream could be heard coming from the sixth building.The blood curling scream went on for few minutes.It felt as if someone''s soul was being stripped and broken.Unknown to the people their feeling was true. At the edge of the desolate land, an old man in red toga with deep eyes could be seen.If some one went close enough to hear, they would have heard him whisper into a coin "It''s done,he is dead." Several million kilometres away a masked man with green eyes and green hairs could be seen whooping and laughing. Truly,this day was going to be marked in the annals of history. Chapter 1 - Who am I ? Hi,thanks foo reading my writings.And whoever said that writing a fiction was easy,please go and kick his ass.Damn i have the story, i have the ideas...but it''s sooooooo hard to put it in words.Trying to make the readers see what you want,hell it''s spine breaking.I am having a headache just thinking about the next few chapters.But still I will do my best! The first few chapters will just be so-so or even worse...please forgive me.Few chapters later or until I get a hang of it will b the same...so all the best reading my writings.The start is quite slow , but required for later plots.Few chapters later willthe story truly begin.These are just the back drop which will affect our MC.So hehehe....the 1 chapter... BTW bless Jackie chan, the title is stolen from one of his movies....quite awesome one...well will be posting the next chapter God knows when. Completely depends on my mood.But it will be in next 2-3 days. ************************************************ What is immortality? Mortals will say having a never ending life is immortality.Breaking away from the shackles of death is immortality.Leaving the bindings of the Mortal world is immortality. Immortals will say "A start of a journey to become god". If you ask me I will laugh on your face and reply" An over glorified existence who are on their way to become canon fodder and get slaughtered like pigs.Immortals are nothing but small pawns on the chess board of gods.The pawns are the lowliest existence of immortals while the King and queens being the Council of Immortals." We humans have an tendency to try to be the most supreme existence where ever we live.We don''t care for others.Forget about other species,we don''t even care about our own kin and clan.after finding that apart from humans several other species also reside among this realm,we waged a war with them.On one side stood the Human army and on the other the alliance between beasts and demons.You would expect me to sing praises of how we defeated them, how we became the rulers of Immortal Realm and such. Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. One word.Bullshit.We simply like fools , went on slaughtering each other.No side was ready to stop.Millions if not billions died from both sides.But still like mindless creatures we continued our crusade.A million years have gone by and both sides are in an impasse.Every year a small group of idiots will go into the other side and try to earn glory and honour.In short every year few fools will go and get themselves killed. Why are we still continuing? Simple".Politics.Pride.Stupidity.Greed".Mixture of these and voila., a dangerous combination of fools.The higher ups are not ready to back of as their pride is on line.Backing of means accepting defeat and oh, they will never accept defeat because of their sturboness and old belief of Glory and honour.At least these old men are true to their beliefs. We have another category of fools.The nobles and the merchants.War means money.Sell weapons and armour and artillery at inflated prices and line their pockets and safes with gold and gems. Then we have gods themselves, who instead of stopping, add oil to this already burning conflagration. We are a source of entertainment to these other wordly fools.Whenever the War stops, a god will surely decend to preach and inflame the flames again against each side. The only benefit of this war.At least population remains in control.... You will say that I am a sadist and a pessimist. But oh boy, I have seen the darkest secrets of Immortal Realm and heard the greyest truth.I have swam in the murkiest water of Immortal Politics.I have seen millions slaughtered. My own hands are red with bloods of millions of innocents and soldiers alike. You will ask me, who am I ? .I am the Bane of Beasts.I am The Slaughterer.I am The Blood Hands.I am the living nightmare of Beasts and demons.I am Immortal Sword God and this is my story. Information Ahem...although I had promised a chapter 2-3 days later, it just struck me to create a glossary or info page (if that''s the right word?)So this post will be more about the world where our MC will reincarnate.After each new entrance it will be updated.So currently this page will have just UR usual Gk.so later on I don''t have to do an Info dump. I have drafts of next few chapters with me and realised that fleshing out the characters was the most difficult thing to do.Trying to give them life as well as a dimension is quite a headache.Thinking from various views and angles...and how one will reply and react...oh God... BTW pls comment on this fiction.It helps a lot! Praises and criticism both are accepted.Although praises are more welcomed...?? And finally please go on correcting the grammar and the flow..you know the universe is my editor and so on..This will help the other readers.I am trying my best but still...every penny helps.. Ahh...I have spoken a lot...so here''s the info dump.. psst-any good name for the MC? ************************************** This page will be regularly updated with required knowledge of the MC world. Our MC is born in a Mortal world.(City name and other stuff will be updated as story flows on) The world our MC is born follows the Julian Calendar... It has 12 months each having 30 days.The months are named after their 12 kings...The months are respectively.(.The months name are just made up...so please don''t compare to the Roman calendar which has few similar names..they had a cool naming sense...so not my fault that I am stealing from them*kekekeeee*...evil laugh) The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation. Janus Februs Marchus Aprillia May Juno Julius Augustus Septus Octavius Novnus December The year system followed is AD.That is After Decline.360 days form a Year.The Immortal Plane follows the New Era system where 1 year is 1000 AD years.After every 9999 NE or at the 10000 year, the year becomes FE(First Era)..then again after 9999 year it resets to SE(second Era) and so on. The world has four distinct seasons- The Months of Solaris The Months of Heims The Months of Fortuna The Months of Tempus The people follow no common religion.There are several village deities which are prayed to. These are mostly nature spirits such as Naiads or Dryads. Beasts with Cultivation are also followed by many villages.In some cases cultivator are treated as deities. Although there are four major gods which are respected and recognised by everyone- God of Life God of Death Goddess of Fate Goddess of Soul The known human world follows a common coinage system which was started by Emperor Marchus.This helps in common trade. 1 Diamond coin- 100 White Gold Coins 1 White Gold-100 Gold Coins 1 Gold coin- 100 Silver coins 1 Silver coin - 100 Copper coins Apart from this, barter system is also very popular. Chapter2- The End and The Start Well this is the second chapter.And before you ask,nope still no action. And yes happy April''s fools day?? I guess I will be releasing another chapter by tonight or tommorow morning...(IST-2033) BTW I deleted the first thread Introduction.I had planned on connection both ends the modern and the old,but felt that it wasn''t required.Also I believe the first chapter was quite useless to the story anyway. Our MC has finally reached Altine,where his adventures can finally begin. And ease read the first line of the CH carefully.it will prevent confusions in this and the next few oncoming chapters. And don''t forget to rate ...? Cheerio! ************************************************** It''s been exactly three glorious years since I was born and exactly Two years seven months 13 days since I was sold to slavery. I was born as an unwanted son in an equally unwanted poor family.Born as the sixth child of my parents, I was considered as a burden to their family.My mother was named Rachael and was ordinary in every aspect.Dressed in ash covered gown and apron she was responsible for handling our family.Although she never hated me, she also never loved me.My father was the village drunkard.Drunk seven out of seven days, he was barely ever home.With black unkempt and soiled hair,wrinkled face and dirty rags , stained with wine and vomit,he played the role of village drunkard very well.But he had a very nasty temper.whenever he was home, I tried to make myself absent from his view.Whenever he would see me, he would fly into rage and start beating and cursing me as a demon.You see I had silver hairs and violet eyes which were extremely uncommon even in First tier cities, forget about our backwater village.Plus adding that I rarely ever cried, he had labled me as a demon spawn and such.The name stuck and all the villagers would curse me as a demon spawn whenever they would see me. I had three older brothers and two older sisters.All three of my brothers were employed as farmhands at the village chief''s farm.I rarely ever saw them, as they hardly ever came home.My sisters did odd jobs like laundry and cleaninb throughout the village.Both were not exactly eye catching beauties ,but were pleasent to eyes.I had heard they already had several suitors.If not for their age I m sure they would have been already married. We lived at village outskirts, in a wooden structure which barely qualified as hut.Whenever fortune favoured, I would crawl out of the house , into the forest.I already had made several animals my friends.Squirrels would greet me with their chattering and nuts when ever I would go to meet them.I also had made a panther cub my playmate.He would tag along with me, as I went on my imaginary adventures, rescuing princess and slaying dragons.My time in the forest were absolute bliss. One day a local woodcutter saw me playing with the cub, and shouting demon spawn notified the entire village, that I had bewitched a cub and could do the same to their children.That was the last straw and I was sold as a slave to a passing slave carvan for few coppers. If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. Seriously?Few coppers? At least they should have paid silver for me! That day my ego was hurt a big time.Also that was the last time I would ever see my family again. As i later learnt that the whole village was masaccred by bandits few days later.I didn''t had any good feelings for both my family as well as the village,so the news didn''t affect me much.But for appearence sake I shed a few precious tears. I was given to an elven women to be taken care of while on route Because we both had silver hairs, we felt an immediate kinship.She was a forest elf and also the first elf I ever met.She was a war prisoner,but how and why she was captured,she never told me.She called herself as Elisha.Although not her real name, it suited her.With long silver hairs and also the signature pair of pointed ears, she was absolutely stunning.She had sharp features which went well along with her pale skin.She was responsible for teaching me.Through her I learnt how to speak properly and not in the local village dialect.She also taught me elvish, which turned out to be quite similar to the human language. When I asked her about it she grinned and said "You will learn all about it later,kiddo"She also gave me my first name, Aeries Sylverstar, which is basically Lucky silver star in Archaic Elvish. Throughout the trip I learnt all about the continent we were living in.The continent was called Galadas and was the largest known continent.The rest two being Vulcane and Terrestia.Terrestia being the smallest one.Our continent was once ruled by the mighty Sun Empire.The months are named on the twelve greatest Emperor of the Sun empire.Few 100 years ago,due to internal conflict between the Princes for the throne ,the empire broke into civil war.This led to fragmentation of the once great empire and also the end of its golden age.Now the continent has Five human kingdoms, One Elven kingdom and one Dwarven kingdom.The beast people live in The Desolate Mountains alongside Demonic Beasts. The human kingdoms are always in the state of eternal conflict.Each one trying to conquer other.The current status quo is Ferros and Sol-Er kingdoms on one side and Eltena, Seraph and Angard on the other.Currently the war is in an impasse, as no side could gain a clear advantage over other. Our village was in the borders of Ferros Kingdom and the Desolate Forest which was at the base of Desolate Mountains range.When I learnt about this fact, I felt quite sorry that I wasn''t able to meet a beast man.I really wanted to see a cat-girl.The caravan was on its way to Eltena''s miltary city Altine.The trip took us a whole month and we finally reached Altine on Novnus 21,the day my new life began. -------------------------------------------------- NEW chapter coming soon.Regarding the POV, the MC is basically telling about his journey and stuff.With a chapter or two the POV will change back to present. Chapter 3- Altine So this is the last remincing chapter.The next chapter will be his true start..... *************** Altine was a Dwarven city.During the Great Fragmentation it became part of the Eltena kingdom.Altine''s name was served from Dwarven name Altaenor which means Plateau. The fort city of Altine was built over a 300-400 meter tall sandstone Plateau.The whole city was surrounded by 30 Metres tall black grim looking walls.While waiting outside the gate for permission to enter, I observed several wooden towers, canons and giant contraptions dotting the wall.Several soldiers in chain mail were scurrying around.After entering I was greeted to several baracks, blacksmiths and taverns following the road.Far away at a top of a small hill, I could see several beautiful mansions which were in complete contrast to the grim looking wooden buildings and wall. Several platoons of soilders were training near the barracks and every now and then loud ''hai! '' could be heard.Before I could notice much I found myself along with others near a huge circular structure, which Inlater learned was the Arena. I was informed that here we would be auctioned.I don''t remember much, just that I was bought by a famous knight family for few silvers.Later, I was taken to their mansion which was at the top of the hill by other older slaves.The road had sevral similar mansions along side it. The knight family was named Barachas ,and I was to be the playmate of their young one year old son,Ronald.He was an irritating twerp with ambitions bigger than him.Everyday I would be the evil magician or demon lord who would abduct princess,and our young lord The prince charming would slay me and save her.This is how I spend my few years in the Barachas family.The only good side? The food was damn tasty, and the bed was heavenly. Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. A tutor used to come and teach the young lord reading, science, history and of course maths.I would join them during these exercises.I found myself to be a eager learner.I was like a desert absorbing every drop of knowledge.Later on I started debating with the tutor, which had greatly surprised him.Imagine yourself discussing History of Land warfare with a four year old.I remember him looking at me wide eye when I first discussed the The war of Fragmentation with him. The madam of the house, or Ronald''s mother hated me.I wa better than her son in everything.Reading,writing, history,just name it and I could it better.Above that continuous praises by the tutor inflamed her anger. But who cared.I got used to her daily glares and cutting snide remarks. Ronald turned five and the tutor decided to check his mana attributes and aptitude.His mother was quitevexcited over it.As for his father, I had never seen him.So cant say. We were required to touch and concentrate over a crystal ball.It''s light and brightness of light would decide your attribute.Ronald had good aptitued with fire and poor with all others.The tutor surprisingly decided to check mine.It turned out I was a genius.With excellent in Darkness and light, and Good in all others, I was a rare seed.He immediately started discussing my future prospects with the madam and invited me to the Academy.He was olitely declined by her.That night I was given a gold coin and kicked out.Since then I have been living on the streets, busy plifering, scavenging and stealing to keepyself alive.And here I had imagined myself living like king when I was sold as a slave. Chapter 4- New Family Second chapter of the day! I will be releasing Altine''s city map soon.It will help in easier understanding of coming chapters. I have started writing in 1 person POV.after few chapters or probably next I will shift to 3 person. Please till which goes better! :)) Pls if you like it...don''t forget to rate... Cheerio.. *************** The biggest problem when living on the streets is not food.It''s the local goons and the watch.Meeting the local goons always meant bad luck.They would take away everything you have in the name of protection fees.Goddamn their protection fees, it was simple extortion. While the watch would not let you live peacefully.If caught a beating or two was sure.In case of extreme badluck finding yourself in the prison was not surprising.Luckily , my badluck has not yet reached the extreme side. I was going through lean times.First off all, it was damn cold during nights and I had to find shelter.I knew there were several abandoned factories and warehouse in the older part of merchant section.Years ago, this had been the center of commerce for the many trade goods that went in and out of the city but, over the past couple of decades, the economy of the nation had been continuously declining and fewer goods and trades came into and went out of the city. The district was a sore reminder of better times, and many of the abandoned warehouses and trade goods shops now served as shelter to the city¡¯s many homeless. I slinked across the street and ducked into the dark opening of the doorway of a vacant building which I had found. I looked carefully around the dusty, cluttered room to ensure that it was indeed unoccupied. I had no mood to find myself facing local goons. The building appeared to be a long-abandoned warehouse given the many wooden boxes and crates that probably once held various trade goods.I found myself a dusty corner near the backdoor, incase I needed to escape.Positioning the rotten crates around, I made myself a small room, to prevent someone from finding me.I decide to spend my night here.Throwing down the knife which I always kept, I found few rags to serve as a bed.I quickly fell asleep. "A young white robes man, was swinging his sword around.An older man was instructing him.Everything appeared hazy.The swordsman was going through several stances while the sword was being swinged around." Bang!! A loud voice woke me up from my dreams. "Bloody hell, and here I thought I could finally get a good night sleep!" I mumbled. I could hear low, muffled voices and footsteps shuffling about in the rooms outside the door. The voices cut out, but i could still hear the footsteps coming closer to the wall of my hiding place. My hand flew to the hilt of my knife as the footsteps stopped right outside the wall of small temporary shelter. As the crates were slowly pulled apart, I swiftly pulled the knife out and held it in front of me in a guard position which i remembered from my dream.Standing in front of me, silhouetted by the waxing morning light, was a old bearded man. I could just make out two other figures beyond the open door in the gloom behind the man. "Waah!what do we have here?"the man rumbled in a deep voice, which didn''t go well with his old appearance." Haha, you thinking bout poking us to death with that piece of metal, boy?" The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident."This piece of metal will be least of your worries if you put your hands on me!" I steadily said, which surprised me , as I was scared shitless. The man in front of me looked at me deeply,then grinned showing his few left teeths, "Haha, laddie I believe you.Don''t worry we are not here to trouble ya,mind you.We just a family looking for shelter, so mind sharing.oh,please put away that piece of metal which you call knife." I simply kept on looking at him, thinking over what he said, when he interruptedy my thinking. "Why don''t ya join us,laddie. Mind you, we will treat you better than what ya have been through" "Why should I trust you any more than others that I have run afoul of?" I asked him. " Hahaha, true boy, true.Ya know you sound like a noble with all that speaking! I''ll pardon your insult to my good character and intentions and tell you true. From the looks of you, you¡¯re one of us now. Me and my group take care of our own. Come on out. I got a bit of bread and some cold beans I¡¯ll share, and don¡¯t try to tell me ya ain¡¯t hungry. It was your rumbling belly that led us right to this room ya been hiding in." Pondering over what he said, I lowered my knife and followed him out.Anyway the odds of me escaping were quite low.If they tried to hurt me, i could run Through the hidden backdoor.I found myself between several children all of them older than me.They were already sitting around a fire.The old man went and sat in the middle of the group.He bade me to sit, and offered me some bread and soup.Before I knew, i was already wolfing down the bread and the soup.Everybody kept on watching me.After licking the bowl cleaned I returned it to him. He grinned and said" I guess it''s time for ya alls introduction.You can call me Old man Jones.Leader of this group and father of these all."Pointing at others he kept on introducing them."That big lad is Cooper, he''s Peter, she''s Stella and that laddie over there is Dick."referring to a boy who had been hidden among shadows."Now, that brat is Cooper-2, and that lady over there is Mist, he''s Charlie and that fatso is just fatty."ending the introductions whe looking at me pointedly. Cooper was a large brawny boy.He looked around 16 and seemed eldest of all.He had short badly cut black hair which suited his pig like face.Peter was a thin looking boy of about 15.He was always smiling and could be called handsome.Looking at him, I was sure he could swindle a person out of his clothes.Stella was a pleasent looking auburn hair girl of around 10.She was blushing when she looked at me.Dick was a silent looking black haired boy.He was like whipcord, think and lean.Cooper 2 was also a big brawny guy.He looked around 16 and was a pure muscle head.Mist was a beauty.She had blond hairs and was at same age as me.Charlie was the most average looking of all.He was ordinary in every sense.He looked around 14 but he could be 15.Fatty as the names goes was a fatty with huge protruding belly.He was wearing specks, and sweat dooted his face.His red hairs were cut short and reflected the fire well. "I am Sylver, and thanks for allowing me to join you" I lied and became part of my third family.I had a hunch that next few days were going to be quite fun. Chapter 5 - John and Acceptance Third chapter of the day! You know I myself am surprised that I could release three chapters a day.Quite scary,huh? BTW don''t expect such occasions everyday... Or else you will find urself with a broken heart.. BTW just got this joke on chat, Husband- Did you had any boyfriends before marriage? Wife- ..... Husband- Why are you silent? Wife- Can you stop talking for a minute.I am busy counting! Here''s the chappie... *************************** Sylver was sitting in a corner of the dusty warehouse.He had met John''s group this morning and graciously accepted the invitation to join.Free food and protection was always welcomed. He was reading a book which talked about War strategy.The book belonged to John.After learning that Sylver liked reading,John had given him this boom as a welcoming gift..But his mind was not in the book but thinking about what he had discussed with John earlier. John was once a mercenary who had worked in the front line.He wanted to be a clerk in government office but war time happened and he became a mercenary.He was a front line soldier in the Atline army.In a borderside conflict with smugglers he had injured his leg.Thus ended his career as a mercenary as well as a soldier.Being a mercenary meant, he wasnt going to get any renumeration by the army for his injury.Later he had joined a theives gang in the city and was doing well, but a crackdown by Watch finished his group.He had escaped by just a sliver,by hiding himself as dead. Finding himself jobless, he started to drink himself to sleep,to drown out all his worries.Once on his way back from the bar to his house, he found a girl crying in the winter night.Taking pity on her he had taken her home.The girl was Stella.Soon he grew fond of her and she became like hiis daughter.On her insistence, he took in other children who had been part of Stella''s older group.All the children were orphan.Seeing them huddle together and scrape their living his heart had melted.He had found a new meaning to his life.Like a man reborn,he sold all his belongings and started taking care of children.But the money earned was quickly finished.Finding no choice,he tried getting a job.But economic Decline along with war had led to massive unemployment.There were more people than the jobs available.Failing to find employment,he resorted to a job he knew well.Theiving.He started stealing small time.His daily earnings would barely fill their stomach.He sold his house to make thw two ends meet.Later on,he started taking the Cooper pair with him.They turned out to be good hands in the job.Peter,Dick and Charlie also joined the newly form Pick-pocketing gang.Thus their new family was born.John was the pillar they depended upon. Find this and other great novels on the author''s preferred platform. Support original creators! John had offered him a place in his gang.Sylver was busy weighing the pro and cons of joining in, when John came towards him. "Watchya thinking laddie?Don''t think much or your brain will leak out" "Hmm,..nothing.I accept your offer.Anyway I was Thieving part time, I just need to make it full-time" Sylver chuckled and replied. Before he could say more,John hit his head and said"Damn brat! Don''t insult me.We are not theiving,neither we are theives.We are economist s.We are manipulators of money.We are the bankers in the shadow.We are the cog that runs this country.Calling ourselves theives is an insult to our glorious profession, brat.We simply take money from the rich and help it back in the society. We are running this economy,boy! So never call us theives!" Listening to John''s scholarly speech, Sylver started chuckling which soon turned into a whole hearted guffaw. John grinned seeing the moody lad smile.He needed something to smile over ,thought John. When he had met the handsome boy with silver hairs in the morning, he had seen maturity far past his age in the boy''s eye.He could also see that the boy would kill if required.This was something a 5 year old boy should not be like.He had felt the dirty shadow of society early on, which had changed him.Seeing him laughing ,he could finally see the five year old boy which he should have been. "Humph,close your dirty mouth brat.Others are busy foraging.Come and help this old man set the dinner.Brat,you will be going with boys tommorow morning.Learn the tricks which I have taught them.I expect results from you in week.Or else you will be cleaning and sewing like girls." Grumbled John walking away. Sylver smiled at the walking figure of John and thought, "You have given me a new family.I will repay your kindness,John.I will surely repay it." After hearing John''s history and easy to go way behaviour the final barrier stopping Sylver from accepting his new family had finally broken. Status Well this is to inform the readers that from now on the chapters will be written from multiple POV angles. Along with this, I was reading the past few chapters and found that the chapters lacked flow in writing.So I will be editing them soon. And finally my sis''s new school session is starting from tommorow, so I will be unable to post for a week or so.I will probably start posting from next Sunday or thereafter. This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.I will edit my earlier chapters in the meantime. Thanks for reading and suggestions are welcomed. Till then, Sayonara! Status Hi everybody, I will come directly to the heart of the matter.I wasn''t able to release chapters in the past few days, additionally I wouldn''t be able to do so for the next few days too. Why? Every year our family celebrates Navratra(Google it), which is basically a religious festival spanning nine days.So I will be busy for next nine days, and wouldn''t be able to release any chapters soon.(I will try my best to release a few later, to make up for it!) Along with that ,due to this occasion , many of my relatives are staying with us,which has completely filled my schedule! Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.So really sorry,I wouldnt be able to release any chapters for next few days! Regarding the past week, I only have my laziness to blame. But the good news is, I finally got my PC repaired, so from now on you will have longer and better chapters! It''s a headache writing chapters on a phone... So in short.. No chapters for next nine days... Sorry!