Zero
In a town much different then yours, there was once a legend. A legend that scared many viscets. A legend most believed was some sort of wives tale. A legend involving a village, not a village like you or me live in. A different kind of village, one where darkness lurks. Inescapable darkness that consumes all light that attempts to inhibit it. For this reason the locals remain weary of it, even the ones who believe it is a mere legend. It is located deep within a forrest, difficult to find, miles from the closest town, but for good reason. No one comes back alive from it, not even the bravest or the biggest hero have come back. Once upon a time people did not think this to be true, it was just a spooky village, that seemed oddly empty. So the town sent there champion into the village, his name was Haku. He was the strongest of his kind, brave, loyal, things to make a seemingly perfect soldier. Yet even he was lost to the village never to be seen as the same viscet, till well....This is his story.
The path was dark, an oddly silent, not even the leaves beneath his feet were making noises. A new feeling of anxiety arose within him, something was not right. His town was putting all their trust in him, yet it seemed more like he was these sacrifice. Not even Haku wanted to be doing this. It was a death sentence, and he knew it. Sure he was a great fighter, but being good at fighting seemed like for some reason, it would not even be useful.
After a seemingly short hour, he had arrived to the gate that held the entrance to the village. Taking a deep nervous breathe he looked through the gate, and surprisingly the village seemed normal. Despite being almost abandoned, at first glance it just seemed like any old village. Taking one more deep breathe, Haku stepped through the gates. It seemed as if he was pushing through some sort of invisible wall, once through the air seemed to get heavier. Haku shut his eyes feeling as if for some reason they burned, his throat became sore and dry, his knees became weak. When he opened his eyes, thats when the shock came. It's like the city was alive and bustling, the once empty food shops were now alive and full of hungry cets', the clothing stores fully stocked, and the streets crowded. A feeling of excitement rose within him, but soon faded, there was something off about this city. All the viscets seemed odd, none of the villagers were normal. They were all some sort of different variation, all had something terrifyingly unique about them. He had never seen anything like all of this, and as soon as he stepped toward the crowd, all eyes turned towards him. The once docile seeming creatures turned ravenous, there eyes shot red, and soon Haku was being pinned down by several large paws. Before he knew what was happening a large bang went straight to his head, and the boy was out.
It was all black, his body felt so heavy, heavy enough that he couldn't even lift a limb. Soon he realized it was not that he was not strong enough to move, but that his body was restrained to the floor. Slowly he opened his eyes trying to refrain from panicking, and saw that he was on a silk type sheet with large restraints around his entire body. Yet that was not all he realized was different, he had a long tail that was also restrained, and felt new long whiskers emerging from his snout. Now the panic was really setting in and the boy started violently thrashing his body in a worried notion, using all of his remaining strength to attempt to break free. His efforts were soon stopped by a young fair viscet, she was pretty no doubt but something seemed cruel in her. She was in lavish robes and now that he looked around, the entire room was ornate, filled with luxuries he had never seen before. "Quiet now young one" she spoke softly, the viscet before him was in an elaborate black robe covered in pink lilies but other than that she was very plain looking. Just a regular beige viscet with rather dark eyes, she had heavy makeup, but other than that nothing exciting. Which was rather odd because everything here had some abnormality, including him now. "You must be confused. I am Min, the head of this village" The woman spoke, now circling closer to him. "You are in my town, trespasser" she said growing more disdainful with her words. "So you owe me something now. I gave you my hospitality" she said motioning towards his new features "so I inreturn need a favor of you".
Haku was trying his best to think of this as a dream, but he knew it was too real. "What kind of favor?" he asked cautiously, knowing that he would not be able to get out of it, even if it was something he did not want to do. "I know of your past in fighting and I need those skills, there are a few people trying to oppose me and I need them off the board. I know you might be thinking why would I have you do it? Or better yet why would you do it? Well i'll tell you, none of my men are as strong as you, know it or not. Your spiritual change.." she said motioning towards his new features "are very rare, they appear on the strongest" she said nonchalantly. Examining Haku from a safe distance. "And for if you refuse me...well then i'll ultimately ruin your entire home town. Destroy every last one of them!" she said her smile growing wicked, despite being rather upset with them all right now, Haku did have friends and family back home that he could not just let die. Sadly he knew there was only one option for him, and that was to work for this witch. "What if i'm not as strong as you think I am?" Haku questioned to Min. The lady gave him a side snarl and raised an eyebrow "oh trust me, by the time im finished with training you, you'll be the strongest best little servant to me!" Something about the way she said it caused shivers to run down his whole body, a new sense of turmoil grew within him. He was to become a killing machine "Oh and don't try to hurt yourself on purpose or if you fail the task I give you, i'll proceed with demolishing your whole village."
Haku was in a mixture of anger and resentment, he knew whatever the task this lady was going to have him do was going to be horrific. "Now you are going to spend some time in the jade room and then i'll see you in about a week." Min said, something about this lady just seemed beyond bipolar and Haku was over it. Two abnormally large viscets walked into the room and both headed towards hi "don't go easy on him boys" Min spoke happily, as the two large viscets unchained him and picked him up his arms, one on each side. They carried him off outside of the large room he was contained in before, and into red long hallways with doors littered on the side, leading off to a multitude of rooms. Everything seemed luxurious, Haku became entranced with the decor he was surrounded by and barely noticed when they arrived infront of two large jade doors. They doors were unlocked and pushed open and the viscets were met by another set of jade doors, these smaller then the prior one. The intensity of the situation was growing, but Haku knew what was going to happen to him once these doors were opened. There was one chair in the middle accompanied by reinforcements on the side of it, the rest of the room was green and empty. The only color other than green was the faint splatters of red beneath the chair. "What's happening" Haku said cautiously, the viscet who was now tying him down to the chair smiled deviously at him "you're just going to be prepped for your missions." Haku was afraid of what was to come.
-Hours later-
His whole body was burning, it felt as if he had been awoken by fire, yet there were no sourced of heat to be seen around him. It felt though as if he was being burnt from the side out, yet his fur remained there were large gashes surrounding him all over. He was experiencing a type of pain he had yet to ever feel. It was excruciating. Everything about him seemed to tattered yet intact, it was confusing, and he just wanted the feeling to be over with. Though he knew that was a dream, as he heard the doors creak upon as the two large viscets re-entered the room "ready for round two?" one them spoke. The thought of going through what he had previously gone through made the viscet sick, and before he knew it, they were back to square one.
Haku groggily opened his eyes, everything felt numb it's like his sense of feeling had vanished. Words could not longer escape him.
It seemed as if the world was more black and white now, in some way he felt a feeling of peace. This time when the two viscets re-entered he had no reaction. It seemed as if his lack of response appeased them and they finally released his paws. Yet Haku did not run, he knew there was no point and frankly did not want to. "I think your finally ready for your mission!" Min happily spoke, she was hiding behind the door, yet now decided to reveal herself. She happily walked closer to him and placed an animal looking collar around his neck, degrading to say the least, yet he did not really care at this point. The collar was thin and black and in the center in green bright letters read the word 'pet.' He knew the idea this wicked lady had, and to be frank at this point he did not care. The viscet held so much anger for a variety of things, and it was being transferred into aggression, yet not towards the obvious which would be Min. In this scenario for some reason Haku felt anger for the civilians, the ones back home, those who came here and don't have to serve as this ladies little monster. It all angered him.
It was the start to his journey, even though he was not considered young, his real story was only just beginning. A story of confusion and anger, of love and passion, it was Haku's story. The legend of the guardian.
