Chapter 1-Full of Life
In the city of Sharma, where night surrendered only to the moon's fierce beauty, silver light spilled like fractured glass across cobblestone streets. The skyscrapers of the merchant district pierced the glow like skeletal fingers, but shadows clong to the corners -and in those shadows, secrets moved.
Two dark figures emerged from the belly of a black car, their faces hooded like executioners. One held a child swaddled in cloth. They strode with deliberate menace towards the house of the Anikens'.
They stopped before the front gate, suddenly , Morgana's ear twitched as she heard the door bell. She quickly left the kitchen and opened the front door. The two shadow men entered the house with a sigh of relief.
"Husband!"
Morgana called out, Elian rushed out from upstairs to see what was going on. The other agent shifted the child forward, the small face peeked from the cloth-eyes old unnaturally focused on Morgana.
A breath paused, a soft click sounded, Elian stood on the stairs. He released a sigh "Hmm" and asked if it is time. The lead agent nodded once 'with eyes closed', and said his name is Orion.
"Orion"
He said, his gaze locking onto the child, he is my son now with a smirk on his face. The agents handed over the child to Morgana, and she accepted Orion with practiced grace. The two agents opened a dimensional gate and melted back into shadows. The gate sealed. Elian and Morgana looked down at Orion, their eyes recalibrating. 'Welcome, little Orion. We are your parents now'.
"Since we are going to raise him, should we give him a name?" She asked. The couple looked at each with tenderness in their eyes.
"Should he be called Elian junior?" Elian asked, Morgana shook her head and said 'Hell No'. After sometime of brainstorming for children names, they decided on calling him Ebenezer Orion Aniken.
"Ebenezer" Morgana looked at the swaddled baby who wasn't afraid of her and was unexpectedly giggling without care .The Aniken family left the city of Sharma and vanished into flow.
In Willow village, sunlight passed through the dyed clouds, scattering down a golden radiance that bathed the people warmly inside. A herder boy lay in the field playing a melodious tune on his flute. The herder boy looked to be twelve to thirteen years of age and he had delicate features, such as his beautiful brown skin, his red lips and white teeth.
This young boy was indeed the baby that was given to Morgana Aniken twelve years ago. The Aniken couple and the nine elders of Willow village has painstakingly raised the boy over the years.
Even though the villagers of Willow village were all fiendish, all of them were very nice to Orion. Grandma Nan was a tailor, and during most days, Orion would learn how to tailor from Grandma Nan, how to gather and refine herbs from Grandpa Sima, how to use leg skills from Grandpa Xellis, how to use echolocation from Grandpa Henel, and how to properly breathe and exhale from the village chief, Grandpa Kalid. As a result, each day went by quickly.
Orion frequently herded cows by the river bank and the plains, content with the green mountains and bluish-white clouds.
suddenly, a strange lion-like animal appear out of no where, greatly shocking him before he defended the cows. Just as the Lion-like animal was about to eat him to death, It suddenly felt a chill from the center of it belly. It turned it head and saw a blade of knife thrust into it belly.