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"Born a Loser" (Rockaxe-Greenhill Border) A thunderbolt lit the darkened sky. Rain pattered heavily on the roof. Giant streams of water poured down from the side of the house and onto the desert streets. The stagnant, clammy air filled the darkened, deserted streets of Tinto. A small boy, about seven years old, laid in his bed. His room was dark. Even though the temperature was extremely hot, the boy wrapped his sheets tightly over himself. His gaze was on the window, focusing on the rain flowing off of the roof. His attention, however, was elsewhere. The sound of a woman crying from downstairs. The boy desperately wanted to console the woman downstairs, but he couldn't. The boy's physical condition was just fine. He could move just fine. It was absolute terror that prevented him from doing anything. The boy craved to go downstairs, hug her and try to comfort her as best of his ability good. The boy didn't want the woman to cry, but it was out of his control. The boy wanted to be strong, strong enough to protect the woman. He wanted to grow up a became a strong warrior. He often fantasized about being a brave warrior from Warriors Village in Toran, or a brave knight from Matilda, or any one of the other countless strong people the boy dreamed about growing up to be. Koyu galloped towards the Greenhill border. He had successfully lost the knights in the confusion at Highway Village. Koyu almost dropped his clothes in the process, and, consequently, his potch. The red Matildan uniform shined in the sun. The shoulder-pad armor bounded off any sunlight that it caught. The crimson red shirt and white pants stood out against the grassy lands of the Matilda region. The boots reflected any image caught in it's shine. Sure, Koyu looked a little odd. After all, he was only sixteen. He could pass off as eighteen, but his height wasn't that of a typical knight of Matilda. His stylish hair didn't help either. Knights had clean-cut hair. Koyu's was straight and pointed straight upward. That would definitely raise an eyebrow to anyone who wasn't familiar with the Matildan knight policies. Two white knights stood guard at the border. As Koyu rode up to them, they exchanged glances. The left one took a step forward as Koyu slowed the horse down. "What seems to be the problem?" The white knight asked. Koyu began to explain his scenario. "We're on a hunt for a bandit traveling around here. I am on official Matildan business and I am to capture this bandit at once. My brigade is traveling through the woods as we speak, for fear that the bandit could be hiding somewhere in this vast forest." Koyu rushed. "Bandits, huh?" The other white knight came forward. "We have no such report that bandits are in the Matildan lands." "The report is on it's way. In the meantime, I have to get to the Greenhill border. I am to warn Greenhill of bandits." "We cannot let you pass without jurisdiction." The first knight said. Koyu frowned and started to think quickly. "What would Gorudo say when he found out that you impeded a fellow knight's progress on a mission?" "And what would commander Camus say to you that you travel to the boarder without any jurisdiction whatsoever to find a bandit?" The other one jested. "Don't worry. Commander Camus will get an earful, should my work on capturing this bandit fail. What, will you disgrace the knights of Matilda just because some paperwork is slow getting here?" Koyu lied through his teeth, not having any clue who this "Camus" was. The two knights exchanged glances again. They knew he was right. "I'll be looking forward to the paperwork." The first knight said, moving to open the gate. Koyu gave a trademark grin. He pulled the reigns and made the horse gallop forward again. The rain continued to pour. The woman continued to cry. The boy still locked in his bed. The boy's ears picked up at a very distinct sound. The door to the front house was slammed open and then shut. There was a pause, and the woman's cries began to get louder. "Why do you do this to me?" The woman screamed in-between her tears. "Shut up, bitch!" The man roared back. A slap echoed through the house and over the pouring rain. "Please stop! I can't take this anymore!" Another slap. "I said shut up!" The boy pulled the covers over his head and curled up. "Nothing we ever do pleases you!" The woman continued to scream. "We can't handle it! We do our best to please you!" "I work all day down in those mines! I work for good money and lift my weight around here, which is more than I can say for YOU TWO!" With that came another slap. "Our son is seven years old! He's too young to do anything!" "Oh, I'll make him do something, all right." Footsteps. The footsteps started to walk through the house. They came up the steps, and stopped right outside the boy's door. The entire body of the boy locked into place in absolute terror. He knew what was coming. The door to his room flung open. The footsteps walked closer to the bed, until the man ripped the covers off the boy. The man grabbed the boy by the arm and started to drag him. "Stop it!" The woman screamed. "Don't do anything to him!" "Our son is a loser. I hate losers." The man dragged the boy down the stairs. The boy was struggling with the man, trying to free himself from his grasp. He twisted and turned and jerked and pulled, all to no avail. The strength of the man was too much for the boy. The boy turned and looked at the woman running down the stairs. "Momma!" The boy shouted. "Momma, help me!" The boy looked with his giant brown eyes at the woman in her nightgown desperately chasing after the man. "Help me, please!" The boy started to cry. "You leave him alone or I swear I'll kill you!" The red-eyed, frizzled-hair woman threatened the man. The man turned around and punched her with his one free arm. She stumbled backward and fell down. "Stay out of this, bitch!" The boy smelt the man's stale breath. It had a funny smell to it; a very sour one, one the boy had smelled before many times. The man opened the door and slammed it behind him. He began to trudge through the storm, still carrying the sobbing boy. Koyu rode up to the outside of Greenhill. He grabbed his bag and dismounted. He pulled the reigns of the horse into the quiet college town and too the inn. "Stay there" Koyu pointed at the horse. It nodded, as if it understood him. Koyu walked inside. He went over to the counter and leaned on it. He rang the little bell to get the innkeepers attention. "Good afternoon, stay is 200 potch per person." The person said, back to Koyu. "How much extra to find lodging for a horse?" Koyu inquired. The man turned around and saw Koyu in the red knight uniform. "For Red Knights, they're free!" The man exclaimed, in shock. Koyu opened the bag and shuffled around. He placed 750 potch on the table. "Please. I insist." "Why, thank you sir! What a kind-hearted knight you are! The best room at the inn for you!" The man raised a fist. He punched the boy right in the face. The boy fell down, face first into the rocky mountain path. The entire mountain trail was covered in mud, due to the heavy rain. The boy's soft brown eyes had turned a deep red. His soft complexion was now black and blue, covered in tears. "Get up." The man ordered. The boy sobbed. "Please don't hurt me any more, daddy." The boy begged. "You're a loser. You were born a loser, and you will always be a loser." The man kicked the boy right in the stomach. The boy howled in pain. The words barely came out of the boy's mouth. "Please. Stop it." "Stay here, and I'll stop." The man ordered. The boy curled up in a ball and nodded his head. The man started to walk away from the boy. Soon thereafter, he disappeared. The boy sat there in the rain. His eyes were crying for all that they were worth. Blood was coming out of the boy's nose and head as he started to rock back and forth. "I'm sorry."
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