Chapter 1: The Beginning

Damn. It was one of those moments in your life when you figure out there's nothing you can do to help get out of this situation. I remember it like it was yesterday. My mother, had just tucked Lisanna and Elfman into bed. She gently gave them a peck on their foreheads and cooed them both into a peaceful slumber. She watched me as I shut all the windows in our small little cabin we called a home.

"Mira dear," my mother whispered. "It's getting late sweetheart I think you should rest up. Tomorrow I'll need your help getting supplies for the house. It's gonna be a cold, harsh winter this year, it has already started to blizzard my dear."

"I know mom, I just want to make sure all the chores are done," I explained. My mother just looked at me with such an intense gaze it gave me chills. Then she just looked and smiled that bright, warm smile of hers.

"Mira sweetie, I don't know what I would do if I didn't have such a daughter like you. I depend on you so much since your father..." She looked down at the ground with her big ocean blue eyes that mirrored my own. I knew where she was going with this conversation. My father was a Mage. A very well known one at that. He and my mother were children when they first met. They married when he was 18 and she was 15. My mother had me at 16 followed by Elfman at 17 and Lisanna at 18. My mother was a traveling performer while my father worked as a traveling lived a life of travel, but it was always fun and happy.

Flashback

It wasn't until I was 8 or so when everything changed for the worst. My mother performed at the local pub just like usual while my father worked there fixing the things that needed to be fixed. Me, Elfman and Lisanna watched her in awe as she sang each melody with the most perfect pitch. It was like listening to an angel. As my mother reached the end of her song, the door of the pub burst open to reveal a gang of 7 lowlife, thug mages. My father was a man who chose his own fights and never the other way around. He quickly stopped what he was doing and came to our side. I remember when he stood in front of me e distinctively smelt of musk, sweat and some sort of spice. I found it a soothing smell unlike Lisanna who thought he smelt "icky" after people in the pub became instantly firghtened when the leader of the thug finally spoke.

"Well, well, what do we have here," he slurred. By the way he paced around I could tell he was a drunkin fool. "Well boys it seems we hav-hic a room full of money-hic bags. Now I knoe you're all here to have a good time an-hic I want some of that too, but it cost doe. Me and my boys here are going to say this once so make sure you digest i-hic it. Put all your money and Jewlery in this here bag and we'll best be on our way." I looked at Lisanna who started to instantly cry. Luckily it was only silent tears so she didn't draw to much attention. I then looked at Elfman who tried to muster his courage, but as the stick up went on he started to crack. I then looked at my mother who looked at the thugs with complete disgust. My mother was the hot head of the family. Elfman and I get our personality from her. While my dad was the calm and reserved type in which Lisanna had completely taken after. I started to think to myself that the reason dad and mom are here is because we don't have any money. What are those thugs going to do if we don't have anything to give. I guess my father was thinking the same thing because he silently cursed to himself. My father was a strong mage.I didn't feel to scared because I knew my father was strong enough to take care of these idiots even if he was outnumbered. My father was a whopping 6 foot 11 inches with a strong muscular build. He possessed a magic called take over which allowed him to transform into a monster. My mother only told us stories about it, but we have never seen himin action. My other said when he's in full body take over he's unstoppable. I prayed my mother was right and wasn't just exaggerating because at the moment those thugs took notice of my father and us.

"Look at this boys, this here is a big man,"he slurred. The other thugs snickered but continued their route of snatching peoples money and jewlery. "So big man, you don't plan on doing anything stupid right." I can sense my father starting to loose control of his emotions each second. The thug kept on taunting him. I could feel the ominous wind in the air. I wasn't that scared before, but I started to then. I bet my mother sensed it to because she quickly ran over to us and stood in between my father and the thug.

"I'd advise you not to taunt my husband in front of our children scum. If you want this jewlery go fetch it like the dog you are," yelled my mother. she then threw her necklace against the nearest wall. "Atinna, don't get involved in this," my father stated angrily while yanking my mother behind him. "Yea Atinna don't get involved, actually I wouldn't mind if a pretty lady like you were to get involved with a guy like me." said the thug smugly. He then looked at me and stated "White hair must run in the family, your daughter's a beauty like you too I see. When she grows up maybe I can take a crack at he.." Right before he could finish the sentance my father picked the skimpy thug up by his neck and slammed him on the closest table. Still clinging on to the mans neck my father yelled, "Atinna, take the kids out of here and run, I'll catch up to you at our safehouse." As soon as Lisanna and Elfman heard that we were splitting up, they started to cry histarically. I tried to hush them up, but it wouldn't help. "Mira," my father said. "Be strong for your brother and sister ok." I just noded as I watched my calm, patient father turn into a hideous beast. We were all stunned, even the group of thugs who surrounded my father. "Atinna, GO NOW!" he exclaimed.

My mother being the strong woman she was just looked at him with sad eyes and said, "Elliot, if your not back in a few hours I'm coming back for you. And with that she picked Lisanna up and grabbed Elfman's hand and signaled me to follow her out the door of the pub. We ran about 2 miles until we reached our safe house. It's a small cabin hidden deep in the outskirts of the town where many people didn't go. People were scared to roam our woods because of there were sightings of monsters. After just witnissing my father, I claimed those rumors to be right. As we were finally safe in our cabin the fear of the unknown caught up to all of us. We were scared for a father and we were scared for the nice towns people in the pub who always helped us out. Lisanna and Elfman were so young to know how to handle this situation. So My mother and I just held them both a repeated things like "There, there, itll be alright and Daddy's coming home soon." It seemed like hours past before my mother got up and walked toward the door.

Elfman paused his tears before asking, "Mom, wher-where are you going." Lisanna quickly followed up with a "Yea mommy where are you going, don't leave." Mom just gave us her warm smile and calmly stated, "Don't worry mommy's babies, I'm just gonna go get Papa and bring him back." And with that she ran out the door. I remember drifting off to sleep until I heard frantic knocking at the door.

BANG, BANG, BANG, "MIRA OPEN THE DOOR, MIRA YOUR FATHER, HE"S HURT OPEN THE DOOR!" after hearing that I ran as quickly as I could and slammed open the door. I what I saw then is something I will never forget for my whole life. There was blood everywhere. It was in the snow, it was all over my mother and my father. I started to shake I was so terrified. Just then my mother called out to me, MIRA GO GET SOME HOT WATER WE NEED TO TEND TO YOUR FATHERS WOUNDS!" I was still shaken up from the blood I couldn't move. Then my mother did something she never did before, she yelled at me. "MIRA WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU STANDING THERE FOR GET THE WATER AND RAGS!" That snapped me out of my daze and I went to go do what I was told. Lisanna and Elfman had woken up and became frantic at the sight of my father. "Mira go take your brother and sister to the other room while I help your father. We started to protest, but were quickly interrupted by our mother, "Now!" With that we all sat in our parents bedroom and waited.

After an hour or so my mother came in the room, her warm blue eyes were now bloodshot red from crying. She dragged her foot in the doorway and with a raspy voice she called out to us, "Mira, Lis, Elfman your father has some things he would like to tell you." We were so happy to know we could finally see our father, but were pained at the look our mother gave us. She looked like she was about to be sick when she left the room. We quickly ran to our father's side. He laid there with tarnished bandages and blood still leaking from his battered body.

My father coughed a few times then finally rasped out, "I'm sorry my children, your Papa was not strong enough."
Elfman took the pause to ask, "What do you mean papa? You fought a group of thugs at the same time by yourself, your a strong man to me." My father just gave him a half smile. "Elfman son, that means a lot to me,"my father stated. He then coughed again. "Being a man who can beat up the most people, being a man is about who can protect the most people especially his family. Son I want you to be the man of this family can you do that?" my father asked. Elfman than responded, "But your the man of the house dad why?" His comment was caught off by My mother, Lisanna and I's whimpering. My father than weakly stated, "Son, my time is up. In a little while I won't be hear anymore so you have to be the man of the house and protect your mother and sisters, can you promise me that?" Right then, Elfman started to really sob. "I promise dad, I'll promise to be a man." My father nodded at this comment. Lisanna than spoke up, "Daddy, you said you have to go, where are you going?" she cried. I looked down at my hands. She was just 6 years old and too young to understand. "Lisanna, my sweet baby girl, your dad is going to the sky so he can look after you." "Why do you have to go to the sky, why can't you stay with us, won't you be lonely, I'm going to be lonely," she cried. Dad just smiled at her innocence. He then replied,"Baby girl, my time is up on earth, that's why I have to go and I wont be lonely because I'll have you in my heart and I'll be in yours." He coughed again. "Really?" Lisanna asked between sobs. "Really," my father assured her. "Continue to be my little ray of sunshine that brightens everyone day ok?" he asked. "Lisanna than smiled and said "Ok Papa." His eyes then drifted toward me.

I tried to look strong in front of my Papa, but when he grabbed my hand all my courage went down the drain. "Mira, my beautiful, strong, spitfire girl. I was so happy to have a daughter who is exactly like my beautiful wife. Whenever I see how beautiful you become each day makes me thankful that I found the perfect woman to be my wife." I was so flattered that he compared to my mother whom I adored, that I forgot his condition for a second. He then looked at me with his deep black eyes and said, "Your the oldest Mira which means you have the responsibility of making sure your brother and sister grow up to be fine people. You also gotta help your mother because it'll be hard for her when I go." I just grabbed my Papa's hand and held it against my face and cried into his palm. "I promise Papa, I love you and I promise to help mom raise Lisanna and Elfman." "I know you will my sweet girl," he replied. Then he pulled me and Lisanna down and kissed us on our foreheads, he then did the same with Elfman. Mother than joined us and eventually her and papa kissed for a long time. We all fell asleep that night embraced in each other's arms, when we woke up Papa was gone for good.

Present

I watched my mother sit in her chair and humming a tune. It's been 2 years since my father passed and ever since them my mother never sang again. She always hummed, but the feeling was never the same. I finished the chores and decided to go to bed. I watched my mother walk over to my side of the bed as if she was trying to tuck me in."Mommy, I'm 10 now I don't need to be tucked in, if anything I should be tucking you in," I told her. My mother just gave me that warm smile of hers and said, "Yeah i know but even if your 10 your still my baby girl." I smiled at that and allowed her access to my forehead. She gave me a small gentle kiss and whispered, "I love you Mira." Little did I know that would be the last time I ever heard my mother's voice.

I woke up early that morning because Elfman kept kicking me in his sleep. After a half an hour of abuse I got up to go see what my mother was doing. It was about time we get the fire going for breakfast. I walked to the bedroom over saw my beautiful mother lying there on the bed. She looked so peaceful. Her long flowing white hair made a halo around her heart shaped face. Her naturally pink lips were paler than usual but it didn't stop her beauty from shining through. The morning sun's rays touched her skin giving it an angelic glow. She was like an angel with her arms resting on her mid section. I don't know what but something told me to go try and wake her up. I climbed into my mothers bed and inched closer to her. I snuggled my face into her face in order to try and wake her up. Her skin was so cold, I brushed it off thinking it was because of the cold weather outside. I then decided to poke her and call out her name. "Momma wake up, it's time to start breakfast I sang." I waited but there was no response. I looked closer at her face and noticed streaks coming from her eyes. Like she was crying. I started to get a little worried after learning this. My eyebrows started to knit together as I continued to call her name, but still had no response. My rubs and pats turned into an all out shake and my whispers turned into loud frantic cries. "MOM, MOM WAKE UP, PLEASE WAKE UP...I CAN'T LOOSE YOU TOO...MOM PLEASE WAKE UP!" I screamed frantically.

I felt defeated. I couldn't swallow the huge gulp in my throat. I didn't know what to do. How was I going to explain this to Lisanna and Elfman, What would happen to us in the future, where would we go?" My head was spinning out of control. I wanted to grieve for my mother, but I had my remaining family to think about. My heart hurt so much. It felt like someone took my heart and crushed it. I started to choke and hypervenalate, I was not prepared for this situation at all. I did the only thing that made sense at the moment, I screamed.

My scream did the one thing I didn't want, it woke up my beloved siblings from their peaceful slumber. As if on cue Elfman and a sleepy-eyed Lisanna cam charging nto my mothers bedroom. "Ne-chan I heard a scream is everything ok?" Elfman asked worriedly. "Yea Mira-Ne what's the matter?" Lisanna asked rubbing the sleep away from her eyes. I let go of our mother and silently walked over to my siblings. I wrapped my arms around both of them and slid them down to the floor with me. "Oi ne-chan," Elfman called, "What's wrong is something the matter with mom?" I tried to compose myself the best way I could I looked both my siblings in their eye and quietly whispered to them, "Mom is gone, just like papa she's gone to the sky so she can be with him and watch us from the sky." Both Lisanna and Elfman simultaneously started to ball there little innocent eyes out. It broke my heart to see them like this, but it broke my heart to see my mother's lifeless body on the bed. I hugged them again when Elfman broke loose of my grip, "WHY NE-CHAN WHY? FIRST DAD NOW MOM, WHY DOES THIS KEEP HAPPENING TO US, IS GOD PUNISHING US?" "I don't know elf-kun," I replied. "Mira-ne I don't understand papa went away because he was hurt Mama's not hurt so why did she go away?" Lisanna sobbed. "Momma was hurt Lisanna," I said while caressing her short white locks. "Momma died of a broken heart."

One whole week went by and none of us did anything. Mother's body was still lying lifeless in her bedroom. Lisanna who still doesn't understand refused to let me and Elfman bury Momma just in case she might wake up. Me and Elfman knew as much as we wished that would happen that would not be the case. It had gotten to the point where the stench in the cabin was unbearable that we had to bury our mother. Elfman and I made a coffin and tombstone for momma. The coffin didn't look good, but it was going into the ground anyways so who would even see it right? Elfman carried the coffin in while I wrapped momma's lifeless body in her blanket. It took both of us to put her in and drag the coffin out to the burial. We burried her right next to papa because we know that's what she would have wanted. We said our final goodbyes and went back in the house.

Two days after we buried our mother I noticed that we were out of food. We had no food and no money to get some. The closest town was a few miles away and on top of that it was a civilian tow. This meant I was too young to work. A few more days went by and I knew I couldn't leave my siblings home alone nor could I take them with me because they wouldn,t have the energy to make it all the way to town. There was only one solution I could think of. I had to go in the woods and find an animal to kill, so we can cook it for food. I grabbed a big carving knife from the kitchen and went out in search of our supper. Elfman of course protested claiming that it was mans job to hunt for food for the family, but I quickly dismissed him. It had to have been like an hour of searching in the woods. There was no animal big enough for all of us to eat and I started to give up hope.

I slumped myself against a tree and started crying. I promised my papa and my mother that I would take care of my siblings, but I can't even find a way to feed the. I felt so hopeless. As I was slumped against the tree I could feel vibrations on the ground. They kept getting bigger and the thumping sound kept getting larger. I quickly got up and looked out into the clearing. A huge bird that had to be about 20 feet tall came stampeeding into the clearing. I was happy this was my chance for food, but that thought went away when i realized this giant bird was a monster.

I never fought before how could I possibly defeat something like this. Then I quickly remembered something my father told me. He said my siblings and I share his blood. Which means we have the ability to do the full body take over magic. Wht did he say exatly I had to do? I couldn't remember. Just then the giant bird attempted to stomp me. I quickly ran out of the way. I then heard voices coming from the east. Familiar voices. To my complete horror there were my beloved siblings standging behind the beast with shocked faces. I felt my heart sank when the bird took its focus away from me and on them. I started to panic. So i threw the knife and luckily, it landed in the beast's eye.
Then it came to me. The thing my father said that I could not remember. He said whatever strong emotion you're feeling at the time look into yourself and draw the power out. It is then when you can tap into your inner dormant self. Some people say it's an inner demon, I say it's your inner emotions bottled up into a mass of power, either way they better run." With that he smiled than kissed me on my forehead.

As the beast began to chase me I stopped and faced it. I closed my eyes and remembered all the hurt and pain I went through in my life and how bad I wanted to save my siblings. All of a sudden an ominous wind blew and dark energy seemed to have consumed my body. I never felt something like this before. This power was enveloping my body and felt everything start to change. My teeth were sharpened like wolf fangs, my hands were claws of a monsters as well as my feet. My backside felt heavier and to my surprise a tail of a lizard of some sort began swaying behind me. My hightened senses alarmed me of the danger that was charging at me full speed. I braced myself for impact and when it did, nothing happened. I opened my eyes to see that my arm completely stopped the beast in its tracks. I looked over to see my siblings in complete shock. I finally freed one claw and used it to slice open the neck of this monstrous bird. It died instantly. Things were different from that day on.

Three years passed and I turned 13. In the absence of both our parents I acted as the guardian for my two siblings. I finally taught Elfman and Lisanna how to use their magic. It was interesting to find out that the three of us had different forms of the body take over. Lisanna could transform into basically anything, Elfman couldn't do a full body take over but his arms could, which was still efficient, and I had Satan Soul. Ionly allowed Elfman to help me get food. We didn't necessarily hunt all the time but when weary travelers came by they usually helped us out with money if we allowed them to stay in our cabin. Also the town's people would help by sending their family members to our little cabin in the woods with food, supplies and rumor of the monster went away so people were not afraid anymore to walk the woods anymore.
Life was pretty peaceful until a young blonde hair boy who had to be only few years older than myself came stumbling out of the clearing holding his bleeding chest. He looked up with his onyx eyes and grabbed on to my shirt. He then in a raspy voice said to me, "Help me, or else." He quickly fainted into my arms. My first thought was, "The nerve of this guy." Second thought, "Oh Great." I then decided to drag Mr. attitude in our cabin and fix him up out of a whim.
"Lisanna, Elfman help me with this person." They both noded and ran to my side.
"This is going to be a long night," I thought, shaking my head.