The sun had long dipped below the horizon, leaving the vilge of Ethel in a deceptive silence. While the vilgers slept, shadows moved. A group of bandits, cold-eyed and armed, slipped through the streets like ghosts.

  Inside Soko’s small home, a floorboard creaked.

  Soko’s grandmother, whose eyes were sharpened by years of vigince, sat up. A dark figure stood in

  the corner of the kitchen, rummaging through their meager belongings.

  "What are you doing in my home?" her voice cracked, but she stood tall. "Leave. Now!"

  The bandit turned, the moonlight glinting off the bde in his hand. "Shut up, old woman. Give me everything you have."

  "There is nothing here but bread and scraps," she replied defiantly.

  The bandit’s gaze locked onto her neck. "The neckce. Give it to me."

  Her hand instinctively flew to the silver locket. "No... my mother gave this to me. It is all I have left."

  "I said, give it to me!"

  The noise woke Soko. He stumbled out of his room, rubbing his eyes, only to freeze at the kitchen's threshold. His heart stopped. A man was looming over his grandmother, a dagger pressed against her throat.

  "Grandmother!" Soko gasped.

  "Soko! Stay back!" she screamed.

  In a blur of motion, the bandit lunged forward, grabbing Soko by the colr and pressing the cold

  steel against his neck. "Give me the neckce, old woman, or I’ll open your boy’s throat right now!"

  Terrified, the grandmother stepped forward, her

  hands trembling. "Don't... don't hurt him. Take it, just leave him alone. Do you understa—"

  Silence.

  A sickening thud echoed in the small room. Soko’s eyes widened in pure horror. The bandit hadn't waited. He pushed Soko aside and drove the bde into the grandmother’s side.

  "GRANDMOTHER!"

  Soko caught her as she colpsed. In seconds, the floor was stained. Her clothes, once pin and clean, turned a deep, horrific crimson. Soko’s hands were soaked in warm, thick blood. Tears blurred his vision as he looked into her fading eyes.

  "Grandmother, please... please stay with me!" he sobbed.

  She reached up, a weak, bloody hand touching his cheek. "Soko... don't cry... everything is fine..."

  "How can it be fine?!" Soko screamed, his voice breaking. "Look at you! I'm so sorry... I'm so sorry!"

  "It’s okay," she whispered, her voice barely audible. "I am... okay."

  Pure adrenaline took over. Soko lifted her fragile body, his muscles screaming under the weight and the terror. He kicked the door open and sprinted into the dark streets.

  "HELP! YOKIRO! OPEN THE DOOR!"

  He ran like he had never run before, his breath coming in ragged gasps, his grandmother’s blood dripping onto the cobblestones behind him.

  "Grandmother, don't close your eyes! Look at me! Stay with me!"

  He reached the vilge doctor’s house and hammered on the door with his bloody fists.

  BANG! BANG! BANG!

  "OPEN UP! YOKIRO! PLEASE!"

  The door swung open, and Yokiro stood there, eyes wide with shock. "Soko? What happened—" He stopped mid-sentence, his gaze falling on the unconscious woman in Soko’s arms. "Get her inside! Now!"

  "A bandit... he broke in... he stabbed her for a neckce," Soko choked out, his body shaking.

  "Damn them all," Yokiro hissed, clearing his table.

  "I'm... fine..." the grandmother murmured weakly.

  "Be quiet!" Yokiro barked, though his hands were steady. "Save your strength for healing."

  Soko stood outside the surgery room, his hands trembling. The smell of his grandmother's blood was still stuck in his nostrils. Through the heavy silence of the night, a sound broke through—a sound that made Soko’s heart turn to ice.

  The bandits were just outside, not far from the doctor's house. They were ughing, boasting about the "easy loot" and the "stubborn old woman."

  Soko’s vision began to blur. His breath came in shallow, ragged gasps. Every ounce of kindness he had ever felt was being repced by a dark, cold void. He didn't think. He didn't pn. He simply moved.

  He stepped out of Yokiro’s house, his eyes fixed on the shadows at the end of the street. His gaze fell

  on a small, insignificant pebble on the ground. Without even touching it, he felt a strange,

  invisible tether connect his mind to the stone.

  He focused all his hatred onto that pebble. With a flick of his wrist, he threw it with every bit of

  Strength in his body. The stone whistled through the air, striking one of the bandits on the shoulder.

  The bandits stopped. They looked at the tiny stone on the ground, then looked at the trembling boy standing in the dark.

  "Is this a joke?" one of them ughed, kicking the pebble away. "You threw a rock, boy? Go back to your hammers and nails before we finish what we started."

  The ughter was the final straw.

  Soko didn’t scream. He didn't cry. He unched himself forward. His speed was unnatural, fueled by a desperation and a power he couldn't name.

  Before the bandits could draw their swords, Soko had already collided with the one who mocked him.

  He didn't use a punch. He didn't use a weapon. He threw himself onto the man like a wild animal, pinning him to the ground. In a fsh of primal rage, Soko sank his teeth deep into the bandit’s neck.

  The bandit let out a choked, horrific gurgle. Soko bit down with a force that shouldn't belong to a human, tearing through skin and muscle.

  Soko pulled back. A piece of the man's flesh was

  still cmped in his teeth. Blood spttered across Soko’s face, mixing with his tears. He spat the piece of flesh onto the dirt, his eyes wide, glowing with a terrifying, cold hatred. He looked like a

  demon born from the shadows of the vilge.

  The other bandits stood frozen for a second, their faces pale with shock. "What... what is this kid?!"

  Then, shock turned to fury. "Kill him! Kill him now!"

  The group lunged at Soko, who stood over their fallen comrade, ready to be swallowed by the darkness.

  "Hope you liked the beginning! Don't forget to 'Favorite' and 'Follow' if you want to see what happens next to Soko. Your comments mean the world to me!"