James Demarius Lord549Please respect copyright.PENANARsVdQLoXga
12-17549Please respect copyright.PENANApp7l57eWhO
Tell me, do you believe in destiny? Do you believe in a world where everything is predetermined? That every choice you make, every breath you take, everyone you greet, and everything you meet has already been chosen for you. That life is stuck in an endless loop that cannot be broken, tell me do you believe in destiny?
Destiny, it can be such a harsh word. Look at it, the word itself basically screams “You can't avoid me!” With the history behind the word society makes it seem like there is no escaping your destiny, but what if they were wrong?
So, say destiny does exist, how do you back it up? Are you just going to say,” Oh that was planned for me all along.” Or would you be like, “Everything I do has been chosen by a greater force.”
What about those people who don't believe in destiny? They are out there saying that the future is ours to create. They say that our choices are ours and nobody else's, but who's to fight against this.
My names James Demarius Lord, and I believe in destiny. Sure, call me crazy if you want, but it's there believe me. It's something you can't escape. The problem with destiny is that people tend to misinterpret it. They like to choose destinies for other people, ones that they think suit the other person when really you choose your destiny. I guess that is hard to follow seeing as this story you are about to hear is about my destiny and how it was supposedly chosen for me.
I guess you could say it all started when I was born, but that is boring and cliché so I'm going to tell you anyway. I was born into a high-class family on July 15, 2007. My father, the gentle business man they call him, claims most the money for the family. He's a hardworking man with a dream to one day make his father proud, but it seems anything he tries doesn't help. You'll hear my mother call him sweetie or honey maybe even darling, but if she calls him by his name you know there is hell to pay.
My mother, they call her doc., she is a doctor at the new Heartford community medical and rehabilitation center in town. She works hard to, but always finds time for me. My father only calls her honey, even when he’s upset with her. Let's not forget the most important person of the story, me!
Like I said, I was born into a high-class family. Money was never an issue and because of it I made many “friends”. They called me many things like friend, brother, homie, but my favorite is Shakes, there is a reason behind it to. I was born with a condition called Benign Essential Tremors. What it causes is the shaking in your hands whenever you do something that would cause you stress. Many think of it as a burden, but me I think of it as a blessing. I learned ways to cope with it, things that I can and can't do. I taught myself to cook using my shakes to help me through the process. It taught me that everyone struggles with something and I don't even have the worst of it. It sure is a conversation opener when people ask. A lot of times the cause of it originates in the brain, that's where it developed for me anyways, but I guess I haven't heard where else it would come from.
Throughout my childhood, I learned a big lesson from my grandma. She told me, “No one is entitled to anything, you have to earn it.” When she passed after my 9th birthday her will asked that all her possessions be sent to the grave. That wasn't the only thing. I was told for my 10th birthday I would be getting a gas powered remote control car, but I never did. Now this is nothing to be sad about, so please don't go crying over it.
So, the reason why I am special is not because I shake, or because I have a well-off family. No, it's because I am a survivor.
One night I met what some people would call My Maker. It happened in a park right outside of my house. If I had to put a gender to it I guess I would say it was a he, yeah, a he. He was an ugly bastard for sure. When he spoke, he talked of angels and demons like they existed. The man sure was crazy, but my thought of him didn't even matter because if you thought ugly was bad this guy sprouted wings black as the night sky. Now this may sound like a hoax, but I swear it's true.
So, this thing, man, flew way up into the sky laughing. With a flick of his wrist and thrust of his arm a spear made of light was hurled at me. I just stood there like why am I not moving. Well I'll tell you something, when that spear hit it hurt like the heavens wrath finally came down to punish me for my sins. The man flew off and left me to die in my own blood. My vision, it was turning black. The last thing I saw was a pair of shoes standing at the edge of my blood puddle.
The moment I woke from that nightmare was grace, but it was odd. When I woke up I was at my house laying in my bed with nothing but my underwear on. Odd yes, I know, but who could have brought me here?
My door slammed open. In the doorway stood a young lady with long red hair. She wore a uniform, that must mean she goes to a fancy school.
“So, you're finally awake.” She said.
“Yeah, wait a moment who the hell are you?” I replied.
“I am your master.”
“Master?”
“Yup, I brought you back to life so I'm your master.”
“No, no you're crazy.”
“What, do you think everything was just a dream?”
“What do you mean, everything?”
“Everything that happened to you last night silly. The man, the spear, the horrendous amount of blood, all of it.”
“So, you’re telling me that all that wasn’t a dream?”
“Why don’t you look at the scar on your chest.” I looked at my chest and believe it or not there was a big old scar left over from the spear of light. Looked more like a blast mark that's left over after an explosion on the ground rather than a Harry Potter lightning bolt, which is way cooler than Tony's arc reactor in his chest (p.s. not really).
“Ho-ly shit there's a scar on my chest!”
“Don’t act to surprised you'll wake up the neighbors.”
“How am I not supposed to be surprised there's a giant scar on my chest.”
“Ok, calm down. Take a deep breath.”
So, she came over and sat down on my bed. I took my deep breath, like a champ. She took her hand and placed her pointer finger right on my scar.
“Hey now! What do you think you're doing?” I pushed her hand away and scooted back in the bed as far as I could go.
“Oh calm down. I'm just having a little fun.”
“Fun? You were provocatively touching me.”
“Just making sure you still could feel the sensation of a women rubbing skin with you.”
“There's something loose in that head of yours.”
“I'm better off then you are.”
“Better off? Yeah that's hard to believe.”
“Sure am, even my best healer had troubles patching you up. It's pretty nasty what those light spears can do to a person. One touch poisons you, but a wound like yours, well let's just say you're lucky to be alive. Blood was everywhere. You should have seen it you were spewing like a fountain.”
“A little sadistic, are we?”
“Only a little.”
“So explain to me why I was attacked.”
“Because you are special.” A voice beyond the door spoke. A young man stepped into the doorway. Devilish looking, average height, slender, shaggy brown hair, and blue eyes made up the man before me.
“If being a target practice dummy for some lunatic is special then hell I’m the most special guy in the world.”
“No that's not what I mean.”
“Sam shut up.”
“What I'm just trying to make conversation with the new guy.”
“But you don't need to do that right now.”
“Yeah whatever.”
“That's a good boy.”
“Not your dog.”
“Doesn't matter you'll obey like one if you want to live.”
“Oooo I'm so scared.”
“Sam why don't you be a good little brother and scram.”
“You're not the boss of me.”
Master stood up and walked over to the door. She took hold of the door and slammed it on Sam’s face. A groan came from the other side of the door. She turned around looking annoyed, scary if I must add.
“Good now that he's taken care of it's time for you to meet the crew.”
I stood up along the side of the bed. Pain shot through my chest as I hit the wall gripping at my body. I could hardly move the pain was so bad. Let me tell you something don't ever take on someone with mystical powers you'll probably die, I just got lucky.
“Come on straighten up.” Sara grabbed my arm and stood me up. “Look, to be honest we're in the middle of a shit storm and you are the only one that can bring us out of it. I'm not asking you to be this complete badass, I'm asking that you stand tall and show these people that you're ok.”
“You're asking me to be a leader?”
“No, I can handle that. Everyone out there had a hand in saving your life, all you have to do is show them you're grateful for what they did.”
“Ok, I can handle that.”
Step by step we made our way to the door. It felt like it took forever and the pain coursing through my chest wasn't helping. All I could hope for was the pain to subside quickly.
“You know most masters have a name to call them by.”
“SaraBell Rose, but if you ever call me SaraBell I'll rip your throat out and feed it to the dogs.”
“Sara, it is.”
“Smart kid.”
Sara helped me out of the room and into the kitchen, a very fancy kitchen. We’re talking high end appliances, white cabinetry, solid granite countertops, and to top it off an ice cream machine. Let me tell you now that me and this ice cream machine were going to be the best of friends. Oh, and there were other people in the room to.
Sitting around the island with the stove center was Sam, a girl, and a boy. Sam was, well Sam and the boy was definitely related to Sam. He was taller, smarter looking, well dressed, brown eyed sexy beast of a man. He wore glasses, but not ones that made him look geeky rather they made him look handsome, like it completed the package. The girl on the other hand was beauty and grace. She was just about a head shorter than me and I'm six foot, silky brown hair, beautiful blue eyes, a smile that could knock any man to his knees, but she seemed familiar. Almost as if I have met her long ago, probably just passed by her or something.
“I was expecting more than just a couple pretty faces. I mean excluding Sam he's a little dull compared to these two.”
“Hey.”
“No offense Sam.”
“Offense taken.”
The girl got up from the table and left the room hiding tears behind her hand. As she passed by me I could feel the sorrow. Something has really dragged her down.
“What's her problem?”
“You.”
Sara helped me to a chair that wouldn't swivel out from underneath me, which is probably for the best. But you can't tell me that you, if given the chance, would never sit in a swivel chair and try to spin it as fast as possible. It was for the best that I don't move too much too soon, ease the pain as much as possible.
“So this is the famous James Demarius. It’s a pleasure to make your acquaintance.” Said the guy across from me.
“Ah likewise…”
“I am Axel Rose eldest sibling of the rose family. We put in a great effort to bring you here.”
“I appreciate everything you and your family have done for me.”
“It's our pleasure. Sam, I need to talk to Annabelle, run James through the ringer.”
“The ringer? Shouldn't I be getting some rest.”
“You’ve already had more than the rest of us.” Sam said as he pulled a bottle from one of the cabinets.
“Sam is right three days is a lot more than what the rest of us had.”
“Three days? I’ve been out for three days?”
“Yup now let’s go. Take a few of these and then we'll see what you’ve got.” Sam said as he tossed the bottle at me.
“Ok.” I opened the bottle and took two small pills from it. White in nature, but awful in smell and taste. I had to drink water to wash it down.
“They're not chewable.”
“Yeah I figured that out.”
“Come, follow me. The pain killers should kick in soon.”
Little did I know Sam was about to beat the living shit out of me. He led me to the basement where most of their training went on. Along the walls were many types of weapons and banners, the floor was padded, and armor sat on stands in the corners.
“This is the training dojo. Here I will assess your skills and see if you are worth keeping around.”
“I can tell you right now I have the fighting skill of a rock.”
“Hey rocks have been around since the dawn of time so that has to count for something.”
“Yeah I guess.”
“Ok then enough talk lets fight.”
Sam walked over to the wall grabbed two staffs, threw one at me, and began to swing. Keeping up a defensive stance was difficult, he had power behind his strikes. Each one pushing me back and sending shock waves through my body. My movements were slow because my chest wound, we probably fought for an hour. Sara returned to us shortly after we finished.
“So how did he do Sam?”
“He has some skill, but he has a long way to go before he will be ready to fight anyone.”
“How long?”
“A year, maybe two.”
“That’s too long.”
“It takes time to get where we’re at.”
“Time is something we don’t really have.”
“We can make time. We can keep moving, run, train him on the go.”
“Sam, I’m tired of running. All we’ve ever done is run and I’m tired of it. Don’t you think that someday you would like to find someone and settle down, possibly have a family.”
“You’ve been talking with Annabelle too much.”
“This isn’t something to laugh at Sam. Annabelle is tired, Axel is tired, I’m tired and I don’t know how much longer I can keep this up. We need you James to hurry up and learn to fight.”
“How am I supposed to fight if I don’t even know what I’m fighting?”
A loud crashing noises came from upstairs. At first it just sounded like a broken plate or two, but it was persistent. Crash after crash something had to be up there, something dangerous.
“Annabelle.” Sam panicked.
Sam ran towards the steps. He looked genuinely worried for Annabelle’s safety, but Sara had stopped him with her hand.
“Wait here Sam. Protect James at all costs.”
Sara climbed to the top of the steps cautiously, preparing herself for whatever was on the other side of that door. Everything was quiet, too quiet. A stillness in the air changed immediately. With what seemed to be little to no resistance a fist emerged from the center of the door finding its place around Sara's neck. Sara gasping for air, kicking and shaking, doing anything to try and break free of this man’s grip. Slowly she was losing her grip on life, but before she passed out she was tossed down the steps like a ragdoll. Sara's head hit the wall leaving a dent where it made contact. Motionless with blood running down the back of her skull she passed out.
“You...you bastard!” Sam yelled.
“Sam, wait!” I panicked.
Sam, angry for what this man had done to his sister, drew a blade from his sleeve, ran at the man, and lodged the blade deep into his shoulder. The attempt at the man's life was useless. To him it probably felt like nothing more than a bee sting. This man palmed Sam’s head and threw him next to his sister.
“Damn it Sam.”
“Don't worry I'm fine. Just get yourself to safety.”
Sam stood up, he was no taller than the man’s chin. Sam wouldn't stand a chance in a one on one fight, I had to help. I ran, fast, but it served no purpose. A shadow of a person formed in front of me knocking me on my ass. That shadow soon revealed a person. A tall, slender, handsome fellow with slicked back black hair, and a suit to tie it all together.
“That's enough Cane you've done enough damage here.” The man in black commanded.
“Humph.”
“So, James it's an honor to meet you.”
“What the hell are you doing here?” James asked.
“My name is Artemis Moonfall king of Yule. Surely you remember that? no? Hmmm, strange, could've sworn you'd remember that at least. Nevertheless, your sister sends her regards.”
“Sister? I'm an only child.”
“Shut up!” Sam yelled as he swung a knife down onto Artemis’s shoulder, no use though, the blade passed through him. Artemis turned around, but he wasn't angered by Sam’s attempt at his life, he was thrilled.
“You know Samuel you shouldn't play with knives. You just might get cut.” The knife rose into the air and threw itself at Sam leaving a cut on his cheek.
“Disappear!” Axel yelled.
A bright blinding light flashed throughout the room. I couldn't see for a good 5 minutes, but all I could think about in those five minutes was that man's words.
“You ok James?” Axel asked.
“Is it true, do I really have a sister?”
Axel took one arm and Sam took the other lifting me back on my feet. I felt like I had just gotten off the tilt-a-whirl after a half hour ride.
“I'm not allowed to say anything about that to you.”
“Why not?”
“Because Sara said. I'm sorry.”
“Why is it her decision?”
“She just wants to do her best in keeping us all safe.”
“Sounds like a bunch of bullshit if you ask me.”
“Why don't you two be quiet and help me get her upstairs.” Sam intervened.
“Don't touch her.” Annabelle said from the top of the stairs. “You could hurt her even more.”
“Are you ok? We heard a lot of banging around up there.” Sam asked.
“I can handle myself Sam.”
“I know it's just.”
“Just what? You think because I'm a girl I can't protect myself.”
“No that's not it. I'm just worried about you, that's all.”
“Sam, look, I know you mean well, but I'm fine.”
Annabelle placed her hand on the side of Sara's face. A white light emitted from her hand and surrounded Sara's body.
“What's she doing?” I asked.
“Annabelle is a healer.” Sam said.
“Cleric.” Annabelle snapped back.
“What's the difference?” I asked.
“She would just be a healer since she has no religious alignment.” Sam said.
“I will shove religion right up your ass Sam if we have to go through this debate again.” Annabelle snapped.
“She doesn't sound to happy.” I said.
“She's not, unfortunately.” Sam replied.
“Axel could you take her upstairs for me?” Annabelle asked.
“Sure thing.” Axel responded.
“As for you two. Leave me alone. That means not talking to me, no talking about me, no looking at me, and Sam get rid of those pictures.”
“I have no clue what you're talking about.” Sam’s face turned red.
Annabelle looked at me scowled and walked off. Her hatred lingered in the air. Her footsteps could be heard all the way up the stairs and through the house.
“I think you pissed her off.” I said to Sam.
“No, she was already pissed off. We just made it worse.”
“We? I think it was mostly you.” I playfully shoved Sam over letting him know I had nothing to do with it. We both laughed it off. I could tell me and Sam were in it for the long haul.
“So, these pictures?”
“Don't ask.”
“Well I'm asking.”
“I don't wanna talk about it.”
“How about I tell Sara about them.”
“You wouldn't?”
“I would.”
“Ok, ok so I have a few pictures of Annabelle.”
“What like school pictures?”
“Not exactly.”
“Well then what are they?”
“They're partial nude pictures and I like to look at them once and a while.”
“Geez Sam sorry I asked.”
“Well what do you expect from a hormonal teenager?”
“A little more dignity than that.” The room was silent. I worked on the training dummy for a while as Sam criticized my form, we moved on to different styles of fighting, and to finish it off another sparring match. I held up against him a little better this time, but a rock was still more useful.
“Well I think it's late enough. Time for bed.” Sam said.
“Hey Sam.”
“Yeah?”
“Can we talk about something friend to friend?”
“Sure, man anything.”
“Who is Artemis?”
“Shit.”
ns 15.158.61.45da2