Tales of the 8th light

Some people say money is the answer to all of their problems while others say that it's the cause of all their pain and sorrow. I, on the other hand, couldn't care less for it. But it provides for me and my family. My name is Terry Thomas, but most people call me Junior and I live in the Kingdom of Deroloc.

A kingdom best known for having birth the order of the 7 lights. These lights are 7 magic knights who protect this land from an unspeakable evil. This ancient evil was said to be strong, not to mention how rare it is for one to possess magic to defend against it.

However for those who learn a promising future awaits them, of course for those like me it's only a dream. My family live in the south east slums of Deroloc. I’m the oldest of my siblings which consist of 5 boys and 3 girls. My dad normally got me and my brothers to go out to the farm early in the morning until late at night, while my sisters would be out in the main streets trying to sell our crops and clothing they sewed up. Even without magic or a major status we can make a living for ourselves day by day. But dad knew that the fruits of our labor would pay off and it honestly was something I looked up to. Those were some of the best years of my life.

Sadly nothing lasts forever. One night I woke up in the middle of the night by screams for me and my brothers to rush to their aid. The smell of death was nothing that I could describe. My legs began to shake uncontrollably, as my eyes started to what was before me, as if time itself stopped. I could hear my dad screaming " Let her go ! " followed by my sister's loud screaming crying. My little brothers were just as petrified as one word echo in my brain " Demon ".

Reality started to come back to me as my dad was repeating my name over and over telling me to grab my siblings and head towards the main gate. I didn't want to leave him. But I didn't want my siblings to end up like my mother. Why her ? Why now ? And if I hesitate my siblings would suffer the same fate, so I scraped up the little courage I had and pushed all seven of my siblings out the back door heading towards the main gates.

But as we got outside, my town started to catch fire, smell burning wood and hear other houses being broken into with hearing screams before they were silenced. I begin to worry if we're going to be safe near the main gate due to all this chaos. But if we don't figure out a plan soon death was almost certain for my family. We run through the narrow alleyway trying to avoid any confrontation. But fate wasn't on our side as two demons began heading for our direction.

Me, my second and third oldest siblings April and Ezekiel knew we had to act quickly. With us being the oldest three it was up to us to protect what remains of our family. Me and Ezekiel both grabbed metal pipes laid out in the alleyway and concealed ourselves on opposing ends. My breathing was nonexistent. My eyes lock on what can only be described as tall dark goat on two legs walking, my back turned to my other siblings I could hear one of them slowly

approaching as my siblings shrouded in the darkness of the alleyway.

April whispers " There's an opening behind you to your right. I'm going to take the other siblings and try to go further towards the main gate. The demon shouldn't be able to follow us. " I responded by telling her even if we make it to the gate there are no knights present and they wouldn't last long if the demons wanted to follow them.

But what I did know is that the demon lurks closer and time was short. I then whispered back to April to grab the other siblings and get them through to the main gate and don't look back. She could tell by the way my voice was shaking that a sacrifice was going to be made. I ready myself for the impending doom, in the light of the fact I could sense the death. To my own surprise I forced a smile on my face and I looked back and told my siblings.

"Everything was going to be okay" I don't know why I was smiling but in that moment memories of my mom reading me and my siblings bedtime stories about heroes in fairy tales and how even in the face of death they wore a smile. Then the realization that his mom and dad got killed rushed to my head and I couldn't bear the idea of losing anyone else.

I began to count down as I shouted "THREE", the demon began to let out a small ooze from its mouth that gave off a foul odor, then I shouted "TWO", my muscles loosened and I was already positioned to rush down the alleyway. Then I shouted "ONE GOOO!" The loud cry after shouting go shook all the bones in my body but nevertheless I pushed forward to strike the demon while simultaneously April gathered her siblings to make a run for the gate. Ezekiel let out a cry around the same time about to put his life on the line. But before he could dash off April grabbed his arm not ready to lose another family member. I ran at full speed with the rusty pipe and attempted to lunge the pipe into his chest. I could feel the presence of death and smell the same wretched ooze as it was stronger up close.

My heart began to drop to my stomach noticing that the metal pipe didn't even puncture the demon. It would snarl before slapping the pipe out of a hand and before I could react it sank his jagged teeth into my arm, The pain was overwhelming. In a panic I punched the demon in the eye with my other hand as the demon screeched in pain and flung me into the rubble. I felt weak as the ground would pool red with his blood.

Consciousness in my body was fading. I could hear the screams of one of the townsfolk towards the gate.I couldn't make it out as everything started to become distorted and I felt as if something was dragging me away. I couldn't make it out and then everything went dark.

I don't recall much time has passed. But I felt cold. There was no sound and I felt like I was walking eons never going hungry and legs never going tired. It was as if I was stuck in an infinite loop. Was this the afterlife. After what felt like an eternity he saw something in the distance that wasn't covered in darkness.

And I ran until I arrived at a white podium. The at the center of the domain the podium was covered in weird markings hatched on the side with a black book lying on top of it.

The book gave off an ominous aura but I still approached having this be the first sign of anything, As I linger closer to the podium with caution, I got close enough to notice that the markings on the book looked sort of fire entity. I was then able to then read the cover it said " Rotten luck of the Flame King". I barely grazed the tip of my finger on the book and everything flashed a white light blinding my vision and I began to cover my eyes.

To my surprise, I heard familiar voices in my head. My siblings ? I thought as I struggled to open my eyes. The bright light was dimmed down as he looked around slowly recognizing he was in a medical bed. April was by my bedside with her head rested on foot. While my other siblings were sleeping on the wall. Words couldn't express the feelings going through my body right.

I began to move my hand as it was holding something close.The book I saw in what I could only describe as a dream. I also began to think that was the afterlife but if I'm alive then how this is booked here then I start to question if I was actually dead. All of this was cut short when a man in a white armor with a white cloak walked in he smiled and walked over to my bedside and place a bag by my bedside he then said "your brave kid I'm sorry I couldn't have gotten there quicker, but I'm happy that you managed to protect your siblings until I got there , and that you survived take this a my apology also feel free to ask for me if u need anything else'' nothing felt real in this moment but I wanted to know who this man was but i could only bow and say "thank you" he left shortly after a little convo where I found out her was the White knight Wauter the Angel of the seven lights after tell me that he headed to the exit and gazed into my eyes before leaving completely. I then took it to myself to open up the bag the man brought and see what was inside. I couldn't believe my eyes. There were gold coins, my siblings were still asleep at this point so I took the time to count them out. Some time has passed and the total amount was 20000 gold pieces most people don't even get to see one in their lifetime from where I'm from let alone 20,000, I started to think about all the possibilities I could do for them now everything that I dreamed of getting for them and doing for them but then I recalled our parents , according to the man in the white armor, four days have passed since the night I got bitten by the demon, it's a miracle for me to be alive he said all I want to do now is take care of my siblings and use this money to make life easier for them while I see what's next for us. As these thoughts flooded my mind I could feel my hands on my shoulders that gave off a warm homely feeling but no one was there moments later my siblings began to wake up and I was in braids from all sides and cried in tears of joy.

Not long after the kingdom slowly recovered from the aftermath we visited our old home and collected what we could. Then using the 20,000 gold we begin to start our new lives beginning with putting them all in school so they can have promising futures while also making sure to buy them new clothes to help fit in with this new pace and any other necessities they would need or want . I was also able to buy a nice house in the inner walls of the Kingdom, which had a vibrant overview of the inner walls. I also began to start sword training as I just joined the knight order core to protect my family and never have nights like that again, one night after training I came home and took a look at my reflection and the site perplexed me my right eye was not it's usually color of brown it now glowed a crimson red and had the same markings as the white pillar from the Dark frozen plane in addition then the black book appeared from what was only thin air and it spoke "HELLO TERRY"