Chapter I: Keys

A Chapter by Oran

The sun rises as its rays shed light on a log cabin in the middle of the woods. Dew drops slowly drip and slide down from the patches of grass that surround the wooden house. It only had one window at the back opposite the door in front. On the window sill was a tiny cat-like creature laying asleep on its forelegs. Its fur was dark-bluish and violet plus it had two antennae sticking out from the base of its skull making it look less like a normal cat. Further inside, scattered pages of old, torn-apart books were spread out on the floor. The rest of the place was barely visible except for the desk and chair placed along the wall next to the window.

The sun rises a bit higher, causing its golden yellow radiance to shed light on half of the room. Beside the desk, a bed rests bellow something that's fast asleep. It was wearing nothing but socks and black pants with its hair messed up. That’s our main character. He looks pretty young, like that character from that [1]shota-con anime- I forgot the title- but he’s probably old enough to understand where babies come from and how it works. His hair was shining gold with one lock raised on either side of his head, making it look like tiny puppy ears.

Inch by inch, the rays of light started crawling up toward his face until it finally hits his eyelids, making it harder to resist waking up. His eyes ease open, revealing a tiny blue sea surrounding each of his pupils. He stares at the ceiling and thinks to himself.

Today’s the day.

He curls up and drops his feet to the floor; scratching his back while he was at it. A big yawn comes from his mouth as he moseys over to the window to try to wake up the cat. He scratches his bare chest then speaks to the cat.

“Tenen...”

No response.

“Tenenbaum!” He yells in a more childish tone, but I think that’s how he normally sounds.

The cat’s antennae stand up in shock. It quickly stands up on its hind legs whilst its eyes open but then falls on its back again in agitation.

“What!”

That cat can talk?

“Good Morning!”

The cat looked displeased at him, but she still found a way to stand up.

“You’re too excited about this…”

Later, he starts eating breakfast while the cat was napping on the table. It looks like he’s eating soft rice bathing in chocolate sauce served in a bowl. I think it’s called [2]champorado. Tenenbaum, his cat, doesn’t seem to be interested in what he’s eating because she doesn’t usually wake up at this hour.

“Don’t sleep on the table”, he says then takes a mouthful of the sweet stuff from a silver spoon.

“It’s your fault!” She stands on her hind legs. “What’s so special about this hunt anyway?”, she asks with her voice squeaking.

“I’m telling you, this guy knows something about my real father. Didn’t you read the contract?”

“Didn’t Luno ever teach you not to be so quick to trust anyone?”

“Yeah, well, he’s not here”, he pouts. “It’s been three years and I haven’t seen him so I’m making my own decisions now.”

The cat’s face seemed amused with his remark.

“Look at you, acting all mature and stuff…”

“Really? I guess that did sound mature!”

“You just lost it…”

What did the writer say this guy’s name was again...? [3]Oh, that’s right! It’s Solis! That sounded like Professor Oak didn’t it?

It’s been sixteen years since Osiris Luno found him lost out in the woods along with Tenenbaum, during what I’d like to call the Elemental Incident. Though his memory of the past was vague, one thing’s for sure to him: Osiris took care of him. The Bladesman taught him a lot about fighting, specifically for self-defence. He had a lot of training for swords from single-edged blades to dual wielding, but Luno never actually mentioned why. He was probably the closest thing Solis had as a father, something he’s always questioned throughout his life. He’s lived in total obedience to the guy, until one day he vanished...

He told Solis that he was out to get lunch but... until now Solis has been waiting for him to come back. You know, I heard the same story before about a kid’s father going out at night to get some scratchers, and ultimately the kid died waiting at the same spot his father told him to wait on. But our main character isn’t like that. He started looking around the house, and stumbled upon something that confused his immature mind:

A sword gleaming like silver hidden under the bed that glistens with a blue aura, Osiris’ trade mark weapon: Kirin.

Taped to its hilt was a note saying,

Collect all the keys. One of them is you.

He didn’t know what the hell it meant. He was more excited about the sword, enough to motivate himself to start training once more to pass the time while waiting.

But then again, our main character gets tired of waiting pretty easily, and when he found out he was running low on stuff to eat he went out in the woods to see if he can forage some food. Suddenly some lone wolf came out of the blue and attacked him. It might’ve actually killed him if he hadn’t brought the sword that was left to him. The wolf was actually a straggler from the ones being hunted by someone from the Hunting Guild, and that person found interest in him and gave him a map that lead to the Guild that was recruiting “Slayers”.

That’s when he started his daily life as a Slayer: People who are commissioned to track down and “slay” single targets unlike Hunters that hunt down small targets on a large scale. Combined with Tenenbaum's power to impede organic cells to cause entropy on any sentient individual - I don't know what it means either - they've become quite a pair. Some sort of tether was naturally formed between them since the day they were born, even though they don’t remember how, but each other is all they have now.

The cottage door pries open while he walks out with Tenenbaum resting on his shoulder. For his next job he was wearing the standard brown coat embroidered with the Hunting Guild’s trinity symbol and also the same pants he wore while he was sleeping. He also had dark boots and a light protective vest underneath the coat, topped off with his cat riding on his shoulder and Kirin sheathed on his back.

Little does he know, one of the keys will find him today.

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1. Means a person who is into young boys in Anime
2. Desert type of food from the Philippines made with soft rice and topped with cocoa sauce
3. Professor Oak says that when you tell him your name in Pokemon Generation I

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