Meenu’s horse was ready quickly and Avaryn looked both annoyed and angry as she, Light and Heart got ready to leave.

     “I’m sorry,” Meenu said to him, “I didn’t mean for any of this to happen.”

     Avaryn sighed. “It’s not your fault.”

     Heart started to pout his lips and Avaryn chuckled at that. “It’s not yours either.”

     Finally, Heart smiled again, “really?”

     Avaryn shook his head. “Master Red isn’t telling us anything but something makes me feel like he thinks someone wanted Meenu to get the ring. And that someone might be Ameryna.”

     Light nodded. “I was thinking the same thing.”

     Meenu frowned. She didn’t like the idea of putting the blame on Ameryna, especially since Meenu liked her so much.

     She looked down at the cursed ring, still frowning.

     “Meenu,” Avaryn called, “you should get going.”

     But as he spoke, she kept her eyes on the ring.

     And for the second time since she put on the ring, she felt herself loose her senses.

     She fell forward, into Avaryn’s arms.

     And as she fell she could hear a hundred faint, unfamiliar voices before she blacked out.

     He was sitting on the roof of his parent’s farm with his eyes closed. Just like he did every morning. The quite of the morning along the countryside was exactly what he needed to perfectly hear the news from the nearby town.

     And recently, the news wasn’t good.

     “The King has ordered for the capture of any suspicious looking red eyes.” One man said.

     “I heard they’ll get executed.”

     “No, no. They’re going to be slaves.”

     “Why would the king make slaves out of evil creatures?” A woman questioned.  “They’re surely going to kill them!”

     “Who cares what happens to them… as long as we don't need to deal with–”

     “Lumyryn!”

     His eyes fluttered open when he heard his mothers’ voice.

     Lumyryn stood up from the roof and looked down, only to see his smiling mother waving at him.

     He felt his heart lighten.

     “Good morning, my love!” She called from the ground.

     Lumyryn jumped from the roof, and like every morning, his mother’s heart jumped in panic, worrying that a jump from that height could injure him. Of course, for the red-eyed Lumyryn, that jump was nothing.

     He walked to his startled mother with a smile on his face. “Good morning, Ma.”

     She gave him a silly smile before letting the tall young man kiss her cheek. “What did you hear today?” She asked as she linked her arm with his and guided him to the kitchen to eat breakfast.

     “Nothing important.” Lumyryn lied. He didn’t want his mother to worry.

     Of course, she knew he was lying. But she left it alone.

     When they arrived at the kitchen, Lumyryn’s father was eating his breakfast quietly. He didn’t acknowledge either his son or wife.

     Juna adjusted the scarf around her neck and pouted her lips. “Good morning, Jol.”

     He nodded. “Morning.” The tall, burly man suddenly stood up. His black hair needed to be cut since long strands fell over his eyes as he glanced over at Lumyryn. He then looked back at his wife. “The eggs are ready. Tell him to take them down to the town.”

     Juna rolled her eyes as she placed the bowl of porridge on the table and urged her son to sit down and eat. She was going to argue with her husband but he was already gone out the door.

     Lumyryn sat. He was used to the coldness of his father and didn’t mind it.

     His mother, however, could never get used to it. 

     Never.

     She sat in front of him and smiled. “I’ll come with you.” She said, her smile growing.

     Juna was a lovely woman. She had large brown eyes and brown hair that fell well past the small of her back. She was tall and curvy and all his life, Lumyryn remembered her being warm and loving.

     She always wore a dress that fell down to her ankles and an apron to cover the front of it. And a smile was almost always on her face when she spoke to her son.

     She loved him more than life itself.

     And Lumyryn knew it.

     “You don’t need to,” Lumyryn said, “I can handle it.”

     “I want to. Besides, the town has been very… violent recently… I don’t want you to get caught up with that.”

     Lumyryn smiled, he found it funny that his mother was so protective. Even though they both knew that Lumyryn could fend for himself.

     “Then let’s go right when I finish?”

     Juna smiled and nodded.

The two of them entered the town and were followed by the eyes of everyone.

     Everyone knew them.

     The family that had a red-eyed boy.

     People spoke secretly about them, talking about how one day, the red-eyed boy would loose control of himself.

     When they least expected it, the red-eyed boy would kill them.

     It was out of pity for the “ignorant” couple that people purchased their goods.

     It was in a hope that they would live the last of their lives in some peace.

     That… and the fear that if they didn’t, the red-eyed boy would kill them too.

     Of course, Lumyryn heard every word that these people said, and he was so used to it that he didn’t really care.

     He knew he would never kill his parents.

     That was all that mattered.

     “Good morning, Beah!” Juna smiled widely as she stopped in front of the small shop.

     Beah looked up with a smile. It faded slightly when her eyes fell on Lumyryn. She looked away immediately and forced out another smile. “Morning Juna, here with the eggs?”

     Lumyryn put down the large box of eggs that had been gathered for Beah’s small shop. 

     Beah walked over with the coins, counted them carefully and then handed them to Juna. “I thank you,” she said, “and–”

     Their heads turned when they heard an angry shout. A second later, a boy ran passed them.

     He didn’t get far.

     A man grabbed a hold of him before knocking him to the ground. “What’s going on here?”

     Beah looked at Lumyryn and his mother. She suddenly bowed before walking back into her shop and closing the door.

     Juna looked over at Lumyryn and gave him a confused shrug before turning around to leave.

     But before they could, a gang of men ran up to the man and the boy and a crowd was starting to form.

     “Nice catch,” one of the men said as Lumyryn saw him pull out his knife.

     Juna grabbed a hold of Lumyryn’s hand. When the young man looked at her, her eyes were wide. “Lumyryn…”

     Lumyryn hesitated.

     He looked back at the group and almost immediately figured it all out.

     The boy on the ground was like him.

     Red eyes.

     “Any last words? Monster.”

     The boy looked at the men, frantically trying to figure out a way to escape. “Leave me alone…” It came out as a whisper. “I didn’t do anything!”

     The men just laughed.

     Lumyryn pulled his hand away from his mother.

     “Darling!” She called.

     “Leave him alone!” Lumyryn shouted as he walked over to them.

     Though Lumyryn had only just turned eighteen, his voice was deep and powerful. It made everyone turn to look at him.

     Juna stood there, hands over her mouth.

     Lumyryn pushed through the crowd and stepped in front of the boy. Now that he was closer, Lumyryn could see that he was young, maybe fifteen or sixteen.

     “Who… you’re Jol's brat.”

     Lumyryn smirked. “You men need to grow up.” Lumyryn said, “you all are the ones acting like brats… attacking a child?”

     The men glared angrily.

     Lumyryn turned to help the boy up. He took his hand quickly and nodded his thanks.

     “Step aside, fool, or we’ll kill you too.” One of the men said.

     Suddenly, Juna pushed through the crowd, “Lumyryn!”

     The men looked at her with annoyance, “get rid of him, Juna. The only reason we haven’t killed him yet is cause he’s yours. If he doesn’t behave, we’ll change our minds.”

     Juna stared at the men.

     She then turned to her son, she watched him for a moment before turning back around to face the men. “Do you not have any decency?” She asked, “you’re telling my son to behave when he’s right! You all are the ones who are being unrighteous, disgusting murderers! Attacking a child, how dare you? Man up!”

     Lumyryn wanted to smile.

     His mother was simply amazing.

     But suddenly, an annoyed man stepped forward and grabbed her by the hair, “that’s it, I’m taking you to Jol and making sure he teaches you to shut your mouth.” He then pushed her back, making her gasp and fall to the ground.

     Then there was a crack and a shout.

     The man who attacked her suddenly had his arm twisted behind his back.

     He winced and growled as Lumyryn twisted it just until it broke.

     “Bad idea.” Lumyryn said. He pushed the man onto the ground before cracking his knuckles and facing the rest of them. “Who’s next?”

     The men stared at Lumyryn like he was a monster.

     Of course, Lumyryn didn’t care.

     And though those men acted tough, they all ran off.

     Lumyryn glared at them but then rushed to his mother’s aid. “Are you alright?”

     “Of course I am, my sweet.” She said, but her eyes were on the other boy.

     She walked over to him and grabbed his hand, “where’s your family?” She asked.

     The boy looked down at their hands. “They’re… dead… they’ve been dead for a long time. They killed them years ago.”

     Juna’s eyes widened. “Oh my…”

     The boy was almost in tears.

     Juna held his hand in both of hers and lifted it to her heart. “Then you’re coming with us, dear.”

     The boys’ eyes widened.

     Lumyryn looked at his mother.

     “We have plenty of space–”

     “I can’t!” He said.

     “Of course you can! I will not let you stay here and allow yourself to be attacked by those thugs.” She then looked at her son. “Besides, Lumyryn wouldn’t allow it either.”

     Lumyryn smiled at his mother before looking at the boy and nodded his head.

     Jol stared at his wife and son with wide eyes. “You brought him home?” He hissed.

     The boy, named Khi, was upstairs in Lumyryn’s room, resting there until he could get his own room.

     Juna frowned, “we couldn’t leave him there! They wanted to kill him!”

     “For good reasons, probably!”

     “Jol! You know exactly why they wanted to kill him! We all know the reasons and this boy is just a child! And you expected us to leave him? When our son is like him–”

     “They’re going to come here and take him too now!” Jol yelled as he stood up, “because of your actions, Lumyryn will be on their list now too!”

     “They can’t get me.” Lumyryn said, “I can fend for myself.”

     Jol looked at his son.

     Lumyryn knew very well that Jol was somewhat afraid of him. He could see it in his eyes.

     But at the same time, he still cared.

     He shook his head and left the room, mumbling something about how he was going to loose his head.

     Lumyryn looked at his mother and saw her sigh.

     When she saw his look, she smiled sadly. “Your father is right… and I know you can fend for yourself but…”

     “Don’t worry, mother.” He bent over and kissed her cheek. “It’ll be fine.”

     After consoling his mother for a little longer, Lumyryn walked into his room and was surprised to see Khi sitting up on the bed. “Thank you for your help.” He said, looking at the floor.

     Lumyryn smiled as he put on his thick blacksmith gloves.

     “Your parents are so kind… mine were kind too… but…”

     “Do you know what happened to them?” Lumyryn asked, “your parents, I mean.”

     He nodded slowly. “They… they let themselves be killed so I could escape…”

     Lumyryn kept his eyes on the boy.

     He was young and like Lumyryn, had black hair and red eyes. But unlike Lumyryn, this boy was frail and skinny, like he hadn’t eaten a proper meal in days.

     “I don’t want to be a nuisance.” He said. “I will leave as soon as you want me­–”

     “Don’t be silly.” Lumyryn said. “You are welcome to stay as long as you want.”

     “But–”

     “You’re right about my parents being very kind. They are the kindest people I know, they will surely allow you to stay.” Lumyryn smiled warmly, trying to make the boy feel safe and welcome. “The truth is, I too am a guest here.”

     Khi hesitated, “they’re not really your parents?”

     Lumyryn shook his head as he went back to gathering his welding tools, “I was abandoned when I was an infant. They found me and took me in.”

     “Really?” Khi asked, “despite your red eyes?”

     Lumyryn nodded. “They’re good people. They’ll take care of you.”

     Khi smiled now.

     “Rest, Khi. When you wake up, my mother will have some food prepared for you along with a room.”

     Khi nodded. “Thank you.”

     Lumyryn nodded once more before patting the boy on his head, picking up his tools and leaving.

     He was almost done. He had been working on it for days but was almost done.

     An axe.

     He had been trying to make a remarkable axe for years and it was finally turning out right.

     It ended up being bigger then he expected it to be... A lot bigger.

     But it was an axe nonetheless. 

     “Lumy?”

     Lumyryn looked up and saw his mother walk into the room that his father had made when Lumyryn was a child, to teach him how to make tools and other useful things.

     He was sitting down on a stool when she came in, and he was going to stand but she put a hand on his shoulder.

     She was also holding something in her free hand, over her heart.

     “Look at that.” She smiled, “it looks marvelous.”

     Lumyryn smiled proudly. “I just have a little more to go.”

     Juna chuckled. “Well then, my timing is perfect.”

     Lumyryn looked at her with confused eyes.

     She held out her hands and in it, were five rubies sitting on a handkerchief. “I’ve had these rubies since I was a child… my mother gave me two of them… and I saved up a lot of money to get the other three… I really liked rubies.”

     Lumyryn knew very well that his mother loved rubies. He dreamed of one day buying her a ruby necklace.

     “Take them… I want you to put them into your axe, as decorations.”

     His eyes widened, “Mother…” He knew very well that his mother loved those rubies, and she was just giving them to him?

     “Take them.”

     “I can’t…” Lumyryn shook his head, “they’re yours. You love those rubies.”

     “Not as much as I love you,” she said with a smile, “I’ve wanted to give you these for a while and… when I saw you working on that axe… for some reason, I had a feeling it would become important to you. So I want you to decorate it with these. As a memory of me.”

     “Memory?” Lumyryn asked, “what do you mean memory?”

     His mother kept smiling, but now it was a sad smile. “Just take them, son. It would make me very happy if you took them.”

     Lumyryn hesitated, but then smiled and nodded. “Alright.” He took the rubies from her.

     He then passed her a cloth, “cover your nose and mouth and watch.”

     Juna nodded and tied the cloth around the bottom half of her face to protect herself from the fumes.

     She then stepped closer and watched as her son carefully placed the jewels onto the head of the axe.

     She was grinning. “I can’t wait for you to finish it!”

     “It’ll be done by tonight.” Lumyryn said as he set it down. “I just need to stick the handle in and make sure it stays in there.”

     Juna chuckled. “Of course. You wouldn’t want it to fly off.”

     Lumyryn let out a laugh.

     Juna wrapped her arms around her sons’ neck and hugged him tightly, resting her chin on the top of his head. “You made me proud today, my child.” She said softly, “you stuck up for someone in need. You are a true, noble man and I’m so proud of you, my Red Knight.”

     Lumyryn felt himself blush slightly.

     He would have been embarrassed but he knew his mother wouldn’t see his red cheeks since his entire face was red from the heat of the room. “I only did what you taught me. Besides, you’re the one who showed them who’s boss.”

     Juna chuckled and then tightened her hug. “Lumyryn…” She sighed, “I want you to know that no matter what anyone says… I love you. And you are not… you are my son. Just because you aren’t my blood doesn’t mean you are any less my son.”

     “I know.” Lumyryn smiled to himself, “I know, mother."

     She pulled away and messed up his long black hair with her warm and loving hand. “Don’t burn yourself, okay?”

     Lumyryn chuckled. “Yes, ma’am.”

     It was almost midnight when Lumyryn was awoken by the voices coming from down the stairs of his parents’ farm.

     He could hear his mother and father and the voices of other strangers.

     The first thing he heard clearly was his mother’s worried voice: “you mustn’t speak so loud.” She hissed, “Lumyryn will hear you. He will.”

     “I don’t care if he hears us.” The stranger said. It was a man and he sounded angry. “I want you to cooperate. The king has ordered for the execution of all red eyed demons and you are protecting not one, but now two of them.”

     “And what do you want us to do?” Jol asked, he too kept his voice soft.

     The next persons voice was familiar. It was one of the thugs from earlier. “We order you to get rid of the red eyes you have with you. If you do, we won’t cause any trouble.”

     “Absolutely not.” Juna said. “He is my son!”

     “No he isn’t.” Another stranger said, “you were incapable of being a mother so you picked him up from the ground like someone who picks up another mans garbage. Your womanhood is blinding you–”

     “Don’t talk to my wife like that, Dan.” Jol said, angrily.

     “Do you think you can frighten us?” Juna said, “you can’t touch a single hair on our heads and our son isn’t going to let you take him either.”

     “You’re right, we can’t hurt you. At least not physically. But we can do other things.”

     Lumyryn could hear Jol’s breathing speed up. He sat up in his bed and leaned forward, his long hair falling over his shoulders. He could feel their panic. And he didn’t like it.

     “We’ve decided that if you don’t remove the red eyes from your household within the next seven days then there will be an order sent out to the town to stop purchasing the goods you bring forth.”

     “What?” Jol growled.

     “You won’t have money. You won’t be able to pay your taxes. And you will be punished for that. At least until you do as we say and get rid of him. And the new brat you brought with you earlier today."

     Right then, all the men turned and stared at the top of the staircase.

     Lumyryn was standing there, his red eyes glowing in the room that was lit only by candles.

     For his age, he was tall. Muscular too. And on top of being very strong… his red eyes added to his intimidating look.

     He glared at the men.

     The men cleared their throats before turning to leave. 

     “We’ve told you what we want done. You decide what you’re going to do.” The familiar thug from earlier said before he too left the farm.

     Juna was watching her son with worried eyes before she turned to her husband.

     He closed the door and walked into hid den.

     There, he leaned against a desk and pressed tightly against his temples with his thumb and pointer.

     “Ignore it, my love.” She said to her son before walking into the den to console her stressed husband.

     Lumyryn stood there before he walked down the stairs and into the den as well. “I’ll leave.” He said.

     Both Juna and Jol looked at him in shock.

     They just stared at each other for a long moment before Lumyryn repeated what he said, “I’ll leave.”

     “No!” Juna said, immediately.

     “That’s not necessary, son.” Jol crossed his arms and looked away. 

     Lumyryn frowned, “but they’re threatening you–”

     “No!” Juna said again, “they’re trying to scare us–”

     “But you’ll loose all your money if I stay–”

     “We’ll figure it out.” Jol growled as he glared at Lumyryn. 

     Lumyryn’s eyes widened as he looked back at his father. 

     Jol stared back into the red eyes of the boy he called his son. “Go to bed.” Jol said, firmly.

     Then he looked away.

     But Lumyryns eyes were better then most people.

     So he easily spotted that look of distress that Jol was trying so hard to hide.

     Lumyryn didn’t bring up the idea of leaving again. He didn’t want to upset his parents.

     But the thugs had lived up to their threat.

     In less than a month, his family had already started to struggle.

     Everyone refused to buy any of their crops and some people even refused to sell other foods to them.

     Thieves had come around and vandalized their field.

     And the thugs had come over multiple times to heckle his parents.

     Yhough Lumyryn dealt with the thieves and scared away the thugs every time... He couldn’t bare the sight of his parents in this state.

     So that was when Lumyryn had decided that he wasn’t going to let this continue.

     His mother was crying and his father was pacing around the den after hearing their sons words.

     He was going to leave. And nothing would stop him.

     “You must understand that I’m not going to sit here and watch you struggle.” Lumyryn said. “If I don’t leave, we will all die. It’s pointless.”

     “Please, Lumy…” Juna begged.

     Lumyryn smiled sadly at his mother.

     He always knew she loved him. But he could see how much she loved him at that moment. “Mother,” Lumyryn started as he held her hands, “boys my age leave all the time, for adventures and trips and women, even.”

     Juna let out a short chuckle through her tears, despite being so sad. 

     “I'll come back to visit as often as I can, secretly.” Lumyryn said, “please, don’t make me be the cause of your misery.”

     “We are not miserable,” Jol said.

     “Well, you are suffering,” Lumyryn said, “and I can’t take it.”

     “But where would you possibly go?” Juna asked, “how would I know you’re safe?”

     “I’ll find a place to stay. And as soon as I do I’ll make sure you know. I’ll write to you and visit often.”

     “But–”

     “And I’ll take Khi with me… I’ll take care of him too, protect him like a brother.” Lumyryn smiled, “I promise you, I’ll be safe.”

     “But Lumyryn…”

     “No matter what you say, ‘ma… I’m going to go. Leaving you and visiting now and then is better then staying and watching you and father die.”

     And though Juna hated the thought of him leaving… she knew she couldn’t stop him. Not even if she begged him.

     So in a few days, Lumyryn was ready to go.

     Though his sobbing mother was reluctant to let him go, he forced her too.

     And he didn’t show it, but as he and Khi walked off, waving at both his mother and father, his heart was filled with sorrow.

     With his axe over his shoulder, he frowned, feeling a sadness that he had never felt before in his life.

     When Meenu’s eyes fluttered open she found herself in Avaryn’s bed again.

     Heart’s face brightened when her eyes opened and Meenu could hear Master Red and Avaryn arguing because Avaryn didn’t want her to leave until she was healthy.

     But as her senses returned, she surprised everyone by bursting into tears.

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HEY EVERYONE!!

So yes, Super Long Chapter HAHA!! Hope you guys enjoyed it though!! 

Just to clarify what's going on... what everyone is supposed to get out of this is that Meenu IS seeing 'visions' every time she passes out, but she doesn't remember them when she wakes up. And that's why when Master Red asks her whether she's seeing visions or not, she says no or isn't sure how to answer.

Furthermore, these visions ARE important to the storyline HAHA! They aren't random and some of you might figure out what's going on and why she's having the visions but some of you will have to be patient a little longer hehe!!

As always, thank you so much for reading this story! I hope you're all enjoying and please don't forget to VOTE and COMMENT!!! =D

TAKE CARE,

Luckycharms <3