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Chapter Name: Conviction Amongst the Rubble
The village was gone; nothing but a pile of rubble and ash. Death hit him hard at that point. Roger used to have friends in the village, and it held memories for him. This was where his father had died. Over and over he recalled the expression on his sister's face as she died in his arms...
"I'm scared." Her face was pale and sweaty. "D-don't let me go."
"I won't." He had promised her. "It's going to be ok." But even as he had said it, he knew he was lying, partly for his sake, but mostly to comfort himself. His sister couldn't die too. She was all he had left. "What happened?" Trying to give her something to focus on, other than the blade that had lodged in her ribs.
"I was running on the beach- and they came." She was staring into the night sky, seemingly at the stars, but her eyes didn't seem to see them.
"Who? Who did this to you?" Roger was almost on the verge of tears now.
"They... the- She shuddered as if from cold, though the night was mild and warm. The Pearl... Black Pearl..." A sigh escaped her lips, and the lights left her eyes. That was the true enemy, he realized. He could run far away from this place, and Death would always follow, the images of dying and dead, whether innocent or not, staring at what living eyes could not see.
"I'm going to find them." He muttered.
Looking up, Hex almost whimpered "What? You can't be serious. We're just kids!"
"I don't care. I'm going to track them down, and I will kill them." He almost lost control, almost killed the young boy before him, yet something stayed his hand. Perhaps it was because Hex, though he had barely known him before now, was his only connection to what he had called home.
He looked around the beach. Warm sea-breezes wafted up through the houses, softly whispering to the dancing palm trees. The jungle that had been his hide-out was now foreboding and cold. If he hadn't been there, his sister might still have been alive. He could have saved her! Then again, maybe not. The tiny voice in the back of his mind tried to convince him. If you had both died, nobody would have avenged either of you. You're better alive than dead. On the edge of the forest, a small sea turtle, perhaps the last of its brethren to come out, left its sandy nest and began its descent to the sea. It was half-way down the beach when suddenly, SNAP! A seagull swooped down and devoured it. Only those who were fit to survive, just like his father had always told him.
Turning his attention back to Hex, he asked, "Are you going to help me or not?" He couldn't face the idea of fighting on his own.
Sighing, the small boy turned his icy blue eyes on him, and said "Yes. I Will." Suddenly, Roger felt much better. At the same time, another turtle, smaller than the first, clambered out of the sand. It would be devoured too. Roger, with a gentleness he had never known, picked the small, forlorn creature up, and walked down into the incoming tide. He watched as it swam out into the blue surf, then turned back. He would find those who had wronged him, and when he did, he would have his vengeance.
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