Thoughts of glory and success clouded Leo's mind as he laid on his bed. Rubbing his buzzed head a little, he continued to stare at the ceiling some more to think about his options.

  He wasn't completely sure how much time had passed since Knight left, but he assumed it was close to an hour or more.

  'Conquer the Island of Johanna huh?'

  Things as incredible and legendary as that didn't really fit Leo's schtick as far as he was concerned. Most of his childhood life was spent living in the red carpeted halls of a humongous black mansion that he could barely remember, and for the last six years of his life, he'd been forced to fend for himself in the backstreets of Liver following the financial and status decline that the Jetstorm Clan faced after his parents' death's.

  Regardless of how strict and petty Har was as an employer, the man still provided Leo with a job that paid well for the past four years of his time here in Liver. Not only that, but Leo learned how to cook a variety of foods from his experienced co-workers, and was taught to understand what truly counted as necessities in a world like this.

  In full, he'd learned a lot here in Liver, and was rather content with the way his life was going.

  When he first arrived here, he lived in a terrible orphanage for a year before running off to the backstreets where he could sneak around and scavenge for his own survival. To him, anything was better than that terrible orphanage at the time.

  In the backstreets of Liver, he learned a valuable lesson that the greatest ally one could ever have was themselves, especially due to how many cynical and nasty people lived in the backstreets too.

  After around a year of trying to fend for himself, Leo got that job from Har to be their rubbish boy and dish washer before being promoted to dish washer and waiter. An entire six years of hardship and scrambling for survival led him here to a small mouldy apartment room where he had to share the bathroom and showers with others. It obviously wasn't the best considering his history, but he was content with it. Leo had pushed himself up from nothing and was glad with it. He even had savings that he dreamed would help carry him to be able to rent a new apartment with a bathroom of it's own.

  Compared to the big dreams that Knight spoke of today regarding the plans of that 'Queen' person, and the Island of Johanna, his goals seemed a little small and mundane as Knight would put it.

  Leo knew though that deep inside, he truly did want to amount to more. Regardless of how he had lived for the past six years, his background remained the same. He was still the Heir of dead clan.

  He knew what both his Mother and Father were capable of in the past, what the Jetstorm Clan was capable of, and what they stood for. Back then, he dreamed to be just as respected and revered as the both of them. So he trained his sword, practiced his Ki control and did everything in his power to make them look his way. Make everyone look his way.

  Sadly, that dream was extinguished with their tragic fall. Or was it?

  . . .

  Leo was jolted out of his thoughts by the sound of scuffling outside of his apartment door.

  He quickly sat up and looked towards it with narrow eyes, seeing a shadow just under the crack of his front door. He gulped slightly in nervousness, wondering who would come to his room this late in the night.

  Someone seemed to be messing with the lock to his door, so it was clear it was most likely an intruder of sorts.

  A little sick and tired with the amount of nerve rattling things going on today, Leo quickly stood up and scrambled, grabbing a few things like underwear, money, his toothbrush, and whatever else, throwing it all into a small pouch. He was sure this was a robber of some kind, so it made sense to gather his most treasured things.

  "Stupid...Lock...Shit..."

  Leo noticed the voice outside was male, and he seemed to be struggling a little with getting the apartment door open, giving him enough time to grab a few more things. Reaching for his final thing which was the portrait, Leo took the picture out of the frame and folded it before putting it in his pocket. Slinging the small pouch of belongings across his shoulder, Leo was ready to make a run for it. He slid the window open and clambered onto the ledge, balancing himself without looking down.

  If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

  He slid the window down to make it seem like no one had left, and moved out of view to the side of the window sill no one could see from the window unless they were extremely close, or looked from an angle inside the room.

  Soon enough, the lock picker gave up on struggling and broke the door down instead. Leo could hear it fly off its hinges, along with pieces of wood hitting the ground. It was then that he also heard the shriek of old lady Carmen, the landlady from a window downstairs.

  "THAT'S IT! WHOEVER THAT WAS, YOU'RE OUT!"

  She was clearly about to make her way up and find this robber in Leo's room. Whatever happened after that was her problem.

  'Shit...Does he have a weapon? He won't bother with her right? Don't come upstairs you old loudmouth!'

  As he brooded over what would happen if Carmen ran into the robber, he crouched down on the ledge, letting go of the rope connected to the neighbouring building and trusted in his balance. He peered to the right where the window was and inched closer, taking a look inside from the corner.

  His heart began to rapidly beat, as he broke into a cold sweat.

  In his room which now had the entire door on the ground, along with pieces of wood from the door frame was a man wearing dark green robes, and black boots. His hair was tied up neatly, and his green eyes were frantically looking around the room in search of something. It was the Draconis Clan member that Leo had served not too long in the restaurant. Leo had definitely gotten lucky with the fact that the man hadn't bothered with just breaking the door down immediately. The fact was that if Leo faced off against him there, he'd have no chance in beating him at all.

  'So my theory was right. It isn't a coincidence that they were here too...'

  More importantly, what was this Draconis man even looking for?

  "Get out from under the bed you little rat!"

  'There's my answer...'

  The man flipped the bed with ease, revealing nothing but a few clumps of dust on the hard ground, making him kiss his teeth in anger. His actions here along with his demeanour was a far cry from the laid back personality Leo had assumed this man had in the restaurant. Before his search continued however, Carmen appeared in the doorway looking furious and dishevelled while holding a rather hefty looking wooden stick.

  "WHAT IS GOING IN-...Oh..."

  Once Carmen saw the insignia on the back of the man's clothing, a lot of the anger drained from her wrinkly face and she even lowered the wooden stick in her hand.

  'Was she about to beat me with that!? She's crazy! Crazy!'

  Leo's outrage was short lived due to the man of the Draconis Clan speaking up.

  "I'm sorry to disturb ma'am. But who lives here?"

  Carmen wiped the gleeful look off of her face before answering.

  "A-A troublesome boy! Leo, if I remember correctly! What a scoundrel! Has he caused you trouble great one from the Clan of Draconis?"

  Leo rolled his eyes and huffed in annoyance.

  'Scoundrel!? We barely talked you old bag!'

  The man narrowed his eyes before fixing his hair a little and smiling towards her politely, his demeanour changing again.

  "Ah, not particularly. I'm happy to know I got the right room though ma'am. Please, let me escort you back to your home."

  Carmen looked as though she would die from both old age and happiness from how pale she was.

  "G-G-GLADLY SIR!"

  Soon enough, the two were gone, leaving Leo's apartment room a complete and utter mess. The man was most definitely looking for Leo then due to the questions he had asked Carmen, but Leo wasn't sure exactly why. Immediately, horrific thoughts of clan eradication came to his mind.

  Things like that happened a lot in fantasy books, and sometimes even in real life if one wasn't completely blind to the world around them.

  'Are they tasked with taking me out? I know for sure he wasn't about to ask for help like Knight with the way he was tearing my place apart. Stack that with the lock picking attempt too...'

  Leo stood back up and gripped the rope tightly that led to the building across.

  'I can't stay here.'

  As Leo turned to face forwards, he was met with a horrific sight that made his blood turn cold.

  Standing on the roof opposite him was the towering, imposing, and muscular figure of an extremely tall man with black silky hair. He was both shrouded with darkness and illuminated by the moonlight, his dark green robes swaying in the wind majestically. The man's arms were familiarly crossed tightly across his broad and wide chest. Leo watched, frozen with surprise at his sudden appearance as the man unclasped his arms from being tightly crossed and got into an intense fighting stance. The man began reeling his wide fist back while planting his black boots on the roof below him firmly, sending cracks into the ground. Muttering something to himself for a moment, the man's eyes shot open, revealing a dark crimson colour.

  'It's the other guy...From the restaurant.'

  A deep and powerful voice reverberated in the night.

  "Found you."

  Before he himself knew it, Leo was already jumping upwards towards the rope, going to pull his entire body up while the figure of the muscular man flew forwards, narrowly missing Leo's foot by a hair's breadth. Leo instantly began to pull himself across the rope, feeling as though his life depended on it.

  The man's fist collided sharply with the brick wall of the apartment building, sending rubble and dust flying everywhere. Leo's window shattered instantly from the impact whilst the window sill came apart, shards of glass mixing with the rubble as the concoction of a ruined building wall fell into the street below.

  Leo pulled himself up onto the building he had crossed to and instantly began to run.

  'SHIT! FINE KNIGHT, I ACCEPT! NOW WHERE ARE YOU!?'