NOVEL NEXT A skinny boy walked along the busy streets of London, keeping his head low.
The boy looked to be around 10 years old, and his clothes were a bit shabby. His raven locks hid his bright amber eyes and most of his face.
*Thump*
"Hey! watch it, squirt."
"Sorry..." replied Axel to yet another random passerby, making sure to keep his head low.
He wasn't behaving so timidly out of fear or nervousness. No, he was just trying to make sure that the random passerby he had just bumped into had nothing to remember him by.
A smirk rose from the corner of his mouth as he pocketed the loaded wallet of yet another rich target.
Yes, he was currently picking pockets in the cold streets of London.
He wasn't ashamed of it. In fact, he took pride in his skills. After all, he has acquired them after much pain and suffering.
Though, his only targets are rich people who particularly seem to have this sense of superiority that he wants to smash. It might be unreasonable to some people, but Axel had personal reasons for his hate.
He doesn't steal from people who are poor or good natured. He might be a pickpocketer right now, but he still had his own pride and principles.
These are the only things he can't give up on.
Axel has been an orphan for as long as he can remember. Though he didn't use to be as homeless as he is right now.
He used to live in an orphanage. It's not like he didn't have to struggle there, but at least he used to have a roof over his head and some food to fill his stomach.
But somehow, these almost magical accidents kept happening around him.
Whenever he was under emotional distress or in dire need of help, bad things would happen to those who are the cause of said distress.
This kept on until the one at the receiving end of this 'accident' was the son of a rich and powerful man.
So, at the age of 8, he was kicked out of the orphanage, left to fend for himself. He even had to drop out of the school.
Maybe he could have stayed if he endured the beatings of the older kids quietly without losing control, or maybe the Orphanage keeper could have still kept him if he begged for it or complained to the local authority. But, Axel decided that he had had enough of that place.
Well, what would an eight year old know? That life as a homeless 8 year old would be much, much worse than a bullied eight year old.
But Axel didn't regret it. There's something inside him that would just rather die than bow down for mercy.
That was about 3 years ago. In the past three years, he has had to go through a lot. And these years have also helped him confirm something about himself.
He is weird.
Like, different kind of weird.
Any other kid would have definitely died after going through what he has gone through in the past three years. And yet, here he is at the age of 11, still clinging on to life like a leech.
He has also always felt himself to be more mature than his peers, rather, his mind grows very fast, picking up things much quicker than most.
Axel checked the contents of the wallet he had just picked up.
"Nice haul," he muttered, the corner of his mouth tilting upwards.
There was a point when he almost died of starvation. But now, he has amassed enough wealth to last him for quite a while.
But Axel wasn't satisfied with just having enough money for food. He knows that he can't keep living like this forever.
Pickpocketing and petty thefts are not sustainable and the money is too low for his ambitions. This money is not legal either, neither does it bring any status to him.
He needs a more permanent fix to his problem, like having an education, a real job or business. But till then, he is going to focus on gathering the money for it.
'So... who's next?' he thought to himself as his eyes darted in all directions. Pickpocketing is a difficult job. He can't just start robbing random people and a lot of time and patience are needed for all the other conditions to meet. Though his one redundant quality is that, he only robs rich @ssholes, like kid who bullied him and his father.
"Ah, is it my lucky day today?" He asked himself as he found a man who seemed to be begging to be robbed just after a few minutes of strolling.
It had already been confirmed, that Axel has a special talent in reading people. It's almost as if he can see something in them that others can't.
Walking briskly with a small fancy stick in his hand, a tall man with grey eyes, dressed luxuriously in an odd old-fashioned cloak that covered his whole body was walking across with a disgusted expression on his face as he looked around the whole world distastefully. His 'thou art beneath me' look instantly signed him up on top of Axel's steal list.
Even as Axel began to make his way toward the man, he had to wonder just why the man seem so disdainful of everything. He decided that he will not be bumping into this guy. The guy seems to be the sort who'd want to beat him up just for having any physical contact with a street urchin. So, he has to apply one of his more subtle approaches.
'It's going to be a bit difficult, but it's not like I can't run away,' thought Axel a bit smugly.
Though he definitely possessed the talent and skills to back up his claims. He has the confidence to outrun any man in this area. He has managed to slip out of the worst of situations.
Though... all these claims applied only to muggles and he had no way of knowing this at the time.
The clueless Axel studied the man carefully and pinpointed the location of the man's possessions. He then purposefully began walking in the way of the incoming man, timing their intersection perfectly at the moment when the alley was the closest to ensure his escape route in case of being caught.
When he reached right in front of the man, the guy inevitably had to look at the annoying bug in front of him. Just as the amber eyes met gray, Axel's eyes shifted to glance behind the man and his expression changed dramatically.
The man, who thought himself to be a sharp one, quickly glanced behind, only to find... nothing! Everything seemed to be normal.
'Score!' Axel smirked. 50% work was already done. Lightning quick, his hand snaked into the man's unusual cloak to find his wallet. Though oddly enough, instead of a wallet, he found a pouch. Given that he had less than a second to do his thing, he didn't think too much and quickly stuffed the pouch into the bulky jacket he was wearing. Or at least, he tried to...
Everything had gone very well, and he had even managed to not make any noise even while stealing such a bulky pouch which must have been filled with coins.
But, as he moved past the man while pocketing the pouch, he felt the pouch in his hand growing extremely hot all of sudden, making him curse inwardly! And... if that wasn't enough, it somehow also emitted an extremely loud noise, as if to alarm the owner about a thief!
'Fuck!' Cursing at the absurdity of the situation, Axel didn't waste his time. He chucked the purse to the other side of the street to distract the man and made a beeline for the alley while his brain worked furiously.
'He should glance towards his flying purse, and then he would either run after me, or the pouch, or pull out a knife, or even a gun. I should at least have 2 seconds to run in all cases,'
And that was enough to run into the alley. Once he turned, the man would have to chase to get a clear shot and by then, he would be out of his sight. Thus, Axel should be out fine for now. But suddenly, he felt something was wrong.
He threw a quick glance behind him — Only to see the man pointing the stick which he had in his hand at Axel and a beam of purple light already half on its way to hit him.
Eyes widening, he quickly tried to dodge but it was already too late. He was quick, but he was not THAT quick yet.
The light hit him on his side, and his whole body instantly went stiff, completely immobile. For some reason, the man hasn't thrown a second glance towards the pouch, and neither did he have to pull out his weapon from his robe. It was always in his hand! That fancy stick. Thus, the man was able to catch Axel off guard since Axel never knew there was a world of magic he had no knowledge about.
Axel's petrified body hit the ground hard, but the man was far from being satisfied. He was looking at Axel like he was an ant that had just bitten the man.
"You filthy mudblood animal...You dared to try and steal from a pureblood wizard in the middle of the day," he drawled, his voice containing cold fury.
He flicked his fancy stick and the pouch that had been thrown across the street somehow flew back into the man's waiting hand.
Axel was completely out of the loop with what was happening right now. First the alarm, and the hot bag, then that beam of light which came out of that stick which made him completely immobile, and now that mudblood and pureblood wizard thingy.
He didn't know what was happening, but from one look at the man's ruthless face, he knew that if he didn't escape right now, he was in some serious danger. He knows that look well. If he's caught, he'd be lucky to escape with a few broken bones.
'C'mon! Move! Move!' He tried, he really did. But try as he might, he couldn't make his body move at all!
The next thing he knew, he was somehow lifted off the ground and carried into the alleyway a the man's wandpoint.
The man waved his wand a few more times and muttered something and the world around him turned silent. He couldn't hear the noise coming from the busy street of London, nor anything else, just the man's footsteps as he came to stand in front of his petrified body.
He heard the man chuckle darkly at his vain struggles. "You filthy little thing. I was angry at first, but now... I think it was for my own good that you delivered yourself to me. After all, it's been a while since I tortured someone to my heart's content," he said and Axel felt the man's voice tone changing.
Beforehand, his voice was cold and almost emotionless. But now, it seemed as if a barrier had been lifted off, and now his voice was sounding much scarier. He understood that voice. It's the voice of someone who enjoys inflicting pain.
The man squatted down in front of him, making his face visible. His face was set in a disdainful annoyed look before. But now, his mouth was curved into a cruel, sadistic grin and his eyes contained a hint of madness in them. Looking at this guy, Axel renewed his struggle to break free while his mind tried to find some way out of this absurd situation.
'If it's a dream, now would be a great time to wake up,' he thought as he saw the man pointing the stick at him again.
"CRUCIO!"
!!!!
In his small life, Axel had suffered much physical pain through various means, and his pain tolerance had gotten quite high. Not to brag, but he didn't think there were many things that would now make him flinch.
But this thing, whatever it was, not only made him flinch, it made him squirm in utter agony for what felt like forever! He'd never felt pain this intense in all parts of his body at the same time and for such a prolonged duration! He just wanted it to end.
And, due to the damn paralysis, he couldn't even scream, nor could he move to stop the man which caused an odd creaking sound from his body when he tried to move it. One of his shoulders seems to be dislocated in his extreme attempt at moving.
The man, upon seeing Alex glaring at him, raised his eyebrows in surprise. He seemed almost... impressed.
"I have to admit, you've got some fight in you, little rat. I never expected that a little mudblood could stay sane after taking that," he muttered, almost to himself. He had thought that he'll kill the rat after one crucio since a child wasn't expected to retain a functioning brain after one, but it seems that he can have a bit more fun with this one.
"CRUCIO!"
Axel, who was still recoiling from the first spell, made to dodge it but then, he remembered that he still couldn't move at all!
Helpless, he could only grit his teeth and suffer as his bones creaked from the strain. But this time, he tried to distract himself from the pain by thinking of a way out of this situation. Though all he could think of was how it could be this painful and how he would even surrender all his money if this man would just stop this.
Though after the third Cruciatus, all Axel had in his mind was—
'I'll kill you... I'll kill you... I'll kill you!'
Now, even if the man kindly stopped, took him to the hospital, and gave him a lot of money, Axel still wouldn't let this guy off!
By now, the man could no longer take pleasure in the boy's suffering. He had to admit, he was more than a bit creeped out from the look in his hate-filled amber eyes which seemed to bore a hole through his skull.
Even trained Aurors would be much worse off than this little guy who was glaring at him like a chained beast waiting to pounce. He even felt a bit intimidated by it.
'No! I will not be intimidated by a mere child!' The man refused to admit it and thus, decided to make this boy beg like he should.
"You'll be begging for death after this."
""""CRUCIO!!!"""" he didn't hold back this time. He wasn't the most powerful in the world, but this much is easily enough to incapacitate an adult wizard, most probably for life. It's called an unforgivable for a reason.
This time, Axel got hit so bad that he had to dislocate his jaw just so that he could scream out his pain. Blood came from his eyes and nose, and if he hadn't relieved himself just half an hour ago, then even his bladder would have come loose.
But... somehow, the fight in his amber-colored eyes had still not waned. It had intensified!
Axel was a petty freak with a vicious streak more than a mile wide. Back in the orphanage, he would never give in to bullying and would go to unimaginable lengths just to get his petty revenge.
The reason he didn't give up, despite wanting to die right now was...
He didn't want to give this man the satisfaction of getting what he wanted. Yes sir, this man... has to die.
He was feeling a variety of emotions right now which contained a healthy amount of fear, panic, and confusion at how this man was able to do this unknown damnable torture.
But the most prevalent emotion in his head right now was—Rage. Yes, he was royally pissed right now, and for a good reason.
Painful memories of the past flashed past his eyes. Back then, he was weak and helpless against the strong opponents who beat him mercilessly. But he was still not willing to take it lying down. Even he didn't know why, but he absolutely couldn't just bow his head and accept it like any other weak orphan in his place should.
So, he worked hard. He tried to become strong, strong enough so that he does not lose control. Strong enough that he would be the one giving out the beatings.
Right now, even if he wasn't strong enough to be invincible, but he was confident enough to at least escape if the enemy is stronger.
But! Here he is, getting his ass handed to him once again. Only, this time, it was much much much worse.
So, wasn't he back to square one? This man was able to deal with Axel with just one beam of light and now he was playing with him.
Then... wasn't he still too weak? And, it doesn't seem that his life is going to be spared when this guy is done with him.
'Do I need to depend on that again?' He thought in exasperation as his dead eyes suddenly focused back sharply on the man.
Axel once again brought back the power that he hated.
A spark lit up in the depths of his bloodshot amber eyes, and soon, it seemed like his eyes were glowing.
...