Unfortunate

Samuels original personality seemed close to resurfacing in the light of this new information. Information that made him feel invincible. If he became invincible, he could take his revenge, meaning he could go back to being happy go lucky. However, before his personality fully reverted, he remembered the day of his capture, and what it led to.

Two years and three months ago…

Walking down the streets of Stargate Port, Samuel was happily munching on a spiritual fruit he got from winning a chess tournament he participated in earlier in the day. Turns out that thinking and planning at 10,000 times the speed of your opponent essentially guarantees victory. He managed to accumulate quite the reputation over the tree days he spent here. 

Just as he was about to take another bite of the fruit, He heard a piece of information that stunned him to his core. 

"Hey, did you hear about the battle that took place after the selection tournament for the Blue-Roc Sect?"

"Yes, I did. Supposedly some sort of shadow organization tried to attack some of the newly accepted disciples of the sect. Apparently it was two kids from the Strand family of the Phoenix empire."

"Yeah, but that's not the most important part. The most important part is that their Uncle Merling, a great rune master of the fourth stage, was protecting them from behind, and he started fighting the leading attacker of the shadow organization. However, this was no standard fight. Merling erupted with hundreds of fully powered attacks, seemingly without even losing any spiritual qi, killing all the assailants. Everyone is wondering how he did it. It's never, ever been seen before. Like, how can anyone use full powered attacks like they're nothing?"

"I don't really know. What I do know is that a lot of shady organizations are making a move."

"Those shady organizations won't be doing anything. I've heard the entire Runemaster Guild is moving to protect Merling. He has some sort of rune secret. The Runemaster Guild has never been mobilized to such an extent ever before in history. The only time that can sort of compare was when that rune prodigy managed to figure out how to engrave runes onto beast skin, allowing for easier comprehension of certain rules. He is by some called the father of all enlightenment. The fact that this protection surpasses that, is such a great indication of how important the secret Merling has is."

"I wonder what that secret is. And, I wonder if the Ruin Master Guild will ever reveal the secret to the public. If this power is given to certain individuals, it's enough to shake and reform the entire power structure of the Shattered Realm. Just imagine an entire army of people constantly using their full powered attacks without getting tired. It's invincible."

Samuel, on hearing this news, was shocked. Not only at the news of hearing that the kids were attacked, or even why they would be attacked since their talents were nothing special, but especially at the news of the entire Runemaster Guild being moved to protect Merling from shadow organizations. And if Merling has told the Runemaster Guild about their discovery and he somehow mentioned Samuel. He would be in danger. As such Samuel decided that he would need to run away. He had been seen together with Merling. And if he told the Runemaster Guild, and there was some very suspicious individual, some spy inside the Guild who leaked this information, Samuel would be done for.

Thinking till here, Samuel turned into the next alley and ran as fast as he possibly could. Yet, he did not get far before a sudden, ungodly, excruciating, disgusting pain erupted from his right shoulder. Not long after the sound of a thud, something landing on the ground reached his ears. This was all followed by a laugh coming from a seemingly mysterious individual that could not be seen, standing in the shadows.

"Hahaha, boy, you run quite fast, don't you? But not quite fast enough."

Before Samuel could even properly make sense of the situation, make sense of the fact that his arm was no longer attached to his shoulder. He was struck through the chest by a fist. It didn't kill him, it just hurt a lot. A fucking lot. The fist now pierced through his lung, making it hard for him to breathe.

And with the tiny, minute amount of power he had left in his body and the tiny amount of will power he had left. He managed to utter one last question before succumbing to darkness.

"Why am I so unlucky?"