On one evening in London, everyone was rounding off their work, some closing their shops, some forcing their children out of the park, and some just going home peacefully. It was like any other normal day- or so one would think. There was a sudden bloody scream that emerged from a distance, catching the attention of the people. They ran to the source of the disturbing sound, only to find a sight of pure horror. There was a woman lying on the floor, engulfed in her own blood, and should I mention, lifeless. The young girl who was with her clasped her hands onto her mouth, with her body trembling like a leaf. She wasn't just scared of her mother's lifeless body beside her, but of the doer of the action. It was a strange looking man, tall and looking paler than normal. Instead of a normal dentition, he had sharp pointy teeth, stained in the red colour of blood. The people who rushed to the scene were just as horrified as the girl. But before they could do anything, the creature charged at them and slaughtered them all, leaving just the child. The little girl, not being able to bear such sight, ran as fast as her feet could take her to her home, in search of her grampa. She narrated the whole story to him, and the old man sat and patiently listened to the frantic words of his grandchild.

   "At last! The daunting prophecy is finallyhappening!" Yelled the old man.

  "The end of the word has finally come, so as the end of the human race!" The girl was confused on what he said.

 "I'm talking about a prophecy made by our ancestors hundreds of years ago. It was said that evil would be cleansed from the world by inhuman forces that would devour the unclean people and teach humanity a lesson they'll never forget!"

"But it doesn't make sense! Everyone is unclean in a certain way, to kill them means to wipe out all humans from the face of the earth! What do we do Grampa?!" The girl yelled as tears streamed down her face.

"I'm afraid there's nothing we can do- unless...." The old Chinese man got up and grabbed a old dusty book that was locked up in his safe.

"...Exactly a century ago, a prophet had a dream, where beasts attacked and devoured all humans who had evil in their hearts, almost leading to the end of the world, until one day, there was a saviour who brought an end to those monsters and saved humanity from extinction. This has to be what that prophet saw, and if it is true, then we would be saved by the chosen one." The old man said as he closed the book, forming a big cloud of dust.

"But how, and where would we ever find such person in a world this big?"

"I don't know, all we can do is hope for the best, and repent from our sins now that we have the chance."

July 19

The cry of a newborn could be heard from a short distance, signaling the birth of a new life. It was a baby boy, so frail and tiny, being held in his mother's arms, like any other normal child. But wait, something seems off. The baby had white hair...and it couldn't be genetic. His mother had brown hair, while his father had black hair, so how come? His mother was amazed and awed as she gently stroked his head, feeling the silky strands of hair between her fingers. She didn't mind the colour at all, it wouldn't change anything...or so she thought.

As the child grew, his differences from his parents became more apparent. He had shining blue eyes, unlike his parents who had a characteristic brown eye colour, and his white hair and pale skin always shone, especially in the moonlight.

One evening, they were just coming from the park, and the three-year-old, unable to contain all his excitement, was dancing and jumping around like a little bluebird in the summer. But by accident, he stumbled into someone and fell hard onto the floor, and he started to cry.

"I'm sorry, he's just been overly excited today." His mother apologised to the person as she picked her son up.

"Oh don't be, I should be the one apologising for being in his way." The man said as he looked at the sniffling child, and his eyes suddenly widened.

"Please excuse me ma'am, may I ask you a question, based on your son?" The man politely asked, and confused, the woman agreed and went with him.

"Has your son's hair always been like that?"

"Why yes, he was born with it. Why do you ask, sir?"

"Well, you may find it hard to believe, but, there has been an outbreak of vampires in London, threatening to spread across England and the world, and your son seems like the one to stop that from happening. "

"My son? How? He's still just a baby! And those things aren't real, are they?"

"Indeed, they are real. All the recent random killings at night are their doing." The woman now found it difficult to deny it, since the killings have actually been strange. The victims have their blood sucked dry out of them, which is quite relatable to vampires.

"And in a prophet's dream, the saviour also had white hair like your son here." He said as he motioned to the boy sitting in his mother's lap with his thumb in his mouth while looking up at him with his big blue eyes.

"So what are you saying?"

"What I'm saying is, bring him to me in the next year, I know exactly what to do." He said as he handed the woman a card containing his number and disappeared in a corner.

'vampires? this is really shocking. So my son is going to be killing vampires oneday? Unbelievable, however, I woun't hide him from his fate.' his mother thought to herself.

   "Mummy, where are we going?" Said a tiny voice that was tinted with confusion.

  "Don't worry, you'll see." The mother comforted the child, who kept quiet, but still wondered where his mother could be leading him to. He could sense a bit of sadness coming from his mother, but he just couldn't understand why she would be sad. Had something gone wrong?

   "We're here, Ashton." The woman said as she turned around and gave her son a smile - not a genuine one but a pained one. He decided to ignore it and looked up at where they were. It was an ordinary looking house.

  "Maybe it's a friend that mommy misses so much.' Thought the little boy, as he smiled and happily went in with his mom, eager to meet this 'friend' of hers.

Upon arriving, they were met with an old man with a white long beard, sitting on a chair outside with his eyes closed, as tho he was sleeping.

"You have finally returned I see." The old man commented, still with his eyes closed.

"Err, yes, I have brought him here, just as you said, sir." The woman said quite hesitantly.

"Good. Would you mind leaving him with me?"

"F..for how long, sir?"

"hmm...for a couple of years I suppose."

"A couple of years?! Please, he's still a child, he shouldn't be separated from his family like that!"

"Relax, I don't fancy keeping him away from you either, but he'll need to undergo some training, and that's definitely not going to take a few days or weeks, but I can assure you, he'll definitely come back to you. I'll take good care of him, so you have nothing to worry about." The old man said as he got up and put a reassuring hand on the woman's shoulder.

At the end of the day, She reluctantly left her son with the man, and went home with a heavy heart. Who knows how life would be for Ashton from then on.

"Ashton is it?"

"uhm, yeah." The boy shyly said.

"No need to be afraid dear boy, see me as a friend from now on, oh, and your master too, okay?"

"'Kay" He said while nodding his head.

"let's go inside."

Upon entering into the house, Ashton saw another child that looked a couple of years older than him. It was a girl with long brown hair, and the most shocking thing was that she was busy practicing on a huge punching bag with her small body. Ashton's jaw nearly dropped.

"Oh, hi Gramp...Wait a minute, don't tell me this is

the kid you've been talking about, he's a toddler, can he even handle training at all?" The girl questioned.

"Catch them when they're young, they say. With proper training, he'll adjust. Now, just show him what you're doing, we'll start the real training tomorrow. "

"Yes Gram-I mean master." She said as she bowed.

"What're you doing?" Ashton asked inquisitively.

"I'm practicing my punches, what does it look like?"

"I'm Ashton!" He said suddenly with a sudden bright expression and with his hand stretched towards the girl.

"I didn't ask!" The girl snarled. "Come here and do as I do."

"Hmph, so mean." Ashton said as he puffed out his cheeks and tried to angrily stomp his feet.

"Punch it with all your strength, I'll watch from over here." The girl said as she sat down at the left corner of the room.

"Okay." And he took a step back, inhaled deeply and used all the strength he could muster up to punch the bag, but it didn't even move a centimeter. Soon after, he held onto his now red knuckles and started wailing loudly. The girl could barely contain her laughter.

"Just one measly little punch and you're already this loud? You're a bloody mess! It's a good thing you have me to whip you into shape, because I'll be honest, tomorrow isn't going to be rainbow and sunshine, so better prepare yourself." She said as she walked up where he sat crying.

"Get up." He still sat there confused.

"When your master tells you to get up, you spring up!" Ashton immediately flew onto his feet.

"Good. Now watch me. Put your right foot behind, put your fists by your hips, then punch with your right hand." She then punched the bag and sent it swinging back and forth. Now Ashton tried to mirror her moves, but still didn't get the bag to move.

"That's terrible! But at least you didn't cry. Now keep doing that, and switch from your right to left until you get the bag to move.

Ashton was lost.

"Grrr!" She growled as she switched the position of his legs.

"Now go!" He punched it over and over again, switching each time she kicked his foot, till he got a hang of it. He kept punching and punching, till he finally got it to move, which was at night.

He was sweating and panting, and his feet could barely support him, and he fell to the ground.

"Get up." And instantly, he flew to his feet. It's time for dinner, follow me." And Ashton immediately did without a word.

______________________________________________

"Uhm...hey..."

"What Is it? Go to bed!"

"When would I see my mummy? She didn't pick me up today." Ashton asked, sounding quite sad.

There was a moment of brief silence, before she finally answered.

"Don't be naïve, you're not seeing her any time soon, now get over it."

"Huh? but, I want my mummy and daddy!" He started to cry.

At this point, the girl got up and sat beside him.

"Look, reality is harsh kid, but you've got to accept it. You're not going to see your mummy again, no matter how much you cry, no matter how much you run away, it is your fate, and you cannot change it. You are the chosen one, the peoples' saviour, so don't let everyone down, even your parents are counting on you, so all you've got to do is work hard, and you'll have a chance of seeing them again." The girl said and was about to leave, but Ashton grabbed her arm.

"Could you please tell me your name?" Ashton asked.

"Fine, It's Xenia, now go to bed Ashton."

"'Kay "