I was a normal child, before all the tragedies happened. I had a loving mom, a wonderful sister, and a caring dad, as well as a dear grandmother and an amazing grandfather. We lived happily together, in our beautiful apartment. We joked and laughed as we shared our exciting experiences and stories. The living room filled with laughter and warmth near the fireplace. My sister and I would get mad at each other and not talk to the other for three minutes until she apologizes to me and we were as close as we were before. In summer, we run together outside our apartment and chase each other and play with neighbour kids. Everything was normal and happy, and I had a great childhood.

           One winter, it was snowing heavily. We still were still gathering happily and lively as always, but it was this winter that everything changed. A group of bandits came into our neighbourhood. They stirred up chaos and destroyed houses. They set apartments after apartments on fire, burning many innocent lives to death. My grandparents saw that, and told my parents to take me and my sister away, and that they will deal with the bandits. My sister and I were in our bedroom after eating, and I heard them arguing in the kitchen, shouting at each other in tears. My parents wanted them to go with us, but my grandmother said that they are too old and weak and would drag us down if they came with us. My grandfather agreed. I hid behind the wall as I listened to them discussing – arguing over the same thing over and over. The thought of leaving this happy life brought tears up my eyes. Memories of the happy times flashed before me and I could not hold my sob back. My sister saw me and asked what happened, and I told her to listen to the conversation that our parents were having with our grandparents. As she listened, I noticed that she is also get misty eyed. I told her that I do not want to leave them, because I always loved them. However, at that very moment, my parents rushed into the room and told us to pack our things and leave with them. I said, between sobs, that I will only leave if my grandparents were coming with us. However, I was shut up by them, who were just as teared up as me and my sister. I glared at their blurry image as I dashed past them and ran to my grandparents. But, they were already gone.

            I figured that they have gone outside, to deal with the bandits, so I ran to the window. What I saw was something that has scarred me for life. My grandparents were standing there, talking to the bandits. Tear flowed like river down my face, and I saw the bandits laugh and stick a knife up their heart. Then they pushed them aside and started going through the apartment. I stared in shock and depression as the scene of my grandparents’ death flashed over and over in my mind. I tightened my fist and clenched my teeth. Unfortunately, I knew there was nothing I could do, so I allowed myself to be dragged by my parents and my sister to leave with them. We went through a secret doorway in our room, which I never knew existed, in the closet that I usually hide in when we play hide and seek. Normally, seeing such an amazement would make my brain go crazy and start jumping around, but after I watched the death of my loving grandparents, I felt that a part of me has just died, and the soul within me is suffering with depression. I was mad at everyone, including myself. I hated how my parents did not force my grandparents to come with us. I hated how my grandparents left us without even saying goodbye. I hated how my sister did not try to do anything, not that there is anything to do. Above all, I hated myself. I hated how I was unable to safe my grandparents. Different scenarios ran through my head as to what I COULD have done but didn’t do. My eyes blurred again as I realized that no matter what I thought, my grandparents are not coming back.

            As we went down the staircase that led to a secret small basement, the light started to dim and wood cracked as we made our way down. When we finally reached the bottom of the staircase, I saw a door in-front of us. It was all black and had some weird snake like carving on it. We went through and found a group of people already there, most of them with the same expression as I was feeling. I looked around, and recognized that they were my neighbours. It was then that I noticed that there were doors all over the wall, and I guessed that they probably came in from there. At that moment, I really wondered if my grandparents knew there was a hiding place like this. I wanted to ask my parents about my doubt, but I realized that I have walked into the middle of the crowd. Noise surrounded me and I cannot find my parents. A hand grabbed me and I looked at the direction that it came from. I saw my sister’s teary face. I asked her what happened, and she said that she has also lost mom and dad. We held hands and roamed through the crowd, trying to search for our parents.

            Suddenly, a hole opened on the floor, literally. A man popped out and said that it is safe to go down there right now. We followed his lead, and went down with him. He had a symbol on his shirt that looked weird and unfamiliar to me. I looked at my sister and whispered that maybe we should follow him. She agreed, so we started to walk with the crowd, with the man at the lead. He waved his hand for us to hurry, and we tried our best, and the crowd, one by one, went through an open door. The guy signaled each one of us to go out, and just before we went out, my sister tugged at my shirt and asked, “what about mom and dad?”. I suddenly remembered that we have lost them in the crowd, and told her that we should go look for them, so we stood at the side as everyone else poured through the opening. When the last person went through the door, the man signaled me and my sister to go with them. However, we said that if we do not find our parents, we are not leaving. He probably thinks that we are too young to take care of ourselves, so he stayed behind with us. A bloodcurdling scream sounded from the other end of the hallway, and shuffled footsteps came rushing towards our direction. My heart beat faster with every second. Very soon, we see the head of a woman fading into the light, and I released the breath I was holding. She was the neighbour that live right next to our door, Julia was her name. She was pale and wide-eyed, and when she saw us, she stopped and said that she was sorry. We did not know what she means, so she explained that the bandits have discovered the pathway because they had contacts from a member that is in the group that escaped, so they broke in and killed everyone they see. She told us that my parents were brave and decided to fight them back, and when she said that, the image of my grandparent dying flashed one more time in my mind. My eyes teared up again as I realized what she was talking about. She was sorry because my parents have sacrificed their lives so the remaining people can escape. Julia tried to comfort me by saying that they died a hero and they were great fighters. They were able to fight the bandits single handedly, and bought them some time so they could escape. Unfortunately, the bandits caught up with them and killed them one by one. The men decided to stay and fight, so Julia was the only survivor. She said that we should hurry up and leave right now before the bandits reach us, and the man with the weird symbol on his shirt approved. I totally forgot that he was there. Me and my sister agreed to leave, so we went through the door that everyone else went through.

            The winter wind blew against my face and cold-dried my tears. My eyes burned from the wind and my nose was red. Everything around us was white snow that got stained black and red by the burn and blood. I looked around, trying to see where everyone else went, but with no success. Suddenly, we heard a distant scream. We looked around, trying to identify the source of the sound. Another ear-piercing scream sounded from the same place, and we started to run towards where the sound came from. It was hard to run fast on the snow, but we still managed to struggle through. Behind the apartment lied our neighbours, all of them dead in the snow. Blood surrounded and pooled around them, and two girls stood there, watching. They seemed to be in as much shock as us. We hurried towards them and asked what happened. They said they just went to the bathroom, and when they came back, all of them were dead. As they were talking, they seem to be taking something out of their pocket. It was their knives. The man with the weird symbol on his shirt acted so swiftly that the girls did not have the chance to get their pocket knives out. He threw a bladed object at one of the girl, and struck her dead the second she tried to throw hers. However, the other one did get the chance to throw hers, and it went sailing towards us… Towards my sister… I stared in shock and tried to act and protect her, but I was too slow. By the time I started moving, the knife was already halfway between the assassin and my sister. I managed to push my sister away a little, but the knife still struck her in the shoulder. My sister screamed in pain as the blade sunk deep into her arm. I glared at the girl as I laid my sister down. I started charging towards her, aiming for a punch at her face, but she sidestepped me so easily that I tripped and fell face-first into the snow. She took out another knife out of her pocket, and said that I made a terrible mistake. I heard what she said and thought that it was the end for me. At that moment, I was in fact hoping that she would stab me and let me go with my grandparents and my parents. However, knowing that my sister is still injured reminded me that I have to take care of her, so I got up as fast as I could. Unfortunately, her heavy boot rested on my spine and I fell back down. She shook her head in pity as she watched me struggle helplessly. Suddenly, she screamed and fell off my back. She was struck by the same blade that she used to injure my sister. The man with the weird symbol on his shirt has pulled the knife out of my sister, and thrust it at the bad girl, while Julia tended my sister. She had wrapped her wound up to stop the bleeding. My whole body was numb for laying on the cold ground for so long, and also from shock. I looked at the man with the weird symbol on his shirt, and thanked him. He said that he was called Admiral Sai. I ran back at my sister and held her hands. She was pale and her blood soaked through the fabric that wrapped her arm. It has turned black. I hugged her and begged for her to wake up, but she was still unconscious. Her heart was beating faintly and she was on the verge of dying.

            Admiral Sai said that we should take her to his spaceship because there was more medicine and tools that can help with her injury. He said that we should do it fast because she is still losing blood. So we hurried and took her to his space ship. It was far from our neighbour, but the admiral had a very badass car that took us quickly to where his ship was. On the way, I asked him who the bandits were, and he replied that they were this organization from the outer space that was hired to take down villages and neighbourhoods in return for a lot of money. He said that there must be some people in the neighbourhood that attracted attention and the person wanted them dead. I asked him how did he learn all the knife throwing skills and who he really was. He explained to me that he was an infinity knight that protected the galaxy from the bandits and other bad people who tried to disrupt universal peace. Then he went on about how the bandits were ruthless people that is willing to do anything, even bloody killing. As he talked, a thought occurred to me. How did he find us and how did he know about the secret passageways? My curiosity overrode my manners, and I interrupted him while he was speaking. I asked my question and waited for his answer.

            Instead of getting mad at my disrespectfulness, he simply laughed. He jokingly said that he has superpowers, but I refused to believe him. Then he said that he had a device that tracked these bandit’s location, since they are major threats to the universe. He followed them here, and with the help of his machine that can see through walls, he located the secret hiding place and decided to help the people to safety, only that he failed. Admiral Sai sounded very depressed, as if the people that died were his own family. I let it drop, and decided to remain quiet until we reached his spacecraft. I must have fallen asleep because Admiral Sai shook me and said that we arrived. I opened my eyes and saw the most extraordinary piece of gigantic metal half-hovering in mid-air and had a very big door open for us to enter. I was speechless, since I have never EVER been told that such an amazing construction existed. I stared in awe as Admiral Sai drove up a steep piece of metal, into the spaceship. My mouth was open and my teeth collided with each other as we went up the bumpy ramp. Inside, it was even more fascinating. There was technology I never even dreamed about seeing and the whole place was blueish white (or whitish blue I can’t tell), and there were many people inside as well. I must have said something because Admiral Sai said that I could. I blinked and asked “what did I say?”. He said that I commented, “I wish I could be an infinity knight!”. When I realized what I have said, I was in shock. I tried to deny my request by saying that I was only joking, but Admiral Sai took it that I was too shy to admit it. He said that I lost all the ones that I love, and my sister is still severely injured by the blade by the bandit. I was ashamed of myself for totally forgetting about my sister, and then we took her to the medic center.

            The medic center was nothing that I have EVER seen, and the material is so abundant that it is difficult to see all of them. I gazed around the room, trying to figure what exactly is happening. As we took my sister to the doctor, I realized that the ship is in fact sort of a big head-quarter, and there were TONS of people and aliens, from all over the universe who decided to become one of the infinity knights. I was suddenly aware that I still held my sister’s hand, and needed to release her for the doctor to proceed with the surgery. I did and silently said good luck and prayed that my sister would come back to me to enjoy this spectacular place. I walked away from the surgery table and went to talk to Admiral Sai. He explained the basic information of the whole spaceship to me, as well as how it functions, so if I needed, I know what to do and where to go.

            A long while later, a doctor came out. I went and asked how my sister was, and he said that she is still alive, but she would probably be unable to remember who she is and where she is from, and might even not be able to talk when she wakes up. They said that there was some sort of chemical or poison on the blade that erased memories and caused severe brain damage. I stared blankly at the doctor and felt that the last bit of my soul was taken away from me. Everyone that I loved is gone or became someone else… Everyone. Tear flowed again down my cheek as I sat back down at the “waiting room”. Admiral Sai saw me and asked what happened. I shook my head, not daring to speak because I knew I would start sobbing again and cry if I opened my mouth. Therefore, he went and asked the doctor what happened. The doctor told him what is going on, and Admiral Sai came back next to me. He laid a hand on my shoulder and said that he is extremely sorry for my loss. However, it did not make me feel any better. First of all, it was not his fault that I lost my whole family, and second, apologizing is not going to bring them back to me. It was at that very moment that I finally decided. I decided that I am not going to be helpless again, nor am I going to be defenseless. I decided that nobody else should suffer what I suffered. I decided to become an Infinity Knight.