I was looking at the dark void which was death. I never thought how i might die but this was not what I had expected. I guess i expected to die in bed after being married or having children of my own and growing old but those dreams changed the day it happened. Before I died, I was just starting my day in Acoda. The city was ancient and was not anywhere near interesting.

Neither was my shit excuse of an apartment. It was small and was so dusty you could almost hardly breathe. My small single dirty grey bed stood there  the window and my rusty stove and fridge stood against the oak wood wall. I guess that was a fire hazard but I could not complain considering I was as poor as hell. My bathroom consisted of a large bucket and a few soaps for cleaning along with a dirty white old toilet with a mouldy sink next to it.

It was anything but pretty. But it was home I guess. So I slowly drag myself and my lazy ass out of bed a tie my dark brown hair back into a braid and get changed for school. My school clothes are a pair of brown trousers, a feded jade green shirt and a dark grey hoodie. Once i ate breakfast I walked down the long cue of stairs waiting for me. So I walked down the streets of Acoda to school which was a 15 minute walk from the apartment. 

If i took  a direct route it would probably take me only half the time but i take enjoy taking a stroll through the grey market and looking at the different herbs, spices and items that I found unusual and interesting.The stalls are normally the same but some days there are new ones and the locals from around the area know me really well as I buy most of my things from the market as it helps to fit in with my small budget. As I walked down the mossy grey cobblestone street I came across a stall with a beautiful ruby embroiled  dagger and as I walked closer to the stall it seemed to glow brighter and brighter until it out-shined all the stars themselves. 

The silver blade was nice and cool under my lingering fingers. A soft grunt came from the owner of the stall. He had a short ginger beard and rough jagged hair. He had a small red scar on the side of his cheek and was wearing light grey jeans and a shiny black jacket with scaly black gloves covering his hands. The glowing stopped immediately. 

"Unless you are going to buy the item I would prefer you to not touch it, it is priceless and was finely made. Now get your bloody hands off it girl!" 

His crystal blue eyes stared back into my deep brown eyes, cold and un-moving.  I slowly parted my hand from the blade and looked back at him.

 "How much for the blade?" 

"$2000" 

"For one dagger?"

"May I remind you how priceless it is and it took a lot to get my hands on it."

"Is there anyway I could pay you back over time?"

"No, unless."

He paused for a moment thinking and stared at the blade and then back at me.

"You know what. This blade in particular according to accounts and reports chooses it's owner. So if you could tell me your name, address, age and birth-date I might be able to run a quick trial at your place to see if you are worthy of Ignis."

"What is Ignis?"

"The name of the dagger you fancy so much. Now you tell me those details or keep moving."

I looked again at Ignis and thought it was worth the risk. I looked back up at the man who was watching me with an eagle eye.

"My name is Ferox, I am 17, I was born on the 15th of February and I live in the top floor in Carcerem apartments for rent place on 30 Reid street." 

"Ok... so if you want Ignis so much than leave your door unlocked tonight unless you don't want it. Now go before i take back the bloody offer!"

I quickly walked away without bothering to waste my time with thank yous and goodbyes. I arrived at school 10 minutes later which means I was late. In the teachers eyes it probably goes like this, Ferox plus late equals detention. I sit down after being dished out a weeks detention by Ms. Drake who secretively loves dishing me detention even if it is for a few hours of taking pleasure in my misery.

My spot in the far right hand corner was great as it was close to the window and was almost out of eyesight from most of the teachers who were fairly small for an adult. Even if you could consider them an adult. They were basically just demons wearing human skins in my perspective. The tan boy with cropped black hair and rich green eyes was Felix. He is what a lot girls at school call cute or hot or even handsome in extreme cases.

He sits next to me in the back only to avoid the prying eyes of other girls and cause I barely seem to acknowledge his existence. I found out this is because I eavesdropped on a conversation with one of his friends once who asked why he sat with me. So I was never honoured or any shit like that and did not care. After mentor group and class it was eventually lunch. I never looked forward to lunch even though it included one of my favourite things, eating, i never really had any friends and so i spent most of lunch alone in the Library reading whatever I could get my rough hands on.

The only company that stayed with me at Lunch though was a young girl named Bella and she was annoying. She had short sun kissed blonde hair, sea blue eyes, pale skin, she wore a plaid shirt and ripped jeans every day like she had no other clothes to wear. That was not the thing that pissed me off though, it was just she never learnt to shut up. She would go on forever about something then go into context until I acknowledged what she was saying and gave the reaction she wanted from me then talk about something else which involved me having to use the English language.

Today she went on about her older brother doing some shit that was remotely interesting while I read a book which had the authors name scratched out as though it was ancient even if it was just released this year. The kids at the school really just did whatever they felt like and at lunch it was like they had no regard for human life and the teachers did not stop them from beating up a kid, instead they would just watch and enjoy the show unless the student was a teachers pet. When it was my turn I gave them something to cry about as I broke a some of there arms and a few bruises, so after that everyone chose to just leave me alone out of pure fear of what i'll do to them.

Bella saw me as a role model and looked up to me since then so that is one of the main reasons why she is barking up my tree almost everyday. The bell rang and I just sat through the next few classes then headed back to my apartment. Lots of kids back when I was a kid asked why I lived alone and my only reply is that all of my known relatives are dead and I do not want to be put up for adoption like some poor lost puppy ready to go to the first person who sees him. That is why I live alone and I actually manage just fine in my small apartment, I get everything myself and i have enough money considering all the money from my parents will to me and the job I have at a book store I can manage.

When I get home I put some pork on the stove to cook because I do not have an oven and walk over to the dark oak desk with a matching chair in the corner. I light a candle and start doing some homework i needed to get done for math. When I heard the pork crackling in the background I got up and took it to the sink, got out a plate and helped myself to a serving, grabbed a few fresh carrots and sat down at my desk. It was not the most interesting or best dish in the world but it was satisfying enough so I wouldn't die of hunger.

After my small meal I had a cold bath because I could not afford to heat the water and waste valuable fire wood so i chucked a few soaps in and submerged myself in the bucket of cold, icy water. There were not many days when I did heat the water and those days were my birthday so that was always something to look forward to. I got out of the bucket, put on some dry clothes and eyed the door. I would normally lock up right now before I went to bed but today was different as that strange man at the stall said to keep it open tonight for a test to see if I was worthy of Ignis.

It was stupid probably to let a stranger into my home for a blade that was practically singing out for me but then again I don't have any possessions apart from school work and a few of my mothers clothes and shoes. It was worth the risk in my opinion and as long as I got that stupid dagger I could not care less. I slowly walk to my bed and as I do it I go through all the worst possible incomes that could happen and when I finally approached my bed I made eye contact with it and slowly crawled inside. I closed my eyes and fell asleep.

I slowly woke to the suffocating smell of smoke and I would have coughed if I hadn't of seen the bright red jewel poised above my throat. I quickly realised it was Ignis and the strange man from the stall had it aimed at my throat while the building was burning down. The man looked down into my eyes and snarled. "See you in hell Ferox."

Then everything went black as the man plunged Ignis into my throat.