Prologue

The sound of crunching snow and panting rose through the crisp night air. The footsteps pounded the frozen earth as the young woman carried a small infant in her arms, a look of terror on her face. She kept looking back as she ran, determined to save her only child.

A gun shot rang through the night, immedietly followed by a loud scream filled with pain. A man stepped forward from the shadows, holding a gun that's tip was still steaming in the fridged air. A twisted grin on his face, insanity in his eyes.

"What do you want from me?" The woman gasped through the pain, holding her wounded shoulder.

"Isn't it obvious? I want the child." The man said, pointing with the gun to the infant.

"I'll never allow it!" She yelled at the man, holding the child closer.

"I'm not asking for permission, but since you're being difficult, I get to kill you." And with that, the smile on his face expanded as he advanced while drawing his knife.

The man lifted the struggeling child from the lifeless mother and laughed. "I finally have it, I have the child! They will reward me greatly!" He raised the child and laughed histarically. "Glory will be mine-" He stopped due to an intence pain in her chest and looked down. What he saw made him want to laugh even more, for he saw the gleam of meatal poking through his shirt. He had been run through with a sword, a Japanees katana to be more precise. "Shit." He said and gave a single cough, spewing blood, then fell to the ground lifelessly. As the man fell, the sword was removed and the child was taken. The child was unharmed, and though it looked terribly upset, remained quiet. The savior of the child walked over to where the mother lay.

"A shame, I wish she could have died quickly, instead of being killed slowly as she was." The voice was that of the man who had saved the child. "Oh well, nothing to do about it now." He then looked at the child he held in one hand, wondering why the demented madman had wanted it so badely. "What should I do with you?" He wondered out loud.