Part 2 : The Name No One Was Supposed to Hear

Anger. Not the fleeting, emotional anger of a misunderstood youth throwing a tantrum, but something much deeper, much colder, and infinitely more focused. Standing there in that ruined, smoke-choked saloon, surrounded by the metallic smell of blood and a handful of hardened criminals willing to stake their lives on a secret older than the boy himself, a profound transformation took place within him. He looked at his father, looked at the men guarding the doors, and for the very first time in his young life, he truly understood what he was. He was not just a helpless child running from monsters in the night. He was not a runaway orphan lost in a world too big for him. And he was not merely someone’s son caught in the crossfire of an old man’s war.