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'And thus the prophecy came to be: a hero, born in a world consumed by darkness, born into a life of tragedy, would come forth to drive away the demons of the dark, fulfilling the word of the gods two hundred years prior. This hero shall have power beyond comprehension, but he will be most feared for his heart, pure and true, which will earn him many companions on the road before him.'- The Eternal Codex July 5th, 1992

'Wake up Daniel, time for school!'

'But mom -'

'No buts young man, you know how important the first day of school is! Now get out of bed, or I'll send in dad!'

Daniel yawned and stretched his arms as far as his eight-year old body would allow. The morning sun shone in slanted pillars through the blinds covering his window, drawing bars over his sheets, small dust motes drifting in and out of the light. He threw off his blanket and hopped off his bed, small feet drifted across the carpet and onto the cold wooden floor of the outside hallway, drawing a yelp from the boy as he hopped awkwardly down the hall to the living room. His mother had just finished spreading jam across a slice of toast as he hopped onto his chair and eagerly pulled his plate towards him, jostling the glass of juice next to it. Hungrily he dug into the slices of bacon and the pile of scrambled eggs that lay there, which drew the attention of his mum.

'Now Daniel, don't rush through your food, you might get choked.'

'I know mum.' He replied, mouth full of bacon as he reached across the table and snagged a slice of buttered toast with eager hands, earning another disapproving look from her in the process, one that turned into a happy smile as she gently ruffled his hair. Eleanor Anderson was by no means an average woman, standing five feet ten with a head of flowing dark hair and graceful features, she was the sort of woman that had many a man on the street turning their heads to stare at her beauty. Her child had thankfully inherited some of those features, like the dark hair she had her hand in, although not as thick as hers, it was still from her as much as his defined features were both hers and his father's.

'Just like your dad, you are. Never listen to your dear old mum.'

'What's that honey?'

Andrew Anderson, however, was not so lucky. With a shock of light brown hair, a square jaw and a face that gave an impression of a rough and tumble life, he looked every bit of his job as a policeman. He smiled and she smiled back, giving him a gentle hug as Daniel finished up his breakfast, taking it upon himself to deposit the bare plate and empty glass in the kitchen sink.

'Oh nothing, Andrew. Just telling your son what a wonderful boy he is. And that he needs to hurry if he wants to be on time for school.'

The boy took the hint and scurried off to his room to get dressed, while his father smiled after him and sighed.

'I miss those days of being a kid. Sadly I can't get any younger.'

'Oh hush you, you're still young to me.'

They shared a little kiss in the early morning sun, which is when young Daniel decided to pop out of his room, properly dressed for school. His fresh smile turned into a grimace when he caught sight of his parents smooching, and when they noticed, they broke out laughing, and so did he. Together they bundled into the family sedan and off they went, first to school where mother and son alighted. As the car drove off, Daniel stared at the big double doors of his new school, his little hand gripped his mother's tightly, slightly in fear, mostly in excitement. Eleanor smiled down at her son and held his hand warm and tight.

'Don't worry, Daniel, first days are always scary. Its my first day here too, I wonder how the other teachers will treat me.'

'They'll be fine mom!'

He smiled up at her and she smiled back and they walked in together, hand in hand. Bustling with students, the air filled with the noise and commotion common to schools everywhere, Third Street Grade School was just that: a plain ol' school, with its fair share of student cliques, sports groups and other co-curricular activities for the hundreds of kids that attended their daily lessons. The pair split soon after they entered: Daniel sorted his way through the other students to his first classroom, while Eleanor made her way to the principal's office for her introduction to the school. The day proceeded like any other; Daniel got to know his classmates and made a fair few friends out of the other new students, a few boys and girls around the same age he was. His mother acquainted herself with the faculty and received her teaching roster for the year, which including seeing her son in an English class every week. With the day close to over, mother and son met up again and sat on the warm concrete steps to wait for their father and chauffeur to arrive from work, the setting sun drawing long pillars of shadow across the street and sidewalk, orange fire slowly dipping past the rooftops and skyscrapers as it gave up its last light to the night. The sedan pulled up to the school after a few minutes and the family were together again. On the drive home, Daniel gushed excitedly about his first day to his father, making both his parents smile and nod warmly as they listened to him regale stories about friendships forged and first thoughts about his new teachers. None of them ever saw the semi barreling towards them, its driver suddenly straddled with a blown brake line. The truck t-boned the sedan, its huge metal grille crumpling the driver's side and crushing the windows into showers of glistening death, raining shards and fragments down against father, mother and son. The car rolled and tumbled several feet down the street, crumpling with each heavy hit against the pavement, until it finally came to rest against a light pole, upside down, a mere shredded wreck instead of a car. When emergency services reached the wreck and prised the bodies from the carnage, they discovered a miracle: the body of the mother, knarled and curled up as she was, hid the shivering form of her son, pale and drawn within himself but without a scratch. As the ambulance workers zipped up the body bags, they bundled the little boy into the ambulance and drove him off to the hospital, where they checked him for internal injuries and found him miraculously unharmed inside too. How this little boy had survived such a huge wreck was a mystery, though doctors and detectives alike held his mother as the sole reason: her strength and love had protected her son from all harm, safe in her arms, even as death reared its ugly head over her and her spouse. Investigations would later reveal that the semi's brake fluid line had finally given way after years of neglect, choosing that fateful day to break and to cause one of the worst accidents of the year.

However, all of them were unaware that the events had set into motion a prophecy two hundred years in the making. Gears well rusted over began turning once more, and the night sky grew brighter with the lights of new stars, ones that marked the destinies of men, women, and the world to come. The boy was marked as a hero for the times to come and, slowly but surely, people with close ties to the family followed the late Andrew's instructions in the event of his demise, forming a cradle around his little boy to groom him into a champion of the light. The boy himself didn't know this, of course, as his frail mind was completely shattered at the loss of not one, but both his parents, at such a young age and on a day of such happiness. He would not have to suffer much more, for his father had charged his care to the arms of two more, close friends of the family, in case of their inevitable demise, one foretold by prophecy to happen when the child came of a certain age. His future would be bright, but for that to happen, he would have to endure even more tragedy, ones far worse than the tragedy that had spurred his fate being set into motion. His tale would not end at the falling of his parents, rather, his tale would begin there. Daniel Joshua Anderson's destiny began right at that very moment, and yet he did not know it, for he was still a child, innocent and young.