Nine Months Earlier

"No."

"Please."

"No."

"Come on!!!"

"For the last time, NO!!!!!" I said to my little brother, who's being annoying as usual. He had a short dark brown hair, green eyes and light-tan skin, like me. He was a freshmen at my high school while I was a Senior, which made me the boss of my little brother.

We were in my room, where we were having this conversation, which is starting to become an argument. My stupid brother wanted to go to a convention with some of his friends. Of course, it wouldn't have been a big deal if he asked Mom or Dad. But unfortunately, they're out of town for a vacation, which left us in charge of watching the house.

And by us, I mean me.

"Come on." He complained "You get to hang out with your friends. Why can't I hang out with mine?"

"Because I'm in charge of the house while our parents are gone. That means I'm in charge of you." I continued with my homework that I'm working on for history. I was doing a report on Carolus XII, also known as Carolus Rex. He was put on the throne at fifteen, making him the youngest to ascend to king, defended the Swedish Empire from a threefold attack from Denmark-Norway, Saxony, Poland-Lithuania, and Russia.

"Come on, Marcus. You own me after I helped you with that math test."

I stopped what I was doing and sighed. My brother did help me with a test in Pre-Algebra. I would have flunked if he hadn't helped me study for it. "Alright, you can go." I conceded, knowing that there was no arguing with my brother after he helped me. Behind me, my brother pumped his fist in the air in victory before he left my room. "But I'm coming with you." I shouted before he left.

I sighed and shook my head. My brother may be a pain in the ass, but I still love him. As I got up from my chair, stretching my limbs. I looked at the time on my desk, which is 2:15 P.M.

'I guess I could take a day off.' I thought. It was a Saturday, and my report wasn't due until Wednesday, but I like to do it early so I can get it over with it. I guess a day off wouldn't be too bad, seeing as I was going to a convention in San Francisco with my little brother. I'm sure Mom and Dad wouldn't mind.

With that in mind, I walked over to my closet and opened the door, in which I gabbed a pair of long pants. San Francisco is windy and cold city, no matter what season it is. Since I'm going there, I might as well dress warm. I slip out of my black-camouflaged cargo shorts and into my pants. I then went to grab my jacket from the coat hanger standing in the far left of my room, right next to my bed. I grabbed a varsity-type jacket with 'The Hundred' logo on it.

I felt something press against my legs. I look down and saw a black cat with a white underbelly nuzzling my legs. I gently kneeled and scratched her behind the ear. "I almost completely forgot about you, Momo." She is our pet cat we got two years ago. Although my dad hated cats due to a bad experience in the past, he gotten use to it. She must have gotten in my room during my talk with my brother.

She purred as I scratched her in the ear. "Were going to go out for a while. I'll be back to feed you, girl. Don't worry." I said. She responded by sitting down and leaning on my leg as I continued to scratch her ear. Eventually, I stopped scratching her and went to my desk to grab my IPhone and my wallet. Momo jumped up on my bed and curled up for a nap. I went to my bed and kneeled down to the bottom. I reached under it and brought out a small wooden box. My personal bank. Since I was going out, I might as well bright some money for dinner. I opened the lid and reached inside, grabbing four 20$ and put them in my wallet.

I grabbed the keys to the car (yes, I drive.) from the night stand next to my bed and walked out of my room. I walked through the hallway, turned left, and went down stairs.

Inside the family room, my brother was wearing a M. Bison costume from the Street Fighter series, complete with a hat. I merely scoffed when I saw the uniform he is wearing. "M. Bison, really?"

"Come on, he's cool. You can't deny that." My brother countered with a grin on his face.

"Yeah, until he gets his ass kicked by a girl in tights. I would have gone with Shao Khan. Now that guy knows how to get things done."

"FINISH HIM!" My brother said. We had a laugh as he said it. As you can tell, we're both nerds. Not like those stereotypical ones with the glasses, high pants and pocket protectors. We're just as regular as anyone else.

Once we have our good laugh, we went out the front door. I stayed behind to lock the front door. Once that was finished, We went to the blue Honda (my dads car) and unlocked the doors to the car.

With that out of the way, we went to pick up his friends and drive down to San Francisco, where my life would change forever.

We arrived at the San Francisco International Airport where the convention is being held at. Why they set it up at the airport was beyond me. The flights were cancelled for one day due to the convention they set up. It was hard finding a parking space at first, but we managed to park we managed to find one under a shade. We all went out of the car and into the convention. We all decided to split up and meet back in an hour.

So here I was, walking around the convention, looking at the different stuffs they had here. Booths were set up at the sides. Lots of people were walking around inside, some were in anime costumes while others were characters from video games. Some internet celebrites were having their Q&A's in some conference rooms.

I walked around for who knows how long. I was about to walk back to the area where I would meet my brother and his friends, when something caught my eye.

The booth that I saw was nothing like the others. For one, this particular booth was selling trinkets from every anime show and video games. Of course, it wouldn't be as important to anyone who just happened to walk by it. But for some reason, I'm drawn to it. I don't know why I was drawn to it.

Regardless of that, I at least should check it out. Maybe there might be something over there that I can buy. I walked over to the booth, where a guy in a RE4 Merchant outfit was selling a pair of masks to some guy. The guy must have known I was coming, as he looked my way. "Welcome to my corner. How may I serve you today?"

I browsed around the small stall, seeing what would catch my eye. I could see some weapons on there as well. REAL WEAPONS! Ranging from gold axes to lances that had a dragon head at the tip, it is unlike anything I've seen here. A glass separated me from the smaller weapons, like daggers and short swords. I wanted to asked the guy if it was even legal to sell these weapons here, but something caught my eye. At the bottom of the glass display, in the middle between a dagger and a blue and white gun, there was a book. The cover itself is thick, with a grey tome. On the tome is what looks like a weird 'n' with a dot in the middle of it. The book gave me a sense of Deja vu, like I've seen it before somewhere. I've tried to search my memory for something about this prop, but for some reason, my mind could come up with anything.

"How much for the book?" I said to him. I would have gotten a weapon or something for keeps shake, but since I can't think of what I want, I think I might buy this book. Plus, this might look good with a costume for the next Halloween party at Jordan's house.

That was a crazy party.

"Twenty dollars." The man said. He then opened the glass door and procured the book and a wicked looking dagger. "And I'll throw this in for free."

I nodded to the guy. It was a great deal, you can't deny that. I reached into my pocket and grabbed my wallet, opened the flap and grabbed the twenty dollars.

Once I pay the man, I grabbed the book and the dagger. I placed the dagger and the book in the pockets of my jacket. After that, I went back to the place where I would meet my brother and his friends, unaware that the book was actually glowing an eerily red.

But before I knew it, it was already too late.