I wake up Christmas morning on the couch for another uneventful day. I get up and walk over to the fireplace, its gone out again. I sigh as I start feeling the 10 below temperature inside my house. I start a new fire as my older sister Kelley walks up the stairs beaming at the prospect of christmas day. I feel sad for her. Even though she is older than me her soul hasnt been crushed and her dreams havent been shattered. She can find happiness in even the smallest of things while I wallow in my own misery. by the time I finally get the fire going my mom walks out of her room and tells me to make her coffee. As I walk up the fairly decorated stairs to the kitchen I look at my home. it has a feeling of happiness, not too strong but definitely not weak. It makes me sick to my stomach. I make her coffee and grab the one present I got for christmas out from under our weak little fake tree. I know that it is a watch because I looked at it a couple days ago. I set it to the right time and called my grandmother to thank her for it. Christmas just isnt the same without my dad. My sister gives my mother her gift while I walk downstairs to look for the stuff I was going to give the two of them. I was broke so I wrote a couple of short stories for them. For my sister I had written a poem to emphisize her love of drawing. For my mom I wrote a story of a man who lost his son and in his greif went to the underworld and tricked hades into releasing him. I gave them their presents and went back to my room. I locked my door and opened my laptop to look through my email. One particular peice of spam caught my eye. The title of it was, "Bored with the holidays? Does life make you depressed?" Intrigued I clicked on it. It opened a letter with nothing but a link on it. I was about to click on it when my mom called me. I walked upstairs and saw a man with a large box at our door. The dogs were going insane. When i gave them my look that said that if they didnt shut up and back off they were going in the cage they backed off of him. My mom signed for the package and opened the box which had several more boxes in it and a letter adressed to me. I grabbed the letter and opened it. It was from a lawyer. It read,
"To Cody James Fish, by now you may know that you're grandfather Kaul is deceased. If you did not I regret to inform you that it is thus. In his will he left you an obscene amount of relics and a single suit of armor that comes with a sheild and sword. He was very clear that you were to only receive the armor, sword, and sheild until you turned 18. Then you are to receive the rest of his effects. Until that point they are being displayed in a museum. He has also made a dvd for only you to veiw. It is enclosed with the rest of the items. The museum that is holding the artifacts has also sent a cloak for the armor as thanks for you to keep."
I looked at my mother and she was crying. The loss of her father hit her the hardest of all involved. And it didnt help that my grandmother got married again. My sister tried to comfort her as I walked back and forth from my room with the boxes. I opened the first one when I locked my door again. this one had the black chestplate and arms in it. The second one I opened had the legs, boots, chainmail, and undercoverings. The third had the sword, sheild, gauntlets, and the dvd. I popped the dvd into my ps2 and my grandfather appeared on the screen, only he was much younger. Probably in his late twentys or early thirtys. He took a deep breath and said,
"If you are watching this it means that I am dead. It also means that I have left you with my suit of armor. By the time you are watching this I will have made several very important decisions. The main one being that you are to get my most valuable possessions. Now that I am dead you may do whatever you want with them. The most important decision is that you have gained my armor. This armor has been passed down from generation to generation of my family. I hope you treat it well, for some reason it wont break. No matter what we do to it it wont even scratch or dent."
The video got fuzzy for a second then my granfather appeared again only this time he looked like he was on the verge of death like the last time I saw him a week before he died. His eyes were filled with pride as he said,
"Cody, you will never know how much it means to me that you are seeing this. I have had the armor fitted to your body size for I know I am not going to be around for much longer. I know that we were never particularly close but I love you all the same. None of my other grandchildren need this armor as much as you do. Each time this armor is past on, the one who receives it is blessed. We never know what it is but from looking at you, I would have to say that you will be the luckiest man alive when you put on the armor. Cody, cherish this armor over all else. Never tell anyone about its power. Destroy this message when you are done with it. Now before I go I have one last request of you. Please take a shower before you put the armor on."
He smiled and leaned forward to turn off the camcorder and then the screen went black. I got up to take the shower and when I returned I started to put on the armor. Someone knocked on the door just as i was about to put the sheild on its clip on my back. I put it down and opened the door. It was my mom. She wanted me to speak to my dad. I took the phone and heard his voise frantically say,
"What did he say on the video son?"
I told him that grandpa only wanted me to hear it he cursed at me and demanded that I tell him. I hung up. I went back into my room and put the sheild ont my back an put on the sword. With the armor complete, I felt good about myself for the first time in years. I looked myself over in the mirror. The black armor contrasted my ivory skin but it clashed well. Without a helmet my shoulder length deep copper red hair seemed more than visible to me. The cloak was made to hide me in the dark. Overall i thought i looked quite evil. I saw in the mirror that my computer was still on so I walked over to it and the link was still on there. I clicked it and in a brilliant flash of white light I was knocked unconscious.
The doctor grunted from the man was putting on his back
"don't worry chap, the hospital is around here somewhere."