"Ream. It's time to make your mark on the world. Go, my son. Go now, find a cure. Remember father... well he will always be here waiting. I love you, my son."
The last words he heard from his father repeated over and over in his head as he wiped the tears from his eyes reddened eyes. "Stay strong Ream. Father needs you," he muttered under his breath in an attempt to console himself as he continued to pack his things.
His dark thoughts continued to pound through his head as he felt his headache coming back once more. This was all he wanted all along. To be free of his father's rules to explore the world. But now that he had a chance to, his reluctance held him back.
"Father..." he muttered once more as he picked up his travelling bag. Patting the layers of dust that had clung to it, he raised the bag up into the air. The distinct smell of thousands of herbs and berries filled the air as he did.
Old and ragged with age, the bag was a memento of his grandfather and now it was his.
Carefully placing the pack on his shoulders, Ream sighed once more as he glanced melancholically at his room. Every mark, every scratch - each mark held importance to him. The countless times he escaped his room to explore The Wilds. The hole in the wall - a constant reminder of the anger and frustration he had caused his father.
Every nick and every corner had its story.
Sighing, the boy turned around and approached the worn wooden door to his room.
"I have grown huh..." he asked himself as he stared at the lines that marked it. Scratched in them was the text. "I'll grow taller than father someday." and the reply that his father had scratched in. "Darned child, I'll forever be taller than you!" right next to it.
Tears reappeared in his eyes as he thought about everything once more.
Creak. The sound of a prolonged creak echoed through the room.
Ream opened the door in front of him as took a breath and stepped through into the corridor. The musty smell of wood and scents of herbs entered his nose as he did.
Glancing backwards on last time, he let out a final sigh and shut the door.
"It's time to leave," he muttered to himself as he bolted down the winding set of stairs below him. Heart pounding, he grabbed his medicinal pouch beside the large entrance of his home and reached forward.
Then he stopped. He stopped just short of opening the thin door that separated him from the outside world.
Panting, he pulled his hand down and looked downwards.
'No.' he told himself as he stared at the floor and turned around and glanced around. Walking slowly now, he passed by the chairs that his father used for medicinal consultations. He passed into the rooms where there were dozens of dried and fresh medicinal herbs that hung on the walls into another room.
Dozens of bookshelves lined the room, all about medical concoctions. Two tables could be found at its center. One large and old, completely stained dark by years of use. And one smaller and new - Ream's. But he didn't pause to reminisce.
Powering into the center of the room, he ripped the carpet clean off of the floor and threw it into the corner of the room.
With finger drawn, he bit into it harshly as his blood splattered over the floor.
Like his actions were well practiced, he had already prepared a pill in his hand. Throwing the tiny ball into his mouth he bit down it as the floor in front of him opened up revealing a dark staircase of stone.
He took it.
The air chilled as he travelled downwards until he reached it.
A coffin.
"Father..." Ream called out unsure of why he had desperately wanted to see the face of his father one last time.
Tilting the lid off the coffin slightly he looked at his father's pale and wrinkled face.
"Father... I'm leaving now."
He said as the tears that he had desperately tried control flowed down his cheeks and onto the bed of herbs that his father's frozen body laid on.
He waited. He waited for the steady voice of his father to call out to him to assure him once more.
Unmoving, his father Main didn't reply... his father couldn't reply as his self-induced state stop him from doing so. But still Main had heard the cries of his son. All he wanted to do was reassure his child - to tell him to be strong. To tell him that his future is bright and that he was confident that his child can find the cure to save him.
But he couldn't.
Minutes. Minutes passed by as Ream continued to cry beside the body of his father before he finally calmed down and got back up on his feet.
"Father... I'm leaving now," he said once more. This time with a little more confidence. A little more like himself. Just a little more whole.
And then Ream left. Ream left on his journey.
...