"Run Alex!"

"Run!!"

Alex was running with all his might through the dark forest. He didn't dare to slow down for the fear he felt kept on fueling him again and again. By the time he finally stopped and took a peek behind, all he could see was a flickering light far away accompanied with smoke slowly elevating towards the sky.

The small boy approached a tree nearby before falling on his buttocks. He finally had time to catch his breath. Alex just couldn't get his ideas straight. Too much has already happened. He was scared, cold and exhausted.

As he took a deep breath, streams of tears slowly fell from his dark eyes. The burning flames of pain and anger were still reflected on his pupils. He recalled that horrible moment. That terrifying scene. That gruesome nightmare. He kept on asking himself, again and again, how could this have happened. In face of all of these, all he could do was run...

Alex knew it, deep inside he was was just a coward. He didn't even know what to do, much less returning to fight back. His hands were shaking, not from the cold but from the fear he felt of what would await him were he to face the ambushers. What could he do? He was just a human full of cowardice. A trait that differentiated him from his parent. A trait he was ashamed of but had to live with.

Alex leaned on the tree he sat next to and curled his body into a ball. The pitiful boy was crying as he tried to warm himself up. There was no one to give him warmth, no one to rely on. He was all alone. Only his own sorrow brought him comfort in this starry night. Unbeknownst to him, he slowly fell asleep after shedding rivers of tears.

Sleep, the only moment to forget everything and escape from the sorrowful events of life. A moment just for the unconscious and the conscious alone. A moment of relief.

Unfortunately, reality kept chasing him even in his dreams. The nightmare kept playing again and again. The sound of cracking fire, the clanking of swords, the screams of unfortunate souls till all the smallest details.

"Be strong my son!" He clearly recalled his father shouting at him as he ran away.

Alex knew that his father already knew the outcome of this fight. He could tell from expression, the tone of his voice and his shaking fingers. For a moment, for the very first time in his life, he saw his own shadow on his father's figure. He wondered if they were truly alike after all. The feeling of having fear nailed straight through one's heart. Did he feel it too? Were they really alike after all?

He was wrong. It's true that his father was scared, but unlike him who ran away, he stood up straight in order to let no one track Alex down. A feat Alex knew would never be able to accomplish.

When Alex opened his eyes, he was immediately greeted by the blazing sunlight. It was no longer nighttime, he was no longer dreaming. Alex stood up and took a deep breath from the morning breeze. He had to clear his mind. Everything was happening too fast for him. He still couldn't believe all that has happened. It seemed as if it was all but a nightmare. He really wished that it was all just a nightmare.

Alex held tightly unto the necklace his mother gave him fro his 12th birthday hoping it would give him strength.

'Might she still be alive?' He thought.

She was the one to open an escape path for Alex. Without her, he wouldn't even be here. Alex wasn't a dumb child. He clearly knew till where lied the depths of his parent's strength. His parents were merchants. His father used to be a soldier before marring and his mother was just a normal woman who took on the family business. Even with the aid of hired mercenaries, fighting against bandits with a mage was just impossible. This time, with just a look he knew that they were done for. It was a miracle that he was able to get out of it unscathed.

Although these kind of thoughts were running inside Alex's mind, deep inside, he wished the survival of his parents. Of course, he would never know if they live if he doesn't check with his own two eyes.

'A whole night has passed... Maybe the attackers should be gone by now.'

Alex was still scared. What if they were still there waiting for the little boy to return to his parents? He couldn't even defeat his father much less confront tens of bandits. Alex walked in circles wondering if he should go or not. He bit his finger nails to help him cope up with the tress he was feeling.

After a while, Alex stopped and let out a small sigh.

He decided to go. His pondering wasn't without fruit. It was true that the attackers wanted to kill him too but when he got away, they didn't really give chase. If it wasn't so, Alex wouldn't even dare take a step back to that battlefield.

'I really am nothing but a coward.' He thought as he smiled bitterly.

Locating the carriage wasn't that difficult. He just had to look up the sky and head in the direction of the smoke emanated by it. The closer he got to it, the clearer he could see the aftermath of the battle. Arrows stuck deep in trees, dead bodies laying on the ground and the smell burnt wood.

Alex pupils suddenly constricted when he arrived at the battlefield. He could still see his parents leaning unto each other near the carriage. Alex was immediately assaulted with a rush joy. He quickly ran to them. He couldn't believe they made it out alive.

"Mom! Dad! Are you oka-"

Alex swallowed his words when he got a closer look on their body. Both of them presented innumerable sword slashes. Countless arrows could be seen penetrating their bodies. His father was missing an entire arm and half of his body burnt to crisp. His mother, a bloody dagger still stuck deep in her stomach. They were in such state yet they were still living, with both hands interlinked on the ground.

"Alex?!" The weak sound of his mother called for him.

"I'm here...Mother...Father..."

Tears fell streaked on Alex's cheeks when he saw their wounds. He really wanted to do something but there was nothing to do. He really hated this feeling of helplessness. He could just hold tight on their hands before the light would fade from their eyes.

"Listen carefully... #cough# #cough# we don't have much time..." His father whispered to him.

He was truly a step away from death's door. The strong and powerful voice he used to hear was now reduced to this.

"We humans...are cu-rsed...Everything we'll do will eventually be...reduced to nothing... #cough#"

"There are so many things I've done that I deeply regret. I ran away from them yet I still seek salvation #cough#."

"Alexander... I want you to take my sword and clear our name... our reputation."

"You need to be strong...to face what life throws you..."

"This...this is nothing compared to what is to come. Promise me you WILL be strong."

Alex nodded as he wiped the tears off his face.

"My love..."

The two man and wife stared at each other. Both eyes showing pure love to each other.

"It was one hell of a ride...wasn't it...?"

That one look brought them back to their youth. The days were war was still ongoing. He was nothing but a deserter that fled from the horrors of war. He thought he could make it but he was still found by bounty hunters. He almost died dealing with them. That was the moment where he met the love of his life. The woman that brought sunlight into this dark world.

She was a the daughter of a merchant running away too from this war-torn country. The look they shared back then was so different yet so alike to the one they had now.

"Yes, it was one hell of a ride."

She wanted to cry but she didn't want the last moment seen by her loved one be a sad one so she put on the sweetest smile she could.

"I love you...both..."

Alex and his mother could no longer feel his grip on their palms. He has just left the mortal world.

Once he left, his wife could not longer keep on the facade. Only a stream of tear fell down from her eye.

'I will join you soon my love. You'll have to wait. Our son still needs guidance.'

She finally let go of her lover's grip. She still had things to take care of before dying so she wiped off that stream of tear and slowly stood up while ignoring the pain from the dagger in her stomach.

"Don't cry my son."

She approached her precious son and wiped the tears of his cheeks. The gentle touch of her fingers gave a small sense of warmth within his heart during this tragedy. Once she saw that he has slightly calmed down, she decided it was time to give him his last guidance.

"Listen carefully, what I'm about to say is very important."

"Alex, are you listening?" She slightly shook his shoulders to get his attention. Alex's mind seemed to be elsewhere. He was maybe still shocked by his father's death or maybe by the state his mother before him was. Still, he managed to wake up from his mother's little push.

"Yes..." He weakly whispered as he nodded his head.

"Good." Alex's mother smiled at him and patted his head.

"You see that road?"

Alex nodded.

"Follow that path and always go left. Remember left. You'll find a small town there. A close acquaintance of ours live there. Find him, he's called Roland."

"Repeat everything I said Alex. I don't anything wrong to happen to you."

She had to make sure Alex remembered everything so she had to do this just in case.

"Follow the road. Left path. Find Roland in town."

Alex briefly summarized what his mother just said. She was quite pleased from Alex's performance. It was good that he managed to keep a small amount of levelheadedness in this situation.

"Give this to him."

She reached for her pocket and gave Alex a small rectangular box.

"Tell him to bring you to Raz."

She was feeling weaker and weaker as time passed. She has already lost too much blood. She could no longer keep her balance. She suddenly lost her footing and fell. Fortunately Alex was just in front of her. She just fell into his embrace.

Since she was heavy, Alex carefully placed her on the ground.

"You are a good boy Alex."

"I really want to be with you. See you grow up. See you find love. See your children..."

"I'd never thought that this day would come so soon..."

Alex didn't dare to say anything. He opened his ears wide in order to hear all the words coming out of her mouth. She didn't have much time life.

"You know, it'll be your birthday soon. We've prepared a gift for you. Don't worry, you'll get it. We just won't be there."

"Well...since we won't be there for you, might as well give you an apology gift."

"This isn't much but it was quite expensive to buy. A whole 200 rits for just this! Even I was surprised until I scammed the vendor to sell it for 48 rits. Poor guy was desperate for money."

She grabbed Alex's arm and slipped on a ring in his finger. Although it didn't even fit at first, the diameter of the ring slowly shrunk to perfectly fit his thumb.

"Looks nice on you."

She looked at her soon who didn't even give a single glance at the gift she just gave. He couldn't see the dark black ring with strange carving on it. All his mother could see was the worrying look in his eyes for her.

"Your father was a great warrior. Even in his death. He died honorably, a honor he thought would never achieve.

"We are never did belong to Plicus. Our tongue was never Plican. Our beliefs would never be Plican. We are the Vartraud of Elrod."

"Don't you ever forget our name Alexander, your identity, your homeland, us..."

What she later on surprised Alex. It was so fast that he couldn't even react to what she just did. She suddenly swiftly pulled out the sword out of her stomach, making blood spill everywhere.

"It will not be some random dagger that will be the cause of my death. I'd rather bleed to death."

With blade out of her stomach, the bleeding became worse an worse. She began to lose the color of her face.

"Listen Alex, I know sometimes you tend to...'fear'... sometimes. I too used to be like you. Small, scared,...weak."

"You will have to face it one day, as I did. It will challenge you into submission but you will never surrender to it...never."

She grabbed Alex's hands and held them tightly for this is the last time she will ever be able to do this again. The two mother and child sat there looking at each other in the silence of the day.

"I will miss you so much... Please don't go"

Alex went for the hug, he just lost his father, he didn't want to see another loss, especially his mother. Yet, there was nothing he could do, were he a high level priest, the might be just a small chance of her staying alive. Unfortunately, he was just a boy without any special traits.

His mother accepted his hug warmly. She could feel the warm tears of her beloved son falling on her shoulders. These tears of his pained her more than the blood that was continuously dripped from her.

"We will no longer be there for you. We won't be there to guide you. But don't forget that as long as you remember us, we will always stay in you heart."

"No...no!" Alex kept on shaking his head. This isn't what he wanted

"Don't leave me!"

"Alex..." His mother tried to call him down by calling his name but Alex just couldn't accept reality.

"Alex..." His mother called him a second time, but to no avail.

"Alexander..." This time, with her two hands she held his head and looked straight into his eyes.

"I'll be leaving and won't be back anymore. My time has already gone. I do not matter anymore."

"I want you to lead a nice life."

"Okay...?"

"Yes...mother."

She finally finished what she had to do in the mortal realm. She had nothing to do left here so she gave Alexander a kiss before hugging him.

"I love you."

Alex stood in front of his parent's graves. His hands were dirty, his clothes bloody and his expression still had traces of sorrow.

"Goodbye mother, Goodbye father... You'll always be in my heart."

After stating his last words, he had nothing left to do in this battlefield. The battlefield where he buried his parents. He really wished he had given them a proper burial. A burial worthy of them. All he could do was dig a hole and place a tombstone.

He took what he could from the ruins of the battlefield. Thankfully, the carriage was more or less intact. Alex immediately took his bag and packed the money his parents brought and a pouch of water.

He really couldn't bring much since he already had his father's sword. Still, he was curious to what was so special about these bandits that they were able to take down his parents. It's true that they were very many in numbers but Alex felt that his father could still deal with it.

He looked at each of the bandits but found nothing special in them. But there was one of them that was cut in half from the shoulder. His clothing was different from the others.

"Was this the mage?" He wondered.

He examined his clothes closer and saw that there was a golden pin on his collar. More precisely a golden dragon pin. He put it in his pockets in case it was real gold. He also removed his magic gloves and a his ring.

Alex immediately knew that the ring was a spacial ring. A very expensive item only mages and nobility could afford. His mother always has always dreamt of getting one. She never managed to realize her dream...

Alex couldn't open it though. It's not only that he couldn't, he just didn't know how to. He decided to keep these in his bag for the moment.

'Time for me to go...'

There was nothing left to see there. He now had to go to the path his mother had told him. As he went out to the road, Alex was greeted by a sweet surprise. His father's whose was there, standing right in front of him. It was also the horse that was pulling the carriage. His father cut the reigns and chased it away. It was indeed a loyal horse for returning back to its owner. Unfortunately, its master has already been long dead.

Alex approached the dark horse. It was already familiar with Alex's presence near it. Alex attempted to caress its head but it backed off a little as if saying that he was not worthy.

"Your master is no more. Will you let me be your new one?"

Alex talked to the horse and showed it his father's sword in its sheath. The horse was an intelligent one. He could tell that his master didn't make out of the fight. The horse too knew that their opponent was too powerful till the point of even releasing him.

Since it was already here, worthy or not, in respect of his late master, he decided to accept Alex. So it approached Alex and let him caress his head.

When Alex saw that he cooperated, he immediately hopped on it. It wasn't the first time Alex was on horseback. His dad taught him how to ride with a loaned horse. Together they would ride through fields of wheat. He always used to tell him that riding a horse was a must skill for us Vartraud.

"Let's go Tralp."

Thankfully, he found Tralp, without him, he would be walking this road which he didn't even know the length of his destination. Alexander left the battlefield and headed towards a new life. A life without his mother. A life without his father. A life he would tread alone.