The sky began to darken and swirl in a vortex of grey, as if contorting, attempting to manifest all of the emotions Borst was feeling right now in some sort of twisted malformed undulating presence of ashen clouds.
Borst finished his narration before the island residents. Some children burst into tears and pity was showered upon Borst something he clearly disliked, most of the more adult residents already knew of Borst's motivation and stoically nodded, as revenge is certainly a fine motivator, but not one to encourage to the youths that surrounded them.
This custom was one first brought about by the great elders long past, where in order to turn a man into a warrior he must have gone through hardship and presenting that hardship before the council allowed them make judgements upon that person as an individual. Their Mach powers would also be explained away with their origins allowing a further insight to their psychology as a person, and usually the more strife and torment a person has gone through the further their Mach can develop and evolve in specific ways again creating more powerful warriors for the ancient warlike culture that was the isle of Ausfalle.
Numerous religions had appeared as a consequence of the existence of Mach and any evidence pointing towards a pre-Mach civilisation has been lost to time.
Some believe the gods had bestowed these powers upon the humans as a means of entertainment, or they had to combat some new encroaching threat, some professors believe it to be a form of stress relief where the body can dump these negative feelings away allowing a human to function more efficiently.
Whatever the reason the existence of Mach's certainly caused much strife, as with humans clearly being the most dominant animal even without the existence of Mach's we could only turn upon ourselves as human nature is one that inherently seeks out violence and satisfaction usually at the expense of other living breathing human beings.
Mach is a concept that allows humans to benefit from the cycle of self harm and self satisfaction that these people are stuck in. As almost an evolutionary counter balance to mankind's nature.
Pity was an emotion that Borst despised more than all others, as it merely solves absolutely nothing there is no merit to feeling pity for another person.
Which was why this island was his home but also a place of pain.
He was given a home by Otto when he was in such a dishevelled state and his behaviour around Otto seemed to reinforce his impression that he was just a poor child who was made a victim, which he was irrefutably. But being a victim is inherently a bad thing, it means you were too weak to defend yourself you couldn't survive without others.
So Borst believed by getting his revenge he finally remove the blanket of victimising sickness that plagued his everyday life. Waking up in cold sweats due to night terrors of Maricks perverted sense of pleasure. When he was younger Otto sometimes had to sleep with him to prevent the inherent fear from appearing again.
Otto was indeed a great father and a great man, strong, reliable, funny, self-sufficient, supportive and emotional but emotional in such away that proceeded to make him even more perfect a man. Something Borst strived to be but this cloud that hovers around will never, never, never let him become like Otto.
Borst made his way back to the house his father had created, as per Otto's standards the house was absolutely perfect and huge around 60ft tall and multiple rooms that spread around the complex, of course with a house this big they couldn't be the only residents. Borst had grown up with many "siblings" of course none blood related but birthed by the other tenants of the house.
Otto allowed many people to live in his mansion, his parents were of course included in this but his mother, Marvella Blade died when Otto was at an early age during an accident at sea. His father, William Blade once hearing of such news fell into a depressive slump and threw himself into his work usually the only words he would converse with being criticisms of Otto's skills as a forger or "foods done" in a flat monotone voice and he would take practically no interest in whatever Oto would do if it wasn't related to forgery in some way or form.
The families of the isle of Ausfalle were given names based upon the various institutions they were a part of Otto's family, naturally were a line of distinguished forgers masters in the art of moulding metal and bending the very minerals beneath our feet into great weapons of war.
Which due to Otto's great familial legacy, it caused a bit of a disturbance when he wanted to build boats and methods of transportation as the outside world fascinated Otto more than anything in the world, something Otto's father would never allow in his own words.
"how dare you try to abandon our great familial legacy for the thing that took your mothers very own life!" he had exclaimed during one evening when Otto's decided to announce his enthusiasm only for it to be smashed and smashed and smashed until bitter resentment was all that remained, but he continued his father's work as he did genuinely enjoy forging and once he had completely mastered the craft, the pinnacle of the Blade families forgers would he well and truly be free, free to sail and go wherever he pleases and if his death is to be at sea then so be it, he would at least be able to keep his mother company.
Borst continued to approach the house his grandfather William was sat upon the porch, eyes narrowing in attempt to recognise the person making his way towards his abode before his expression receding back into its normal, vegetative, sour state.
His face resembled that of a grapefruit, sour and unlikeable, his white hair stood out among his rather yellowish skin and other facial features like small but intensely focused eyes, a frown constantly in place as if he was tasting the very fruit he resembled.
"Welcome back boy, tomorrow is the day where I'll finally be rid of you, I won't be able to walk it to the docks to see you off and to be perfectly frank I don't want to but I sincerely wish the best in your completely pointless endeavour, please just try and stay safe" There was a twinge of sincerity in voice which he always tried so desperately to hide but all of the children who Borst had taken in and or lived in the house all knew the old man only looked sour.
"Wow I'm about to leave on a dangerous mission and you wont even see me off, I'm hurt Grandpa" Borst replied sarcasm heavy in his voice.
"don't be so bold as to call your revenge a mission, well in a sense it is but it is a mission of self satisfaction I wish I could come and see you only so I could call you an idiot from the harbour, but my back has been aching terribly as of late its a pain to even breathe" The pain in his voice was real Borst could tell he was nearing the end of his road and unfortunately they didn't know anyone who could build an extension to his pathway. Painkillers and medicines had been developed but none that could stop the methods of aging at least none that could be done in a morally righteous manner.
Borst continued to walk until he passed the old man "I'm sorry I'm leaving the island but i need this closure i know its selfish to put myself before all of your feelings like this but it is something i have to do see you tomorrow Grandpa" his sombre tone was the straw that broke the Camels back as William himself began crying tears in a heart breaking silence probably reserving himself to the fact he may never see Borst again.
Borst continued to stroll into the house seeing many other children running around and playing, multiple parental figures surrounding them like some form of living fence.
All of the playing immediately stopped as children of around 2 to 5 began to surround Borst, they weren't present during the meeting as they weren't seen as mature enough to judge a warriors scars. Constant questions being flung about left and right, about his past and where he's going questions he couldn't answer as corrupting a child with his own views and life experiences is a crime too terrible for him to bear so instead he procrastinated and flew questions back them, until they were forced to leave by the ultimate terrifying power. Parents.
Of course children of only 2 to 5 weren't the only ones present in the mansion, the older children where much more reclusive Vlad and Cu weren't present either they were actively avoiding him or they were asleep, either one didn't matter to him as if they thought his motivation wasn't noble they would be encouraged to go down a much more wonderful path than what he did.
He approached his room and standing there in front of it was Cu, his eyes were stained red and shirt was doused in tears of sorrow.
"do you really have to leave … bro?" said Cu his sincere sadness bleeding through, each word much like the colour of his eyes were burning with emotion.
Borst sighs before attempting to explain this to Cu "Cu I have to leave for myself nothing more, I'm sorry if that appears selfish to you but this is something i need to do"
Rage and anger suddenly burst forth from inside Cu "for what? For a reason as stupid and petty as revenge? There is no point to doing any of this, you stand to gain nothing from it so why...why you have to leave and maybe die out there to accomplish a goal that gets you nothing in return..?"
"Cu I-I..." Borst attempted to explain.
"forget it" Cu suddenly said solemnly "there is no way you can make an excuse such as revenge appear noble when all your doing is hurting others back for your own self satisfaction, your not doing it to stop your father from hurting more people, your doing it for yourself!" Cu exclaimed before continuing down the hallway trudging his way into his room.
"Cu wait... Well i guess your Cu I really am an idiot, just when i was starting to gain respect from you as well and now I've been left with even less but I cant stop now this has been my purpose to exist for I don't even know how long I'm too committed to stop now" He said in a depressing and jovial tone trying to make light of the situation via self deprecation but that only allowed him to know how low he truly was and how shallow revenge is as a motivator.
From around the corner Vlad heard everything they said from start to finish no expression was seen upon his face except one of mild annoyance and slight betrayal. With a short sigh, he continued on the way to his bedroom.
The following morning Borst awoke as he began to prepare himself for the following day ahead of him his minty green hair almost dishevelled and a lighter shade then it is usually he tied his hair up into a pony tail, his small amount of green stubble with an insecurity complex to the massive sideburns that Otto possessed.
He had Otto prepare for his leaving day months before hand creating him a sturdy leather tunic (material he had imported from Chyros Diesos) it had long leather straps that crossed themselves upon his rather broad chest in the bottom left of the tunic lay the emblem of Otto's family as he isn't about to send him off in something he didn't make himself, the entire outfit was of Otto's design the leather was placed upon layers of padded armour known as a Gambeson, which due to Otto's excellent crafting abilities could even stop arrow shots something he did indeed brag about.
Upon Borst's legs Otto had fashioned some padded pants where certain pieces where woven into the leather than surrounded it for added protection such as on the shins, hardened leather had been placed around the groin area as it is a known weak spot. He specifically requested this of Otto as he does not want to have a neutering during the heat of battle, to which he replied
"you wont be pulling any birds with that gay pony tail anyway lad!"
"ill show you a gay pony tail ya greying old codger" He muttered to himself, he continued to put the rest of the armour on finally sheathing his arms inside his gauntlets which his armour had been custom made to accommodate the usage of the iron gauntlets which he had named Beowulf as a tribute to the religion his mother had once belonged to hoping the success and greatness of Beowulf would be passed down to him.
He left the confines of his room where he was greeted with a desolate home as everyone had already left to see him off except one.
"good morning Grandpa" He said quietly unsure of the aging man was awake or not.
"Good morning to you too boy" He replied in his typical sour tone in place but he could tell he was hiding the sorrow he felt.
"Grandpa I'm off now ill going and seeing the rest of the world" he replied trying to sound cheery in his voice almost as if he was trying to convince himself that was the reason he was leaving.
"Don't lie to me boy, just please get going... I cant even stand looking at you my eyes are so appalled they start wetting themselves" he said as tears began to form around his eyes "you'll only ever get to hear this once alright... I love you grandson please try and stay safe" the sincerity in his voice was absolutely mesmerising and even caused Borst to shed a few tears.
"Don't bloody do this to me as I'm about to leave... But I love you too grandad so you have to last until i come back okay?" He questioned gaining a little bit more confidence within his voice.
"I don't think you should be worrying about my survival over yours you reckless fool well ill see you when you come back alive" said William rather faintly as he drifted back into sleep almost as if he had gotten no sleep at all.
Borst continued his descent to the port where stood his old man, Otto a nervous smile was placed upon his face 'I'm so proud of my baby boy i just wanna hug the little bastard but I'm more concerned about his safety' his nerve wracked smile was replaced with a light but genuine one.
"shall we go then Borst?" he replied in a sombre tone knowing he may not see his child for however many months or years or maybe not at all.
Borst steeled himself and replied.
"yes".
He had regained his confidence after Cu's verbal lashing speaking of which he saw a tuft of blue hair swim between the sea of waving islanders. But Vlad was no where to be seen.
As he stepped into the boat alongside Otto they both began to row as this was a ceremonious rite carried out by all islanders that wished to leave, as a sort of symbol between parent and child working together to overcome an obstacle that lays within the child's way.
They rowed for 30 minutes in complete silence thick tension being established in the air as neither really had anything they could say to one another.
They approached the port.
As they approached suddenly Otto stopped as stared Borst right in the eyes then held him, tightly almost as if he's refusing to let go his child, could die but he couldn't keep him at home, that would contradict everything he believed in. If you spent your life not accomplishing what you had set out to do would you have really lived at all? If he kept him there he wouldn't be living Otto would just be prolonging his suffering.
So he just wanted to hold him.
Not for too long.
Just father and son for what might be his las- No it wont be his last moments the boy i raised to perfection would never die like that.
"Borst.." he spoke.
"Your my greatest masterpiece... I love you son, please go out there accomplish your goals then come back a stress free lad ready to face life's next challenge and become an even greater man than before" Otto said sadness clear in his voice however he would not stutter or falter especially not in front of his boy.
"I love you too old man and trust me... In coming back there's a little blue haired prick who needs to know I'm fine, plus you didn't raise no loser" he spoke with absolute confidence then finished it with a nice bright smile that burnt away all the insecurities in Otto's heart.
"Hurry up and get off ya bell end, your weighing down the boat" he spoke hiding the sadness behind a thin veil of humour, tears on the corners of his eyes.
As he dismounts the boats he lifts one fist into the air his shining gauntlet reflecting off the bright sun almost blinding Otto. He continues to walk forward without looking back as the tears begin dripping down his face staining Otto's handcrafted tunic with a mark of sadness, he then spoke.
"Don't worry pops I WILL return!" His voice resolute with confidence.