Down-stream of the Linheart mansion, there was a small village trapped between the river and the forest, completely cutting it off from the outside world. The village was full of life with the residents buzzing around as they got on with their daily lives. At the heart of the village there was a huge tree that towered over the stone huts, its light pink leaves added vibrance to the otherwise bland buildings.
Past the huts there was a small wheat field along the side of the river, the field along with the village were outlined with a fragile looking fence made from twigs and branches, clumsily lashed together with rope. A few of the villagers were hard at work in the fields, the harsh sun making their bodies drip with sweat.
Along the edge of the river bank, a woman was seated on a small rock overhang with her feet dangled over the fast-moving river. The woman was firmly gripping a fishing rod, patiently waiting for a fish to come along and take the bait.
On closer inspection the woman was quite beautiful, she had long, fiery red hair that cascaded down to her waist and had deep amber coloured eyes which displayed a profound wisdom that betrayed her young appearance. The rest of her features were just as stunning, she had cherry red lips and a nicely rounded oval face.
The woman wore a beautifully made white dress, that exaggerated her body curves. Despite her devastating good looks, she projected a fierce aura that made people hesitant to approach her, from her clothes alone, you could immediately tell that she wasn't one of the villagers.
The woman's patience finally paid off and she felt a slight tug on the rod in her hands, she quickly stood up and yanked the rod back, trying to lay eyes on her catch. Whatever was on the end of the line was heavier than anticipated. Not willing to give up she took a deep breath and pulled the fishing rod back again, displaying a monstrous strength that someone of her stature shouldn't be capable off.
This time she was successful, a black humanoid mass was launched out of the river, clearing the waters surface by a few meters. The woman who could now see what she had caught was stunned by what she saw. At the end of the fishing line was a small child, no older than seven. The boy was clearly unconscious if not dead, her eyes narrowed, focusing on the hilt of a dagger that was plunged deep into his stomach.
The boy fell back into the river making a large splash which brought the woman back to her senses. Not wasting any time, she quickly leapt off the edge of the overhang, diving into the depths of the murky black waters, only to resurface a few moments later with the boy on her back. The powerful currents of the river seemed to pose her no problem as she easily swam back to the shore.
After laying the boy down onto the river bank, she squatted down next to him and placed her palm on his chest, his body was still warm to the touch and she could feel the faint rhythmic beating of a heart. He was still just barely alive, after confirming that, she started to inspect his injuries.
His skin was heavily bruised and shrivelled, which told her that he had fallen into the river from a great height and floated down the river for quite some time. Naturally, her eyes drifted to the most severe injury, the nasty wound on his stomach. It seemed that there was a silver lining, the dagger remained firmly lodged in his body despite the strong currents, preventing him from losing a fatal amount of blood.
In truth she was quite impressed with his vitality, even though he was unconscious, his body was still fighting for its life, this kind of will power didn't seem like something a boy his age should possess, which begged the question, who exactly was he.
After realising that she could move him without aggravating his injuries she picked him up and carried him over his shoulder, heading towards the stone huts.
Some of the villagers working on the field saw her carrying what appeared to be the lifeless corpse of a child and rushed to confront her. A burly middle-aged man ran in front of her blocking her path, the man was wearing a wide brimmed straw hat, his dirt covered face was quite rough and weathered, showing that he worked long hours under the sun.
"What the hell did you do this time Roxy, I knew from the start that letting you stay in my village would mean trouble, but this is going too far."
He said angrily, now that he was in front of her he could see the horrible state of the child she was carrying, He had a daughter that was around the same age, so he couldn't pardon such a violent act.
"I found this brat floating down the river, I was going to treat him you shit faced elder."
The woman known as Roxy rebuked him viciously, letting him know he was misunderstanding the situation. The village elder eased up once he realised that he jumped the gun, he wanted to tell her of for cursing at him, but the boy seemed to be alive and was hanging on by a thread. He got out of the way and spoke with a heavy concern on his face.
"Hurry up and heal him then, I can't bear to see a kid in that kind of state."
"You think I don't know that already, you damn moron."
After saying that Roxy disappeared into one of the stone buildings without waiting for his response, Leaving the village elder stunned and somewhat offended.
***
Time continued to flow and Ren once again found himself floating around aimlessly in a pitch-black void, he had no sense of direction and couldn't even see his own body, after what seemed like an eternity of nothingness, he spotted a figure radiating light in the distance.
He immediately recognised the figure as his sister Emily, she was smiling sweetly as she waved towards him. Ren desperately tried to reach out towards her but no matter what he did, he couldn't close the distance between them.
After giving up on his futile struggles, he saw Emily's warm expression darken as tendrils of darkness burst out of her body violently, entering him through his orifices and consuming him from the inside.
Ren woke up with his body drenched in sweat, his body felt numb and unresponsive and he found himself staring blankly at an unfamiliar ceiling. Ren managed to weakly prop himself up against the bed frame as he scanned his surroundings.
He was in a small room with a single window, the outside scenery was lost in darkness, letting him know that it was night time. A single lantern hanging from the ceiling illuminated the room. The walls where lined with shelves containing books of all sizes and colours. The room looked like it had been hit with an earthquake and was quite messy, with scraps of paper and various articles of female clothing scattered across the floor.
He looked down and saw the white bandages wrapped around his waist, this caused a jolt in his brain as his recent experiences flooded into his mind. Finally remembering the danger, he was facing, Ren was filled with a sense of urgency and immediately tried to get out of the bed and run.
"I wouldn't move around with those injuries if I were you."
A rough yet feminine voice startled Ren. When he looked around the room previously, he had made sure that no one else was in the room. He instinctively jerked back out of fright but the sudden movement was two much for Ren's injured body to handle, A sharp, intense pain originating from his stomach caused him to wince a let out a strained grunt.
"What did I tell you brat, I wish people would realise that it's in their best interest to do what I say."
Once the pain became tolerable, Ren looked up in the direction the voice was coming from. At the back of the room, he saw a beautiful red-haired woman sitting on a chair with a bored expression on her face. She had a tobacco pipe in one of her hands that she would occasionally bring to her mouth, letting out a thick cloud of smoke.
Ren observed her for a while in silence. With the state his body was in, he doubted he would be able to escape. Even if the woman were to let him go, he wouldn't make it very far. What he needed now was information. So, he tested the waters by asking her a few questions.
"Who are you… Where am I?"
Ren asked weakly, his voice didn't reach far but it seemed like the woman had no issues in hearing him, after blowing out a puff of white smoke, she answered him.
"Not very polite are you, considering the state you're in I'll look past it. People call me Roxy, you can do the same. We're in a small village, around twenty kilometres from the capital. Three days ago, I found you floating in the river barely alive, my benevolent self decided to bring you into my abode so I could treat you."
Her words stunned Ren, it had been three days and he still hadn't been found. If he was only twenty kilometres from the capital he couldn't be that far away from the Mansion, he was confused as to why he still wasn't captured.
Ren had studied various maps detailing the lands surrounding the mansion but none of them ever mentioned a village, was she lying to him. His train of thought was interrupted by Roxy who spoke with a loud boisterous voice
"Now that I've answered your questions, I have a few questions of my own, who are you and what happened to you."
Roxy asked, letting her curiosity get the better of her. Ren couldn't be sure if he could trust her yet, he didn't know if she had any ulterior motives in saving him and it was almost impossible to get a read on her.
"I'm the son of a farmer, a group of people who wanted to take over my father's land tried to kill me so I wouldn't be able to inherit the farm."
Ren used a story that he had hear often, such a thing was a common occurrence in the kingdom. However, Roxy saw through it, as soon as the words left his mouth, he felt the temperature of the room plummet. Roxy was staring at him coldly, emitting an oppressive aura that made him tremble, Ren had only felt like this when his father got angry… but right now, he felt more scared of Roxy then his father.
"Listen here you fucking brat, I hate it when people lie to me. I was nice enough to save you, so tell me the truth."
Roxy spoke slowly, her voice wasn't particularly loud, but each of her word's hit hard, echoing in his head. Ren's heart was beating wildly, in the face of that unrestrained pressure Ren could only reply honestly. He answered her in a timid voice.
"R-Ren Linheart, I… I'm being hunted down by my family because they saw me as a threat."
Ren stuttered nervously. He had no idea how Roxy was able to tell he was lying but that overwhelming sense of dread was something he never wanted to experience again. As soon as he finished speaking, the tension in the room vanished and Roxy's gaze returned back to normal.
"See… that wasn't so hard now, was it."
Roxy said, no traces of anger remained in her voice, causing Ren to breathe a sigh of relief. Roxy exhaled another puff of smoke, as easy as it was for her to get more details out of him, she didn't feel it was necessary. After a moment of silence Roxy addressed the elephant in the room.
"What are you planning on doing now"
Roxy asked, her question made Ren fall into deep thought. What exactly was his plan, he simply didn't know if his father knew if he survived on not and Ren wasn't willing to stick around to find out.
He would have to leave as soon as he recovered but that begged the question, how far would he need to run. Ren got the impression that his father would chase him to the ends of the continent. Would he really have to live his whole life constantly in fear, constantly on the run, was his situation really that hopeless.
Roxy saw that Ren was struggling to come up with an answer. She did feel pity for him, a kid his age should be making the most of their childhood, making friends and getting up to mischief. Not running for their lives from their very own family. After thinking for a while, she came up with a suggestion.
"I came to this village to research something, as long as I'm here I won't allow anyone to lay a finger on the people here. I'll probably leave in a few months though."
She paused to relight her pipe that had gone out. Ren was hopeful at first, Roxy seemed strong enough to back up her claims, he had already witnessed first-hand the immense pressure she gave off.
Having someone like her around reassured him but these hopes where short lived, this wasn't a permanent solution. Roxy saw the disappointment in Ren's face, so she continued speaking.
"It's not all bad news, I noticed it earlier when I was dressing your wounds, you have a decent affinity for Aether and your foundations are pretty solid. I'm in need of an assistant so if you can live up to my expectations, I can take you under my wing and I will bring you along with me when I leave."
Her word's gave Ren a lot to think about, he still couldn't fully trust her but he found comfort in the fact that there was no reason for someone as powerful as her to trick him.
However, her strength also posed a problem. If there ever came a time where Roxy changed her mind and wanted to hand Ren over to his family, he would be powerless to stop her. After thinking long and hard about the pros and cons of her proposal, the choice was clear.
"I'm in your care."
Ren said. In truth, he was taking a huge gamble that could have terrible consequences but the payoff was huge. As it stood, once Roxy left the village, he would have to go on the run again, then it would only be a matter of time until he was found and killed.
When Roxy hear him agree her lips curved into a huge grin. Living by herself was tougher than she initially thought, the messy state of the room reflected that. Now she had someone around to take care of her chores, she could throw herself into her research without distractions.
"You made the right choice brat. My requirements are harsh so you better hope you can meet them. If you outlive your usefulness, I won't hesitate to leave you behind."
Ren didn't think too hard about what she said, from a young age he had been constantly complimented by the staff at the mansion and was repeatedly told that he was the cream of the crop. If there was one thing he was confident in, it was his talent.
Roxy paused suddenly remembering something, she reached into her pockets, taking out a beautifully crafted dagger, it was the same one that had been stabbed into Ren.
"I guess this is technically yours now."
As soon as Ren laid eyes on the dagger, he fell silent. With all that had been going on he had almost forgotten. His sister, the one person he trusted above all, had sided with their father, betraying him. Ren wouldn't care as much if anyone else plunged that dagger into his stomach but he would never forgive Emily for the choice she made that day.
Right now, even his father's actions didn't seem as bad in comparison, he knew the nature of their father from the very start. Emily claimed to love him but in his time of need she played him, leaving a deep scar on his heart and a visible one on his stomach. Ren released a dense killing intent and a savage glint could be seen in his eyes.
"Now isn't this interesting, before I could only catch glimpses of it but now I'm sure… You have the eyes of a killer."
Killer, Ren had a close relationship with that term. Roxy words just now implied he had killed before and she wouldn't be wrong in making that assumption. Ren calmed himself down but his cold gaze remained and it would stick around for a long time.
"I'm from a family of assassins after all. That's not a problem is it."
Ren asked, curious as to what her answer would be, personally he didn't see an issue with it, he was raised by his father to kill and taking lives was something he was already familiar with but he was aware of the stigma surrounding his family's profession.
After hearing him confirm it himself, Roxy began to chuckle.
"Not at all, in fact it's a good thing."