It was those words that made Jason's heart start racing, but he knew that his father would not take his life so lightly. The person in question had to be someone Vareth knew would give him the best chance at surviving if he ever found himself in combat.
"Listen to him," Balthazar uttered into his mind. "I never would have achieved the things I did in my life if I cowered in the face of danger. The things I achieved can be listed as some of the greatest feats a demon has ever done."
Still, he was hesitant because he had lived a very sheltered life, all things considering. Although he had killed animals for food with Vareth and butchered them. And being in a few tussles with the other youth of the village. But never once had he felt his life was in danger. He could feel a heavyweight settle upon his shoulders. It was at this moment everything up to this point in his life had finally clicked.
How could he have been so ignorant? No, not ignorance, but he had been in denial ever since he had learned the truth about himself. His education had all had one purpose, and it could never be achieved without bloodshed. Balthazar had talked to him about eating hearts to get stronger, and that had been a terrible thought in his mind to even want to attempt that to gain strength. He had never realized the seriousness of his task. To save his sister, rebuild his house, and the circumstances of his birth and the gifts he was given made his life something that would always be in danger if he lacked strength.
He somehow knew this. His self-imposed training was all the proof he needed. He had always had an unexplainable thirst for strength but never had it dawned on him until now as to why he would need it.
Vareth looked at his son. He was strong physically, but he was not ready to kill other humans because of how sheltered they had kept him. It was partly his fault. It was his choice to save his son in the dark about all the dealings they had had. Jason had never figured out either. But he would need to bring him in on everything to toughen him up mentally if his son would survive the real world.
"Jason, our lives have always been in danger. We have kept a lot from you outside what we told you last night. Still, to prove you can handle all of the family's secrets, you need to go to who I am going to suggest and seek an apprenticeship from him."
Jason swallowed hard as Balthazar told him that he had nothing to lose that he would not lose eventually if he did not get more strength.
"Dad, I will listen to this story you have and will follow your advice with or without hearing it."
Jason amber eyes hardened with resolve, and Vareth could see it.
"Alright, son, the person you will seek came to this village 3 years after we found you. He came from the other side of the Dark forest. In other words, he made it through the forest alive. There are not many who forsake the trading road the cuts through a relatively safe path in the Dark Forest, so this already speaks volumes about his ability."
Vareth paused. He got up and pulled the hot iron he was working without from the forge. Apologizing to Jason for he still had a sword to work on, and if he left it in the forge too long, it would be scrap metal instead of a sword. Jason thought about what his father had said about him, not knowing all of the family's secrets. His mind got lost him the hammering of the forge until Vareth made it to a spot in the forging process that would allow him enough time to finish his talk with his son.
"Sorry to place the story on pause, but that sword is a special order, and I can not make it top badly," he said with a chuckle.
"And I do not want to yell loud enough anyone could hear us. Now, where was I?
Vareth took a big swallow from his mug that was most likely filled with mead. It was a lousy habit on his, drinking while forging. But Jason suspected that it had to do more with this talk than his dad's awful habit alone.
"It was down at the tavern where I noticed him. First, he had a cloth draped over him that was probably at one point a cloak, but the trip through the forest made it see better days. So I could see armor underneath quite. Clearly, he was a soldier, and my time as a soldier allowed me to recognize that he was not an average soldier but belonged to a personal army of a Noble. For they carried themselves differently from those of us that had been conscripted to fight in the last war. I could not tell anything other than that, but I knew he was not from this country from the direction he had come from, but from Therisia. He wasn't an adventure or a mercenary either. They tend to have a different feel about them. At first, I thought he was just going to pass through the village as most of them, but he was asking questions. He kept asking people about Drez and what had happened there 3 years prior. The raid on the town that had killed the Baron and his family. This caused me to greatly worry since he was clearly looking if anyone had heard of survivors of that raid. The tavern keeps then saying something that made me think I would attempt to kill this man. He had pointed to me and said, 'Hey Vareth wasn't this about the time you adopted your boy?'"
Vareth took another big drink of mead, "You have no idea how scared I was. I was sweating more at that moment than a full day's work standing over a blazing hot forge in the middle of summer! I knew if it came down to a fight, the chances of living to see you grow up would be low, and that was if nobody came looking for this man.
Vareth let out a big hearty laugh before continuing.
"That man just looked at me then whispered something to the tavern keep before standing up and walked over to me. Shook his head and proceeded to leave the tavern. The following day he had come to the smithy to get his armor and sword repaired. He said nothing to me outside of the typical how much and how long questions. However, he watched me work on his things. I tried to make small talk, to distract myself from the possibility he was looking for you.
It was then when your mother stepped out to bring me a drink and escaped the house before the door shut you in. you had nothing but your cloth diaper on. It would have been funny at any other time. The man noticed you right away, and once he laid his eyes on you, I saw it. He had gotten the look of shock on his face like he recognized you. At that moment, I realized that he might not have been looking for survivors to hunt them down but to look for you. But beyond all my reasoning, he just said that he would be back to pick up his equipment later. The next time I saw him was when he came to pick up his items, and that was the last time I saw him, or so I had thought.
It was 4 years later he had come back. This time he had come by way of the trading route with a wagon, and he now had a limp in his left leg. He bought a house inside the village and became a volunteer instructor for the militia under Cpt. Derek. It was then I had finally learned this man's name was Johnathan. He has kept to himself mostly. He is known as a cranky old man, and I have heard the those who have joined the town's militia that he is pretty skilled even with his limp and is very harsh."
Vareth had just finished off his mead, looking like he wanted more. While Jason was mauling over what he had just learned.
Johnathan, who had been working as a full-time instructor for the village militia. Got along with nobody except the captain of the militia. Outside of that, nobody knew anything else about him. Jason had seen him many times growing up and had never noticed anything about him besides that he was mean.
"I have to agree with Vareth on this one. From what he had said, this man Johnathan must have had recognized you. The only possible way is if he knew your real father, the late Baron Lord of Drez since you have a similar face to him. After all, he was your real father. I can also tell you that you had not seen this man before he came to this village.
"Will you seek him out for training? Maybe not reveal your true identity to him yet, though, because that would be just plain stupid. I know he came here because of you, but whether he has good intentions or not, there is only one way to move forward. That is to take a risk."
Jason remained silent as he pondered everything. How would he approach Johnathan for training? After all, Jason did not want to join the militia. But if he refused to teach him, then the only way to get the training would be to join.
Jason thanked Vareth and left the smithy. His stomach rumbled again. Food had been the last thing on his mind since waking up. But it could only be denied for so long. Jason headed off to the village market. Maybe he would be in time to get some fresh bread from the baker's wife.
It had been a long time since he had left his house. He was always busy with something at home, and so he rarely left. The most social interaction he got outside of his parents was when Vareth sent him to the market to deliver items or pick up supplies.
As he passed by the tavern, he heard a commotion coming from the ally near the tavern. When he stepped into the alley, he could see a group of what looked like adventures standing in a half-circle surrounding someone.
He could hear laughing and mocking coming from them. When he got closer, that's when he saw who was in the middle of them. It was Sophia and the tavern keeps daughter, although he could not quite remember her name.
Sophia was standing in front of her, a defiant look on her face, while the other girl looked terrified.
"We are just looking to have some fun girl, are you offering to take her pace?" One of the adventures with a patchy beard said. The others laughed. They all looked drunk and definitely did not have any good intentions.
"Why take her place? When she can join her! After all, there are 5 of us, and that's a lot for only 1 girl to entertain." Another man said. He had a scar down the right side of his face.
"These men have been through some battles, but they are drunk right now. So I say go interrupt their fun and let loose." Balthazar's voice sounded in his head.
These men had weapons one them, and Jason was frozen in fear even with Balthazar's words.
"Hey, kid, keep walking. This is none of your business!" One of them shouted at Jason.
He had been spotted, but something unexpected happened to him. He could feel something build up in his chest. It was a burning sensation. It began to spread to his limbs with each beat of his heart, and as it spread, a feeling took over his mind, anger.
The adventure walked towards him, stopping right in front of him.
"Go away, kid, unless you want to get your ass beat."
Jason could smell the alcohol on his breath. He could feel the hot blood pumping through his veins, along with the sounds of his heartbeat.
The next thing he felt was his first hitting something hard, and the man who was in front of him was on the ground. Blood dripped from the man's mouth, his jaw was off to the side. He was not moving.
The 4 remained adventures stopped and looked at their companion on the ground. Sophia and the other girl seemed just as shocked as the men surrounding them.
"He just killed Benny!" The man with the patchy beard yelled.
The adventures pulled their weapons from their sheaths and belts and spread out to surround the unmoving Jason.
Sophia took this opportunity to pull the other girl away and run out of the alley.
Jason's amber eyes had started to turn red around the edges. His vision was going red. He had heard Balthazar laughing. Then felt a sharp pain in his side. He had been stabbed, guided by instinct, his hand reacted, grabbing the man's wrist before the man was able to pull the blade back out.
The man tried to break Jason's grip, but it was like iron. Slowly getting tighter, crushing his bones. He was screaming in pain, and Jason could feel his lips curl into a smile. As he watched the man's pained expression. He could tell the man was screaming, but he could not hear a sound.
The other men were frozen in fear. As they watched their friend drop to his knees, screaming and taring at the hand that trapped his wrist.
Fred had just walked up to him and stabbed him with his dagger. They had not seen the kid's hand move, but it was now preventing Fred from pulling his blade out of the kid. At first, they had taken joy in how the kid seemed frozen in place, making no movements besides the punch that had killed Benny. Then they had felt a cold sweat run down their spines. Then, fear, they could feel its cold embrace, and they became unable to move. Only watch in horror as Fred screamed.
Jason was horrified. Since the red covered his vision and he felt the anger rise up within himself, he had not been able to control his body. It just reacted. He could feel everything and see the man in front of him clawing at his hand to try and free himself.
"Hey! what is going on here?!" A loud shout sounded.
The red vison was blinked away, and Jason regained control of himself. He quickly let go of the man who was trapped him his grip and stepped back only for the movement to painfully reminding him that he had a dagger in his stomach,
The men found themselves free to move again, rushed forward, grabbed Fred, and dragged him away in a hurry.
Jason placed his hands on the hilt of the dagger in his gut, shock taking over. But before he could rip it out, he felt a firm hand over his.
"Hold Jason, if you removed that blade, you'd bleed out, and we are not in a spot we can rapidly treat you."
Jason looked up from the hand over his own to see the old face of Johnathan and to his side Sophia and the other girl, who both had their eyes wide as they stared at the blade stuck in him.
And then it went black.