[21st August, 1917, Shidan Border, Shidan, Karsen, Avenriot]
Flohelm's legs felt heavier now. As his feet walked the barren landscape towards the fortified entrance to the town, his head throbbed with pain, his muscles ached with exertion as the building came closer and closer. His vision has started to blur, Natria felt heavy; no, it must be his arms, Natria would never be heavy. Flohelm's resolve stood strong, yet his body gave up. A gush of wind; the world tilts, everything goes black.
'Everything feels so warm. I want to sleep.'
"Wake up!" a voice came.
'I want to sleep.'
"Honey! Wake Up!" Natria called.
'Natria, let me sleep. Wait, Natria?'
His eyes opened. As the light from the surroundings entered his eyes, the image forms. He was in his house, the wooden roof staring down at him. Confused, he tilted his head, there besides him sitting on a small wooden chair was Natria.
'Natria!'
He jolted out of his bed, wrapping his arms around Natria. Tears followed soon.
"Honey? What happened? Why are you crying?" Natria asked in a confused voice.
He didn't say anything, he didn't want to let go, but eventually he loosened his grip around her.
'Oh, it's nothing. I'm just happy to see you.' he said, wiping his tears.
"Oh my! Honey, mind your words, we have guests in house." Natria said, blushing.
Flohelm shifted his glance from her wife, in front of his bed two blurry figures sat on a pair chairs. As his eyes focused, he saw them; Nocus Hamil and Vahana Hamil sat on them. Lucas and Martin pranced around, running hither and thither.
'You guys are; alive.' he said with a confused expression.
"The folk have hit himself in the head, must be the side-effect." Nocus joked.
"Dear! Don't go about pulling his leg again." Vahana scolded.
'Was it all a dream?'
"What dream, dear?" Natria said with a troubled expression.
He thought for a moment. He looked around the room, contemplating his words.
'Its nothing dear.' he finally said, reassuring her.
A wide grin developed on his face, he couldn't control his happiness. It was just a dream!
'Oh dear, I could be anymore happy, where's Natria?' he asked.
"I am right here, dear; right in front of you." she said with a confused expression.
'Oh, I'm sorry. Where is Barchen?'
She didn't answer. She just continued looking at him.
"Who is Barchen?" Nocus asked.
'You guys are joking, right? My son, Barchen, where is he?' he said.
"Honey? Since when did we have a child, let alone a son?" Natria asked with a concerned look in his eyes.
'What?' he said with an expression of disbelief.
'Was it just a dream? Was all that just a dream?' he thought.
"The man's been hit in the head. Of course, it has taken a toll on his memory." Nocus explained.
Vahana and Natria nodded in agreement.
"Come, let's go for a visit in the garden. You'll certainly love it!" Natria said with glee.
She took his hand, slowly taking him out of the bed. His head throbbed with pain, his muscles ached as if he had been exerting his body beyond its limits for days.
Together, the four of them walked out of the house into the garden. It was beautiful, as always. As the other three enjoyed the beauty, he was lost in his thought, perhaps, he never had a son. Perhaps it was all a dream. As he walked about the garden, he noticed movement in the corner. As he walked in the direction he was stopped by Natria.
"Honey, I know you must be confused, but try to relax yourself a little, you don't have to push yourself now." she said with a smile.
"Yeah." he said as he shove her and continue to move towards the site.
"Honey, why not enjoy the scenery from here, there's nothing in the dull corner." Natria said, her impatience was starting to appear on her face.
As he continued to walk, Natria tried again and again to stop him. With each attempt,. she got desperate and desperate. But he paid her no heed, he just walked towards the spot. Upon reaching, he ran his eyes hither and thither when he suddenly saw a tiny black creature in the grass. He moved a little closer, it was a scorpion with dried blood on grasses around it.
BOOM!
There was an explosion, he turned his head to see Natria running towards him.
"C'mon honey! We need to escape. Nocus and Vahana have already prepared the horses. We have to run!" she shouted.
A second later, something came flying from above, hitting the roof of the house. It was flickering like a star. His eyes grew wide as he realised it was no star.
'It is an explosive!' he shouted as he lunged on Natria, shielding her from the blast.
A couple of minutes later, he opened his eyes, it was a disaster! Nocus and Vahana were nowhere to be found. The children were also missing. All he had was Natria below him, unconscious.
'Natria! Natria! Natria!' he shouted.
Slowly, she opened her eyes.
"What happened?" she whispered.
He had no answer. Slowly, she got up and witnessed the calamity with her own eyes. She was in despair. As her mouth opened for a scream, they saw a massive dust cloud coming from the distance.
"Honey, we must run. They must be responsible for all of this. We have to get out fast." she said.
He nodded his head in agreement. He quickly got up and ran towards the stable to check on the horses. Natria followed. But as soon as they reached the stables, another explosive came flying down.
BOOM!
It didn't give them the time to react. When he opened his eyes, he saw Natria grabbed under the rubble. He ran towards her, trying to get her out, but the effort was vain. His hand felt weak as if they had been carrying something for days. He shirt had browned up; cuts and bruises covered his torso given away by the red patches on the shirt. He looked at Natria, looked scared, begging him to take her out. He tried once again, but the outcome remained the same. The dust cloud was closer now. He fell to the ground, in despair, he began to weep. He punched the ground with his fists. He felt something in his hand, it was a necklace which looked very familiar. He brought the necklace closer to his eyes and then it hit him. The day it happened, Vahana, Nocus, Marvin, Lucas, Natria and Bakuzkha; it was the necklace given to him by Bakuzkha! It was not a dream!
He turned his head towards Natria, who had stopped pleading. She just looked at him with a blank expression.
'You are not my Natria.' he said in a soft voice.
Her face changed to an expression of shock, sorrow and finally acceptance.
"It seems you are not coming with us, 'Flohelm'." she said softly.
'What?' Flohelm asked in a confused voice.
The wooden roof above them creaked. Looking at the necklace, Flohelm backed, Natria smiled.
As the roof fell, Natria said her last words, "Now, take care of Barchen!"
Flohelm walked out of the stables. As he traced his way out of the garden, his surrounding began to get dark. Soon after, everything blacked out.
After what felt like eternity, he opened his eyes; he was in a bed of what appeared to be a hospital.
A woman dressed in all white enters the room.
"My goodness, you are awake!" she exclaims in shock.
Flohelm was confused. His twisted face might have given it away to the nurse about his condition.
"I understand. You must be really confused. You are in the Shidan Military Hospital, the soldiers found you at the border with an infant and brought you here."
'Shidan....' the words ringed in his ears. Finally, he had done it. He had reached Shidan! Those sacrifices were not in vain. He had saved his son!
His eyes were too dry to cry, his face just shriveled up to resemble an expression of crying.
Then a thought hit him like a truck.
"The child you say, that's my son. Where is he?" he asked in his weak voice.
The woman just pointed to left of his bed with her eyes. Flohelm followed. Beside him in a wooden crib was Natria, sleeping soundly. Flohelm smiled upon seeing his son.
There was a knock on the door. The woman went to check on it. A strong firm voice came from behind the door.
"Is he awake?" the voice asked.
"Yes, I believe. It has been only a couple of minutes since he regained consciousness, I guess." the woman replied.
"Can he talk?" the voice asked again.
"I guess so, but I must check with the doctor. Please wait here for a while." the woman said before leaving the room. Flohelm could hear their conversation but could only wonder what they wanted to know from him. There was the sound of the door opening; heavy footsteps followed. Flohelm shifted his gaze towards the sound and saw a large, muscular man approaching. The man was dressed in a tattered dark green uniform. Various medals and stars adorned the man's uniform.
Flohelm looked at his face; he looked somewhere in between his twenties.
"Hello, sir. This is Major Vod Hattinson. Nice to meet you." the man said, bringing out his hand for a handshake. Flohelm nodded. He felt his hands were too weak to raise, let alone shake hands.
Vod seemed to have understood Flohelm's action.
Retracting his hand, he said, " It's alright. Don't push yourself too much. You might mess up your stitches." he said with a kind voice.
"Stitches?" Flohelm asked in his feeble voice.
"Ah, I see. Looks like the nurse hasn't told you anything. No worries, I'll catch you up Mr...." he looked at Flohelm with a muddled look.
"Flohelm, you can refer to me as Flohelm." Flohelm said.
"Ah! Yes, Mr. Flohelm, you are in the Shidan Military Hospital." Vod said.
Flohelm nodded.
"How did I get here?" Flohelm asked, each word he spoke requiring the effort of every single cell in his body.
"We found you at the border at 7:08 p.m. You were found unconscious with a child in your hand by the 8th Vertiff Unit during their evening patrol. It has been six hours since then." Vod informed.
"Your body was covered in scratches and bruises. Besides those minor wounds, you had three deep cuts in the back and possibly a scorpion sting. You are very lucky that we found you on time. I think I should catch you up on whatever has happened...." Vod continued.
[Six hours ago]
"Movement in the west of Frontier-1, orders to shoot?" the watch guard informed.
"Check if it's a refugee." said Major Vod who was standing in vicinity.
"It appears to be a person. They carry some sort of bag. Orders to shoot?" the soldier informed again.
"Wait! Let them come closer." ordered Major Vod.
Two minutes went by. Major Vod now stood at the edge of the watchtower, holding a pair of binoculars in his hand. As the person came closer and closer, Vod used the binoculars to get a clear picture of their visitor.
"It's a man. Contents of the bag are still not visible. Orders to shoot!" the guard asked.
Major Vod used his binoculars to get a better sight.
"Those are hands. It's a child!" he shouted.
But a moment later, the man disappeared from his sight.
He was shocked. Removing the binoculars, he looked around the area in search of the man. There he was! The man had fallen down and now laid unconscious on the ground.
"Send the nurses! Those are survivors. 8th Vertiff Patrol, recover that man with his child!" he ordered.
Holding his binoculars firm, he let out a sigh.
"The first have arrived." he said.
[Present]
"So we brought you in, checked for weapons and other items that may point out as a spy, and then sent you to this hospital. You must be quite worried about the little guy that you didn't even notice your wounds." Vod said.
Flohelm laid on his bed listening to everything Vod said.
"He was.... alright, right?" he asked.
"The kid is fine as ever. You protected it and despite all the odds against you, you have finally reached your destination." Vod commented.
Flohelm listened quitely.
"Okay. I suppose I need not to ask for how you got there. It's clear as ice. Chancellor's announcement, that hijacking of radio signals in Nao, riots spurred by righteous Narachs; a lot has happened in just a few days. I guess I know what might have happened to the rest of your family." Vod said.
Flohelm didn't whisper a word.
"We, as of now, have been able to fortify the town. No militant force can penetrate our defences for now." Vod continued.
"You are the first of the people who have been able to reach us alive. We wanted to send forces in Nao for rescue, but lack of resources made it difficult to mobilise the troops. We had no choice but to wait, while innocents died on the other side; before our very eyes. I am so sorry for what happened to you family." Vod said in an apologetic tone, his head down with shame.
"So I am the first, huh? I guess I was able to fulfill my promise to her. Yes! Please look for Natria, my wife. She is still alive! The bandits took her." Flohelm pleaded.
"We will try. For now, we have to focus on your rehabilitation. We don't want any spies in the town. You'll have to change your name. You will be under military's eyes for quite a while because of suspicion of you being a spy. I'm sorry for this, but we don't want to compromise the security of our people anymore." Vod explained.
"I...I understand. A lot has happened. I have no problems in changing my identity. But-" he said, looking at his son.
"I don't want him to suffer because of it. Would you guarantee me that we won't be discriminated; that he shall not face any problem from now on?" Flohelm questioned.
"I suspected this much from you, after all, you are the guy who ignored his severe wounds for his child. I know the man, Hectoff Danon, the mayor of Shidan. The guy will take care of everything you need. Never would your son feel like a refugee. This will be his home, and so it will be for you. For all of our inability to protect our people, this is the least we can do." Vod assured.
Flohelm took a moment to absorb all this. He looked at his son, he can't let him suffer anymore. He will complete his promise to her wife and so he said, "If all you say is true. I have no problem but, I have one condition. Your name is Vod, right?" said Flohelm.
"That would be Major Vod, Mr. Flohelm." Vod corrected.
"Yes, sorry Major Vod. I request you to look over my child whenever I'm not there for him." said Flohelm.
Vod found the request odd. Yet, to respect Flohelm's wish, he agrees.
"I give you my word, I shall forever look after you son till my very last breath!" he promised.
Flohelm nodded his head in agreement. Vod, noticing Flohelm's gesture, went out of the room to bring necessary documents.
Minutes later, he arrived holding a bundle of sheets. As the exchange came to a close and Flohelm came across the blank for his son's name, images of Vahana, Nocus, Natria and Bakuzkha came in front of his mind. With a swift stroke, he wrote, '๐๐๐ฃ๐ก๐๐ ๐๐ฅ' ๐๐๐๐๐' son of '๐๐ก๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ฅ' ๐๐๐๐๐'.