Waking up, I sit on the side of my creaking bed as I stretch. Sovignar has barely just begun it's rise, having woken up earlier than I hoped. After witnessing whatever caused the devastation I saw yesterday, I had a hard time getting to sleep. I bring my knuckles up and rub my eyes in a futile attempt to relieve myself of the aching feeling.
< ugh… I just hope whatever that thing was, I never hear about it again. >
While mentally still half asleep, I get up and start to dress myself. Sighing over the state of my clothes, I remember forgetting to clean them yesterday after coming home from Kelorgs. The gruelling task of paying for most of the house tax this last winter has caused me to normalise these sorts of things.
After clothing myself in my dirtied brown leather trousers and beige tunic, I walk out of my room. I notice Duriks door is still open the same as when I came home last night. Deciding to let my head rest at least for now on the Durik situation, I walk down the small wooden corridor towards the kitchen to grab myself some food.
Reaching the once beautifully decorated kitchen, I have a short glimpse of nostalgia of when it was full of furniture and kitchenware. I smile in sadness at the memory. Grabbing a loaf of bread from the small table in the middle of the kitchen, I munch on it and quickly stride out of the house to focus on the day.
Not having been told to report to Kurian early today, I leisurely stroll through the quiet commoner streets of Asgot. Walking towards the Entertainment District, I get glimpses at the ever expanding slums. I see Stiviks scurry about the slums feasting on the waste lying in the streets. Thankfully my parents house is further towards the Market district, others are not so lucky. With the beast waves happening a few times each generation, children who lost their parents or injured needing a place to stay look to the slums as home.
< That could have been me… hopefully living a long life is good enough to repay the debt to my parents. >
While passing the Mercenary District gates, I see more than the normal amount of people this early. I assume the influx of people is due to the increasing beasts, I remember hearing that can happen before a beast wave. Thinking about the beasts, I remember Jarak accepting the job and join the crowd towards the guild hall.
< Hopefully I can see him before he sets off, Drevik shouldn't be on duty for a short while now anyway.>
After strolling through a bolstering Mercenary District, full of equipment haggling and beast sales, I reach the guild hall. Unlike yesterday, most of the hall is empty as the morning wave hasn't started their day yet. I see Jarak amidst a group of ten other individuals discussing at the job listing board and decide to wait nearby till they're done.
After a short while, the group seems to come to a conclusion. As they presumably split off to equip themselves before leaving for their destination, I call over to Jarak, "Jarak, got a moment before you head off?"
Stopping himself, he turns to me and grins, "sure do, what's up?"
"Nothing much. Just wanted to wish you luck on your job." I answer back heartily with a smile.
"Well as always I appreciate it Ovin, this time, I might actually need it." he replies slightly apprehensive, completely unlike Jarak.
"Haaa, and here I thought you were joking about the Trohgon thing, Jarak are you sure about this?" I ask in worry, fearing he may be overestimating himself.
"Don't worry I've taken the proper precautions, I found a strong team, we even have a Compressor coming with us. It's not going to be easy but then that wouldn't be any fun now would it Ovin." he declares in a reassuring tone.
< Seems like he is set on this. The least I can do is give him my support, and he is right, he isn't dumb enough to go in un prepared.>
Smiling, I try to encourage him, "Well I hope Skoron blesses you with strength Jarak. I'll be waiting for your return and to hear the heroic battle that took place."
He chuckles jovially, "You're damn right. Jarak the Trohgon slayer, they'll be singing praises of me at Kelorgs."
"I look forward to hearing them. But you better be on your way now don't you?" I smirk and reply as he gets caught up in his fantasy.
"Oh yes you're right. Well I'll be off then, Ovin stay safe." he says while jogging towards the guild hall stairs, probably to get his equipment.
With my goodbye with Jarak done, I leave the guild hall and head towards Kurians estate. With Drevik on duty I'm let through the gate without a hassle. As I walk towards Kurians estate, I notice dark clouds streak across the sky to the north and seem to be heading here.
Reaching Kurians estate, I'm let in by Ken who enquires about what happened yesterday. I explain to Ken what I saw in the forest as we walk down the path towards the mansion. Ken is visibly surprised as I tell the details and goes quiet seemingly taking it in after I finish. Once we reach the door, Ken suddenly speaks up, "Oh, My Honourable ordered some of his books to be packed away earlier, I have a feeling your job may be to bring them somewhere."
"Well thanks for the heads up, it would be nice to have a simple job for today." I thank and smile back in appreciation.
Ken departs for his duties and I walk towards Kurians study. After being called inside, I notice some of the books on his shelves are missing as I seat myself on the other side of Kurian. Wearing the same dark blue jacket as always, Kurian sits in his chair looking straight at me. I inquired about my duty for today, " Honourable Kurian, what job would you have me do today?"
Just as Kurian is about to respond, I hear a familiar yet unexpected voice along with three knocks on the door of the study. "Honourable Kurian, I have something important to report." Caught halfway through starting his sentence, Kurian looks towards the door and creases his eyebrow slightly. After a short moment Kurian speaks out, "Come in."
I look back in my chair to see Ken enter the room flustered, rightly so as he interrupted a meeting of an Honourable. Trying to stifle his nervousness, Ken attempts to speak in a respectful tone, "Honourable Kurian. A messenger of Guild Manager Krick Scelton has come to inform Ovin to attend a meeting with ruler of Asgot, Guruek Tidir."
< wha…. >
As my thoughts evaporate and I'm stunned into silence, I barely make out Kurian raising himself from his chair. Kurians voice breaks me out of my silence which causes me to squeak awkwardly, "I shall accompany you to this meeting," he declares matter of factly.
Half not registering the meaning of his words in my current state, I reflexively reply, "Yes of course." Kurian begins walking out of his study before I even finish, and I clumsily shuffle out of my chair to follow him. Once we reach the gate of Kurians estate, a similarly dressed man to the clerk I talked to yesterday stands waiting.
"Honourable Kurian Torve, Ovin, allow me to lead you." The clerk requests in a respectful manner. Kurian nods and I make no motion guessing the only reason the man is acting like this is because of Kurian. The man then guides us through the Distinguished District, eventually we reach a district separation gate. This gate is slightly different to the others, being the one that blocks the path to the Lords District it has two Portcullis instead of one and many more guards.
The man leading us walks up to the guards and has a conversation with them, shortly after he comes back and leads us through the pass. Having never set my eyes on this district, I'm stunned by the increase in luxury. Set in front of us is a large open expanse of grass split into three parts. Smooth stone paths split off from the entrance to the front, left and right. On the side of the paths are gated off portions with huge mansions that make the Distinguished District ones look meagre in comparison. Lining the paths are poles periodically pointing up from the ground with glowing tops that illuminate the still early morning dim atmosphere.
Not having time to take in the full glory, the rest of the group continues to move down the front path. Thinking I'd seen it all, I'm astonished as I gaze into the distance down the path. Rising above the town walls slightly is a massive stone castle, sitting right in the corner of the town.
The castle has a wide stone stairway leading to two magnificent wooden doors. Looking from the front of the castle, it seems to split off to the left and right in an L shape following the town walls. The right side has tall glass panes lining the side. From what I can see, it is an extremely large brightly lit hall. The left side seems to be four floors tall and has many, many rooms across it, some which have lights illuminating through the glass windows. Above the entrance is a spire that rises just above the town wall, it looks to have a small slit around the top similar to a guard tower.
As we get closer towards, the scale increases to draw upon me, I begin to feel like a Stivik around this grandioseness. We make our way up the steps, past the large doors to a hall with a throne at the end. The hall is lit up the same way as the streets. The hall is made out of the same stone as the exterior except the wood floor. Above the throne in large letters is 'Tidir' the ruler family of Asgot. The doors to the left and right wings are wide open and people make their way in and out, there are also smaller doors in the room leading to unknown places.
We are quickly led towards the left wing. We enter the left wing and a long hallway with doors lining either side is in front of us. Servants bringing food and other goods scurry in and out of doors along the hallway, even with their speed they make hardly any sound. I see some lavishly dressed individuals in fur coats strut down the hall as well, the servants stiffen and stop their movements when the individuals pass them.
After a short walk down the extremely long corridor we finally stopped. The guide turns around to us and gestures towards the door, then says, "Guild Manager Krick Scelton and ruler of Asgot Guruek Tidir are present inside."
< Ohhhhhh fuck me >
Slowly coming to the realisation again that I'm going to be in the presence of the ruler of Asgot and the Guild Manager of the Mercenary Guild, fear dawns upon me and I start to sweat. Kurian strides inside with ease as I follow behind him envious of the guide being able to stay outside. Almost using Kurian as a pillar, I hide half myself behind him as we enter the room.
The room is mostly sparse considering it's size. It has a very high ceiling with a large stone at the top creating the same type of light as the ones on the street. The furniture in the room consists of two standalone chairs side by side facing two long couches that face each other and in between is a lengthy table.
Sitting on both chairs are men that radiate a similar authority to Kurian. They seem to have been conversing before we entered and their attention is drawn to our entrance. The one sitting in the chair to the left declares confidently, "This must be Ovin. He is the one who reported the first sighting". He then continues in a more respectful but questioning tone. "And this must be Honourable Kurian of the Torve family, who Ovin is currently privately contracted to. Though not formally invited, It is a pleasure to have you here. If I may ask though, what could be the reason for accompanying Ovin here?"
Kurian replies stoically, "I was interested in to what would lead an average mercenary to a meeting with the ruler of Asgot and Guild Manager of the Mercenary Guild."
The one on the left nods affirmatively and replies, "Yes of course. Well there is no harm here, Your experience may even help us to uncover what it is we are dealing with."
Kurian walks towards the right side couch after their back and forth, I stumble shortly after behind him. Once seated on probably the comfiest furniture I have ever sitten on, I get a closer look at the two other individuals in the room.
The one to the left is wearing a black button down coat with soft cloth trousers and leather gloves. He looks to be the oldest in the room with slight wrinkling on his face. Knowing that a person such as the guild manager or the ruler of Asgot would be a compressor and such people live much longer than normal, this man must be very old. Other than the slight wrinkling, he shows no other signs of his age. He sits straight in his chair with a perfect posture. He has short brown hair which is slightly groomed, sharp eyebrows, bright blue eyes, an average nose and jaw. He doesn't show any signs of extra muscle similar to Kurian with a slim body.
The one to the right is wearing a comparably more simple outfit. He has a short sleeved white tunic with golden outlines and buckled leather trousers. I can see he has a toned muscular body from his thick biceps and taut neck. This one seems to be more relaxed than the other as he leans more into his chair however he doesn't show any sign of unseriousness. He has short slightly curly blond hair, thick eyebrows, dark green eyes, a large nose and a square jawline.
Just as we are seated, the one to the left speaks up again and introduces both of themselves towards me, "Greetings Ovin, I am the Guild Manager and this is the ruler of Asgot Guruek Tidir." He pauses slightly and continues in a more serious tone. "You have been called here to retell what you saw in the forest yesterday in detail."
Completely overwhelmed still by the current situation, I stiffly reply, "I understand."
Guild Manager Krick nods and continues his, "We would like you to start from when you first found this 'path of destruction' as you called it in your report."
Having being haunted by the scenes ever since I saw them yesterday, I explain the details still very clear in my head. Krick and Guruek look straight at me as I talk which just makes it more overbearing, Kurian however continues to look at the wall opposite us. I notice Krick nods slightly at some points in the story and Guruek shows slight signs of surprise and frowns at other points.
Eventually I finish recounting my experience, shortly after Krick turns towards Guruek and declares, "What the boy said matches what the people I sent to check the scene saw. However there is one discrepancy, on the mother Krald there was a part cleanly sliced off." He looks back at me and questions, "I would assume this is of your doing?"
"Umm, yes oh, ah I'm sorry for not explaining that, I took some meat for a job Honourable Kurian gave to me on the day." I blurt out trying to use Kurian as a shield for my mistake in forgetting that part.
Krick nods understandingly, not questioning Kurian for affirmation. Just after the door to the room opens and me, Krick and Guruek look towards it. Stumbling into the room out of breath, with a visible nervousness like me and also dressed similar to me is an average man. The door closes and the man straightens himself trying to fix his dishevelled look. Krick suddenly opens his mouth, reminding me of his presence and announces, "This is Tolgin, a mercenary that saw the scene on the road to Dur Village."
< The scene on the road to Dur Village? >
While I'm thinking, Toldin hurriedly makes his way over to the left couch and sits down. Krick looks towards Guruek and explains, "Tolgin will explain what gave reasoning to our hurried meeting. To briefly simplify it though, a group of two merchants and a mercenary were attacked by something on their way to Asgot."
Guruek frowns at this and for the first time speaks up in a gruff voice, "This is not unusual however, even more so as we are close to a beast wave."
Krick nods affirmatively at this and responds, "yes you're right. However we believe the origin of the attack to be the same thing that did what Ovin saw, the situation of the three individuals attacked is also extremely abnormal. I suggest you let Tolgin here explain in detail what he saw and you will understand."
"Hmm, very well. But explain quickly." Guruek demands in response.
I can see Tolgin almost shiver in response reminding me of how I felt when asked to speak. After a short moment Tolgin starts to explain his experience and stutters at the beginning slightly, "Y-yes, well to start we know that it happened not too long after Sovignars fall. The three individuals, Skely a merchant alongside Kray and Skev the mercenary were caught off guard in a sloped valley outside the view of Dur Village. We found only the body of Skev at the scene of the attack, both Kray and Skelys bodies having not been found and there were no signs of their footprints running away from the scene."
"So you are suggesting this beast took away the two unfound bodies?" Guruek interrupts Tolgins report.
"Umm, yes, that is what we believe to have happened. The only footprints we found leaving the scene were large oval shaped ones." Tolgin replied back quickly.
Guruek then turns his head towards Krick and questions in a slightly serious tone, "There are no outer beasts that would take humans like this, you are suggesting this is an inner beast?"
Krick returns the same grave look and responds seriously, "yes we are. Furthermore I believe this beast to have intelligence which is why it took the two non combatant individuals, for what reason I am still unsure of."
"It was most likely just to eat them later," he waves his hand in disinterest and continues in a confident and prideful manner. "In any case my bloodline has dealt with inner beasts before, we can deal with one again."
"Most certainly an inner beast is a problem, but it can be dealt with. However with the current information we have to go off, this one doesn't match any known type of beast. We have no records of any beast from the Devouring Forest being bipedal, the way in which the mercenary Skev died is also worrying." Krick says with apprehension.
Krick turns towards Tolgin, seemingly urging him to explain. Tolgin is flustered for a moment then registers his meaning and says, "Umm, right. The mercenary seemed to try and fight the demon as we found his Kilunum sword shattered beside his body. However it didn't seem to last long from the footprints. The mercenary's body was found with a hole torn straight through the chest area, whatever made the impact sliced straight through his Kilunum chestplate."
The explanation causes Gurueks confident aura to subside slightly and he inquires to Krick, "how was this mercenary able to acquire so much Kilunum equipment?"
"Yes this was another point of contention. The mercenary Skev was under private contract to Diran Skiltit and also a experienced fighter who even took on a Trohgon with two other individuals with minor injuries. Inner beasts are known to be vicious, especially with intelligence, however to put up such little resistance and to be killed so easily does not suit a mercenary at this level." Krick answers.
Before I have time to process what Krick said, suddenly Kurian, Guruek and Krick look towards the door as it bursts open. "Guild Manager, we found the two individuals taken by the beast." The guide from earlier announces loudly.
I look back towards the other three to see surprised faces on Guruek and Kricks faces. Krick leans forward in his chair and questions in confusion, "What are their states?! Where did you find them?"
"They were found not far from Dur Village treeline from one of the mercenaries that took the job for watching, searching for the beast signs. Apart from a small wound on the girl name Skely they were both in fine condition." The guide answers back quickly adding further to the confusion.
< Wait they were alive? How the did they escape a inner beast? >
Silence holds the room as we all take in once again what he said. A few moments later, Krick is the first one to collect himself and speak up, "And, where are they now?"
"Yes, as you told us we have brought them to you as fast as possible, however Kray insisted he would be the only one needed and that Skely should be treated for the gash she has on her leg. Currently Kray is waiting outside."
Completely different from his normal calm attitude, Krick shouts in anger at the Guide, "Well what are you doing then?! Bring him in immediately."
Almost as if in a queue before the guide can even make it out of the room, the individual I assume to be Kray pushes the guide away and inserts himself into the room. He is covered in sweat and has extremely ragged breathing, his eyes are so bloodshot it looks like they will burst and his clothes are completely tattered. The guide being completely caught off guard stumbles to the floor.
As we all stare at this man, he stumbles forward just before the table, kneels and looks to the ground. After breathing a couple of large mouthfuls of air he looks back up and wheezes hysterically, "You have to kill it! This isn't a beast… it's something worse, much worse! It talked to us… tortured us. It can't be left alive, you have to kill it quickly!"
< talked?!!? >
I gasp in surprise along with the other mercenary, out of the corner of my eye I see Krick staring at Kray like a lunatic with a slack jaw. Kray takes a few deep breaths and is about to continue but before he can a booming voice erupts to my right from Guruek, "Quiet! Calm down and tell me exactly what happened, no more of this blabbering!"
Everyone except Kurian and Krick jump to his sudden loud voice, Krick just stiffens and goes back to his straight previous posture with his eyebrows creased. Guruek haven stood up for emphasis, begins to sit back down into his chair, then demands back in his normal volume, "take a seat and arrange your thoughts, I don't want any details out of this. Understand."
Kray stiffly shuffles to the other couch, once on it he takes a few breaths before he starts his speaking while slightly quivering, "I-it happened when we were making our way back to Asgot. Suddenly out of nowhere we heard loud thumping sounds approaching us from the forest, it was too dark to see what it was originally. Me and Skely panicked and Skev told us to stay quiet and hide next to the carriage. After a short while it eventually came into our view." His voice audibly lowers as he seems to be remembering what he saw. "Its eyes were like two bright red crystals. Its skin was a deep red colour and looked like a mix between leather and scale. When it stood before Skev it was at least two times as tall, and it looked to be slouching. It has two weird legs that angled backwards from the knee and then transition at the shin from its normal scaly-skin to two hooves. Its arms were similar to a humans until the fingers turned into long black nails. Its body didn't seem to contain any fat, it had so much muscle it looked like it would literally break from its skin. The head was long and snout-like with two large black horns jutting from either side of the head, sharp ears just below them and a maw with two rows of teeth that looked like daggers."
I imagine the creature he begins to explain in detail and shiver in fear at what I see in my mind, I can literally see the fear in Krays eyes as he speaks like the image is burned into him. After explaining the creature he takes a few more breaths to calm himself as he gets hysterical towards the end again.
A few moments later he continued, "I-we all screamed, it's hard to remember but I fell on the floor and Skely fell off the carriage, after which I didn't see her. Skev was the only one to get back up, he picked back up his sword and readied himself to fight the beast." Krays' voice began to falter, and I see tears begin to slowly form at the edges of his eyes. "I… I didn't see how it happened but Skev seemed to have pierced the creature's forearm with his sword. I think he then went to slice at the waist but suddenly the beast's right arm moved and its nails collided with the sword which shattered. I-It happened so fast after, the creature's left arm pierced straight through Skev with its hand like a knife and it tossed him down to the ground like a used rag. After that I passed out"
We all sit extremely still as he once again breathes heavily, no one interrupts him even though I expected Krick to. After sniffling a few times and wiping away the tears, Kray seems to have pulled himself back together enough to start talking again. "I woke up in a cavern not too far in from the treeline next to Dur Village. Skely and I were both put in the corner of the cavern, opposite of the creature. After using my Krolight Light Crystal, it showed itself. The creature said it took the Krolight Basic Hirin Language Crystal from Skely and used it. After that it then spoke to us and said to answer its questions otherwise it will kill us."
Barely able to hold belief in this utterly ridiculous story, I can barely spare any attention for anyone else's actions and wait with baited breath for what this thing did next. Kray seems to change in tone somewhat as he continues to explain what the creature asked, "It asked where it was and I told it that we are in the area of Asgot rule. It asked how many places like Asgot or Dur Village there were and I said there were too many to count just in Skut'Hirin. However once I noticed its ignorance to simple questions, I decided to try and lie to it. When it asked if there were similar people of power to Skev, I lied and told it that Skev was extremely weak among us humans and that we have many more that are much stronger. After answering its questions it told us to go back and warn the humans that it will kill all of us."
I get a sense of dread imagining the creature in my head coming towards me. There is a short silence as Kray finishes which is broken by Guruek, he has a much tighter frown on his face and he asks Krick in a serious tone, "Do you have any records of a beast such as this?"
Krick is jolted out of what I assume to be imagining the dread of this thing like I was by Gurueks voice, he answers in a nervous, slightly shaky voice, "No, I wouldn't even have to look in the records to check. Something like this would be legend amongst beasts, there are no recordings of a beast that can speak our language."
Guruek nods grimly to this, turning back towards Kray he inquires, "and, did it leave with you or remain in the cavern?"
Kray answers immediately with confidence, "I believe it remained in the cavern, we didn't see it leave or move one bit as we made our way out."
Guruek then speaks his thoughts aloud, "Whatever it is, going of what happened when it encountered Skev, the best guess would be it doesn't yet know of our strength or magical energy and how to use it." He turns towards Krick who has somewhat regained his previous demeanour and asks, "how many mercenaries similar to Skev would you be able to contract to this job before eve?"
Krick takes a few moments to think then replies confidently, "at least twenty, working in groups they should be more than enough to take down an inexperienced beast."
Guruek nods affirmatively to this and adds, "good, I will send four of my personal guards as well. Even if it might be able to take the brunt of the mercenaries it will not be accustomed to the instant power of a compressor."
< it's amazing how fast they can just switch even when they hear of something so terrible, hopefully I can be like that someday.>
While I'm thinking in my head, Guruek raises himself out of his chair and says to Krick, "my guards will wait at the guild hall for you to organise yourselves." Krick nods and then Guruek turns towards Kray and continues in a slightly scornful tone, "good job on reporting this to us quickly, however maybe Skevs death will teach you to gain power to fight beasts instead of fainting in front of them."
Kray just lowers his head in response and Guruek strides out of the room with Krick doing the same shortly after. I am jolted out of my slightly dazed state by Kurians voice next to me, "we shall leave."
After which we walk our way out of the castle back onto the path to the district gate. While I half haphazardly follow behind Kurian, what was just said inside the meeting creates chaos in my head.
< I don't know if I'll ever be able to get that image the man gave me of the beast out of my head. Being able to kill a veteran mercenary like that… to just be gone in such a small amount of time, truly I hope Skoron is with the men that go to face it. >
"Ovin." Somewhere around halfway to Kurians estate, I hear Kurians voice call out from behind me. Turning around, I awkwardly walk back behind him but he stops me and continues while pulling out a pouch, "No, it's not that. Your Skivins for this cycle."
< Wait, isn't that meant to be tomorrow? I swear Skakil wasn't overlapping Udinon last night. >
Confused, I politely ask for the reason for advance payment, "Aren't I to be paid tomorrow Honourable Kurian?"
"No tomorrow you will not be needed, so I shall pay you now," he reveals and hands the pouch to me.
< Well I guess that makes sense. What I have should be enough for this cycles tax and more for food, huuuu… this cycle just keeps on getting worse. >
Accepting the pouch which feels oddly on the heavy side, I thank him, "I see, it is a shame. But thank you for the work."
I move to put the pouch in a more secure position around my waist in case of thieves. looking back up to Kurian, who looks to have a saddened expression, voices in a very quiet tone, "I…" but stops shortly and goes back to his impassive face.
Taken off guard by his extremely out of the ordinary display, I speak up hesitantly, "Is there something wrong?"
"No. You can go now. I have no other tasks for you today." He immediately replies, not even mentioning what his reasoning for the weird display was.
He turns and starts striding down the street after his answer, obviously not wanting to continue the conversation. I stand dumbfounded in the middle of the street for a few moments, thinking about what was probably one of the oddest situations I've had with Kurian.
< why would he be sad? Was it the story of what happened to the merchant, ahh forget about it, I never even knew he could make a sad expression. >
Left with nothing to do and a stash of Skivins on me I'd rather not lose, I decide to make my way home for the day and rest. Today might not have been physically exhausting like most jobs are, but having to be in the proximity to so many important people and hear such a horrible tale has put a big weight on my mind.
As Sovignar reaches its mid way point in the sky, I begin to see my house in the distance. As I get closer I can make out two individuals talking in front, the chubby bald one is Durik and the other I have no clue. The other looks to be a clerk of some sort, wearing a tight fitting outfit.
As I get closer, I can make out what the other person is saying, "--gain, we will have it ready two days from now."
"Yes yes of course, I will be here to take it." Durik responds, seemingly in an annoyed mood as he tries to hurry their conversation along.
The man nods and then turns in my direction to walk away, as he does Durik looks over and opens his eyes wide in surprise. Having had the situation with Durik been on my mind a lot lately and being warned to be careful of him, I ask with a slightly forceful tone, "What was that about?"
"Uhh… " he seems to be caught off guard by my question, I get more worried at his reaction as if he didn't want this to happen. Just as I'm questioning to repeat myself in a more aggressive way, in a flustered tone he suggests, "Let's talk about it inside shall we?"
Frowning at his obvious misdirection to my question, but also realising it's probably not best to do this in the middle of the street I don't respond and stride inside my house. Waiting inside the house's entrance area, I observe the chubby Durik scurry inside the house. I notice he gained a bit more weight since the last time I saw him. The wrinkles on his face seemed to have gotten more abundant as well with his eyebrows being a bit more droopy.
Overwhelmed by stress and his absence to take the chance and ask, I demand in a harsh voice, "Durik, since the last winter you have paid significantly less towards the house tax. I've gotten in contact and talked with some of your old friends, they told me you haven't been doing mercenary work. I want to know what you have been doing this last winter. "
< haaah, that felt fucking good! >
His face gets grimmer and grimmer as I continue, which just justifies my attitude. Apparently taking the first hit caught him seriously off guard, as he makes several different expressions seemingly trying to say something but eventually doesn't. As the silence continues, I slowly get worried he might somehow spin this around to me.
In an attempt to keep the pressure on, I blurt out, "Well!?"
He jumps a little to my outburst, then goes silent like before. A few moments later he sighs heavily and starts to speak in a defeated tone, "I-I know we haven't had the best of times together Ovin. Ever since your parents' payment was gone and I took the role of providing for both of us, I haven't been the best to you or been a good caretaker. I let the stress get to me and took it out on you, I'm sorry."
My mood sours at his mention of my parents, but I have some sympathy return because he did look after me for a while. Pausing for a few moments as he continues, "I've always wanted to try and mend the relationship between us. I was even going to try when you were twelve winters old, but with the tax raising, there was more and more pressure to get the Skivins for the house. I ended up pushing you further than I should when training you for mercenary work. Ever since then I saw you less, it became harder to find a time or reasoning to mend it."
I want to butt in and argue against him but I find it hard to talk, like a huge rock weighs down my voice and I just continue to stare at him as my expression losens. His voice raises in tone a little and becomes less sad, "But I had an idea. Last winter I decided I had to do something that could spark something between us." He looks up at me with a smile as he continues. "I know it won't be a fix for any of it, and it will take time for us to make things better again, but I'm hoping this will be a start."
I start to get a warm feeling inside me, it feels like I haven't felt this feeling since I heard stories from Durik about my parents. Thinking over what Kurian told me, I hesitantly ask for assurance, "so… you are trying to adopt me?"
He looks surprised by my question, which I suspected would happen as he never would expect Kurian to tell me. His friendly face falters for a few moments and I get scared, he responds hesitantly, "Yes. Since last year I've been trying to adopt you. The man outside was someone here because of that saying our official documents will be here in two days."
With the tension since last winter leaving me, I smile and begin to slowly start crying in happiness as the warm feeling grows hotter. He looks surprised by my reaction, which I understand as it was a bit fast but smiles back and walks over to hug me. While hugging I cry into his shoulder and tighten my grip in happiness trying to make sure this feeling stays forever.
< A family, finally… >