There was once a story Ma used to tell me when I was very young. A boy, born with a unique talent. A talent that changed the whole world. With eyes bright as gold, and hair dark as night. Hands that sparks a flame with a flick of his finger, flames strong enough to burn without touch. No origin, he just appeared out of nowhere during the journey of the sainteness. A child who soon after became known as the dark hero. The dark shadow to bring in the light of the sainteness. Him and the sainteness brought peace among the world that used to crawl in the darkness of monsters.
It was a normal and ordinary children's book, a story Ma came up with. No where close to the reality of the world, the dark cruel world that we were brought into. With demons who take the form of humans, and do anything they could for money and luxury. They always take from the weak, anything they can find that is worth money, and pointless things that only bring more dust in the room. The dark hero wouldn't be able to defeat these monsters like in the books. One wrong move and your life will be doomed. The nobility lives in luxury, while the commoners live with whatever they were fortunate to gather.
Ma always believed that one day, peace will fill the world, tossing out all bad. She placed so much hope in believing something everyone knows that will never happen, even though she knew it was pointless but held on. I guess she wanted to put her faith in something so her life didn't seem like nothing was worth living for. Up until her last breaths. Her last words still echo in my mind, "My little warrior, soon… I believe peace will come." Oh how much I wish to believe her words.
Thirteen, fourteen, fifteen."Shit…" I curse to myself. 15 copper coins. With this much coins, I'll have to be lucky enough to even get a loaf of bread. Those bastards didn't even bother giving me the full payment for the quest. Tch… should I start thinking of being a knight like uncle said to do? I mean… they do get paid well. I stopped. Maybe I should, it would make it much easier for me to eat and sleep. I might even get to taste some wine. Nah… I'd rather get paid 15 coppers a month than fight for a noble. Those greedy demons don't deserve to be protected. It would be better if they all just died, maybe then Ma's wish would come true. A peaceful world… Hah! I wish.
It's been 7 years now since Ma's death. I can't remember much about Ma but she had beautiful red hair and dark brown eyes. She always looked at the positive of any situation. I loved and hated that part of her. I stare into the distance trying to catch a glimpse of any near city. "Soon…" I chuckle recalling my mothers last words, "What a load of bullshit." I slide the coins back into my small bag and continued walking along the trail.
I should stop by uncle's tavern while I am at it. Would go for a swing of some of uncle's awesome booze right now. Mmmm… nothings better than clearing your head with some awesome booze! Maybe if I persuade him just a little he'll let me drink some for free! Awesome, I should go look and see if he has any missions posted up too.
Beautiful… I thought while admiring the tavern that I have known for many years now. Look at that. Still the same since I last saw Uncle's lovely tavern. The tavern is covered with vines hanging from the room. Some windows were broken, and you could hear loud cheers coming from inside. It feels a little peaceful right now standing outside of the tavern. No guards yelling, no nobility flashing and bragging to others about their riches, and also there are people who I can have a normal conversation with some occasional brawls but cares as long as it's fun! I grin. I sucked up as much air as I could. And raised my right leg and stood in formation. Time to make my grand entrance!
BANG! I bust down the door with my magnificent kick, letting it slam the wall. "I'M BACK BITCHES!" I scream to the whole tavern standing proudly. Some people in the tavern laughed while others just groaned in annoyance. Hehe. I didn't wake up choosing violence for nothing!
"DUDE! Can you stop kicking the door down every time you visit." the old geezer on the right yelled at me. Geez… so mean.
"Is this how they greet a friend after not seeing them for a whole month." I pout. Glaring at Frank. Frank is a big muscular tanned man. I think he is in his mid thirties or so.
"Yeah, if that friend is a huge idiot like you." he snorts.
"Hey I am not a idiot!" I barked back.
"Yeah yeah keep saying that kid."
"I am not a kid either!" I yelled. Why does everyone keep calling me a kid here. I am one more year until my twenties.
I stomp past everyone and plopped myself on top of one of the stools near the bar.
I watch Uncle make different servings for all of his customers. He was an old fella, around his 60 with his normal plain white shirt and leather vest. Uncle had fair skin with silver hair, surprisingly the hair on his head is still intact with his head unlike a lot of the old men here. Bald annoying drunkards. He kept his hair in a neat bun so he could be kept "presentable" he says. He would always scold me for how dirty and unpresentable I looked but honestly I didn't care much. I mean who would if the only thing they thought of was to fill their stomach enough so they won't die?
"Andrew, been awhile how have you been?" uncle asks. Shaking his magical bottle that makes the best beverages around!
"Couldn't be any better since I got to see you today uncle! Can I get the usual please!" I happily say with a grin.
"Andrew, can you even afford it?" he says
"C'mon uncle, why ask something you already know the answer to?" I say
"What is your excuse this time?" Uncle sighed
"Dear sweat uncle, I have done many things to help you. Remember that one time I helped patch the roof for you?"
His eyes narrow in consideration. I had helped him with the roof before the health inspector came around.
"Hmmm…," He pauses for a moment, contemplating. He gives in and sighs, "Fine, but just this one time."
"Thank—"
"But only this once," uncle says with a stern voice.
"Yes uncle, of course!" He hands me a big mug of rum and I happily take it. "May we enjoy this happy moment while it lasts." I cheered then gulped down a big chunk of rum. Mmm… Tasty rum to finish off the day.
"Don't forget to eat some meat too boy." Uncle commented, placing a plate of steak in front of me.
"Now Dad, we don't want to spoil him too much," aunty says. She sits next to me, great,so much for having a peaceful night of drinking. I sigh, this is gonna take a while. aunty is uncle's first daughter out of his many children. But sometimes I would think Aunty was the parent when it came to those two.
"Oh come on he's still a growing boy," uncle laughed.
"A nineteen year old boy!" aunty exclaimed, "we should have him work for his meals instead of giving him free food." Technically it's not free food since he's repaying me for helping him patch the roof. Let's say this is a payment for the help.
"Aunt—"
"Zip it Andrew, the adults are talking," she said. Excuse me!
"I'm already 4 months away from turning twenty. FOUR!" I fought back the urge to slap aunty. Why do they always say I'm a child! It always ticks me off, they think I'm still 11.
Aunty... I like to say as show her love for things in very weird ways. Aunty was very well known for being a very stubborn but strong minded woman. After my mothers death there was nobody there to take care of me. But aunty and uncle opened their arms wide open for me. It's hard to admit this but Aunty was like a second mother to me. She wasn't as gentle and kind like my mother was, but she showed me that she cared about me in other ways of her own. She wasn't as frail as other women, she was a well built woman, with dark tanned skin and long dark brown hair. Like her father though she prefers to have her hair in a neat bun, and wear the tavern uniform to represent them well. Sadly, like her father she gets on my case for not being so "presentable" and looking like a piece of shit.
Sigh. At least it's still the same. Same old tavern that I grew to adore so much. I take another swing of my drink and slam it on the counter. "Phew," aunty is still lecturing uncle about random stuff so I just enjoy my meal.
Aunty eventually had enough and went to serve more people their food, while I still sat at the bar on my third mug of rum already. The rum was finally kicking in and I started to feel all nice and warm inside. "Can I get another bottle of rum over here!" I say.
"Kid don't over do it alright?" Uncle said
"Of course, of course uncle!" I sang.
"Can I get a bottle of red wine?"
Phat— I spit out the rum I was just drinking out of surprise. Is anyone here actually able to afford wine? Doesn't that cost at least over 50 bottles of rum! I observed the cloaked figure who sat two seats away from me. How on earth is this person able to afford that?
"Here you go sir," uncle says. He places the bottle of wine on top of the counter in front of the figure. The figure passed uncle a bag which I assumed held the coins and just sat there after.
The figure from my guess is about 6'3. I couldn't tell what gender so I assumed it was a man. Because the figure looked a lot more built to be a rich lady. He was wearing a brown leather cloak and battle boots. Why is this guy able to drink such delicacies while I'm stuck here begging and working my butt off just to eat and drink! Fuck rich people, they don't know how hard it is to survive in this world. I take another gulp of my drink.
I have been sitting on the stool for about I don't know 2 hours. Sigh. what am I doing with life? A sixteen year old, no parents and I have to admit I'm a little bit of an alcoholic. Just a little—
"Hey kid, don't you think you're drinking a little too much for your age? Why not just go home already."
I look to my side to see the rich dude on the side of me. Home? I have no such thing. Not after what happened to mother. There was no home. I clenched my hands into a fist. "Hah… home—" I say. "Don't have that." I take another sip of my rum, "the closest place to home would be here."
"Here?" the cloak figured questioned. "Why here of all places?"
"I don't give answers to rich noble people like you." I sneered. "You just ordered your fifth bottle in less than 2 hours already!" I exclaimed. "Money doesn't just pop out of nowhere you know." My broke ass can only beg while this dude is spending his money without a care in the world.
"And let me guess, wouldn't that be your seventh bottle of rum already?" he says.
I blush in embarrassment. How does this guy know how many bottles I drank? What a creep.
"Do you want one?" The figure offers, stretching his arm out towards me with a bottle of red wine in his hand. My eyes widened in surprise as I couldn't believe what I just heard. Is this guy for real? Wait… nobody just gives out free wine for fun.
"Nobody gives out free stuff for charity," I scoff.
"Oh really, I'm assuming you're paying for all those bottles of rum you just drank," he joked.
"The old man just owes me a couple of drinks, that's it," I explained. "This is him paying me back for the help," I grin.
I'm not that stupid to accept something for free. Even when it came to uncle and aunty, nothing was for free. I had to work my butt off at the tavern to get food and a place to sleep here. Oh well enough depressing talk, let's try to figure out what this creep wants.
"So…" What should I call this guys. Oh I got one! "Weird suspicious guy, what is it you are trying to convince me to do for a bottle of wine."