He had a troubled look on his face, and felt like he had a lump in his throat. Where would he start from? He wondered. Sighing, he looked up at his sons.
"It began three hundred years ago."
Kiyan and Raten were dumbfounded. He had to be bluffing, they thought. There was no way their father was over three hundred years old.
Ignoring the look they gave him, Agnar relaxed on the chair and continued.
"A little over three hundred years ago, there I was, an ungrateful, stubborn, hex of a son to my parents. My father was then, the chief commander of the royal army. He made me join the training for young boys who wished to become the kingdom's warriors. During that time, there was no magic, it did not exist.
"I did not want to be part of the royal army. I wanted to be free, to explore. Instead of heading to training, I would go elsewhere. The time came for I to begin living in the camp. I blatantly refused. I told my father I didn't want to do that, I didn't want anything to do with the royal family.
"I said I would build my own legacy. He was not all that disappointed in my words. He asked what I wanted to do. An adventurer, was what is said. He fumed.
"But, I stood by my words. There was no changing my decision. I believed there was more to this world, there was something that will be more intriguing, something different. My mother tried to talk sense into me, but I was adamant, my decision was final.
"I was nothing but a nuisance, in the kingdom, people would constantly complain about me to my parents. My father couldn't take it and put me in the camp forcefully. He said if I did not want something good for myself, I should leave his life.
"I began showing interest in it, giving my best in training and my father was pleased. Little did he know, it was just a facade. One day, I, with the help of a few of my friends, stole the King's crown and ran away."
Agnar paused gauging the reaction of his sons. More than anything, they were surprised. Never in their life could they have imagined he would do such a thing. A brief moment of silence was held, then he continued.
"We sold the crown and got a large sum of money. More money than we knew what to do with. I still wanted to go out and find the so-called 'excitement' that life was lacking.
"I sought people, old and young. Journeyed far and wide into different kingdoms, learned different cultures made new friends. I met your mother in one of those voyages. Still, I wasn't fulfilled. I missed my home, my family, I began to regret what I did.
"How were my parents faring? They must have figured out who stole the crown. Were they being punished? I was beyond worried. But, I feared to go back. If they knew it was me, going back would mean death.
"Three years later, I returned home. I made sure my face was well covered. I didn't want to be recognized. I got to the place I stayed with my parents and like I suspected, they had found out it was me and three other boys that stole the crown. Our mothers were all arrested, while our fathers were sent to look for us.
"After a while of searching they concluded we had long left the kingdom. Eventually, our mothers were released, fathers were stripped off every entitlement. That was their punishment for having thieves as sons.
"Stealing from the royal family was a grave crime, I was surprised they were not killed. I walked into my home, to find my parents in a sickly condition. My legs gave in and I fell to my knees crying and pleading for their forgiveness."
Remembering how much pain, and disappointment he saw in their eyes, their words to him, he couldn't help but get teared up. No day goes by he doesn't wish he had done as he was told.
"They were hurt and angry, they chased me away." He continued. "I kept coming back pleading that they forgive me, claiming that I had changed. I asked them to come with me to where I lived. They eventually agreed and I thought I would have my family back. But word spread that I was back and living with my parents. The king then thought my parents had been hiding me and were accomplices, so he sent guards after us.
"At a juncture, we got surrounded and the only way was through the woods. We headed in that direction running as fast as we could. We found ourselves in another town only to be ambushed by another set of knights.
"My father who had his sword around his hip then took it out of his sheath. He decided he would do anything to keep us alive. My mother held me close to her. I knew at that moment, we had no chance of survival even if we were to fight.
"My father stood his ground against six men. But he met his end eventually. One swing of their sword and he was decapitated. My mother seeing them come after us, pushed me to the side, and picked up my father's sword. Of course she knew nothing about swordsmanship, she would rather have died there than return to the castle and face a crueler fate.
"Her push made me hit the behind of one of the Knight's horses and it kicked me right on the chest. I flew deep into the woods. The last I saw of my mother, a sword had gone through her.
"After that, my vision went dark." Agnar stopped to catch his breath. Demas not knowing all this just stared at him. He could only imagine how he would feel after that, being the cause of his parents untimely end.
The atmosphere in the room was gloomy and no one had said a word. Waiting on Agnar. Kiyan looked a bit saddened, while Raten furrowed his brows staring at his father. Agnar noticing his gaze didn't even know what to make of it. Since everyone was listening, he didn't want to interrupt by asking Raten any questions.
"I woke up and it was night." He continued. "My body was sore and I wondered how I was still alive. Looking around, I realized I was in a stream that seemed to have a blue glow. Where I was, I had no idea.
"Slowly, I recalled what had happened before I passed out. I sat in the stream, cursing myself, blaming myself, wanting to do anything that would bring back my parents. That was when I noticed, the stream's glow had changed and now looked crimson. It looked like I was surrounded by blood.
"I was confused and tried to run away. But, it called out to me. It was speaking to me. I kept moving till i got to the center where a glowing red crystal was. I picked it up and it sucked me in. All I could see was red. I got extremely scared.
'I will give you what you seek, if you listen to me.' I was trapped in a red endless space - no walls nothing, when the voice spoke. It just repeated the same words over and over. I couldn't bear it. 'Can you really ? If you can, give me back my parents. Make it so all this never happened!' I yelled knowing that it was an impossible wish. I fell to my knees again.
"'You seek something beyond the ordinary, you always have. Though it is your fault, right now, deep down, you are wishing for the death of the king, aren't you?' I didn't know what to think anymore. It was more like my own thoughts than a whisper to me.
"I grabbed onto my hair. I felt my head spinning, i didn't know what was happening the last words I heard was, 'free me and get all you seek'. Then a bright light shone hitting blinding me, a loud piercing sound in my ears. It was torture. The light dimmed and I found myself in the stream once more.
"It was back to it's blue glow. I was beginning to wonder if I was hallucinating and nothing ever happened. Beside me, I saw the same crystal on a wooden rod. It formed a staff. Curious, I picked it up. The immense power I felt was scintillating. 'Set me free and I'll give you what you seek.' the whisper came again. I felt like my search for something beyond the normal was then, so i accepted.
"I began mastering the staff and the powers it brought. The magical powers, i couldn't fathom it at all. But slowly, I learned. The whisper came again leading me to an ancient cave where it was seemingly trapped by a spell in a tombstone. Surprisingly, yet not, the cave was behind on the other side of the stream.
"There I realized magic existed before, but why did it leave? After spending time with the staff I learned new spells, even ways to bring them from within without the staff. I did a lot of things, but, I saw it couldn't bring the dead to life.
"I thought maybe, if I set whatever it was trapped in the tombstone, it could bring back my parents. So I went ahead, doing what it said I should. I drew different magical circles, repeating the words it told me to, cracks appeared on the stone. Dark fog began to seep out at fast rates. Taking steps back, I saw it, a horrific spirit broke out. It kept yelling it's free and flew around. For what you've done, I will give you what you seek.
"'Can you really bring my parents back ?' I asked. But it laughed in it's hoarse, scary voice. It asked for my name and I told it.
"I have a score to settle with your kind. But you, I will spare. We will see again, Teferi." It spoke and vanished.
Agnar stopped.
"Setting the spirit free was the mistake, wasn't it ?" Kiyan asked and Agnar nodded.
"You said it was stopped by a good number of men, yourself included. But, how does that lead to our current situation? And this happened three hundred years ago?"
Letting out a sigh, Agnar gave an answer. "To clear that up, after the spirit vanished, I realized I was tricked. So I ran back to the stream and did my best to guard it with a spell. I did my best to hide it. I had a feeling it would be the only way to seal the spirit again."
"After twenty-five years, the spirit had already taken over two continents. I was able to get people to come to the stream. Every help, no matter how little was needed. In the end, they found out i was the one who unleashed the spirit and caused the problem.
"Still they fought by me. After the fight, they made known to the people who had caused the problem. Their verdict was that I shall be turned to stone for releasing a demon from stone.
"One of the strongest wizard was the one who cast the spell and I was turned to stone. There hundred years later, someone freed me. The higher ranks heard of it two years later, and wanted me dead. They came after me. So we, your mother and I, fled that kingdom to another, where she was eventually killed."
"Everyone who got themselves involved met their deaths. I ran to the village you grew up. Who knew stories about me were told to the later generations. Though they didn't know I was the man set free, me bearing the name 'Teferi' they saw as a curse."
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Author here: Sorry for the slow updates. More chapters will come in, and more often as well.
Still a novice here, you can point out my mistakes in the comment section.
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