It was a normal day, just like any other.
Alden looked forward to running in the snow, throwing snowballs, building snowmen and overall having a great time. He also could be the naughty little kid he was and perfect the parkour move that had constantly been out of his grasp.
Today was the day.
He could- no, he would land the double backflip.
Alden's eyes shone excitedly, his mind visualising how he would do that.
Racing through the snow after finishing school for the day, he ran to his favourite spot.
It was by the edge of an abandoned house, a small wooden seat perched to the side.
The height was perfect.
It was not too high that he would risk injury if he messed up, and it wasn't too low that he had no time to flip while he was in the air.
For the young Alden, it was the best thing he could ask for.
As his breath frosted over, his enthusiastic giggles reverberated through the frigid cold.
He climbed onto the man-made elevation and clenched his teeth, his face a mask of determination and laser focus.
This was it.
The backward flip that had forever eluded him was now in his grasp.
He could feel it.
He just had to concentrate.
Alden's parents were currently away on a mission and were supposed to be back by nightfall, so he had a few hours until then to get the move down. Envisioning his mother and father's proud smiles as he narrated his success, motivation flooded his veins.
Taking a deep breath, Alden closed his eyes.
He silently counted to three, summoning his courage.
Then, before he could let fear and hesitation paralyse him, he suddenly jumped back, tucking his knees into his chest. Alden immediately sailed through the air, his body rushing to meet with the ground.
Before that could happen, he attempted a secondary flip… alas, he got the timing wrong and fell on his rump.
"Again."
Alden ignored the pain.
It was a sign of his efforts.
He would not let himself fear it.
He would embrace it.
"Again."
He came closer this time, but it was still not quite enough.
"Again."
Closer.
"Again."
And closer still.
"Again."
Scrapes and bruises littered Alden's youthful frame.
Yet, the young boy did not care.
He was intent on achieving his goal.
And so, under Alden's dogged determination, something had to give way.
The only question was… whether it would be his body or the elusive backward flip.
Gritting his teeth, he shakily stood on the wooden bench.
His body had long since become numb, and the pain was slowly turning unbearable.
Alden realised this was the last attempt he had before his body gave up on him.
He would make it count!
He had to…
With his features set in an iron mask of concentration, the young boy inhaled and jumped.
As he had done so many times before, he tucked his knees into his chest and felt his world turn upside down.
Alden was unfazed, and instead of rejecting the disorientating sensation, he embraced it.
Surrendered to it.
Fused with it…
Yelling internally, he visualised himself spinning rapidly.
Unconsciously, Alden closed his eyes, expecting to feel the familiar feeling that came with thudding against the ground.
However, this time…
This time it was different.
There was no pain.
…Only the strange sensation of his legs shaking as he stood upright.
Alden's eyes snapped open, deep joy shining in their crimson depths.
"I did it! I really did it!"
Looking around him, he realised that the sky was beginning to slowly grow dark.
Had it really been several hours?
It felt like only a few minutes at most had passed.
Shaking his head, Alden slapped his cheeks, unable to keep the wide grin off his face.
"Mom and Dad should be back by now. I have to go back home and tell them all about this!"
Full of budding excitement, the young boy raced back to his abode, his feet leaving small footprints in the snow.
A few minutes later, he arrived at his house.
Strangely, no lights were on as he had expected.
His brows creased.
He wondered where his parents were.
Perhaps they had got caught up with something and were returning late. It wasn't uncommon for that to happen.
Alden shrugged and went inside.
He filled the bath with difficulty and cleaned himself up to the best of his ability.
Then, feeling sleepy, he had a small snack for supper, before he collapsed onto his straw mattress.
Alden wanted to stay up and wait for his parents. However, it seemed he had exerted his body too much for his eyelids instantly began to close as soon as he lay down.
The young boy yawned.
Then, he shivered, doing his best to resist the frigid cold.
"Mom. Dad. Please… come back safely. I miss your warmth."
With such thoughts, the young Alden entered the realm of dreams, unaware of how hellish his life would soon become.
***
'Damn it… damn it all.'
Alden clenched his teeth at the memory.
He quickly made sure Celeste was just unconscious and nothing more, and slowly, carefully manoeuvred her under the covers of the bed. He ignored the ache in his heart - one caused by a wound of the past, the other a fresh wound inflicted from the present - and softly kissed the top of her head.
"Wait for me. I promise to come back."
He murmured.
As he stepped back to stare at Celeste's face, another pang materialised in Alden's chest.
Her brows were furrowed as if reliving an unpleasant dream. Her features were also twisted with concern, seemingly still recalling a part of their most recent conversation.
He exhaled a turbid breath.
Alden bit his lips.
He cast his mind back to the uncomfortable days after his parents' sudden disappearance.
At first, he had thought it was something he needn't worry about.
Maybe they had encountered a powerful Defiled and had to take a longer route back to the Sanctuary.
It was a little surprising to find them still away the morning after he had completed his first double backflip. Alden viewed their absence as something peculiar, but not one he should be too concerned with.
At least, not yet.
By the time he finished school that day, his worry only grew after discovering his house was still empty, with his mother and father nowhere to be seen.
By the evening, his unease deepened.
…And by the next day, he knew something was seriously wrong.
It was also then that he began to contemplate the distressing possibility of his parent's demise. No longer was it an outlandish thought, but one that seemed more and more likely as time passed.
Still, Alden held out hope.
He did the best a six-year-old could do in such a situation and made sure to wash, feed and take care of himself - although, more often than not, he went long periods without food -, awaiting the moment they magically appeared to envelop him in a warm hug.
Unfortunately, reality was not kind.
The supplies he had on him were slowly dwindling, and the small amount of money his parents had left behind was not enough to last him at all.
By the end of the third day, Alden was forced to accept that he was now all alone.
It was bitter… extremely bitter to be orphaned at such a young age.
His childhood immediately took a darker turn.
Yet, Alden could do nothing but live on, even as his heart felt like it had turned to stone and the world lost all colour and meaning.
To help combat the decreasing supplies, he had requested help from his next-door neighbours, hoping they might take pity on him and help him out. Sadly, they could not afford to feed another mouth, barely making ends meet themselves.
One even had the gall to slam the door in his face, shouting for him to get lost.
Alden vividly recalled his heart turning cold, his impression of humanity forever marred by that encounter.
Just when he thought he would reunite with his mother and father in the afterlife, Alistair and Elara came and took him under their wing, introducing themselves as old friends of his parents.
Alden had distrusted them for a long time, but eventually, under their persistent efforts, he slowly opened up to them. However, it seemed the trauma brought about by his nasty neighbour still lingered to this day, for he still had great difficulty relying on others.
The young man had a sinking suspicion that that event was why he was paranoid and unable to rely on others.
And… why he decided to venture out into the Wilderness, opting to shoulder everything by himself.
His fear of losing Celeste also played a major part.
Alden never wanted to go through the experience of losing a loved one ever again.
He sighed.
Thinking back to Elara's words, he couldn't help but feel that he had failed to communicate what was inside his heart.
Alden slowly walked out of Celeste's room and resisted the urge to look back, his steps incomparably heavy.