Somewhere in the remote North, where the monsters were really running rampant, a child had been born into a poor family. The child served as a beacon of hope to his parents who were at the verge of giving up, but looking at the life they had created, they were filled with a new resolve, a new found purpose for life.
"We will call him, Lance." The father said with a warm smile as he collected his baby for the first time and held it in his hands, it was a boy.
This poor family lived in a village that was a fief of a relatively big town, Tulgga, and the village name itself was Pint village. The locals there were all farmers and that was how they made their living and survived. Since the monster invasion though, it had been really difficult for them to make any money, as they couldn't travel to the town to sell their produce, and even the occasional merchant caravans that would pass through from time to time no longer appeared.
There would be occasional villagers who would go out to risk it all to get something to eat by making the journey to the town, but it was either they all got wiped out or only a few would return after so long, and even then, the food they would back wouldn't be worth the effort.
Those of Pint village could only hope that things would get better and desperately prayed to the god of light to hear their cries and show them mercy. Of course, it would feel like these prayers weren't answered since nothing was done. If only they knew that this had already been anticipated and five people had been sent to make things better…
"Honey, what are we going to do now? We no longer have anything to eat, maybe it's because of lack of nutrition myself, but even my breast milk feels like its drying up." Lance's mother complained.
It had been a couple months since the baby was born, but things weren't getting any better, and their rekindled hope was dying faster than it lit up.
"We can't continue like this, I heard Peter and Silva were planning to go on another trip to Tulgga, I will join them." Vincent, Lance's father declared with determination, though a bit shaky.
"NO DON'T! all those that go never come back…" Nancy, Lance's mother said in a sad voice, the last part of the sentence, after strongly rebuking it at first.
"Nancy dear, don't do this, if you cry like this, I won't be able to find the resolve to go. I need to do this, you know." Vincent said in a desperate tone, perhaps looking to hear something from his wife who couldn't help but cry weakly. In the end, he didn't hear anything from her. Maybe it was for the best that he didn't, he thought.
"Don't worry, they've gone twice already, and they came back well. They did lose people, but that is unavoidable, all I need to do is make sure I don't get caught by the monsters. You how fast I am, right? Don't worry, it would take two dire wolves to get me down." Vincent said with a weak smile on his face. His wife could tell he was only trying to be positive, after all, she knew her husband well enough. Despite that, she couldn't continue being the way she was, it would affect her husband's choice. He was already trying so much to be positive, the least she could do was support him emotionally.
"While I'm away, uncle Luke will take care of you the best he can. His wife is sick at the moment, so I'm sure they'll find you to help raise the baby. If that happens, he will provide you with something to eat, that should at least help our child also."
What Vincent was doing was pushing his wife to the curb, but at this point, there wasn't much of a choice. If that didn't happen, he would really lose her and his child, if he didn't die along with them.
Luke was literally the only relative they had, but it was well known just how greedy he was, so this was the only hope.
With that, Vincent approached Peter and Silva the following day to enquire if they had a free spot for him to join them, they agreed. In these times, they all had to help each other out, if not for the sake of tomorrow. Even if there was no space for one man, they would still agree regardless, they could make such a "sacrifice" for their fellow brother.
"Worry not, Vincent, there is still space for one more man."
Close to a week later, Peter, Silva and some of the people they went out with were back, and quite unfortunately, Vincent wasn't among, they had lost him to a pack of dire wolves that attacked in the night.
The group left originally with 21 people, but only six returned. This time also, they didn't bring that much food back. All the men came back different each time, as though they had lost something that used to be a part of them. It was only natural, after all, it wasn't easy seeing your fellow man being ripped apart before your very eyes. Worst yet, these people they had lost were close neighbours and such that they had known their entire lives, it was really hard. At least, that was the surface story, seeing as they had intentionally killed them or let them be caught by the monsters to always ensure their safety.
There was also the fact that if they returned with a small number, it would make perfect sense that the things they brought back would naturally be little also, since they won't be able to hold a lot and all, besides the fact that some will be "lost" on the way.
Their plan was simple, to accumulate wealth during this period so they could abandon the stagnant village life and move to a town or city as wealthy men, and of course, the village head was in on it.
Nancy cried for five days after receiving the news, and just as Vincent predicted, Luke did take her in after that, and it was mostly because his own new born was getting malnourished since his wife was very sick and couldn't feed the baby.
Luke's child was only two months older than Lance, but they would grow up together like brothers in the future, after all, they had suckled from the same breast and drank the same milk.
Like that, Nancy and her baby were able to survive.
. . .
Time passed, and while those in small villages suffered, those in the capital saw no evil and enjoyed themselves abundantly, the so called monster wave didn't even flinch them. They were lucky, because they were far away from the borders where all these things happened, and even then they had the imperial army to protect them.
Apart from those in the capital, those who were in other towns also enjoyed the safety of the huge town walls, as such, they couldn't even imagine what people in such remote villages close to the wild borders were going through.
. . .
Time passed by and so like that, five years had gone by. Pint village was in a better time now, but still nowhere people would want to be in, but at least they had food to eat now. Since the monsters had slowed down a bit, they could grow food enough for themselves to eat without the fields being destroyed.
It was a miracle in itself that the monsters rarely ventured into the village. There was no reason as to why the monsters didn't run amok in the village, after all, the wooden fences wouldn't be able to do much against them, but nobody was complaining.
Since then, Peter and his crew had gone on more expeditions to get food and medicine alongside other necessities, but whenever they went, people would die and they would somehow come back with the same people every time. It became suspicious after some time, so they were forced to slow down for a while, regardless to say, the entire village suffered from them halting their trips to the town.
On the other hand, Luke was someone who never lacked food. One would be tempted to say he had made a deal with the devil never to lack food, but what exactly did he have to offer in such a deal?
Time would continue to go as all these things happened.
Even as Lance grew in such a treacherous place where death was common place, he didn't grow to develop the heart of iron like most children did. Maybe it was because Marcus always protected him, so it made him soft from the onset.
Marcus was like a brother from another mother to Lance, they even suckled on the same breast and grew on the same milk. He was the son of Luke, but he wasn't close to his birth mother, rather, he was closer to Nancy than anything, and since his mother didn't give birth anymore, he and Lance who also didn't have any other sibling grew up together.
Around the age of 8, they welcomed another child into their home, a little girl who had lost her mother and father.
By the age of 22, things had gotten much better the village had mostly returned to its former ways. Nancy succumbed to illness, so did Marcus' birth mother, nevertheless, he moved out of his father's house to live with Lance and Ariel, their sister of a sort who was just a little bit younger than them.
While Marcus was very involved in hunting, Ariel was involved in farming and trade, while Lance was fully invested in farming, and was satisfied with it as it was.
Marcus felt that Lance and Ariel had something going, with the former always teasing Lance, but then again, Lance was too shy to make any move... heh... the woes of a weakling. He probably had a lot pent up inside him, but he couldn't release it and express himself.