"Roy, remember to deliver the materials to Old man Luci."
"Yes, I will, Dad."
I'm Roy Stiefal, a boy who aspires to be one of the greatest Aetherians in the world! I'm gonna become so strong and so famous that everyone will hear my name!
Our family was poor, lived in a village far off near the woods, my Dad was a woodcutter and my Mom was a baker. Mom was fragile, like extremely fragile! She can't hold anything too heavy and it's difficult for her to even walk!
That's why when I become famous and strong, I'm gonna protect and give my parents everything they want! A new morning had risen, and I had fallen on the floor. Not because I had slipped or tripped, not because I was sulking from not getting what I wanted. It was because.
.
.
"Don't let anyone of them leave! Take everything they have, kidnap the children and women and slaughter the men!"
"Listen up kid, your father is going to fend off the bad guys. Don't worry and keep Mom safe for me alright?"
"D-Dad." My voice trembled, my legs numbed and paralyzed.
"Roy, remember what your dream is, it's to protect right? It's to become strong enough to protect everyone, right?"
"Right.." My words were barely coherent enough to make up words, tears streamed down my face, it was unbearable. I knew he was going to die. In my mind, I believed he was the strongest, yet I also knew he was no match for them.
"It's okay son." He hugged me tightly, I wanted to hug him back, yet my arms didn't want to listen to me. I didn't want him to leave, I wanted to grab him tightly and never let go. He lifted me onto my legs.
"Son.." He paused for a brief moment. "Don't let your father down alright? I'll always be proud of you."
Adrenaline surged through my body, I felt weak still. But, I had the will to live. I held Mom's hand and we rushed out the back door, going as far as we could into the dense and thick forest avoiding anything that made sounds and anything that left traces of us.
Mom was compassionate, brave, admirable, and loving. She was the best Mom in the entire world, no one could compete with her beauty, bravery, or love.
"I saw them go into the forest, chase after them!"
"Roy, leave me. I can't even run or walk."
"Mom, Dad said he'd beat up the bad guys, we just have to hide for a bit and wait for Dad."
"Roy."
"Please."
I didn't want to betray my Dad, but even if I was 6 I knew Dad wasn't strong enough to win. It was a fact. But, Mom would be the only thing left, I couldn't abandon her, I couldn't leave her.
"I found them! Don't let them escape!"
"Roy. Please."
"I.. Can't.."
Tears clogged my eyes once again and I wanted to stay with my Mom till the end at least. But it wasn't possible. Someone snatched me away, Mom tried to run a different way before the blade reached her neck. I closed my eyes as soon as possible, I knew the result and that made me tear up even more.
The man placed me onto the floor within his small house that was dug into what looked to be a man made cave. The short man's large eyes were of a golden brown, his large red beard drooped down to his collarbone and a helmet with two horns that protruded from the side.
I cooped up into a ball, looking at his stern eyes.
"Who are you..?" My voice was still uncontrollable and my body continued to shiver sporadically.
"Your savior." His voice held a deep and serious tone.
I stayed quiet for a few minutes, my body lost its adrenaline however the fear I held took several days before my voice had returned.
"I want to ask.. Why so short?"
"Tch, I saved you and you're already disrespecting your elders? What a brat."
"I didn't ask to be saved."
"Fine, I'll just leave you to the place your mother died."
"You already saved me, take responsibility."
"Brat.. Ugh Fine."
"Go clean up."
"Where."
"The second door on the left."
As I walked into the door, my eyes widened from amazement. It was a large waterfall, in which I took off my clothes and jumped straight into the large plunge pool. It was refreshing, really refreshing.
"You cleaned up now kid?"
"He-hey! I'm still butt-naked!" I yelled in embarrassment, turning around with my back faced toward the dwarf that came in.
"There's nothing to see. I'll put these here, come inside when you're finished, we have something to discuss." He placed a set of clothes near the door before slamming the door on his way out.
"Oh, you're done. Fortunately the clothes fit you perfectly." The man looked up as he closed a small, old book.
I had never actually looked around and as I sat on the stool in front of him, looking around to see the.. Very bland interior.
"So, what's your goal kid."
"Goal?"
"Do you want to become stronger?"
"How..?" I got taken aback, not from his words but, the dwarf's eyes had a different look from before, it made me feel hopeful, and fearful at the same time.
"It's simple. Perseverance."
"Perseverance? What's that mean?"
"Just don't worry about it. Are you in or not?"
I felt like I could trust him, so I did.
"Yes, I'm in. I'll get revenge for my Mom and Dad and everyone in the village!"
"But wait, mister, if you're teaching me, doesn't that mean you're strong?"
"Of course I am."
"Then, couldn't you beat the people who killed my village?"
"Couldn't you have saved my mother? If you were a minute faster, couldn't you have saved my village? Why did you save me specifically? Tell me mister, why?"
The questions continued to pile onto one another. Why was I saved but not my mother? Why couldn't he have saved my entire village?
"Brat. Enough questions, what's done is done, do not dwell on the past. Just become strong and get revenge for yourself, that's the only way you'll feel satisfied, no?"
I was just a child, why did I have to do this? Why did God do this to me? Why did the world do this to me? Why did I survive? Why didn't I die with them? Why? Revenge? Death? No. Death wasn't enough for scum like them. I had to do something more, something worse than death.
I had to cripple them, make them disabled for life, make them lose everything! Family? Children? Partner? Torture was greater than death, I was but a kid, but now that I had learned it myself, death would only relieve those loathsome vermin.
"Teach me, make me the strongest, make me stronger than anyone in the world."
"Of course." A wide smile propped up onto his face, stroking his beard as his voice energetically echoed.
My training consisted of doing intensive workouts to build up muscle, just some basic exercises, nevertheless, the amount that I was ordered to do was near impossible for me to do at my age, in addition to my rather weak body and small weight class, the tasks given were absurdly difficult. I had no real training, and was already tasked doing impossible exercises for my age.
I had to do 5 sets of 50 push-ups, 5 sets of 50 sit-ups, 100 basic sword swings within a day. If not completed, I wasn't allowed food! Water! Sleep! It was torture, but I held on.