"Jack, I am sorry but... they are dead."
At that that moment I felt my world shatter. My parents were everything I looked up to and wanted to be like, but now they are...
I just sat there, staring into nothing, not moving. Then I curled up into a ball and started crying. I just stayed like that for several minutes bawling my heart out.
'Everything that happened, why did it happen? Why on that day? Why did it have to take my parent's lives? What did the orcs want? How did they get there? What do I do now? I miss them. I didn't get to say goodbye.' All of these questions ran through my brain for the next little while but one stayed in my mind. 'I guess I know how they felt when I died.'
As I was crying Terra came back and saw me crying on the bed. I couldn't hear what they said or just didn't want to listen to what they were saying. Soon after, they all left the room and I was left alone to grieve.
I stayed there for who knows how long. When I got up my throat was very dry and it was getting dark outside. I looked around and saw that Terra had brought some water and food for me before they left.
I drank some water and just sat in the room thinking and trying to process this feeling of grief and sadness. After a little bit of this, I heard a tap on one of the windows.
I walked over to see what caused it, on the other side of the window I saw a blue and yellow tiger, sitting on the windowsill.
Surprised I just sat there and stared, it tapped the window with its claws again and I snapped out of my trance and I opened the window.
It hopped into the room, walked over to a chair, placed a package it had in its mouth on a chair, jumped onto the bed, laid down and stared at me with sympathetic eyes. I just looked at it confused about why it was there.
Eventually, I walked over to the bed and sat next to it, placed my hand on its side and started to pet it. I heard a purr coming from the tiger and it moved its head and rested it on my lap.
Sadly I couldn't take it anymore and I started to cry again and hugged the tiger tightly. It showed no resistance and just sat there and let me cry, trying to comfort me in a way.
We stayed like that for a while.
...
...
...
...
...
Eventually, I calmed down, let go and just sat there and the tiger stayed nearby. "S-sorry about that... but thank you," I said to the tiger while wiping tears from my face.
It let out a small chuff and licked my hand.
Eventually, I decided to see what the tiger brought with him and I grabbed it. It was a box wrapped in paper tied with string. I held it I'm my hands and decided to open it.
When I opened it I found 3 Books, the cover of the first book was Black, the second had a blue cover and the last one had a Leather cover.
I knew what these were. They are the books brakos has made for me. The Black one was for my primogenitor powers, the blue one was for [Appraisal] and the notes it would take, and the Leather one was for either personal use or another function if I decide on one later.
I grabbed the blue book opened it and a piece of paper fell out.
When I picked it up I saw writing on it that said.
{I know this is not the time for this to happen but we need to talk. Simply say my name while ripping this paper and you will summon me.}
I did so and saw the paper burn and a large magic circle appear on a nearby wall and Brakos stepped out from it. When he saw me, he sighed in relief and said in an apologetic voice. "Hey Jack, I'm...I'm sorry about what happened."
"Thank you," I said back in a hoarse voice and we stood there in silence for a little.
The tiger chuffed, breaking the awkward silence and Brakos sat down in a chair and said "I know you aren't in the best of places right now but we need to talk about what happened."
I nodded and let him continue. "Can you tell me what happened after I passed out, you have been watching me for a while I guess."
"I have been keeping tabs on you but not directly. Anyway, after you passed out I tried giving you a healing potion but it only ate away at your energy and didn't heal you."
I looked confused as I knew this I should have healed
"I will answer that later when I saw that the potion didn't work I called out to other spirits in the area to come and help. Many did but none knew why you wouldn't heal."
"Eventually, he." Brakos gestures to the Tiger. "Came to me and told me he knew where your uncle lived. He knew your uncle was a healer of sorts and could bring him here but he was a few days away.
"I told him to bring your uncle and gave him this to make travel faster" Brakos then pulled out what looked like a feather made of paper. "It's a Wayfinder Feather. It allows people to travel quickly to places they have been before."
"So he has been following me," I mumbled to myself. "Why not go back to Thornbranch."
Brakos looked at the tiger and said "I didn't know where you lived at the time and the others couldn't risk going to a place with orcs."
"Somehow, and I don't know how the Orcs have been capturing us and forcing us into slavery for decades, even I can't risk it."
"Of course, I didn't know about the Orcs at the time but they did."
I nodded and let Brakos continue.
"When your aunt, uncle and cousin arrived we worked together to save you. We discovered that you had been poisoned. It was one a certain orc tribe called the Red Hand coat their weapons in. It prevents you from healing normally and causes potions to only use up your energy."
"Terra helped me remove the poison and we could heal you. Your family brought you here with a teleportation crystal I gave them and sent soldiers to Thornbranch to help you know the rest from there."
We both sat in silence after Brakos finished explaining. I was thinking about what Brakes said and it made sense for the most part but one thing bugged me."why didn't you know where I lived? I thought you were keeping an eye on me like how you appeared in front of me before I passed out."
"That is partially my own fault," Brakos said. "I was keeping watch but I didn't pay attention to where you were. My appearance before you was truly a coincidence, I had finished the books and decided to give them to you as a birthday present and simply teleported close to you, I missed it by a day and you had to go through... all that. So, I'm sorry."
I sat there for a minute then said "Thank you and I can't blame you for that you must be busy. Plus I remember you saying that time works differently in the Library, right?"
Brakos nodded and said "It does fluctuate randomly so I don't check on stuff often. How are you doing so far?"
I looked down, sighed and answered "Terrible. I can't stop thinking that I could have done something differently or stayed and helped. Why did the orcs attack in the first place and what their goal was."
"So many questions, feelings of sadness and guilt plague my mind almost constantly... in full honesty it feels like I will never feel better and I will only feel worse."
Brakos moved over to me and placed a hand on my shoulder, looked me in the eyes and said "Loss is never easy, you will always remember what happened but you shouldn't keep thinking about what could have been. Instead, you should think about the present and how you will honour their memory.
"I will always be nearby if you need someone to talk to. You should follow the same advice you gave to your mother from your first world, don't close yourself off from others and be there for the rest of your family."
I looked at Brakos with tears in my eyes and hugged him "Thank you" I said and he hugged me back consoling me.
We stayed like this for a few minutes with me crying into his shoulder as we talked about how to deal with loss and what I can do now.
Eventually, it got dark outside and I was tired. Brakos told me to get some rest and that he would go and look into what happened around the village. The Lightning Tiger decided to stay with me for the night.
After Brakos left I soon fell asleep exhausted from everything that happened today.