"I wish I was never born! YOU DON'T LOVE ME ANYWAYS!"
.
Although he was angry at his son, to hear him say these harsh words,… Apart from the pain left in his ears after the drawn out screaming, it left an even intenser pain in his heart.
Completely overwhelmed by the situation, the adult loses his breath and stumbles on his words,
"You don't mean that. Go up to your room, we will discuss this later. Your constant screaming makes my ears hurt."
What only started in a minor argument, turned into an all out war,… with his own son.
'If his wife was still here, it would never have come to this.' Exactly these thoughts plagued both the old, frail man and his young son, that had grown ever more distant since the incident.
That night, the old man crawled himself in his old, wooden bed, that he carved himself. Wiping his hand across the rough wooden railing, a strong nostalgic feeling floods his senses.
He still remembered his wife's ramblings from back then, 'So instead of buying a bed, which we have the money for, you decide to carve this whole thing by yourself?! Haha, have you gone mad?'
Remembering such happy memories never failed to put a smile on his wrinkled face, that has otherwise remained in a frown since he lost the love of his life.
He felt sad. He wanted to shout up to the heavens and cry his heart out. But… he was too old for these emotions.
Falling asleep at a much earlier time than he used to, his son used the opportunity to sneak out of the house.
It must have been out of hate for the old man, that had no love left for his child, that reminded him of the face his lost wife wore.
.
.
[Yukiko's POV]
[Elisa sketch]
[Yukiko sketch]
Interrupting her peaceful sleep, Yukiko feels a hand pinching her eyelids, pushing them up.
Quickly grabbing the hand and gripping hard enough to teach Elisa a lesson, I spring up from the bed and stab a glare at my foolish companion. 'She can certainly be annoying sometimes, not that I care.'
"Elisa, you should start learning how to wake people up without appearing like a total creep.", I emotionlessly sigh under my breath.
While the girl reacted shyly to the hard words, while my eyes get stuck on the open window of the inn we were sleeping in.
"Ah, right, the people said that it will start raining today. If you want, we can take a break from travelling for today.", Elisa said, slowly getting used to my perpetual daze.
"Not today. We received notice of a pretty high profile quest.", The guide, Puddles, adds from behind the door.
'This creep doesn't know a thing about privacy…'
Curious, I ask, "Are we not able to delay it by at least a day?"
"Not this one, except you want others to cull it. It's on a pretty tight time limit.", Puddles said, still waiting outside of the small hotel room.
So, giving Elisa a short look, we pack our things and make our way to the client.
.
Arriving at an oriental estate, that looked like it was straight out of a Japanese manga, I gently knock on the door.
Opening the door, the face of an older man greets me.
Instead of excitement at the fact that one of the four heroes accepted his request, his face remained miserable.
"You must be the one who accepted my request, please come in."
Arriving at a low-lying table with no seats, the old man makes himself comfortable on the floor next to it, motioning me and Elisa to sit as well.
"Please, Hero of the Halberd, bring my son back to me. Ever since our dispute a day ago, he disappeared.", the man said, still void of any emotion.
"Can you tell me anything about where your son might have went or what he looks like?"
"His hair is hazel brown and his eyes are light blue. From afar, he looks like any other fourteen year old would. For where he went…
The forest is my only answer."
Before I could give an understanding nod, he continued mindlessly.
"You know, he always used to adore nature and adventuring. Even though he changed so much, I don't think he lost that passion.
He is probably under the impression, that he could survive in the wilderness on his own. But, what he doesn't know… is that the wave will hit our world soon. If he isn't back before then, then his death is sealed."
Already being aware of the impending danger of the waves, I merely nod and softly put my hands on the table. It was rough and unprofessionally crafted, yet it left a deep impression on Yukiko. It was as if she could feel the craftsman's emotion as she was caressing the patchy wood.
She could feel the happiness, the joy and the love that went into it.
Before her eyes, a scene of a loving father and his family sitting around this very table, enjoying their meal, appeared.
Slowly breaking out of the illusion, all that was left was the miserable old man in place of the once loving father.
"The table, I crafted it myself, you know?", the old man said.
Unexplainably, a deeply regretful feeling fills Yukikos body, and she slowly lifts her head and releases a soft, understanding voice, lulling the old mans bleeding heart.
"Old man, you must love your son a lot. Don't worry, all hope is yet to be lost."
Sitting up as well, Elisa puts her hands on my shoulders, "Come on, enough talking, let's find this rebellious teen.", she said, filled with excitement.
This was gonna be our first quest after all.
So leaving behind the elder, that had now turned his expression into a deeply thoughtful daze, we make our way towards the forest.
.
Although the cold and damp air didn't bother me, Elisa was having trouble keeping up throughout the track.
I would've advised her to stay back so she didn't catch a cold, but I couldn't afford to do this mission without her. Elisa was a demi-human, so her hearing was exceptionally sharp, including most of her other senses, which makes this quest a lot more bearable.
Although we already journeyed quite far on the first day, we didn't manage to find traces of the missing boy. Also, during the course of the day, more and more of my own clothes were submitted to Elisa in order to get her to shut up about how cold it was.
Trying to find shelter in the forest to sleep, we come across a sort of cave, that escalated into a full blown underground system of intertwined cave pockets. In areas like these, the chance of encountering monsters is usually pretty high according to what I know from these kinds of scenarios in games.
"What a horrible first quest! So my options are either the cold and wet forest to sleep in or this creepy and dark cave?", Elisa groans.
Although I mostly found it annoying, I also learned to appreciated her little bickering. It was kind of cute.
"No problem, I've been looking for something to fight anyways.", i say, anticipating to finally make use of the new abilities of my halberd.
"I guess that's true.", Elisa says, nodding her head in agreement.
Though, resulting in somewhat of a disappointment, nothing of notice happened and we were going to continue our search.
On the second day, the weather only slightly cleared up, still leaving a deep thick fog, that covered the whole forest.
But as we were silently surveying the area, we suddenly came across something peculiar: the remains of an encampment.
It was obvious to anyone who saw it, someone tried to start a fire here, yet, expectedly, the wet twigs didn't make for that great of a campfire.
"Can you make anything out of this, Yukiko?", Elisa said, examining the remains.
"He probably tried lighting a fire but obviously failed due to the humidity in the branches. Education in this land really isn't the best."
"That certainly would be dangerous in a forest like this. I wonder why he even left his home to begin with."
"He must be very foolish."
But Elisa's right, we have to hurry.