'Knocking on Mothers bedroom door I received a weak "Come in." I mustered up a smile and entered.'
"How are you feeling"
"Better than ever" she said with a smile, but it was obvious the smile was fake just as mine was.'
'The room fell silent and the air in it felt suffocating. I asked the question I have had for a while now.'
"How long"
"What do you mean"
"Stop avoiding my question, please be honest with me, how long have you been ill."
"A week before your Father left my health started declining. Our argument was about bringing me for treatment. He…refused."
'Left speechless from the words I had just heard, I felt as if a piece of my heart and soul was torn out. A burning feeling in my chest appeared and was overwhelmingly hot.'
'I am aware that getting treatment was extremely expensive, and for the poorer population it was better to hope it goes away naturally than to drag your family to poverty for it, but that wasn't our situation! Taking Mother to a professional wouldn't even dent his massive wealth.
'That selfish bastard! I swear he will regret this. Not only did he refuse to pay, he sold everything before we could, leaving her with no hope at all! How despicable.'
"I'll take you, im selling my sword and we will-" cutting me off she raised her voice and said "DO NOT, do not" leaving her coughing.'
'My fists clenched hard enough to draw blood and throat tight from anger towards Ethan I raised my own voice in desperation and said "Why not! I wont leave you die when I have the power to stop it, I am taking you."
Now crying she replied "because I want you to live your life the way you want to, I dont want to be the reason you abandon your dreams and potential. I want you to be free. If I took all that away from you I would prefer die!"
"Dont make me be your cage sealing your fate to mine, I wouldn't be able to handle the guilt."
'After a small silence she softly said "Ive watched you train a few times. Your style of fighting, its beautiful and elegant. Its like watching the wind blow, and wind… is free. Please keep training and when you feel you are ready, explore to your hearts content, see the beauty of this world, make friends and take them to see the sights with you. Live your life. But promise me you will not attempt to go after your Father, forgive him, forget him and keep moving forward."
'Teary eyed I gave in. "Ok I promise but at least let me stop my training and spend however long you have left, together."
"I can accept that" she said with a smile.
'I gave her the warmest hug I possibly could and slept on the floor of her room that night, going against her wishes for me to be comfortable in my own bed.'
'A few months passed, spending every possible minute with eachother. The months were filled with smiles only and the fire of life was still burning brightly in Mothers heart.'
'Then on a random day Mother said she had a surpise for me. Or at least I thought it was a random day, turns out it was my birthday again. I am now 17.
"Me and Jared got you a gift, please accept it without any questions or complaints, I will not listen to them" she said with resolve and handed me a beautiful white dagger with a small dark red heart engraved on the handle.
"Make sure to thank Jared too, he went half on the costs."
"Thank you Mother, It beautiful" I responded with a genuine smile, but worried about the price the blade came to. Nevertheless they worked hard to get me it so I wasn't going to refuse.
'The days passed peacefully and 2 months after my birthday, she did too. Tears rolling down me and Jared's cheeks, I held her hand as she took her last breath, I swore to be there at Ethans last one too but out of hate not love. No, I swore to make him take it. He would die by Mothers dagger no matter what. I will not forgive him, rather I had no reason to.'
'It felt as though a piece of my soul died with her, and an emptiness was left deep in my heart."
'Me and Jared mourned her for a week and I got to training, pushing myself harder than ever to keep my mind off it. It was her wish for me to reach my goals and I will do so no matter what. Especially my new goal of killing Ethan. I will keep her dagger close to my heart, bringing her with me on my journeys.
'Jared took me doing all sorts of fun things when I wasn't training and showed me many beautiful places with nice scenery that he found. It helped cheer me up. I think it helped him too, him and Mother had become very good friends in the past months.
'One day while meditating a thought popped into my head'
"What skill do you have Jared?"
"One for enhancing, which is why I became a teacher, I have no fighting capabilities. Its called [Memory Enhancement]. Dont be fooled by the name my memory is worse than ever but whenever a precious or painful memory comes into my head my enhancing gets stronger. Useful for an adventurer but not me."
'An interesting skill, I could probably get some use out of it. If I had it that is.'
'A whole year later, I had trained as hard as I could to prepare for the adventure ahead of me. I learned to dual wield my two daggers and am pretty good at it, but its just a back up I still mainly use the sword. I have recently come to see Jared as a Father of sorts, or at least he treats me more like a son than Ethan ever did. I recently learned he likes nice scenery and the piano, he even took me to see a performance, it was pretty good.'
'But enough of that I am now 18 and I think im finally ready to set out. I went around the city with Jared visiting our favourite places together for the last time, or at least for a long one. Standing atop a hill looking down at a beautiful view Jared wasn't looking at me so I mustered up the courage to say it.'
"So pretty shortly I'll be leaving"
"I'll miss you, where you gonna go first"
'Im gonna look for others at the adventurer taverns and inns, to see if anyone wants to join me"
"Thats a Good way to start"
"Hey F- uh… Jared can I ask something from you."
"Go ahead"
"With mother gone that scum is my last close family member. Can I take on your last name?"
With watery eyes and and a red face he turned even more away and managed to say "It would make me very happy if you did"
'I didn't end up calling him it, im a nervous wreck. Im gonna screw my last chance to say it.'
'I updated my profile to
Name- Markus Gale
And started descending the hill to head for a tavern. Looking back I grabbed everything in me and said it,'
"Thanks for everything, Father."
'Jared who was now on his knees in tears waving replied'
"If you feel you have nowhere to go you can always come back to me, Son"
'Walking away fulfilled it was time to find companions and head out on my journey.'
'I was also was technically the new owner of my house so I gave it to Jared as a farewell gift.'
'I steeled my resolve to get passed The White Wall, destroy fathers legacy and promised myself to have him fall by my hands and headed to the taverns.'