That night as Elias approached the crumbling cottage where he and his father lived, the weight of the scroll felt heavier than ever in his hands.
The promise of something beyond the village's scorn, the chance to create something that could stand against the misery of his life.
He could hardly believe it himself, as his mind spun with thoughts of the Homunculi Recipe, its bizarre ingredients, and what they might mean.
The faint glow of candlelight flickered through the cracks in the wooden shutters as Elias neared the door, his father's deep, labored breaths escaping the cottage's walls like a constant reminder of the broken man inside. He stopped at the threshold, his hand on the door, hesitant for just a moment…
He had grown accustomed to the silence that greeted him when he returned home, the bitter loneliness that followed the torment of the day., ..but tonight; as he pushed the door open, a strange repetitive sound greeted him:
It was a soft creaking, like the groan of an old door swaying in the wind, and as soon as he saw it.. he froze.
From the dim light of the hearth, Elias could make out the silhouette of his father lying in the bed. His half-missing limbs were sprawled out in their usual manner, but something was different tonight, something new.
A soft rustling of bed sheets accompanied by ragged breathing reached Elias's ears as he entered his home.
His eyes widened as he saw the figure atop his father, struggling to hold onto the bed's headboard with one hand, while the other clung tightly to his father's half-limp body.
It was a young woman, her form lithe and familiar as her features framed by the firelight.
At first, Elias couldn't believe What he saw;
It was *Camellia*: A girl just 3 years older than him, was seducing his father. The same girl he had once quietly wished would one day notice him as more than a target for the village's cruelty...
But that was before she had begun to tease him, joining in with her boyfriend Jonas's constant mockery of him, ..along with that of the other villagers.
Frozen in shock, Elias couldn't help but watch from afar as Camellia moved above his father, her long hair falling down her back, her body riding his father's crippled form.
In that moment Elias's heart sank deeper than ever before, the bitter taste of rejection, humiliation, and disgust rising in his throat.
He had long accepted that his father's fall from grace had led him down a lonely, pitiful path. But this..; This was a pain like no other, something he had never imagined possible.
He had never thought that Camellia, nor his own father would sink so low, not even in a drunken stupor.
…But there, in the cold dim light of the crumbling cottage, the silhouette of his father's broken body with Camellia on top of him seemed to burn itself into Elias's mind.
Camellia, oblivious to his presence, continued to straddle his father, as she whispered in a voice too low to be heard.
The smell of cheap wine and sweat filled the air, mingling with the faint odor of burning wood from the hearth as Elias stood frozen, his mind reeling with confusion, shame, and disgust for what he had just seen.
Elías wanted to scream at his father, to shout at them both, but his voice faltered in his throat.., for there was no more anger or emotion left to give, only the cold emptiness that had settled deep within him over the years.
something inside him shifted;
He felt no more remorse or jealousy for his father or Camellia, no more longing for attention, just a vast feeling of emptiness.
For the first time in his life, Elías had realized that he would never find peace in Eddervosté.
As Elías turned and began to walk up the stairs nearing closer to his room,
the sound of Camellia's breath quickened, and Elias slammed his door.
After what felt like an eternity, Elias stumbled out of his room and down the stairs, before silently sneaking back out the door. He didn't look back at the cottage, didn't think of the bitter tableau he had just witnessed…
Instead, he walked into the fog of the night, the distant stars above him offering no comfort to his aching heart.
As he walked, his thoughts once again returned to the scroll hidden beneath his cloak, to the recipe, to the chance to create something, ..anything that might give him the sense of control he had never known. Perhaps with this secret knowledge, he could forge a new destiny for himself and his creation;
Perhaps this Homunculi, this *Golem* he planned to create, would be his only true companion in this twisted world.