‘At the beginning of time, there was ‘Nothingness’. An infinite void spanned everywhere. Vast and Beyond. The only variable was ‘Time’ and it passed - time, a lot of time, continued to pass.

One day, the infinite void started shrinking, contracting at its center. Aeons passed by, and this phenomenon continued. When the void had shrunk to its center, it happened - The Creation.

Primordial Energy was formed at the expense of the void - The Creatrix, as it came to be known as, creating the cosmos in return; creating, sustaining, and destroying creations from oneself - manifesting itself into all forms of matter. Its true form was and is still unknown, with no beginning or end, eternal.

‘O’ Mother, Encompassing us all, I bow to Thee’

‘The Source of all Divine, I bow to Thee’

‘O’ Mother to us all Creation, To Thee I Bow’

And that’s how our world came to be.’

*ptak ptak*

In a dimly lit room, the only sound heard was the burning of wood. The languid flames illuminated the room, providing the much-needed warmth from the chilling winter. In the middle of the room, a 5-year-old boy was soundly sleeping on a wooden bed, his pale face a stark contrast to the dim room. A half-open book, tightly held in his embrace. Worn and torn, the book looked old, showing it had passed through multiple hands before - the title read ‘Tales of the Old’.

* * *

After the incident, the Cleric had advised Vance on bed rest to recover. A week-long unconsciousness had taken a toll on his body. As the doctor said, it might take a month or two for him to recover. At first, he was happy as he was spared all the chores. But after a week, the boredom set in. His bedroom started giving him depressing and gloomy vibes - he needed a change of mood and pace.

At that moment, he remembered his dream - or was it really a dream? those places that he had never seen before. They had induced a state of euphoria in him at that time, something that he had never felt before. He got a sudden urge to visit all those beautiful places again and maybe some new ones along the way, but alas he was just a child. He had never even ventured far from the farmhouse - the stony path to the mountain stream and the nearby city were his only pals. So, he decided to ask his father.

“Father, what does the world look like? Is it beautiful?” One fine evening, when Morgan came back after doing the daily farm work, Vance asked him.

“What? What’s with this sudden question?” Morgan was a little surprised when Vance asked this. It was his first time asking such things.

“Nothing. It's just that I have never seen anything. I was just curious.” Failing to provide a proper explanation, Vance just replied with what was on his mind. Well, it was true in some sense.

“Well even I haven’t seen most of it, so I can’t tell you what the world looks like. I can only tell from what I’ve seen,” Morgan replied, trying to satiate the child’s curiosity, “And it can be beautiful sometimes.”

“Even you haven’t seen much? Why? How can this be?” Vance was shocked by his father’s answer. For him, there was no such thing his father didn’t know. Thus, this realization came as a surprise to him.

“Hahaha. Of course, I haven’t seen the whole world. Do you have any idea how big the world is?” Morgan chuckled when he saw Vance’s surprised face. It was always a good sight to see him so lively.

“Is it, like, really really big?” Vance said, spreading his arms wide open, trying to scale it. It was time for him to be surprised again. If even his father hadn't seen the whole world, how big was it? The mere thought of this caused goosebumps for him. ‘We are wanderers; It is our way of life, not a part of life' - somewhere deep inside him, these words came to life again, resonating with his consciousness.

“Yes, very big, even bigger than this”, replied Morgan while stroking Vance’s head tenderly. He was happy with how his son had grown, from the day he brought him home to now.

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“Wow, I want to see it, father. I want to see the world,” excited at this new discovery, he asked Morgan, his little blue eyes sparkling. “Will you take me?” Just the idea of seeing something new was enthralling to him.

“Sure, sure, but not now. The world is a very scary place. A lot of bad people are out there. You have to be a big and strong man first,” Morgan tried to calm him down. But it was true that the world was a dangerous place; Vance was too young, and he was too old to protect them both if they ever got in trouble.

Having his wish turned down, Vance was disappointed and sad. He didn’t know why the world was a scary place, or how dangerous it was. He hadn’t seen anything dangerous while living in the farmhouse, so was his father lying? He quickly dismissed the thought from his mind as quickly as it came. ‘There’s no reason for my father to lie to me,’ he thought to himself.

Seeing his son discouraged, and the happiness on his face lost, Morgan felt sad. He couldn’t tell Vance how scary the world was. After all, he was still too young to know all that.

“Even if you can’t see the world now, you can still read about it,” Morgan suggested this idea to cheer up Vance.

“But studying is boring,” Vance said lazily.

“But it’s still better than nothing. Maybe this might help you when we go later on.'' Morgan tried pursuing Vance, “You can write down all the places you want to go, and we will go there”. Vance was excited after being bedridden for a long time but now his sad face now hurt Morgan.

“Only if you say so,” After giving in to his father’s persuasion, Vance asked him, “But you have to promise me that we will go together to see all the places. Promise?”. He wouldn’t give in today without the promise.

“Hahaha,” Morgan laughed, seeing his son’s serious expression. He slowly bent down on his knees embracing Vance and said “Okay. Promise.” He was smiling, yet it was not a smile.

Hearing his father’s promise, Vance’s face bloomed into a big smile, “You are the best, father. I love you”. Morgan tried to hold it in, yet a tear still rolled down from the corner of his eyes as Vance said those words. “I love you too, my son,” he said in a stifling voice.

Later into the night, Morgan rummaged through his non-existent library and brought out an old book; its state was worn and torn, signifying how old it was.

'Hah. Found it. It's been a long time since I saw this” The book brought some old memories to Morgan. ‘How long has it been? 60 years? 70 years?’ He thought to himself.

Lost in his thoughts, he brought the book to Vance.

“You should try reading this one,” he said while handing over the book to Vance.

Vance took the book and was visibly surprised by its state. “How old is it to be in such a condition?”

“Hoho, too old. It was from when I was a young lad myself.” Feeling smug, Morgan replied with pride. “I bought it from the library of the Knight’s Academy. Aha, I miss those days.”

“Knight's Academy? What does that mean?” This part caught Vance by surprise. He had never heard something like this before.

“Oh, I must be getting old. Well, how do I say this, hmmm, think of a Knight’s academy as someplace where they train knights. People like me. Just like that, there are also academies for Scholars, Mages, Forgers.”

“What? You were a knight?” Vance was surprised by this revelation. His father had never told him this before. “Also, Scholars? Mages? Forgers? What are those?” They were something Vance had never heard of before.

“Hoh, Of course, I was a knight. Your father was a very important man,” feeling the opportunity to boast about himself, Morgan said it in a prideful tone.

“Really?”, Vance’s eyes were sparkling at this moment, and he asked what he had read in a storybook his father gave him to study, “Did you also save a princess from the bad guys?”. Just the thought of this excited Vance, his father being one of those heroes from the books.

“Well…..” Morgan stopped midway, feeling it difficult to explain things to this little kid, “That’s something for later. Not now.” He said, trying to close the topic.

Vance’s interest was piqued, and he asked, “Will I also go to these places they call academies? Like the one you went to?”

Immediately, however, he retracted what he said, “No, No, I won’t go anywhere without you”

When he heard this, a warm loving smile appeared on his otherwise haggard old face and Morgan said, “Everybody has to go there if they want to be strong. You have to be strong too, right, if you want to see the world with me. I am old, so you will have to get strong to protect me, right?”

“But it’s still a long time before that happens. You have to learn a lot of things before that.” Morgan said, as he stood up, to leave the room.

“Alright, don’t stay up too late,” he gently stroked Vance’s head and headed to leave the room.

“Okay, father.”

Vance finally remembered the old book in his hand and focused on it. The book had a tattered cover, but he could still make out what was written on the cover.

“Tales of the Old, by Vith Rysa ” He mumbled to himself