'FUCK IT, FUCK IT.... FUCK IT ALL!!!' Siergiej shouted in his mind. 'HOW!!!... HOW AND WHY, WHY ME? WHY US??'
It was a beautiful morning, with the sun shining unobstructed and a cool breeze coming from the riverbank - an ideal morning shift for an overworked gatekeeper.
Normally, Siergiej would be happy to arrive for his shift - stand below a mighty arch of the Wind Gate with his friends, hiding from the sun's murderous gaze in the gate's shade and checking the travellers.
Normally, the job was amazing, every guard in the Northern Overseer strived to be appointed as a gatekeeper - not only did you sit all day in the shade, it was also generally safer than normal patrol.
But today, or rather this few days, Siergiej wasn't happy.
He woke up mad, ate his breakfast even madder and now, standing next to the wall and looking at the wagons passing by, he was livid.
The travellers rode silently, either with huge smiles, happiness for the adventure and eagerness to see the world, or they were the experienced ones who just wanted to finish the journey as fast as they could and return to their families.
Either way, the image of those people and their lives looked so appealing to Siergiej right now. He just wanted to get out of the city, leave his problems behind and never return - yet, he couldn't get himself to do such a thing.
"How about those?" His subordinate asked for permission to check a group consisting of two men and a bigger group of women.
"Go on, but be fast - the line is longer than usual today, we have to hurry if we want to get it over with and go home in a reasonable time.
Here appeared the only downside of being a gatekeeper - if there were people willing to go out, the guard had to stay until everyone left. Of course, even then there was a hard limit on the time the gatekeepers could be kept working, but it was much more than those in normal service.
Today, Siergiej had to allow fewer check-ups than usual, even after considering the long line that awaited on the square inside the city walls - as he had to prepare for later this evening.
The burly man in his early twenties whistled and signed for the group to stop before him, then skimmed through their baggage and checked whether they carried something restricted on themselves before giving them a green light to leave the Northern Overseer.
Back to Siergiej's terrible day.
It all started a few days ago when he was keeping guard, as normal. The day was slow and boring, without any incidents at work.
The pacing of the day drastically changed when he returned home, and found out, that his normally very intelligent and wise wife, got horribly scammed.
Long story short, some group of men arrived there in the morning and offered her a set of enchanted knives for sale - marketing them as a set made in tandem with a proficient nature mage, which would make her ingredients ever-fresh.
No more going out every day for a sack of potatoes!
No more rotten vegetables and stinking meat in the pantry!
No more cutting off excessive amounts of bad-looking food!
It felt like a dream for the poor woman, but as with all dreams, it was not real.
Not only the knives were just sharper than normal, nothing more, but also the bandits who called themselves businessmen got Siergiej's wife to sign a contract that let her keep the knives and pay up later.
And that was her greatest mistake.
Having been enchanted by the magical utensils, she didn't notice a fine print that raised the price so dramatically and ruthlessly that even a handsome gatekeeper's pay which fueled Siergiej's savings barely covered half of it.
Normally, Siergiej would have called his friends, among which was his superior, an Advanced warrior himself - one of few who stayed here instead of being sent to the frontlines, and found the basterds that dared to scam his wife.
But his hopes of retaliation dissipated into nothingness when the scoundrels returned for the money, in the evening of their blatant robbery. Two revealed themselves, but there were surely more of them around.
While the poor guard couldn't know how powerful they were, he could clearly sense that each of them was stronger than he was - calling his friends would only endanger more people, and he wasn't ready to endanger any of them.
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Thus, he paid - and lamented every moment since.
'AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA' Siergiej couldn't focus on the work, and soon enough, his subordinate had to shake his body out of a deep trance.
"Siergiej? What happened? You seem disturbed..." The burly man in his early twenties put his halberd aside and neared his hand towards his superior's forehead.
"What are you doing?" Siergiej asked, confused. "I am not sick, It's just... problems at home..." he confessed.
The other man stepped back and picked up his weapon - going back to his position closer to the gate's entrance and the flow of travellers slowly started again.
"Do you want to talk about it?" The guard asked, standing with his back turned towards Siergiej.
"No, not really. Thanks for asking though." Siergiej declined - but he really wanted to talk. It was just that he couldn't, or those thugs might do something bad and stupid.
Siergiej stood up after a while and took his subordinate's position, while he sat down and rested his legs.
Soon after the shift, he waved at a group of four men. Three of them sat in a carriage while one left was guiding the horse that pulled the vehicle.
"Hello. It will be just a routine checkup - please cooperate and you will be free in no time." Siergiej recited the phrase he used so often, and walked over to the already stopped carriage, from the back.
The man taking care of the horse looked scared, as he heard the gatekeeper say the perilous words, no different were his companions, one of whom nervously tapped the bench near his bags.
The men jumped down from the coach, and silently let Siergiej look through their bags.
Then, after the gatekeeper went through the baggage and provisions in the vehicle, he turned towards the travellers.
"Take everything out of your pockets, then pat yourself down and jump up a few times," Siergiej ordered as he didn't feel like getting all touchy with anyone today.
As they followed his orders, the gatekeeper looked them up and down in search of something suspicious - despite his problems, he remained vigilant and professional in the way he performed his job.
"Okay, you are all clear - have a safe journey ahead." letting them go, Siergier recited a farewell phrase every gatekeeper told to the ones who passed the check - in an attempt to lessen the annoyance, or fear of the ones involved.
As the horse trotted away, Siergiej returned to his subordinate who sat beside the gate's wall.
"Are you going to the bar with us tonight?" The man on the chair asked.
"...I don't think so..." Siergiej responded evasively.
"...Shame, but I guess it can't be helped... Did you hear about..."
The conversation continued, with Siergiej being more of a passive force and mainly responding to his friend's questions it wasn't very lively, but said friend went on and on, in an attempt to distract Siergiej from whatever problem he may be struggling with.
Even though his friend wasn't willing to share his troubles, he did his best to help him, at least psychologically - after all, there was no good in constant worry during work hours, when there was nothing to do towards solving the issue.
Or at least, that was what the subordinate thought.
Siergiej on the other hand, didn't quite want not to think about his problems, or rather, he couldn't.
You see, today his problems were about to lessen, on the physical, material plane of things. His consciousness though, would be burdened a lot more from now on.
A day, or two after the incident at his home - he didn't quite remember - two men approached him on his way back from work.
Despite his utmost secrecy of his wife's blunder, they somehow got their hands on the information about his debt and offered to help him pay - in exchange for a small favour...
Well, small not quite - or rather incalculable.
After all, they wanted him to let a group of people unchecked out of the city - not really a hard thing to do, really. But for a law-abiding citizen like Siergiej, it would be really stressful.
----------------------------------------
Eventually, noon came, and with it, Siergiej's worries soared along with anticipation for the events that were about to unfold.
Just as the tormented gatekeeper expected, a group of mounted men slowly rode towards the Wind Gate behind other travellers in the queue.
The one leading the group was a very tall man, with long, dark-blonde hair falling down his clothing - which was surprisingly poor and worn out in comparison to his compatriots.
His horse had a red bandana accosted around his neck - a sign the one offering to pay off his debt told the gatekeeper to look out for.
He sat in his saddle with a prideful expression, looking down on other people, yet curiously observing their behaviours and expressions, judging their equipment and comparing their horses to his own beautiful creature.
Behind him, a couple of inconspicuous warriors rode on their big horses. Clad in armour and carrying weapons by their sides - they looked truly frightening for a potential enemy.
Between them, a boy, maybe fifteen to eighteen years old, rode in silence on his brown horse. While silent, he was catching the attention of every experienced observer, looking around curiously and absorbing any information he stumbled upon.
The boy's green eyes even stopped for a moment of Siergiej's figure, hidden below the Wind Gate's majestic arch. As they did so, the troubled gatekeeper could discern some uncertainty and fear, hidden among the looks of curiosity in those intelligent eyes.
Behind the outlandish teenager - who Siergiej speculated to be one of the reasons for their insistence on not getting checked at the gates - few other burly men rode, their horses hidden behind layers and layers of baggs, pockets and camping utensils, just like the mounts of the other members of the group.
Seeing their equipment, Siergiej wondered why, for the love of the Goddes, hadn't they got themselves another horse only for carrying unimportant items?
A few minutes later, The first of the riders crossed the gate, after Siergiej hadn't given permission to check them to his eager subordinate - who proposed to deal with the scary group.
As the warriors slowly appeared outside of the city, Siergiej finally was able to see the last rider - a remarkable man, with golden hair, and golden eyes.
Just like one of the men who visited his house the night of his wife's scamming.
This time, not hidden behind a mask, and staring at the gatekeeper calmly from the height of his horse. As if saying;
"Try Me"