The sun pierced the distant horizon, spreading its warm glow across the land. Dew sparkled across the ground creating a mystical scene. A young youth stood in the warmth of the new day. Regis stood on top of an enormous boulder perched like an eagle.
At seven years old he did not have much meat on his bones. Blonde streaks flashed in his brown hair as the sunlight caught it at the right angle. He grabbed his self-made bow and arrow, as he reached for the arrow his clothing ripped once again by the armpit. "How many more times do I have to sew together these clothes?" he took a mental note to sew the hole that just appeared. Multiple tears covered his brown clothes with signs of being sewn together. Bright blue eyes darted back and forth in search of prey for morning breakfast.
A rabbit darted past his view, he narrowed his eyes, lifted his bow, notched his arrow. He pulled back as slow as possible to avoid detection by the rabbit. His hand aligned with his cheek to aid the precision of his shot. His muscles tensed for a moment before the arrow left his hand.
"Swish..."
The arrow sailed through the air in a straight line to puncture the rabbit through the eye. The arrow lodged itself into the ground. Regis jumped off the boulder in order to get his food before the heavenly beasts could. Pine needles covered the ground of the forest which provided him with a soft spot to land. He ran to his recent kill only now did he see it hanged on the shaft of the arrow like a dead man from a noose. Happy with his first meal of the day being a rabbit and not herbs found around the local forest he grinned from ear to ear. Rabbits and other small animals were hard to find thanks to the amount of heavenly beasts that lived nearby.
He packed the rabbit into his leather bag that had been hand crafted by other rabbit skins. He memorized the forest like the back of his hand, he followed the routes he hand drew in his mind. The village wasn't really home as none of the people even acknowledge he existed. Only Elder Mo looked after him due to being left at his doorstep late one night.
The forest was dense with pine trees that were here since the beginning as such they grew to extreme heights. He followed the route to an open space engrossed by the wood barricade that the local militia had put up. His foot planted into the soft ground to pivot to the left only then did he avoid the wall of wood. He made haste to the only entrance into the village. On top of the gate were two guards clad in farming attire due to it only being manned by the locals. Regis shouted, "OPEN THE GATES!!" hearing a voice they turned to the right to spot the errand boy. They contemplated letting him in.
Lazily saying to the other guard, "Should we let him in brother?"
A smile plastered on his face he said, "Let's have him do something for us first. After all, it is his job."
It took less than a breath to reach the entrance.
Below the gate, Regis had a complex expression he thought he shouted loud enough so that the guards heard him.
"Why have you not let me in?"
The guard on the right was first to reply with a cold voice, "First you must give us your recent kill."
Shock turned to anger as this was his only rabbit he could kill in months. Why would they take advantage of him?
"Don't you think that you're too overbearing on a young boy like me who has nothing to eat?" his eyes dropped to the ground. Their heads swiveled to stare at each other. The guards reconsider want they wanted as they to knew the struggles of not having anything of their own as they were poor farmers themselves.
Sneering at the kid, "Fine then give us the two front legs of your kill."
"Deal!" Regis said.
He opened his bag to fetch the rabbit out to rip off the front legs for them. With a light toss, the legs arched into the guard's hands. As promised, they opened the gate for him to enter. As he ran into the village every house needed to be repaired to some extent. Only dirt could cover the ground in place of grass, it looked like a ghost town. With a population of five hundred people most of it elderly. The only sustainable income was farmland outside the gate.
Located at the northernmost part of the village where no one wanted to live, Regis's small hut stood out. Inside hay littered the ground to provide a bed for him to sleep in at night. Few blankets to keep himself warm during the winter months. Nothing else appeared within the shack, except dishes. He lived at the bottom of society.
He threw his sack on the ground to dig out and clean it his the rabbit. With a knife in hand, he cut off the head so that the blood could drain, next it hanged upside down. Underneath was a metal bucket that caught the blood that dripped down. The blood would be used later as a lure for his traps. He skinned it in a swift manner to get it done and over with. A fire pit was dug in the front of his hut to cook rabbit stew. While the stew was being cooked Regis practiced his martial arts techniques.
"Ah, finally something that can fill my stomach!" A smile that cut his face in half could be seen. He finally got some decent food inside him to fill his stomach, he couldn't wait.
Pouring a portion into his bowl filling it to the rim. He could never predict when his next full meal would be. He ate in a slow manner as if to savor the taste. Three bowls later a food baby emerged from his stomach.
Ten minutes later he cleaned up his area. He stowed the stew away for later in the day. Now, time to work.
Gathering his materials to do business for the day. Regis set out for the middle of the village near the water well which received a decent amount of traffic during the day. In his bag were the most common of trade materials he could get.
Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit.
The booth stood with rocks as the legs with brown flat wood as the surface. Across the table herbs laid on top organized so that the people within the village could see everything he had to offer.
An old woman who appeared to be in her mid-sixties actually had an age of one hundred and nineteen thanks to cultivating up to the red gate mid-level. She leisurely walked up to Regis saying, “Young man do you have mela?” With a glint in his eyes he picked up a few bundles of mela from the table to hand the old woman replying, “Yes, that’ll be five coppers, which is the best price for these fine herbs.” Nodding in agreement the old woman took out five coppers for him.
Understand that three silver pieces was enough to support people in the village as the inflation didn’t affect them much. In the cities and major towns thirty to fifty silvers was enough for a few months of comfortable living.
No hesitation was present in his movements when he grabbed the money from her hand and putting it in his pocket. As she walked away a few different elders came with requests for him to fulfill such as washing laundry, looking for specific herbs, and chores. Today’s business was good, he made fifteen coppers. He wanted to get meat from the local farmers that sold meat for five to ten coppers a pound.
Midday arrived with its sweltering heat wave’s pounding on the dead land below. It signaled that he should start helping the local farmers tend to their fields for two coppers an hour.
He packed up his goods into the brown bag that hung by his side. He left the table where it stood for tomorrow. He ran towards the southern part of the village to Tran’s farm since he scheduled him for today.
Tran’s house was quaint in how it would never fit in this environment, yet it still survived through everything. A flat roof that looked too big for the foundation so it created an overhang of about two feet. No windows to let sunlight flood inside the house or to see outside the house. Only a door stood out in the front and back of the house. Behind the house, an enormous cornfield overtook the horizon.
Thump, Thump
“Mr. Tran are you here?” Regis asked inquisitively as he banged on the door, “I’m here for today's harvest.” Inside a shuffling sound echoed through the walls.
In a slow manner, Tran opened the door “Why do you have to be so loud? You know that I still have my hearing!”
“Mr. Tran I was making sure it was still good,” Regis smirked as he brushed past him. When he did the smell of odor flooded his nose, it was liquor. “You should really stop drinking as it can cause you an early death.”
The door slammed against the frame of the house, “You're courting death.” An aura of fierceness and killing intent leaked into the surrounding room. Surprisingly Mr. Tran could give this feeling despite him being so old.
“Alright, Alright I won’t push it anymore.” Saying with his hands held up in a defensive position. He was concerned that he might keel over the next day due to drinking so much.
“How long do you want me to work today?” Regis asked.
“Four hours,” Mr. Tran replied, throwing four coppers at him. “You will get the other four when you are done for the day.”
Regis caught the money in mid-air directly walking toward the barn to get his sickle. He trained with the sickle by making precise actions cut the corn stalks. This was another part of his regimen for his martial arts. Willpower alone kept him going for all four hours. It turned into arduous work with sweat forming on his face only to fall to the ground. Shirt soaked like he had just jumped into a pool of water. He ran back to the quaint house and opened the back door to find that the four coppers laid out on the table for him. Muttering to himself, “Must’ve drunk himself to sleep.” He grabbed the four coppers and walked out of the house with a purpose.
The sun was setting in the distant horizon as the day came to an end. Today he made twenty-four coppers his biggest profit yet. Seven of those would go towards the cow meat for dinner tonight. He bought the meat from Bev who was the only one in town to sell it.
Arriving at his little shack did he finally sit down to rest for a moment. That moment didn’t last long for him since the dinner couldn’t cook itself. He cut the meat into cubes to put into the stew. The time it took for it to finish he sat in the lotus position to gather the universal energy. Warmth surrounded his body as it entered his soul realm. To build up a force to open the red gate. This is the hardest part for anyone, as it required the most amount of energy.
Thirty minutes later the stew finished as the lid jumped up and down on the pot due to the pressure that built up inside. He finished up absorbing energy, got up, and took two steps to the pot. Removing the pot from the fire to a rock that had a flat surface. There he poured it into a bowl.
He ate his stew while looking up in the sky at the glittering stars that filled the night. “Tonight is amazing,” he sighed while eating, “I need to change my fate! I want to train to the pinnacle of all martial artist’s. This is my dream and I have to attain it no matter what.” These simple thoughts pasted his mind once the spoonfuls of stew entered his mouth, “Though right now I don’t have the power to do so. What can I do to improve my current situation?”
With that last thought, he cleaned up for the night and drifted off to sleep in his bed made of hay.
Little did he know that fate was already working against him.
----------------------------------------------
AN: Any type of feedback is appreciated.