12 Family

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Selavar Donovan - "I will accept nothing short of excellence. Dissapoint me and I'll have you eat your fingers and toes."

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I had taken out the violin, but, noticing who made it, Charlie said,

“So you bought one of old Alfred’s tools I see. Who are you gonna do in with that pretty piece of work?”

I raised an eyebrow before saying, “I intend on playing it.”

She laughed at first, but after seeing the expectant glances from Joan and Sophia, her skepticism waned. We were walking on the side of the road with Razor and Aether hiding in the forest, I tuned and strung a few chords on the instrument before Charlie said,

“Why not just play the thing?”

I grinned, tuned, and said, “Each musician has their own sound and style. Whenever playing an instrument, I prefer a rougher, more discordant tone with my strings, so I tune accordingly.”

“Sounds like an excuse.”

Sophia said, “And you sound stupid.”

Playing at the inn a few times awakened my sleeping skills, so after managing the minimum of warmups, I played a tune my mother taught me. She would sing the song as my father played the instrument for her, so with the bittersweet memory guiding me, I tuned out the notes.

My own style imbued my emotions whenever I played, so the melancholy leaked into the song as the initial sweeping notes passed over, but as these tones shortened, the song took on new meaning.

Like a jolt of thunder, the song exploded with complexity as my fingers glided across the strings. The sad ending of before made way for new beginnings as hope flared in each echo. The harmony carried the cool of night and the warmth of day. Every moment was inspired and inflamed and inscribed in my life. The melody, like the first flight of a bird, floated through the air with a smooth, instinctual knowing.

I captured the fire of frenzy, the soul of sound, the feel of force. As the song’s ending begins, these notes dampen and decay before the softness of silence begins. After finishing the display, all that remains is the hollowed feeling of what could have been, yet remembering the joy of what once was.

We stopped moving at some point during the song, though I never noticed. I was too absorbed in the performance. Joan glanced at me, grinning wide with her hands balled together over her chest. She withheld her applause while Sophia gave a morose glance at the ground. Her shoulders drooping, I walked over before placing a hand on her back and saying,

“It’s alright. We’ve known days dark, but we’ve a bright future.”

After saying so, Charlie jumps over before spitting her words, “What the hell? I can’t believe you can play so well. Your hands are so huge, yet you just…I don’t know, pull the strings well?”

I shrugged before saying, “This talent of mine compensates for my lack of prowess in other walks of life. I was raised with two parents who loved music more than history or arithmetic. Even after months of study, there is much more I need to know. Besides, I have the talent of two people, not just one.”

Charlie poked my side before saying towards Joan, “I’ve been meaning to ask, but are you and Joan together?”

I said, “Hmmm…We are together in more ways than one. She’s like light while I’m the shadow that comes after.”

Charlie said, “No, I mean, like, do you guys fuck? Dammit, I mean, are you….you know, dating?”

I frowned before saying, “Strange of you to ask, but yes. We are dating.”

Charlie said, “I could see why, you got a lot of strong points. Like money and good fingers.”

I shook my head before saying, “Those aspects come with their own baggage. Joan knows about me and what I’ve done, yet she accepts me all the same. The least I can do is respond in kind.”

“So you have baggage?”

“I would say so.”

“Like what?”

“Well my alternate personality for starters. I don’t sleep, and my skin’s gray. I’m a giant, and I can’t walk upstairs without snapping steps. I feel compelled to change the world, so if she wants to stay with me, she’ll never be able to settle down or have a home.”

I stared at my hands as I said, “I’ve killed people. So many people. I’ve eaten them, along with other things. A part of me doesn’t feel for those around me anymore. It’s like she’s with a monster instead of a man. She had no choice. It was either stay with me or die. She could have lived a blessed life with another noble.”

I looked forward as I clenched my fists and said, “but no, instead she’s dating a deformed, vicious mongrel.”

The words fell from my lips without any thought, pouring out like water. As I turned around towards the others, Joan dashed towards me before she hugged me. After a moment, she said, “It hurts me to hear you say that. I can’t stand it.”

Time froze for a moment before she released me.  After stepping back, she whipped a hook right into my side. The blow pushed me aside before I stumbled. After balancing myself, I turned towards her.

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She grinned before saying, “That’s what it feels like when you say something like that. I’m dating you, not some weirdo.”

My melancholy melted as a smile, easy as breathing and sweet as sugar appeared on my lips. Even before the pain in my side surged, I walked over towards her before scooping her up in my hands.

She laughed as I spun her around, each part of her loose and limber. After the sweet scene subsided, I turned towards Charlie and said, “And that’s why we’re together.”

Charlie frowned at me as she said, “I wish I could get that kind of response out of a man after hitting him. I’d already be in bed with the king.”

I shrugged my shoulders before the idle chatter of before resurfaced, smoothly melding with the clear skies of the day. I cherished those moments, but they fell few and far between. Our pace hastened compared with the other trip, so within two months, we reached Nern without any sizable problems.

Charlie helped more than I imagined she would during the walk. She understood foraging as she’d been on many trips prior, and her tidbits of knowledge seasoned our otherwise painfully plain meals.

Eating something simple clears the mind, but doing so for weeks on end leaves the soul wanting. Since Sophia knew little of the area, Charlie’s expertise proved perfect, allowing for far more variety.

This altered the monotony of our meals, and despite her incessant need for fighting, Charlie instilled energy into our chatter. Instead of avoiding talks about the past, we gorged on them. The shade we’d casted on one another lifted, and a pleasant normality returned, which we welcomed.

However, as with all things, those calm days died. Whenever we reached Nern, our group would separate from Charlie. Charlie gained orders to head over to Tahnar in the far North. It was inevitable, however.

If she learned of our past, it would drag her to hell. Her eccentricity allowed her to stay with us for so long, but with each moment she remained close, we risked her descending into a pit she could never crawl out of. We were an abyss that stared back into you.

It was a shame. Joan and Charlie developed into comrades who shared their techniques with one another. They spared often, and each fight taught them about one another. Whether it was the blade spitting of Charlie or the grounded power of Joan, they learned from one another.

During our journey, the greenery of the grass grew into full force while we reached Nern. Fewer and fewer leaves met our eyes. The forests thinned around the town as plains dotted the horizon and roaming hills turned flat. Forests of trees altered into endless oceans of wheat. The cloud covered sky encompassed almost all the you could see, like looking through a lens that stretched it out.

Having lived in a forest all my life, I never knew how much the trees blocked your view. After reaching the first place in my life without a single tree in sight, the sky overwhelmed me. Big blue, and bright, it inspired awe. I could understand why heaven was above the clouds.

Instead of measuring my sight by feet, I measured in miles. The forest felt claustrophobic by comparison to the fields of golden grass. The rolling hills, lonely yet peaceful, took over the landscape.

Hiding Aether and Razor transformed from a natural, easy process into a grueling trial during this transition. Razor floated above the clouds, using the bundles of white as cover. Aether had no such solution. We covered him in furs during the night, and he hid in underground holes during the day. His overwhelming speed prevented him from falling behind, so we handled the complication without worry, though disguising the process from Charlie proved difficult at times.

Whenever we neared the town, the buildings of Nern dotted the skyline long before we reached them. With my height and good eyesight, I caught sight of the buildings miles before we reached them. We reached the edge of the city’s wall, over a mile from the gate.

A road curved besides the wall, we paced around the incoming merchants and other travelers. The conversations around us were rather interesting. The legend of the Darkened One had spread here, and apparently, a cult like following had formed around him. Tales of Jericho bounced off the mercenaries as well. They spoke of a lumbering man clad in black, toting the fists of a titan. Unlike my other name, the description matched me well, in my eyes at least.

These stories bolstered my moral, but the whispers between them grated my nerves. Tales of the darkened one destroying Mareovosa and his descent into godhood littered these soft, almost silent conversations. The church had began an inquisition against him and his hordes of monstrosities, though no one had seen nor heard of them.

They spoke his name with an oppressive quiet. The all-powerful church feared him without question, and even after being torn apart, his blood pulled him together again and again and again. He was an immortal darkness, unlike a plague or a drought. He would curse the land and all who lived on it for all time. Dramatic, I know.

I thought little of these conversations, except on how best to use my new found reputation. Deluge played the part of the Darkened One well, so using his personality for it had helped tremendously. Whenever we would reach the Arcanum’s branch in Nern, my options would expand tenfold. The prospect excited me.

Several guys tried talking with Charlie and sophia as we walked. Sophia shot them with snide, stinging remarks while charlie scared them off with her crazy. After pacing like that for an hour, we reached the customs office at the front of the gate.

They checked the supplies of those entering the town, almost certainly due to fear of the Darkened One. Whenever we reached them, they paled at the sight of me. I’d grown in height once more, and the grayness of my skin gave a convincing impression of who I might be. The guards, shining in their steel armor, shivered as I approached, but after I spoke their attitude changed to reverence.

“Hello. I am Jericho. I wish for passage through this city, though I had hoped for a more relaxed stay than this.”

The frontmost guard spoke with a gruff voice, “Are you the Jericho? The man who slayed the dragon?”

I grinned before opening my arms wide and saying, “The one and only.”

The citizens behind me burst into an uproar of whispering, but the energy and animation behind their discussions spoke louder than screams. The other guards gazed at me in surprise before the gruff guard said,

“I’m sorry sir, but we’ll have to verify your identity before letting you in. We’ve had around six Jerichos today.”

I grabbed the amulet around my neck before saying, “This is the amulet of Dresdel given to me by the bishop Albus.”

Grabbing a match from a pocket, I struck it against my right palm. The fire bloomed before I placed my fingers over the flames. Dipping my hand into the heat, a warm sensation covered my hand, almost pleasant. After waiting for a few seconds, the older guard stared with a puzzled look before a knight on a horse rode up behind him.

Sophia and Joan giggled at the flamboyant fluff of the feathers on his helmet. His polished armor glimmered bright and brilliant while the strips of gold plating accentuated his wealth. A sapphire at his sword’s hilt glowed bright blue. The knight could gemchain. That fact alone made me raise an eyebrow in curiosity.

As he neared us, I said, “Are you the captain of this guard? With the gem at your side, that’s the least I would expect.”

The man grinned, no scars on his face. Pulling off his helmet, a mane of brown hair fell down his shoulders before he spoke,

“So, you’re this Jericho I’ve heard all about.”

I grinned before saying, “Would you mind revealing yourself before asking for my name?”

He replied, “Alright, fair enough. My name is Drake, Drake Donovan. You may have heard of me."