In an area where there is nothing but a forest that spans over a million kilometers and towering green mountains lay a small village surrounded by wooden walls, the village only contained ten houses, an odd number to anyone looking at it from the outside, but for them, it has always been like this.

In a small house courtyard, a brown-haired kid that looked 13 was holding a wooden sword standing against a young man that looked in his twenties with short brown hair and brown eyes.

'Saros, be careful not to get hurt'

"Don't worry about me, you should be looking out for yourself, haha"

they were circling each other when saros suddenly charged and stabbed at the young man to which he parried easily and slashed back but saros rolled on the ground and continued with his attacks, as both parties intensely slashed and dodged, sweat droplets started dropping from saros showing his inexperience in long fights, the young man took this chance and tackled saros dropping him hard on the ground and pointing his sword at him.

"Dad! You always use these cheap tricks, when are you going to fight me honestly? This is so unfair!"

'Here, get up' the young man helped his son up 'Saros, you need to realize that when fighting in a real battle, life and death are on the line, there are no such things as cheap tricks, everything is allowed to keep yourself alive, you need to remember this, come on now let's continue'

After taking a rest and drinking some water, they started training and fighting again, this lasted from the morning till nightfall, saros and his dad has been doing this for almost 4 years, saros started of clumsy but he had a real passion when it comes to fighting so he advanced quickly almost reaching his father's sword mastery.

"Whew, I feel so tired... dad, when are we gonna go together to hunt in the forest, it's so boring here, there are no kids my age, everyone is much older than me and they can't fight, it's really depressing"

Sigh... 'Son, I know that you want to go out there and fight the beasts in the forest, I know you are hot-blooded and eager for fighting, that is why I have been training you for the past 4 years, but... the forest is too dangerous for you'

"Then can't you just come with me? We can hunt together and I would be safe with you right?"

'That is true, but it's not allowed for more than one person to enter the forest together, these are stupid rules set by the village founder'

"But can't we just escape dad? I really hate it here, I want to go out and experience the world and have blood rushing fights, this place feels more like a prison than a village, this is ridiculous!"

'I- I don't know what to say' saros's dad lowered his head as saros walked away with anger, he clenched his fist and mumbled 'I really hope you get out of this hellhole saros'

Suddenly a silhouette walked into the back yard with a gloating smile on his face

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'Zenith, your son is quite ambitious isn't he, getting out of this village? What a joke, where is he gonna go exactly!?'

"Fanzon" Zenith looked at Fanzon with anger hidden deep in his eyes "What do you want?"

'Oh, I'm just checking in on my hunting teammate, and what's the matter with those eyes? You know I'm almost twenty years older than you, can you at least respect your elders?'

"It's quite hard to respect someone like you, anyway I need to go" Zenith took a cold glance at Fanzon before walking away.

'tomorrow is the date, you remember right? honestly, I'm still surprised how you would rather do this to yourself instead of joining me in my job'

"you call that a job? Humph, I will never change my mind, I just hope you keep your promise"

'Don't worry, don't worry, I'll keep your son fed well' Fanzon said with a smirk

'Good, I'll be going then'

Zenith went home with a crappy mode but when he opened the door and found saros sleeping innocently he smiled and covered him with a blanket and kissed his forehead, which woke saros up

"Dad, I'm so sorry about today, I should have not lashed out at you for something you can't control, I hope you forgive me"

'Hahaha silly kid of course I will forgive you, you are my son, by the way... I'll be leaving early tomorrow to hunt some rabbits for the village'

"Oh? why are you telling me that, this a habit you do almost every day"

'it's just that I- Sigh... just remember one thing will you'

"What is it?"

' I will always and have always loved you, do you understand that?' zenith embraced his son with a strong hug and held his tears inside

"Of course I know that dad"

'Alright, time to go back to sleep now, goodnight son'

"Goodnight".

The next morning saros woke up early to say goodbye to his dad again, but he missed him by a few minutes, that day saros spent his time talking with the villagers till afternoon, this is the time when his dad would usually come back, but today was different and saros had to wait till nightfall before getting worried and asking fanzon for help, fanzon quickly agreed and headed to the forest.

Saros's heart was pounding intensely waiting for any news, he felt his eyes water even though he did not know if his dad had something bad happen to him, this showed how much he was scared he would also lose his dear dad, Saros was finally starting to calm himself when he suddenly saw Fanzon in the distance, he ran at top speed wanting to ask him the question that was feeding at his mind but before he could say anything, he noticed the blood all over Fanzon that shocked him into silence

'Saros, I'm so sorry, I found your dad dead eaten by a wild beast, but don't worry I'll take care of you okay' Fanzon said as he hugged him

Saros just stood there, his face blank, just like a ticking bomb before exploding he was silent for a few seconds before screaming with pain, today was the day where he lost his last loved one, his mom died while birthing him and now his dad followed along leaving him on his own in this cruel environment.