I was alone in the world, with no purpose or direction. I was a blank slate with nothing to offer anyone. But even as those thoughts consumed me, a seed of determination began. While my situation isn’t ideal, I am alive, and that’s what matters right now.

As I drifted off to sleep, my mind was filled with images of a quaint church outlined by an endless white sky. In the church, there was a boy with jet-black hair, a mark on his forehead, and a vacant space where his right eye should have been. The boy was playing with a man dressed in humble robes.

“You’re it, father!” the kid squeaked as he dashed for cover behind the pews.

“You are too quick for me, Kerth. Why don’t we take a break and get something sweet from the market?”

I woke up with a start, my heart racing. The dream had felt so real, but I couldn’t make sense of it. Who was the boy with the jet-black hair? And who was the man he called father?

I shook my head, trying to clear my thoughts. It was just a dream, I told myself. But deep down, I knew that it meant something, that it was a piece of my past that I couldn’t remember.

As Veronica and Vayren stirred awake, I kept my thoughts to myself, not wanting to burden them with my own problems.

“Good morning,” Vayren said cheerfully, rubbing the sleep from his eyes. “Did you sleep well?”

I nodded, forcing a smile. “Yeah, I did. Thanks for letting me sleep.”

Veronica handed me a bowl of oatmeal, and I gratefully accepted it, feeling the warmth spread through me. As we ate, we talked about our plans for the day.

Vayren and Veronica were on their way to Lethandersberg, the southernmost city of the Cariseian domain, in order to officially register as adventures at the regional guild office. While on the road, they found me, and that brings us to now. Since I had nowhere else to go, they welcomed me to continue to the city with them. I agreed, of course, and we were now en route to the rural farm town of Gurtensvog so that we could stay at an inn for the night before making the last leg of the trip.

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As we continued on our journey, I couldn’t help but feel a sense of unease growing within me. The dream from the night before lingered in my mind, and I couldn’t shake off the feeling that it held some sort of significance.

As we approached Gurtensvog, the small farm town came into view or, more notably, into smell. We decided to stop at a local market to stock up on supplies before heading to the inn for the night. As we walked through the stalls, I couldn’t help but feel a sense of nostalgia wash over me.

However, the reason as to why evaded me. My thoughts were interrupted when I noticed two older guys who looked to be around fifteen started pestering Veronica, who had been haggling with a poor dairy vendor.

“What’s a delicate flower like you doing out here all alone?”

One of them leered at her, causing Vayren to step forward defensively.

“Leave her alone,” he growled, his hand resting on the hilt of his sword.

The other guy snickered. “What, are you her protector or something?” he taunted. “Come on, little girl, why don’t you come with us? We’ll show you a good time.”

“That’s enough,” I said, my voice cold and firm. “Leave them alone.”

The guys exchanged a confused look as if they didn’t expect me to speak up. “Who are you?” the first guy scoffed, sizing me up.

“I’m just someone passing through,” I replied evenly.”

The second guy chuckled. “Well, it looks like we’ve got ourselves a hero,” he sneered.

I narrowed my eyes. “I’m no hero,” I growled. “But I won’t stand by and watch as you harass innocent people.”

Without another word, I lunged forward, delivering a swift kick to the first guy’s shin. He stumbled backward, and I took advantage of his momentary distraction, landing a solid punch to his jaw. The second guy came at me with a knife, but I managed to disarm him, using his own weapon against him.

In mere seconds, the two guys were writhing on the ground, nursing their wounds. Veronica and Vayren stared at me in shock, their eyes wide with surprise.

“You… you’re amazing,” Vayren stammered, his eyes shining with admiration.

Veronica gaped at me, “Did you have to go that overboard.”

“Sorry, I thought they would put up more of a fight,” I murmured.

“Veronica, don’t be so cold to your savior, and dude, that was seriously badass. Where did you learn to fight like that? Wait, let me guess… you don’t know.”

“Vayren, stop being a fanboy. What if those goons are related to the inn keep or something? But thank you for stepping in. Let’s try to settle issues like this with words in the future, okay?”

“Okay,” I said, feeling a little embarrassed at my outburst. “I’ll try to control myself better in the future.”

We quickly finished up our shopping and made our way to the inn, eager for a good night’s rest.

It turns out the siblings weren’t exactly well off. They couldn’t accept jobs from the guild branch offices since they weren’t official adventurers, leading work to be hard to come by. So we all shared a room with one bed at the local inn.

As we settled into our room, I couldn’t help but feel a sense of unease creeping up on me once again. It was as if there was something lurking just beneath the surface, something that I couldn’t quite grasp.

As I lay in bed, staring up at the ceiling, the dream from the night before came back to me. The boy with the Jet black hair and the mark on his forehead, playing with the man in humble robes. Who were they? And why did the dream feel so familiar?

The boy’s name echoed in my mind through the night. Something about it felt so familiar. Kerth Kerth Kerth, it had a nice ring to it. I drifted off to sleep, my mind racing with thoughts about the dream and the strange sense of familiarity that I couldn’t shake off