Mal let his eyes open as anxiety and fear filled his heart. Trying to ground himself in the familiar yet sparce furnishing of his small room he tried and failed to not think about the awakening later in the day. As he climbed out of his straw cot his mind wandered to what would happen if he failed to awaken a class on his sixth attempt. Catching a hold of his thoughts and forcing himself to dress and leave his room he reaffirmed to himself that he would awaken a class and that he would provide for his family.
Moving aside the drape covering his door he was accosted by the smell of frying eggs. He let a sad smile onto his face as he realised that his mother must have saved up and bought the Coopers overpriced eggs. Forcing the smile into something with the appearance of genuine joy he walked into their main room to see his mother, stick in hand, slowly making her way towards the central cooking pot. Mal exchanged pleasantries and accepted her wish of good luck as he took a seat at the table. They idly chatted about inconsequentials for a couple of minutes however there was a weight to the room that slowly smothered their attempts of conversation. Neither of them spoke of the gravity of the day so as Mal’s mother hobbled over and handed him a plate of eggs he simply smiled weakly and studied the room. Despite being small and rough there was a rugged beauty to the wooden cottage Mal’s now dead father built a lifetime before. It was far from luxurious however it kept them warm and was a testament to better times. However now everyone talked of how times were harder, all the kingdoms surrounding them wanted to destroy Topenthne and steal their riches. Mal’s eyes glazed over as he lost himself in the remembrance of the words which father Richards had spoken only the day before. ‘The elves believe that nature is more important than the lives of humans and therefore wish to exterminate us as we conquer the wilds instead of being its slave. The orcs on the other hand love nothing more than pillage and murder, they are savages and given half a chance will kill our men ravage our women and enslave our children. Finally, we have the humans of Bottolne who have been corrupted by their lack of faith to the one true god, they have let greed replace all and as such are a nation of filled with depravity and suffering.’
Mal’s remembrance of the preacher’s words were cut off as he noticed the door to his house open. Looking up from his now empty plate he watched as Nath stepped into their home. Nath, Mal’s cousin, was a tall dark skinned slender woman with harsh facial features, cold eyes, short cropped hair and slightly pointed ears showing her half elven ancestry. Despite only being a year his senior Nath’s unyielding stubbornness and bitterness had already alienated near everyone in the town except from himself and his mother. And even now alienness of her heritage was slowly driving a wedge between her, Mal and his mother.
Surprisingly however, Nath smiled at him with what he thought could be a hint of sadness and said in her melodic voice. ‘Would you like me to walk you to the awakening Mal?’
‘Of course I would, it will be nice to have the company.’ Slightly taken aback by her strangely nice behavior yet trying not to show it Mal replied.
‘Perfect, we should probably leave shortly if we do not intend to rush’ Nath said, a hint of her normal briskness entering her voice.
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The air was fresh and alive with birdsong as the bright greenery slowly passed Mal and Nath by. There was a near awkward silence hovering between the cousins as they walked the midsummer sun beating down on them. This was far from the first time that Mal had made this trip to the awakening and for all their sakes he prayed to Semphine that it would be successful. ‘What type of class are you hoping for?’ Nath broke the silence.
‘Honestly, I would be delighted with anything however if I could choose, I would be a hunter like dad so that I can provide for you and mother.’ Mal replied after a moment’s hesitation.
‘You do know that if you receive a class then I am leaving. Hell, even if you don’t I am leaving this forsaken town with or without you’ she started softly and gained momentum.
Mal laughed, ‘We both know that your not actually going to leave Nath’
‘If you seriously cannot tell when I am being deathly honest then you have changed more than I thought’ Nath retorted coldly.
‘I’ve changed, ha. If you hadn’t become so toxic that no one in the town will bare the sight of you then maybe mother would be paid more than copper for her services and we could afford enough to eat.’ Mal snarled, his brows drawing together and his eyes growing hard. ‘If you could get over yourself and apologise to the good people of Falreath then our lives wouldn’t be quite so dependent on me.’ Mal’s fists at this point were balled into white knuckled orbs of malice as he advanced on Nath. Years of repressed rage threatened to overflow as he bared down on the half breed in front of him.
‘I once loved you as a brother and ever since I saw you begin to darken I have prayed that you would stray from this path of hatred’ Nath spoke calmly as she backed into the shadow of a tree ‘However now I see you are too delusional. Goodbye Mal and I hope one day you find happiness’. Nath whispered the last words before vanishing without a trace.
Mal once seeing Nath vanish felt his righteous rage overwhelm him as he screamed and punched the tree from which Nath had disappeared.
Nath sat in the tree to which she had shadow jumped to for long minutes, watching her cousin regain himself and begin to walk towards Falreath. She had feared that this would happen, as a half elf she saw deeper than most humans and hence saw from an early age the seeds of corruption festering within Mal and the other villagers. Some of the older and meaner villagers had worse auras however throughout Nath’s life she watched as everyone around her became more and more tainted and hateful especially towards her. She sighed, Mal had been one of the slowest to corrupt, even a year ago he could hold normal conversation with her however recently he had worsened rapidly and began to resent her as the cause of all his problems. It was fine despite only being level six she was a shadow rouge which was an unusual class before a single class evolution. Under normal circumstances this feat would be talked about for generations in such a tiny town as Falreath however instead of her being the pride of the town, they named her a heretic for worshiping the darker of the elven twin gods Nadine and barred her from even entering the town. She had reasoned that the only reason they had not lynched her is that without the meat she sold for a pittance then many would starve each winter. Sighing once again before leaning back through a shadow and stepping onto the ground Nath began to walk home. She would stay long enough to learn whether Mal received a class and whether she would need to send money to aunt Rebecca. Afterwards she would leave Falreath forever.