Inside the village head's home.
Two people were seated at the dining table in one of the rooms, the smell of tea leaves hanging in the air.
Riaz modestly sipped on some tea, while Misaf, the head of the village, rested his elbow on the table, leisurely propping his head up.
Having explained his circumstances to Misaf, the old man in turn assured Riaz that he had never seen him before. He'd have known if Riaz had ever set foot in his village before. He had his methods of knowing.
Nonetheless, Misaf made him the suggestion to stay in the village for a while and to see whether his memories would return or not. Besides, there always was a chance that he'd run into someone who knew who he was. In any case, it was better than aimlessly setting out and getting lost, that much was certain.
Once the most important question was out of the way, Riaz learned about some of the current affairs in the village.
It was today that the village had a meeting regarding their annual harvest festival to honor the Goddess Lefra. Lefra was the patron goddess of the village, as such many farmers and the like paid respects to her, knowing that she was the one who governed the harvest.
The festival was at risk of being cancelled that year due to the rising bandit threat in the vicinity. The neighbouring villages had suffered attacks and people thought that holding the festival would only serve to invite trouble. In the end, it was Misaf and a handful of other elders who stubbornly insisted on sticking to the tradition, stating that the festival was of importance if they wanted to receive the blessings and protection of the Goddess.
"That tea, does it taste bitter?" Misaf asked.
Riaz felt surprised for a brief moment and replied, "Not at all. This tea is delicious and the flavour of the leaves really comes out. I get the impression that it's washing some of my fatigue away."
"Hmpf, you really aren't a normal youngster, are you sonny? Anyway, once you have finished the tea, come find me in my study upstairs. I will make some arrangements for you." Misaf stood up and left the room. Riaz could hear him ascend the stairs slowly.
'What was that about?' Riaz looked down at the cup. Wasn't it just regular tea? The old man's words confused him.
He finished his cup with haste and walked upstairs. Having located the study with its door wide open, he stepped through the doorway and was greeted by a surprisingly messy room. Misaf was in the process of looking through one of his desk drawers, until he fished out a piece of paper.
"There is a man named Obrid. A good man, someone I can trust. He and his family live on the outskirts of the village. Go past the eastern border of this village and follow the river. You should be able to find a field with a painted red house somewhere. Take this letter to him." Misaf slid a paper across the desk and walked off towards another side of the room. "Ask around if you get lost on the way."
"Uhm... will they take me in? Just like that?" Riaz asked with doubts.
"Tell him that I have sent you for lodging. If you explain your circumstances and show him the letter, there should be no problem. That sturdy fool will work you to the bone, so work hard." Misaf stroked his beard.
"Ah, thank you very much." Riaz felt moved, since, despite his unclear background, this elder went above and beyond to treat him warmly and help him.
"I will go right away." He bowed lightly and was about to leave, when the old man Misaf stopped him.
"Wait, are you going to leave looking like that?" Misaf motioned towards the ripped clothing which Riaz had completely forgotten about.
While Riaz was busy inspecting himself, the old man tossed him a bundle of clothes.
"Here, at least change into these before you go. Again, make sure to work hard. Don't let me hear Obrid complain that I am offloading baggage at his place. You should remember that he has a fiery temper, but appreciates hard work."
Riaz unfurled the clothes and gave them a once-over. He wouldn't have problems fitting inside them.
He blinked. "These clothes, they..."
"There should be no problems with them, since the clothes once belonged to my son. He won't be needing those any more and it's better for you to use them than for them to gather dust in the closet." Misaf firmly grasped his walking stick and made his way towards the window behind the desk. He then looked outside with his back turned towards Riaz.
'Why would his son not need them anymore? Come to think of it, this big house is empty and there is little to indicate anyone else living here. Perhaps..'
"I can tell what you're thinking. So if you want to ask, just ask." Misaf continued gazing through the window.
"Then, about your son..." Riaz chose his words carefully. "Is he not around anymore?"
"Who knows. That kid always felt he knew that he was meant for greater things. The moment he reached adulthood, he decided he would venture out and become an adventurer." Misaf frowned. "That rascal, all this time he not once bothered sending me a letter. You should remember not to be like him. Never forget your roots, you understand?"
Riaz wanted to say something, but chose otherwise. It was not his place to comment on it, thus he simply acknowledged, "Understood. I'll be off then."
Misaf didn't bother to turn around and just waved his hand dismissively. It was clear that remembering his unfilial son brought up unpleasant feelings, so Riaz wasted no time to leave.
Even after Riaz had left the residence, Misaf still remained in the study, standing by the window. His eyes were fixed on the departing youth's back, an ominous glint reflected within his green pupils.
He sighed. "Who's to blame? You seek answers but what will you do once you have them? All I can do is shelter you, until the cruel Levra pulls her strings." He gently pressed one hand against the window. "I see it now, just as I saw it in my own son. This village can't hold you. What pity that the tea tastes sweet."
Misaf turned away from the window and stroked his long beard, thinking about the other headache inducing issue at hand.
He had requested aid from the nearby Primic, a city, which was a days journey away at best. To his chagrin, the lord of the city had not yet send word to him. He understood that, since his village was independent from the kingdom, they stood under no obligation to help, but the bandit threat was something that threatened the stability of other villages as well.
He was confident that bandits wouldn't attack their village, since it was so close to the city, but then why did he have this bad feeling that he couldn't shake off?
"No point cracking my head on this." The old man shook his head.
Meanwhile, Riaz was walking the streets of the village. His ash grey hair would sometimes attract the curiosity of local children who would run up to him and bombard him with silly questions. At times, they'd also pull on him, asking him to join them and play.
Riaz felt a little helpless, especially about how to handle the little rascals. And so, before he became overwhelmed by their inquiries, he would simply tell them he had to go somewhere. The kids were used to people working during the day, so they just shrugged their shoulders and ran off.
He really admired the kid's carefree life. Part of him wished to play, but he had to worry about his situation first.
The sun had passed the zenith. Riaz, still walking, approached the outskirts of the village and soon, after confirming with a villager that he was going the right way, arrived by a riverbank.
The road led people along a river and presented Riaz with an inspiring scenery. It was certainly a great path to take walks on, but he had yet to meet his objective of finding the man named Obrid.
His search for the red house had led him far away from the rest of the village. There were no houses or fields ahead of where he was going.
'How far away does this Obrid live? Did I perhaps pass his home without noticing?' he thought.
Just as he started to grow worried, his ears picked up some peculiar sounds. He started paying closer attention and realized that the sounds came from the nearby riverbank.
Riaz left the path he was walking on and descended amidst a handful of trees. He was careful not to make noise until he discovered two figures by the water.
'Children? Isn't this a bit too far from the village?' Riaz scanned the surroundings in hopes of finding an adult, but found nothing.
What he saw was a small boy and girl pair scurrying across the shallow water and laughing. They would occasionally splash water into each other's faces. There was nothing to be wary of, which made Riaz put his guard down.
Thinking that maybe he could ask them for directions, he finally resolved himself to break up that situation.
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He stepped out from his cover and raised his hands shouting, "Hey, kids. Isn't it dangerous to play out here all alone?"
The shout startled the two children, causing them stop in their tracks. They discovered Riaz, who was casually approaching them, and immediately grew wary. The boy's face turned sour and, quickly, he fished out a stick from the water. In the fashion of a knight drawing a sword, he pointed the stick at the intruder as he positioned himself between Riaz and the girl.
"I am not a kid! I am a prince!" The kid shouted back coarsly, taking a clumsy stance in an attempt to look dashing. His curly red hair was still soaked from playing in the water.
It looked quite comical to Riaz, especially once even the girl giggled in amusement and, with a mischievous smile, performed something akin to a curtsey bow.
"And I am the beautiful Princess Lissy. You should be honored." She continued to giggle.
"Ah." Suddenly, as if struck by lightning, Riaz exclamed in shock, which surprised the children. Riaz promptly fell to one knee, his right arm crossing over his chest with the hand resting above his heart.
"Your Majesty, I beg your forgiveness. I don't know how I could have been so blind not to recognize you." Riaz said while solemnly looking at the ground.
Princess Lissy seemed ecstatic and even the little prince relaxed his 'sword arm' once he saw that awe-inspiring salute; that was until Riaz without a warning lunged towards the princess and slung her over his shoulder.
The princess yelped in surprise.
Riaz provocatively smiled at the prince, then armed himself with a stick of his own and pointed it at the little guy.
"Hah! You have fallen for my deception, prince. Now the princess is in my hands, muhahaha."
"Let 'er go, ya big meanie!" The prince charged Riaz with his little body and wildly swung his stick.
Riaz villanously cackled as he side-stepped and playfully blocked the boy's swings with his own stick.
"You are powerless, little prince. I will abscond with the princess and there is naught you can do about it."
The boy stopped in his tracks and innocently looked up at Riaz. "What's 'absconed'?"
Riaz lowered his stick and replied, "It means I will hold onto the princess and take off with her."
"No!" The boy charged once more, roaring, "You can't abscone with Lissy!"
"Pfft." Riaz loudly laughed and allowed the boy to land a hit against the arm which secured the girl. With comically exaggared motions, he lowered the girl back onto the ground and resumed the battle. Slowly, Riaz was getting pushed back by the boy and the girl cheered for her valiant prince.
For a while laughter filled the air as a most formidable duel shook the world; at least in the minds of these children it did. Riaz on the other hand felt somewhat dreary as the battle went on. His chest felt tight for some reason and he didn't feel like playing anymore.
"I give up!" Riaz dropped his stick and raised both of his hands. "Have mercy, prince."
"Hehe, I win!" The boy hopped on the spot excitedly. He looked somewhat silly, prompting the girl to laugh at him with her finger pointing.
Riaz crouched down before the boy and smiled. "Say, I heard there is a fair king around here, King Obrid is his name. Do you know him?"
He surmised that it was likely that these children belonged to Obrid's family and would know him.
"Un, you are looking for our dad? Why?" Lissy, the girl, responded first. She looked like the younger of the two yet seemed more responsive than the boy.
"Yes, the village head sent me out to find him with a letter." Riaz reached into his clothes and pulled out the letter to support his claims. "Do you think you can take me to your dad?"
"Mhmmm, ok." Lissy nodded.
The boy, however, pulled at her sleeve, mumbling, "But dad said..."
"It's fine, hmpf." Lissy pulled her sleeve back and stormed off. The boy threw Riaz a look and scratched his head sheepishly before hurrying after her. Smiling at the children's antics, Riaz followed suit.
With Lissy in the lead, Riaz could tell that he'd soon arrive at his destination. His mind began to wander.
'I wonder if I have siblings like these. I could be a big brother or even a little brother. Is anyone at all looking for me out there?'
He couldn't help but feel lonely, his steps slowing unbeknownst to him. The kids didn't notice that Riaz was lagging behind at first; only after a while did they look back and notice something amiss. Quickly, Lissy grabbed Riaz by his hand and pulled him along after which the boy joined in as well and took Riaz's other hand with a grin.
"Come on, it's right there." Lissy encouraged him.
Riaz forced himself to smile and allowed himself to be pulled along until he could see a red house up ahead. The size of the building put an average village home to shame.
The sound of wood splitting apart rang out, drawing Riaz's attention. Out front, by the house, a man with a massive frame could be seen diligently chopping wood. As the trio approached, the man lifted his axe and rested it on his shoulder.
Rias felt the hairs on his skin stand on end as a cold shiver ran down his spine. To him, it felt like the man's gaze could pierce him from afar. A wave of surging killing intent flooded towards him.
"Punk, get away from my children! Now!" Obrid roared, stomping his foot once.
Meanwhile, Riaz felt his surroundings fade. His vision seemed to play tricks on him as he felt like the man's image overlapped with another's and the image of a spear hurling towards him played before his eyes.
His mind conjured a convincing hallucination that messed with him on a deep layer of his consciousness.
"What? No... I can't." Riaz stammered as the spear drew closer. He trembled from head to toe and his legs gave in under him.
As he sank to his knees, he could feel his body grow numb. The children nervously stepped away from Riaz, not knowing what to do, and called out to their father. It was only in that moment that Obrid realized something was off. He quickly withdraw his killing intent and rushed over.
By the time Obrid arrived next to Riaz, the latter's eyes had already rolled back in their sockets and his body convulsed.
----
The overlapping sound of hasty footsteps loudly reverberated throughout the hallway.
Riaz could see himself running across a marble floor. He wasn't alone. Next to him, the delicate figure of a woman with long black hair whipping behind her could be seen. Her face was obscured by a haze, yet somehow she felt very familiar to him.
He could tell that other people followed them closely from behind and yet, when he tried to take a look, his body didn't respond.
'Where are we going? Where is this place?' He stubbornly willed for his body to stop running as they passed door after door, as well as various art pieces that decorated the lofty walls in this place.
'Why can't I stop? Stop damn it!' He insisted; however, his body remained disobedient to the end. Instead, his face turned towards a huge door ahead of him.
It was hard for him to clearly make out details through his eyes yet he hardly took note of that. Before they could approach the door, a group of silver armored knights obstructed their path.
"Halt intruders! By the king's order, noone shall enter." Their knight armor became shrouded by a golden glow.
They raised their swords and yet, before they could take even a single step, multiple silver arcs shot towrds them, cutting them apart like tofu.
The woman beside Riaz raised a staff and swung it through the air in one motion. The large door shot wide open as if pushed by an invisible force.
As they made their way through the door, the group with Riaz passed the slain knights. A resentful voice cursed at them from among the dying.
"Traitor, since you have raised your blade, don't expect a good outcome." The knight captain lay in a pool of crimson. He stared at one of Riaz's companions with blood-shot eyes before breathing his last.
"You know nothing." came a curt reply, uttered by said companion, though the knight captain may never get to hear it.
The group entered a magnificiently decorated hall, stepping onto a red carpet that stretched all the way to a throne situated on the opposite end of the hall.
Atop the throne sat a majestic old man whose loose strands of grey hair were decorated by a crown. He wasn't alone, for next to the throne stood a hooded person with their back turned. A large portrait hung above the throne, but its details were missing.
Riaz felt his vision fade to black just as the the hooded figure turned its head towards his group.
"Look who the cat dragged in." A male voice devoid of emotion echoed out for all to hear. Riaz failed to see the man's facial features; however, he could feel the deep, seething animosity he held for that man.
Just who was this person to him? He couldn't ask even if he wanted to, as he was not the one in control.
He blinked and the scene shifted completely. Now, Riaz held up a sword with his right arm, intercepting a strike from a figure clad in auburn robes.
This person, looking like a clergy man, laughed hysterically as his polearm swung for strike after strike. Every time Riaz blocked an attack, he felt the immense force behind the attack pass through his bones and rattle his internal organs. The powerless obsever that he was, Riaz felt distress as his body continued moving on its own, desperately guarding.
"It's ready!" A familiar female voice sounded from behind him.
Following those words, he felt a bone-chilling cold rush up from behind and aggressively flood towards his opponent, freezing him at a visible speed.
As his robed enemy rose above-ground and became entombed in an ice pillar, Riaz deeply peered into the man's eyes... those red glowing eyes which burned with unholy corruption until the end.
The lingering sensation of fear stirred his insides and, once again, his vision faded to black.
His eyes opened to another change. He had returned to the throne room, but the previously calm scene had transformed into a chaotic battlefield and his comrades were surrounded by two forces.
Riaz had trouble distinguishing friend from foe, but fortunately he was not the one in control. The scene that he saw was gutwrenching.
Clashing powers exploded left and right. Amidst the many combatants he could see a formidable warrior flicker in and out of view at great speeds, dueling a spear user who didn't yield him an inch.
As his attention was divided, he failed to notice when the ground split apart and a crack started forming towards him. Flames shot out of the crack, hungry to devour. At the source of it all, an auburn-robed mage cackled, weaving sinister mana with his pale long fingers.
"Leave him to me!" A lithe figure sailed through the air, intricate runes glowing on her staff. She inserted herself between Riaz and the crack, slamming her palm down onto the marble floor, effectively stopping the crack's advance. Next, she raised her staff and drew a circle in the air. The crystal at the tip of her staff shone and her body was sucked through the glowing circle.
Once her body passed through it, it turned ethereal and slammed into the auburn mage, disappearing along with him.
"Luvia!" Riaz shouted and his attention returned to the throne where the king remained seated in complete disregard of what was happening around him.
"Beiran, have you got no conscience? Are you doing all this willingly, knowing what's at stake? Release our father before any more blood is spillt!" Riaz shouted at the top of his lungs, drowning out the sounds of battle.
Beiran, moving closer to the throne, turned towards Riaz and replied coldly, "Riaz, always so misguided... how could I stop now after having come this far? With the omen hanging above our heads, you still think humanity capable of putting aside all their differences? Even if such a miracle were to occur, by then it would be far too late."
Beiran placed one hand on the throne while a black stake appeared in the other.
"Riaz, watch carefully. This had to happen. This way and no other." Beiran's grip on the black stake tightened, then a black and red aura began to engulf his fist.
A heavy thump resounded through the entire hall, putting a stop to the fighting. An instinctual aversion towards this ominous stake crept up in every person present. In response to its awakening, crimson lines formed on the stake's surface, writhing as though come to life.
The appearance of the black stake invoked a sense of dread within Riaz. As he powerlessly observed, he kept having trouble to understand what was going on. He began to question reality, whether this was just a dream or not, but the feelings transmitted to him felt way too real.
Once again, as if in response to his bewilderment, something changed. All movement came to a halt, like time had frozen.
One by one, the people began to transform into blood which flooded the hall. A sea of blood formed and swelled incessantly until Riaz was wholy swallowed by it.
He struggled in a panic, but nothing came of it.
In his final throes, all the turmoil in him settled and a face, fair like porcelain, surfaced in his mind. Yes, it was her, the woman from before. He could see more of her features now and he was certain it was her.
Then a number of words floated into his mind.
<... keep on fighting ... I hope you can promise me that.>
"Ah..." Riaz, for the first time, managed to make a sound and finally opened his eyes.