The boy did not know how long he has been running nor did he care, all he wanted, all he focused on, was getting back to town to warn the people, to tell them of their attack, and to confess to abandoning someone important to him.
“Eiso, my boy! Are you all right?”
Before he realized it, he had already made it back. Limping from exhaustion and covered in specks of blood, he made it.
After finally giving in and collapsing does he notice the crowd of onlookers gathering around him as well as an all too familiar and roughly scarred face that is currently tending to him.
“Dad….Please…nana…she...the mines…”
“Shh…don’t worry, everything’ll be ‘right.” The rough man inspects is son for any wounds. When none are found, he lets out a sigh of relief before looking to the person standing closest to him. “Rilic, look after my son for me, and don’t let him outa your sights, ya’ hear!”
“Y-yes Dekard.”
The boy looks up with fear in his eyes,“Dad…where are you going?”
“Don’ worry, I’ll be right back kiddo jus’ stay here and don’t leave Rilic’s side, understood?”
“NO! Please don’t leave. I don’t want you to go too!”
“Don’ worry, you’ll be safe as long as you stay here. As for me, I’ll be all right, I can fend for myself.”
'I’ll be all right? No! Not those words again. Please not those words.'
The boy grips tightly onto his father’s clothing, refusing to let go.
“Please my boy, I need to find out what happened and find Mrs. Burrough. Be strong and stay here, I’ll be right back.”
'That’s …right, the only hope nana has is if…is if dad finds her.'
After much deliberation the boy silently loosens his grip and gives a small nod. With that, Dekard sprints off without another word, where he is soon approached by an armored guard.
“Guard Captain Dekard, what’s going on? What are some many people scared? And…is that boy covered in blood!?”
“Listen I need ya’ to go around and ask for volunteers for a search party. Hostile Beasts have showed up, and I need to look into the mines. As for the guards I want them to stay here and protect the town.”
“At your command sir! Er…may I ask why the mines if there are beasts that need slaying?”
“We need to find the source of where the creatures are coming form. We have searched and cleared these here lands before, and not once did we run into any strong Beasts. For them to show up, they could have come from the only unguarded place.”
“You don’t mean!”
“Right, they could have easily come from the mines, which mean only one thing....”
“I-I understand sir! I will gather volunteers at once!”
This scouting party armed themselves with whatever armor and steel they could get their hands on. After they felt adequately prepared they marched forth out west towards the mines. Soon, nothing but silence fills the air as fear takes over the actions of those left in the square, silently waiting for the return of the scouts.
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The town center now filled with rumors as people gossiped as to what could have happened and what will happen, though those thoughts have always lead the conversations to dark places. A few people have made feeble attempts to ask the boy as to what happened, but were soon chased away by Rilic.
“What in the world is wrong with you!? Can’t you see he’s been through enough for today!?”
Soon, no one spoke as everyone in town decided to remain silent once again and wait for the scouts to return with news.
One, two, three hours pass and yet, the party has yet to return. It wasn’t until sundown that the scouting party finally arrived. It was then that many of the Towns folk let out gasps as they saw the state of the party. Out of the hundred or so militiamen, only a third returned bleeding, battered and bruised. Among them were a few severely wounded as well as a single woman covered in a single blanket, laid out on a makeshift stretcher carried by two people, one of which was Dekard.
“Make way! Wounded coming through.”
Several people crowded the party, bombarding them with questions.
“What happened, did you find out what’s going on?”
“Where did those things come from?”
“My son! Please tell me if you found my son!”
That last question came from the shop keeper that Eiso recognized. His once cheery demeanor is now distraught and terrified.
“I’m sorry Aris, we only made it to the entrance. It…well…it didn’t look good.”
The shop keeper falls to his knees after hearing the news. Never the less the crowd continues to interrogate the party until someone yell out with irritation.
“Can you PLEASE, make room? We can’t talk right now and we have some her who are wounded so MAKE WAY!”
The crowd opened a path at his command, and after seeing injures that were inflicted on them, the crowed became too frightened to pursue any further. The boy on the other hand, shakes off the man who was supposed to look after him and loses him in the crowed.
“Eiso, where’re you going? Hey don’t push!”
He follows them into one of the houses that have been fixed up into a temporary infirmary.
“Sorry, but this isn’t place for kids, leave at once.”
After being denied entry, the boy sneaks around the side and peers into one of the windows. Inside are several tables as well as freshly rolled out blankets to form makeshift beds. Four people were set on these ‘beds’ one of which was the laid out woman. The men are in very bad shape. One has a badly bandaged eye patch while another is missing his arm entirely though he wan’t moving. As for the other two, they have most of their bones broken and are barely breathing as is. After much hesitation from one of the temporary nurses they finally decided to look at the woman under the blanket.
The boy stifles a scream as he saw the mangled mess before him. It was Mrs. Burrough, and the condition she was left in made all that saw her gasp in horror. Her left leg just below the knee is torn off exposing a bit of bone. Her right arm shredded, some flesh exposed and bent in a horrific position and her left arm had been blackened and scorched to a crisp up to the shoulder. Yet even with heavy wounds, she is still alive, breathing, and unconscious.
One of the guards eyes her scorched arm and asks the nurse with some hesitation.
“D-Did those Beasts do that?” he sputters, looking at the charred mess before him.
“No, I think those are self inflicted,” the nurse mutters.
“I… didn’t know she was fire aligned as well,”
“I don’t think she is, at least, not to a very heavy alignment.”
“I see, then that explains it…ah Dekard!”
“Just asked the elder if he can get folk to fork over any medicine.” Dekard looks at the injured woman with a deathly
pale face. “So…how is she.”
The nurse looking after her refuses to make eye contact, “We cauterized the leg and stoped the bleeding for now, but….”
The nurse looks down grimly at her patient. She speaks to Dekard once more, again, refusing to look at him, “I…well… I don’t suppose that healer is going to be coming soon.”
“No, from what I hear the healer won’t be in for another week.”
The nurse looks once more at the devastation left on the woman’s body.
“She’s incredible. How has she managed to live this long?”
“She a tough old hag I can tell ya’ that.” Dekard answered. ”When we found her she was in a stone shell with a whole pack of those beasts clawing at her.” He looks over her with a look of pity and sorrow in his eyes. “Tell me ya can save her.”
The nurse grabs a wet cloth from a nearby bowl and begins to wipe the dirt off of her. “I’m sorry, but there is nothing more we can do for her.”
“GRAAHH. DAMMIT.” Dekard in a fit of anger and punches the nearest wall, leaving behind a massive dent.
The sudden spout of rage frightens every one inside as he storms out of the house. Soon those that remain turn their attention back to the wounded. The boy, seeing everything, becomes desperate once more.
'NO! Please! There has to be something they can do, anything! Don’t just give up! Please don’t give up.'
The boy collapses from the window and prays to no one in particular.
'No...you...you have to help her. Please… someone… anyone…help her. Don’t let her die.'
He can barely keep what little composure remains, as a single idea clicked inside him.
'Healer….she can be saved if we new healing…..wait... Healer! I know where to look for healing magic!'
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Standing up once more he makes a dash to the only place he believes he can get help.
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The familiar burning sensation seeps into the boy’s legs as he sprints back up the dirt road leading east. His body screaming for a chance to rest, yet he ignores it and forces himself to continue on.
At last, he makes it back to the familiar building with the small fence and overgrowth climbing up the walls. The boy flings open the door and frantically climbs the stairs inside and up to his father’s room, were he wildly opens every cabinet, every nook and cranny, while flinging all of their contents outside.
'Come on! Where is it? I know Nana stashed it here before we left! I have to find it.'
Finally, with a triumphant look, he finds what he is looking for exactly where he found it earlier. Inside one of his father’s old traveling bags he pulls out a rather thick leather bound book. With the book in his possession he runs back out and into the moonlight a he frantically opens the book, and turns it page by page.
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An hour or so goes by as the moon rises from the sky and shines brilliantly on the town. By this time many of the people in town have gone to rest, too worried and tired to stay up and gossip any more, leaving only the guards to patrol for any incoming threats. It is by then that the boy finally makes it back to the infirmary, this time, carrying a thick leather bound book.
After studying a particular section in the book over and over again for the past hour, the boy bursts into the building and immediately seeks out the wounded woman who has already been bandaged by the nurses to the best of their abilities.
He carefully sets down the book on the bed and immediately flips through the pages.
'Please, hang on just a little longer.'
He then lists off the instructions on casting magic.
'Okay first charge with mana.'
Energy filled with warmth gathers at the boy’s fingertips.
'Right, next is form.'
With great difficulty he pushes forth his wish to care for someone, to restore them, to save them, to see them smile once more.
'And finally, the incantation and release.'
”What in the world are you doing here?”
The nurses heard the commotion from upstairs and came down to investigate. Ignoring them, the boy pressed forth, and prays that what he is about to do, will work.
“[Restra]”
The nurses that have gathered there, gasp as they witness a warm glow emitting from the boy’s hands. White light wraps around the woman’s wounded body as the boy kept pouring magic into her. The wounds on her left leg seal up beneath the bandages. Her broken right arm painfully sets its self into place with a few forceful snaps, and her scorched arm, though still blackened, slowly regains its soft texture. After a minutes, some color had returned to the woman’s pale face, however…
'W-Why!? Why isn’t this working? Why hasn’t she woken up? She should be completely healed by now!'
Indeed, the woman did not seem to respond to any of the boy’s treatment.
“[R-Restra]!”
Once again, a warm white glow surrounded her, and yet…
WORK! It has to WORK!
“[RESTRA]! [RESTRA]! [RESTRA]!”
Yet again, the familiar warm light returned, encompasses her and leaves, but the woman has yet to regain consciousness.
“Re…Restr…..”
The boy collapses onto the bed sheets, unable to go on.
'No! I can still manage. I can still try!'
He tries once more to gather energy into his hands, but this time nothing happens, he is completely empty of mana.
Desperation fills his mind, as he tightly grabs onto the woman’s bed sheets.
“Please nana…please wake up… please say something….please……… don’t go.”
The boy was done. Filled with emptiness and fear. All three of them were to be a single family. With her gone, this family was incomplete, a puzzle missing its centerpiece. She was his guardian, his shield…his friend. She protected him with her life and yet he could do nothing to help her in return. He did not want to admit it, but in the back of his mind, he knows why she isn’t waking up. He knows that he will never speak to her again, that he will never get to laugh with her, he will never be scolded by her, and he will never smile with her…ever again.
“…no…nana…I’m….sorry…”
……….
……….
“……..what…….was that……….boy?”
Looking up, the boy becomes absolutely stunned. The woman was awake and smiling faintly at him and his pitiable state. The boy is in complete shock. He can’t believe it. How can he? Yet, there she was, with her kind and motherly face, and so he responds the only way he knows how.
“I mean…….I’m sorry……Mrs. Burrough.”
“……much……..better.”
Finally he cried. After being hassled by the perpetual fear of death and loss, he finally releases all of his emotions. He cried as he tightly grips on to her bed sheets, soaking them in his tears. He ignores how pitiful he looks, he ignores the fact that several other people have gather and observed everything that had happened here. All that matters is that she is alive. The caretaker tenderly strokes his hair and whispers in a very tired and sweet voice.
“…..Thank you…Eiso. You….have been….very ....brave.”’
The boy says nothing as he keeps his firm grip. He wanted nothing more than to feel her warmth for as long as he can, and soon the two slowly drift into a peaceful slumber.
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Three weeks have passed as Eiso prepares to remove a single loaf of sweet bread from the still heated oven. He had been up before sun rise preparing what looked like a particularly sweet picnic basket as it was filled with all sorts of sweet treats ranging from cookies to simple sweet breads. He finishes preparing and begins to make his way when he is interrupted by a muscularly built man with droopy eyes and a stifled yawn, a man who happened to wander in after smelling the sweet treats.
“Oh, up already, where’re you headin’ off to?”
“I’m gonna go visit Mrs.Burrough today,” says the boy with a bright smile. Seeing that his father is eyeing the bread he prepared, he pulls out one of the loaves he made and offers it to him.
“Ah, thanks. Well then, be sure to stop by Sister Diam afterwards when you’re done.”
“Will do. Bye dad.”
With a wave of goodbye, the boy walks out the door towards the southern edge of town.
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As the sun slowly rises from the horizon the boy finds himself in a particularly deserted plot of land as few people would want to be in this section of town. Treading lightly through the freshly mildew ridden grass he makes his way through trying to reach his destination all the while looking at the frayed stones and overgrown tufts of grass that sit around him.
'Not many people like to come around here. I suppose this place has bad memories for everyone.'
Soon he finds the particularly soft spot of grass he had been looking for and sets down the basket of sweets in front of him. Pulling out a single loaf of bread, he sets it down in front a single stone tablet.
“Morning, Mrs. Burrough I brought you some sweets this morning. It’s not much, but I made it myself.”
Eiso sits down onto his claimed spot, pulls out another sweet bread from the basket and quietly munches on his breakfast as he observes the soft trees and fluttering birds around him. After a few minutes he breaks the peace filled silence.
“I...think I’ve made my decision. I know you were joking when you said to be better than dad, and since I can’t imagine anyone better than him, I know what you really meant. I will work hard to be strong enough to protect people. I… don’t want to see anyone else die. So please don’t’ worry about me. I’ll be the kind of person who’s able take care of myself. I’ll be…all... right."
With a shining smile he leans forward and gently places a hand on the stone tablet that read:
Burrough of Greyfield. A Mother to all.