The morning was filled with head splitting exclamations. Mother was stressing over her fucking pots, thousands had probably died yet…

The stupidity of the woman did not help my headache, and I crawled out from under my bed. The room was less wet than I had expected, but mould was a guarantee. I knew I was going to miss cleaning a spot, and then I would get yelled at. This did not help my headache either.

What little clothes I had, managed to stay dry in my wardrobe. Style was not an issue when most of them were the same and I picked a pair of pants and a white blouse.

Father had wanted a son; he didn’t get one nor did he make me be one. But he expected me to fill in for one. I was taught swordsmanship, business and how to manage an estate. I was his heir, his only child in a sea of poison.

Maybe deep beneath all his expectations was a speck of love. It was certainly easier when he was around, he contained mother. But now that he was gone all that remained was the pain he caused. Some of that pain was useful, but I hardly had the chance to most days.

I looked at my belt, the side that was meant for my sword. I would inherit father’s arsenal, but I didn’t like his favourite weapon. I much preferred a polearm; it was simple and effective.

One deep breath nearly turned to two, but I knew that I would just be standing there forever, and I opened the door. The corridor was much warmer somehow despite the sunny day. Maybe it was the warm red of the carpet? Or the faces of ancestors that brought back what little shattered nostalgia I had of the place.

My parents were not great parents, and they knew that. I lived in an annex with a nanny until I was six. After that I was brought over to the main building where hell began. But life was a viscous cycle and mother wanted the barony. As a result, I returned to the annex once more.

I walked down to the reception room of the annex, the wooden railings building a feeling within me. I couldn’t tell whether it was tears or some semblance of happiness. Either way I didn’t have the energy for it.

The servants were bustling, but not a single one greeted me. It was a mixture of mothers doing and my own fault. They knew I would be the next lord, father had signed only my birth certificate, but mother was currently in charge. She had brought in people who only mattered about now, and that was all she needed to do.

Loyalty was cheap. The only truly loyal were those that had something wrong with them. those who were broken in a good way were extremely rare, most were just broken.

I wandered to training. Even through my lack of interest I could not kill a habit.

When my body felt like it was allowed to go, I headed out of the yard. Everything was so tiring, to do nothing I had to do something. Every time nothing required something until I spent most of the day doing somethings.

I didn’t think about where I wanted to go, nor where my feet were taking me. But I knew where I would end up.

When I got past the piles of debris and uprooted fauna I expected to see a fountain. The quaint little fountain sat in the middle of a ring of trees, protected from weather and humans. The tiny flecks of light that passed through their leaves only added to the serenity as well as the scratchy air from the bark.

I saw the trees, but the world was cruel.

I looked at the pile of rubble that lay beneath a fallen tree. Something… I felt something. It was rare that it could happen, but normally I enjoyed it. when I felt something, it reassured me, I knew that I was alive. not just a husk. Not just a doll that danced to the environment. I did not enjoy this emotion.

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My sole sanctuary was gone. I felt fucking pissed, but no matter how hard I dug my nails in, only blood flowed out. No magic liquid would flow from my palms and fix my situation. Nothing would happen, and that pissed me off even more. But instead of scream… I cried.

I made no sound other than the light thud as I fell to my knees. The tears streaming down my face as I looked at the only thing that I felt was mine.

I didn’t know why I felt so attached to the spot, but I did. The fountain had witnessed hundreds of days where I would just sit. There was no need for thoughts, and no one bugged me. It was even far enough from the manor to escape the hustle and bustle, and even mother’s tyranny.

I wanted to cry more, but in this sparse moment I had, I knew that I needed to change. I knew that I would not have the energy to think, or possibly even execute a plan once I had cooled down. I needed to start moving, and I must never stop.

I got to my feet and rubbed my eyes with the backs of my hands. The temptation to dig my nails into my eyes and rip them out was strong. I wanted to scream out all my frustrations, but that was good. that would become my fuel.

I wondered why I could think and feel angry at the same time, but I soon killed that thought. It was not productive, not required, just like the parasites of the manor.

My anger was successfully redirected to the fuckers that made me this way. Not only mother, her children and the fucking strangers she brought too. everything needed to burn for this, the mages too. it might take forever, and I knew I would fail, but they would pay.

I came up with an idea on the spot. I needed clothes, I needed a lot of things. Swiftly I turned back towards the manor.

I didn’t walk to the main building, nor my annex, instead I walked to a large shed. The lock was rusted, but I knew it was unlocked, if it wasn’t then I would just have to break in.

The hinges too were rusted, and the sound of graunching metal caused me to hunch as I opened it.

Inside I saw several crates placed seemingly randomly next to a bunch of gardening tools. But this was not the caretakers shed. If any of the gardens were caught in this shed it was not just their job on the line, but their life.

Father had hidden it well so mother shouldn’t know about it. it didn’t matter anyway as she had fired anyone who had seen the inside long ago.

I picked up one of the crates and placed it down atop another. Where a crate had once been there was now dirty floor. If I hadn’t have known better, I would have fucked up by moving another crate. I didn’t know why but in father’s instructions he said to never touch the other crates.

I walked to the wall on the left and looked at the tools before moving to the one on the right. It didn’t take long to find and soon I was back on the ground, this time with a crowbar.

I pulled up a few of the suspiciously short boards and it revealed a hatch. It bewildered me a little that he would hide a wooden hatch with wooden floorboards. But maybe that was just me?

I pulled open the hatch and a set of stone stairs was revealed to me. Following them down I came across dark stairs. I had no idea what I had expected, and I ventured back up. There I found a red mana stone.

Mana stones were an expensive way to light something. but it wasn’t my money, and I went back down. I smacked the rock against the wall next to me. Sparks illuminated the torches for a brief second. With this new information I struck the wall slightly back and way higher.

The sparks rained down onto a stick wrapped in fabric and a dark blue liquid. The liquid ignited easily from the sparks, and I now had a torch.

I used the torch to illuminate my way, I was too stingy to waste the Iark of the other torches. Unlike mana stones I had no idea where the manor kept their reserve of flammable liquids. Father must have seen it too insignificant to inform me of… and it was.

The steps eventually disappeared and were replaced with flat ground. I turned left and went along the wall until I reached a chest. It was not what I was looking for, but it was in the way.

I eventually came across a series of coat racks and shelves. One coat rack had a black cloak, possibly waterproof. Knowing the family’s finances, it was probably not, but speaking of money there should be some nearby. And there was. A whole seven gold worth in silver and iron.

I would have preferred more, but father mainly used this to “check on the territory”.

I also searched for a pear of pants that fit me, but alas I had no such luck. Instead, I found a pair of boots that were close enough and hoped that the cloak would do most of the work.

Finally ready I escaped; it was not permanent as the barony was MINE, but I needed resources.

It was easy to slip out since most of the servants were preoccupied with the cleanup. It also helped that walls were a foreign concept to the poor, and for nobles we were very.