Chapter 01: A rough beginning
He walked through the long corridor with steady steps while his peerless white tunic moved under the wind current.
At his sides were many individuals dressed in identical crimson robes. They were kneeling and looking at him, their eyes reflecting their admiration and respect for his persona.
He nodded at them and continued forward. At the end of the corridor was an old man with white hair and an elegant suit and a young maid with long brown hair.
Behind him was a massive open window that led into a blue sky.
“The preparations are complete, my Lord.”
“Excellent, it is time to put an end to this war.”
He turned around to address his followers. They had been with him for a very long time…and today, many of them will certainly die.
“My friends and companions!.” He shouted.
“We have suffered for far too long under those cruel monsters. But today, we will put an end to all of that!.” He rose his first in the air.
“Today, we will kill the De-”
“Wake up already!”
As the shrieking voice entered his ears, the scene on the corridor filled with those warriors, disappeared and was replaced by a small dinky room.
A very familiar small room with almost nothing in it.
Just his collection of old clothes, a table with three legs, and the very uncomfortable straw bed where he was currently resting.
“Another one of those dreams…” He realized as his mind became awake once more.
He had been having strange dreams since he could remember.
The dreams are always from the perspective of the same person. Sometimes, he is commanding an army, sometimes he is fighting mountainous beasts by himself or doing a heavy training session.
Despite not understanding what they meant or why he was having them…he loved the dreams, those were his favorite moments.
The dreams are the only way he had to escape reality after all…
“Boy!, get in the house right now!. Don't make me go get you.” The familiar female voice commanded.
He hurried up and put his work clothes on as he knew she would not call for him a third time.
Instead, she will come into his room with an iron rod and beat him blue.
He finished up by tying his long black hair with a leather strap and opened the door to leave.
As soon as he took one step outside his room, his worn-out leather sandals touched the cold and wet grass, making him flinch.
‘So cold!, it must have rained last night…’
Ahead of him, just a short distance away, on the other side of the garden, was the wooden cottage where his aunt and uncle lived.
His “room” was in reality nothing more than the old tool shred.
When his aunt and uncle were told to take care of him, his aunt refused to have him sleeping under the same roof so his uncle spent a week building a brand new shed outside the house.
He then placed all of his tools inside, leaving for him the old one.
That was just one of the many examples of how little they cared for him.
‘I'm probably nothing more than a servant for them…’ He thought with bitterness.
He entered the house through the back door and found himself in the kitchen. His aunt was just a few feet away, staring at him with an angry face.
‘She looks angrier than usual…’ He noticed.
“You should have been here ten minutes ago!. You made your uncle wait…how dare you!” She held an iron pan in her hands.
“I'm sorry aunt….It won't happen again!” He knew that any other answer would be followed by that pan smashing his face.
“And pray tell, what excuse do you have for this time?!.” She furrowed her brows.
“I…” He could not tell her about the dreams. He already made that mistake when he was younger…and he was heavily punished for it.
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To them, his dreams about people and places he had never seen before are a bad sign….a sign of magic. And magic is forbidden for them, so he had to keep it a secret.
He rather not think about what they would do to him if they suspected he was doing anything related to magic…
“I…just stayed until late watching the stars.” He told her the first excuse he could think of.
“Mmm, you stayed until late, knowing that you had to work early today.” She hit the kitchen table with an iron pan, creating a tremendously loud noise and making him fight.
It would not be the first time he ends up with the local healer because of that pan.
“I should bash you a dozen times for your stupidity, boy. But then, you will arrive even more late. And your uncle needs help unloading the boats.”
She pointed at the entrance door.
“Go on, you better hurry to the docks. We will talk about this later.” She said while containing her fury.
He didn't say anything as nothing he said would make the situation better for him.
So he just nodded his head and hurried outside.
He opened the wooden door and ran through the stone path. The streets were already starting to get busy and most of the town went on their business as the sun started to come out.
This was a fishing village and everyone started their day very early.
‘Aunt was right….I am very late.’ He thought with concern.
Usually, he was already at the docks when the sun started to poke out.
‘I need to hurry!’ His aunt was very loud but it was his uncle the one who scared him the most. The last thing he wanted was to make him angry.
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Varian Village was very small, compared to what he had heard of the Celestial cities, with only around 500 people living here.
But the road to the docks felt longer than usual.
When he arrived, the sun was starting to shine, and his uncle had started to unload the fish boats.
“Boy, about time.” His uncle spotted him immediately.
“I'm sorry, uncle, I… I overslept.” He tried to avoid looking at his uncle directly.
“Don't you worry, the next time I will wake you up myself so it doesn't happen again,” His uncle's threatening tone made him tremble.
“Now go earn your meal.” He pointed at a nearby boat that had just docked.
“Yes, uncle.” He knew what he had to do, so he picked up several empty boxes and waited for the fishermen to come out of the boat.
“Ah, Zephyr. You came to help us today.” A kind-looking old man came out first.
“Yes, sir.” He answered with a smile. This old man was one of the few people in the village who referred to him by his name. Most others would just call him “Boy” or “You”.
Not that they were bad to him or anything. Most were just indifferent...only his aunt and uncle were cruel to him.
‘That's because they never wanted me there…’ He reminded himself.
Even though he calls them aunt and uncle, they had no blood relation whatsoever.
When his real parents were killed by a sea monster ten years ago, the young Zephyr was left with no family, so the Village Leader requested that middle-aged couple with no children of their own to care for him.
Everyone in the village knows better than to question a request from the Village Leader, so they were left with no choice but to give him a place in their home and care for him.
But they also made sure to remind him he was not wanted there… every day.
‘Just two more years…’ He reminded himself.
Tomorrow will be his fifteenth birthday. In two more years, at seventeen, he would be considered an adult and would be allowed to go live on his own.
His plan was to go northwest, to Zloria Town. It was much bigger than this village. And from what he had heard, it didn't smell of fish all year.
He knew how to cook, clean, and even do some basic carpentry work. That should be enough to find work and maintain himself.
‘I can't wait!’ Thinking about that day always lifts his spirits.
“Here you go, boy.” The rough-looking mariner gave him two copper coins.
“Thank you, sir!” He always remembers to be polite to everyone. If he wasn't, they might get mad and not pay him properly, then his uncle would hit him.
He opened his small leather sack and put the coins inside.
‘Six copper, not bad!’
Despite being a bit late, he did manage to complete his daily quota.
‘Maybe I won't get punished then…’ He could only hope.
Looking up at the sun, Zephyr could tell it was past midday. “I better go home now.”
He still has to prepare some food and clean the house.
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Back at the house, he found his aunt and uncle in a very bad mood.
He gave his uncle the six copper and was ordered to go prepare some food.
At first, he was worried that they were thinking about some special way to punish him, but as he was going through his chores, he recalled something important.
‘Wait, I think today is the last day of the month…’ It was hard to keep track of what day it was since every day was the same for him.
But the last day of every month was a bit different.
For once, his aunt and uncle were in a worse mood than usual.
But to be fair, the entire village was always in a sour mood on that particular day.
“Boy, get down here!” His aunt shouted.
Zephyr hurried to put the wet towel away and descended the stairs.
“I'm almost done with cleaning the floors, Aunt.” He said in a rush.
“You are too slow, boy. You will have to finish tomorrow.” She put a white tunic on the wooden table.
“Get changed; we need to go to the temple.”
“Ahh… right.” He was correct then… today was the last day of the month.
It was the only day he was given something clean and in good condition to wear as clothes.
Because this was the day they had to visit the temple.
Zephyr took the clean robes and went to his room to change while his aunt yelled at him to not delay.
He felt really tired after working all day and wished he could rest on the bed already, but… the visit to the temple was not optional.
Everyone in the village had to go. All 500 inhabitants will congregate today in that massive building.
Even if you were sick or injured, you had to attend...everyone knew this. It was an iron rule imposed by their Celestial rulers.
He used his old clothes to clean as much of the sweat and grime from his skin as he could before finishing dressing up.
‘I wish they had let me bathe…’
Usually, they would let him take a quick bath on this day, but they must have been too mad at him this time.
‘Better get going…’
Zephyr found his aunt and uncle waiting for him at the entrance. They were wearing their most elegant clothes.
Everyone in the village would do the same tonight.
No one wanted to risk offending a Celestial by dressing poorly.
That would usually mean death.
He left the house along with his aunt and uncle, and they took the road to the right this time.
The temple was located on the outskirts of the village.