... deep... deeper... into the depths of nothingness.
A soul - not so-lost anymore - rides the tides of the void, perhaps busy - thinking about its life that's still ongoing, and dreaming, of the coming days, and connecting to its new vessel.
Within the silence, the soul remembers: 9 years ago, the vessel - Darin Vellmere, was born in a small village called Ashmere in a kingdom called Eldenrest, his father Elric - who's in his fifties, as well as a handful of villagers are retired soliders, currently Elric works as carpenter in the city most of the time, and returns back home every once in a few weeks, his mother Lerica is a nurse, his brother Marcus studies in a university in Silverreach - the closest city to Ashmere, located about a hundred kilometers away - a 2 or 3-day journey. Kael and Carla Thornecrest are twins born in the same year as Darin, their mother died a few years after their birth to an illness, Brennan Banter is a 13 year old boy who dreams to be a doctor just like his father - Reed Banter - to help people. Kory Gobblesmith is a 14-year old, her father - Rogar Gobblesmith - is also a retired solider, and her mother - Mirel - gave birth today to a new family member.
Darin's life used to be calm and happy. Everyday, him and most of the other children from the village wake up early and go to Mrs. Tessa's house - an old wise lady - who teaches the local children how to read, write and solve math problems. Although she never asks for anything in return, the locals tend to send her presents as a thank-you, often in the form of fresh bread, stitched cloth, or whatever they could spare. The villagers - young or adult - treat Mrs. Tessa with respect.
After Mrs. Tessa's lessons, Darin usually goes to play with Kael and the other kids around the fields, rocks and trees. And sometimes - when Darin's father is around, he likes to teach swordsmanship to the passionate children using wooden swords and weapons that he makes. Brennan enjoys Elric's lessons and attends them whenever he can, but most of the other kids come around only to try out the new weapons and toys he made, they play and pretend to be the strongest heroes in the land, and Mr. Vellmere doesn't mind, in fact, he makes new toys in his free time and keeps them in a box just next to his workshop so that children can find them with convenience, during his lessons, he's often interrupted by the cheers and laughter of the other kids who run around with his toys with joy and happiness, looks at them with a warm smile and nostalgic eyes and he often forgets about the lesson for a few minutes.
Ever since the bloody and pointless war broke out a few decades ago, things haven't been the same, people no longer believed in hope, and instead in punishment and wrath, people really needed to believe in a hero or a saviour, but reality showed that such thoughts would only bring false hope and pain. Too many people died - too much to keep track, death only became a statistic - an estimate and slowly began to lose its meaning. Currently, the older generation is optimistic for the first time - the war is over - though, for unclear reasons - and with time, peace slowly filled their empty hearts and treated the wounds in their souls.
The soul skimmed through the vessel's memories, but it has reached an end, and beyond that end, a curtain - a memory, which did not belong to the vessel, but to the soul itself, the soul reached out to that memory and grabbed whatever is preventing it from remembering, as it started to reveal it, the soul felt like its head is getting too heavy to handle, and its mind started getting flooded quickly with too many unclear thoughts, ideas, scenes, voices and feelings, they started mixing with what the soul perceived as a reality. A moment later, it became too much to handle, the pain these memories brought - mental and even physical - amplified, the soul started to wish for it to stop, and then started begging, tried to call for help, but there was no response. It reached back for the curtain and tried to cover the memories for good, as it grabbed it and started closing it, a familiar voice was heard calling: "I need... you...", right before the memories were covered behind the curtain again.
As the soul opened its eyes again, it found itself in a different place, looking at a wooden ceiling, it stared for a second, then raised an arm, then raised another and sat up to realise that it's been asleep on a mattress. looked at its hands, then remembered, it's not a lost soul anymore, it's Darin Vellmere, a young child who lives in a village called Ashmere, as it was busy remembering all the things it learned from that weird dream, a voice was heard from behind "you woke up early today", as Darin looked back, he saw his older brother - Marcus - who was turning his back and seemed like he was holding something on the table, and before Darin could ask, Marcus said while turning towards Darin "I made some food, since mom looked tired", he then looked at Darin's face and continued "I think I've put too much onion in the pottage-", as Marcus said that, he went silent and looked in confusion at Darin "are you... crying?" he said while holding a bowl of stew.
As Darin heard that, he touched his own cheek and felt his wet tears on his fingers, then he felt embarrassed and started wiping his face with his sleeve. "Are you alright?" Marcus asked after he put the bowl on the table and approached Darin, "yeah, I'm alright" Darin replied, Marcus started rubbing Darin's head in silence for a few seconds then said "alright, let's go eat breakfast."
Both of them stood and took their seats at the wooden table. Marcus placed an extra bowl of pottage in front of Darin, then set a large loaf of bread between them. He sat down, tore the loaf roughly in half, took a piece, and began to eat. The bread was dry, and he chewed slowly, chasing each bite with a spoonful of warm stew. Darin followed his lead - biting into his half with effort. The crust was tough, the crumb dense and dry. Struggling to swallow, he reached for the spoon beside his bowl and dipped it into the pottage, then put it in his mouth. the pottage had an onion-heavy smell, but despite that the food didn't taste bad. Piece after piece, and before Darin knew it, he finished his food, then he looked over to Marcus - who seemed like he finished as well, they sat for a moment in silence, then Marcus stood up and took his bowl and Darin's then walked to the kitchen.
"So, are you gonna go to Mrs. Tessa's lessons today?" Marcus asked, "Yeah, I will" Darin replied, "Alright" he said "I'll be heading back to Silverreach later today, uncle Jared said they'll take off this afternoon, so you will probably come back to only find mom at home", as Darin heard this, a memory flashed into his head: Uncle Jared - their neighbor - is a travelling merchant who travels once every a few weeks to the nearing villages and to Silverreach on his wagon, accompanied by a bunch of other merchants and a few armed men to protect them from any beasts or outlaws. "Alright, take care on your journey, brother" Darin said.
A minute later, Darin stood up, changed his shirt and put on his leather shoes, "Bye Marcus!" he said as he took off, "Take care!" Marcus replied without looking back. Darin shut the door closed as he left and started walking away then took a look at his house, the house was small and made of old wooden logs, its roof covered with uneven shingles and bits of moss. Smoke rose from a stone chimney. The windows were small, with wooden shutters and thin cloth instead of glass. Firewood was stacked neatly against one wall, and the ground around the house was packed with dirt and scattered straw. The smell of smoke and something warm from the hearth drifted in the air. And on the left-side of the house the entrance to his father's workshop was, it was locked to keep people away from his tools while he's not around.
Darin then smiled at his new home then proceeded in his path, it was a nice day outside, daring started running with excitement and curiosity under the warm sun and singing birds, around the blooming flowers and soughing trees, over the dirt and rocks, despite it being his first time, he felt like he knew the way to Mrs. Tessa's house, but instead of going there directly, he decided to go around the village, he went straight until he made it to the huge tree that was roughly located in the center of the village, then continued past it to the river and crossed a small wooden bridge, he continued a little further, then went to the right, where a steep, rocky slope rose ahead of him. He climbed it carefully, using both hands at times to steady himself on the uneven stone, the slope wasn't so high - but steep. When he made it to the top he rested a little bit, then looked back at the village. The houses looked smaller from up here, placed between the fields and trees, from their chimneys rose smoke, which danced in the air as it rose up, the sun and the clouds and the river added a nice touch to the painting. Darin sat down on the ledge and stared. Everything felt calm. Peaceful. Like time itself had slowed down.
A few minutes have passed, then Darin woke up from his daydreams, he remembered that he was supposed to go to Mrs. Tessa's house, so in a rush he stood up and carefully climbed back down, then backtracked his way back to the gigantic tree and turned left this time, continued until he reached a huge building - bigger than his own, at least, as he got closer to the door he noticed that it wasn't fully shut, when he got closer and grabbed the doorknob he heard the sound of a bunch of children, laughing and playing in joy. As he neviously and gently opened the door, he saw a dozen of children in front of him, some are sitting on the ground and some are standing and running around, some are having a conversation and some are playing, some are younger and some are older, as he got in the building, a few children noticed him and looked at him for a second, then minded their own business, Darin started to look around for any familiar faces, until he saw Brennan sitting in the far far corner, and on his right was Kael, less than a few meters away to the right were Carla and a few of her friends - who seemed like they were having a joyful conversation.
Darin walked over to his friends and sat next to Kael. "Hey guys" Darin said as he sat down grabbing Kael and Brennan's attention, "Hey Darin" they replied, "you're a little late aren't you" Kael added "did you sleep well tonight?", "I did" Darin answered, "I woke up early today and decided to go for a little walk", he added, as Kael looked speechless at him. Darin then looked around the room, him and the other kids were sitting in Mrs. Tessa's living room, there were paintings hanged on the walls, some were portraits of some people, some others had beautiful sceneries on them, and the rest were abstract paintings that mixed all kinds of colors, in front of Darin, and on the other side of the room there was a single wooden chair, "Where's Mrs. Tessa?" Darin asked his friends after noticing the empty chair, "she went to get the papers from inside" Brennan replied, "she'll probably come soon".
Darin sat down and waited patiently in the living room, as well as his friends and a few more children around his age, while the loud noises of the joyful children who were running around and playing filled the room, the annoying and frequent, high-pitched screams interrupted Darin's thoughts. "God, I wish Kory was here" Kael said a minute later, "children are way quieter when she's around". "Yeah.." Brennan agreed, "kids seem to love Kory" he added. Darin then started to look around, then realized that Kory wasn't here, "Kory didn't arrive yet? is she alright?" He asked, "she's probably alright, maybe she's sick or just late" Brennan answered.
A moment later, the playful laughter and screams diminished progressively as Mrs. Tessa walked in, her wooden cane - which she held with her left hand - made a loud and clear bang as it made contact with the wooden floor, and with her right arm she held a dozen of paper sheets. the children who were running a moment ago have stopped, then all the kids who were still standing walked to an empty spot and sat there next to their friends, Darin and the other kids looked towards her as she walked silently towards the chair, she had a thin and fragile body, a curved back and wrinkled skin, a small, golden ring shined on her left hand as she raised her cane - preparing to take the next step, her tied hair seemed to move along with every step she took, she also kept a warm and welcoming smile drawn on her face, under her weak and swollen eyes which Darin thought were closed on a first glance.
Mrs. Tessa walked slowly, step by step, steadily and confidently until she made it to the wooden chair then sat on it. She looked around, scanned the crowd of children, until her eyes fell on Brennan, Brennan seemed to understand what she wanted, so he stood up and approached her, making his way around the children sitting on his way, until he stood in front of her and faced her, she then handed him the pile of papers, Brennan then began his journy, he approached and handed out a sheet to every child in the room, including his own friends, then returned to Mrs. Tessa, took a sheet for himself and gave her the extra then went back and sat in his spot next to Kael, Mrs. Tessa took a sheet, then slowly and carefully, leaned to the side and placed the rest of the pile on the floor next to the chair she sat on.
A moment of silence interrupted by soft whispers took over the room. The children looked at the sheet of paper curiously and started investigating and attempting to read its contents, Darin looked at the paper in his hand, the paper had a long wall of text, written in black ink, the small words and letters written in cursive were somewhat hard to read, but Darin was eventually able to decipher the first line, "Once upon a time:" the line said, he then started reading the next line, which he found to be more difficult to read, so he squinted his eyes and started spelling: "A hero lived in the kingdom", as Darin focused on the 3rd sentence he was interrupted by Kael's voice "Aww man..." he whispered, getting Darin and Brennan's attentions, "I don't like reading lessons" he said in disappointment. Brennan placed his arm on Kael's shoulder "the ability to read is a useful skill to have" he said. Kael slapped Brennan's arm away from his shoulder then said with a serious face while keeping his voice low "I KNOW how to read common language, Brennan, I just can't read Mrs. Tessa's language!".
As the room was filled with many whispers, a soft shush coming from Mrs. Tessa was heard, which caused the sounds and the whispers to diminish as a response, as the room went dead silent, Mrs. Tessa looked at the paper then opened her mouth: "Decades ago, there was" she started to read with a cracked voice then paused, coughed to clear her throat, then read again in a clear and steady voice, touched with the slight rasp of age and wisdom "Decades ago", The children all listened in excitement with curious eyes and ears, they wondered what the story could be about, some of the kids were looking towards Mrs. Tessa, some stared at the copies in their hands and others oscillated with their eyes - they once looked down at their sheets then back, "A hero, lived in our kingdom" Mrs. Tessa continued, she told a story about a hero, whose name stirred courage in every heart. He was no prince nor noble, but a blacksmith's son. He was gifted with great might and led the armies to victory, he fought - not for glory, but for the home and people whom he loved. He brought hope back to the kingdom, he made people see what's beneath the darkness and violence, a light - freedom, safety, happiness. When things got calmer he came back, but did not stay, On the morning of the festival held in his honor, he vanished. Some say he left to chase the shadow of a greater threat. Others say he saw visions in the stars - omens of a future storm. But surely, he will return, because he promised to be the light that outshines the darkness - greed and cruelty of the kingdom's enemies. His story lived on - the mighty hero, bringer of light and hope, every village and city in Eldenrest have once told his story to let his lineage live on, and to give the newer generations something that the older ones have missed: Hope for a brighter future.
As Mrs. Tessa finished reading the tale and raised her eyes towards the children, their wide eyes were fixed on the old woman as she read the final line. The children held their breath, curiosity lingered in their gazes, questions bloomed in their heads - will the hero come back? where did he go to? when will he return? - all kinds of questions that left the room in silence and made the children freeze in place. Mrs. Tessa then leaned and placed the sheet on top of the rest of the pile, "Do you think the hero will come back?" she said, finally breaking the silence, the attendants finally moved, they started to look around and fix their sitting positions, some stood up and some discussed the story with their pals. "So it's the hero's tale after all" Kael said, interrupting Brennan and Darin's dreams, making them look towards him, "Did you hear this story before?" Brennan asked "Never before had Mrs. Tessa told this story in her lessons, if I'm not mistaken". Before Kael could reply, a voice from Darin's right shoulder echoed: "Our father used to read it to us when we were little" Carla - who's overheard the boys' discussion - said, "Kael refused to go to sleep and would've started crying whenever Dad didn't read him the story" she added with a smirk on her face, provoking her twin brother, Kael seemed to be annoyed by Carla's comment, so he opened his mouth to reply, paused, he seemed to have no response and started to feel embarrassed, then leaned towards Carla and said "at least I am not stupid!" then flicked his tongue out mockingly, "yes you are!" the sister said before extending her tongue back at Kael, Darin sat stiffly between them, with his arms crossed awkwardly, the siblings leaned towards eachother while keeping their tongues out and making noises to mock one another, claiming a piece of his personal space in the process. Darin shifted slightly, trying to reclaim a patch of space for himself, but they just leaned in harder, faces stretching past his shoulders, tongues flailing like silly little flags. His eyes darted back and forth. Why me? he thought. He didn't dare move too much, as he might accidentally join the crossfire. All he could do was sit there, trapped in the middle of twin chaos, hoping they'd either tire themselves out or forget he existed altogether.
"Hey guys" a weak voice was heard, pausing the twin's battle and signing a truce, they stopped whatever they were doing and looked back at the source; it was Kory, she approached with a tired smile, swolen eyes and her iconic dress, her long hair was messy and tangled and her eyes didn't shine as bright. Many questions were in Darin's head, but before he could utter a word, Carla fired first "Oh my god, Kory, are you alright?" she said in a concerned voice, "I'm alright" Kory replied with a tired tone before sitting down in the gap between Darin and Carla, while the group looked towards her in concern, she noticed their concerned looks then said "I didn't think that having a baby brother would be this difficult", "Did he make too much trouble?" Brennan asked, "he kept crying and crying after you all left, we tried to calm him but couldn't make it stop", she answered, "I think he finally went to sleep at dawn".
Kory's tired eyes started to shut down, as she made her best effort to stay awake, every few seconds, her eye lids closed, then opened to full all of a sudden. Her struggle to stay conscious was apparent, Darin started to think about it, perhaps having a younger sibling can be an exciting - but also hard and annoying experience. Then Darin realised something important was missing, so he looked to his right - towards Kory - then asked in curiousity "what's his name?" causing Kory to open her eyes and regain her consciousness again, "Oh, I forgot to mention it" she said while rubbing her eyes "Gareth" she said, "We went with Gareth".