"Y-You understand, don't you, Noah? It just has to be this way, you know? It's…"
An incessant ringing occupied Noah's mind, rendering him completely unable to hear Albert's words.
"What…" Noah muttered with a hand on his head. "What is happening?" He asked. "Why is… Why is Dwight in here?"
"Ugh, are you not listening? What are you not understanding?" Dwight sighed. "It's simple."
He was the same age as Noah and, until that day, just as unloved by Gods and Spirits.
"I've been chosen by an Iron Spirit." Dwight snapped his fingers, and the Spirit appeared on his shoulder. "Get it?"
The Iron Spirit was dull and no bigger than a clenched fist, with a body of rough gray metal, uneven and slightly rusted, with two faint orange holes for eyes. It had no presence or aura at all. Just cold iron, heavy and silent. Still,
"S-So?!" Noah frowned, turning towards Albert as if he could help.
"It's how it works here." The blacksmith took a seat while massaging his forehead. "Our village is too close to the wilderness. Sometimes, we need weapons at a moment's notice."
"What… Does that have to do with anything?"
"Someone who is loved by iron is more suited to work in the forge," Dwight said coldly. "And to inherit it."
"No one asked for your opinion." Noah retorted just as coldly, stepping closer to Dwight as if to headbutt him. "You're an outsider here, this is between me and-"
"It's not his opinion." Albert interrupted. "I'm the one who invited him here when I heard the news."
Noah clenched his fists. "You said you were only accompanying your father on some business."
"I was," Dwight smirked. "But then the business went well and… Well, we had some extra money. Could afford taking a shot, and it was worth it."
"So-"
"So," Albert interrupted Noah before he could finish the word. "Dwight will be working with me from now on, and the forge will go to him once I pass, or I'm too old for this shit." The blacksmith coughed. "You can still work here, if you'd like. Maybe help teach Dwight how to…"
Albert's words trailed off. Noah was already walking towards the door.
"No hard feelings, huh?" Dwight said with a wink.
Noah ignored him, or didn't hear at all.
He walked out of the forge, the voices of the two barely audible whispers.
"I don't plan on working in this dump my whole life, though, old man. I'm going to be a great warrior… So anyway, how do I hold the hammer or whatever?"
Noah stopped ten steps beyond the forge.
His clenched fists were shaking, muscles bulging, face twitching.
Everything inside of him wanted to turn around and beat up Dwight.
As seconds passed, Noah found that his legs completely refused to get him away from the forge.
Just as he had accepted that he had no choice but to turn around and step back into the forge,
"You understand, right?" Albert asked, stepping just beyond the forge's door. "It's better for everyone this way. You can still work with me, as I said. It wouldn't be bad to-"
"I…" Noah gulped, trying to keep the shaking in his voice to a minimum. "I understand." He nodded without turning towards Albert, and started walking away.
The forge was around ten minutes away from the rest of the village.
With no other place to go, or anything else to do, Noah started walking home.
Halfway through the way, though, he turned right, and walked deeper into the forest.
Auntie Naomi didn't expect him home, and he couldn't bear to see her now. Noah was convinced that upon laying eyes on her, he would simply break.
The more he walked, the more he was reminded of the past, of words that had been spoken to him.
"Huh? Join you? Why should I? This is so stupid. You think the Gods or the Spirits care if we run, do pushups, or anything of the sort?" Dwight had said, letting out a sigh. "We'll either be chosen or not. Doing this is stupid. You can keep running in circles by yourself."
"Not everyone is chosen." Albert had told him long ago. "Some just have to make their peace with that, and live their lives however they can."
"I'm sure you'll be able to do it!" Auntie Naomi had cheered. "If anyone can, it's you!"
For a long time, Noah had held his aunt's words near and dear to his heart.
But now, standing in the middle of the forest with no plan or foreseeable future,
"Ugh…" He clenched his teeth and fists as hard as he could, but was unable to keep tears from running down his face. "Fuck…"
It was the first time tears went down Noah's face since his parents left the village ten years earlier.
"FUCK!" He shouted, clenched fist piercing through the air towards a tree.
Smash! Crack!
"Fffffuck!" The pain made him shout even louder.
He kicked the ground and walked away, leaving the tree tilting slowly until it eventually hit the ground.
***
"Tsk." Noah clicked his tongue.
He had been wandering through the forest around the village randomly, yet found himself exactly where the day had started, where every day started for him.
The road leading to the village. The road leading to other towns and the rest of the world.
Without thinking, Noah started walking up that road and away from the village.
'As I am, I'm just a burden on Auntie.' He arrived at the end of the road, and at the sign that marked the presence of a village for merchants and travellers. 'Maybe I should leave the village… I still have my body and the knowledge from Albert. I could set up shop somewhere…' Noah thought to himself while looking into the distance.
It looks more like an old, forgotten Altar…
Staring at it, Noah couldn't agree. Though he had only seen Altars from far, far away, and only a couple of times in his life.
"What do I know, anyway?" He sighed, got on his knees, and brought his palms together.
Noah did not know if a Spirit or God was going to hear his prayer, but that did not matter to him right now.
He needed to pray, to ask for help, for a sign… That's all that mattered.
'Well, well…' Far, far away. 'What an honest prayer.'
Unbeknownst to Noah, his prayer had crossed thousands and thousands of kilometers.
'I can't leave that unanswered, now can I?'