“Eve!”

“What!?” Brute shot upwards, awakened by the sudden scream, crashing his head into the stone tent and falling back down. “Shit! Fuck!” Holding his throbbing head, he lifted his upper body to look around, this time slowly as not to smack his head one more time. He saw the young boy they carried with them, wide awake but seemingly in a shock, not noticing his surroundings.

From the entrance of the tent came Durak. “Hey boy, you’re awake.” He stretched his hand out, trying to get the boy’s attention, as a fist rushed at him. He caught the fist, pulling it and making him fall onto the ground. Afterwards he pressed his other hand onto his back, immobilizing him there. Good reflexes, but no signs of any training. “Calm down kid.”

“Let me go!” Aiden screamed, struggling to break free, but couldn’t muster the strength to shake of the dwarf.

“You better stop struggling.” Hearing Brute Aiden turned his head, taking a look at the big man, crouched next to them, and the axe lying by his side.

Aiden stopped his struggle, fear taking over his heart. Who are these guys? Slave traders? What’s going to happen with me?

Feeling the shaking that took over the boy Durak took his staff striking Brute with it. “We are not trying to scare the boy idiot.”

“Damn, I didn’t scare him!” Brute said, as his hand wandered to his head, caressing the bulge after getting struck twice there.

“Of course, you did!” Durak shouted at him, lifting his hand from Aiden.

Seeing his chance to escape Aiden rushed forward, his small build making it possible for him to run out of the tent, and crashed into something soft but steady, throwing him back down. He looked up, the sun blinding him even through the foliage, seeing the silhouette of a person. It reached out, making him cower down, pressing his eyelids shut, when a hand gently stroked his head.

“It’s okay.” A feminine voice sounded out, easing his fears. She walked past him and shouted at the duo in the tent. “What did you two morons do, scaring the boy like that!”

“It’s not my fault!” Screamed Durak, his finger pointed at Durak. “It was this idiot.”

“I didn’t do anything.” Brute said, folding his arms in front of his chest. “It was him who pressed him down.”

“Hahhh.” Al exhaled sharply. “Are both of you stupid?” She turned away from them, ignoring both of their remarks, and crouched next to Aiden. “It’s alright, I’ll stop the fools next time something happens.”

Aiden looked at her, her blond hair flowing in the wind, her eyes green like a meadow in summer. Her friendly demeanor made him calm down. “Where are we?” He looked around, trying to make sense of the situation.

“The forest of Silv. It lays north of Ramur, leading to Halmar.” Seeing the confusion of the boy she decided to ask a question. “How much do you remember from last night?”

“I was in Ramur. I woke up in an alley when the bell started to chime, and monster attacked. I ran to the main street when I saw Sam and the troll. Thereafter…” Aiden held his head, trying to remember, as pain shot through it. “The demon…” Anger took over, suppressing the pain at first. “I attacked it… trying to rescue Sam and… and…” He started to grimace as the pain grew greater and greater. “Who?”

Al looked at the boy, seeing the pain twisting his face, as black veins started to appear from his neck, crawling over to his face and down his body. Durak stepped behind her, taking a look at the boy.

“Stop him!” Durak rushed past Al, grabbing Aiden as he collapsed again. When he lost consciousness, the black veins started to recede, disappearing entirely after a moment.

“What was that?

“A curse.” Durak answered, disdain in his voice. “Probably the work of the demon, who else would do this to such a young boy.” He looked at Aiden, lying in the gras, tears streaming down from his eyes. He let out a small whisper, almost inaudible against the passing wind.

“Eve.”

Durak turned away from Aiden, looking at his two comrades. “We have to stop him if he tries to remember something he can’t. I don’t know what will happen if he tries it next time.” He stopped for a moment, thinking their actions through. “And never mention the name he says. At least not before we figure out what to do with the curse.”

 

 

Hours passed as they walked through the forest. Instead of the constant danger of the last days their journey was relatively safe with the only exception being a wild beast. But opposed to the ferocious monsters these beasts were nothing more than overgrown animals, harmful to a farmer but nothing more than a nuisance to an armed man.

The trees grew sparse again and made way for bushes and flowers as they left the forest.

“Halmar shouldn’t be far by now.” Al started to speak. “We should reach it by evening.”

“Finally.” Brute exclaimed. “Let’s get some new… mhh?” Brute noticed something shift on his back when he spoke. He stopped to sit the boy down from back. Slowly Aiden opened his eyes to see Brutes face staring at him. He rocked back at the sudden appearance of new face, directly in front of him.

“What?” He looked at the man, grinning with teeth showing. A scar ran over his left check up to the top of his ear. His bald head reflected the afternoon sun. His eyes were a dark red, almost turning brown. Then the big man was thrown aside, tackled by the elf from earlier.

“You trying to scare him again right after waking up?” Al shouted before turning to the boy. “Hey, you okay?”

Aiden looked at her perplexed. Then at himself, noticing his shirt which has been cut apart and smaller wounds all over his body. On his stomach was a fresh patch of pink skin. Seeing it made him remember how a sword pierced into his body, waiting for the pain to come again. But it never came, even after touching the new flesh.

“How can this be?” Confusion came over him as another unknown person appeared. This one a dwarf. He was bigger than him, but not by much. His hair had a shade of brown, like his eyes, only that it had a few streaks of grey in it, courtesy of his age.

“Regeneration. I saw it with my own eyes. Didn’t you know about your magic?”

“My magic?” The boy looked at Durak when he heard of the magic. A memory flashed past his eyes.

‘Look at that mark of ya. It’s a star mark, your first one.’

“Wait! What happened to Sam?” He asked Durak, grabbing him in the moment. “The old man near me! The one who fought against the troll.”

Durak looked at the boy, unsure how to begin talking. But although he tried to think of a good way to tell him he still didn’t find one till now.

He sighed deeply, relenting to his fate to clearly tell the boy what happened as Brute grasped the boy, turning him in his direction. His hand wandered down, grasping the scabbard at his hip. He turned it lose and gave it to the boy.

Looking at the scabbard tears once again started to gather in his eyes. Aiden pulled the sword out of the scabbard, a clean blade free from ornaments. The only anomaly was the pommel, a hexagon engraved with a starry sky.

He had seen this sword once in the past, when Sam told him about his fight against a shadow spider. He went to fight with his old band against the leader of the forest, a spider five times as big as them. After a gruesome fight he stabbed this sword into the head of the spider.

At the end of the story he told him that he will never let go off this sword while still alive. Seeing how this sword was without its owner answered his earlier question. He put the sword back into the scabbard, holding it outwards for Brute to take it back.

Brute pushed the sword back at Aiden’s chest. “Keep it.” He said and stood back up to keep his distance. “He told us to give it to you.”

The dwarf rushed back towards Brute. “Hey, there had to be a better way to handle things.”

A hand rested on Aiden’s shoulder, turning his attention away from the two.

“Don’t judge him too hard.” Al said. “He doesn’t mean it in a bad way, its just that the place he comes from is a little harsher than here.”

Aiden nodded at here, his focus still on the sword in his hands.

“Now then, let’s get going. We need to move if we want to arrive before night. Can you move?”

Aiden stood up taking a few steps. “Seems fine.”

“Good.” Al said and went into the direction the other two walked to. “Follow us.”

He ran to her, struggling to keep their speed while walking. “Where are we going?”

“The town of Halmar.”

“Why are you taking me with you?”

“Your old man, I think you called him Sam, right?”

“Yes.”

“He asked us to. And Durak, being the busybody that he is, accepted.”

“Durak?” Aiden asked, looking at the two in front of them.

“Ahhh, that was probably the first thing we should’ve done.” Al shook her head, remembering that they forgot one of the most important points. “Hey, you both, stop for a minute!”

Durak and Brute stopped, quickly coming into reach of them.

“The dwarf is Durak. And this big fella”, she hit him on the shoulder, “is called Brutus, but everybody calls him Brute. I’m Al-lur.”

“Thank you for saving me. My name is Aiden.”

“Look at him. He already has manners that I’ve tried to teach Brute for years now.” Durak mused.

“Never been in a situation where my fist wouldn’t help me out more than my mouth”

“See.” Durak told to Aiden. “And that’s why he is called Brute” He started to laugh.

“That’s all?” Brute asked already turning away and walked away.

“I think I have to start over once again.” He sighed and walked after Brute.

Al looked at Aiden, staring at the two of them. She lightly pushed his back, setting him in motion once again.

While the two at the front talked loudly the two at the back walked in silence. Feeling him look at her she turned to him. “Never seen an elf before?”

Startled at the sudden conversation Aiden needed a few seconds to answer. “No. I mean, yes, but…” He stammered.

“What is it?”

“Can I ask a few questions Miss Lur.”

Al burst out in laughter, catching even the attention of the duo in front. “Hahaha, I don’t know when I was last called Miss. And I think you need an explanation on elven names.” She snickered, still amused about the boy. “Elves don’t have a family name like your human nobles. Just call me Al and stop it with the Miss.”

“Okay,” he stopped for a moment before continuing, “Al.”

“Yes, Aiden?”

“I wanted to ask what will happen after this, when we reach Halmar.” Sorrow clouded his voice.

“Well, Sam asked us to take care of you. Do you know if a member of your family lives near here?”

“No, I never knew our father and our mother died years ago and…” The boy staggered, gripping his head as pain shot through once again. “Who? There was…”

Al grabbed the boy, lifting him in her embrace. “It’s okay if you don’t remember. It happens to some adventures if they happen to get into a traumatic situation. Don’t try to force yourself, it’s going to make it worse.”

“Okay.” When Aiden emptied his head the pain soon faded away, leaving behind a small sting, like a shadow lurking in the mind.

“Then there are two options for you.” Al continued, still carrying the boy. “One is to get into an orphanage. There should be children around your age. While living there you could start searching for a job and over time become a citizen. But it could be hard to get a good job, because most people hand their job down to their children.”

Aiden listened, but the uncertainty of the scenario left him silent, waiting for the next option.

“The other option, and I think that is what Sam meant by taking care of you, seeing how you even awakened to magic, is to become a mercenary.