Fear had consumed my heart. I wanted to help my father but my instinct said otherwise. I prepared myself: readied the machete and ran to the back of the barn.

“Father! Where are you?” I shouted.

The few beams of moonlight seeping through the trees were the only source of light. I looked around nervously. I hoped that I would see my father walk from the darkness of the night and tell me that everything is gonna be alright.

I walked four paces from the door and stepped on something. It was dark so I bent over and picked it up; it was the hoe my father carried.

I felt a pit open in my stomach. “Oh no…” I panicked and called out for him. “FATHER!” I shouted while I ran around, hoping to see a sign that he was okay. As I walked, I noticed a figure sitting under a tree. I quickly ran towards it, hoping hard that it was my father, resting. 

“Father? Is that you?” I walked towards the silhouette carefully and raised the machete, in case the figure was someone, or something, different. I mean, I saw a Silverback-wolf earlier; anything could be possible at that point. 

I approached  the silhouette, panicked and worried at the same time. It was really dark. I had a hard time checking if the thing was indeed my father. I suddenly heard a rustling sound coming from the direction of the silhouette. It was as if something was struggling. I stopped and waited for the figure to be illuminated by the light.

The moonlight slowly crawled to the direction of the figure and there he was, my father, struggling, as if he was being choked. 

I ran as quickly as I could and knelt beside him, my heart beating loudly in my ears. “Father!” He was indeed struggling to breath, but I couldn’t see any source that’s making him choke. “ What’s happening?” I shouted. “What should I do?” My words echoed my thoughts. 

My father then pointed above the tree. I slowly looked upwards and I saw the Death Wraith hovering above us. I panicked and tried to attack it with the machete. The Wraith dodged my attack easily. It flew a little bit higher and went behind me. 

“What are you doing to my father, you foul demon!” I charged at the damn thing but I went straight through it and fell on the ground. As I was passing through the demon, I felt extremely cold, as if I fell into a pool of ice. I stood up and tried to dismiss the fear I was feeling and tried to focus on the fight(if you can call it one).  “COME ON!”. I shouted at the demon. I rushed towards it again. I jumped and tried to slash the demon using my machete. 

I was shocked when the demon caught the blade of my machete. It tried to throw me away while holding on the blade. ”Holy shit!” I held onto the handle desperately. It was thrashing me around like a doll. It seemed that I weigh nothing against the strength of this monster.

My hands eventually slipped and I fell. I rolled three times after hitting the ground due to the force and stopped near my father. The Wraith then raised its Greatsword and aimed it at me.

“ENOUGH!!!” I heard my father scream. He stood behind me mumbling stuff.

“Blinding rays of hope, heed my call and have divine retribution befall on my foes, Blade of Yggdrasil!”

A blinding ray of light suddenly hit the Wraith. It screeched and stepped back(or should I say floated back?). Its robe was torn and there was smoke coming from it. I don’t know what happened; earlier my father was desperately trying to breathe and the next thing he’s casting some bad ass magic on the demon. “Father, what did you just d--?”. I asked in awe.

He was still breathless, but his voice was as clear as day. “I was a Rune Knight back in the day, but I resigned after meeting your mother.” He answered, smiling at me.

“What? Why didn’t you tell me this? And why did you let this thing do that to you?”

He just smiled said “It’s not that important, son.”, then he assumed his, i guess, attack pose? 

“NOT IMPORTANT? IS THIS LIKE THE SILVERBACK-WOLF THING?”

He chuckled and looked at the Wraith again. The Wraith seemed angry about being hit; It raised its left hand as if it was holding an apple and a black wisp appeared inside it. It threw the wisp in the air and it produced a dark cloud followed by a huge bolt of red lightning.

“What the fucking fuck is that?” I shouted and ran behind the tree.

“It’s called a Death Call.” my father answered.

“Death Call? What does THAT mean?”

“It means that it is calling for reinforcements.” he answered.

Reinforcements? What the fuck? I mean, my father looked like a badass magical knight but the magic earlier barely damaged the Wraith, and now it's calling for assistance? The demon remained still, as if it was waiting. I seized the opportunity and I rushed to my father, grabbed the end of his shirt and pulled it, “We need to run, father!”.

He turned his head and smiled at me and said: “No, son. YOU need to run.” My father took a necklace inside his shirt, pulled it and gave it to me. “Go back to our house. There’s a chest under the floor of my room, it’s directly under my bed. Take this and open that chest. Everything you need should be there.” He patted my head and hugged me, extremely tight. “Go to Orvelia, look for Randgris. She’ll know what to do.” Tears fell down from my father’s eyes, yet he still smiled at me and said: “I have never told you how proud I am of you. Please always remember that I AM PROUD to call you my son!” He pushed me away from him and mumbled another spell.

“With the Earth’s protection, I will assist my allies, Castle Walls!”

Beams of light formed a wall-like structure. “I should be able to hold them off for a bit. You need to go now!”

“But--”

“GO NOW!”

Tears came out of my eyes as I ran back to the barn, not daring to look back. 

I slowed my pace down to at least catch a bit of air. I didn’t want to leave my father but he knew better than me in fighting the Wraith. As I passed through the barn, I heard the restless Howl, banging on the pen he was in, neighing loudly. I ignored him and quickly checked the necklace my father gave me as I ran, hoping to find an immediate clue on how to use it. I observed that there was a golden pendant hanging on it; it was shaped like a Triquetra with a dragon’s head in the middle of it. It had small pieces of Sapphire on each end and carvings that say “purificatus non consumptus”.

I entered the house. I took a steel framed chair from the living room and I went straight to my father’s room and wrecked the floor. I saw a huge red chest with gold linings from the hole. The keyhole was shaped exactly like the pendant was. “This must be it.” I breathed. 

I quickly placed the pendant into the keyhole. For something so simple I missed placing the pendant a number of times, until finally I  managed to put it in completely, but nothing happened. I banged on the chest out of frustration, and that was when I heard a click. The lid of the chest opened for a bit. I opened it quickly, hoping to find something that can help my father fight. The contents at the top were completely useless: an unopened letter and a golden ring.

“What the hell are these things? Doesn’t matter, I need something that can help Father in fighting those demons!”

I continued going through what were the chest’s contents to check for any item that could help my father. I dug deep in the chest and at the very bottom of it was a sword and underneath it was a shield. The sword looked like the ones the knights from the kingdom used but more elegantly-looking. It’s scabbard was designed with two emeralds on each side and the end of the hilt has a sapphire in it. I pulled the sword out; one edge of the blade was golden while the other was solid black. The shield on the other hand looked like a Kite shield, its dominant color was solid black, it also had gold linings and three emerald pieces on each of the points of the shield.

“Finally!” Something that would help Father defeat that Wraith.

With what I thought was an amazing idea, I quickly gathered the items I got from the chest and ran back to father. I knew these cool looking items will help him kill  those demons. I ran as fast as I could: I quickly got through the barn but what I saw scared me. “FATHER!” I screamed.

I was just a few steps from the barn’s back door but I clearly saw an army of Death Wraiths. My father was backed in a tree he was leaning on earlier. The demons were closing in on him. It looked like his strength was so drained that even just standing was a challenge. I ran towards him, calling him, practically waving the sword so he could see I was ready to help. 

When he saw me running towards him, he scowled. “YOU IDIOT!” He bellowed. “I TOLD YOU TO RUN!”

The three demons lifted their greatswords, aiming it at my father while the others surrounded him. I tried to run faster, to get in between him and the Wraiths, to slash them with my newfound sword, but they brought their swords down and cut through my father. I could feel time slow down: their blades cutting through him moved slowly, and my legs started to feel heavy like lead.

“NOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!”

My father fell on his knees and his back slid on the tree behind him. Then something unexpected happened; the dark sky suddenly turned purple. A series of purple magic circles appeared in the sky: a sudden flash of light passed through them and hit the army of demons, disintegrating most of them and left the others burning. The flames had purple hues instead of the usual orange. The burning Wraiths fell on the ground, kneeling. Within seconds, the purple flames had eaten them.

I looked around and saw no one there. The magic and effect of the attack left me astonished for mere seconds, but when I saw Father, the astonishment went away and was quickly replaced by dread. I ran towards him, tears threatening to fall with every step.

I knelt beside him, cradling his head. I tried to look for any wounds, but there weren’t any. He was gasping in pain, and I couldn’t do anything. “Father, no…” My voice broke as I tried not to let the tears fall. “ I should’ve ran faster… I’m sorry…”

“No, son…” he said, gasping for air. “I should be the one saying sorry…” He found my hand and held it tightly. I saw regret in his eyes. What could he be regretful for?

I tried to look again for any wound. There was still nothing. “Father, I don’t understand. You are not wounded anywhere. What is happening?”

“Do you remember the Silverback-Wolf in the barn earlier?”

I nodded and noticed that he was pointing at something. I turned my head in the same direction and saw the Silverback-Wolf, only a few steps away from the barn’s door, lying on the ground -- lifeless.

“The weapons of Death Wraiths don’t damage your physical body. They damage your soul. That’s the reason why no one wants to fight them.”

“Then why did you? We could’ve ran, Father! This wouldn’t have happened if only we ran…”

“If we did, then both of us would be dead by now. Those things are relentless. They wouldn’t stop unless we were dead.”

I looked at my father. As much as it was painful to admit, it was obvious that nothing I could do would save him. He was gasping for air every time he tried to breathe. His body trembled whenever he tried to move. I was a coward. I could’ve lured even just one of the demons to help him. Instead, I ran. I ran, and this was the outcome of my actions.

“I know that look…” he weakly smiled at me. “Never blame yourself for this… There was nothing you could’ve done… Please do that for me son...”

I gulped. “I understand, father.” I smiled back at him while tears rolled down my cheeks. “I will do my best.”

“Remember, go to Orvelia and look for a woman called Randgris. She will help you.” My father smiled at me and said “I love you so much, son.”

“I love you too father.” I’m not going to run away, after what they’ve done. “ I will make them pay for this, I promise!”

“I know you will.” he kept his smile and eyes fixed on me. I heard him took one deep breath and his eyes slowly closed. His chest remained still, and I knew he was gone. My body trembled from rage and grief, grief for not being able to do anything for my father and rage at the Devil King and his entire army. 

I took my father back to the house, laid him in his bed and washed his body and changed his battle-torn clothes. He had kept his smile; the smile that I won’t be able to see from now on. I left my father in his bed. I was told to leave this place and go to Orvelia, I wanted to keep the memory of my peaceful and amazing childhood in my mind forever. I walked around the farm and saw Madonna gazing on the fields. I approached her and took the rope on her collar and let her roam the fields.

“I’m sorry, girl. You’re free now. Do whatever you want.”

Madonna looked at me and moo’d, she placed her head against my chest and walked away. “Good girl.” I said. After letting Madonna go, I went inside the stable and checked on Howl. I entered the stable and saw him trying to lift the lock of the pen using his tongue. He, again, stopped moving after he noticed that I entered. Even with all the pain I was going through, I couldn’t help but chuckle, even for a bit.

“You really are weird…” I walked towards him and petted him. “We are going on a journey, boy. Brace yourself.” I fixed the saddle on his back and walked him in front of the house. 

After that, I went to the barn, took the shovel and walked to the meadow. My father and I loved this meadow, we used to go here to relax after a day’s work and talk and laugh about stupid things. I sat down and reminisced the beautiful memories we shared. He was an amazing father. I walked towards a boulder, we used to sit here all the time. I sat there until it was late morning.

After all the reminiscing, I decided to dig a hole beside the boulder. “This is where I’ll bury him”. I said to myself. I gave everything I got even if my tired body was giving out. I dug that hole, releasing all the frustrations and anger I have.

After I finished digging, I walked back to our house, went to the room of my father and carried the body of my father. Then, I walked towards the boulder and gently placed his lifeless body in the grave I dug.

“I love you, father. I will never forget you.” 

I smiled as I cover his body with soil. I found a small slab of stone from the barn and made it the headstone of the grave.I carved the words:

“Here lies Gerald Grand, an amazing father, farmer and friend.”

“My love will always be with you.”

“- Your son, Axel Grand”

I sat there until the sun set down. I enjoyed my last day in this amazing, beautiful place. I walked back to the house and made sure that Howl’s reins were secured then entered the door, went straight to my room. I entered my room and saw the sword and the shield, “I will definitely avenge you, father.” I picked the sword up with my two tired hands, walked towards the window and  looked up at the night sky.

I placed the sword on top of the shield and I decided to check the contents of the chest my father left to me. I opened it and checked each item out. I saw a chain mail, it looked like a normal one but after lifting it, I realized how light it was. I tried to wear it to check the fit and I barely felt its weight. There were also the ring and the letter, I took the ring and wore it on my index finger and it fits perfectly. I did not have the strength to read the letter so I decided to put it inside my rucksack. I also noticed a bag of gold coins. By the looks of it, there were around 80 to 90 pieces in it.

“This is more than enough for me. Thank you father.”

I packed all the contents of the chest and decided that I would rest; I laid down on my bed and closed my eyes. To be honest I was still praying that when I wake up, my father would be shouting at me because I slept in or something. I hoped this was all a bad dream and that it will be all over when I wake up.