1 Departure

Mountain Village was a normal village that didn't have anything to help differentiate itself from other villages of similar size, except for the origin of it's name the singular mountain that went by the name End's Peak.

Quite a grandiose name for a mountain in a place of which was of no importance. The story goes that supposedly a battle of a scale that is impossible to describe with words occurred there and it was for the fate of this world. Weirdly enough you can't really find any sign of the amazing battle that happened there. All you can find a the peak is a statue telling you of the legend and the name of the mountain.

Inside Mountain Village were several wooden houses with a slightly larger one located to the east side of it. This was the home of the Chief and his family who had been running the village for several generations already and they were beloved by the other villagers as they were treated kindly and fairly by the family.

This is not where we want to focus our attention on at the moment, instead it's towards the west side of Mountain Village. It was in a house where a family of three were located. At the kitchen table sat a woman with semi short brown hair. Her face leaked a motherly aura and was full of gentleness. Looking past this you would see a beautiful women but not one that would cause those who looked at her to be soul shocked, instead it was one of calm that would instantly settle a mad beast.

She was dressed in a beige dress and was currently invested in a book. It was a bit unusual for one to being able to read in these parts but it wasn't out of place as there some others in the village that could read as well.

From the kitchen you could hear footsteps walking towards the table. Out from the corner walked out a stout man carrying a wooden bowl filled with soup in one hand and a small bottle filled with some sort of blue liquid. He was well built and you could tell of his power by just glancing at him. Looking at his square face you could see some scars cutting across both his cheek and forehead along with his short black hair covering the top of his head. To others he may come across scary and almost angry at times, he was in fact the opposite.

His brown eyes that looked almost black in color looked upon the woman who also looked back at him with similar eye color, except you could tell that that they were brown, and she had a glowing smile on her face.

"Beatrice here's your food along with your medicine", the man said as he placed the bowl and small bottle on the table for her.

Beatrice put in a bookmark and closed her book and moved it to the side to make room and responded to the man in a faint voice, "Thank you Garris."

She then stretched out her hands, closed her eyes and puckered her lips. Looking at his wife's silly pose Garris decided to humor her and brought his face closer to her hands. She grasped his face and brought him in for a quick kiss. They separated and a satisfied smile appeared on her face and proceeded to start eating her soup.

Garris moved to a chair next to Beatrice and asked her, "Are you sure you and Sagar are going to be fine with me gone? Without me here it's mainly going to be him taking of you and well..." .He went silent for a bit and seemed concerned about something.

Beatrice stopped eating and put her hand on her husband's and reassured him, "Don't worry even though he's young Sagar is very intelligent for his age he even confirmed himself that he could do it. You even showed him everything he needed to do for the past month I'm sure you know better than anyone that he's ready."

Putting his other hand on his wife's Garris with a knowing smile said, "I know but I can't help but be worried about the both of you. What if something beyond our control happens and I'm not here to protect you both."

Furrowing her brow a bit Beatrice countered, "Garris we've been discussing this for almost a year and last month you finally accepted to go back to the band. We've lived here in Mountain Village for eight years and nothing has ever happened to endanger us. All of the coins that we've saved up have almost been all used up with what we have left being able to last us at least for a few more months and that's it.". She sat up a bit and continued, "We need a source of income and right now you're the only one in the house that can do that. I know that you're worried but I need you to trust us."

Looking into Beatrice's eyes and seeing her determination for him to leave Garris sighed and nodded his head, "Fine, fine, I already have most of my stuff together anyway. I'll go get dressed and get ready to leave."

He got up from his seat and walked to their bedroom where he had not only clothes and provision for his travel but also his armor and sword,Beatrice on the other hand continued to eat her soup. While walking to their room Garris passed by another room with it's door slightly ajar. In the room was his son of five years Sagar. From the moment he was born it seemed like he was special. The fact that he was actual born was the first of such cases.

Before they came to Mountain Village Beatrice and him were part of a mercenary band by the name of 'Silverback' a relatively famous mercenary group. They had many branches across the continent and before he left Garris was a captain of one of these branches groups. Unfortunately an accident happened during one of their missions that almost resulted in the entire groups death if it wasn't for Beatrice. After the incident she was left partially crippled, extremely weakened, and she experiences bouts pain from time to time.

Both he and Beatrice had gathered up a good amount of coin before the accident so they decided to leave 'Silverback', get married, and come out here to this village. Usually someone in Beatrice's condition would have a problem just getting pregnant but she somehow did. Whenever they asked the village's doctor what the chance of the baby being born was he didn't give any sort of good news. The doctor even added that there was a chance that Beatrice might not even survive through the stress of the birth.

So besides being worried about whether or not his child would be born he also had to worry about if his beloved wife would even live through the event. Luckily not only did his wife survive he also had become a father.

Sagar seemed like a normal child for the most part he was mostly just quiet as he hardly ever cried as a baby. Then when he started to talk he showed how intelligent he was. Whenever there were words he didn't know how to say or understand he would ask questions about it. He would ask questions about a variety of things that almost seemed nonsensical except to appease his curiosity. When Beatrice taught him how to read he picked it up quickly. Now instead of asking questions he looks to see if any of the books that Beatrice collected in her travels has the answer if he doesn't find it that's when he asks a question.

Garris walked through the slightly open door and looked at his son currently reading through a book on his lap while sitting on the floor. He had Garris' black hair and and almost black eyes but so far that's all he seemed to pick up from his father, his face was more like his mother's. Garris would just have to see if anything changes as he grows up.

Hearing him opening the door Sagar looked up from his book and his eyes almost seemed to glow with intelligence it was astonishing to Garris. Staring at his father for a moment Sagar spoke, "Is there something you need Dad."

Chuckling a little to himself a bit Garris gazed at his son and told him, "Yes I'm getting ready to leave in a moment, so I was wondering if you could say farewell to your old man for a while."

Sagar quickly closed his book and got up to approach his father and responded to him, "How long were you going to gone?"

Garris thought for a second and rubbed the back of his head and told Sagar, "I'm unsure at the moment it all depends on what missions we get and how we accomplish them but if anything I'll just be gone in yearly intervals and come back to visit. I'll get enough coin to support us for a longer time and then fully retire but who knows what the future has in store. All I need you to do is to take care of your mother for me. I know I've asked this several times already but can you do that?"

Sagar nodded his head without missing a beat and said, "Of course Dad."

"Thank you my son I feel reassured hearing you say that.", he then put his hand on Sagar's head and gave it a quick ruffle and continued, "Now go wait with your mother while I get dressed."

Sagar left his room and went to the dining room where he spotted his mother almost finished with her meal. Seeing this he went outside to get some water so she has something to wash down the medicine with. Coming back he say his mother finished and waiting for him to get back. He went to her and handed her the water.

Casting her gentle eyes upon her wonderful child Beatrice said, "Thank you Sagar, your father seemed to have forgotten to get me something to drink to get rid of the nasty aftertaste of my bitter medicine.", she then stuck her tongue out and continued, "But I don't blame him he's kind of stressed out and plus I didn't feel like bothering him as I knew the other responsible man in the house would pick up his slack." She showed a bright smile as she told him this.

Sagar couldn't help but smile as he looked at his mother and the amount of love she showed both him and his father. He wasn't sure if he could find anyone with the amount of compassion his mother had but he was always welcome to those sorts of surprises.

As Beatrice finished drinking her cup of water Sagar heard his father's heavy footsteps as he walked out of the hallway and into dining room. From just a normal perspective wearing such armor that his father was currently wearing was quite foolish as it would just wear you down faster not to mention slow you down. Except Garris wasn't weak and such weight would hardly be felt by him and instead felt like he was wearing his shirt still. He also wielded what seemed to be a normal sword but according to both his parents his father's sword had been by his side longer than his mother had known him.

Looking at the two most important people in his life Garris was still feeling a bit down thinking that he was leaving them but he knew that he needed to go so that he can provide for the two of them. He came over and hugged both of them deeply and gave them a kiss, he gave Sagar's on his forehead as the boy refused any other place on his face.

As he walked towards the the door he heard his wife ask their son, "Sweetie can you wheel me outside so that I can fully say goodbye to your father?"

Sagar complied and took her outside on her wheelchair while his father was still in sight. Garris briefly looked back and saw the two of them waving and that brought joy to him.

Not long after he heard his wife shout with a stuffy voice, "I almost forgot to remind you to make sure you at least write back once a month so we know how you're doing!"

Garris turned and yelled back, "I never forgot I just need to make sure you don't forget about it!", finishing his sentence he burst out into laughter and continued walking.

Both stayed outside until his figure was gone and Sagar proceeded to take his mother back inside as she was clearing some tears from her eyes.