2 The Nameless Child - Part 1

「Year 950, day 130, Elfen territory, Bird Forest, 10 am.」

...

"Today the sun is burning." - Roldi said looking at the sky, with his big hand in front of his eyes.

Dressed in an old tunic and torn at the ends, the strong gray-haired man with long wavy hair walked attentively carrying a wooden bucket through a vivid forest. Despite his downcast and bitter face, he appeared to be in his thirties. He continued to walk patiently and, even with many leaves on the ground, your every step was quieter than the previous one, leaving only the sound of the waterfall in the background.

On this sunny day, the man with the short beard stared at the river for a while, with an irritated countenance.

'Today I really have to eat fish...'

He took off his tunic and jumped into the river without any weapon. His body was big and muscular, much bigger than any ordinary human was, with several scars of small-scattered cuts and a gigantic, deep frontal scar that ran from the beginning of the right thigh to his right shoulder, in addition to another deep and thin scar, on your forearm.

Swimming faster than the fish, he caught them one by one with his own hands and in less than a few minutes, the man filled his bucket with nine of them and came out of the water with a big smile on his face and no apparent fatigue.

So far, it was just another normal morning. While putting on his clothes, he ran his eyes on something strange upstream. For some reason, it caught his attention. Stroking his short beard, he looked more closely and realized that "that" is actually a child.

Out of desperation, he threw himself into the water with all his speed. The man took the child and took him to a rock by the river, placing the boy on the ground very carefully and lightly. Then he put his hands on the boy's chest and started to revive him. After a few seconds, the child spit some water in a strong cough and continued to sleep.

'How thin and pale he is! He must not have eaten in days.'

Now fully soaked, he picked the boy up and carried him towards his cabin. While carrying the boy in his arms, a child with short dark hair slowly opened his eyes. Looking straight into the eyes of the man holding him, he smiled with the little strength he had left and went back to sleep.

On his way to his hut, Roldi tried hard not to wake the boy. The wind hitting the large and bulky trees in the forest, together with the great variety of birds in the place, left the atmosphere more than relaxing.

"We are finally arriving... I need to prepare food for the boy, and as soon as he gets better I will take him to his family."

After walking half an hour, Roldi and the child arrived at his hut - made entirely of rough wood, looking more like a box, just a door and a window - he slowly put the boy on his bed, took off his wet black clothes of the boy and replaced it with a simple tunic of cloth, old and blue, not dirty, just old. After changing for a similar outfit to the previous one, the forty-year-old man took the fish to the wooden table and began to prepare them with a knife.

With everything ready, Roldi lit the fire in front of the hut and began to prepare his food. While he waited, he lay down on the lawn and decided to take a nap.

The boy woke up getting up very slowly, extremely weak. His blue eyes were almost closing with tiredness and yet, he kept walking and looking, running his hand over every detail of the hut, the old table with many cut marks, the wooden window, the bed on the floor, the candle of the side of the bed and, finally, he realizes that he has another outfit, a clean and comfortable outfit. He walked towards the exit, following the smell of the food.

'Someone saved me...'

"Woke up boy? I thought I would never get up! Come here and lie down too! The fish will be ready soon." - Said Roldi lying on the lawn, with a big smile.

The boy lay down beside his rescuer, scratching his sleepy eyes. The two were silent for a few minutes, just enjoying the pleasant weather. In a few minutes the child went back to sleep.

While gently shaking the boy's shoulder, the man said:

"Wake up boy! The food is ready, you need to eat something."

The first thing that popped into his eyes when he woke up was Roldi holding his wooden plate with a beautiful grilled fish. He handed the food to the boy and asked:

"What's your name, kid?"