68 Paths in Life

As Jarod led them through the small village of Rehall, Lucian inspected every inch of the settlement, looking for any signs of familiarity. It was strange. Some things stood out as clear in his memory, and yet, nothing was ever familiar.

The people all focused their gazes on Lucian and Tess as they walked past, a mixture of expressions on their faces. It seemed the younger they were, the more exciting the prospect of outsiders were, while the elders all seemed concerned.

"This is the smithy, if you remember it? Pat, or… Patrick, lives and works here now. He can thank the chief really. Without his support, no orphan would be able to even lift a hammer, let alone wed the blacksmiths daughter and inherit the business."

Jarod chuckled and Lucian joined him. The more Lucian acted as if he remembered these people and cared about what Jarod was saying, the more comfortable the man felt. Lucian knew that too great a difference in status could bring trouble or animosity if he acted poorly, and it really was as simple as a small smile and occasional chuckle.

Jarod did not walk past the smithy to the many other buildings, as he had with the rest, but instead moved to knock on the door.

'Right' Lucian thought. 'I'm to meet my friends'.

"Pat! It's Jarod, I've got a surprise!"

The door opened to a young man roughly the same age as Jarod, with muscular arms. He was shorter than Jarod, standing at 5'10", and seemed a bit annoyed.

"Jarod, I already told you what we need, I'm trying to work at the mome–" He stopped.

"What surprise?" He finished, looking at the strangers.

Jarod smiled, having grown confident in what he knew of Lucian compared to his friend. "You wont believe it, but this is *****, from all those years ago! The one that got sent off to the king or something."

'Again, that name…' Strangely, Lucian no longer felt shocked, scared, or angry at the fact that he could not hear it. As if it no longer mattered.

"Pat! It's been a long time. My name is Lucian now. And this is Tess." He said with a smile.

They exchanged pleasantries, for a moment before Jarod took over. He insisted on having Pat follow them to Denis' house, something Pat agreed to rather quickly. Along the way, the two kept asking what Lucian did and where he went, but he always replied that there was nothing to tell. Just ten years of training.

What Jarod and Pat took 'training' to mean was likely far simpler than the truth, but that was just fine. Instead it was Lucian that turned the questions back to them. He knew that the Village Chief had acquired a great amount of money after reporting on Lucian's metahuman status, and that he used that money to better the village and secure good jobs for the other orphans, but something bugged him.

Even if they were eating well, the men of the village, and some of the women too, appeared brighter than they should in his lifesense. Of course, they were not standout bright like he or the instructors, nor were they as the Helpers. But their auras were just slightly brighter than a healthy commoner's should be.

It was as if they had begun to cultivate?

When he could not come to a conclusion himself, he asked Jarod and Pat.

"I've noticed the villagers are stronger than they were. Did good food really make all the difference?"

They both smiled, and Jarod went to speak first, only to be cut off by the quicker Pat.

"The soldier arts!" He shouted. "When you left, Chief Warner spread the soldier arts around the village. Told us all to try and learn 'em."

"Soldier arts?" Lucian asked in confusion.

"The Fundamentals" Tess' cool voice came from the side, and Jarod and Pat were both spooked. She had spoken so rarely during this trip that they had almost forgotten about her.

"Err, right. They were called the Fundamental Body Method or some such outside." Pat continued. "We've been learning that."

Now it made sense. And better, the topic of conversation had turned to something Lucian actually cared about.

"Really? How far have each of you cultivated?" He asked with genuine interest. Perhaps they could have a small spar, he'd never sparred with anyone outside the estate before.

Jarod remained silent while Pat spoke eagerly.

"I got all the way to muscle refinements before stopping, higher than most. Jarod over here only finished organ refinement before he stopped."

"Wait." Lucian said, a frown of confusion on his face. "Stopped?"

Jarod and Pat looked at each other, as if they too were as confused as he.

"Yeah? Well you've got to stop."

"Why?" Lucian asked, his frown deepening.

Tess too was both confused and interested, why would someone stop?

"Well… If you don't stop, and one day you actually finish the Soldier Arts, isn't it basically a guarantee that you'll be conscripted in the wars? I mean, that's why they're the Soldier Arts. They're for soldiers."

Jarod spoke quickly after Pat had finished.

"Even Pat refining the muscles, while it's a great and difficult feat, is dangerous. Once you've refined the muscles its even more likely you'll be conscripted."

Lucian was silent for a long moment, looking at the two. Instead it was Tess who spoke up.

"Jarod, Pat." She said. "When was the last time a conscription call was announced in Rehall?"

The two looked at each other for a moment, each shrugging.

"Doesn't mean it couldn't happen" Pat said.

"I've heard conscription used to be really common. And I even saw recruitment happening as close as Stonemount. Who knows, if the war gets worse, maybe they'll start conscripting again?" Jarod added.

Lucian felt his desire to play friends swiftly vanishing. He couldn't explain it, but something about their attitude angered him.

"Besides, it's not like we'll ever need our bones or skin refined. Rehall is plenty safe, no wars or monsters here."

"What about the forest?" Lucian asked with a slightly colder voice. "Do you not fear what's within?"

Pat laughed "Not anymore! Just a few weaker mutants. If we go in as groups of three or five, each armed, not to mention logging safely, we could even hunt those mutant beasts directly."

"Oh?

How deep have you gone into the woods?"

Mat made to continue his prideful speech, but was interrupted by Jarod this time.

"I know what you're trying to say Lucian. But whatever might live in its depths does not venture out. So long as we log only the border of the forest we'll be fine."

'You'll be fine?' He questioned inwardly. 'Just one stray monster leaving those woods could spell doom for a small village like this. I've seen it plenty on my missions. What "we'll be fine."'

Lucian was letting himself get emotional over things unrelated to him. Taking a breath, he expelled it, and smiled.

"Fair enough."

Their tour through the village continued, and along the way, they picked up the last of Lucian's old friends, Denis, who had become a carpenter's apprentice.

As they walked and talked, Lucian asked about what they did in the day to day, learning that they still played games often, though tag and sticks had been swapped out for cards, dice, and drink.

He felt sure that even if cultivation was not their goal, they must have some ambition, and so began prodding on that front. He had been wrong. What they considered their great ambitions were things already arranged to play out for them.

Jarod's ambition was to finish his apprenticeship, become village chief, marry a pretty woman, have kids, and die of old age.

Patrick's ambition was to inherit the smithy, have kids with his wife, and die of old age.

Denis' ambition was to finish his apprenticeship as a carpenter, marry a pretty woman, have kids, and die of old age.

With every one of their words Lucian felt something changing in his view of them, and not for the better. It was as if he was watching them decrease the value of their lives with every word. How was any of that ambition? They were given an opportunity to cultivate the body outside of the restraints of the army, and they stopped? Because they feared a possible conscription that had never come?

How were they so content to achieve nothing outside the bounds of their tiny world here? Why did none of them want to venture out and achieve something great? Not one wanted to explore the world, not one wanted to prove themselves a martial hero, and not one wanted to stand by the king and sweep his gaze over the entire world.

Instead, they would live in this small village that others did not know existed. They would process timber or metal for the others in this small village. They would have children and teach them to do the same, and then they would die. Just a few generations later, noone would know they had ever existed, nothing they did in life will have stood out or made any lasting impact on the world.

It was like they were wasting the gift of life. Like they had resigned themselves to their circumstances, and admitted that their lives would not mean anything beyond the short span of their existence.

Lucian felt a kindling of loathing in his heart, something relatively new and rare for him. He despised their mentalities and confirmed that he would not be like them.

He would keep his ambition, and he would strive for something greater, always. He would not let himself become stagnant.

Lucian no longer smiled and chuckled at topics of village life, and no longer fabricated the nostalgic look he had for things he did not remember. Instead, he fell back from the group, and spoke with Tess about their plans for the Valley of Mist.

While it was called a "Valley", it had been many years since the phenomena covered just one mountain valley. Now, it stretched over multiple mountains within The Declaration, and housed many unique phenomena, creatures, and treasures, both recorded and not.

The boys leading them did not interrupt the two when they spoke, and eventually talked among themselves instead.

It was only when they reached the orphanage that Lucian's words fell silent.

If Jarod had not introduced it as such, Lucian doubted he would recognize it. Gone were the straw walls and thatched roof. It was as if the old building had been completely torn down, replaced in much grander scale with clean timber walls and a shingled roof. A large, fenced yard was out front and Lucian saw two children, likely no more than three and four years old, playing.

Jarod, Pat, and Denis all looked to his surprised face with smiles, as if excited to see his reaction.

"Chief Warner put a lot of care into the orphanage after you left. He made sure that it was well funded, overly so." Patrick said.

"Mistress Helga never showed much care for it, but it definitely made life easier for her. Especially towards the end."

Looking at the new timber walls of the orphanage, Lucian felt no sense of familiarity at all. It was too different. Too much time had passed.

Lucian did not pay much attention to the three villagemen as they led him around the building, instead his mind wandered, something he did not do so often now that he practiced Unhindered Motion.

He thought about what his life would have been like if he had never left Rehall. Would he be where Jarod was now? Apprenticing to the village chief, content to live his life forever within the bounds of Rehall and his job.

The more he thought about it, the more he realized how different his path in life had become. Perhaps dismissing or loathing others for a lack of ambition or bravery was wrong. Perhaps his path had just differed too much from theirs, so much that they would no longer understand each other.

Lucian sent a glance to his right and found Tess looking around the orphanage curiously, as if trying to envision his past here. He was glad he had made friends who could understand his path, even if their own differed slightly.

"There's no point looking so intently. This isn't the orphanage I grew up in." He said to Tess beside him. "Come, I'll show you."

Taking her hand in his, Lucian separated from the three village men who tacitly decided not to follow.

"When I was young, the only one to look after us was headmistress Helga. The building was made of straw and thatch, and there wasn't a yard.

"We'd sit…. Somewhere around here, although the room was smaller at the time, and Helga would teach us everything we knew."

Lucian moved all throughout the orphanage with Tess, telling her everything he remembered from the years he lived there. The three who had led him here gradually left the orphanage, leaving it to them.

Most in Demia did not create graves or tombstones for the dead. Instead those who passed on were cremated, and the ashes scattered. Memorials were erected as a way for future generations to honor those who had achieved great things, but that was only for settlement founders, military officers, nobility and the like.

Lucian did not need a grave to visit though, and found the small closure he wanted as he wandered the refurbished building, discussing his childhood with Tess.

When the two of them were done exploring the new orphanage, they started walking leisurely through the village, Lucian recounting his few memories of the place.

Nothing here felt homely, or familiar, but he did still retain some memories of the place, and the things he did here.

When he had run out of things to say, they simply walked in silence, and when the sky begun to change colors, day coming to an end, the two quietly left the village of Rehall, bidding farewell to noone.

Lucian and Tess walked the path back to Stonemount beneath the warm, setting sun. They moved slowly and silently for many minutes, before Lucian turned to look at Tess, softly grasping her arm to stop her from walking on.

When she turned to face him, Tess found Lucian's arm had already wrapped around to the small of her back as he looked down to her, his eyes meeting hers.

Lucian, having had some things put into perspective by the villagers of Rehall, had come to a conclusion.

He would wait no longer.

Leaning down slightly, his lips met Tess' as she stood on her toes to meet him. He placed his right hand on her cheek as they kissed softly, pulling his head back only after a few seconds had passed.

Tess' face was blushed, a sight he so rarely saw on her, and he felt his heart skip a beat as she leaned in again, taking the initiative to kiss for even longer than before, her arms wrapping around his neck.

Like this, the two stood in the middle on an empty road between settlements, beneath the setting sun as the sky was dyed a beautiful mix of colors.

After a long while, when their lips separated once more, Lucian spoke softly.

"Let's go to the Valley of Mist. The Shards can wait."

Tess smiled, a lovely smile at first, that soon became an excited grin as she took his hand in her own and pulled for him to follow, as she began walking down the dirt road once more.

The last hours of the day passed peacefully as the two trained killers walked hand in hand, roses practically blooming at their feet.