Journey

Victoria had been out shopping while her dad lay dying in bed, she couldn't help it because they had run out of food the day before.

Even then she wasn't too worried as she left him there, he had survived for much longer than he should have considering that the blade that cut him was slathered in a metallic substance that had poisonous properties.

All of the crying had been done earlier when the news first broke that his death was inevitable, now it was a fact of life that she tried not to think about too much, failing many times.

In the absence of her father, Alex took up the mantle of both man of the house and hunter in his group, coming back late as a result.

Today was a special day though, it was her sixteenth birthday, something the goddess had been making a very big fuss of for days now, which was starting to get on her nerves.

Walking back home she could only think back on the mundane even years that had flown by without any events happening, it was probably for the best that nothing did happen but a life at home was incredibly dull with very little change day by day.

She was now around five foot seven, easily dwarfed by most of the people in the village who on average towered at a height of six feet, even Alex the outsider had managed to grow to six foot one.

The walk back to her house was long and peaceful, the trees rustled and the birds chirped, but that was all the noise that could be heard, there was not even the sight of fellow humans, all of them having gone home early.

When she got home she set down the basket that was in her hands to give them a rest as she opened the door which had yet to see repairs from the damage seven years ago, the same was true for the walls which were cracked and had slashes and dents in several places.

Inside it was unnaturally quiet, no call came from further inside nor was there any struggled breathing echoing around the open rooms.

"You know what this means don't you?"

`You don't sound awfully sympathetic about it`

"You may try to make me out to be heartless, but I don't see you crying over it, not even internally"

`It's weird, while I feel saddened by it I can't make myself do anything like cry, neither internally nor externally` And the sadness that she felt was split between the death of her father and at herself for not being able to do anything but frown at his death.

"If I may say, that skill will be very useful later on down the road, you never know what you will be forced to do"

`For the game right, yeah I can only imagine what will happen in the next few years` She was devoid of any sort of emotion in her thoughts, not really caring about the future.

"It's not a good thing to throw the future out of your thoughts, even when plans fail the ideas behind them succeed" She sounded like your typical pep talker who was trying to reinvigorate a failing team.

`I wasn't throwing it away, I just prefer to live in the present instead of worrying about the future`

"Suit yourself, but your journey starts tomorrow, no matter what you say both you and Alex need to become stronger if you want to have a chance in hell of winning this"

`Wait, am I forgetting something?`

It took her a few seconds and the door of her house slamming behind her for her to remember "OH THE FOOD" She shouted loud enough to scare the birds in the farms several meters away.

"Victoria, what's with the shouting" Alex stood in the doorway, the groceries that Victoria had bought in his right hand and a wild hare that he had caught in his left.

"I just forgot to bring the food in, nothing too big"

The house remained silent for a few seconds after her explanation, allowing Alex to discover the news for himself, his head dropping and his lip curling as he fought against the urge to break down in tears.

"Why aren't you affected by it, he's your father after all, and yet you don't seem the slightest bit affected by the news"

He looked at her like he would any sort of monster or killer, disgusted by her lack of emotion at Pete's passing.

"I..I don't know why, like I feel like crying, but also don't, as if somethings, stopping, me"

She came upon an idea `Goddess you haven't tampered with my ability to feel emotions have you?` The goddess had done it before after all, what's to say that she didn't do it again.

There was no response for a minute, Alex started to back away slowly believing that she had finally gone insane.

"*Sigh* I may have tampered with your head a little bit, just to make it so that what happened on that day doesn't happen again, I can't have you going unconscious when your life's in danger again"

"Alex, can you help me with moving his body?"

Alex was now by the door and was ready to make a run for it before Victoria asked him to bury his mentor, his look becoming even more disgusted.

Alas there was little he could do to refuse, tomorrow he could break off the engagement and get back to his adventuring leaving behind all the memories of this place

The good, the bad, all would be behind him starting tomorrow, yet why did the thought of it make him tear up inside, it wasn't like him to show emotions.

For the time being, he would have to follow through with the village customs, even if he wasn't going to stay for much longer, it saved him the trouble of potentially gaining a mob like had happened before when he ditched his home to adventure.

Victoria walked into her father's bedroom first, the damp mustiness clinging to her throat, threatening to choke her and leave no trail.

He had undergone rigor mortis leaving his limbs locked in place, not even Alex could move them with his stronger-than-average strength that he had trained under the raging bull in front of them.

"What a sad sight" Alex was holding a cloth over his mouth while carrying the body with his free hand, his eyes were still tinted with sadness but they were recovering, slowly regaining the strong look that they normally held.

"It certainly is, but with this there's no reason to stay" Victoria glanced at Alex while responding to the words he had said out of politeness, gauging his willingness to leave with her.

Alex was taken off guard at her desire to leave, it was one thing for him to want it, it was another entirely for her, she had lived here her whole life and yet she was willing to throw that away.

"Why do you want to leave?" He asked while looking her dead in the eyes, a blank face staring through her soul itself, is she lied he was confident that he would know.

"I want to go on an adventure, the kind where sure your life is put in danger, but you get to do things like exploring ancient sites, meeting new people and the like" If he had any beliefs that she was lying they were crushed by her overenthusiasm that he thought had long left her.

"You're willing to throw it all away for the thrill of it?" She looked at him as he was crazy before giving him her response "OF COURSE"

The volume caused Alex to wince and recoil back sending the two of them flying towards the floor, dead corpse in hand.

"And you talk about respect"

Victoria had landed on top of her dad's corpse which was now crushing the poor sod who had fallen over with its weight, her mocking clearly frustrating him as he tried to pry himself free.

"It's clearly you who is disrespecting the deceased, look at you, YOU'RE USING HIM AS A CHAIR" He grew louder with every word he said, getting more and more worked up as he failed to free himself from the hulking behemoth he was stuck under.

"Awww look at you, you can't even keep your voice from cracking"

"You'd better help me get this off or you'll be sorry when I free myself" The stare he gave Victoria was one of absolute rage.

"*Pfft* Fine, but there isn't much that I'll be able to help with"

It was a good half hour before he was able to move his arms and feet freely, the joy of freedom almost causing him to jump with glee.

"And you" He turned to Victoria, "W-w-what about me" She was edging towards the door just in case.

"You need to help me finish moving this corpse"

"We dropped the respect really quickly didn't we?"

"For whatever reason, it just feels right"

With that they spent the last hours of daylight moving and burying Victoria's dad outside in the fields next to his wife, one last act of kindness before leaving the village for what could be forever.

"Where are we going first then?"

"I" Alex paused, deep in thought, "I don't know"