2 Eastcliff

A man walked through the slums outside of the city of Eastcliff, despite its name being the west most city on the continent of Ocasia, let alone the country of Sylizen. The man wore a cloak in order to keep a low profile, a common practice in the crime infested district he was now in. But even those who walked towards him and could see his face turned their gaze to the ground. With his striking stormy grey eyes, dirty blonde hair, and a scowl that gave the impression that he was looking for someone to vent anger on after a bad day. People parted in order to let him comfortably walk down the middle of the beaten dirt street, terrified not only of his demeanor but also his loud and meaningful footsteps, and his leather armor and black cloak that were already stained with blood. Along with the rhythm of the sword hidden that repeatedly tapped his back as he walked, the residents of the slum felt as though the grim reaper himself was walking in their midst.

The boy's scowl turned to a small smirk as he saw the terrified expressions adorned on the faces of all of the people around him, their fear making him feel confident and powerful, as though he was a higher life form than the humans around him. But that feeling of power was not only from the fear the people around him were feeling. The boy was already known in the slums by now, as someone who simply murdered at random, though he believed that he was making the world a better place, killing the scum that one could find floating around the slums. He also committed these acts of murder to hone his skills as a swordsman, though his latent fighting prowess made it so he was hard pressed to find an opponent he could fight properly.

As he walked past an alley he heard a woman scream, before he heard someone hit the ground and men around her began to laugh. He stopped in his tracks and looked down the dark alley. Five men surrounded the young woman who was writhing on the ground, clutching her stomach.

"So what do we plan to do with this one?" One of the men spoke.

"She seems pretty enough… We could probably get a decent price for her." Another chuckled.

"Please just leave me alone…" The girl whimpered.

"Afraid we can't do that missy, you see our pockets won't fill themselves." One of the men smirked, leaning down to look her in the eyes. "And someone as weak as you is easy money to people like us."

"If you are the type to always take the easy way, I'd recommend running away from here while you still have legs." The cloaked men yelled, stepping into the alley and approaching the men.

"You got a problem ya bastard!?" One of the men growled.

"I solve the problems of others, and it seems that I can be of assistance here." The man stated, reaching back to grip the handle of his sword. "This is your last chance before things get messy.

"It seems like we found another person who doesn't know the rules around here!" Another man yelled out. "This is our territory, and we don't take too kindly to being threatened on our own territory."

The other men cheered at this declaration of authority, while the cloaked man simply sighed and drew his weapon, pointing the tip of his blade at the group of men.

"I'm sorry, but I don't normally acknowledge a territorial claim made by a small group of thugs. But if this really is yours, then I guess you get the home advantage." The cloaked man scoffed, beginning to approach the men once more.

"You serious right now? One of you against the five of us? You got a deathwish?" One of the men asked.

"Who cares if he does, he's asking for it." Another man scowled, reaching to his side for a weapon.

The man charged the cloaked figure with a knife. As his attacker got close to the man he threw his sword to the ground and tore off his cloak. He quickly spun to evade the oncoming attack, using his momentum to wrap the cloak around the thug's neck and strangling him, pushing him to the ground as he did so. The thug started to wheeze and hit his hand against the ground in surrender, but instead of letting him go the man stomped violently on the thug's nape, killing him.

"Jonah!" Another one of the thugs cried out as the man stepped away from the corpse. "You'll pay for that, you bastard!"

Three of the four remaining men charged the cloaked figure. The first one had a sword and tried to strike a blow against the cloaked one head-on, it was easily parried and the man maneuvered around the thug, using the window to thrust his sword through the man's heart. The second thug was a bit more skilled with a blade. He and the man exchanged two blows, both being parried by their opponent. The man swung third time, purposely locking them in a stalemate. He heard a cry and looked to see the third thug charging at him, his sword pointed straight ahead. The man smirked as he jumped out of the way, letting the thug impale his comrade with his weapon before quickly decapitating the two of them. He turned to the final thug to find them shaking violently, completely pale and their weapon was lying on the ground beside them.

"Let's talk about this!" The thug pleaded, dropping to his knees.

"I don't have time for you." The man sighed, grabbing a dagger from his belt and throwing it at the final thug, hitting them between the eyes.

The man looked at the aftermath intently before sheathing his sword and going to retrieve his cloak, taking it from around the neck on a corpse and putting it back over himself, not paying any mind to the new hole in the back from tearing it off earlier. He turned his gaze to the woman who had borne witness to the carnage, covering in fear against one of the alley walls. He approached carefully and kneeled down in front of her, reaching out a hand.

"Are you alright?" he asked sincerely as he looked at the woman.

The woman's eyes widened as she met his gaze. She grabbed a handful of dirt off the ground and began to bear her teeth at the man, throwing it directly in his face.

"Monster!" She cried as she quickly got up to her feet to run away from him.

The man blinked the dirt out of his eyes as he watched the woman run away back to the main road. He sighed as he began to use a relatively clean part of his cloak to clean his face, accidentally getting dirt in his eyes.

"Damn it that hurts!" He exclaimed, roughly rubbing his eyes.

After he was done he stood up and looked to where the woman had disappeared too. He sighed as he put on the hood of his cloak and followed back to the main street, leaving the corpses of the thugs behind him.

'So much for any kind gratitude…' He thought. 'Monster… Wish I could say that was a new one.'

As he approached the town wall he turned down another street and entered one of the small huts that sat along the road. As he closed the door behind him he breathed in deeply, letting it out slowly as he cleared his minds of earlier events.

He took off his bloodstained armor and cloak, exchanging it for a clean white long sleeve shirt with black work trousers. He washed his face and hands in a bucket of water he had fetched that morning and put his weapons in a chest at the foot of his bed.

He looked into the dirt-speckled mirror and looked at his reflection intently before sighing. He fidgeted with his dirty blonde hair and got a wet cloth to wipe both his face and the mirror. When he was satisfied with his appearance

"Ok, then Russel… It's time." He smirked, hitting both his cheeks softly.

Russel grabbed some beautiful white wildflowers he had collected in the fields from the top of a nearby table and looked outside towards the clock tower in the distance, seeing that it was half past noon already.

"Crap! I'm gonna be late!" Russel panicked as he dashed out the door.

He ran through the main area of the city which was being set up for the upcoming annual Festival of Angels, towards the Order Of The Dove monastery almost at the other end of the city. He was going to see Father Edward, and his daughter, who happened to be Russel's girlfriend named Kathleen. He had known the father and daughter since he was a baby, the Father of the monastery was practically his own. The two of them were all that we had because the only thing Russel knew of his life before he arrived at Eastcliff was that his biological parents had abandoned him on the monasteries doorstep, which was a similar story to the one that had been told about Kathleen.

As he walked to the monastery memories of him growing up started swirling through his head. Remembering all the ups and downs of growing up in his strange family of three. Like the time that Father Edward and the other monks had put on a play for all of the children, or the many days that him and Kathleen had spent frolicking in the forest, going on imaginary adventures following stories he would come up with as they went along.

He smiled fondly as the memory of him and Kathleen going on an adventure to find the lost city of Holodog swirled through his head that they had made up at the age of eight. He remembered how she had tripped over a root and twisted her ankle quite badly, so bad that Russel had to carry her home on his back. He remembered how furious the Father was at first but how he forgave him almost immediately afterward, in his usual hands off style of parenting. The most vivid part of the memory was how Kathleen had thanked him. A couple days after her injury she hobbled to his room in the monastery in the middle of the night and woke him up with a kiss, saying that it was to thank him for helping her. Ever since then, the two had been closer than ever and eventually fell in love.

Today was a special day, at the age of nineteen he was going to ask for Kathleen's hand in marriage, as unlike him she was not released from the care of the monastery at sixteen, instead being officially adopted by Father Edward.

When he finally arrived, Russel walked through the tall front oak doors of the monastery and emerged into the vast main hall. His footsteps echoed across the hall as he walked across the polished marble flooring that was present throughout the almost castle like structure. He reached the meditation room at the end of the hall where he knew he could find Father Edward at this time of day. Entering the room he saw the familiar sight of fifteen monks meditating around a table, with Father Edward observing at the head. Russel waved to get the man's attention, who began to smile brightly once he spotted him.

"Ah, Russel! Good to see you!" The Father said enthusiastically, running over and bringing Russel into an embrace. "What can I do for you today?"

"Well sir, I'm here with an important matter for once." Russel chuckled, trying to appeal to the man's sense of humor.

"I see so Oblivion has frozen over, for it is a day where you have not come on a whim." The Father laughed.

"I guess it is." Russel twitched slightly in anger at the man's response, trying his best to make sure his voice stayed level.

"I hate to say this, but unless it's urgent I really have no time today. I have more duties to perform than normal…" The Father sighed apologetically.

"Oh… Yeah, sure that's fine… It'll still be important tomorrow." Russel conceded.

The father looked at the defeated boy and saw the flowers in his hand. He raised an eyebrow and returned his gaze to Russels face.

"For me? You shouldn't have!" The father grinned.

"Nice try old man." Russel smirked.

"Well maybe one day you will finally get me some." He chuckled once more. "She is upstairs in her room, still not out of bed…"

"Of course she isn't." Russel smiled, envisioning his usual sleeping beauty. "I'll go wake her up. We'll talk tomorrow."

"I won't forget. I'm not senile just yet."

Russel waved goodbye before leaving the meditation room, picking up speed and running up a stairwell to the right that led to the dormitory. He ran past the rooms of all of the monks and empty rooms where children once lived, until coming to a stop once he arrived outside door twenty-nine, which had a sign reading Kathleen on it.

He knocked on the door and stepped back holding the flowers to his chest, so they would be on clear display. He waited a moment and heard no movement inside. He sighed before knocking on the door in a loud and obnoxious rhythm. He heard a woman groan and begin to walk around. He smiled as he returned to waiting.

A minute or two later the door opened and a long-haired brunette stood sleepily in the doorframe. She was fair-skinned and three or four inches shorter than Russel who stood at six foot one. Her satiny white nightgown stuck to her hourglass figure, framing it perfectly. She yawned and opened her sapphire blue eyes. She smiled sleepily and waved for Russel to come inside.

Russel followed her inside of the room and watched as she fell black onto the bed. Russel smiled as he closed the door behind him and placed the flowers on the dresser across the room. He then awkwardly stood looking at the girl who seemed to have fallen back to sleep.

"Come on, don't be shy." The girl smiled, speaking in a soft voice as she patted the place beside her on the bed.

Russel walked around the bed and dropped onto the space next to her. She smiled sleepily as she moved closer, raising her head and resting it on his chest. He chuckled lightly as he put an arm around her.

"Good morning Leena." Russel greeted her with a kiss on the cheek, using the nickname that he had given her years ago.

"Does it have to be morning?" The girl groaned in frustration, punching Russel lightly in the chest as a way to vent.

He chuckled as he turned onto his side and wrapped both of his arms around her stomach, pulling her closer to him. She smiled and giggled softly as she moved her head to rest it under his.

"Well, it is past noon, but I would be happy to spend the whole day snuggled up with you." Russel teased.

"As fun as that sounds… I remember you promising me a proper date today." She reminded him.

Russel sighed as he thought back to the previous day. He tightened his grip around her as she struggled to get up.

"I did say that didn't I? But now that I'm here I'd rather stay like this." He yawned.

"I think I'm rubbing off on you a little too much." She scoffed, escaping his grasp.

"I'll get ready, but you better take me somewhere good." Kathleen smiled scarily.

Russel gulped as he remembered what he planned for the date, simply taking her to a place where they could look over the town. He flipped onto his back and draped his arm over his eyes. He heard rustling and sat up for a moment. He saw Kathleen in the middle of changing and buried his face into the pillow to hide his embarrassed face.

"Um… Should I leave?" He asked innocently, slightly muffled by the pillow.

"We've been together for over ten years Russel. You probably know my body better than I do myself…" She sighed. "Do you have to react like that every time you see me naked?"

'Yes! Yes I do!' Russel thought frantically, feeling his cheeks warm even further.

"Ok, I'm done." Kathleen giggled at her boyfriend's antics. "And these flowers are beautiful, where did you get them?"

"I just found a patch of them in the fields outside of town." Russel answered, taking his face out of the pillow and looking towards her, to find that she was still missing half of her clothes. "Liar!"

Russel buried his face in the pillow once more as he heard Kathleen begin to laugh hysterically at his expense. After another few minutes Kathleen spoke again.

"I'm ready for real this time." Kathleen promised.

Russel peaked out of his hiding and found that she was in fact telling the truth this time. He sighed in relief as he got up off the bed. Kathleen smiled and twirled towards his, placing her head against his chest.

"How do I look?" Kathleen asked.

"Beautiful as always." Russel smiled, kissing the top of her head.

"I'll accept that answer." Kathleen snickered.

"What? Was I supposed to say something else?" Russel asked in confusion.

"No, you're just too predictable is all." She stated confidently.

"Me? Predictable?" He gasped sarcastically.

"Yep." She nodded.

Russel suddenly swept his arms under her legs and picked her up. She yelped as she was raised and then pouted at the now grinning Russel.

"Was that predictable?" He asked.

"I should've seen that coming…" She muttered.

Russel laughed as he put her down and grabbed her hand, pulling her out of the door.

"I don't know if you'll be super happy with it… But I do have a plan for today." He told her.

"As long as we can go and pick more of those flowers that you brought over today, I'll be happy." She smirked.

"Well that is on the way…" He shrugged.

"Great. Then we'll go there first."

A few hours later, most of which Kathleen insisted on spending napping among the flowers, the couple was finally going to the destination Russel wanted to bring her to. As they walked Russel looked over at his girlfriend, happily smiling away as she followed Russel. Her sleek brown hair, now filled with the white wildflowers she had insisted on picking more of was blowing in the wind. Russel found himself completely captivated by her, completely lost in the looks of a girl he considered to be a goddess. Then it hit him, or rather he hit it as he walked straight into a tree.

"Damn it!" He complained, rubbing the side of his head.

"Did you seriously just bump into a tree!?" Kathleen gasped.

"Yeah…" Russel admitted.

Kathleen began to laugh hysterically once more at his misfortune. Russel turned his gaze away in embarrassment and continued to nurse both his injured head and pride.

'Is she a goddess or a demon?' He questioned, not able to produce an answer.

"The forest? Brings back memories…" Kathleen smiled, wiping the tears of laughter out of her eyes.

"Sure does…" Russel confirmed, beginning to walk once more.

"What did you want to show me here? I thought we explored every inch of the area..." Kathleen trailed off.

"I thought so as well. But when I was hunting in order to make some extra money, I managed to find somewhere I don't think either of us have been before." Russel explained.

"Sounds interesting… Lead on." Kathleen encouraged, patting him on the back.

It took over an hour of walking through the forest thanks to Kathleen becoming distracted by every animal or insect she came across, trying to find ones she could pet. Russel simply smiled in amusement as he watched every encounter that consisted of Kathleen trying to approach animals of different kinds, foxes, rabbits, gophers, pretty much anything that was fluffy and moved. The animals would always run away leaving behind a frustrated Kathleen who then started to sulk and follow Russel until the cycle repeated itself once more. But when they finally reached their destination Russel was just happy to relax. The place Russel had taken her to was a large abandoned lookout tower that seemed to have preceded the end of the Holy War over fifty years ago.

"An abandoned tower? Is it safe?" Kathleen asked.

"Yeah. I checked when I found it the other day. The whole building is in remarkable shape, and the view is even better." He smiled. "Not to mention, I came by yesterday and cleaned it up a bit."

"Well then let's take a look." Kathleen giggled.

Kathleen grabbed his hand and began to pull him to the tower which was a few hundred feet away. When they reached the tower she gasped at the view, letting go of Russel's hand and approaching the edge of the cliff the tower stood on.

"Careful, if you fall I can't sprout wings and save you." Russel chuckled, walking over and sitting down on the edge.

"This is amazing…" Kathleen said, in a trance over the sight.

The view was breathtaking. The cliff sat about five hundred feet above where the city lay below, giving them a view of the walled in area along with the area outside, leading from slum into farmlands turning to the trade routes that lead out of the valley. Framing the sight was the imposing mountains that rose from around the town, and the river that ran along the right side of the valley.

"Let's go inside." Russel suggested.

"It better be safe." Kathleen warned.

"No worries. I'm sure it is." Russel chuckled, grabbing the girls hand and leading her up the steps into the tower.

Russel opened the door to the tower and jumped onto the old mattress he had set up the day before. He looked up and smiled, beckoning her over. Kathleen hesitantly walked across the floor, scared of falling through. Russel reached forward and grabbed her legs, causing her to trip and fall on him. Kathleen angrily slapped him, causing him to laugh.

"It's not funny! I could have gotten hurt." She growled.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, you were just taking too long." He smiled.

"You need to be more patient…" Kathleen pouted.

"Yeah, I'll work on that." Russel lied. "So, what do you think about this place?"

Russel waited patiently for a response as Kathleen looked around, he was hopeful that she would respond positively, as the entirety of the day before was taken up by this project. Along with the mattress he had also made bits of furniture, including a few chairs, shelves and a fire pit outside, while it wasn't much Russel was quite proud of it.

"It's pretty nice." Kathleen spoke.

"Thank the divine…" Russel exhaled.

"What? Nervous I would hate it?" She giggled.

"Something like that…" Russel admitted sheepishly.

"I forget sometimes that you have a sensitive side." She cooed, nuzzling her head against his chest.

Russel chuckled and began to pat the top of her head, making her smile softly. After a minute she stopped and used her arms to prop herself up on Russel's chest, staring directly at him.

"Why'd you go through the effort of doing all this though?" She asked.

"Well, I wanted to have a spot where we could go to relax together away from everyone else. As you know, my house is half rotten into the ground and in a bad area, so that was out of the picture." He explained.

"True. Your house isn't what I'd call favorable, plus your something of a slob." She accused.

"Where did you get that thought from?" Russel asked. "I've seen your closet! It looks like it was ransacked by bandits."

Russel started to laugh at his own joke before looking back at Kathleen, who was not amused by it. Russel smiled uncomfortably, knowing he had pushed too far for her liking.

"That was a joke…" He informed her.

"I'm aware it was." Kathleen huffed. "But I think we should start heading home, it's getting late."

"The sun doesn't go down for another few hours…" Russel tried to argue, stopped by a glare from Kathleen.

"It's getting late." She insisted.

Kathleen got to her feet, forcing Russel to follow behind her as they started to make their way towards town. As they wandered back down the hunting path Russel tried to think of a way to cheer the still frustrated Kathleen up. Though, as much as he kept thinking about it, no decent ideas came to mind. He had already retracted his joke, which didn't help him in the slightest, and since that hadn't worked he had no clue how to proceed.

"If you think I'm upset about your joke I'm not." She spoke as if she was reading his thoughts. "So there is no reason to try and think of a way to apologize."

"Oh…" Russel responded.

Kathleen sighed before turning around and walking back to him, grabbing his hand and starting to pull him along through the forest.

"So I'm forgiven?" Russel clarified.

"There was never anything to be forgiven for." Kathleen snapped. "I'm sorry… I've just been feeling strange for the last few days…"

"It's alright. Let's just get you home." Russel smiled.

Kathleen had been right, it had been getting late. The sun set earlier than normal and by the time she and Russel arrived at the monastery the stars had already begun to shine in the night sky.

Russel opened the door to the monastery, trying to be quiet to not disturb anyone who might have already gone to sleep. Russel was carrying a sleepy Kathleen on his back the last half hour, but almost dropped her when he saw Father Edward staring at him when he walked in.

"You were out late tonight." The Father observed.

"We would've been back sooner, but she started to feel really sleepy…" Russel apologized.

"Well, I suppose I can't be too mad. After all, if she is with you I know that she is safe." The Father smiled. "Thank you for taking care of her."

"Thank you for trusting me." Russel nodded in respect.

"You may as well take her up to her room. She is probably itching for a proper mattress instead of sleeping on your back." The Father chuckled.

"I'll do that." Russel assured him.

Russel walked up the stairs and down the dormitory hallway. When he arrived at Kathleen's room he opened the door carefully and carried her over to the bed, carefully placing the sleeping girl on her bed and tucking her in. He smiled as he looked at her sleeping peacefully before kissing her on the head as he was about to take him leave. He heard his stomach growl loudly and panicked slightly, he turned back to make sure he hadn't woken Kathleen up. He sighed in relief as he saw she hadn't been woken up by his obnoxious stomach.

'Guess this is what I get for going two days without eating…' He thought.

He suddenly felt a tug on his sleeve and turned around to see Kathleen reaching to him. He took and towards her and kneeled down, stroking her hair soothingly.

"I'm sorry if I woke you up." He apologized. "My stomach and brain seem to be having a disagreement."

Kathleen laughed sleepily before reaching up and trying to pull him down to the bed. He sighed as he stood up, making her lose grip on him and pout slightly.

"Will you stay here tonight?" She asked.

He smiled softly as he took his shoes off before lying down next to her and getting under the warm blankets. She moved closer and snuggled into Russel. He wrapped his arms around her before closing his eyes to go to sleep.

"I love you…" She whispered as she fell asleep.

"I love you too." He whispered in turn.