What I am

I could barely sleep. How could I sleep these days? My whole world was flipped upside down. I aren't even two months old. How crazy is that?

I thought I had a life before this. But now I can't tell because of these hazy memories of her dying. Who was she? Who was I? Was there a me before I met Aktor? Surely there was. If not then what are these memories? Are they truly my memories or someone else's?

I don't know. I don't know. I'm just a month old baby. That's what I am. A baby with an adult body with some basic abilities to learn. I don't belong here. Not here in the Mages tower of Taican. Not in the town called Thorn. Just under that tree.

Yes. That's it. I feel like this. I also feel like I was meant to die under that tree.

Yes. I was meant to be eaten alive by those wolves.

Yes. I have no place to belong other than the afterlife.

That's where I belong. To be forgotten by time. To be forgotten by all of creation. That's my fate.

I'm sure of it now.

I'm sure of it.

And as I walk in these halls. I see his face. their faces. Aktor. The guard Jery and the tavern lady Mina. Those kids from that village who have hopes and dreams. The hunter Hans who is trying to keep them safe. Those faces.

They have something I don't. A past. But now I only have this flimsy past. Bunch of traveling and hunting wolves and other beasts. That is what my life equates to. A freaking joke. What good am I other than that.

Then I hear a voice. A familiar voice.

- You can keep beating yourself down like that all you want. I can't take that from you. But tell me this. Have you done something that saved someone's else's life? If you have then what's the issue? Even if I was there with you doesn't take away the fact that you beat those creatures in the end. No one can take that away from you. Even if someone better could have taken your place if you didn't do it, but they didn't. It was all you. And only you. You chose to follow me that day and the day after and even day after that.

There is a moment of silence. And then.

- Do you want to keep crying in bed for what you can't do or can't be? Or are you going to grow up and take a stand and go out there to shape your own future. To find that place to belong to. That place that can be achieved by only you grabbing your chance and taking it.

Another moment of silence.

- So which one is it? Were my eyes right about you, or were they not?

Yet another moment of silence.

- You don't have to come with me if you don't want to. That is your choice to make. And your own path to walk on. I, nor anyone else, can choose that for you.

*Sound of footsteps leaving the room*

So he thinks like that. Huh. Is it really alright? For me to continue walking. Now that I think about it, children often follow their parents footsteps. But not always. And rarely their path is the same as their parents. They choose their own path eventually.

I don't have a parent. Just a friend who has shown me his way of life. The path I was on. A traveler's path. Yes. the sound of thanks after you deliver something important. The grief that you might, no, will face. The sound of thanks as you defeated a monster like magical creature for those who can't protect themselves.

Yes. I like that. And it is for finding my own place in this world. The path that I chose. The path of a traveler.

Yes. Time to get up and get this show on the road.

*Gets up*

- That's it. Let's not waste any more time. Now that I think about it, I haven't eaten anything for a couple of days. I'm starving.

I meet Lex and ask where to get some food. He smiles and teleports me to the cafeteria where I see a bunch of surprised faces. No wonder. I would be surprised too. I ask for a meal and explain that the Master sent me here. Thanks to me being teleported here, the staff believe me and I eat my meal in peace. With some glares pointed at me of course.

I finished my meal. Say my thanks to the staff. And start heading toward the teleportation room. But midway I am teleported again to Lex's study where he and Aktor were waiting.

Aktor then asks.

- Now that you've gotten your fill. What is your choice? To come with me. Or to choose your own path.

- I choose both.

- How is that?

- I choose to follow you because where you are headed is the same way I'm headed. I will become a traveler like you.

- So you finally set your mind. Huh.

Lex states.

- I was doubting you would not go with him. Guess I lost this bet.

- Never doubted that you would stay behind. But damn, you put me in a tough spot.

I smirk a little.

- So you were betting on whether I would go along with Aktor or go somewhere else. What were you betting with?

- Just a friendly competition. That and he has to do something I ask one day.

Lex coughs.

- Within reason. Of course.

- Of course. Of course. I keep thinking what I want you to do for me for a while. Wait patiently.

- I... Shall do whatever you choose me to do. I'm at your mercy.

- Great so now that you are up again and you are going to come with me. We are going to do some training for a week.

I pause for a second.

- So what will I have to do this time?

- You have to hunt at least three magical beasts a day. No normal creatures or normal beasts allowed.

- That's crazy! Where will I find three magical creatures, let alone magical beasts, in a day?

- Don't you remember where we are currently located? We are at the edge of the great forest of Ehen. Here is THE place to train yourself if nowhere else.

- You gotta be kidding me.

- Just remember to not go too deep in the forest where the more dangerous magical beasts are located.

Then Lex starts explaining how this place is protected by powerful magic, so that any magical creatures won't keep coming in here. That and there are some watchpoints protected by the same type of magic and they are good places to rest.

And so my week-long training began.