The children we leave behind

Part 1

"Hey, kid!"

Marcus was very confused. He was standing in the middle of a white space with nothing around him. He looked up and he saw no ceiling, only more white, he looked at where his bare feet where standing and again, just white. The only things in the middle of all that white space were himself and this weird man standing in front of him, a very tired-looking man wearing ragged clothes trying with all his might to show a fragile smile in order to disguise his otherwise completely defeated expression.

"Looks like this will be it for me..."

"..."

Marcus had no idea of what was going on, who this old man was, or even who he himself was supposed to be.

"Where... Where am I...? "

"Oh... You sound just like me when I was your age! So you really are me after all!"

"What... ?"

"Haha don't worry, it's just grown-up stuff... "

"Who are you? And... Who am I...?"

"Well... How am I going to explain this...? I'm the guy that came before you... And you are the guy who will come next!"

"... ?"

"Oh, man... Just looking at you is making me feel so weird... Sorry kid, it' my first time doing something like this as well... It's just that... I can feel that I won't be here for much longer... And I wanted to have a chance to talk to you at least once before leaving..."

"You are leaving... Where are you going?"

"That's the fun part kid! I have no idea. Haha!"

"... "

The boy continued to look at the man without knowing what he should say.

"But the thing is... Even if I have to leave there is a lot of baggage that I ended up leaving behind... And I fear that a lot of that will end up falling on you..."

"Baggage...?"

"Yeah... Stuff that I was dealing with during my workdays and for some reason or another ended up producing a lot of consequences... A lot of bad choices and wrong turns..."

"Do you... Regret it... ?"

"... ... ... "

"... "

"I don't know... Maybe? There were a few things that I wish I had done differently... But at the end of the day, I made choices based on who I was and not on who I was supposed to be... So I guess in the end... Even if I did pay a heavy price... I guess I don't regret it living the life I did... "

"I don't get it... "

"Yeah me neither! Haha!"

"... Pff... Hahaha! You're funny mister!"

"Wow, thanks, kid! You are the first one to say that! Most people just call me annoying!"

"What's your name?"

"Marceus!"

"... Huh... mister... Do you know what my name is... ?"

"Huh... I think it was decided that it would be Marcus."

"Marcus... That's my name...? Are we related?"

"Maybe...? Let me ask you, do you prefer strawberry ice cream or chocolate ice cream?"

"Strawberry!"

"Same here! We must be related then! Haha!"

"Haha!"

"..."

"Mister... Do you really have to go...? I want to talk more... "

"I can't Marcus... I told you... My turn is over... It's your turn next!"

"I see... "

"Hey don't worry! You will have a ton of fun! You will meet great people, eat a lot of delicious food, go to amazing places and... and..."

"... ?"

Marceus went to the kid that was half his size bent his legs and started to hug him while crying.

"I'm so sorry Marcus! I'm so so sorry!! Please forgive me!!"

"Mister what's wrong!?"

"I want to rest Marcus!! I'm so... So tired... I just want to rest now... But I needed someone else to take my place... And it's going to be you... I'm so sorry Marcus!!"

"Mister it's ok... Please stop crying..."

"Sorry... I'm sorry..."

"Don't worry! You picked me right? Then I'm sure I can handle it!"

"I... I don't know if you can handle it! That's the thing!! What if you get hurt, or sad, or worse!! All because I was a coward!!"

"Mister... It's ok! I'll handle it!"

"I'm so sorry Marcus..."

"You are really tired aren't you? Then it's ok to rest when you're tired!"

"I'm so sorry Marcus... I'm so sorry..."

Marceus kept apologizing to the small child until his body started to fade away. Marcus then stood alone in the white space not knowing what he was supposed to do next. Then his body started to glow with a strong light. Before he noticed he was standing in the middle of a cabin with a mysterious lady wearing a beautiful dress floating slightly above the ground looking at him.

Part 2

"I'm glad I changed your appearance a little bit... Didn't want to make it too easy for them to find you after all..."

"... "

The lady started to talk to Marcus for a little bit but most of her words would just come inside one ear and leave in another. Sometimes Marcus would nod to her to pretend he was listening but for some reason, her presence made him extremely uncomfortable. Marcus wanted to run away. For whatever reason, that beautiful lady really scared him.

"Huh..."

Marcus finally managed to muster the courage to talk to her and tried to ask a question.

"What... Should I do... ?"

"Do...?"

"I feel like there is something that I was supposed to do..."

"My, my! You are such a smart kid! That's right, that's right! You have a job to do young man!"

"..."

"You seem nervous, is everything ok?"

"... Yes... Huh... Do you know a man named Marceus?"

"Marceus...? Of course I know him! I'm his boss, silly! "

"His boss...?"

"Yes, yes, his boss! But now Marceus is no longer here... And now you have to take his place, that means I'm also your boss!"

Marcus's body became stiffer than before.

The mister he was talking to before moments ago was working with such an intimidating lady? Could it be that she was a good person after all since he trusted her? Wait, did he trust her? He looked like he was desperate to leave his job. Was he just desperate to get away from her? Did he run away from her and left Marcus behind? No, he looked like someone who had to endure a lot of hard work.

No matter how hard Marcus tried he couldn't hate the mister from before, but for some reason, he could easily hate the woman in front of him.

"Listen, Marcus! From now on you will be my new sword! You will fight the evils of this world and bring a new era of peace and prosperity!"

"... Ok?"

"You will need a partner for that. Me and your "father" have set out a plan to decide who your next partner will be, so it's your job to find that partner and use him to complete your job, understood?"

"... My father...?"

"Marceus! The man you were talking about!"

"Marceus is my father?"

"Well... You were born because of him and you share many of his traits as well as sharing most of his DNA, so I guess it makes sense to say he is your father!"

"... Marceus was my father... "

"How did you know about him by the way...?"

"I saw him not too long ago... He said I had a job to do that he couldn't do anymore..."

"... Did he say anything else?"

"He kept saying "I'm sorry" over and over... "

"I see... He was probably feeling guilty for leaving a job unfinished... Such a hard-working man! I'm going to miss him... "

"... "

"But now I have you!!"

"..."

"And we are gonna have so much fun together!!"

The woman extended her hands towards Marcus and raised him from the ground, then hugged him very tightly.

"Make me proud... My champion!"

"..."

Marcus was terrified. He wanted to run, he wanted to cry, he wanted to ask someone to help him. But he told Marceus that he would take his place and that Marcus could finally rest. He couldn't just break his promise before he even started. With the extremely very little courage that he managed to gather, he left out a word towards the pretty lady.

"Yes..."

"That's my boy!"

Part 3

"Uuhh... Hi..."

Marceus found himself back at the white space room from before where he was saying his goodbyes to Marcus.

"Were you crying...?" the girl asked while analyzing him.

"I was saying goodbye... Goodbye's make me cry... Huh... Who are you...?"

Except this time he wasn't talking to Marcus, he was talking to a little black-haired girl the same size as Marcus, probably about the same age as him. She was wearing a school uniform so Marceus assumed she was from the same world as him.

"... "

"... "

Marceus and the girl kept staring at each other on a uncomfortable silence before Marceus finally broke the ice.

"Can I... Help you or something...? I'm kinda in the middle of fading away."

"Ah sorry... It's just... You were not like I expected... Wait... Fading away!?"

"Yeah, my time has come... I'm about to leave this world..."

"No! No! I need to talk to you!! You have no idea the amount of work I had to go through to find you!!"

Marceus raised an eyebrow, "Find me...? How do you know me? How did you get here...?"

"You are living weapon Marceus right? The one people said to have lived for hundreds of years?"

"... Yeah, that's me..." he replied, a little worried about how she knew so much about him, but then remembering that he did get a bit of fame over the years, "Nice to meet you?"

The girl began to smile as if she had just won the lottery, "My name is Evlin, I know it might be hard to believe but I am from another world!"

"Yeah, the school uniform kinda gave it away..."

"School uniform...? Ah! These clothes!! These were the clothes I was wearing when I came to this world!"

"Yeah, they are... Wait..."

Marceus looked at himself and realized that his adult body was gone and he reverted to his former younger self. He now looked exactly like Marcus but with black hair.

"Me too! This is what I looked like when I came here!! What's going on??"

"This is a spell a mage I hired is using to let us talk to each other. I saw your announcement a few days ago! You're from my world too right? I thought you could help me! Help me get back to our world!"

The boy shrugged, "Yeah, sorry, I have no idea how to do that... This world caused me a lot of pain for numerous reasons but I never really tried to search... Mmmm... "

"What!? What!?"

"Come to think of it... I think in one of my travels I remember something that might help you... But it's a long shot... I have absolutely no guarantee it might work..."

"Doesn't matter!! I have no other options right now!! You are my only hope!"

"Ok, ok, calm down... A long time ago I had a companion named Ria that had the ability to open scars in mid-air to locations that she has been to before. If you meet her and ask how she got that power, you might be able to learn it and open a scar to our world, since you've been there before."

"Opening a portal to our world...? Is that possible...?"

"Like I said it's a long shot... Ria always said that opening wind-scars took a lot of effort for her... I can't even imagine what opening a scar to another world would require..."

"Then... What about your power?"

"My power...?"

"You are the blessed sword of the gods! Anyone who uses you gets a tremendous boost in power! If I learn how to open a wind-scar and wear you, it might work!"

"Maybe... But like I said... My time here is almost over..."

"Please don't!! I need you!! I don't have any other leads!! I've been stuck in this place for years! I Haven't seen my friends, my family, I haven't eaten normal food in such a long time! Every day I run the risk of being killed by some kind of monster! You came here as the strongest weapon in the world! I'm just a girl! Do you know how hard it has been for me??"

Evlin started to cry desperately while clinging to Marceus.

"I'm sorry... There is nothing I can do..."

"Your son! You had a son right!? Does he have the same power as you?"

"Yeah he does, but I have no idea where he is by now. Some crazy goddess is forcing him to do a nonsensical job of "erasing all the evil from the world" or whatever, and who knows where she will be taking him... "

"Isn't there anything you can do??"

Marceus crossed his arms and began to lose himself in thoughts in an attempt to think of a solution to her problem, "Mmmm... Find Daren and Lilith!"

"What? Who's Daren and Lilith?"

"They were my old partners. Among all my previous partners, these two had the strongest connection with me. They will know how to find my "son" Marcus!"

"Really?"

"Yeah! Plus they are probably together with Ria!"

"Really!!?"

"Yeah! Find my friends! Ask Ria to teach you how to use a wind-scar, ask Daren and Lilith to help you find Marcus, and use his power to open a scar to your home!"

"Ok... Ok!! I can do this! I can go back home!! Find Ria! Find Daren and Lilith! Find Marcus! Go home!! Ok, I can do this!!"

"You can do this!!"

"I can do this!!!"

The two started to scream to the sky while raising their fists in a cheer.

"Thank you so much, sir!"

"Don't thank me yet... I don't know if this is going to work after all..."

"It will! It has to! Nothing else I tried has worked!"

"I see... "

"Ah! Your friends! How do I find them?" Evlin wondered.

"Oh! Uuhh..."

"... " the girl began to sense a bit of uneasiness on his face and a sense of worry started to grow.

"Uuh... "

"Marceus!!"

"It's been a long time ok? I don't remember where they... Ah!"

"What!? What?"

"They are probably about to wake up anytime soon... If they do, the first place they will go to is the mansion..."

"Wake up...? Mansion...? What...?"

"Evlin listen! Does the city of Emerald Dawn still exists? I've lost track of time over the last few years..."

"The city of Emerald Dawn...? Yeah, it still exists... It's about one week of travel from where I am now actually."

"One week? That's bad... If my friends wake up they will ask Ria to bring them to where the mansion used to be... Once they see there is nothing there anymore, who knows where they might go next..."

"What!?"

"Evlin go to Emerald Dawn as fast as you can! If you are lucky you might find my friends there! But you gotta hurry!"

"Ok! Ok I understand! Thank you very much!"

"Good luck!!"

Part 4

Evlin disappeared from where she was, leaving Marceus alone in the white space. Then Marceus remembered something that might be a problem.

"Oh... She doesn't know what my friends look like... "

Marceus's body finally started to disappear as well leaving him wondering what his final thoughts would be.

"Man... I kinda wanna keep living now...

I wanna see my friends again... I want to help Evlin... I wanna raise Marcus... I always wanted to be a father...

Also, I wanted to punch that dumb goddess in the face at least once... Marcus please... If you ever meet with Daren, lend him your power to punch that stupid woman in the face...

My friends... How will they react...? They will be so confused... Lilith will probably blame herself... Auren will probably be relieved to see Ria back to normal... Gustav will try to make sense of the situation... Daren will probably want to get revenge on the goddess...

Man... I hope Evlin finds then... I hope she finds them and helps them save Marcus from that dumb goddess... I'm sure if it's them they would raise Marcus to be a good kid...

Argh... So much stuff I still wanted to do... I'm such a selfish adult... leaving so much unfinished stuff for these poor kids to handle... "

His body was completely gone and now all that was left was an empty room.

"I hope everything works out... "