Rat

Fardin?

The only one with that name besides my son had to be...

"The girl you mentioned as a loved one, by any chance, was her name Farya Fulmine?"

A shadow passed over the man's face, a myriad of emotions swirling in him, finally giving way to a paradoxical relief interlaced with worry.

"You...You know her? Is she alright? Where is she?" the man inquired in a placating tone.

Feeling that cold emptiness growing in me, I replied in a hollow voice,my eyes downcast "She's not of this world anymore."

Resonating the same hollow wavelength from his voicebox, the man declared commandingly, "Leave us for a moment Farya."

Reading the situation, the girl replied, "Okay, I'll go get started with breakfast then.", her voice down several octaves.

Locking the door behind him, he took a seat next to me on a wooden stool.

"Tell me...everything.", the man sighed, giving me a look of grave contemplation.

Steeling my resolve as I launched myself into a monotonous narrative, I told him about all that had happened up till now.

My meeting with Farya, our marriage, our kid and why we came here.

When I got to the part of her death, the words stuck in the back of my throat, and I could say no more.

"Son of a bitch", Fardin muttered under his breath.

"Get up fast. Your son might be in danger", Fardin asserted as he himself stood up and headed towards the door.

Stifled between disbelief at his statement and paranoia at my wife's death, I pulled myself up against the protests of my newly healed wounds.

Mustering strength into my legs, I willed myself to walk to the half open door.

A large chamber that seemed to be the amalgamation of a kitchen and a living room awaited me.

Four chairs surrounding a table stood to the far right, on which Farya Jr. was setting plates, presumably for breakfast.

As soon as the plates were set, she went back to the stove placed a little to the left. Hurriedly scraping an omelette off the pan, she laid it out on a steel tray, alongside a mountain of toasted bread.

Approaching from the other side of the chamber, Fardin had donned a coat and was headed towards the breakfast table.

"Grab a bite quick. You'll need it.", called out Fardin, motioning me towards the table, a grave look plastered onto his face.

Taking my place at the chair beside the window, I stared at the plate set out in front of me.

Slices of toasted bread accompanied by an appetizing french omelette garnished with little bits of onion and black pepper.

"Here's your tea", chimed in Farya as she placed a cup beside me filled to the brim with a light brown liquid brewed from milk and sugar.

Before taking a bite however, I inquired "You said..you said that my son is in danger. What did you mean by that?"

"The village you took the quest for? Its the very same village that Farya grew up in. The reason you got attacked out of the blue might have something to do with that."

That explained why Farya was in a bad mood the whole time. It didn't just have to do with our little scuffle.

"Okay, but I still don't follow how that adds up to that attack on us." I said between a mouthful, the food tasting like ash despite its appeal.

"See the thing is, the committee of elders that drove Farya out of that village was chaired by Vizari. If I had to guess, he sold her out."

The rather tasteless meal suddenly tasted revolting, as an invisible hand gripped my throat.

'Sold her out to who?'

"Excuse me, where's the restroom?" I managed to croak out before I was led by Farya Jr. to the far end of the room towards the left

.

Vomiting the contents of my breakfast into the sink, I gasped for air as an impalpable anxiety welled up inside my chest and threatened to break me from the inside out.

Clutching my chest, I took deep heavy breaths, trying to calm myself down.

It was him.

The elder.

He killed her.

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It had been what? Hours? Days? Weeks?. All Farya knew was that she had been in this place for a long time.

She had grown used to the dark and she didn't even feel cold anymore. She just walked on aimlessly for hours on end without any indication of her body requiring any sustenance.

She didn't feel hunger, thirst or even fatigue. It felt like she wasn't all there anymore.

A few chunks of her missing memory had returned to her in the process.

Mostly her solitary life as an adventurer with no one to hold no to and an immense burden to continue her bloodline, shouldered on to her by father Fardin.

Still, she felt like something was missing. She felt that the most important part of her memories was still missing.

She just couldn't figure out what, or who she couldn't remember.

Contemplating these thoughts in her mind, Farya zoned in her eyes on something that caught her eye.

She was pretty sure that she had gone delusional, because what she saw in the distance was a speck of light.

After a timeless eternity of walking, this sliver of hope seemed like a mirage. A trick of the light? Could mirages occur without light?

Choosing not to dwell on her senile thoughts, Farya picked up her pace and headed towards the light.

Every second, every step that brought her closer seemed to magnify the light exponentially.

The light grew larger, and larger, and larger, until there was darkness no more.

She was out.

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