Revelation [Pt 2]

20 YEARS EARLIER

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A young man got down from a ship that had just docked at the Lirdunia port and began looking gingerly around him, eyes glistening with awe as he took in the scenery of his destination. Having lived in a small countryside all his life, he was surprised to see a much larger city and so many people.

This young man was none other than Shimon Ragniel, who had just turned 19 at the time. Having lived a secluded boring life on his parents' farm, he decided to leave for the big city for a much more exciting and possibly adventurous life. Even as he slowly walked into town, he couldn't help but feel like he had made the right decision. He already had his life all planned out, he would get a job, work for a few years, and once he had saved enough money, he would start his own business. Then he would fall in love and settle down to start a family, yes it was a good plan and he decided to start looking for a job to take the first step at the beginning of his humble journey.

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It had been a few months since Shimon had arrived at Lirdunia, he had searched for work endlessly but had been unable to secure any. Most of the jobs here required professionals in a specific field of study and Shimon who had barely finished basic education was very unqualified. Menial jobs which he could also do were very minimal as the use of magic and technological advancement rendered human help impractical in most instances. The money he had with him when he first arrived had long been exhausted and Shimon was left starving and with no place to sleep. He was left with no other choice but to beg from the many people who frequented the markets of Lirdunia for scraps during the day and at night he made do with sleeping in the alleyways.

One fateful day, while begging for scraps, as usual, Shimon came across something, he had just left one side of the market for another side where more luxurious items were sold with the hope of receiving a little more money from the wealthier people who frequented the market.

While passing an alleyway which Shimon used as a shortcut, he came across a group of men who had surrounded a young lady, the young lady was dressed in a beautiful dress and had an air of nobility and one could tell that she was probably from a wealthy family.

As Shimon watched on, he could tell that the group of men were most likely robbers, but what confused him, even more, was why a lady of such caliber would be alone in a bustling market without an escort.

He quickly pushed all these thoughts aside as she rushed to shield the lady from the group of young men. Shimon was no fighter, but having lived on the streets for a while he had learned a thing or two about survival. When he realized that trying to converse with the men would be futile, he decided to help the woman escape, quickly using throwing sand into the faces of the men, he managed to buy some time.

He quickly grabbed the lady by the hand, " come with me " he said and began leading her away, they had only run some meters before he heard the voice of the men behind them, " After them, don't let them escape " yelled an ugly short man who Shimon decided was probably their leader, it wasn't easy to outrun the men with the young lady in tow, but having lived on the streets for quite some time, he knew the in and outs of the alleyway like the back of his palm. It took some time, but Shimon and the young lady eventually escaped the men, they both slowed down to catch their breaths, before the lady spoke

" Thank you for helping me," she said holding the tip of her skirts and bowing curtly, Shimon hurriedly bowed,

" It's my pleasure " he answered quickly, the young lady in front of him was truly beautiful,

"May I ask who you are my lady ?" Shimon asked,

" My name is Miera Frost, the current lady of the Frost household ".

The Frost household, even Shimon had heard of them, they were one of the biggest families in Lirdunia, this left Shimon even more confused, why was the current Lady of the Frost house in the market unescorted, she seemed to sense his apprehension and continued,

" I was accompanied here by my bodyguards but we got separated accidentally, I was trying to find them when I ran into those group of men".

Now it all made more sense, Shimon agreed to help the woman find her escorts and both began searching, after about thirty mins, Miera hurriedly pointed to two people, Shimon looked in the direction she was pointing to and could see two young men dressed casually, they seemed to be searching for something and both had worried faces.

" Those must be her guards, " Shimon thought to himself and he was right, he and Miera were about to call out to the young men when they heard a voice behind them, " Found you ", they looked back to see the ugly short man from earlier and his gang of about 7 guys.

Shimon, sensing the danger they were in, quickly yelled at Miera, " Run to your guards I'll hold them off for a bit ", Miera was still startled but regained her composure quickly, she nodded at Shimon and began running towards her bodyguards. Shimon meanwhile, charged at the group, he was attacked by all eight men and thoroughly beaten but he still managed to hold them all back.

After a few minutes, he heard Miera scream his name from somewhere behind him, he looked back to see the bodyguards running towards him with Miera some steps behind, even before the two men reached him they began shooting water projectiles at the robbers.

" Mages, they must be mages," Shimon thought to himself, he had heard about these people but had never seen one so up close. The battle quickly changed with the two mages defeating all the robbers, both were very skilled, "As expected of bodyguards from the Frost family " Shimon thought.

Once all the robbers were defeated, both men began thanking Shimon for his help, they were in the middle of their conversation when the ugly short man, suddenly got up to his feet and threw a shirt knife in Miera's direction. Shimon was the first to react to this and quickly threw himself between the knife and Miera, the knife hit him in the shoulder and he collapsed in a pool of blood.

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When Shimon woke up, he found himself laying on a bed in an unfamiliar building, he tried to get up but immediately sank back from the pain, that was when noticed that his shoulder and chest area had been heavily bandaged.

Memories of what happened began coming back to him, while he was still in thought, a maid came in, seeing that the man was awake she hurriedly rushed out and returned soon after with Miera Frost. She began explaining what had happened after he had fallen unconscious, the robbers were arrested and Shimon had been brought back to the Frost mansion for treatment and had been asleep for almost three days. Miera then told him that he was welcome to stay for however long he wanted.

A few days later he appeared before the then head of the Frost family, Gamesh Frost, and his wife Miera Frost. Gamesh expressed his gratitude to Shimon for saving his life and asked him to demand any reward he wanted, Shimon humbly asked for a job and a place to stay which was accepted and that was how he began living in the Frost mansion as a servant.

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It had been two years since Shimon had started working in the Frost household, he was a hardworking young man who was liked by many in the house. One day he decided to leave for the market to purchase a few things, as he moved from stall to stall he looked around at his surroundings, the hustle and bustle of the Lirdunia market never failed to surprise him.

He was still looking around stupefied when he suddenly bumped into somebody, a young lady. He hurriedly apologized for his carelessness and bent down to pick up the goods the lady had dropped.

When he got up, he was left wide-eyed at how beautiful the lady in front of him was, with her long brown hair and deep green eyes, Shimon fell in love immediately.

The lady thanked him but looked a bit lost, she asked Shimon for directions to a place and Shimon readily told her and even offered to accompany her there which she accepted.

" My name is Shi, Shimon Ragniel" Shimon stuttered out, he was embarrassed and blushing.

The young lady let out a small laugh before responding, " My name is Elora Firdis, nice to meet you Shimon " she said bowing curtly.

She brushed some hair that had covered her face behind her ears and that was when Shimon saw her small pointed ears. She noticed his reaction and added smiling " And yes, I am an elf"