“It is a good sword, but it is lacking in its cutting ability compared to similar ones of its kind. Are you sure you want to use it? I’m not sure I can teach you everything about it in the time left”

Bran smiled. His words came easily as he responded:

“I’m sure about it, Celek” the boy locked eyes with his uncle. The mixture of color was certainly disconcerting to look at “Everything you’ll teach me about it will be much welcome”

Hearing those words, Celek only smiled back. He looked at the boy again, and his eyes settled on his coat. Bran was carrying it on his shoulder. It was full of tears, with one large tear dividing it into two halves. The smile started disappearing from his face.

“An ice bear ambushed me this morning, and I lost the coat in its initial attack” Bran answered before his uncle could talk. It wasn’t really an ambush, but his uncle had no way of knowing that. He had thought about blaming it on the spar with the knight, but with Elea here, he couldn’t do that.

Celek kept locking his eyes on the boy for a moment, before sighing and closing his eyes. He calmly said:

“Take better care of your clothes, and stop wasting”

Bran nodded, even though his uncle wasn’t looking at him anymore. He never understood this side of his uncle. He hated wasting things more than anything. They had enough money to live their whole life in luxury, and even though Celek was quite generous in regards to money, he gets very displeased when something is wasted.

Out of respect to his uncle, Bran had made the decision to not waste anything; yet, once in a while he was bound to waste something without noticing. He promised himself to do better. He was very grateful for the help Celek was always giving him.

Celek opened his eyes, looking at Elea sideway. He mumbled something under his breath, but Bran couldn’t hear it. His uncle started walking toward the girl. She looked at him, wonder in her eyes. It was normal. Celek had just disappeared from the top of the rock and appeared in front of Bran instantaneously. She must have finally understood what Sir Hadrin meant, when he said Celek was probably the strongest fighter in the world.

His uncle bowed his head slightly, and his right hand went to his heart. It was merely a slight movement, and few would think of it as a sign of respect. Nonetheless, Bran knew his uncle would never give much respect to nobles. This act of courtesy was merely his acknowledgement of her as his nephew’s lover.

“Lady Eleanor, it is a great pleasure to see you again” Celek’s voice rang out. Elea tried to respond, but he continued, giving her no time to talk “It is sad that we’ll send you back so fast, but we got a long trip ahead of us, so I would be happy if you could forgive our lack of hospitality”

Bran perfectly hid the joy in his heart. Even though Celek didn’t know she was planning on going with them, he was already sending her back to the Bourg. Elea looked lost for a second, before looking at Bran, seeking his help. The boy only shrugged back, making her frown at him. He wasn’t going to help her explaining things, and wasn’t she angry at him?

Giving up on his help, she looked at Celek and responded, her voice a bit nervous:

“Um… I was thinking of going with you to the capital… Bran already agreed, and my lord father also gave his permission…”

She left her words unfinished, giving a pleading look to Bran. The boy almost thought of helping her because of the unusual look she was giving him, but he steeled his mind. He couldn’t let her come with them. She would be a lot safer if she didn’t go with them, and he didn’t want her to know about what was awaiting him.

Surprisingly, after thinking for some moments, Celek easily agreed to let her come. Elea’s face showed happiness, and Bran’s mind came to a halt. No matter how he thought about it, he couldn’t understand. Why would his uncle let her come? Wasn’t it dangerous? He sent a panicking look toward his uncle, but he calmed down once he saw a furtive nod from Celek.

His uncle must have thought of something. He trusted the decisions of his uncle. He knew he was very dependent on him, but he could do nothing about it. The boy was getting stronger, but it wasn’t enough to survive. It would never be enough to let him survive on his own.

He looked at his wounded leg. Celek wasn’t omnipotent, but he knew enough to raise his chances of survival hundreds of times. He even knew a way to heal him. Trusting his decisions was the best bet.

He remembered the talk he had with the lord, and the war with the tribes came up to his mind. It was a major issue. He had to talk about it with his uncle, but with Elea here, they wouldn’t be able to converse properly without revealing too many things. He had to wait till they were alone. He hoped it would be soon.

Celek started looking intently at the girl. She felt uneasy, and kept on fidgeting. Even Bran didn’t know what his uncle was thinking about at that moment. Celek’s eyes started dropping down, looking at her figure, and he started nodding absent mindedly, pondering about something. Uneasiness flooded the boy’s mind, and after some moments, he became alarmed. If his uncle became interested in Elea, Bran would definitively lose her. He was sure his uncle was way more charming than him, and unlike the boy, he had a bright future in front of him.

As he was about to get between them, his uncle frowned and said:

“Lady Eleanor, your body is really weak, and though I would look after you, it will be best if you had another protection” Celek’s face relaxed, and he let out a sigh before continuing “Did you bring any weapon? Or any cloth armor?”

Bran stood bewildered before chuckling silently. His uncle was as unpredictable as ever. After all these years, he still couldn’t predict his actions, nor could he understand his way of thinking. Elea frowned as she heard about her body being ‘weak’, before shrugging it off. She may be a lot stronger than other people at her age, thanks to the knight’s training, but to Celek, she would be nothing but a weakling. To change his opinion about her, she should at least be able to protect herself from the usual dangers of the world.

She shook her head while saying:

“No, I only brought a dagger, and I left it with the rest of my clothes on my horse” She couldn’t stop fidgeting with her hands, while her eyes wandered everywhere, trying to avoid Celek’s gaze “But why would I need weapons? Is it really that dangerous?”

“It is always better to be prepared to anything” Celek said with a shrug. He turned and started trudging toward the house. The wind carried his last words “Lady Eleanor, if you would please come, I’ll find a good weapon and armor in the house. And Bran, you can rest for a bit. The trip must have been tiring”

Bran smiled. His uncle really understood him. He remembered the monster’s invasion, but he took it out of his mind. He could talk about it later with his uncle, and it wasn’t really that important. It was the same for training the girl. He could always tell him when they reached the capital, as he wouldn’t be able to train her while they were travelling. He didn’t think she would learn much though. It was only a month and half, and the most his uncle’s able to do in that period would be to correct her mistakes.

Elea looked at Bran, then sharply turned her head and followed Celek. It seemed she’ll still be angry at him for a long while.

Bran slumped on the side of the huge boulder. He felt very tired. The cold had already seeped into his bones, and he couldn’t care anymore.

As Elea disappeared from his sight, he felt the emotions he had been holding welling up, trying to burst free. He tried to calm down, and he listened intently. He could only hear the whistling of the wind. Nobody but him was around.

Unable to hold his emotions in check anymore, a soft whimper leaked through his mouth.

He was happy. His leg could be healed. He had already given up all hope when he had heard he couldn’t heal. There was a bit of hope.

His mouth morphed into a mocking smile. That glimmer of hope wasn’t near enough. He was bound to die. He was so small, so powerless. He could do nothing.

A tear trickled from one of his eyes. He couldn’t stop it. Why couldn’t he heal? Why did all the gods abandon him? They first denied him all help, and now they took away even their blessings. He cursed them. He couldn’t understand their actions. He couldn’t understand Ayleth. He was probably nothing but an entertainment to him.

He didn’t know what demon he’ll throw at him this time, and he hoped he wouldn’t be a burden to his uncle again. He remembered his last tribulation. He could remember the strength of the demon they were against. Even his uncle was desperate in that fight, and Bran was nothing but an annoyance, a burden. He wasn’t even able to protect himself.

He felt frustrated and hateful. He was alone. He knew that. He was trapped in a death trap, and he would keep suffering till his death. Each tribulation was a whole level harder than the last one. He compared the tribulations of his youth to the last one. Only Celek could save him from the last one three years ago, and no other human besides him could even survive through it. The next tribulation would be a lot harder than that. He wasn’t sure his uncle would survive through it.

He was already used to this feeling of despair, but another tear slid of his eye. He was struggling in a lost fight. Even if he survived the next tribulation, it was hopeless to even think of surviving the sixth tribulation, which would happen after another three years. It would be impossible for any human to think of surviving it. He had a wild thought, and he tried to think of a way to survive it too. He abandoned the idea again. Even if he survived, he would have a harder tribulation to survive after another three years. It was an endless cycle. He would keep fighting till his death. He felt everything was hopeless. It was better to just die now, and be done with it.

He looked up. Clouds had the sun hidden behind them. It didn’t matter much, as the weather was already very cold. He already stopped feeling it. He could feel numbness in his whole body. He felt lonely and lost. He didn’t know what to do.

He had been abandoned by his family. He had been abandoned by everybody. He only had his uncle and Elea, and he was going to lose them because of his selfishness, because of his desire to survive. He bit his lip. It was frustrating, and he felt infuriated. His fist hit the ground, and it started bleeding. He hit the ground again. Pain flared up in his fist for a moment, but he ignored it.

He had lost all hope toward the future, but once he had known Elea, he had started to look forward to each normal moment he spent with her. He was unfair to her. She had even told him her secret dreams, but he hid everything from her. He felt guilty, but he was also scared of her reaction once she knew everything about him. He didn’t deserve to be at her side, as he was driving her to her death.

A world of red. He liked the sight in front of him. It was so desolate, so detached from reality. The soil and the rocks all had that beautiful red hue. He would have liked to see this place at sunset one last time, before going to his death. He felt his hate for Ayleth fueling itself inside his heart.

The boy was fated to never live a peaceful life. He felt his hate for all the gods growing several folds. Wasn’t Ayleth the evil god they were supposedly fighting? No matter how he thought about it, he felt like he was someone that should have gotten their full support, as he was an enemy of Ayleth. The gods were merely ignoring him, probably laughing at his misery on their own. He let out a mocking chuckle. He was getting full of himself. The gods didn’t have time for him.

Something was throbbing in his chest. He concentrated on it, and noticed it was his heart. It had calmed down. He inhaled deeply. An unbidden, unstoppable stream of tears started flooding out of his eyes, and he was too tired to do anything about it. He felt his emotions going numb. He was alone in this world. His chest felt empty, like a gaping hole looking for something to fill it up. He could only keep trying to survive.

He bit his lower lip one last time, before closing his eyes. The clouds stopped hiding the sun, and a small ray of light shone on his new sword resting near him.

Bran drifted into sleep, as the streams of tears kept spilling out of his eyes.