The Beginning

The sky is clear above the village of Elderwood, the sun shines proudly, and its rays go trough the numerous wheat fields. The streets are slightly crowded as usual, with many villagers working in shops and children playing with each other. In one corner of the main street, people are standing in queue waiting for their turn to enter a shop.

On top of the blacksmith shop hangs a sign, on it, the words "Miller's blacksmith shop" can be seen. Inside shiny weapons and armor of all types are being sold to the many customers, and at the counter a small kid is dealing with selling the items.

The kid's name is Gareth Miller, youngest son of Gavin Miller, he's 12 years old and is struggling to keep up with all the work. Gareth has short black hair and brown eyes, his height is pretty average for his age, standing at 161cm with a skinny body and a hot headed attitude, which usually earns him a scolding from his father Gavin Miller, the owner and main blacksmith of the shop.

Gavin can be seen in the back using his hammer to craft a longsword, the heat of the furnace making him sweat buckets, while his long golden hair and beard seems to hide his real age: at 51 years old Gavin stands at 178cm, his face is handsome even with the wrinkles that came with the passing of time and his expression focused on the work at hand,his beard hiding a slight smile forming on his lips, implying his passion for the job.

Beside him there's his eldest son, Aiden Miller, who's working on a black dagger, his expression a stark contrast form that of his father: his sharp eyes look lifeless while his face assumes an unsatisfied expression, underlining his unhappiness regarding his job.

Standing at 187cm, and being 19 years old, Aiden appearance is completely different from that of his father. He has brown hair and azure sharp eyes, with an extremely handsome face unusual for a blacksmith. 

"Fuck, I can't make a decent dagger!" I said while throwing my tools against the wall. 

"Fuckin hell Aiden stop whining and do your job!", said my father annoyed by my behaviour. "Fuck this shit, I'm out!" I shouted before storming out of the shop.

"I need a drink", I said while walking towards the nearest tavern. I entered the tavern and took a seat at the bar, "The usual?" asked the barman, "Yeah", I said.

After a minute the barman came back with a huge jug of red beer, "Here you go, what's on your mind man, you look like shit lately" he asked. I looked at him with a neutral expression for a moment before shrugging, "I don't wanna talk right now man, maybe another time" I said. 

The barman respected my wish and left me alone with my thoughts, unfortunately an idiot really wanted to annoy me and seated beside me, "Time is up, give me my money or I'm taking them from your corpse" said a tall muscular man.

"Who the hell are you?" I asked genuinely confused, after all, I've never seen this man in my life! 

"Nice acting worm, I'm feeling merciful today I'll give you five seconds, then I will take my money wether you like it or not", I looked at him with a neutral expression for a second before saying "Man I don't know you, why would I give you my money?".

"You give me no choice worm" said the man before punching me hard in the face, effectively breaking my nose. The pain was unbereable and before I could react I was jumped by a group of men who was waiting outside.

After a good minute of pounding I began to lose consciousness 'Fuck am I going to die?', I thought in my last seconds of clarity before going to sleep.

"Don't fret Aiden, your time will come", said an enchanting feminine voice, before I could respond I opened my eyes wide.

I was in my bedroom and before I could think or say anything, I felt a sharp pain all over my body, 'That was a hell of a beating', I thought before trying to get up from the bed, but just as I was about to stand up, the door opened and a beautiful woman walked in, her long blonde hair looked like gold, her gentle blue eyes landed on me "Aiden!", she said rushing to my side me, "How are you?", she asked while hugging me tightly.

"Ugh, big sis I'm still pretty hurt you know?", My sister ella expression immediately changed from one of relief to one of panic, "Oh god I'm so sorry" she said while releasing me from her tight hug.

"No worries Ella, what happened? How long have I been out?" I asked, "A man came to dad's shop and told him what happened, he found you unconscious in the tavern. You've slept for a whole day, as you can see it's almost night outside" she said while smiling gently.

"I see, so where is mom?"

"Oh she's preparing dinner, you need help to stand up or are you good?"

"Nah I'm okay thank you" I said and stood up while smiling.

When me and my sister Ella arrived at the dining room, my father stood up from the couch "How are you son? Do you remember the face of the man who beat you up?" he asked with a cold tone, I didn't understand if he was angry at me or not. "Unfortunately my memory is pretty shaken right now, I only remember the beating, nothing else".

I could clearly see the disappointment from my father, 'Yeah he's propably pissed that I left the shop just to get myself robbed', I mean who could blame him, I would be pissed off too.

"Alright, let's forget all this and enjoy dinner".

"I agree" said a mature woman coming with our dinner, Olivia Miller, Gavin's wife who, at 46 years old, is younger than him.

Standing at 160cm, she's pretty short "Look who finally decided to wake up" she said looking at me with a loving smile.

"Hey mom, did you expect me to wake up for dinner? Why would you cook for five people when I'm passed out?" I asked with a smile.

"A mother is connected to her children" she said with a proud expression, "Yeah, yeah whatever" I said before focusing on the food in front of me.

'Damn I'm starving' I thought while devouring my plate, after all I didn't eat anything for a day. "Wow you're really hungry", said my little brother, I didn't pay attention to him because all I could was the food still in his plate.

"Don't even think about it" said my father with a stern look, "Because it's rightfully mine, after all you left me alone at work these two days" he said with a sneaky smile.

"Whatever just finish it, I'm full anyway" said my brother.

"Say less" and with that, my father procedeed to steal food from his own son.

And like that the dinner came to an end, I currently was laying on my bed with my mom beside me.

"What's on your mind sweety" she asked me with a worried look. I took some time before answering "Not much just the usual". My mother gave me a neutral look before saying "Aiden I'm not letting you get out of this room until you tell me what's bothering you".

'Shit I'm not getting out of this' I thought to myself, and after a long sigh I finally spoke "I'm afraid mom" I said with a pause after, "I'm afraid I will live a meaningless life, I'm afraid I will stay in this village doing the same thing over and over again for the rest of my life, I'm afraid because I'm too weak to change my situation" I said.

Silence fell upon the room 'Shit, should've kept quiet' I thought to myself, but before I could think more bullshit, my mother hugged me tightly and after a minute she spoke "Don't worry sweety, It's normal at your age, if you have a dream you should pursue it".

"If you think that you father will oppose your choice you're wrong, he's just giving you path as a blacksmith because it worked for him. You have free will over your choices, we will never force you to do anything, always remember that" she said before getting up from the bed and heading for the door.

"Thank you mom"

"You're welcome sweety"