I hope to see you again in this life or that we meet once again in the hands of the gods.

In the vicinity of the village of Krovench.

Tavern, the sacred horseshoes.

Last ray of the sun and first ray of the moon.

The night was quiet as only in the fields it was possible to live in peace, the tavern as always was overflowing with joy, songs and happiness, happiness accompanied by alcohol and warm food which helped to comfort the hard-working souls who visited in place to calm their tired minds.

"Another pitcher over here, miss!"

A man of an adult appearance with a long white beard and a strange looking hat shouted, raising his hand in the air, holding a wooden jug, proclaiming his request aloud as was typical of tavern customers.

"On your way, sir!"

a young orange-haired girl with a ponytail and the typical but cherished garb of a maid, proclaimed in almost the same tone of voice as the customer.

The atmosphere seemed to be very calm, even though it was not always like that. Many of the regulars who frequented the tavern were field workers and miners, and some of them did not control well how much they drank, which ended up causing problems, but strangely enough, that night was very quiet, allowing all the customers to enjoy, amidst laughter and songs, their food and drinks, which they so much desired after a hard day's work.

Among all those smiling faces and curious characters celebrating happily, one person stood out for being away, almost isolating himself. Drinking alone, his eyes never left the table which made everyone understand that his situation was bad, but in the tavern, no one was going to listen to other people's problems so he went unnoticed and somehow that alcohol helped drown his sorrows.

"Zarrt, this is the fourth pitcher of the night... don't you think you should go home to be with Mary?"

The young maid spoke, still holding jugs in her hands.

This young woman's attempts to communicate with Zarrt were totally futile and her words reached deaf ears.

"Lucie, leave him alone, he's short of money and the work is very bad, don't blame him for being depressed..."

a bald man with a fork in his hand said, enjoying his meal.

"Mr. Brant... you are right, the situation in the mines is getting worse every day..."

The young maid responded by glancing sideways at zarrt who hadn't even bothered to raise his head.

"hmmmm...I don't blame him for being depressed, the village will be abandoned at this rate and I've also heard that in the north the war is raging, I fear we may have to enlist to attend."

Mr. Brant said, leaving his fork on the table. Crossing his arms, making the joyful atmosphere of the tavern become somewhat quiet and depressing from one moment to the next.

"sometimes the world treats men cruelly, their children and wives pay the price equally, a man must sacrifice himself to find a way to pay his debts before they take his life."

The old man with the white beard and the strange hat exclaimed, banging his pitcher on the table, staring at zarrt, but he didn't even bother to lift his head.

"The war in the north is all true, and I've already been informed of my two decisions available to help..."

the voice of zarrt was heard in the tavern, righting the fact of the war in the north and mentioning that he was already recruited for a task.

"I'm not sad about my situation because of money or work, it's the fact that I'll have to leave my wife and child to accomplish this task and give them both a better life."

Everyone in the tavern kept silent and agreed to understand the poor Zarrt's situation.

"There's nothing left to do, I have no options and no other plans, it's either dungeon scouting or war, if I don't go to war and show up to dungeon scouting, my only option is to be apprehended for treason."

Zarrt said, proclaiming his only two options which would allow him to live a life or lose it behind the bars of a prison.

"..."

Silence fell over the tavern for a few moments which ended up seeming eternal to everyone present until Zarrt stood up and left a gold coin on the table.

"I'd better go, I'll have to get up early in the morning."

Zarrt exclaimed quietly, walking to the door and out of the tavern, feeling that his words had ruined the food and drink of everyone present, but for some reason he did not feel it necessary to apologize to anyone.

Zartt, was never someone committed, could not even be called a man in what many knew him and yet, that never stopped him or at least that thought until he was forced to make a difficult decision, which was to go to war voluntarily or become an investigator, explorer and subjugator of monsters, the decision was hard and neither benefited his family really in good shape, His children could hardly see him in the days to come and his wife, she would receive the money of his effort, but he could not enjoy her company nor that of his children, although that did not worry him too much, what he feared most was having to see his children grow up without being able to be present to witness something unique in the life of every man who became a "Father".

the road to his home became strangely long and the moon seemed to be accompanying him closely at that moment...

"there will be dark days from now on."

Zarrt said quietly, staring at the moon.

Sunrise 1119 A.G

The new dawn had already appeared, the birds began to fly through the skies and to let their songs be heard, mentioning the peace that inhabited the earth. Unfortunately, peace is something that really exists in the dreams of the living and a reality for those who have already passed away.

The first rays of the sun, radiant and warm, resembling swords that cut through the darkness, were present covering the fields and revealing their beauty and loneliness at the same time, awakening the creatures created by the gods, as well as the humans who inhabited those peaceful places.

"Honey, good morning, we have to get up. We have a lot to do today."

A sweet voice was heard in the room of a wooden hut, made of old tree trunks from past times, the house and its wood was already covered with moss, showing its age and resistance to the mercy of the changing climate.

"One more moment, honey, give me one more moment..."

a grumbling, half-snoring voice answered, pleading for a brief extra moment of comfort and quiet that only a warm bed could offer.

"...I'll get up first, I must check the water and release the sheep and cows, when I return if you're not awake, I'll have to resort to the bucket of water. Understood?"

The sweet voice responded with an authoritative tone, telling what would happen if his requests were not met. Clearly the bucket of water was something Zartt was not really afraid of, but it was a way to wake him up.

"...damn it, come on, get up you bum!"

Zarrt said to himself, struggling against his laziness, trying to get up from his prison of comfort, warmth and silence, until he fell to the side.

"Damn... what a way to enjoy my last day..."

Zarrt said to himself, staring at the ceiling of the room, sprawling on the floor, thinking that this would be his last day with his family and that he was wasting it.

"Cut the crap, your wife needs you more than ever today and you son may never see your face again, stand up you idiot."

Zartt could not help but speak to himself, encouraging himself not to think negatively or fall into the sadness. The sadness that he felt about leaving his family.

The room was barely visible due to the little light in it and the only source of light available at that time was from the window which was still closed.

He didn't really want to get up, but somehow he made an agreement with his body to stand up and open the window which had a couple of small wooden doors covering it to protect the fragile glass.

Standing up at that moment seemed to be a physical challenge for him, giving himself the strength to stand up and go to the window and its handle to turn it and open the little doors, all actions seemed to lead him to use his body to execute them as if they were life or death, He was obviously exaggerating in a precipitous way, but it was a fun thing to see if there were more people present in that place at the time, but since there was no one else present these actions and behavior went unnoticed by the world.

With a gentle turn of the wrist and a little pressure exerted with his body, the handle turned delicately and that pair of small wooden doors separated and opened giving permission to the light to enter and take out the darkness that still remained in that room.

The light at the same time momentarily blinded poor Zarrt's vision, making his eyes watery and helping him to wake up even more than before, feeling the vigor returning to his body, he stretched his body, enjoying the unique sensation that one gets after a peaceful night of sleep.

Getting out of the room was easy, a few steps to the door didn't seem like much, although Zarrt hadn't really noticed that he was still in his sleeping clothes, two white clothes which consisted of a shirt and pants which were common at bedtime.

"Gosh, wake up, you're a mess."

He said to himself, looking around before leaving the room, looking for his clothes, obviously nobody is good at remembering things when they wake up.

"Where are my clothes...?"

Looking around didn't really help much that he could say, his clothes were nowhere to be found and he didn't seem to be in the room either, although there was still the need to check his side of the floor next to the bed.

Walking quietly and without worrying he went around his bed and there were his everyday clothes consisting of a green shirt, light blue pants, somewhat stained and discolored due to how expensive the clothes were at the time.

Changing took no more than a couple of minutes, allowing him to quickly make the bed and leave the room, walking down the short corridor to the entrance of the house.

Again, when he opened the front door, the sunlight momentarily blinded him until the beauty of the outside reminded him of distant memories of when he was a child.

"...better days will come, as you said dad..."

zarrt said quietly, watching his wife mary at the well collecting buckets of water for the animals.

"Help her, don't just stand there, you'll have to tell her in the end and who knows how this will affect her."

Zarrt kept talking to himself, reasoning with himself that when he told his wife the news she would be devastated.

walking at a slightly faster pace to mary he took a couple of buckets of water to help her finish her homework quickly so that he could give her the news, at least so that she could face the situation calmly.

"You're different today, you've slept too much and your eyes show fear and bewilderment..."

Mary said, knowing clearly that something was wrong, she left at that moment totally immobile and felt as if her heart had missed a beat.

"Please tell me what's going on..."

Mary said to zarrt, placing her delicate hand on his shoulder, zarrt at that moment could do nothing but bend his head a little, allowing the tears of his eyes to fall to the ground, finally breaking the silence.

"An agent of the kingdom has contacted all the men of the nearby villages... and these were summoned to serve in the war that resides in the north...and I have an aptitude for dungeon scouting, I chose that option because I knew I could send money to you and our son to help you, if I had chosen war I would have died, it is only certain that I will die if I choose to go to war."

Zarrt said through tears trying to control himself, but the situation seemed far from controlled, his wife simply bowed her head letting her hair cover her face, likewise allowing the tears to flow from her eyes to the ground.

"....."

Mary did not say a word, as there were no options available, if he tried anything else, he would be arrested and imprisoned for treason against the kingdom and the king, war was an obvious death sentence for those not trained in combat and if he survived he would most likely stop being the same person he was now.

"Please.."

Clack clack clack

Zarrt was about to speak when suddenly the footsteps of a horse were heard in the distance along with a wagon covered with a cloth roof approaching his home.

"Are they coming to get us?! It's too early, mary I have to..."

Zarrt said turning around, looking mary in the eyes while she smiled at him, trying not to lose herself in a sea of tears and trying to keep her composure.

"We must look for your clothes and you must find your father's ancient sword... you will need it, love."

Mary said, wiping her tears as she walked into the house.

"..."

Zarrt knew that mary was bad, but he was trying to stay strong at the time or at least pretend to be strong was his idea.

The road to the house became eternal somehow watching as each time the horse-drawn carriage came closer to take him away from his family, by the time he entered the house, mary had already prepared the clothes and the old sword of Zarrt's father, an ancient relic of war which still kept its edge.

"I..."

Zarrt, was about to say something, but it was silenced by Mary's finger she put on her lips, smiling at him, making sure everything would be all right, no matter what.

"Don't worry, everything will be fine, honey, do your best, when they let you, you'll be back and we can be together again as a family, my love."

Mary said, assuring her that everything would be all right or at least she wanted to appear so as not to break down in tears what was an uncertain future for her husband.

Knock Knock Knock

At that moment zarrt raised his arms about giving a hug to mary, but this was interrupted by some knocks on the door.

"It is time..."

zarrt said, staring at mary for a brief moment and then looking at his bag of clothes and taking it with his father's sword.

"Good luck, love, take care of yourself, please."

Mary said, looking at him with a smile full of happiness and pride, feeling like the strongest woman in the world for not crying over her husband's departure, but Zarrt knew that she would inebitably cry her eyes out after his departure.

Every step he took to the door was heavier than the other and when he opened it he was greeted by a face that was not at all familiar, an old man, a dwarf with gray hair and a colorful black beard with gray hair in it, an eye with a scar from a cut and his armor seemed to have come recently from a bloody battle, he carried an axe in his right hand and a paper in his left hand.

"Zarrt delrow, right, boy?"

The dwarf said, staring at the paper for a few more moments before crumpling the blade and tossing it aside, staring at Zarrt and inspecting it.

"Well, we haven't got all day, there's things to do, mate, so we'll have to leave immediately... excuse me, ma'am, but I must take your husband, I'm really sorry."

The dwarf said, putting one hand open on his chest and bending his head, apologizing for separating a wife from her husband, although at the time he was more surprised to see the attitude of little importance to the subject than to the manners that the dwarf presented.

The dwarf turned around and walked to the carriage, being waited for by a driver who appeared to be a young teenager.

"Hurry up, if I leave you here, the royal knights will come and hunt your ass!"

The dwarf exclaimed aloud, warning what would happen if he didn't leave with them.

"Y-Yes, sir!

Zarrt likewise exclaimed in a voice cut off by the dwarf's words, although reaching for the dwarf was no big deal because his short legs made him to be somewhat slower than zarrt.

zarrt without problems arrived at the wagon putting his things inside and introducing himself, only to find that he was alone in that wagon, at that moment he stuck his head out of the interior observing the dwarf in clear confusion.

"Where are the others?"

Zarrt said, with clear bewilderment, something that seemed obvious to the dwarf because he showed a clear face of obviousness that he knew that someone would ask him that question at some point.

"They chose the war before the dungeons, they preferred to face the battlefield before the dungeons ..it is time to leave, so, get in and be quiet"

Zarrt watched the dwarf go forward of the wagon and get on it causing it to start.

"We are going fast, we have to arrive in the afternoon, understood?"

The dwarf told the wagon driver, explaining the speed at which they had to go to reach their destination.

"Hey, boy, say goodbye to your girlfriend, she may not see you for a while ... or maybe never again ..."

The dwarf exclaimed aloud to Zarrt.

"I LOVE YOU MARY, I'LL BE BACK !!"

Zarrt's voice could be heard across the fields and in the distance, comforting Mary's heart at that moment so heavy and sad in which they saw each other for a few moments until he disappeared on the road to the empire.

"Yes, my love, I'll be waiting for you ... I hope to see you again in this life or that we meet once again in the hands of the gods."

Mary said, clasping her hands together praying for her husband's well-being and that his journey should go well.