My Childhood Sweetheart Married Someone Else...

Sera Rorsk was the light of my life, with her bright smile, her kind demeanor, and her passive intellect. We've been together since before I can remember, growing up in a small village named Ameris, miles from Dresnia's capital city. She's the chief elder's granddaughter, and I'm... a nobody, no family or permanent home. Some villagers joke that I sprouted from the ground one day. I didn't really belong. I was different. My temper makes it hard for people to like me. Even so, she stuck by my side. We spent almost every day playing, or exploring the forest beyond the village walls. I was sure we'd be together forever. I've never so much as looked at another girl the way I did her. Sera was all I needed.

And now she's getting married. To another man.

One might think that getting married at seventeen is being a bit hasty. You'd think someone would call them out on it. But no, everyone's all elated since they started pushing the, 'oh, we couldn't help it. We're just too in love' card. Makes me wanna vomit.

I was invited to be in the ceremony. Asked to be the groom's best man, as the only other similarly-aged guy in, like… twenty miles. But you know, I've compiled a long and intricate list of things I'd rather do. A few examples are as such:

- Swim completely naked across the Dragon-Leech Marshes

- Douse myself in pheromones and run through bear territory during mating season

- Make tender love to a thousand year old bog wraith

- Be dangled upside down by my testicles over the fires of Mount Inferno

Naturally, the list has been growing every day since they announced their engagement, each one more and more twisted and sadistic than the last. I'm pretty sure at this point that my final entry will just be a single word: 'Die.' And I'm… not sure if I can rule this stuff off as sarcasm for much longer. Because that's what she meant to me.

My days of late have been spent holed up in a tree platform Sera and I built almost ten years ago. I guess it's the closest thing I have to a home. It's got a bedroll I nabbed from one of the villagers, and some preserved meats so I don't go hungry. I haven't actually been in town in almost a week. I'm thinking I'll live here now. Because if I end up staying in the village, I'll be force-fed the happy life of the newlyweds. Their moving into their first home together. Starting a family. Growing old together. Just gouge out my heart now and spare me a slow death by a thousand serrated needles.

The ceremony is tomorrow. After all my whining, the day is coming and I'm no closer to any kind of closure than I was before. I already declined the invitation to have a part in the wedding. But maybe I'll go and sit in the far back so I can shoot a death-glare towards the groom the whole time. Or— I could scheme a way to ruin the entire thing before disappearing into the forest forever. Yeah, I like that one more.

As I think, my attention is suddenly brought to the sound of footsteps trudging through the forest below. I'm laying splayed out on the treehouse. I scan the area, but when I don't see anyone right away, I sigh and let my head back down on the hard wood plank floor.

"What, come to laugh at the teary-eyed tree goblin?" I mutter to myself.

Though... come to think of it, nobody really knows about this place in the forest except for Sera and I. But it wouldn't really be her... would—

"...Hey Marco...? Are you up there...?"

That voice... it isn't Sera. It's the last voice I'd ever want to hear calling out to me. It sounds like none other than Sera's groom... Deverick Marden.

Another voice calls out.

"Marco... Will you please come down—?"

That last one is, in fact, Sera herself. Which means they're walking alone in the forest together. Which also means the situation is far more unbearable than I first thought. If Deverick was alone, I would've just dropped down on his head.

I let out a long sigh, allowing all the air out of my lungs. They stand approximately thirty feet below where I'm laying. Given their exact location, I deem it safe to roll clean off the platform. Doing so, I plummet the distance and land with a heavy thud on the ground in an alert stance. Deverick leaps back a bit in surprise.

"M-Marco—!" he exclaims. He clears his throat and straightens himself back up. "S-Sorry I got so startled. I'd only ever heard about the weird things you can do. H-How did you do that, anyways...?"

Deverick is a plain guy in almost every regard. He's tall and a bit lanky, and has a head of short brown hair. He's also got the kind of face that's so amiable and unassuming, you'd never realize he was gunning for the love of your life.

I don't say a word to him. I still find myself hunched in an agitated stance.

"...S-So, Marco..." Sera mutters. She has a head of long blond hair tied back with a piece of cloth. Her deep blue eyes watch me with a hesitant look. "…We were... We were hoping that we could convince you to—"

"W-We want you to be a part of our wedding—!" Deverick says with an odd look of determination. "...I-I know that you had said no before, but... We all grew up together, and it just... it wouldn't feel right if you weren't there!"

"Grew up together?" I mutter, leaning in. "That's odd. Because I don't remember ever saying a damn word to you."

The two of them glance towards each other and trade concerned expressions. Deverick is the first to turn back to me.

"I don't want to be selfish... so I'm not asking for the sake of the wedding," he says. "Everyone in the village cares about you. They want you to be a part of the community. We all see a future with you alongside us. So please... don't seclude yourself any more..."

"Well to be perfectly clear, I'd rather rub my balls on a cactus," I retort. "Because I don't owe those people shit, and I sure as hell don't owe you two either."

This anger boiling over in my chest makes me just want to be anywhere but here. So I end up pushing through them and begin to walk away. But after a couple of steps I stop and half-turn towards them.

In this time, Deverick seems to gather some ounce of fortitude.

"It isn't about owing anyo—!"

"—Come to think of it, there's something I'm pretty sure I deserve," I say, interrupting him. I glance with a steely gaze towards Sera.

"What is it, Marco?" Sera asks.

"You never… not once, said a word of apology," I reply.

"...What...?"

"You led me on... for my whole goddamn life," I say, gritting my teeth. "And when the time finally came to throw me aside, you offered all kinds of excuses... but not once did you ever bother with a single sorry."

I turn away and begin off again before she can say another word in response, before I can even see their reactions. I don't want to see their faces. But what's more is I don't want them to see mine.

Sometime along my directionless walk of shame, I decide to go someplace they wouldn't ever bother to look for me at, should they have decided there was anything more to say.

There's a waterfall hidden in a secluded grove, in the furthest reaches of the forest. I've only been there once before, and since I decided back then that I hated it, I haven't gone back. Flowing water doesn't affect me the way it does other people. While it calms the mind of just about anyone else, in me it induces anxiety and makes me feel restless. But I'd take that over what I'm feeling right now any day.

I can hear the falls long before I see them. My heart starts beating faster, but I push the feeling aside as I trudge onward. I come across the river that flows from it, and follow it down a ways until it disappears underneath a rock formation and I'm forced to go around.

It's here that the falls become visible. It flows down from a high cliff that bisects the forest canopy, collecting in a deep pool at the bottom. Along the shore and in the shallows of the water are large boulders that are mostly flat on the top. The forest seems to lean on this spot, the trees and grasses bending inwards as if lending an ear. But I've got nothing to say to a bunch of shrubs.

"Lost in thought, are we?" comes a voice that startles me to my core.

Off to the side sits a short, frail old man from the village, who the other villagers nicknamed 'Coot.' He's completely bald and has a long white beard that goes down to his stomach.

"Where the hell did you come from?" I huff.

"It was you who came along. I was already here," he replies, chuckling.

Coot is an enigma, from what I'd seen of him growing up. Rumor has it he's been around the village since before the chief elder was even born. But in all that time, he never had any family, no kids, and he never married. Lately I'd been worried I'm in line to become the next Coot. Except he's also a pervert who keeps getting caught trying to look up women's dresses. And for the record— that's something I have no interest in.

"Sorry I came," I say, beginning to double back.

"Now now, why don't you humor an old man and hold on for a moment," he says, waving a hand. "It's clear as day you got your heart torn in two by that girl. And I have some advice for you."

The sound of the water is getting to me a little. My patience is just about as thin as it can get. But Coot has always been real laid back. I don't get too frustrated in talking to him, surprisingly.

"…Fine. Hit me with it," I say.

"You look like you're at a loss of what to do," he replies. "Now, I have dealt and received more than my fair share of heartbreak in my long years of life... But not once did it get any better by sitting around and doing nothing about it."

"And by heartbreak I assume you mean when the women started wearing pants in spite of you?" I mutter.

"Erghm-hrm-hrm... that was a different kind of disappointm— Anyways...! What's clear is that you're in desperate need of your own special healing salve."

"Hate to break it to you, and I'm not sure what kind of heartbreak you went through in your time, but I doubt a healing salve will—"

"Metaphor—!" he bursts. "Now listen here. You have talent. I've seen how diligently you train with that rusted sword of yours. You trained with it since before you could fully swing the thing!"

"Yeah. I trained because I wanted to be able to protect Sera. But clearly she doesn't need that from me anymore, now does she?" I reply.

"But that's quite a waste, wouldn't you think?"

"The 'waste' was ever bothering to work that hard in the first place."

"And yet you did!" he points. "So what will you do with it?"

"Quit beating around the bush and tell me what you want to tell me."

"Well... Have you ever wanted to leave this village? To see what lies beyond the forest?"

"Not really, no," I reply. "At least… not til recently…"

"The world is a vast place— and Dresnia is just one country among hundreds. Adventure is out there, ripe for the taking, boy. You've got a spry body and aren't too bad looking either, despite those teeth of yours. Adventure is your healing salve, if you'd let it."

My teeth…

To what he's referring are my front teeth both on the top and bottom, which are all sharpened to a point. They have been for as long as I can remember. My skin is a deathly pale, too. But I don't get sunburnt, even in the hottest of summer days. It all puts people off, so I don't exactly know what Coot is saying. But I decide to put it aside for the moment, if only on a whim.

"…Just leaving for 'adventure' is a bit too vague, old man," I say, folding my arms.

"And for that... there is a place where all adventure enthusiasts flock to," he grins. "Far east of the capital of Dresnia, in the neighboring country of Gale, there is a city known as Mares. In that city is an establishment known far and wide as the famous Galan Adventurers Guild. And let me tell you, boy— If the world's robbed you of your purpose, the Guild will help you find it anew. Glory— romance— adventure— it's all there just waiting to be grabbed by the fistful! Become an adventurer, and light that spark in your chest once more! Reinvigorate that burning passion you once had!"

"Your enthusiasm's upsetting," I mutter.

It's like I can see his fuse pitter out.

"Now now, don't blame an old man for getting riled up," he says, putting one leg up over the other. "It was my lifeblood, a lifetime ago. But I've seen your growth ever since you first sprang out of the ground, so I know what I'm saying when I strongly suggest you become an adventurer."

He's mocking me too with that joke at my expense? I may not remember getting to the village, but I'll be damned if I came out of the ground.

But wait… did I hear that right? Coot was an adventurer…? It's a bit hard to wrap my head around. I would've been less surprised to find out he's always been this old.

"Become... an adventurer..." I breathe, turning to the side.

"Young love stings like a dagger to the foot… but in time you'll realize that love is completely incidental and there's no such thing as soulmates, ho ho ho."

"And… you've lost me. Goodbye," I say.

"W-Wait a minute! A joke—! It was a joke, is all—!" Coot sputters. "I meant it as... Well, soon you'll find that everything looks different from another perspective, even love. But you can't look down on your past in a new light if you never move your feet from where you first took a stand. T-This village life would only serve as a set of blinders. You have an adventurer's spirit, make no mistake!"

Village life used to speak to me. I didn't need to see the world; Sera was all the world I needed. But... without her now, it'd be unbearable— living a modest life while tied down to one place, expected to uphold a menial existence for merely the betterment of the village until death take me.

But do I really have an adventurer's spirit? The words he said for the most part seemed to resonate with me, just a little. And definitely only some. If you lose your purpose, just find another... Maybe my purpose wasn't as set in stone as I thought. Granted, the one who said it once spent four hours watching a pair of women's underwear dry on a clothes line.

"Ah— and another thing, if you do decide to set out for Gale... There is an old box in my home that has something you might want," he says. "Though I suppose... Even if you decide to stay, I have no use for it. So take it if it piques your interest."

"Well what is it?" I say.

"A sword of fine craftsmanship. Never before has it been swung, but it is far sharper than your average iron sword. Does it interest you?"

"Eh... not really," I reply. "I already have a sword. Why the hell would I want another?"

"...Really? Err, are you sure...? It's... a very good sword...!"

"Yeah, don't need it," I reply.

"Ah, w-well then... I suppose I could... give it to the newlyweds as a wedding gift—"

"I'll take it—!" I burst.

Coot pauses for a moment.

"Ho ho, you are a funny one," he then grins, which shows a couple of his teeth are missing. "Well, I should be off now. Remember... If ever you've been robbed of purpose, the Adventurers Guild will always help you find it anew. Now, old man... Away!"

Coot suddenly tosses sand in my face.

"Argh—! W-What the hell?" I shout, turning away to clear sand from my eyes. As I do, I hear a scampering noise, followed by the sound of slipping on wet mud.

"Ah—! Blazes—!"

As I finish wiping my eyes, I turn back to the rock where Coot had sat... only to find him hunched over on the ground just a few steps away from it, clutching his back. He slowly turns to me with a pained expression.

"I... meant to run away..." he mutters. "Be a good chap and carry me into the village...?"

I glare at the old man. And then I pass him by on the way out.

"H-Hold on now, lad—! I'm sorry! I apologize, so come back—!" Coot hollers.

I narrow my eyes. With a long sigh, I turn back and walk to him. I lift Coot up by the arm and secure him to my back. With that, we head off towards the village.