CH. 7 - Interlude - A Father's Love

My son is alive.

Gazing at the pale face and malnourished body of the boy, who I had believed only hours ago had perished, I was overcome with emotion.

Not just of joy, as seeing those legs of his walking, though somewhat awkwardly.

Not just of gratitude, to be able to see those green eyes of his clear and sharp again. A stark contrast to the glazed over, vacant look which had shaken me to me core.

Not just of love, that I was able to hold something more precious to me than anything else. Nothing is comparable to the love a father has for their children.

No. I was overcome with a wash of hatred, loathing and disgust, the likes of which I had never felt before. The emotions threatened to overcome me, forcing my stomach to churn and the threat of an upheaval almost certain.

It was aimed at myself.

How can a father call himself a father, when they have given up on their child so easily?

When I entered the room earlier, viewing the malnourished, unmoving body, I had immediately rushed to his side. But having not heard any heartbeat or felt any breathes upon a wettened finger, I had assumed the worst.

"Mama! Papa! S-Seth!"

Mera and I had been seated on the couch holding each other. Both of us trying to comfort one another, but neither succeeding. I knew that she blamed herself for how things had turned out. But I also blamed myself.

"Mama! Papa!"

It is the responsibility of the parent to protect their child. No parent should be forced to watch, helplessly, as their child succumbs to an illness that seemingly has no cure, before their eyes.

A parent should never have to bury their child.

"MAMA! PAPA!"

Lily's sudden shouting shook me from my shock.

"Lily? What is it? Now is not a good-"

"SETH!"

"Yes dear… As we've already told you… Seth has passed onward to a new and better place…"

My wife, Mera, tried to console Lily, who was hysterical by this point, clutching her frog toy to her chest so tightly I thought she would tear it to pieces.

"NO SETH!"

Her screaming words almost tore my eardrums apart from their intensity. Not that I could blame her, I too wanted to scream my own anguish to the world. But now was not the time for that. For now, I had to be a father to my daughter, distraught over the death of her brother.

"Do you want to say goodbye to him? I can take you in there if you want to…"

I hated that room. It was the last place I wanted to be. But if my daughter wished to say goodbye, then she should, and I would help her.

"NOOOOO!"

Her small body was wracked with her sobbing. Hyperventilating so hard, I thought she was about to pass out. I reached forward and pulled her to me, wanting to offer her a comfort that I could not find for myself.

"It's alright Lily, it's alright. Mama and papa are here. We know it is hard, we know how much it hurts, we are hurting too. Come on, hold onto papa and let it all out with him."

"Mmfhm!"

Her voice muffled by my embrace I held her tightly. Then with a strength I did not know she possessed, she broke free from my grasp and pointed at the stairwell.

"SETH!"

I looked up and could not believe what I was seeing. This had to be a dream, or a nightmare, for the sight before my very eyes could not have possibly been real.

My son was alive.

Shock, horror and skepticism rooted me to my spot. I had heard of strange occurrences in foreign lands in which bodies of the deceased had reanimated. But no, there was nothing like that here. No cursed ground to speak of and no magical creatures within a stone's throw of my place.

Certainly, no necromancers to speak of.

Bur when I touched his warm skin, felt his warm breath and weak grip, I knew it was him. Do not ask me how, because I would not be able to establish the means. But a father knows.

The fact that he had managed to walk down to the living room, was an incredible feat within itself. One that gave my heart a dramatic pound within my chest.

So many children had died from the sickness, the numbers were astronomical, nothing had ever been recorded of its like before. The terror of it spreading into nearby kingdoms was such, that the bordering territories had bolstered their military at the entry points. Patrols patrolled along the borders, stopping any who would enter or leave.

Trade had been cut from our country, almost crippling it in economic disaster. Food was so scarce, that a famine was feared to present itself and wreak even further destruction.

Times were dark indeed. Some had thought it was a disease of sorts.

One that had been deliberately spread by the nearby elven empire, who were always seeking to expand the borders of their territory. Not in a state of war with the kingdom of Harteva, they were neither ally nor foe. Though trade was conducted between the two countries.

Others thought it was the result of a curse, rooted in magic or other dark sorcery. However the Royal Court's top magician and magic council had refuted that, finding no basis of any such malicious thing having be cast.

An act of the Gods? Perhaps a whim of theirs, or just one of them, that had decided to cause such cruelty to be unleashed upon us. Though devout followers ourselves, I found it hard to believe that they could be so merciless.

Either way, the sickness had spread quickly over the space of a few months, then disappeared, with no recorded new cases a month prior to my sons supposed death. The number of those that somehow managed to recover from the illness, was few.

My son, miraculously, had managed to be one of those few. For that I was eternally grateful.

Though I cherished my boy before this accursed disaster, I would be sure to cherish he and Lily even more so now.