Chapter 15: Cold

The atmosphere and overall mood of the castle changed, it was not as lively anymore, it was less busy and life there wasn't as easy as before.

But who said that life stopped?

There was Vesemir and 30 young boys, that knew nothing of the world and it was Vesemir's responsibility to make them worthy of holding the title of The Witcher.

Training resumed with a lot harsher regiment that boys had to follow, one of the good news is that Vesemir was as old as a fossil and he knew how to brew almost all of the things that are required to create tee that will help them grow faster.

During the unfortunate conditions they were set into, they were forced to hunt all the time to feed each other, there was no food in the castle that they could use, and there were almost zero chances for them to buy any from anyone.

The entire continent stood against Witchers as an iron wall, there were not welcomed in any country or any village at this time.

Because lack of food and the overall hardship they had to face, Vesemir started to be very strict about things that boys do.

Day after day, they were either studying or training, which made it hard for all of them to sustain for almost the entire day because there was a lack of food from time to time, and some of them were not able to survive such a harsh conditions.

Their bodies were buried and forgotten, nobody opposed Vesemir in this decision, they all knew that for them to survive they will have to be strong enough to live in the harsh world.

They will have to sustain, endure and fight against any kind of condition they could face.

Years after years, their routine was set, they were training and learning all the things they could.

During the long life that Vesemir had, he himself was one that could represent a walking library of how to deal with different beasts. Their classes were also competitive boys were trying to be better than their peers, therefore, pushing themself more.

One of the main things they had to learn was bestiary.

How to deal with different kinds of monsters? The ways to kill them in the most efficient way.

How to track down different monsters in the wild, how not to take disadvantage against them, how to fight them without dying yourself.

What kind of poisons are effective against specific beasts and which are not.

In every class that they took, they were taught about beasts and monsters, Geralt was the one to take the first place, he knew their habits, usual habitats, weak spots and way to track them down.

However, they had other lessons that were no less important than one about the beasts.

The lesson of how to create potions and create poisons, how to mix and gather all the plants that will be used in the potions.

Art of Alchemy, which never seen someone, but August with almost perfect knowledge of how to brew, how to take care of plants, where to find and the speed of brewing.

Nobody was able to come even close to Professor Snape's speed of brewing and accuracy, but Vesemir.

(This is a small troll)

But it was no matter, Vesemir always made every single one of them push further when they struggled with something they could not understand, something they were not good at. He was offering help and advice. He never rejected their questions that he gladly answered.

With time children grew more and more, slowly maturing and gaining more brains and more wisdom.

But Kaer Morhen was facing a lot of problems, with years after years, fewer and fewer animals would stumble upon close grounds of Kaer Morhen, leaving them without food to eat, without a chance of surviving.

To make matter worse their training was progressing slower and slower in the arts that were essential for every single Witcher, Swordsmanship, because of the attack the equipment that Witchers were able to collect over long years, now was nothing, but empty shells.

All of the swords that boys were able to train were either made of wood or rusty and old swords that required maintenance that they could not afford without money.

But with even such harsh conditions they kept on training. When boys reached the age of 12 he introduced them to new training that was much deadlier and much more dangerous.

Their first exercise was arrow deflection, one of the most essential skills to have when you face long-range enemies, especially humans and elves.

Another training was based on other skills such as strength, endurance and flexibility. They were essential for them to sustain for long enough, wield their swords fast enough and dodge the most efficient way.

August was confused, as to why Vesemir didn't teach them how to wield a bow since it was one of the easiest ways to take down your enemy and hunt with more efficiency.

On of the days after the reaction training with deflecting and catching arrows with bare hands August walked towards Vesemir and took a seat next to old Witcher.

August just recently turned 13 and his voice started to change, he had a thin voice with a very high pitch sound, but now it was changing. His voice sounded very broken, following no patterns, it went from high to low with every single word he said.

Vesemir looked at August who had already risen to a decent height and was about 160cm. and asked, "What do you need boy?"

August mused before asking "I thought for a long time, but I found no answer. Why you didn't train us in the art of bow?"

Vesemir looked a bit surprised since almost nobody asked him such questions " It is not necessary"

August got even more confused "But, there are a lot of beasts that will be hard to take without a bow"

Vesemir sighed and replied " To be honest, we never were the ones to practice this sort of art, we rely on our reaction and deflecting ability, when we face someone like wyverns it will come in handy, but we don't have equipment for such training. As you know we are in a very tight situation in this part"

August nodded understanding the situating saying "But I read from the books, that the best ones to wield a bow are elves, is this true?"

Vesemir looked like he went inside of his memories for a second before looking at August saying "Yes, they are. In my long life, I haven't seen a single person wielding a bow as they did"

Almost immediately August requested "Can you teach me?"

Vesemir inquired "Are you sure? Our sword mastery is known to be one of the strongest and most deadly"

August showed a determined face and slowly nodded his head in agreement.

Vesemir sighed, but still proceeded with guiding August through the simple things that he could teach. He was no master in this himself, his field was fighting with swords, not with bows, but teaching his students how to use more weapons was one of the things that he always agreed on.

With that August put more and more attention towards training, not to lack in the field of the sword he had to sacrifice his time when he was usually reading and learning to train in the field of sword and bow.

Over the years August grew a lot, he started to interact more and slowly started to distance himself from the trauma he had received back when he was a young kid. However, that didn't mean that he was over the nightmares that he had to see weekly.

He had a deep disgust towards human beings because of their selfish acts that they valued more than anything in the world. They were ready to sacrifice whatever is needed to achieve their goals.

However he grew attached to the rest of the boys, he didn't think of himself or others as human beings anymore. They were simply someone else, they were Witchers that carried little to no traits that humans were full of.

Unlike August, Geralt was different, he grew up thinking about other things, that were delusional and both August and Eskel tried to reason with their friend, that his thoughts were nothing short of dreams.

But Geralt was stubborn about that, he believed that he will be needed, and people will cherish him. The world required a knight that will kill the beasts and save the day in the end. How wrong he was about that, and it will cost him sleepless nights and a lot of guilt in the future.

Once Vesemir found out about that trait and tried to talk to Geralt.

The argument took place in the middle of summer when flowers were blooming and there was enough food for everyone to eat.

Vesemir called Geralt out and asked him to have a conversation about something.

When they were alone and nobody could hear them Vesemir stated "Geralt, the world is a much worse place than you think of it."

Geralt didn't know about what Vesemir referred to, and felt clueless "What do you mean teacher?"

Vesemir let go of a heavy sigh and explained "Geralt, there is no place for honour and kindness to enemies in your heart it will only lead you to death. You will have to learn that hesitation is never an option and humans are not someone that will thank you for your good deeds"

Geralt felt betrayed by a teacher, he thought that people going to support the ideas that he set upon himself. He wanted to be an honourable and faithful man that never betrays others' trust.

(Don't write hateful comments about me saying those about Geralt, that is how he was during his young age it is his original personality)

Geralt stood and was ready to walk away when he heard words coming from Vesemir "Don't regret your decisions later on"

From there on, Geralt stopped communicating with Vesemir as often as he used to do, Eskel and August tried to talk to him, but he stopped them even before they could start.

He devoted himself to learning how to be the best fighter on swords, almost without time to relax, he would be training his swordmasters day after day.

With days came weeks, with weeks came months, time flew by fast, while all Boys slowly grew and were getting stronger.

August was focusing on his training as much as Geralt was, but his reasons were different. Unlike Geralt who wanted to be a knight in shining armour. That protects people from monsters and saves the day.

August's goal was different, he wanted to be as strong as he could get, to never be in a situation where he could not change anything and he would feel helpless. Never in his life, did he want to suffer for others' pleasure.

Never in his life, did he wants to be useless, he never wanted to hide away from pathetic and greedy humans.

Never in his life did he want to lose his friends, that despite his views and behaviour took him for who he is.

August kept on training with Sword, daggers and bow, learning how to use trees to his advantage, climbing up and down, jumping from one tree to another.

While all of that was happening, Geralt dedicated himself to training with a sword and achieved great results, he marked himself as the best of all the boys.

To fight off Geralt, August and Eskel had to join together to have a chance of defeating him in the swords battle, while August and Eskel both were around the same at fighting on Swords.

Geralt walked the path much further than they did.

Time flew by and soon winter arrived, unlike previous years, this year hit everyone hard. The first day of the winter arrived a month earlier and hit with extremely cold temperatures.

With such an event Vesemir remembered one of the things that used to be taken as a joke, facing a temperature that he never felt before changed his mind. The first thing that came to his mind was Ithlinne's Prophecy.

But with that, he also understood that he will have to move with the boys somewhere else. There is little to no chance for them to survive in the following winter, they will either freeze to death or die from starving.

And there he made a decision to meet his old friend that he didn't really want to meet, but he was running low on options.

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