I was about a mile from the house when it started to rain. The torrential downpour hit with such force that, initially, it threw me off-balance. In less than five seconds, I was practically soaked to the bone.
Accompanying the rain was a strong wind, which felt like it bit into my skin as it raced through the forest. The cold air made the rain much more unpleasant, to the point where it was actually painful. On top of that, it was loud as hell, which only served to add to the headache forming in my skull.
"Just my luck." I growled, squinting my eyes as I struggled to see through the storm. "Hell, at this rate, I might never be completely dry again."
Thankfully, I didn't have to deal with any belligerent monsters. It seemed like they were all hiding from the storm, which made the trip at least a little bit easier. The downside to this, however, was that I couldn't get any red. I wasn't gonna go hunt in this weather, and most monsters were, as previously mentioned, hunkered down somewhere. My only plan for that night was to go home and sleep.
The rain had turned the dirt into a sopping mess, which was... just insult to injury. It made walking just a tad bit harder, so I had to go slower than I wanted. That, of course, meant that I would end up spending more time outside. It was bullshit, and it made me want to stab someone.
After what felt like hours, but in all actuality was only around ten minutes, I arrived at the house. As quickly as I could, I opened the door, and slipped inside, slamming it shut behind me.
Yuri looked up from her book, frowning when she saw me. Quickly, she stood up, walking over to me with a slightly concerned expression.
"...You're soaked." She observed, looking me up and down.
I gave her a deadpan stare, shivering slightly as I did so. Did she really need to point that out? I mean, that was just annoying. Calling attention to it served no real purpose. It was just... redundant.
"Astute observation, Captain Obvious." I growled, irritation clearly visible on my face. "I would've never guessed."
"Smartass." She retorted, rolling her eyes. "Hold on, I'll be right back."
Swiftly, she stepped into her room, turning towards her small pile of belongings. From it, she picked up her large coat, and threw it at me. I caught it midair, giving her a questioning look.
"Use that to dry off." She grunted, shrugging her shoulders. "Get a change of clothes, too. Those look filthy."
With a sigh, I walked into my room, shutting the door behind me. Tossing the coat aside, I peeled my shirt off, and threw it at the wall. My pants received much the same treatment, being banished into the corner, along with my unruly socks.
After I was done undressing, I took a moment to dry my still wet body, before putting on the only other set of clothes I owned. They were exactly the same as the first pair: generic, medieval clothes. Maybe that was boring, but I didn't really care.
Once all that was taken care of, I meandered back into the kitchen, handing the (now drenched) coat back to Yuri. However, upon seeing her expression, I paused. Her eyes were a little unfocused, and there was an angry scowl on her face. That was... unusual.
"...Is everything alright?" I asked, raising an eyebrow when she flinched, as if she'd forgotten I was there. "You seem a little upset."
Yuri sighed, and shook her head.
"This storm is bringing up some... bad memories." She explained. "I don't really want to talk about it."
I nodded, restraining my curiosity as best as I could. From what little she'd told me about her past, I knew that she'd been through some horrific shit. I didn't want to make her talk about something like that, since she was clearly trying to repress it. That'd be a real dick move.
"Alright then." I shrugged. "I'mma go catch some sleep, 'cause there's not much I can do when it's raining like this."
Seriously, this weather was awful. Hopefully it would be gone by the time I woke up in the morning, because I wasn't gonna go outside in that downpour.
Closing my door behind me, I quickly turned, and flopped down onto my bedroll. Once I shimmied my way into it, I let out a content sigh, and closed my eyes. Within minutes, my mind drifted off into the blissful realm of dreams.
*LINEBREAK*
Pain.
All she felt was terrible pain. Mind-numbing, horrible agony. Her core felt as if it was on fire; constantly burning, with no end in sight.
She was bleeding terribly, mostly from her lower regions. Just thinking about what had happened made her entire body throb with disgust and horror. After the men violated her with a sword, they simply left her to die in the woods. Injured and alone, it would be almost impossible for her to survive.
She couldn't walk. Hell, she could barely even crawl. This was the end, it seemed. She hadn't lived a particularly long life, but she'd been happy enough, up until about an hour ago. Now, her family was gone. Even if she did survive, what would be the point of continuing?
Well, that wasn't really something she'd have to contemplate on. Her vision was already beginning to grow dark, and she knew that it was only a matter of time before she bled out. She could feel her body begin to grow numb, effectively ridding her of the pain she was in.
A wave of exhaustion suddenly hit her, signaling that the end was only moments away. With a single, quiet sigh, Yuri closed her eyes, already resigned to her fate. At least this way, she didn't have to live without her family...
...
...
...
"...Holy shit!" A voice exclaimed, loudly echoing throughout the forest. "Teacher, this one's still alive!"
Barely cognizant, Yuri's eyes cracked open, trying to look at whoever was talking. Her vision was far too blurry to make anything out, so she didn't really know who she was looking at.
She could hear the sound of footsteps rapidly approaching. The woman, upon seeing Yuri, let out a loud gasp.
"Quickly, help me carry her back to the village!" The so-called "Teacher" ordered. "The healers won't be able to fix a wound of this magnitude, but they might be able to stabilize her!"
Yuri tried to protest, but no words came out. Her consciousness was fading fast, and she had lost control of her body. Before they could even pick her up, she'd passed out.
*LINEBREAK*
Yuri woke with a start, spewing out a string of expletives as she practically jumped out of her bedroll. Her heart was beating out of her chest as she looked around, briefly wondering where she was. Once realizing that she was safe in her room, she let out an annoyed sigh, flopping back into the bedroll. She felt her lower parts ache, a bitter reminder of that horrible day.
It had been a dream. Well, technically, it had been a memory, but Yuri didn't really care about the specifics. She'd hadn't thought about that day in years, but that god-forsaken storm had dragged it back into the forefront of her mind.
Granted, the memory wasn't as bad as it could've been. Last time, she'd dreamed about the actual incident itself, while this time, she'd dreamed about the aftermath. So, that was an improvement, at least.
With a groan, she climbed to her feet, and walked into the kitchen. Sitting down with one of her books, she opened to a random page and began to read, trying to forget about what just happened. It was still dark out, but getting back to sleep after that dream was likely impossible, so she just gave up. Besides, there was nothing wrong with getting an early start to the day.
After a few hours of reading, she decided that it was time to properly begin making breakfast. There wasn't much food, so she made a small meal, just enough for her and Alex. It wasn't anything special: just some salted meat and carrots.
She really needed to restock. Perhaps she'd send Alex to the store later? He was probably going into town anyways, so it wasn't like she'd be asking all that much of him.
...Now that she'd thought about it, he'd spent a lot of time in the village recently. That wasn't a bad thing per se, but she knew that her son was more than a little antisocial. Why did he go over there so often?
When she asked him about it, he'd claimed that he was training someone. He wasn't lying, but she felt like there was more to it than that. Why would Alex go so far as to train anybody? He disliked most people as a rule, so him suddenly deciding to teach someone was... more than a little odd.
To be honest, it felt like he was hiding something. Alex usually didn't keep secrets from her, so this felt more than a little concerning. It probably wasn't anything bad, but it still bothered her nonetheless.
Suddenly, a strange thought popped into her head. Was Alex... seeing someone? He was a healthy young adult, and he'd basically been a hermit for all the time she'd known him. It would make sense for him to long for a relationship with someone.
If that theory was correct (and she wasn't entirely sure if it was.), then why would he hide such a thing? Maybe he was embarrassed? Alex had never been one to talk about emotion (other than rage, of course.), so it was possible.
Oh, whatever. She'd just ask him when he woke up. He couldn't lie for shit, so she'd know the truth, even if he tried to hide it.
By the time she was done making breakfast, she could hear Alex begin to stir in the other room. With a muffled yawn, he pushed the door open, walking out into the kitchen with a sleepy look in his eyes. Wordlessly, she handed him his meal, to which he responded with a quiet "thanks", before wolfing it down.
"Alex." Yuri said, catching his attention. "Can I ask you a question?"
He gave her a confused look, but nodded.
"Sure." Alex replied, one eyebrow raised. "What do you need?"
Yuri sighed, quietly pondering on the best way to ask him. After a moment, she decided that being blunt was probably not the best approach. He'd probably get uncomfortable, and that would make conversation much harder. She needed to ask him about his activities, and go from there.
"You've been spending a lot of time at the village. I know you've been training someone, but is that really all you've been doing?" She asked, crossing her arms.
For a moment, he seemed confused, as if he wasn't sure how to respond. There was a strange look in his eyes, one that she couldn't quite place. Then, he scowled, giving her a nasty glare.
"Are you accusing me of something, Yuri?" He growled, balling his fists so tightly that his knuckles were completely white. "I didn't do shit, so stop acting like I did!"
...Okay, maybe being blunt wasn't such a bad idea.
"Alex." Yuri groaned, slapping a hand to her face. "I just wanted to ask if you'd gotten in a relationship. That was all."
Alex paused, the rage instantly fizzling out of his body. After a moment of silence, he began to chuckle, which eventually developed into full-blown laughter. Yuri stepped back, suddenly feeling a little unnerved. After a moment, he calmed down, his loud cackles fading away into nothing.
"Heh heh... You thought I had a girlfriend?" He asked, incredulous. "Jesus, I thought you were mad at me for some reason. Fuck, that's funny."
He abruptly turned to the front door, quickly opening it and stepping through. Right before he left the house, he turned back to look at her.
"I've gotta piss." He said. "Be right back."
With that, he closed the door behind him, leaving a befuddled Yuri alone in the kitchen. Out of all the questions that formed from that little interaction, there was one that seemed more prominent than the others.
"What's a 'Jesus'?" She thought.
*LINEBREAK*
As the weeks passed by, I began to develop a routine. Each day, I'd train with Yuri, go to Ilias village, and then train with Luka. After that, I'd take some time to hunt, and then walk home.
At first, it felt nice to have a schedule. After all, having a bit of structure in your life is just good for your mental health. But as the weeks faded into months, I started to grow a little weary of it all. Luka was a nice kid, but his ever-optimistic attitude started to grate on my nerves after a while. It also didn't help that he worshipped that bitch of a goddess, constantly singing her praises. It wasn't really his fault, as he was basically taught from birth that Ilias was a benevolent deity. Still, it annoyed me nonetheless.
Another problem I had to deal with was the relative scarcity of prey to hunt. It was getting harder and harder to find a suitable target. I couldn't just attack a random monster, because that was just... wrong. If they were peaceful, I left them alone. If they were hostile, I'd eat them. Simple as that.
Unfortunately, most monsters had started to avoid the area I hunted in. In hindsight, that was probably my fault, since I'd killed over a dozen of them within the same few miles of land I patrolled. To be fair, if people died nightly where you lived, wouldn't you want to move somewhere else?
Anyways, this meant that I was stuck with killing normal animals for the time being. Sure, their red was still good, but it couldn't compare to the stuff that came from monsters. That was like comparing grape juice to expensive wine. Sure, both were good, but one was clearly superior.
On top of that, I had to deal with the fact that Luka's journey was only a few months away. I'd have to say goodbye to Yuri, and it was very possible that I might never see her again. Those thoughts put me in a foul mood, but it wasn't like I could ignore them. I needed to have a serious talk with Yuri about my future plans. I'd mentioned traveling in the past, but I didn't think she remembered. I didn't want to completely blindside her, so silence wasn't an option. However, I needed to be careful. I couldn't tell her the true reasons behind my actions, lest Ilias smite me with her bullshit lightning powers. That seemed like a horrible way to die, and I didn't really want to experience that.
After over two weeks of stalling, I finally decided to bring it up with Yuri. I knew that it probably wouldn't go well, but I still needed to talk to her about it. I didn't want to just leave her without a word. That would be awful! What if I died along the way? She'd never know where I went, constantly wondering what she did to drive me away. The thought made me feel sick, so I tried not to think about it. I felt nervous about how the conversation would go, but I needed to get it over with.
Waking up one morning, I let out a sigh, knowing that the next few hours might not be that pleasant. Mentally, I prepared myself for the argument that would probably end up happening. Yuri was stubborn as a mule when she'd made a decision, and I, admittedly, was an absolute prick when faced with heated discussion. The end result would not be pretty.
With that in mind, I stepped out into the kitchen, frowning as I did so. Yuri was sitting on the floor, sharpening her sword with a whetstone. Weapon maintenance was something she considered supremely important, so that wasn't out of the ordinary.
"Yuri, we need to talk." I stated, deciding to just get this out of the way.
She looked up at me silently, gesturing for me to speak.
"I...I've been thinking." I grunted, giving her a serious look. "I've been stuck in this region for basically my whole life. Quite frankly, I'm sick of it. I want to travel."
Yuri remained silent for a moment, contemplating my words.
"Where do you wish to go?" She asked after a few seconds. "There are a few interesting sights on this continent, if you don't mind walking for a few days."
I shook my head, grimacing as I did so.
"No, Yuri..." I muttered, letting out a quiet sigh. "I plan to go to Sentora."
Yuri froze, giving me a blank stare. After a moment of awkward silence, she spoke up.
"Absolutely not." She declared, her expression neutral. "I'm still a wanted criminal. The second I step on that land, I'll be attacked."
...Oh. She thought I wanted her to go with me. I mean, that'd be nice, but I don't think Ilias would like that. She couldn't come with me, and that was... just really frickin' sad.
"Yuri..." I cringed, not quite knowing how best to phrase my thoughts. "I want to go by myself."
You could hear a pin drop in the silence that followed. Yuri was speechless, gaping at me with wide eyes. After a moment of silent incredulity, she shook her head, a rather angry expression coming to her face.
"That's not happening." She said, her voice cold. She was giving me a harsh glare, and I knew right then that I'd never convince her. Still, I had to make the attempt, for decency's sake. I didn't want to run out on her, but I would if I had too.
"Well, why not?" I asked, raising an eyebrow. "In the eyes of society, I'm an adult. I should be able to make decisions for myself."
She crossed her arms, giving me an "are you serious?" kind of look.
"Well, I'm your mother, and I've decided that you're not ready for that sort of thing." She responded. "I'm fine with you going into town everyday. Hell, I wouldn't have a problem if you walked over to Iliasburg, but another continent? That's unacceptable."
I felt the warm feeling of anger start to rise within me, but I forced it down as best as I could. Getting mad would only hinder me here. I needed to remain calm.
"Do you just not trust me?" I asked. "Yuri, I can function on my own for a few months. I know how to hunt, and I can converse with people to a reasonable degree. What's the problem here?"
Yuri's eye twitched, which was a bad sign already. It was even worse when she let out a long, drawn-out sigh that sounded suspiciously like a snarl.
"Alex, I don't trust you." She scowled, her words hitting me like a runaway train. "I wish I could, but I just can't."
Those words hurt, and I'm not ashamed to admit that. We'd been living together for almost a decade. How had I proven myself untrustworthy?
"Wh-What?" I stuttered, a sick feeling invading my gut. "Why not? What did I do?"
Yuri facepalmed, muttering angrily to herself. Once she pulled her hand away, I saw that she was well and truly pissed.
"I don't trust you because you fucking eat people!" She roared, shaking as she stalked into my personal space. "It's like you get more and more depraved every day! How am I supposed to let you travel the world when you're constantly at risk of snapping and killing some innocent bystander?"
I felt white-hot rage surge through my body in that one moment. Was she fucking serious? If I was gonna snap, I would've already done so! Besides, she was no saint herself. How dare she act all high and mighty, after all she'd done. We'd already had a conversation like this, and that just pissed me off even more!
"Are you fucking serious?" I yelled, trying my hardest not to punch her in the jaw. "You, Yuri-fucking-Aera, are saying that I'm the crazy one?! Last time I checked, you were the most wanted serial killer alive! For fuck's sake, why are you being such a damn hypocrite?"
I'm pretty sure I called her that last time we argued. Eh, whatever. The metaphorical shoe fit, and I was gonna shove it down her throat if I had to.
"Unlike you, I can actually control myself when I see a drop of blood!" She snarled. "You go feral at the mere sight of the stuff, acting like an animal!"
That last little tidbit had me seeing red. I'm not sure why, but the "animal" comment made me lose it. In my anger, I'm ashamed to admit I did something rather stupid. Blindly, I swung, catching Yuri across the jaw with enough force to kill a normal man. She obviously didn't expect it, if the way her eyes widened was anything to go by.
She fell onto her ass, staring up at me with pure shock. Her jaw was slightly crooked, and I could see a single tooth lying on the floor. For a moment, she just continued to look at me, too surprised to do anything. Once the confusion wore off however, her face twisted into an enraged expression. Wordlessly, she reached up to her mouth, forcing her jaw into place with a loud *CRACK*. Slowly, she rose to her feet, an angry, yet purposeful look in her eyes.
Suddenly, she dashed forwards, so fast that I couldn't even react. In less than a second, I was on the ground, a horrible stinging pain emanating from my nose. Warm liquid dripped down into my mouth, the coppery taste letting me know that I was, in fact, bleeding.
...You know, sometimes I wonder why my own red doesn't do anything for me. There's something that it lacks, and I can't really tell what it is. It has the same aroma, appearance, and flavor, but it just doesn't feel right. It was odd.
...What was happening right now? Oh, yeah. Yuri just punched me. It was unquestionably deserved, but that didn't make me any less pissy. To the surprise of no one, it just made me even madder.
"Oh, you cunt!" I roared, kicking at one of her legs. It knocked her off-balance, sending her tumbling down with a yelp. She hit the floor and rolled, scrambling to get up and away from me. I went to grab at her, but received a boot to the face for my troubles, breaking my nose even more. I winced, but continued my assault, ignoring the pain as best as I could. I scrambled to my feet around the same time as Yuri, dashing towards her with an angry yell. I sent a haymaker towards her face, which she blocked easily. With my other arm, I tried to jab her stomach, but she blocked that one too. Then, I kicked her between the legs. That one hit, sending her flying away with a yelp. Glaring at her, I braced myself for another attack.
Slowly, she rose to her feet, her legs buckling slightly as she did so. It was a very small detail, but I noticed it nonetheless. That last attack had hurt her, at least somewhat.
"You..." She growled, giving me a fierce glare. "You insolent little shit!"
She strode towards me, rearing for a very obvious punch. Instinctively, I blocked, only to be caught off-guard when she grabbed my arm, and pulled me forwards. Before I could regain my balance, she buried her other fist into my stomach, knocking the air out of my lungs. She then sent a foot into the back of my knee, dropping me like a sack of potatoes. Before I could get up, she stepped on my chest, pinning me to the ground.
"That is enough." She scowled, looking down at me with cold eyes. "Your tantrum has gone on for too long. You are staying here, and that is final."
Yeah, no. I couldn't just do that, no matter how much I wanted to. I had to go with Luka, even if it was against her wishes.
Also, I was still really pissed. The fight wasn't over, not by a long shot. She'd have to knock me out.
Roughly, I jerked her leg to the side, knocking her off-balance. She fell with a loud squawk, hitting the ground with all the grace of a bowling ball.
I wasn't sure why I was so angry, to be perfectly honest. At that moment, I think I might've actually wanted to hurt her. The thought sickens me now, but at the time, I was way too angry to be reasonable.
I scrabbled to my feet, rushing over to her with my fists clenched. Yuri had one last trick up her sleeve though. As I approached, she inflicted upon me a most heinous wound.
She kicked me in the balls. Hard. Like, with enough force to send a grown monster flying. So, I reacted as any man would. I fell to my knees, letting out a high-pitched whine. My vision actually blurred for a moment, making me basically blind for about a minute. By the time I managed to recover, Yuri was looking down at me, white-hot fury sparking in her eyes. I was so captivated by this that I didn't notice the boot flying towards my face until it was too late.
My vision exploded into stars, before quickly darkening into nothing. My mind soon followed, quickly slipping away into the realm of unconsciousness.
*LINEBREAK*
Yuri swore as another wave of pain radiated from her lower regions. During her fight with Alex, he'd kicked her right in her most vulnerable spot. It wouldn't kill her, but it had certainly done some damage. More than he realized, probably.
"That... Pig-headed fool." She growled, feeling her eyes water as she began to apply bandages to the area. It had started bleeding somewhat, absolutely ruining her pants. Her old wound had been reopened, at least slightly. The pain Yuri felt was nowhere near the level of agony she'd felt on that day, but it still really hurt.
Why had Alex just attacked her like that, anyways? He had anger problems, sure, but that was the first time he'd attacked her outside of a spar in years. Did her words really make him that angry?
Speaking of Alex, she'd tied him up with some spare rope she had, just in case he wanted to go for round 2 when he woke up. She didn't like having to restrain her son, but he was acting belligerent, so it had to be done.
As she finished bandaging up her wound, she pondered on how best to deal with the situation. Alex, for whatever reason, wanted to travel to Sentora, leaving her behind in the process. That was unacceptable, because there was no way in hell Yuri was going to let him travel that far alone. As much as she loved him, she really didn't trust Alex to stay out of trouble.
She couldn't just ignore this. Alex was stubborn as hell, and if he wanted to do something, by god, he'd at least make an attempt. She needed to watch him more closely. Perhaps she'd limit his time in town? It seemed cruel, but she couldn't have him out of her sight for so long. He'd probably do something stupid.
She winced again as another lance of pain charged through her loins. Okay, so maybe things were a bit worse than she thought. That was still fine. It wasn't like she was gonna bleed out any time soon. Still, it hurt. A lot.
Yuri made a mental note to put Alex through the ringer in the next few spars. It was vindictive and mean, but she was too busy being in pain to care.
*LINEBREAK*
With her scrying magic, Ilias observed Alex and Yuri's fight, grinning the entire time. Tensions between those two were heightening, and it wouldn't be long until one of them did something extreme.
Of course, none of this was natural. Alex, for all his psychotic tendencies, truly didn't want to hurt Yuri. He loved her like a mother, and that was disturbing. Clearly, she had brainwashed him. After all, who could love such a miserable creature?
...Anyways, Ilias hadn't just been idly watching. For the past several months, she'd been carefully trying to manipulate Alex's mind. She never made any changes, as that would be noticed immediately. Instead, she only attempted to aim his seemingly bottomless reserves of anger at that bitch of an elf. For the most part, it was unsuccessful. In fact, that was the first time it had actually worked at all (Other than a minor incident which occurred a few months beforehand. Nothing happened, so it was unimportant in her eyes.). Maybe it was because he was already annoyed? That was certainly possible. Even after all the time she'd spent watching them, humans were still incredibly strange.
Today, she'd gotten a foot in the door, so to speak. The relationship between those two had been damaged, however slightly. With careful planning and precision, Ilias had no doubt that she could tear it apart.
"Oh, Alex..." She muttered. "You have such potential. I just need to push you in the right direction..."
A/N: Surprise! I'm not dead!
So, let me tell you all a little story. Normally, if I don't know how severe to make a scene, I roll a d20, and go with whatever number is rolled. In this chapter, I rolled to see how well Yuri would tank that kick. If I rolled a nat-20, she'd be completely unbothered. If it was a 15-19, she'd only be superficially wounded, and so on. However, on this particular day, I rolled a nat-1. So, originally, I wrote it so that the kick fucking killed her. Then, after coming back to the chapter after sleeping for eight hours, I decided that such a course of action was completely stupid, so I rewrote the whole second half of the chapter.
Moral of the story: Don't let gambling make important story decisions.
As always, let me know if I missed any big errors. I'm very tired as of writing this, so it's not impossible. I don't like to rush, but if I don't properly use what little off-time I have, I'll never be able to finish much of anything.
