“Yep, and what about your food?”

  “I don’t have any”

  “What!? Are you gonna be ok?”

  “Yeah, I don’t have a need for food after all, it’s...”

  It’s been decades since I’ve ever had the need for food, or felt hunger to begin with, it really has been an eternity. I've all but lost track of the count of years, and despite that, I hold those days like they were just yesterday...

  ...

  ...

  “Mommy, I’m hungry!”

  “Ah Adele, the meal it’s almost ready, could you be a dear and call your father, oh! And y the table as well please!”

  “Un!”

  “Daddy! The food is ready!”

  Back then... life was much different back then, I don’t remember much about my early years, I was really young after all, I do remember our home however, it wasn’t the biggest, we were a small family of farmers back then, I think we were quite impoverished perhaps? Although I can’t recall exactly, we never went hungry nor lived in misery, so that was all that really mattered to me at the time.

  The only thing that was noteworthy from my home was a certain bookshelf, it contained a lot of books, they all belonged to my father. He used to be an adventurer in his youth, and used the money he earned to buy all those books, back then I couldn’t really read but dad always dreamed of becoming a schor, a shame that life had other pns for him, he was however, very educated in comparison with everyone else in our little town.

  Every now and then dad would pick up one of his many books, and while I sat on his p, he would narrate to me fables and legends to pass the time, although looking back, I didn’t really cared that much about history at the moment, and most of my time was spent pying with the other kids in the vilge.

  Those memories are something that I hold dear in my heart however, the glimmers of happiness I have once felt. Everyday was a blessing, when not a care in the world used to cross across my mind, that is until that fateful day.

  We were simply having dinner, as every night, when someone started knocking rather aggressively, Dad opened the door, only to find people dressed in a full suit of armor. I still remember holding onto mom’s skirt while standing behind her, all the while dad talked and argued with the armored man.

  That same night, every capable man on the vilge was gathered in what was the central pza of our town, the reason was a conscription, the kingdom was gathering every person it could to be used as reserves for the military, this included my father at the time, and while the cuse for adventurers being unable to participate in war conflicts was just created, since he was retired already, he didn’t have a say in the matter at the end.

  “Where are you going daddy?”

  “Adele... you see, daddy umm, have something very important to do, and well, I’m gonna have to leave the house for a while”

  “Eh!? I don’t want daddy to leave!”

  “I know Adele, but I’ll be back pretty soon, I promise”

  “No! I want to go with daddy!”

  “Adele... you can’t go with daddy, now please be good and behave”

  “Is daddy leaving us!?”

  “Of course not dear, I’ll be back soon enough, and I’ll bring something to make it up to you, what do you say?”

  “Buu...”

  “Please Adele, actually, I want to ask you a favor”

  “A favor?”

  “Un, I want you to smile”

  “Eh?”

  “I want to go remembering the smile of my beautiful daughter”

  “Daddy! That’s not fair...”

  “Pretty please? Do it for daddy”

  “Fine! Have a safe trip daddy!”

  “Thanks Adele, I can’t wait to see that same smile when I come back!”

  And like that, my father got inside a carriage with everyone else. I stood there with mom watching them leave, but before they left the vilge entrance, I remember yelling to my dad at the top of my lungs.

  “I LOVE YOU DADDY!”

  I don’t think I ever heard his reply, or if he could ever heard what I said, even so, after all these years, those words keep echoing in my head, it’s been easily a couple centuries and my feelings have not changed, I’m grateful to the love my child self had, for I can feel proud of these words, at the time I didn’t knew, those would be the st words I would direct to my father.

  Things went downhill from there, as one day a letter arrived, I never knew what that letter said, I couldn’t read back then after all, but I do remember vividly how mom cried while reading that letter.

  It was the first time I saw my mother cry, at the time I could only wonder what that letter said since mom refused to tell me it’s contents, but as an adult I learned about what happened in the kingdom around that time, a cruel and senseless war where countless people and soldiers met their end.

  Dad never returned, so I always pondered if that letter was one telling my mom about my father’s death, it’s the only thing I could extrapote given the letter was destroyed by my mom, and the only thing left from it was a medal attached to the letter.

  Years ter I would find out that it was an award given for excellence in military service. I despise this medal, if I could trade it for my father I would do it without a second thought, even so, I kept it with me all this time, as the only memento I have to remember his legacy.

  With dad now gone, mom had to make ends meet in any way possible. Some days she would leave early in the morning and return te at night, sometimes coming home with bruises on her arms and legs. I was worried about her, but she would never tell me anything.

  Despite how much concern I had, she would alway respond with things like ‘It’s nothing baby’ or, ‘you don’t need to worry about it dear’, I do remember her concerns about my wellbeing however, always asking if I ate properly, and what I did that day, despite her optimism, the situation was turning dire with each passing day.

  I really couldn’t understand much of what was happening at the time, but meals went from plentiful to scarce, from 3 meals a day to only one. I remember the little farm we tended with care started to slowly wilt as well, since mom and I couldn’t work as much as dad used to. As an adult now, I feel like trash for shing out at my mom with the meals and conditions back then.

  Funds obviously ran out, and that is when I noticed a book missing from dad’s bookcase, first it was one, then a couple, I asked mom about it but she said that it was my imagination, but it clearly was not, things around our home started to disappear slowly but surely, I’m guessing it was my mom who sold them to gather a bit of money to survive.

  “Mommy, when will daddy come back home?”

  “Adele... daddy, daddy you see, he’s working really hard! I’m sure he’ll come back soon enough!”

  “He’s gonna be angry when he’s back now that his books are gone...”

  “Yeah, maybe he will but... but I’m sure he would forgive us, he’s so kind to us after all”

  “Hmm... I miss daddy”

  “Me too Adele, let’s hope he gets back soon”

  The pained face of my mother it’s something I still see to this day in my dreams, the pained expression of my mom trying to not break down. Perhaps as a way to ease her sorrows, or maybe a selfish request of a child me, I remembered asking mom to read to me, like my dad used to do all the time.

  “Of course dear, let’s see here”

  Mom would then narrate to me tales of dungeons, of heroes who would venture into peril to gain riches, each tale was as fantastic as the st, back then I couldn’t go out to py anymore, mom forbid me from doing so, I didn’t understand why, but shortly after mom stopped going out as well.

  Even if I missed my friends in the vilge I was a little happy to be able to be with mom all day again, and the only entertainment I had back then, were the stories used to read me all day long.

  Life went like that, we lived off the small amount of things the farm produced, and mom tended to it by herself, only going out at night for some reason. One day however, someone knocked on the door once again.

  “Adele, lock yourself in your room, and don’t open the door unless you hear my voice”

  “Eh, but mom-“

  “Adele! Just listen to me and go!”

  That was the first time mom yelled at me, crying, I went to my room.

  “Adele...”

  “Mommy?”

  “I’m sorry for yelling at you, are you ok?”

  “Un!”

  After opening the door, I could see my mom holding her leg down, she was bleeding a lot.

  “Mommy! Are you ok!?”

  “Yes, it’s nothing dear, I’m fine”

  “But you’re bleeding!”

  “I’m fine, really!”

  I didn’t push it anymore as my mom clearly didn’t wish to involve me, still the wound on her leg was pretty bad, it looked like a stab wound, which made my mother unable to work in the fields anymore, the food ran out as we scrounged the st we could find, and we had only dirty water to drink from rain collectors. Mom stopped eating all together and let me have the st bits of moldy food we got.

  Obviously, we both got really sick then, my body was heavy and I couldn’t move as much, and my vision was really blurry, with nothing more to do, we spent the day in bed, mom pced me on top of her, and continued reading to me the one and only book we had remaining, the dungeon adventures.

  And so, between coughing fits, mom continued to narrate stories to me. I think I fell asleep at one point, I wish I could’ve stayed awake a bit longer, as that would be the st story I would ever hear from my mother.

  When I woke up, mom wasn’t breathing anymore. I cried a lot back then as I shook her with all my strength so she would wake up, but it was useless, no matter how hard I tried, mom never opened her eyes again.

  Hungry and thirsty I headed out of the house for the first time in a very long time, I could see the rotting corpses of everyone in the vilge, my friends as a kid, neighbors, even people I didn’t knew were tossed around on the ground, the scene of corpses, some of them impaled by spears told me they died fighting one another.

  The fields of the vilge, once filled with trees and vegetables were withered, not a single pnt that wasn’t a weed was found there.

  What finally caught my attention was the vilge’s central pza, it was always such a cheerful pce, but now, a tall pile of corpses were in the middle, the stench was awful, that’s the st thing I recall of that moment, I think I passed out once again I’m not so sure.

  Next thing I remembered was waking up, again in front of the pile of corpses, they were all skeletons now, as for me, I had grown considerably, I was no longer in the body of child but I was still pretty youthful, it was a bit awkward at that moment, as I checked my long hair, which was now a glittering silver.

  Nature recimed the vilge, trees and pnts regrowing on the debris of the old houses, to this day I have no clue for how long I slept, I did however find a small puddle of water, I wanted to check myself out, but the reflection was nothing like I used to look like.

  The sun was blistering, it made me feel like my skin would burn to a crisp and made me feel weak, but nothing I couldn’t power through, compared to the hunger and thirst from before, this much was nothing.

  I went back home, to see the skeleton of my mom, holding the one st book in one hand, and dad’s medal on the other. Crying again, I gave mom a proper burial in what once was our little farm, and I took the book and medal with me, leaving this vilge for good.

  I remember wandering the forest, yet something was odd, I didn’t felt hungry or thirsty, or tired, somehow, I was able to continue without breaks, the only discomfort I felt came from the sun but, the shade of trees was enough respite from such a problem, eventually I decided to travel at night and find shelter at daytime.

  Day after day, destroyed vilge after vilge, I continued while holding a book in my embrace, I took a cloak from one of the corpses I found lying around, which allowed me to continue my journey, even under the unforgiving sun.

  It took a while but I was finally able to reach a town that wasn’t destroyed, the people however, were less than friendly, they looked at me with disdain, some even tried to attack me, that’s when I decided to cover myself completely, still, now without anything to do, I went around asking people if they could read, so that they could teach me how to, to be able to read the book in my arms.

  Unfortunately not a lot of people know how to read, and I’m sure the few that do, don’t want to teach me for free. It was the unfortunate reality of a war torn kingdom, Thankfully I then found help in the way of the adventurer guild.

  Dad was an adventurer, I remember mom telling me of his adventures as well, if it was a way to make money, then it was worth a shot. I didn’t need food or shelter, so I could devote myself to work for my goal.

  That’s how I became an adventurer, first simple gathering jobs, I was scared to fight at the moment, still, when you can keep working without rest, you get a hell of a lot more done, that’s when I wished I had this body when mom was still alive, I could’ve worked the fields without end.

  I managed to earn some pocket money, and I even asked the receptionist if they could teach me to read and write, they said yes since the guild offered these csses as a course, but it costed money, I however didn’t spent a single coin, and yet it wasn’t enough to afford the course, but I had a goal now.

  It didn’t take long before I could gather the money, and so, the nice receptionists helped me with such a task, reading and writing was my one and only priority, and slowly but surely, I was able to read and write to some extent, it however, was choppy and I still had issues reading fast or fluently, so I avoided my book until my reading skills were enough to read it without interruptions.

  I continued working and with the money I saved, I was able to afford a pce to rent, since my rank in the guild kept going up, I continued receiving more money and requests, a pce to call home is always welcomed, even if I never really rested, for now it was a good pce to leave my 2 only possessions behind so they’re safe and not getting destroyed with me in my work.

  There was then an adventurer potential program at the guild, where they helped adventurers grow in their profession, reading was one of them which made me angry that I paid for it instead, no point in crying over spilt milk and the program benefited me as well.

  Since I could now read, they offered me a magic course, which is when I discovered my capabilities as a magician, to cast magic you need catalysts, as a beginner at least, and those were expensive, so outside of the course, I never really used them, until the guild offered to finance one to me in exchange for some odd jobs here and there.

  Life continued, and before I knew it, my reading and writing skills were rather decent, I found it amazing to be honest, how I could finally read books front to back without stuttering or trying to remember letters and words, the moment I worked so hard for was finally here, excited I opened the old and frail book, finally, I would be able to reminiscent in the memories of my family, but when I started reading it, an immense sadness overwhelmed me.

  The book was an encyclopedia of dungeons, but nothing else, a rather dull book which only mentioned points of interests of dungeons like locations, or local cities in the vicinity.

  Did mom keep this book because it was the only one she couldn’t sell?

  Either way, I started crying again, all night long my tears never stopped flowing, now knowing that the tales my mother used to tell me were all invented by her on the spot, and knowing as well that I would never hear them ever again.

  That’s when a certain thought crossed my mind, a heinous act that goes against the ws of nature, surely if magic can bring about miracles, then surely it could also bring people back from the dead!Like that my research and magic practice continued, now in secrecy so no one learns of my actions, I experimented with resurrection, wishing to see my family once again, if they can be brought back to life, then the lies from the book are meaningless.

  As, years became decades, and decades became centuries, and while my magic turned into something polished and advanced, and I was able to reanimate bodies and make them move as if they were alive, they weren’t really.

  Simple puppets that follow my commands its not the same as bringing people back to life, there have been records of resurrection spells from time to time either as rumors or legends, but they’re all fake, still that’s how I ended up going to so many dungeons, eventually realizing the futility of looking for such a thing.

  It wasn’t all lost however, spelunking was a way for me to reconnect in a way, it reminded me of the tales from my family, maybe this time I would be the hero of the story! I however continued hoarding every artifact in the hopes it’s the one that allows me to finally breach the gap between life and death.

  The st book of my parents its old and tattered by the years now, I keep it in a magic lectern to preserve it, it saddens me to see it like that but, I’ve written copies of it and published them across my travels, along with more dungeon encyclopedias of my own penmanship that way their legacy can continue for as long as I’m able to keep printing them.

  I wonder if they are looking at me from heaven, are they proud of what I became? Or perhaps they resent me from my despicable actions? Maybe I will never be able to learn the answer.

  All I can do it’s continue adventuring, in the hopes of eventually stumbling across a clue of my past. That however led me to partner up with a rather unconventional girl, a demon girl with enough brute strength to single handedly stop a war fight.

  It was a fascinating sight seeing someone like her so obsessed with ruins, or rather this one we explored in particur, she mentions about looking for something in specific, is she perhaps simir to me?

  My doubts were cleared when we found what she was looking for, a ring, not just any ring however, it was one of the twelve rings handed down by queen Hestia on her conquest to take down the demon lord, I really wished to keep the ring, The demon lord and the elf queen were the two greatest mages in recorded history, surely one of their artifacts could bring crity to my research, that’s when the ring shone and Marisa revealed her identity.

  She was looking for the ring since they belonged to her mother, at that moment, I couldn’t help but see myself reflected in Marisa, she’s looking for the lost belongings of her mother, how could I possibly get in the way of her reconnection, or so I thought but she mentioned that she’s gonna give it away.

  Is she gonna carry on her mother’s legacy, and it’s reuniting heroes once again? My daydreaming got the better of me and I proposed to her to be one of said heroes, it just sounds like an important way to leave my mark in history, just as the legend of the demon lord has made its way into the world.

  A hero... I wondered how I apparently ended up becoming a bride instead? Seriously, I’m so unlucky all the time...

  Joanne_carper