As he left, closing the door behind him, he went to where the kids were waiting. It was a large bunker room with lots of beds.
There were random grey robes resting or working in random spots, but he focused on the kids.
They were playing near a chest at the foot of a bed he knew was their chest, as the church gave everyone a place to keep personal things; he never thought much about it before.
As he got close, he could hear Rock practicing a few whistles with the flute, and Ziala was happy with her doll.
It was then, belatedly, that he knew they were happy even in the church; they hated it because he did.
The bishop was right… he dug them into a pit and complained there was no way out. Yet those who followed him were just happy to be included. No wonder they saw him as a boss, not a brother; he did not act like a family but a leader, telling them how to live.
Resolute, he spoke as if everything that happened was the plan all along. “Listen up, I worked out the details like I said I would.”
“Now we just need to play our part and do what is required.”
They both got serious. Rock spoke first, ” The plan?“ Ziala looked expectantly also.
“For you two to grow up and learn to be free where you can, and do your job as required.”
“For me, I got to train in a guild hall for a couple of years and then fight in a new dungeon. Till debts are paid; after that, we decide how we live rat and debt-free.”
They both got excited at the free part, but as they thought about it, “So… everything goes back to the way it was before we ran away?” Ziala asked, unsure.
“Kinda,” he said carefully.
“What I did, I will never take back. It healed both of you.”
“Isn’t the church controlling us? Ziala asked, still unsure.
“The church," Arlin started, then paused. "The church was never evil…”
“They just made a bad choice like me. You kids just got in the crossfire, and now we are cleaning up the mess.”
“Crossfire?” Rock asked
“Aha, it means people fighting and other people that did not start the fight or add to it still got pushed into the fight.”
“So just victims… “he said, saddened.
“Ok, boss,” Rock said, then went back to staring at his flute. Ziala started for a bit and asked.
“You're not going away forever, right?”
“No,” Arlin said, “just temporarily, so use that time to learn and grow.” She nodded as a priest walked up near them.
“It's good to see you kids again,” he beamed while speaking. "I feared the winter would hurt you, but you all seem well.”
“Let me know if you need anything. Dinner is, as always, at the same time.”
Arlin nodded, and so did the kids as a random new grey robe wandered about with a concerned face. “Arlin?” the grey robe said to the room.
“Yes?” He said, unsure as all of them looked at the new gray robe, he turned and bowed.
“The bishop wanted to give you a letter to help address the guild to assist you.” He handed him the letter.
Arlin felt bitter even now; he had been carried with more debts… “Thank you.“
“What's that for?” Rock asked, wondering
“It’s part of my training; I have magic. But I lack skill; if I’m ever going to fight in dungeons, I need more training. And while I get better in dungeons, you practice the flute so I have music to look forward to, ok?”
Rock smiled and said, ” Ok, boss.”
“What about me…” Ziala said
“Whatever you want,” Arlin sounded dismissive.
“That’s not fair,” Ziala said, pouting. “Why do you give Rock a job but not me?
“ Hmmm, Arlin thought, Well, if you want help, I’m not the smartest, and every boss needs a good informant.”
“That has all the info they need. If you do that… you will have fighting power music and be able to take over the world!”
“Wow, Ziala said. Azmaed Rock, too, was amazed and felt his flute was as big a deal after that statement.
The priest cleared his throat near them. “It’s good to dream, but let’s keep them simple for now.“
“We already have a good king, and I don’t think we should be plotting to overthrow him just yet.”
Arlin agreed he needed to watch what he said, but they were kids, and there was nothing wrong with dreaming big. He didn’t push it; instead, he gave a slight nod and looked at the letter, wondering what info it said.
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Tanya, it is me, Bishop Oliver.
I know we spoke in the past about this issue many a time, and you wanted no part in it, but as a favor from an old friend wanting to do good, I ask you please reconsider and help your child.
It can be temporary, and the training will help them grow. All the kids made it back safely. I also know you watched from the side to oversee their safety.
But Alrin is lost and needs a stronger hand than my own. He wants to challenge the dungeons, and I fear if left alone, we will mourn his loss versus praising what we gain from his adventure.
Please consider the long-term vs. the short-term inconvenient nature of my selfish request.
I know I’m forcing your hand in a matter you wanted to walk away from, yet I feel it would be best for you both.
P.S. Since I know Arlin could not help but read this, trust me when I say we all have a past and don’t judge her for hers. We all loved you, even if not the way you wanted.
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Arlin rolled the note back up, lost in thought, wondering if it was true that he had a mom who just let him go and why…
“You ok?” A low voice asked, breaking him from his self-reflection, and he saw concern in Ziala's eyes; even Rock looked troubled, so he smiled.
“Nothing but good news,” he lied. “It was just a letter to get me training, and it had me a bit concerned if I was good enough.”
Rock was unsure yet said nothing. Ziala, still holding her doll close, spoke, "I promise I'll get better and help you."
He genuinely laughed; they already lived in the streets; they already found a way to keep living even if a bit crooked.
They had proven they could survive the worst outcome, but now he was just getting in the way of their living a better life.
He leaned low and hugged both kids while telling them, “Instead of goodbye, it’s just a delay till we meet again.”
“A tomorrow, even if that tomorrow is a ways away.”
“Will we all wake up later in life and adventure, then ok?” Ziala was crying, and Rock tried to show indifference, but both felt like they were losing him.
“You were willing to trust me in the street. Now trust me now while you’re here safe.” He said reassuringly.
As he broke away from the kids, both Grey Robes priests were awkwardly waiting for what? He wasn’t sure one of the priests noticed the moment was done and cleared his throat.
“When you’re settled, children, we need to set times for study and chores. We do believe in freedom.”
“ But responsibility doesn’t go away, not even for kids.” The other grey robe priest took that as a cue that he also had more things to do and bowed and left; the kids sighed, put away their treasured objects, and left with the priest to help where they could.
Arlin watched them go; he wanted to give them a better life, but it seemed all he did was lead them by the nose on his misadventure. Maybe this letter will bring a better tomorrow… The day was getting late, and he was not being forced out.
Yet he still had the money, so he chose to go stay at an inn. He wanted to get used to his new life, and this would be the start. Less, he encourages more bad choices.
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The trip to the inn was a quiet one; the random crowds passed him by with indifference. As he showed them the same.
When he made it to the inn, the keeper remembered him from before and greeted him warmly. He even asked where the other two were.
He said they were safe in another place, and he was the only one getting a room tonight. The innkeeper did not pry and offered him a meal with the room, which he ate with no real enjoyment.
The random voices carried news, some he knew, some new gossip, but all just mundane info now that he already had a plan as he set off to the room.
The room was a plain, simple affair, but it was enough. He slept, focusing on tomorrow.
As he slept dreaming of shadows, which normally was a comfort, but now as they covered everything, he could find nobody to stand with; he was alone….
He awoke, annoyed that even free and able to do what he wanted, he still felt trapped, but he focused on his end goal. It helped even if it wasn’t what he wanted.
A new person was at the counter this morning greeting guests; they still offered him a meal for the road, which he was grateful to have.
He looked around as he ate the gruel; he was surprised even now the inn had business; it seemed this was a place of a lot of business no matter the hour.
He never officially tried to join the guild hall, but he knew of it. It was the first place he went, trying to find a cure for Ziala before meeting Tommy in the past.
It was a very large building, which was surprising to him even now, as most of the place was blocked off to guests. He assumed a lot of things went on behind doors in private, which was why… Heading in, he saw there were a few lines, and people lounged at random tables.
But he wasn’t too sure where to go, so he picked a random line and waited; it went surpassingly quick as those before him were no-nonsense and knew their business and moved along.
The person helping him when he was next was a well-dressed older man who asked, “How can I help ?”
“I’m supposed to see Tanya; I have a letter as proof.“ The man did not move and smiled.
“Not that I don’t believe you, but I need something more to tell her than that.”
“Although, I suppose the letter will suffice if you don’t know yourself.” The man said casually.
Arlin replied, “I think it will be a training. requested by the church to help me”
“Really?“ The man said, surprised, And an honor, I’m sure,” he hesitated, “ you said requested?”
“ I don’t want to be rude, but temper expectations. She tends to deny anything she did not volunteer herself. Either way, come along. We will see her and find out”!
Arlin wasn’t sure if he was encouraging him or letting him down gently.
Remembering the words in the letter about how she was potentially his mom, it seems he needed to choose carefully how he addressed this.
The man guided him to a stairway that led to a second floor; it was the first door on the right and was already ajar. The man still knocked and waited. ” I know it’s you, Terry, and I take it you have news for me? A female voice spoke.
“I do,” he said. “Your insight is scary at times,” he heard a female nervous laugh.
“ No, this is just my past catching up; it's why the door is open… Well, are you going to enter, or do you like talking to a door?”
Arlin wasn’t sure what to do, but Terry opened the door with indifference as if this was a common thing.
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The place was lavish, which surprised him; he thought she would be more humble, but it seemed she liked nice things; even her clothes were fine silks with many colors. She was smoking a long, thin pipe; the smoke around her looked like a mist.
The smell was pleasant and even calmed him a bit, though he cared little for smoking…
As he looked at her more closely, she had long white hair and deep red eyes. Surprising him, was she not his mom then?
“Don’t be so surprised,“she said, looking away while inhaling more smoke and gently blowing it out.
She looked at him again and smiled, watching him. "It is from a fairy herb that’s good for stress, so I like it. It does have minor side effects...” He nodded slowly. What did she look like before… his mom?
Not sure how to follow up on that, Terry walked past him to the sitting woman and handed her the letter, did a short bow, and left. As he was closing the door, he said, ” Good luck with your past mistress.”
A book flew and hit the door. Alrin was surprised, feeling out of place; he picked up the book to hand it back to her but read the title before he did.
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The dangers of dungeons beyond level four by the guild
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He knew a little bit about dungeons; they got harder the deeper you went, and nobody solo should go beyond level three. He never knew how deep they went.
He walked the book to her and sat it on the table; she ignored him and read the scroll; he stood awkwardly. till she spoke, “Sit, child, it will be a minute. Even if I do read quickly, I won’t speak hastily about this matter.”
He looked around and saw a few places to sit, so he chose a bench to the side vs. the chair in front of the desk; he did not want to be so close to an unknown outcome.
She did not look at him, but he saw her with a sad smile all the same. “Wary of me? That's out of character for you.”
“All reports I ever heard have you running headfirst into bad choices, so why the change now?”
He wasn’t sure he was supposed to answer if it was an idle thought, she mused out loud.
As she never looked at him, he figured if she was his mom, he would be honest. “I was forced to make those choices in the past; now I can choose.”
She gently laughed at that while placing the paper down.
“You were not forced to take kids into the streets and make deals with a man. Who loves money more than people and now seeks help from others?” She kept randomly smoking that pipe even as she said those words.
He blushed slightly at being called out; he didn’t know what she knew, but the casual way she spoke about his past when she was never there did bother him.
He sighed at that and got up to leave; as he went for the door, she scoffed.
“Just like that?”
He refused to listen and tried the door; it would not open no matter how hard he pulled. It was confusing as there was no lock. Magic, he thought?
“So I'm a prisoner now?”
“ No,“ she said casually.
"You… are… my son. But you are begging for favors and have been very rude for no reason. Care to explain why?"
He faced her with a glare; she was still relaxed, treating this as a game.
'Because you don’t take me seriously? And you abandon me. That is why I'm leaving,” he said, annoyed.
“Yes, I came as a request to help me grow. But I already have two masters telling me I owe them.”
“ I don’t want a third… from a woman who left me.“ He started her down with those words; she may be his mom, but he could make it on his own; he has this long…
She slowly emptied her pipe to the side, refilled it, and lit it to draw on it once more.
She slowly blew out the smoke while watching him with curiosity but also indifference to his plight.
“ I followed your life since you were at the church, you know that? She asked.
He was mildly surprised but not caring; he had been there his whole life, so she watched him from the side. Why would he care…
But she went on, and what she said next did chill him: "They wanted me to take you back in and raise you.”
He did not know how to feel hearing her say that they could have been a family. He was hurt, but understanding; he was a nobody…
“I was young and scared,” she said.
“Still trying to run the guild.”
“ and thought, “
"I still have a few more adventures in me.”
“Why would I want a kid to hang off me?”
“The bishop was loving and safe.”
“You couldn’t ask for a better home.”
Arlin did not agree but said nothing; perhaps she was right, and he would've felt just as trapped with her… Still, he listened; sooner or later, she let him leave.
She saw he wasn’t listening, so she sighed. ” The bishop came to me every month. Because you kept being rebellious. Not happy with your lot in life, always thinking there was something more…"
“I always refused; my stance did not change. Why does he fixate on me? When I had already abandoned you, I thought every time…”
“But even as the years went by, nobody came to adopt you.”
“ I wondered why you were not a bad child, just misunderstood.’
“When you got your darkness powers, I felt a bit of pride knowing you were something special. I thought it was the gods way of showing the world you had worth.”
“ I thought it would calm you down, and you would seek wisdom and grow.“
“So imagine my surprise.”
“When instead I learn that the first chance you getYou take orphans into the streets.“
“to try secure potions and raise them like… She hesitated before saying the next part but did.
"Like rats.” She seemed upset, which made him laugh darkly.
“You speak with concern. Yet this first time we ever really met, I can remember. and I don’t recall you trying to stop me in the street….”
“Any more than the church when I left, so I did. What I had to survive”
“No,“she said bluntly.
“You made a series of choices faster than we could counter them, and we did not force you back.”
“As we wanted you to see, your life was not better alone vs. what we gave you….”
Still angered, he retorted, “So even you would let those kids suffer for the weakness? Spend their childhood weak and begging for the gods to have mercy to bless them? She sighed.
“No… We were in talks with Tommy to secure more potions, as he doesn’t like making them. The first potion you got, he made for us as a deal to give him more herbs.”
“But then you interfered, and he made the deal with you instead of us and then used it against us.”
“He then forced on us a new deal to ensure he never pursued you kids even when you never could pay your debts.”
Arlin was surprised at how much deception and how many layers of debts he had just trying to be free… He defeatedly asked.
“So you helped me with some debts,” he tried to downplay. “ I owe you and will pay it back. But are we done here? It won’t work with us having a history.”
She gently laughed at that. “Child, that was just the start!“ He wasn’t sure how to reply and kept listening.
She went on, ” You went to the streets stealing. which we paid back with interest… Tommy did not care what or where you stole.”
“But to keep it contained. We told him to tell you to keep it in the poor areas.” It was easier to control. and they were much more understanding.”
“That’s why that last theft was a bit costly. And while I'm proud of your methods. It doesn’t change that what you did was wrong.”
“ and cost us…” She finished while breathing in some smoke to blow it out slowly.
Arlin had no words to counter that; she hadn’t even gotten to the second potion and the new deal with that. So he left the door and sat in the chair in front of her. He was trapped.
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She smiled at him, slowly puffing on her herb pipe. After a few moments, she frowned, sighed, blew out smoke, and said, “Three random kids are too many and more trouble than it is worth.”
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“But I can concede that denying you. My child, even after years of waiting for answers. was selfish”
“But in that regard, it seems we are the same. Both wanting things our own way vs. the better of others.”
Arlin laughed at that. “Yeah, such a great mother to me… That is helping me even now,” he said bitterly.
“ I owe you nothing, child.”
“And I'm sorry the gods dealt you a bad hand. But I do feel you can benefit from me. Regardless of our past, perhaps”
“ I shouldn’t have been so open about your past….or what I knew.”
“But I fear secrets grow with resentment, and I was trying to balance the scales, so to speak, by letting you know where we stand and how we got there.”
Arlin listened with tears in his eyes at the frustrating truth, so sure he was he could be defiant and proud, but still he was seen as a child and nothing he wanted to go his own way. After a moment of silence, Tanya spoke once more.
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“I cannot baby you or carry you, child. No matter how much anyone wished. But I can give you something you wanted from the start.”
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“Strength and the ability to choose not just to escape but to truly be free… even from me.”
“ He nodded at that; it felt like empty words, but it was why he was here, even if he didn’t want to be.
“So where do we start? he asked resolutely. She smiled, though he did not look up to see it.
“So easily you’re swayed, unlike me. I like that about you. Always pushing forward for what you want, even when it leads to defeat.”
“You kept pushing forward. naively but always forward.”
“So what really changed?” He asked, wondering, “Going from not caring to accepting the letter with me?”
He had to know what she got out of this game. She went to draw on her pipe, but it was empty once more, so she frowned, sighed, got up to a shelf, and poured herself a drink.
Before spinning the drink a bit, she sipped it lightly and looked into the distance.
“The truth of why I wanted nothing to do with you, child, or anyone really”
“ is when I was an adventure. I was very idealistic; my limit was oneself, much like you in that regard.”
“Well, that truth led me to beast kin tribes and how they view things. They were very much in favor of abandoning those without magic. or unworthy of their time”
“I hated it, so I tried helping them find a home.”
“ Even though I found others to accept those types of kids, like the churches or different tribes. I did not like them looking at me with love and hope.”
“When I did not want to be a mother”
“ I wanted adventure, so it killed me a little more every time. Well, one of those adventures escaping my life led to your birth… And I trusted the church vs. being able to raise you.
“Oliver, overseeing the church, never understood. So I lied; I told him I was much too busy with work.”
“So he persisted, thinking your age was the issue, and kept me informed about you as you got older and caused trouble.”
“ I had my team track you and keep you safe. This went on for a while, years in fact .”
“the cat and mouse, and you never knowing.”
“ I was the cat while you wandered for cheese,” she amused herself. Arlin just listened; she sighed and offered him a drink he refused, so she downed her glass, watching him once more.
“I'm an old child, despite my looks. Magic does wonders,“she smiled.
“But it doesn’t help the mind.”
“ I do feel, after all this time, I should be involved. at least a little bit more, if not as a mother”
“Then as a teacher, that helps you live and break free of the life you feel chains you.”
He was happy to hear that, so no games, just life choices catching up, much like his; he understood at least a little.
He tried to push his desire on the kids, and now, despite the promises made, he wasn’t sure what was real anymore… He felt like a child playing adult, and that was only after so many real adults pointed out to him that he was acting like a child.
“The dungeons can be cruel, and your skills can also be worth their weight in gold,” she spoke, breaking his thoughts.
“Darkness magic is very powerful if used right, even at level one. People tend to believe you are limited in what magic can do. But the real limit is how far you’re willing to push. Your element to be more.”
“ People hear a number and give up if not blessed with level two or more. Masters make the magic matter, not a number.”
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“We can start training in a few days after you settle, and we will work out the details in time.”
“ Perhaps you will never like me.”
“Which is fine.”
“But you will learn how to master darkness, and that will be enough.”
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“What you choose from there is what will make you an adult or still a child who never grew up.“
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