Flashback [Solo] Unwelcomed Visitor; A Starless Night in Sunberth

[Aled Verthi]

17th of Fall, 498AV Unwelcomed Visitor; A Starless Night in Sunberth Aled wrapped his arms tightly around himself as he huddled next to the small kindling in the fireplace. It was an unusually cold night for Sunberth during this time of the year and it didn't help that his father was unusually short on firewood lately. The thin blanket cloaking his shoulders did little in the way to keep him warm. He looked slowly around the barren room that had once been full of furniture and decor. Now however all that remained were a few scattered chairs and a small round table off the the corner of the room. Lately his father had been selling everything in the house piece-by-piece to various men who would come to the house armed with knives and swords. Aled knew his father had gotten into some kind of trouble and they were all suffering for it, but his mother constantly insisted that his father spent all day working in the streets selling his goods. What she didn't know was that Aled had been at his father's stall more since they arrived in Sunberth than he ever was when lived in Syliras. He knew his father bad become ever more greedy lately and had been scamming people with very deffective products and bogus lies. His father didn't seem to mind who he cheated either, blatantly ignoring the warnings of passerbys and other residents in town. They claimed he'd come to regret being a crook and liar if he didn't watch who he stole from. Is this what meant by suffer, thought Aled to himself. Making people live with bare minimums was one way of making people suffer for sure, but the men who had been coming by their home seemed like people who would go to much further lengths to inflict agony on people like his father. A small crackle in the fire drew Aled's attention back to the only small source of warmth in the warm. He reached his hands out towards the small kindling, desperately reaching for any heat that he could pull from the ever fleeting embers. Frustrated from the cold Aled sat back and tightened the blanket around him. He looked over to the far side of the room where his father was sitting, reading over a few papers he had scattered on top of the round table. He seemed older lately, as if something had been pulling the life from his body and leaving him and cold, walking corpse. The only thing that wasn't static about him was the pipe he was frantically chewing on. Aled was sure the pipe had been empty for days, but it still hadn't left his father's lips. Was something bothering him? Aled let out a small sigh and walked over to one of the old chairs to sit for a while. The wooden chair moaned fiercely as he sat down, clearly on it's last leg. Life had been so much better for them before they'd come here. The city was run down in comparrison and people walked around armed to teeth with weapons and armor and not afraid to use them should you cross them. As Aled griped to himself over their new living conditions a heavy rapping sounded from the door. The beat was heavy and filled the room with a demanding pull. Aled's father snapped to alert as his pipe slipped and fell to the floor. Fear filled his eyes that had drooped heavily only moments ago. The knocking was familiar, it was more of the men who had came to collect what few belongs Aled and his family had left. Tonight they'd probably take the near broken chair he'd recently found to leisure in. Slowly his father hoisted himself up and went to answer the knocking. He watched as his father's steps were paced and slow as full of dread as they were with fear. He was sure that his father would bolt out the back door at any second but he just kept moving creeping forward. As he reached the door he paused for a moment almost as if in hope that they had left, but the knocking continued so he slowly opened the door. There were three men on the other side all wearing an identical metal armor. Two were armed with longswords and seemed ready to draw them. The third stood in the middle and had a large bow on his back along with a knife resting at his side. He looked more vicious than his two comrades. "Alsbane Verthi, I am here on behalf of the Daggerhand to collect the remainder of your debt to our leader, Robern Dalenger," said the man in the middle. His father stumbled back slightly, "the remainder? But I have until the end of the season to pay it off! I don't have that kind of money!" "Dalanger demands the remaining debt be paid in full tonight unless further measures be taken to ensure that the money is guaranteed." "I simply don't-" "Good night then, Mr.Verthi. I will inform my superiors that you have failed to provide that proper compensations for your acts against the various members within the Daggerhand." And with that the three men turned and left as quickly as they had arrived. His father bolted out the doorway, shouting behind the men, "please wait! Give me a few more days and I can come up the rest! I swear it." Aled sat alone in the room with the man's words echoeing in his head, further measures. What kind of 'further measures' would they take to make sure his father paid the money? His hands began to shake as he thought of the possibilites. They didn't much more to lose except for one another. Would the Daggerhand really take them away from each other? Kidnapping his son would guarantee that he paid them, and they could probably get more than the original amount too. Aled fell out of his thread, his breath trembling in fear now. He didn't want to be stolen away or worse, killed. Running away seemed to be his best chance of getting away, but before he could his father walked back in the apartment. Tears were still streaming down his face and he trembled as he walked. He slowly walked over to Aled and collapsed to the floor, wrapping Aled in his arms as he did. "I'm so sorry son," he said. "I never meant for any of this to happen. I just thought I could give us a better life here in Sunberth, but look what I've caused. You're too young to be living in shambles like this, Aled. Now I don't know what they'll do to get the rest of the money." Aled could feel his father's body quivering and his chest's violent heaving. He'd never seen him this emotional. In fact, his father was rarely one to show any emotion unless he was bribing his customers to buy some broken product. Sunberth was a ruthless place unlike Sylaris and even though he wasn't yet ten years old, Aled understood this fact all to well. In a matter of seconds his life had went from seemingly carefree to a festering pool of fear and anxiety. He felt emotions most nine year olds should only feel during nightmares, yet he knew he was wide awake. He was literally living a nightmare. As his father stood up and went back to where he say idly earlier, Aled could hear his mother's footsteps coming from the stairs. "Aled, it's bedtime dear," she proclaimed in a jolly tune, obviously unaware of the atmosphere in the room. She walked over to him and wrapped a second blanket around him. "You're shivering dear," she said, "you should really bundle up more late at night." Aled gently nodded and followed as his mother softly nudged him up the stairs and to his bed. As his mother tucked him into bed she hummed the same gentle melody she did every night just before he went to bed. It was relaxing and familiar even though he was never able to identify what song it was. It wasn't any nursery rhyme he was familiar with and she never sang in it's place either. The mystery left him confused every night but it was a pleasant little puzzle that he could nurture in his head as he drifted to sleep, only tonight he had other things on his mind. Would the men be back tonight? Would he wake up somewhere else? He winced at the anxiety and slowly let sleep take over his frantic thoughts as his mother's humming grew ever more faint. His eyes grew heavy and the melody seemed to come from another room. And he was asleep.

[Aled Verthi]

1 Bell, 32 Chimes He watched as his mother sat on the side of his bed humming her usual lullaby; however, Aled wasn't in his bed and his mother's cheeks were red from sobbing. He tried to move forward, to reach for her, to speak but he found he couldn't. He wasn't there with her, he was just watching her from somewhere else. His mind was racing, but his body wouldn't move. As he looked around the dark room for some kind of answer he noticed the back wall was missing entirely and a black void filled the space where it once was. Strange voices were coming from deep within the darkness. They came first as one, then two, until so many were overlapping that no one was discernible from the next. Some came as screams of pleading while others came as whispers of begging. Aled grasped his head tight trying to force the voices out but they continued to surge through his mind. The voices seemed they would overwhelm him until, all at once, they ceased to exist. Then, from where his mother sat, Aled heard the voice of the third man say, "further measure will be taken." As he spun back around he saw only his mother and no one else. She slowly rose from the bed and walked heavily to the edge of his room and sat on the window seal. She sat, humming the melody still, motionless. A few tears streamed down her face and she gently leaned back and slid out of the window. Aled watched, listened in horror as his mother disappeared and the humming grew distant and faint. He watched as his mother and the lullaby slipped away. Aled sprung to life from his bed. Just a nightmare. It was late now and the air was thick and colder than before. He wiped his brow and felt that he'd woken in a cold sweat, an after effect from the horrible dream. Trying to catch his breath, he sat up on the side of his bed thinking back on the dream. His mother had killed herself because he'd gone missing. Would she be so drastic if the Daggerhand really did kidnap him as he feared? His mind was a mess since the three men had came earlier that night. He was being irrational at best. The worst they would do would probably be make his family leave town or make his father do some extra work for them. Nothing to worry about, he reassured himself silently. He let out a small sigh and got out of bed. Being up for a minute might do some good to get his mind off of things. He quietly made his way out of his small room and towards his parents room, just to be sure. As he marched through the tiny corridor he could see light still coming from downstairs. His father was still awake, not surprising considering the events that had unfolded. He paused for a moment, debating on heading downstairs but he continued towards his mother's room instead. As he reached the door he heard footsteps on the other side. Was his mother still awake as well? He looked at the base of the door but saw no light slipping from underneath. She wouldn't be walking through her room without a candle lit. He slowly pushed the wooden door open to peer inside, but as he got to where he could see into the room the door let out a terrible moaning. The sound of glass breaking came from the room. Aled forced the door open quickly to see the glitter of a shattered bottle covering the floor of his mother's room. His mother was lying in her bed, motionless with a hooded figure standing over her bed. The intruder was short and small in figure, but carried a short sword on each hip. They wore a fitted black leather armor with a heavy hood veiled over their head and a thick scarf concealing their face. All that shown were the lifeless eyes staring back in shock at Aled's entrance. The intruder suddenly bolted for the window and was out quicker than Aled could react, but their guest wasn't his concern. The load door and sound of shattering glass hadn't woken his mother, in fact, she hadn't so much as stirred in her sleep. Aled took a deep breath and approached his mother's bed side, carefully stepping around the shards of glass on the floor. He gently nudged her to wake her but she didn't budge. "Mother? Are you awake, asked Aled as he nudged her slightly harder. Still she refused to wake. He frantically grabbed her by the shoulders and began to shake her harder and harder, fear building up in his chest. Mother!? Mother wake up! Wake up! Come on, please wake up! Please. Please. Please wake up! Tears swelled up in his eyes and cascaded down his face. She was dead. The intruder had killed his mother in her sleep. He had taken the most valuable thing to him and his father. The words of the third man came to mind again. They had taken further measures to ensure his father paid them back, but instead of kidnapping him as he had feared they chose to murder his mother instead. Aled collapsed on top of his mother, sobbing and shaking. He could hear his father rushing up behind him, Aled, son. What's wrong? Aysuno, what's wrong with Aled? Aysuno? Ays- oh no." Aled's tear filled eyes met his father's eyes, confirming what his father thought. Aysuno had been killed by the Daggerhand. Da- Daddy, she's gone. Mother's dead. Someone killed her, daddy, sobbed Aled. He watched as his father fell to his knees in tears. The air in the room was heavy and morose. They both sat there sobbing, not knowing what more to do.