Tales of Avanturia 1

Chapter 7: Gloomy Day

-The Man They Called Stormblade-

A gloomy morning. The sky covered with grey clouds, the earth soaking in rain. There was a funeral at the forest near the lake at Ravigrad. About fifteen people had gathered, all of them dressed in black, all of them mourning the passing of a beloved one.

It wasn't a rich funeral, no. A peasant funeral, that's, what it was, but the feeling of sorrow and the tears were all so equal. Loudest amongst all of them cried a mother, who had just lost her little boy. Six years of age and already dead..

In the trees near the funeral sat a single figure, that has been watching the whole thing, in his hand an eyepatch.

„Six years.." he mumbled, „He hardly saw anything of this world, and yet he had to leave already. You gods up there, you really have an odd sense of humour."

The circumstances of the boys death remain unknown, he was found with a dagger in his chest somewhere in the streets of the outskirt village of Ravigrad. His body was discovered by none other than yours truly, but that was about it.

Now the casket was lowered into the ground and the cries grew more and louder. It was truly heartwrenching, even for him but he didn't want to cry, „What's the point.." he mumbled, „I didn't even know him.. besides, there is no one here to see tears in the rain."

He waited until everyone left the funeral, which took about two hours. The last person there were the mother of the boy and her husband. They were talking to him, however, what they said remains unknown.

After they left, he got down from his tree and walked up to the grave. There was a framed picture of the kid smiling with flowers and candles next to it. He took a small knife out of one of his pockets and put it there aswell, as some kind of gift. It was very ornate with many golden ornaments on the handle and the sheath. On the blade was something engraved, 'Coming Home'.

He walked back to the city.

It still rained.

The city was rather empty, which was less than a suprise, hence the weather. However, he was that kind of person, that enjoyed a lone walk through empty streets. It helped him to get his mind free and to relief some stress. He passed a young couple, that were holding each other while standing sheltered at a café. They were talking about the weather, about how much they loved each other and about how long it's been since they were together, two months.

She had wavy, dark-brown hair and light blue eyes and wore a simple, beige peacoat with a red scarf, while he had short, light-brown hair, green eyes, wearing a navy-blue dufflecoat and a black and white striped tube scarf.

Indeed it was getting colder. Another week had passed since they returned from Muinn Dir and summer's end was just around the corner and since Ravigrad is more in ther north, it was already getting colder.

On his way to his attic, his home, he walked through almost empty streets, passed sad and happy people alike, lonely and with company. The lights coming from the insides of the several buildings looked cozy, warm. Amongst the grey outside and the rain, they looked like gates to other worlds.

He saw the clocktower in the distance – There was still an hour left before they were to meet.

He sneezed. It seemed like the cold rain was getting to him aswell.

He'd have to organize some new clothes some day in the next time, but that wasn't that big of a problem, because he knew an excellent tailor...

-The Woman In Black-