“Put the child down, Gabe,” I said as I surveyed the area quickly.
“There’s nothing but bodies here. The only thing odd about this place is those scorch marks.” He said, walking up to me with the basket in hand.
“Then, we are done here. Let’s go on home.” I said, as I turned around and made my way back to our camp, avoiding the littered bodies in my path.
“Okay, let’s go, Tristan!” He said as he ran ahead of me, jumping around.
“Don’t go naming that thing!” I yelled, frustrated at his flippant actions.
“I didn’t name Tristan, it was written on this beautiful basket and stitched into the cloth as well. Both were clearly handmade and with quite a lot of care. I have never such beautiful handiwork before. It sort of resembles your talent when it comes to forging.” He said, eyeing everything once more.
“That doesn’t matter. It’s like having a pet, Gabe. You can’t simply become this familiar with one unless you plan on keeping it!” I said, trying to reason with him, but he looked back at me once.
“I’m not planning on keeping or raising Tristan.” He said, and I breathed a sigh of relief.
“You will.” He said as he ran back up to me and placed the basket in front of me.
“What?!”
“You heard me. From this moment onward, Ashen Metalworks is dead. He lost his life in the great war between the kingdoms of Cobalt and Golddew.” He said.
“What?!”
“Is ‘what’ all you can say, Ash? You need to be able to communicate better if that child is to grow properly.” he said and I remained dumbfounded.
“You can’t just decide something like this on a whim! This isn’t like usual, and I don’t care if you ha-”
“Ashen. This is an order. Raise the child Tristan and monitor his every movement. Always remember that nothing ever happens by chance, and if this is even remotely important, we can’t ignore it like we usually would. Steel your heart and mind, and pick the basket up.” He said, his tone gone completely cold and his eyes hard as stone.
I simply picked the basket up and followed behind him. He looked at me once and sighed.
“Ash, I'm sure you will understand one day.”
Like hell I will, I thought; However, I simply nodded.
“Also, you suck as a leader,” I mumbled, he looked back and pointed at the basket in my hand and then winked.
I wanted to break his finger off so badly that it physically hurt me to restrain myself.
We finally reached our little makeshift camp in silence. Thankfully, the child also stayed quiet throughout the walk.
I set him down as I prepared the fire, and then the food, chicken stew, once again.
“Hello, Tristan! Look here! Look here!” Said Gabe, wiggling his little finger.
“Don’t play with him,” I said, giving him a look that went right through him.
“Aww. I feel bad for you already, Tristan. A cruel and cold grandpa like that will be tough to live with! If you ever want to, you can just live with me!”
“Why not just take him from the start…” I said.
“Because babies and I simply don’t get along. Jacob was truly a different breed compared to the two of us.” He said, as he stood up and straightened his clothes.
"Yup, and look where that got him. You can't be kind and expect to live a long life here." I said and Gabriel just nodded and then stared at the sky as I continued cooking.
Eventually, I finished, and I poured soup for us and sat down happily. We ate in silence until that hardass had to open his mouth.
“Ash… He’s a baby. He needs milk.” He said, laughing as he pointed at his chest...
I already had some regular milk prepared, but watching him do that and then say this makes me want to cut his hands off, and then personally feed them to him.
“Well, yours are bigger. You might as well give it a go.” I said, and then he proceeded to touch his chest before ignoring me for the remainder of our meal.
We finished our food quickly and then cleaned up.
"He's sleeping with you." He said. I looked at him and he didn't even elaborate further. He simply got up and went to sleep inside his tent.
I was on the verge of unsheathing my blades, but then I took a good, deep breath and eyed the child. He was sleeping peacefully, so I simply doused the fire and headed inside my tent with the child, and after I calmed down, I slept.
By the time I woke up, everything had been cleared and stowed away. Gabe was waiting for me outside. He was already dressed up, and he held a red envelope.
"I will be ready in a minute," I said.
"No need for that. Take this." He said as he held the envelope out.
“What is this?”
“A gift, really. Congrats on becoming an official Grandfather! I know you’ll do great.” He said with a slight smile. I couldn’t help but feel like there was a catch.
I looked at him once and then I took the red envelope. He immediately turned around and disappeared, as if he had just vanished into thin air.
“Jackass…” I said.
I sighed, stood up, and bowed in his direction before sitting back down.
I brought out the boy and set him next to me. Apparently, he had been awake for some time but he made no noise. An odd creature he is.
I brought out the little makeshift bottle I made and fed him.
I then lay down and opened the red envelope, which had already been opened.
Inside it, there was only a single letter that read:
To the bearer of this letter and the crimson-haired boy,
Beware of a starless night.
Regards.
That was it. The entire letter consisted of 3 lines and 17 words. I wanted to bite my hand off but I maintained my composure as I looked over at the kid beside me.
He just lay there, staring at me with big, red eyes. We remained in this position for a few minutes before I sighed and broke eye contact first.
I looked up at the big, blue sky, the child, and then I just scratched my hair roughly before standing up.
"For fucks sake, let’s just get this journey started."
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