(The cursive text indicates something that happened in the past. Commonly throughout my book, I use it to call back to earlier events or simply things that happened sometime in the past.)

***

"Mama! Mama! Mum, mum!" Morio stormed in, flinging the door open, breathing in and out.

He immediately turned, spotting Gloria on one of the swinging, wooden chairs, gazing at the fireplace which barely lit up the room. A sword rested on a shelf above the fire. Gloria put her legs on the red carpet, before turning around and spotting Morio.

"Morio? I thought you were going to sleep near the fire," she said, before standing up and walking towards him, crouching, then brushing through his white, soft hair. She felt some of the snow hidden through the strands, now moving between her fingertips.

She closed the green door, turned the doorknob around and walked over to the small kitchen, brewing something atop a triangular pot. "You look a little cold. I'll make you some tea, and after you've finished drinking, head upstairs to bed. I'll tuck you in, alright?"

"I don't wanna go to bed...!" Morio shouted, clenching both fists.

"Why's that, then?" she continued, lighting up a match, putting its lit end against the metal circle beneath a wood cup. The fire at the end of the stick reflected in her blue eyes, and eventually, she blew it out.

"I-I..." Morio breathed in. "I had this bad dream."

"A nightmare?" she asked, as she helped Morio take off his jacket and brown vest.

"That a demon attacked our house and burnt it to a crisp!" Morio uttered.

"Really?" she raised both eyebrows.

"Mhm!" he nodded. "So I came back, making sure everything's alright, Mama! If someone were to attack you, I'd protect you without a second thought!" he announced, as Gloria brought the cup to a table, moved the chair and added more logs to the fire, sighing.

"You sure would, Morio." she giggled.

Morio ran up to her and jumped up on a seat, grabbing the cup. He took a sip, before making a sour face.

"I forgot about the snow sugar!" Gloria turned, making her way to a shelf. She opened a small box and threw two small white triangles into the brew.

Morio stirred it around, as Gloria looked out the window.

"Heh. You're saying all that you'd protect me and all that, and yet, you can't add sugar to tea by yourself." she giggled.

"Mama! You know I'm too short for the shelf!"

"Well, you did manage to push the chair over and get the sword out of its sheath on the wall..." she folded her arms. "...and get those sweet seeds I told you we would eat at the next ceremony."

Morio rolled his eyes, sighing ostentatiously.

Gloria snickered. "You're still a child, Morio," she explained, putting both hands on his forearms and crouching. "For now, let me do the protecting, okay?"

Morio moved back, breathing out, a bit annoyed.

"I'm gonna," Morio muttered.

"What was that?"

"I'm gonna train," Morio announced, scratching his head. "So I can be strong and tall, to get that sugar by myself!"

"Just for all that..." she shook her head.

"No, Mama! I don't think I have to say it again and again, right?" he pointed to the sword before a sly smile appeared. "I'm gonna become a Demonear one day too!'

"I can tell you have it in you, Morio," she asked, sitting on the opposite side of the table. She moved the lit candle around. "At such a young age, though?"

"Of course, Mama!" Morio raised his voice, smiling, his eyes gleaming with determination. "I can't waste a single year. In the next five, I'll already be sailing and fighting against the waves with my crew of other Demonears!"

"Like you said... it's a world full of dangers."

"I'll conquer them! I'll conquer them all!" Morio smacked the table, sticking his tongue out. "I'll start by becoming Mistwick's guardian!"

"Well, Mistwick's safe, no matter how you look at it. You're right about everything else, though. I think if we ever were to travel somewhere, we'd need double protection." she winked. "Don't count on Victoria for that."

"Yeah!" Morio jumped out of his chair. "I'll be in the back, fighting off demons, while you'll be swinging your sword like crazy and clearing a path for us!!! We'll be like... like..!"

"Oliver and Norbert?" Gloria continued. "At the end of the Second War?"

"EXACTLY! Wow, you remember that story too?!"

"I read it to you a few days ago, dummy." she grinned.

"A." Morio made a noise. "Mama...! Is it really okay?"

"Was I ever against your ambitions?" she asked, standing up and treading over to the fireplace.

"I m-mean... you always frown a bit when I mention it." Morio picked the cup up, and Gloria stopped for a second, before turning.

"I guess I am a bit sad then, yeah," she answered, closing both eyes and beaming. "Not because I'm unsure whether you manage to push through or not, but... heh, you do seem eager to leave the safety of home as soon as you get the chance."

Morio gulped.

"I'm so proud that it makes me a little sad," she added. "That's what I meant."

"Th-then." Morio jumped off the chair. "I'll make sure that you'll be even prouder that a smile will appear in place of that frown!" he pointed. "I promise, Mama! I'll become the greatest Demonear there is!"

"Sure you will, Morio." she nodded.

Morio opened his mouth, excitedly, before it turned into a yawn. "Mhm! I'll ask Mr Bancho to help me get started with everything!"

"I think you'll learn everything about Demonears if you're just one of them, Morio.
Stories can't portray these certain... feelings." she closed her eyes, as Morio walked up a few steps, holding onto the blanket. He turned around, beaming.

"Pinky promise," Morio laughed.

"You read about that in the Paladin, didn't you?"

"I'm almost done with the first chapter!" he added.

"No bedtime reading today, though, Morio." she continued. "Sleep well,"

Morio sighed before such turned into a small beam. He nodded, before jolting upstairs and landing in his bed. His eyes met the ceiling, and when he closed them, he swore he could see the night lights shining through the thick woods and painting a new landscape for his dreams. The maps and other papers on the wall found themselves sharing that particular gleam.

Gloria put the empty cup into a bowl filled with water, before glancing at the sword, with a wooden bar from below firmly gripping its end. She frowned for a moment, before blowing the candle out.

***

Where home ended.

Bancho took Gloria's body to Mistwick's hamlet and ensured that she received the best care available. He went out into the forests, trying to find any plants or seeds which would mend her wounds, yet, when her wounds and burns faded over time, there was no telling whether she'd wake up the next day, next week, or even the next season.

Mistwick has changed, ever since.

Rumours spread around town, not waiting until morning to move like the fire that reduced the hut to a mere memory.

For the first few hours, the people remained quiet. The usual lively town centre was hushed, and all that Morians once did daily was turned into an unsureness. What would happen next, then?

Was Mistwick not safe anymore?

Over time, however, things went back to how they were, despite the obvious shift in the air, Maybe it was the sun that didn't shine bright enough? Maybe it was the animals who so hesitantly listened to commands? Or this... general feeling of uneasiness, knowing that a demon might attack at any given moment, just like it struck Morio's mother.

***

While the first three mornings felt very long, the time that followed passed by like a bird soaring over the Brown Mountains.

The seasons changed from Yule to Herbes, and the colours turned purple. Gorro followed shortly after, and the Morians went out for their annual day-long hunt when the sun met the moon at its highest point. The violets and dark greens transformed into khaki with the arrival of Dear, and snow started falling as the season shifted back to Yule once again.

Throughout the year, Bancho would often set out on long trips, even lasting a third of a season. Victoria eventually spoke with the mentioned townsman, and Morio found himself living under the same roof as Jyuzou.

As for the white-haired Morian, he gradually went back to how he once was. All the negative thoughts concerning the event eventually faded into obscurity, and it seemed that the world wasn't to wait for him.

Morio understood, eventually, and each week, he'd visit his mother in one of the houses in the hamlet-like buildings of Shimori, up a hill and near Mount Aria.

He'd pray to Shin near her body, hoping that one day, she might wake up.

He touched her cold hands, believing that she'd open her blue eyes again and tell him that everything would be alright.

Morians kept giving him the same look as if they thought it wasn't right of Morio to hope, waiting for him to move on and accept reality for the cruel mistress it was.

Yet, the young child was stubborn. One could even say, that the accumulation of everything was yet another reason for him to strive and become what he swore to be.

After all, The Demonear exam loomed over the edge. Its Shimori variant was held every six years, near the end of Yule, in the town of Magna. It featured a series of unique challenges, proving if one was strong enough to become someone who could slay demons.

Morio wanted to become a Demonear. The best there was.

Nothing would stand in front of him and his dreams.

***

Year 476 A.F.W, 78th of Yule, Mistwick, Shimori.

On a cloudy day, when snow fell bitterly from the sky, a commotion could be heard outside the hamlets.

It didn't take long for the people to peek their heads out, raise a silent fist and quickly close their windows. Some even stormed out of those few, triangular, tent-like huts, stood in the middle of the well and discussed in whispers, turning to the few conifers standing by a hill, with one that had an empty, hacked-out spot in the middle. When the pumped-out smoke from the chimneys swayed to the side with the wind, there they were, training, as per usual.

Morio's sword struck the wooden bat Jyuzou held as he gritted his teeth in fear. The white-haired yelled, swinging at the bat's midsection, forcing it to snap.

"MORIO!" Jyuzou screamed, and Morio pushed him to the ground, pointing the dull weapon against his scared face. He breathed in and out, and as the Morian opened one eye, Morio smiled.

"I won again," The boy announced, brushing off the sweat from his forehead. "Better luck next time, Jyuzou!"

"How can you say that when you're not even giving me a ch-chance?" Jyuzou shook his head, standing up. "...and you're using a stone sword against a wooden stick!"

"It's not the weapon you use, but the way you swing it!" Morio turned around, wagging his finger.

"The way you forge it." Jyuzou corrected him, fixing his glasses.

"The way you forge it...? The nearest forgery is in Magna, though!" Morio took out the map of Shimori, looking at it intensely, furrowing his zigzaggy eyebrows. "Here, precisely! Kyrkogarde has this one Paladian dude Mr Bancho always talked about!"

Jyuzou scoured around the snow, before finding one half of the broken bat. With a sly smile, he raised one leg and extended his arm. "Hiya!"

Following one precise swing, Morio coughed out, with some pain from the strike near his stomach.

"Pff! Jyuzou, bastard!" Morio flopped onto the snow, pushing his hand into a drift and clearing his throat.

As Jyuzou giggled triumphantly, Morio grabbed his leg, dragging him into the battle.

The two got into yet another, small brawl, grabbing at each other's faces or limbs. They rolled down the snowy hill, passing by the few bigger houses, standing on these wooden supports with stairs leading up to its orange-coated insides, before hitting a revealed patch of grass and moving further along the road, powered by sheer spirit.

Morio and Jyuzou soon tumbled through thicker snowdrifts, where the steep hill forced a few of the adjacent trees to grow almost perpendicularly to everything else in the village and soon there they were, almost falling into the river going through the town.

Almost, as in, something stopped their continuous brawl.

"WAIT, STOP!!!" Jyuzou screamed out, snapping out of the moment and leaping to the side. He pushed Morio away, and the other spun around, before standing still, held by his palm. "Morio! You almost stepped on the flowers again!"

"Me?" Morio asked. "You'd be responsible too!" he tried wiggling out of his grasp.

"T-Tomfoolery, Morio! I would always notice a flower and never hurt its delicate c-crown!" Jyuzou shook his head. "It's all your stupidity!" he pouted, crossing his arms.

"C-crown," he repeated his stutter, mocking him.

"Shut it!" Jyuzou pointed, putting one hand on a small notebook in a bigger pocket of his pants and strutting towards the said plant.

Morio breathed out, grabbing the sword that lay next to his feet, and looking at its stone finish. Jyuzou crouched, taking out yet another book. He smiled as he scribbled something with the charcoal.

"It's the same flower as last Yule. What are you writing down this time?" Morio asked.