Chapter 4: 4 – Nightmare

Teran looked between Ruith and Vaeri. 

“Oh, do you two know each other? From the Academy perhaps?”

Vaeri shook her head.

“No, I was just surprised to see you brought someone here. Who is he?”

“Ah, this is Ruith, I just had to ask him a couple questions. He will be staying here for tonight. Ruith, this is my daughter Vaeri. Hopefully you two can get along.” Teran smiled at the end of his sentence.

The man leaned down to Ruith’s ear and whispered to him.

“She doesn’t have any friends, so try to be her first one, will you?” Teran stood back up and patted the boy’s shoulder.

Ruith lightly nodded.

‘Not like I’m any different from her, though we’re already acquainted.’

Ruith had trouble with getting closer to people. In his childhood he lost several friends to the Voidborne, and it had been two years since his father fell to the same fate.

“I’m going to take Ruith here up to the guest room, then we can make dinner together.” Teran smiled at his daughter before going up the stairs with Ruith following.

There was a hallway with several doors closed, and the man opened one of them. Inside was a simple room, but much larger than anything Ruith had stayed in before. The bed on the right side of the room was large and neatly made, and there was a desk and chair that stood against the wall. There was a nightstand next to the bed with an oil lamp.

The left side of the room was completely made of glass, and a sliding door opened onto the porch. There were several large potted plants in front of the wall.

“Dinner should be ready in about an hour. You can go outside if you wish, no Voidborne dares venture close to this house, so it’ll be safe.”

Ruith thanked Teran and the man left, closing the door.

Immediately, Ruith dove onto the bed.

“Oh my god…”

He almost moaned in pleasure, having never slept on a good bed before.

After a few minutes of simply laying on the bed, Ruith stood.

‘I should train my ability for a bit before dinner.’

His stomach grumbled, it had been over a day since he last ate and he couldn’t wait to see what Teran and Vaeri would make.

Ruith was still a bit wary of going outside the house at night, so he settled for practicing on the potted plants.

Sitting in front of one, he let his mana flow into the roots. These were much smaller roots, resulting in them being much easier to control and requiring less mana to do so. In fact, Ruith was able to do a root attack with them.

A tiny root shot out of the dirt and then he would make it shrink back under. Of course, this small and weak of a root would be unable to harm an enemy.

‘Perhaps I could strengthen a root this small?’ Ruith thought.

However when he tried to do so, nothing happened. His mana simply kept flowing into the root like normal.

He shrugged and moved on. It took much longer to fully exhaust his mana on a single root, so he started to practice controlling multiple at once.

This proved to be much harder, especially if he wanted to be precise with where the roots went. It was almost like focusing on two things at once, but the more Ruith did it the easier it became. 

After an hour, he was able to nearly perfectly control three tiny roots at once. He knew it would probably be much harder once he went back to much larger roots.

A light knock sounded at the door. Ruith stood and stretched before opening it, revealing Vaeri.

“Dinner is ready now. We must talk after it’s over.”

Ruith nodded and followed her downstairs.

As soon as they got near the kitchen, the most heavenly smell entered Ruith’s nostrils.

The dinner table looked like a feast to him. Steak covered in a red sauce and spices, steaming potatoes, boiled vegetables. Truly the most magnificent food Ruith had seen in his life.

Saliva started to fill his mouth and he quickly sat down along with Vaeri and Teran.

His plate was full of food, and he could barely control himself from devouring it like a rabid dog. 

“Alright, dig in!” Teran spoke.

Ruith immediately started eating, though trying to maintain manners by not eating too fast and messily.

He started with a small piece of steak, savoring the flavor. A tear nearly slipped out of his eye from how delicious it was. 

Teran gave a pleased nod at his reaction and Vaeri cracked an almost imperceptible smile before also beginning to eat.

Fifteen minutes later, all three had cleaned their plates of food. Ruith leaned back with a satisfied expression on his face and helped the father and daughter clean up before walking back up to his room.

A short while later a knock sounded at the door. Ruith hoped that Vaeri would be quick with whatever she needed to talk to him about, his long day and the food had made him very drowsy.

He opened the door and Vaeri came in, sitting down on the desks chair while Ruith sat on the bed.

“So, what is it that we need to talk about?”

“I was just wondering what my father had to question you about. He refuses to tell me anything.” Vaeri responded with a slightly annoyed look on her face.

Ruith sighed and decided to explain what had happened. He really wanted to sleep.

Once he finished, the girl looked shocked.

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“I can’t believe he never told me about this. Well thank you Ruith, for telling me.”

He nodded. 

“Now, I’m very tired, so if you would please…” Ruith glanced at the door. He knew it was a bit rude, but Vaeri seemed to understand.

As soon as she left he blew out the lamp, instantly passing out when his head hit the pillow.

A scene formed in his mind.

Ruith sat across from a massive man that looked like a much older and muscular version of him. His father.

They sat on the floor of an abandoned building, one that had surprisingly not been destroyed. The furniture had all been broken however, and it was mostly empty.

The two were eating slightly stale pieces of bread with a bit of cheese.

“Sorry Ruith. This was all I could get today. Those damned bastards lowered our pay again…”

His fathers voice was filled with anger, but softened when he looked back at Ruith.

“Good news though, I’ve almost saved enough to send you to school for at least a few months!” His father quickly became happy. There was only so much he knew and could teach to his son himself.

“Really? Where is it?” Ruith’s voice was excited and sounded a bit younger, being only 14.

“Ah, it’s on the edge of the slums. Should be a lot of kids your age there.”

They continued eating in silence for a bit, the mood considerably better.

But suddenly, distant screams resounded from outside and there was a crashing noise.

Ruith’s father bolted to his feet and stood still, listening.

“Shit. Ruith stay right here.”

His father moved to the door and opened it, looking outside. But he closed it almost as soon as he opened it.

“DAMN IT! Ruith, it’s a breach. The Voidborne may be heading this way.” His voice sounded panicked, and he walked back to Ruith.

“Stay quiet no matter what you hear outside, they may pass us by.”

The crashing noises and screams grew nearer. The sound of hurried footsteps passed by the door. 

The screams continued, no doubt many had already died a terrible death.

Slow steps sounded outside the door. An animalistic growl sounded.

Ruith’s father held him tighter, not daring to even breathe.

And then the Voideborne slammed against the door, instantly shattering it.

A massive black furred wolf. Much larger than a normal wolf should’ve been.

Its eyes were completely black, scanning the room.

And then it noticed the two.

“SHIT RUITH, RUN!” His fathers voice boomed and the wolf snarled, launching itself towards them.

The doorway was too small for the wolf, but that didn’t stop it. The stone shattered like an explosion had occurred.

In a second the creature had reached his father, who stood in front of Ruith. 

It opened its maw filled with sharp teeth to bite, but Ruith’s father dodged, slamming a fist into the side of the monster's head. It stumbled a bit.

Ruith was paralyzed in fear. He wanted to move. Why couldn’t he move?

Seeing the wolf stumbling a glimmer of hope appeared in him. 

But deep down he knew that it was already a lost battle. His father had black core, and his ability simply improved his strength and durability a bit.

The wolf swiped at his father with a paw, and the massive man shot into the wall, groaning. The wolf moved closer to Ruith who was shivering in fear and about to wet his pants.

BOOM!

His father slammed into the side of the wolf, taking its attention away from him.

“RUITH! GET OUT OF HERE RIGHT FUCKING NOW!” 

The roar made his ears hurt, and he was finally able to move. He looked at his father and the wolf. He wanted to help.

But he ran. What could he possibly do? He was a scrawny boy that didn’t even have an ability.

Tears flowed from his eyes and he sobbed, though he tried to stay quiet. He knew his father would die.

He kept running until he was almost a mile away, hiding in a collapsed building where he continued to sob.

“Ugh!” 

Ruith startled awake, covered in sweat. The light of the sunrise bathed his room. He rubbed his face, sighing.

‘That stupid fucking nightmare again…’

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