5: The lone werewolf incident

The Adventures Of Athena And The Otherworlder

Chapter 5

[Writer's Pov]

Somewhere in the villages near the kingdom of Blumund, a young lady is seen stretching her aching back in the field of maize and cassava. Even though almost half of her body is covered in a layer of dirt and tattered clothes, one can never fail to notice her astounding beauty and soft chocolate colored skin.

"Athena!!,"she suddenly hears her mom call her name from the other side of the field. "Hurry, up and bring a jug of water. It's your father. He's..."

She didn't wait for her mother to finish her sentence. She already knew what was going on. Without wasting a second, she quickly rushed straight to their small hut, grabbed a jug of water, and sprinted back to the field where her parents were working. But as she reached them, he steps faltered at the horrifying sight before her.  Her father's condition had worsened.

He was lying on the ground, failing to breathe and coughing out blood. Her mother took the jug of water from her and tried giving it to her father, but he couldn't even drink it. In that instant, he lost consciousness. 

Athena's younger brother, who is 7 years old, started crying, and it made Athena's heart break.

"Let's carry him to the house, Athena,"her mother said, and they carried him.

They attended to him and gave him a couple of traditional herbs, and in the evening, he was a little better. His family gathered around his sick bed, and Athena couldn't contain the feeling of expressing her sadness.

"Father! I told you not to work, but you keep pushing yourself anyway. You're in no condition to work in the field. Just stay home, and we'll do all the work,"she said in tears."

The father grabbed her hands and said,"l understand your concern, Athena, but you know how life is for us commoners, especially when we're not gifted. We have to work hard to make ends meet. So I'm just working hard and doing my duty as a father to feed my family."

"No, Dad... but l can still work in your place. What did the healers say about healing you?"

Her mother sighed,"They demanded 5 gold pieces and you know we barely make a single gold piece from our field, but even so, we should just work hard to make that amount of money so that we can get your father treated."

Athena looked at her parents one last time and then walked out of the house. She ran as fast as she could in tears, deep into the forest, until she arrived at her favorite spot—the big iroko tree that stood a little far from the village.

It was a place where she could console herself at- without anyone disturbing her whenever she felt sad. She effortlessly climbed the big tree with ease and sat on the top branch while gazing at the sun going down.

"We're commoners....we're not gifted...blaaa blaaa blaaa. I'm sick and tired of that shit. Who cares about all of that. Gifted or not, I will do everything in my power to get father treated, even if it means running away from the village,"she mumbled to herself.

She stayed on top of the iroko tree until it was dark. That's when she decided to go back home and took a bath to wash off her dirt from the field.

After bathing, she joined her family on dinner.  She looked at her plate and realized it was full. Her brother's plate was full too, but her parent's plates weren't.  They were giving themselves small potions of food so that their children could eat to their fill.

But that only made Athena angry. Why did they have such a pathetic life. Why were her parents punishing themselves for her sake. It just made her furious.  She wanted to change that and change their way of living even if it's  a little bit.

"Mom.. dad,"she called  them and then paused. "I've decided..."

Her parents stopped eating and listened to hear what she had to say.

"I've decided to join the kingdom's knights. I know if they choose me, I'll be able to make enough money to buy food and get dad treated."

"But darling. You know the kingdom doesn't employ ungifted individuals, so even if you go there, they'll never make you a knight,"her mother said, trying to make her understand that it was futile.

"Gifted this... gifted that. Why does everyone in this kingdom cling to that sort of nonsense. I'm tired of being reminded that I'm not gifted.  Who cares if the gifted are able to use magic and the non gifted can't use magic. It doesn't mean we're useless.  There are a lot of things I'm capable of which the gifted can't do,"she responded in a very sad tone. She almost cried, saying that statement. Ever since she was born, it was her dream to join the royal knights, or at least be an adventurer and work for the adventurers guild, or do both jobs, but because she couldn't use magic, she was seen as nothing but a useless fly.

In the kingdom of Blumund, magic has always been a sign of power and everything. In fact, those who  possessed the ability to cast magic were respected and treated as royal members. They were also only allowed to marry the other 'gifted' so that they could give birth to children with powerful magic, thus making the kingdom even more formidable.  Marriage between a gifted and a non gifted was considered taboo because the kingdom believed that the offsprings of such marriages were weak and a disgrace to the kingdom.

However, there were a few exceptional individuals who were born with magic despite their parents being the non gifted, and such individuals were taken every year to join the royal knights and work for the kingdom at the same time making money to support their families.

Athena hoped she was one of the exceptional individuals. She trained herself every day ever since she was young, hoping that someday, she would awaken a power inside her, but now she's 18 years old, and still, nothing has happened. No power has awakened inside her. Not even a small spark. This made her heart ache.

"Just forget it, Athena,"her mother said to her harshly.

"But mom....the day after tomorrow, there's a festival in the kingdom. They are recruiting new knights. Maybe if I go there and show them what I can do without using magic, they might consider hiring me."

"Stop being stubborn, Athena, and just.."

"Athena," her father intercepted the conversation.  "What will happen if you don't get hired. You know that it's a very long distance to the kingdom's capital. A lot can happen to you. You're ungifted, and there's noway you'll be able to protect yourself if you're attacked by a bunch of gifted people,"the father said in a calm voice, hoping his daughter might understand but she was just stubborn.

"Whatever, there's no harm in trying. If I don't get chosen as a fighter, then I'll ask them to hire me as a royal maid. As long as I'll make some money, I don't care either way,"she looked at her parents for a while and said,"besides that, I have to go around the world if I want to meet the lone werewolf that murdered my friends and my older sister. I have to get revenge for them. But there's no way I'll be able to do that if l stay hidden in this pathetic little village of ours,"she hissed, then stood up and walked to her room. Her parents knew there was nothing they could do to change her mind so they also just went to bed, blaming themselves for failing to tell her the truth about the werewolf incident that took place 10 years ago that claimed the lives of her older sister and friends.

In the middle of the night, Athena woke up, packed a small bag of the things she could need, and started writing an apology letter on a small piece of paper.

"Mom... dad. I know what l did was wrong, but l have to go to the kingdom and get a job, or else dad's condition will only get worse. I'll be careful, and I'll make it back home in one piece,"she wrote, and after writing, she jumped out the window, running through the thick forest and heading to the direction of the kingdom.

Meanwhile, at the kingdom's palace, Flynn was sitting in his room and reading a magic spells book. Unlike in his previous life where he wasn't allowed to step a foot at the magic academy, here he got all the access he needed to learn magic, and he couldn't contain himself. He wanted to study magic to his hearts content. He wanted to know every type of magic in the world, not just for self satisfactory, but so that he could be able to protect his friends and not lose another friend ever again like that time 10 years ago when a werewolf killed his best friend and massacred the whole village he used to visit. From that day, he was banned to step a foot out of the palace by his father. He did that to protect him from harms way, and again, he didn't want his son to be a friend of a mere commoner. It was a disgrace to him as the king because commoners were just useless, and the mere thought of his son having such a friend almost drove him crazy.

So, for the past ten years, Flynn had been living inside the palace. He got everything he needed, and the only friend he was allowed to stay with was Miriamelody Imogen Mistralina, who was his bodyguard despite being a demi-human.

Luckily for him, he was able to go and explore in his fortress—the land of the dreams whenever he got bored at the palace - and there, he became friends with the guardians of the dreams.

As he read his spell book in peace, his young sister Victoria suddenly barged into his room.

"Brother.... don't tell me you're still reading your weird books,"she asked as soon as she got inside.

"Hey Victoria. Is something wrong?"

"What! Don't be ridiculous.  Is it wrong to visit my own brother?,"she asked, getting close to him.

"Whoa... be careful. Don't get too close, or you might be affected by my sleeping virus."

"I don't care because l know you'll wake me up. Anyway, I came to tell you that you shouldn't read your stupid books tomorrow and prepare for the big day."

"Huh! What big day?"

"Don't play dumb with me, bro. We talked about this last week. You know very well that there will be a festival here the day after tomorrow, so I expect you to do what we talked about, okay!"

He sighed as soon as he remembered what that was all about. He wasn't ready to do such a thing... but at the same time, he knew that if he didn't do it, his sister would always be on his neck.

"Okay, sis. I'll do just that."

"Promise me," she said, showing him her little finger.

"I promise,"he responded, locking his small finger on hers. "Now get away from me before my curse affects you,"he sighed again.

His sister was definitely a pain in the neck.

Tbc