The stranger who knows your name

For years, Alexander wandered. He worked odd jobs, trying to survive, but his mind was consumed by the thoughts of his father. Though he had left physically, his heart remained shackled to the past.

One evening, tired and weary from travel, Alexander found himself in a quiet, remote village. The sun was setting, painting the sky in hues of orange and pink, he sat down at the edge of forest . That's when he saw him.

A tall, mysterious man appeared from the shadow of trees. He was dressed in a long, worn coat, his eyes seemed to pierce right through Alexander. The man approached slowly, his presence both calming and unsettling.

"You have come a long way, Alexander," the stranger said, his voice soft but filled with strange authority.

"How do you know my name." Alexander asked, startled.

He had never met this man before. The stranger smiled.

"Names are powerful thing"

"Who are you" Alexander stood up. The stranger stepped closer, and Alexander could feel a strange energy between them.

"Someone who knows what you are running from—and what you are running towards."

"I am not running towards anything." Alexander replied bitterly. I left everything behind. My father... he's a gambler. He doesn't care about me." The stranger's gaze softened." And you think that because of his faults, you must abandon him.? That because he is broken, he is beyond help."

"He never cared for me. How could I go back to someone who hurt me so much." The stranger's voice was calm, there was undeniable weight in his words.

"A father's love may not always come in the form you expect, but it is there. It is the foundation of who you are. Without it, you will always search for something that feels like home, but you will never find it. No matter how far you run."

" Adventures await you, Alexander but you will neither be a hero nor a villain."

"What do you you mean?" He asked, confused and defensive. " I lost everything. My mother is dead, and my father is nothing but a shadow of the man he once was. I will be nothing except ordinary man.why? How can I not fight for something?" The stranger tilted his head, his expression unreadable.

"You believe the world is about fighting, about making a name for yourself, about being remembered as a hero or cursed as a villain, but that's not your path, Alexander."

The old man stepped closer, and placed a hand on Alexander's shoulder. "The world doesn't need another hero or another villain. What the world needs someone who is true to themselves. Your life is not defined by labels others give you, but the choices you make. Don't let others 's paths be yours." With those words, the stranger turned and disappeared in the way he came.

Now Alexander was strangely comforted.