text: # Fallen [Part One] A man and a boy are walking through an old dense forest. The man in his mid-40’s; decorated eye patch in his left eye, the other, the boy in his mid-teens. The older male raises his fist signaling the younger man to stop. He slowly pulls out a beautiful, decorated dagger and approaches a bush with much caution. He moves through the bushes to see a deer bleeding in the ground. Deep wound to the lower half of its body, blood gushing out. The man leans in to investigate, notices necrotic tissue. He presses on the wound and notices how the necrosis spreads as he presses on it. He closes his eyes and releases a deep breath. He sees the creature is still somehow alive, he takes the blade and drives it through its throat to end its suffering. He stands up and look forward into the dense path of bushes and says “*He* was here.” The two men continue to walk through the forest, older man with his dagger in-hand, the boy with a shield and sword prepared for what could come. The boy asks: “Why are we even looking for *him*? It’s not like we succeeded in finding him the last twenty times...” “We will try a thousand times if that is what it takes...” Responded the man to the boy, focus in his eyes, and his hand steady with his blade. The boy looks at the man with worry eyes, “Have you ever seen him? Face-to-face, I mean.” With a deep breath, and a face that reflected nothing but regret, the man answered: “Only a handful of times, son... But I’ve always been one step behind. Always short-handed when I had him in my grasp... But not today... This ends... today.” Determination flowing through his glance, they ventured on to what was waiting for them. “Did I ever tell you the story of how I got this patch?” Asked the man, as they silently venture forward. “You never talked about it...” Said the boy, looking at his father with curiosity. “It’s never easy to speak of one’s failures. But this is just the beginning of what my mistakes have cost me.” The boy listens closely to his father, learning of how this all came to be. The man begins to tell his tale: “When I was young, I used to venture through these same woods. Of course, back then, it was full of life, full of beauty. I was part of a small band of misfits back in the day. We were all we had. None of us had ever known what a family was, till we had each other.” We had a small wooden fort atop the trees, crudely built around them. Ladders dropped from different platforms, all connected by bridges made of wood and rope. One morning, with the first orange-hued rays of sunrise during fall, one of those boys came out of his shack, dressed in ragged clothes, with a red sheet tied on his neck to create a cape and a crown made out of twigs and leafs, he began to shout: “Hear ye! Hear ye! I, King Sigmund demand you all wake!” He began to pound a wooden spoon on an iron pot, creating a loud noise that echoed through the whole forest. All the boys and children walked out of their small shacks from all the noise Sigmund kept making. “What is all that noise...?” Asked one of the younger children, clothes bigger than he could fit, dirt all around his skin, poor lad was scratching his eyes, waking to the light of the morning. Tobey was his name. Kid was the youngest one of us. Sigmund was extremely frustrated. See, we had been planning a small heist for some time now, and he had asked all of us to acquire a key item to be able to successfully take what we were looking for. “Have all of you forgotten what it is today? We can’t miss this!” He shouted in between groans. One of the boys in another platform, Reeve, bigger in size, clothes tightly fitted, bit of a monster if you asked me, asked him: “I thought the day would be the king’s name day...” There was a clear confusion in his words. Sigmund furiously shouted back at him: “Today *is* his name day, you dimwit!” Sigmund took a deep a breath and gave the command. “Everyone to the war room!” He ran and jumped to grab on to a handle hanging from a rope, sliding his way down. The rest of the troop all jumped into their own ropes and made their way below into a small cave opening. Once inside, the cave went into a small room that had a table made from wood which we ourselves carved. Eight young kids surrounding the table, they each took to their chair. The room was decorated in the jagged style of a battle station. On the table, a crude handmade map of the city carved into it, it showed the different sectors of the city space. Sigmund began to speak as everyone eagerly listened: “As you all know, today is the king’s name day. And if there’s something that old geezer loves, is a good old city-wide parade. We’ve come up short every other time, but I’m positive we’ll get it this time.” With a crude ink-like substance, Sigmund wet a broken bamboo stick and began to mark on the map: “If the kids at the park are telling the truth, the parade is going to start from the church in the Graham Ward. From there, they will be taking the main road across the Merchant Ward all the way to the Fort. In there, he will be having his big party with all the other old people in the city.” “Did you all gather the things from the list I gave you?” Asked Sigmund like a captain to his crew. “Well, we were able to get most of the things. But how in the world are we supposed to get a sword and a helmet? It’s not like we’re knights!” said Ernis, a child growing into a boy. Towards the entrance, a scraping noise could be heard approaching. All of them stopped what they are doing to watch out for what was coming their way. The room fell silent and the noises stopped. Everyone was on their toes when all of a sudden a piece of metal flied through the entrance. Loud clanking as an iron helmet hit the table. And there I was, a boy in the middle of his teenage years, oak brown hair reaching my neck. On my hand, a sword was resting on my shoulder as I walked in. “I believe this was requested of me.” I said full of overconfidence of my skills back then. “Sigmund was shocked in awe when I came in with a knight’s armor. His face was priceless.” Said the man with a smirk as he reminisced his youth. “Wait.” Said the boy, stopping to gather the story. “You’re telling me, that you used to live in tree houses, with a bunch of kids?” The man stopped his step. “I know I never talk much about my younger days. Most of it was struggle, pain, deception. Not the kind of stories one shares at bed time, I’m afraid...” The man takes a deep breath and continues their path. “Anyhow, where were we...? Ah, yes...” “How in the world were you able to get this, Gaelin?” Asked Sigmund in awe of what was no easy feat. See, I had gone through the sewer system of the city which led under the armory of the city’s guard. I hid under the shadow of the night, shocked On that day, we were planning to steal right from the king’s keep. If we were to be caught, it was straight to the gallows for us. But Sigmund was never afraid to risk it all if it meant getting what we needed. After all, nobody was going to do it for us. \ Hey everyone! New to this sub! I would love some feedback and general feel of how this is going. If you enjoy it, I'm maybe going to be uploading the next parts.