Polymath Redux

Chapter 35: A perfect guide on how to raise your hero

-10 years ago-

Through the heavy downpour of rain obscuring his eyes, a boy stared dejectedly over the corpse of his mother. In a cruel twist of fate his mother who had been smiling only a few hours ago no laid lifeless on the floor. With the sound of rain hitting the floor and obstructing all other, the boy felt his entire world go silent. His brain refused to accept this fate; it was all too absurd for him to even take in the fact that he would never get to hear his mother's gentle voice, the warmth of her touch and the comfort of her existence.

The boy, no older than seven crept closer. With every step the cruel fact of reality solidified harder and harder in his mind. The boy may not have been a genius but he was far from naïve; in this world naivety would only result in death. He had been taught to prepare for everything by his beloved mother but how could he have prepared for having his entire world stolen from him?

"M... mother..."

The boy staggered forward with a ghastly expression of disbelief. The lifeless figure of a beautiful woman laid upon the wet grass almost with a smile on her face. Was she happy? How could she be happy when she had just been killed? Just what were this woman's final thoughts as she passed on?

Her once blonde hair now muddied by the dirt and rain with her fair dress in tatters with the evidence of combat. In her right hand a small bronze sword, in her left a wooden buckler. Through her abdomen a cruel hole which was what took her life.

"Mother!"

The boy ran up and dropped onto the floor, shaking his mother violently to wake up but she would not open her eyes. In denial the boy continued to wake her up but it was to no avail. Mixed in with rain were the boy's tears, his emotions having overridden his body he broke down in tears. The gentle oasis of his heart, his mother was now no more; what was he to do now?

"Tsk... even till the very end she wouldn't give up."

A deep voice spoke out. Crouched down in pain next to a tree was a figure hidden by the shade of the trees. The only thing the boy could make out about the person was his gleaming golden eyes that pierced through the darkness. Eyes filled with malice and hatred for the woman that laid dead in front of the boy and by extension also the boy.

The shadowed figure stood up with the help of the three and staggered his way over to the boy with a bloodied sword in his hand. The same sword that had taken the life of the woman was now about to take the life of the son. The boy simply stared apathetically at the unidentifiable man, awaiting his deaths so that he'd be reunited with his mother. Perhaps then the pain in his chest would cease, everything would cease.

Like a guillotine the man brought down the cold blade towards the young boy. The boy shut his eyes tightly as he awaited his death, however it never came. The sound of rain continued to ring through his ears signaling that his death had been prevented. Did the man have a change of heart? The boy slowly reopened his eyes to see what was wrong. It was not that the man didn't want to kill the boy but was unable to as a faint barrier surrounding the boy had protected him.

Underneath his shirt a faint glow could be detected coming from his pendant. A small metal accessory given to him by his mother, it wasn't any mere accessory but a warding charm of the highest quality.

The sword was unable to penetrate the shield and thus the situation had turned into a stalemate. As though his sword was merely a blunt weapon loud thuds and shockwaves continued to be produced by the sheer weight and power of the man's swings. The man brought down a violent barrage to get through the barrier but it was all to no avail.

Alerted by the loud noise the local guards had come rushing towards the site of the disturbance. The clanging of metallic armor could be heard through the muddied ground also alerting the man.