The village of Belan

 A spear thrust came faster than lightning.

Hugo stumbled back, barely dodging the attack by the skin of his teeth. He only had a single moment to make note of the locks hair that had fallen to the ground, the weapon having grazed his head.

Three more thrusts came just as quickly as before, he blocked the first with his own spear, sidestepped the second before catching the third in between his armpit. His foe tugged at the weapon, attempting to wrench it out of his grip.

Just a year ago, Hugo would’ve been thrown around like a sack of wheat, unable to do a thing against his much larger opponent. But he had grown much since then, and was able to hold his ground, if only barely.

That small victory meant very little when his foe let go of his weapon before making the distance between them in a single second, tackling him to the ground.

The boy let out a wheeze of pain as his back made contact with the ground, no grass left to soften his fall due to their constant sparring over the years.

He never got the chance to recover, his foe having trapped Hugo in their iron grip, slowly choking him out. The seconds passed them by, his futile attempts at breaking free weakening as his strength slowly left him.

“Do you surrender?” Playful smugness painted every word of the now clear victor.

“Y–yes.” Hugo struggled out weakly, letting out a desperate gasp as he was finally released.

He laid there on the ground for a good minute, breathing heavily as sweat poured down every inch of his body, the afternoon sun shining down upon him with all its unbearable heat.

His salvation came from a bucket of ice cold water, drawn from the river that flowed just a dozen meters away.

“Get up! No son of mine will die from a heatstroke. You can heave all you want after getting into the shade.” A large shadow now loomed over him, the victor of the duel standing above with a bucket held in his hands.

“Ju-just throw me into the river.” His father raised an eyebrow before slugging him over his shoulder like a sack of grain. The shade of the trees that ran along the river covered him a few moments later, saving him from the harsh sunlight.

A sigh of relief was followed by a gasp of surprise as he was thrown nearly a meter into the air, a loud splash could be heard as he impacted water.

“Cold! Cold! Cold! Cold! Cold!…” Hugo repeated as he ran to get out of the waist deep river, his father let out a boisterous laugh.

“You got what you wanted!”

He made sure to splash water towards father’s way before climbing out onto the bank, the laughter only seemed to grow louder and more exaggerated in response.

“Even after five years of getting tossed around you fail to accept your defeat with grace, for shame!”

“And you still fail to go easy on your son.” Hugo took off his dirty shirt, wringing the water out while doing his best to ignore the impending verbal beatdown he’ll get from his older sister.

It’s not his fault she’s always on laundry duty.

His father’s arm was suddenly thrown around his shoulders, the man’s burly frame nearly throwing him into the ground.

“I, Rucio, have sworn upon this land to remain forever diligent and unyielding! And as we are twins in all but age, you too shall taste the bitterness of hard work!” He dramatically raised a clenched fist high into the air, as though he had just made a great proclamation.

Hugo had to sigh at the ridiculous scene and logic. He glanced down into the river, hoping the few moments of silence would be enough for his father to get the smugness out of his system.

The two truly were twins in all but age, identical mops of dirty blonde upon their heads and a quartet of azure eyes being reflected in the water. Even their clothes were similar, old shirts and a pair of pants decorated with cheap dyes of red and blue.

The only difference was a rugged beard and sharper features, along with one clearly being far more amused than the other.

“I wish you would keep me out of your creed. Haven’t you heard of ‘sins of the father’? You shouldn’t make your son suffer like this.”

Rucio shook his head with a massive grin on his face.

“Nope! Never heard of it. You’ll just have to bear with your father, you still love me above anyone else don’t you?”

Hugo leaned down before taking a step backwards to get out of his father’s hold.

“No, that would be mom, then sister as a close second.” He replied dryly.

The older man dramatically held his hands over his heart, reclining as though he had been punched in the gut.

“Ranking family members now are we? I declare upon my honor, this slight shall not be forgotten!” He wheezed out.

Hugo sweatdropped before putting his shirt back on. How someone so old can be so shameless he’ll never understand.

“Chief! Get over here, the tax collector came for this month’s coin.” Someone called out.

Rucio roughly patted him on the head before jogging towards the farmer shouting in the distance.

“Got it! I’ll make sure that snake takes not one bronze more than he ought to!”

He turned around at the last moment.

“Hugo! I’m busy with work, I bestow upon you today’s firewood duty, accept it with grace and honor!”

“Wha?! I did it all week, it’s your turn!” Much to his frustration, his father was already out of earshot.

Damn.

The boy let out a tired sigh that lasted for at least a dozen seconds before picking up the two blunt spears left at their little training ground, really nothing more than a small fenced off area of dirt that turned into mud every time it rained due to the lack of grass within.

He slowly began to walk towards his home. The village surrounding him was one among thousands, a small livestock settlement of a hundred families at most. Located in the west deep within humanity’s territory, there were few places more peaceful than Belan.

No bandits to wreak havoc, no hails of ice to kill livestock, no swarms of ants to devour them whole. Just fields of green stretching out to infinity.

People waved as he passed, the occasional ox pulled cart making him go off the dirt road. The green hills eventually gave way to reveal a cabin only somewhat larger than the ones that surrounded them, a small stable out back keeping the few horses they owned.

Placing the spears by the door, Hugo drew from the well in their yard to fill a water trough for the animals before grabbing an axe to chop wood.

One day among thousands, the reality of his situation buried deep under the passage of time. The smoke filled skies and the high clock towers of his old home long tucked away into the back of his mind.

Drip

Drip

Drip.

His stomach dropped as he frantically turned around, a lone lantern seen for just a single moment.

But no. A mare stared at him, water dripping from its mouth.

Hugo shook his head before heading towards the chopping stump. There was no need to remember that moment any further.

It was merely one day among thousands.