Abandoned Futures

We had only just met, but this was literally a suicide mission now. I shouldn’t even be going to find it, let alone her. She still had so much that she could do. Eri'Sol was scared, too scared to admit that she wanted to quit. I couldn’t let her keep going. I rested a hand on her shoulder to comfort her.

But to my surprise, Eri'Sol grabbed my wrist and looked up at me. The shaking was still there, I could feel it, but I saw that fire in her once more. The same determination that forced herself into my company. She couldn’t possibly intend to keep going. She would die. I was going to die. “I won’t abandon you. I know what you’re trying to do.”

“But Eri, I’ve already died once. What does it matter if I do?” Why am I saying this? What’s wrong with me? This wasn’t anything like me. “You’re alive and can still be so. They can just get another hero, but it’s over if you die!”

Suddenly, my face stung. I blinked, needing a moment to realize that she had slapped me. There were tears in her eyes. “Don’t say that! You’re alive too! You can’t sacrifice yourself!”

“But Eri…”

“Abandon the request. You made a promise to Erina!” She squeezed onto my arm almost painfully. “You’re not leaving either.” What happened to her? I wasn’t expecting to hit some trauma with this.

I knelt down trying to show her that I wasn’t going to run away. “Eri, what’s wrong?”

She looked at me slowly, releasing my arm. There was something motivating her. Every rejection came from something. I wanted to know what was the driving force behind her. Maybe she could convince me. Though I felt it was still a bad idea. But I took a seat in the other chair at the table letting Eri'Sol come to the words.

It took a minute before she was ready to talk. “My parents don’t want me to be an adventurer. They rejected it out right nearly to the point of the disowning. But it was something I had to do. I had to keep my promise.”

Eri'Sol paused, grabbing her massive sword from the wall. With ease, she held up pointing the tip towards me, its metal catching the sun starting to enter. “Welkin wanted to be an adventurer since we were kids. He always talked about joining the heroes to save the kingdom from monsters and demons. He was going to be the shield that protected everyone here.”

She smiled a bit, looking like she was thinking of happier memories. “Most kids would say things like that all the time. But his family came from a line of guards and mercenaries. He was going to make it happen.” Family tradition was something that I was all too familiar with, but there was something different about the way that Eri'Sol talked about it. I felt there was something she wasn’t telling me. There was more weight to it than just tradition.

“We played together. Every time he promised to see his dream and I promised to make the weapon and armor he would use. His parents weren’t too keen about that, but I think they just saw it as children not understanding how the world actually worked.”

There wasn’t a happy ending to this story. Given what Eri'Sol was doing now, I saw tragedy coming. But what happened?

“One time when we were playing outside the town. Because of me, he protected me from a poisonous maneating plant. He was completely paralyzed from the waist down. Healers couldn’t repair the damage. Maybe we could’ve found someone with a long history, but it's beyond everyone here. I destroyed his dream, his family’s future.” Eri'Sol started to cry, completely losing herself in her memories.

I jumped over to comfort her. The energetic girl that I knew had disappeared. It was like seeing a completely different person. And yet so much of her started to make more sense to me now. Her behaviors and actions, the recklessness, I saw what she was doing. But there was still something that I was missing.

Eri'Sol needed time though. So I just hugged her and let her cry. I think it was easily half an hour before she was fully recovered enough to speak again. She gave me a nod for reassurance. I took a seat once more. “Can I ask you a question, Eri? It’s sort of related, but I think it’s important.”

“Alright…what is it?”

“You’ve talked about family tradition. Your parents threatened to disown you. But the way you talk about it sounds like there’s a lot more importance on it, like with your friend.”

“I guess you haven’t been explained it. You know how there is a soul in everything?” I nodded, recalling Mrs. Erina mentioning that belief of theirs. “Well, as you use and maintain a tool or item, you slowly build a relationship with it and it grows and develops over time. You know how you can get levels and new abilities. That is how it is for us, but it takes lifetimes.”

“Lifetimes?”

“Yes, that’s why it becomes tradition. Once a career is started, the bond is created and passed on to the next in line. If you can keep loving and caring for your belongings they’ll gain a soul and a degree of sentience. I heard there are legendary weapons and tools that can actually manifest a physical body.”

It was starting to make sense. The change of careers would be a huge setback. That was why she had so few abilities, which I didn’t think was unusual. But more than likely someone with a history would have far more than her. “So that was why you were so adamant about keeping your stuff.”

“I made this sword against my parents wishes. I abandoned everything that they set up for me. I can’t blame them, but I had to do this for Welkin. I need to carry his dream forward.” She stared at me. That determination was there again. Her eyes looked red, but that didn’t stop her. This was dangerous and reckless from everything I knew now. Would he really want her to carry the dream on like this?

I sighed to myself. She had already decided before what was happening. Eri'Sol just waited for me to accept it as well. There was the reality that we still didn’t know where the demon was. Perhaps it would give us time to become stronger. Who was I kidding? We were still going to be out of depth most likely.

“Fine. I’m glad to know why you’re set on this course. But you need to talk to your parents. You need to resolve things with them.”

“I know. The last time I saw them, all we did was yell. I don’t know how I can approach them anymore.”

“I’ll be there with you. You’re not letting me sacrifice myself, right? Then I won’t let you run away from them. Deal?”

“I guess that’s fair!” She finally smiled that warm grin that I missed. We were committed to the course. A path that would lead us to a demon. Just my luck, I guess maybe I really am cursed.