The Boy

A traveler with a large hat walked through a ruined city. Once, it was a bustling metropolis, but it has long since been abandoned. Only a few of the ancient buildings still kept their original form. Most of the city had been reduced to rubble and dust. While moving down the cracked stone road, the traveler heard a noise. It came from a building at the center of the city. It was larger and taller than anything else around it. 

Intrigued by the noise, the traveler went into the building. Its doorways and windows were empty since the glass and wood broke down a while ago. The inside was dark, lit by sunlight coming through a few openings in the walls. A loud noise echoed throughout the building. It sounded like nothing else the traveler had heard before. Because of the echo, there was no way to tell where it came from. 

The traveler searched through the whole structure, looking for the source of the sound. Starting from the outer rooms working toward the middle. Little more than empty space, the rooms contained nothing capable of creating such a loud sound. It wasn't a piece of the wall falling either. The sound was not that of stones crashing against one another. 

After looking around most of the building, the traveler moved to the center room. It was much more impressive than the side rooms. The ceiling was high and arched, held up by massive pillars. Decorative tile made broken images on the floor. A large window at the back of the room illuminated the majority of the room. The traveler could now clearly tell that the sound was coming from the middle of the room. 

In the middle of the room, there was what appeared to be a crack in the air. It was as if someone had taken a hammer and smashed it. The crack glowed a pure white and produced an otherworldly sound. Becoming louder and more brilliant, the crack began to enlarge. It fractured across the air like a lightning bolt going every direction. The fissure eventually stopped growing, but the sound was almost too much to bear. All of a sudden, it flashed with an intense light blinding the traveler for a short period. 

When their sight returned, the crack was nowhere to be seen. The deafening sound had stopped too. However, not everything was back to normal. Where the crack had once been, a young boy now laid. He was unconscious, wearing ripped pieces of cloth that hardly resembled clothes. Strangest of all, his hair was a striking scarlet red.

The traveler carried the boy on their back and went to the nearest village. They hoped that some family in the village could take care of the boy. A traveling lifestyle would not go well with raising a child. Once in the village, the traveler went around asking if anyone could take care of the boy. Most families seemed open to it at first until they asked to see the child. Upon seeing his hair color, they all refused immediately. 

With no more options left, save for abandoning the child, the traveler left the village. They found the villager's reactions to the boy's hair odd. It was definitely abnormal, but it's not like it was a horrible disfiguration or anything. There had to be something about it that elicited such harsh refusals. When the traveler looked at the boy, he looked just like any other boy, just with different hair. 

The traveler went to the next village down the road. When asked about the boy, the response was almost identical to the first village. After the last family refused to take the boy, the traveler decided to find out what was going on. 

"What is wrong with this boy? Why won't you or anyone else here take him?" The traveler asked the mother. 

"That boy is a demon. Anyone would be wise to stay away from him." 

"A demon? He looks like a regular boy to me." 

"Stories have been passed down in this area for generations about the demons with red hair. Wherever they are, devastation always follows. They are the bringers of destruction. No one knows how they do it, but many villages have been wiped out after someone with red hair arrives."

"But he's just a kid. How is he any threat to this village?"

"Some have seen the red-haired people appear from the world of spirits. Even the language they speak is not of this world. He's only appearing to be a human for now. That body is only a mask for the true monstrosity inside of him." 

"You people have become mad with superstition. Afraid of a mere child!" The traveler said as they stormed off with the boy. If no one would take the child in, then they would raise him by themselves. Leaving the village, the traveler began the long journey home. They lived in a remote place far from civilization. 

On the way there, the boy woke up. The traveler let him down from their back, and he just looked around in a daze. Waving their hands in front of his face, the traveler tried to get his attention. Noticing the traveler, the boy jumped back out of fear. 

"It's okay, I won't hurt you," the traveler said calmly. 

The boy only stared back in confusion. It was clear that he couldn't understand the traveler's words. 

The traveler took off their necklace and handed it to the boy. "Take this." He responded in a language the traveler had never heard before. Eventually, the traveler got him to hold the necklace. With some hand motions, the traveler instructed the boy how to put it on. Once he had it around his neck, the traveler tried to talk to him again. 

"Hi there." 

The boy was surprised to be able to understand the words. "...hi," he replied softly. 

"My name's Ereguard. What's yours?"

"I... I don't know," the boy stammered. 

"You don't know your own name?" 

"I can't remember." 

"Can you remember what happened before you met me?" 

"There was a bright light." 

"Good. Can you remember your parents or where you came from?" 

The boy thought for a moment. "No, I just remember the light." 

"You're not some evil spirit bent on destruction, are you?" 

"I don't understand." 

"I didn't think so. Forget about that. I'm making a trip to my home. Do you care to join me?" 

"I guess so." 

"Great! Let's get walking then. I'm tired of carrying you." 

The two of them started to walk towards Ereguard's house. For a while, they both remained quiet as they moved along. Ereguard was the first to break the silence. 

"You've been keeping up with me quite well, boy. You're a natural-born traveler."

"Thanks." 

"By the way, I don't want to keep calling you boy. I'll have to come up with a name for you. How about I give you suggestions and whichever one you like will be your name. Sound good?" 

The boy nodded. 

"Ok, how about... Heram?" 

The boy shook his head. 

"Yeah, I didn't really like that one either. What about Liunu?"

The boy shook his head again. 

"You're quite picky. Don't worry. I'll find a name that suits you no matter how long it takes me." Ereguard spent the rest of the trip trying to come up with names. She came up with so many that she lost count. The boy didn't take a liking to any of them. 

around nightfall, they arrived at Ereguard's house. It was hidden away in a small forest. The house itself wasn't all that impressive. Made with old wood and a questionable layout, it was definitely built by an amateur. Its entrance opened up to the bedroom, which was then connected to the kitchen. Past the kitchen was a small living area with an oblong shape. A storage shed stood outside the back of the house. It looked as if it could collapse at any moment. 

"How do you like my house? I built it all myself, you know." 

The boy couldn't think of an adequate answer. 

"Must be speechless from the beauty. I don't come here often, though. So we'll have to clean up a bit." Ereguard and the boy spent the rest of the day cleaning the copious amounts of dust in the house. Since there was only one bedroom, the boy had to sleep in the living area. 

The next morning, Ereguard took the boy outside. "Before I was a traveler, I used to live here all by myself. Since this place is far from any village or town, I had to provide for myself. So, to live here again I'm going to have to teach you some things." 

"Ok." 

"First, we need to make a garden. I still have some seeds stored away, so we just need to soften the soil. After we plant the seeds, we won't get any food from them for a little while. In the meantime, We'll have to take whatever's edible from the forest." 

They spent the first couple hours of the morning tilling the ground and planting seeds. After they got a portion of that done, Ereguard brought the boy into the forest. She told him what plants were safe to eat, and they gathered enough for lunch. Later, She taught the boy how to lay traps and how to prepare meat. At the end of the day, they went to sleep and began the process again. 

Many days of tending the gardens and gathering from the forest passed quickly. Each day, Ereguard would try and come up with more name suggestions, but they never seemed to be the right one for the boy. A few months came and went until the garden started to produce food. By that time, they had less work to do and were able to relax a bit more. 

One day, the boy became interested in what was in the shed. He tried to go inside, but Ereguard slammed the door closed in front of him. 

"You are not allowed to go in there under any circumstances." 

"Why?" 

"I never told you, but I used to be a Seeker before I met you." 

"What's a Seeker?" 

"The Seekers are a group of people dedicated to finding ancient artifacts around the world. Many of those artifacts are imbued with various powers. They can lead to dangerous situations if left unattended. It's a Seeker's job to collect and monitor the artifacts to help preserve the world and the people in it." 

"Can I become a Seeker?" 

"There's a place called Aragai where beginning Seekers are trained. Whether you could pass the training or not is up to you."

"Where is it? Can we go there?" The boy asked excitedly. 

"I think you're still too young to go there. In a few years, if you still want to go, I'll take you there. Until then, I can teach you about some basic stuff." 

"Alright." 

Years passed as the boy and Ereguard lived in their quiet house in the forest. However, the boy still went without a name. Ereguard had mostly gotten used to just calling him boy. She still held out hope that one day he would regain his memories and his original name. That didn't stop her from trying to come up with name suggestions every so often.  The boy continued to learn about Seekers from Ereguard. He was taught about things like the Essence and gained a better understanding of history. 

One day, a crack in the air appeared in the forest near the house. It was similar to the one that had led to Ereguard meeting the boy. The boy was the first to notice it, and he showed it to Ereguard. She told the boy to stay away from it and that she would keep an eye on it for a while. After a few days, the crack had grown considerably and didn't show signs of stopping. The trees around it were beginning to warp in strange ways. 

Another week went by, and the crack was now large enough to be seen from the house. It was engulfing a large portion of the forest and was still spreading. Ereguard decided that something had to be done about it sooner or later. 

"You're going inside of that thing!?" The boy asked.

"If I enter it I should be able to find out how to stop it from expanding. I can't leave it alone anymore. It'll destroy this entire forest or worse at the rate it's growing."

"Why do you have to do it? Couldn't I go inside instead?" 

"No, you're still too inexperienced. I'm the only one who can do it." 

"Maybe it will stop growing. Then you won't have to do anything." 

"Alright, I'll give it another day to see if I need to do something or not." 

That night, Ereguard couldn't sleep, so she went to see if the crack was still growing. When she stepped out of the house, she saw it only a short distance away. It was rapidly growing towards the house. Ereguard knew that she needed to enter it now before it could get any larger. She hoped for the best as she touched the crack and disappeared along with it. 

In the morning, the boy woke up and didn't see Ereguard anywhere in the house. He went outside and immediately realized what had happened. The crack was gone along with Ereguard. She had entered it and vanished. Tears welled in his eyes, and he ran back inside to cry. While entering the house, he noticed a piece of paper lying on a table in the bedroom. It was a letter addressed to him. It read:

Dear boy, if you're reading this, that means that I've disappeared. I know it will be tough for you, but I don't believe this is our last time seeing each other. I think if I can figure out whatever's going on in that rift, then I can figure out how to leave it. While you wait for my return, you should head to Aragai. There should be a map leading to it in the shed. You can take whatever artifacts you want out of the shed. They should be useful for your future journeys. Also, I think I've got the perfect name for you this time. What do you think about Sojou?

Sojou cried for a while longer before going out to the shed. In the shed, he found the map and many artifacts. He packed artifacts into a special box that Ereguard had shown him once. It could store anything and it would always weigh the same. Before he left, he grabbed a huge hat like the one Ereguard wore and put it on. Then he headed to Aragai.