"M-mom? I-is there anything I can do to just...move on?"
Arielle took her time mulling through the question posed by her son, as she knew all too well just what he went through. While death can be considered normal, in relative terms; seeing a half-eaten corpse of your sweetheart & her sisters, would be a shocker for anyone, including her.
Soon, her wounds resounded loudly calmly & confidence. "Do you know it isn't fault?"
"Yes...and no."
"I see." She said as she inhaled, before speaking again. "Christopher. You cannot change the past, no matter what you do. The only thing you can change, is the future." With his head still on her chest, Arielle could feel the tears of her son, pouring down her skin; encouraging her to continue.
"Nobody expected the beast tide, let alone one of this magnitude. Some people were lucky to live, some... weren't. The Brambles were some of the people who weren't fated to live. You can think that if you trained harder, or got there faster, or something else, something could have changed; but Christopher... Those are simply excuses you are using to avoid the current reality you are in." Leaning back slowly, Arielle then slid her hand under the chin of her son, and raising his head, she solemnly finished her advice.
"I doubt Elise would want you to keep making excuses for yourself as you drown yourself in misery. At least I am sure of that, since I also would wouldn't be able to handle it."
A soft smile appeared on her tired face, and if one would look closer, they would see how close to tearing up Arielle was. All the while. Chris, took all of her words seriously and didn't allow even a single word to leave his memory, and at this moment, Chris was reprimanding himself inside his mind.
'Excuses, huh. Am I really... that pathetic?'
Arielle's words light a small ember in Chris's heart, forcing him to hastily collect himself. His shoulders no longer drooped, he regained some strength in his body, and his voice didn't seem so down as he spoke.
"Mom. Can you please give me a bit to collect myself? I will be right outside." And in response to his mother's soft smile, he did one of his own, which upon seeing, Arielle was truly glad. Glad that he didn't wallow in grief. Naturally, she had to encourage him to continue moving forward. "Sure thing, darling. Come find me outside, I will be doing some work with what remains of the village." After which, she stood up, and gracefully walked out of the room, closing the door behind her.
Now, Chris had to overcome perhaps the most important moment in his life. The beast tide & everything he witnessed completely erased any of his future goals, his understanding of justice, destiny, even belief.
'If the world is so graceful so as to summon Saints to protect this world from other worlds... Why can't it simply eradicate all beasts once and for all? It can't possibly take that much effort considering the Saints are summoned roughly every decade or two.' Chris began contemplating. Believing that Elise wouldn't want him to blame himself, Chris decided to point out the cause of the tragedy. However...
'I know too little. Despise all the books I read about history, various vultures, fantasy novels, academic theories, everything... I still lack knowledge.' This is acknowledgement of yet another weakness would prove crucial towards understanding how to move forward.
'I have always looked down upon violence, since I thought knowledge was the key to everything but... didn't what happened prove everything otherwise? No, that's not what it proved...'
'Ah. I see now. What use is knowledge if you cannot act upon it, and what use is strength if you do not how to use it. This is what I have learned.' Pieces of an enormous puzzle began constantly clicking together as the ember burning within Chris, slowly turned more intensive with each passing moment until he finally, reached the conclusion. Only this time, the words weren't in his mind, but out loud, a determined conviction leaving his lips.
"In order to know more about the current situation, I need to travel. In order to travel, I need to get stronger. In order to get stronger, I need to learn from both mother and father, and anyone else I can from right now. Though... That won't be the end of it... I will become a Knight serving a Saint. I want to know where the beasts, and the Beast Lords come form, and what better way is there to learn, then from the very beings who are destined to destroy them. I will become so strong, that I will be able to do anything I may desire."
Speaking every world out loud, fueled his resolve as it steeled itself, evolving. He was no longer a lost lamb, nor a crying a child. Now, Christopher Schmidt, has grown up.
Trying to move his body proved far less harder now, and with newfound strength, Chris slowly got off the bed, dressed up, picked up the very same sword he used just earlier today, attached it to his waist, and went outside.
Chris was almost ready to see the sun shining brightly above his head as he stepped out of the house, yet, what greeted him was something different. Instead of the glistening yellow sun, the sky was filled with a somber grey, the sun dimmed, and the air was cold.
Looking around, Chris was about to say something, but noticing how people around him just went about doing their own assignments, there were already used to it. It was then that Chris was once again reminded, that this world that he lives in now, is no longer the peaceful sunny Grimsby he had once known. Regardless for the current weather now, Chris also remembered how he'd promised his mother he would find her after he collected himself, and so went onwards, to the village gates, one of the likelier places she would be at.
'Fortifying our current defenses and building new ones is our current objective. I'll hold off from grilling my parents on swordsmanship until after we redefine what our peace means,'