The chirping of birds was like a soothing lullaby that helped me fall asleep as well as wake up from the very dream I always had.
Summer ended a few weeks ago, making it the first month of the fall. The chilly breeze that came from my broken window was like a reminder that I had to wake up sooner or later.
My bedding, or whatever it was. Laid on the ground, in the corner of a former bedroom. Made of old hay covered by long, sturdy pieces of cloth and leather.
Looking through the window, I scanned the premises of my garden to see any signs of someone or something trying to make its way to me. Thankfully, there were no traces.
Alright, new day, new me, I suppose.
Closing my eyes for a brief moment and opening them back, they seemed to turn a deep shade of gray, similar to that of the old man who appeared in my dream.
...
Under the pale lit September sun stood a small village, or at least what remained of it, as most of the buildings remained in a ruined state, threatening to collapse at any given moment. It was a ghost town of sorts, with not a single living soul inhabiting these lands.
Or atleast should have been if not for the single child that lived in it like its chief.
-Huff
Rough breaths echoed from one of the corners of the ghost town.
Amidst the rubble and ruined terrain was a house that looked worse than the ones left in ruins; however, the modifications made it somewhat inhabitable for some.
Where holes were supposed to leak cold air inside, stood walls of stones crudely placed in piles. The broken windows that couldn't be opened or closed without injuring oneself were covered by long pieces of cloth that were carried by the wind lightly.
A door to the house was the only thing that hadn't lost its shape to the bizarre remodeling, standing proudly at the front of the house with letters scribbled over it, on the top of a big wooden pole that stood a dozen meters away from said building.
In a crude manner like that of an uneducated child, it said.
'Local Property of Zephyr.
Knock first.'
The door, or rather the sign, was rather useless for Zephyr, who didn't have a chance to meet many people.
Who in their right mind would want to come here? To a little village in the west that no one cared about. There was no reason to blame them for that; the records of this place were most likely already erased from world maps and only known to local cities. He still chose to stay here after being treated as dead.
It was his hometown after all, how could he abandon something so precious to him only because it's empty?
- Thud
A dummy fell to the ground with a loud thud that scattered dust clouds around it. With a clean cut going from the top of its right shoulder down to the bottom left of the torso.
He stood in front of the dummy, breathing heavily, the makeshift stone blade gripped tightly in his small hands. Without any hesitation, he lodged the blade into the dummy's belly.
Shut up.
His eyes dug into the dummy with a sharp look. Moments later, he frowned.
"Shut... it?" Realizing he had misspelled the words, he sat down on the ground with a sigh, scratching the back of his head awkwardly.
How does he keep doing that!?! Ughhh, this is going to drive me nuts!
Glancing at the dummy with the corner of his eye, its mossy surface and stick limbs couldn't help but fall out from the crudely shaped training dummy.
Like sand, it broke down and spread across the ground.
I really need something sturdier.
Having such thoughts, he held his head using the sleeve of his grey cotton shirt and supported himself with the sword.
Walking past the fallen dummy, he sat down on an old bench with one of its halves already gone and picked up a book of sorts.
The material used for the cover wasn't any fancy leather that was usually found in libraries; it was the cheapest one, coming from a deer that its previous owner had hunted and eaten.
Flipping towards it's middle, he found another message that was left behind by its old owner and creator. Reading it was also the reason he knew how to write.
"If you see this, then I hope it's too late to tell you how much I missed spending time with you, Zephyr. Do you remember how I threw you into a well by accident? The entire village threatened to burn me on a crest, but i prevailed! After all, what could they have possibly done to a person who saved you?
Oh, but don't tell Frank about this; he always gets pissed after seeing me next to you. I wonder why he dislikes me so much.
Anyway, i see that you got quite far. From this point forward, what you need the most isn't training but 'experience'. If you don't know what it means, then figure it out yourself. Thank you for being so diligent and good luck once more, love ya!"
- Clench
His hands, which held the book, started to tremble slightly, tightening the grip.
Feeling a shiver on his back, he looked again at the dummy that faced his direction. Its shape reminded him of the person who wrote the book and left the message.
A while later, a breath escaped his trembling lips after he shot up from the bench and threw the book inside the broken window of his house, with a soft thud, it landed on a bed safely. Standing once more over the transfigured dummy, he took out the sword and-
- Thwack
With the heel of his boot, he started to stomp it as if it were a living being.
- Thwack, Thwack.
The squelching of wet moss was like a song to his ears, each stomp making his body feel fired up. One after another, the dummy was no longer what it was before. The broken pieces of stick, stuck to the edges of its big mossy pile.
It reminded him of a cow dung in both shape and size.
Taking a step back, he put the sword of his inside a scabbard, which for some stupid reason was strapped to his back.
A muffled rumble came from below his chest, reminding him that he needed something more than training and sleeping to live.
Let's hope I caught something this time.
He didn't want to once again wander in the forest for months.