-Break-
Location: Zaad Ziener; Captivant's House, Kitchen
Φ With his body laid out on a chair, with his forehead held against the table, the young boy groans and turns as he sleeps, unable to gather up the strength to do anything but keep his mouth breathing.
Suddenly, from above his head, a bowl crashes down, and with a happy expression across her face, Captivant's mother lays out a steaming bowl of stew. As the smell crawls up the boy's nose, his head immediately raises, and his eyes fall on the delicious treat in front of him.
With tears raging down from his eyelids, he stares into the bowl with wonder, hunger, and happiness all trying to grab a portion of his mind. Turning his head to her with saliva pouring out of his mouth, he says, "Is this for me?"
She nods her head, and then the boy puts his head together for prayer before slamming it directly into the bowl in front of himself, and quickly takes a large gulp, sucking in all of the nutrients into his body, bringing life into his dead flesh.
Pulling up his head, he stares at Captivant's mother and says, "You sired this with your hands? You conceived this inside the precious womb known as your kitchen? You choose to fall from heaven to grace my mouth with perfection? My name is Siegrund Bisumod. PLEASE BE MY WIFE!"
She puts up both her arms, forming an X with a smile beaming across her face, shifting the young man's face downward back towards his stew. Yet as the smile smacks against his nostril yet again, he raises it and says, "Then please bless me with your name, goddess; it's all I wish to know for the rest of my life!"
"Domitia Nightfall," Captivant says with his arms crossed on the other edge of the table.
Staring at her, Siegrund says, "I see. It's a beautiful name. I honour the beauty in front of my eyes and in my stomach; I shall devour this all without leaving even a speck behind."
Φ Trying to hide my smile from him, I put my elbows against the table, then use my hands to cover up my face. This is brilliant, so brilliant. Exactly like I planned. It's almost going too well.
To think I was able to get this child to eat my mother's cooking and fall into a great debt to my family, and now that I have gotten some time to approach this confidently, I can tell this child is a Sieg Bisumod, a child from one of the most powerful warrior families in Molstoria.
He is only my age, yet he is already training this far down in Terrafide. Either he got lost on a trip, or he is on some kind of training journey. Either way, he will need money and connections, and with my overflowing charisma and genius, I will be able to get him to do my bidding.
I just need to wait for a while so he can get a full stomach. Yes, eat piggy, eat the food I have brought you, and fall into my debt now and forevermore.
-Break-
Huh? What is going on here?
Φ As Captivant looks with disbelief at the sight in front of him, the endless stack of plates that his mother keeps dropping at the boy's side stacks up and up and up till it completely covers the boy's body.
Turning to Domitia, Siegrund says, "This is the greatest thing I have ever eaten. I love this so much. I COULD EAT TILL MY TONGUE ROTS!"
Φ What the hell is going? My mother is cooking him a ridiculous amount of food, and he just keeps eating it! Why is she doing this? She always gives me attitude when I ask for seconds, but now she is just serving him like a maid.
Φ Walking up to his son, Captivant's father says, "Looks like your mom is really enjoying herself with the cooking. She is very weak to compliment for her home building activities, and I guess she has been lacking that encouragement from someone-."
Φ Why is this woman like this? Is it because he is strong? Is that child's overwhelming abilities triggering her lowly female instincts to serve him? Does she not understand that humans are more than beasts, that she has a husband, that she has a son? THAT SHE IS MY MOMMY!!!!
No, no, no. Calm down. Don't be taken over by foolish fleeting feelings. Just wait, eventually we will run out of food.
-Break-
Sitting against his chair with an overflowing belly, Siegrund stares at the roof and puts his hands together in a prayer.
It's time!
Walking over to him, I place my hands against his shoulder and say, "We need to tal-."
Finishing his prayer, he picks up all of his plates and says, "You don't have to worry; I know what I need to go next."
-Break-
With a sponge and a bucket of water at his side, he sits on a stool beside my mother outside and starts scrubbing the plates clean, singing to himself the entire time.
"HUH!"
Grabbing his shoulder, I say, "Hey, what are you doing? I need to have a talk with you?"
With wide eyes reflecting a head full of nothing but the simplest of thoughts, the young boy says, "I ate all this food; it is only right I wash the plates?"
"JUST MAKE MY MOM DO IT!"
In an instant, his soft eyes completely disappear and a look that sends far more panic through my body than the man-eating parasite appears across Siegrund's face. "What kind of man makes someone clean up after himself?"
Letting go of the boy, I say, "DAMMIT! THEN HURRY UP!"
-Break-
Hearing the outside door open and close, I get up from the kitchen chairs and rush to the entrance as I say, "Now it's time for business!"
As I reach the door, a slipper flies into my face, knocking me down to the ground, and peering upwards, I see my mother carrying a sleeping Siegrund on her back as she places her finger against her mouth to silence me.
Slamming the back of my head against the floor, I shout, "DAMMIT!"
A second slipper smashes into my chin, and my mind quickly vanishes into the realm of dreams.
-Break-
Location: Zaad Ziener; Captivant's House, Bedroom
Rising from the floor, I stare around my room and feel a pain building on my cheek, causing me to say, "That woman hit me way too hard? Doesn't she know my body is as delicate as a child's? What a horrible mother."
Standing up, I say, "Where the hell is that boy!"
I turn my head all around looking for him, yet as none can be found, I start rubbing my head in anger. "WHERE THE HELL IS HE!"
I quickly run out of the room, rush over towards my parents' room, and place my hand over the handle. Yet as moaning strikes my ears, I quickly let go and grab my heart, saying, "CLOSE! If they are doing this so openly, it must mean he is not in the house; did he leave already!?"
Jumping down the stairs, I rush towards the door and burst through it, and in that moment, all my momentum comes to a halt as I see the body swing his sword. In that moment, every single inch of my body came together to send one message towards my brain: this thing is far more dangerous than any man-eating plant could ever be, yet far more captivating than anything I have ever seen.
He moves his sword as if it is one with his body. I feel like my eyes can barely distinguish between his sword and his hand. What he is doing, how he is moving, I can barely understand the depths of his skill. I don't have the knowledge or experience to grasp it, but I can see how the light changes around him, how the grass stands still as if the wind can't reach it, the air redirected everywhere. In this moment, he makes the boring, unchanging scenery that my eyes have always seen look special. The world around him changes to encapsulate his glory, by his will alone.
His eyes, lost in a trance, capture my body, and I slowly walk forward, throwing out all sense of logic or danger as I reach out towards all that I see in front of me.
I want to grasp it, I want to become him, I want the world to fall and bow towards my existence as well. Just for a moment, let me grasp you, let me change it.
My hand stretches out towards his sword, and as the blade is moments away from coming into contact with my hand, the sword falls to the ground, and a punch smashes against my face, knocking me to the ground.
Φ Coming back to his senses, broken out of his trance, Siegrund looks at Captivant and worry quickly overtakes his face, as he rushes towards the boy on the ground and says, "SORRY! I have a bad habit of attacking people who try to interrupt my training. I didn't mean to do anything like that. Please forgive me."
Sitting up, with his nose gushing blood, Captivant says, "It's disappeared?"
"Huh? Are you okay? Did I break your brain? PLEASE FORGIVE ME!"
"I won't do that. You ate my food, you flirted with a married woman, you punched me in the face, and you never thanked me for saving your life."
"But, I saved your lif-."
"I WON' T EVER FORGIVE YOU."
Shaking, he says, "I see. As an insult for assaulting my saviour, please allow me to cut my throat and allow my blood to purify my sins against your existence."
"I have no need for that. Just listen to a request of mine."
"Okay, absolutely!"
"Teach me how to fight!"
-Break-
They both sit kneeling facing each other, and with stuffing up his nose, Captivant says, "I want to learn sword skills, but mainly I want to learn how to use spirit energy."
With a giant mass of excitement flooding his eyes, Siegrund says, "I see, I can teach you both of those things."
"Good, then let's get started!" Captivant says as he stands up.
Holding his hand up, he says, "Wait a moment. If we are going to discuss learning how to fight, there is a bit more that to this process." Siegrund's entire demeanour changes as a slight smile appears on his face, sending a cold chill down Captivant's spine.
Becking the boy to sit down, Siegrund says, "Why do you want to learn how to fight?"
Trying his best to calm his rampaging nerves, Captivant says, "To protect myself, obviously."
"While that can be true, it's an unlikely reason to do such a thing. You don't face issues here in Varage. The man-eating parasite you ran into is an anomaly, and you only ran into it because you probably weren't paying attention to strong winds. But more than that, your eyes aren't the eyes of a man who wants to protect. There is a fire in them."
Smiling a bit, Captivant says, "Then that's all the more reason to teach me. If you can see how strong and powerful my will is, it just means I am all the more reason to refine my skills."
"A master is one with his students; any actions that lead to unnecessary suffering fall on my head. So people like me do not take on students recklessly. So I ask you again, why do you want to gain these skills?"
"To become a great hero of renown, like all of the legends I once read about!"
"I see, you just lied to me."
"I didn't li-."
"I am not the wisest, but I can always tell what kind of warrior a person is by their eyes. Right now, you're far too deceptive to me, and yourself. I refuse to train you until the hesitation and fear I see crawling up your face fades away."