After the fall [Discontinued]

The aftermath of the avalanche.

Roiss jolted awake. Immediately, he felt pain all over his body. He opened his eyes, and realised that he was still alive. His sister was still next to him, but she wasn't moving. He wanted to cry, but he was also so, so happy to be alive. He was alive! Somehow he was really alive.  Now he just had to get out of the pit of stone.

It took a lot of strength to get out, but when he got back up, it felt amazing to feel the fresh air. His weapons were buried under the rocks. It would be nearly impossible to get them back.

Ignoring that he was covered in dust at that moment, his dark brown hair was glowing in the morning sun. His eyes were just like his Mother and sister's eyes - blue as the sea that hasn't been whipped up by someone walking in the sand.

The morning Sun was nice to feel on his face. After at least an hour or even more while being buried under the rocks, it was perfect. This was his morning.

He didn't know what to do now. The day that he knew he's going to die, he had been ready. He didn't have any plans. Roiss could go back to him mother and little sister Roa. And his older sister Hania had a child too. He knew that he should go visit them.

But he couldn't. It would just bring up more questions. He had to travel far away. He had done that when he was much younger. It wouldn't be anything unusual. But that time, he travelled with his older sister. His sister, who was now gone forever. That though hurt. Loosing someone hurt so much.

He had to start moving. And he had to move on. More quicker, more better.

And just like that, he started to walk. While still being near the place where the avalanche had happened, he found a sword. And a damaged bow. He would have liked the bow better, but the sword was alright too.

He continued to walk. He caught some food, just to survive, since he had basically cheated his way to not die. Well, it wasn't really cheating. He didn't mean to survive. But he had to continue living! Living for his dead sister, living for everyone he had ever cared for. Now he wasn't the Knight of light's weapon bearer anymore. Now he was the Knight of light. And nothing was fixed yet. The whole kingdom was still ruined. The barbarians had been defeated, once again.

Months passed. Roiss had haunted enough leather to make new clothes. He did have to find a job in Geno, the city that he grew up in. Some of the people there did recognise him, surprisingly. They were still thankful that he and his sister helped defeating the pirate attack.

He worked as a hunter, and sold animal meat and furr. It was a nice way to earn money, and the people didn't mind him being there at all. His childhood house wasn't burnt down. It just needed some repairing. Good thing that the man that helped fixing it so many years ago, could still help now.

Surprisingly fastly, 3 more years had passed by. He was now 19 years old. It was still nice to go outside and hear children playing and laughing in the distance. It brought back memories. They weren't that sad, just a bit painful.

He could still recall how he wasn't allowed to go outside, or more like just away form the house, because then other people coule discover that his sister was the evil witch.

She had been born from darkness, but her mother - Princess Haxena had changed her mind on being evil with the legends of the Knight of light. Those stories were the ones that Roiss grew up with.

He missed his mother. He would gladly go back, but everyone thought that he was gone, just like his older sister was. If he suddenly just appeared back in the Kingdom of seven peaks, people could start to think that the witch - Hania, was still alive. And that would not go smoothly. Right now the kingdom needed some rest. Especially after almost 16 years of wars and tragedy.

One morning, he heard a knock on the door. When he opened it, he saw a pack of around 8 children. They seemed to be around 5 to 7 years old. They all seemed so excited. When Roiss went outside, he saw a man there. The man told him, that since he had been in Geno for more than 3 years, all of the children had heard some stories about him. Stories of how he fought the evil pirates when he was only 8 years old. And how he swung his sword, killing the ones that tried to take over. How he bravely spoke agains the pirate captain. He and his sister were still remembered as the heroes of Geno.

Now the pack of children wanted to learn to use a weapon. They all had gotten either imperfectly made wooden swords, or just thicker sticks. At first, Roiss told the children the laws of chivalry. Laws like:
Never attack someone who's weaker than you, or isn't holding a weapon against you.
Or - Don't talk while fighting. That will distract you. And that's exactly how his sister Hania defeated the pirate captain.
Another really important one was to not point a weapon against someone that you don't mean to hurt. Moments like that can lead to unneeded accidents.

And few days later, Roiss was teaching the children to fight. Most of the children saw it was a game. Technically, it was a game. Some of the children didn't like to fight. But Roiss had asked someone to help them to get some bows and fake arrows for the children. And so, some of the children learnt to use a sword, but some mastered the the art of archery.

It obviously took them months to get good with that. And any day that Rois went hunting, he took two of his students with him. Then they could try to actually kill something for food. And whether they killed, they could bring back home for free.

Everyone was happy like that. Roiss was happy too. But there was still something missing. He still felt the need to travel far away.

And so, one night he had made a meeting, where he invited his two best students - one who better knew how to use a bow, and the other who better knew how to use a sword. There he appointed them as the new teachers. The ones that will continue to teach the younger. It was a great honour for them. But Roiss was going away. He said his last goodbyes, and started to walk away from Geno.

He looked back one last time. Maybe fate will lead him there again.