I still remember the stories and fairytales my mother used to tell me as a child, they would always have some sort of lesson at the end of them. But I always found it amazing when she would tell me about my family lineage, the house of Venris. It ma...
In a small children's room, a young woman leads her son to his room to put him to bed. As energetic as the boy is, he does not complain and excitedly runs and climbs to his bed where the mother tucks her son in. The room, although clean in most areas, has a toy left on the floor here and there. The mother finishes tucking the boy to bed and is about to leave the room when the boy suddenly grabs a piece of clothing from the woman's clothes to get her attention again.
"Mama, mama! Can you tell me a bedtime story?" The boy gives the mother a smile that could light up the room. The mother returns the boy's smile with a sweet, motherly one as she kneels beside his bed.
"Not this time Ruben, it's already getting late now. And you need plenty of rest if you want to train at your very best for tomorrow." Although rejected, the boy doesn't let up
"But I can't sleep without a story, c'mon pleeease" Ruben begs the mother for a story and brings out a small whine in the end as a cherry on top, decimating every wall in the mother's heart as she fails to resist to reject her son's request for a story again.
"Ah, why are you so..." the mother gently pinches one side of Ruben's cheeks as he giggles in response. Turning the rubble from every wall in her heart into dust, she begins to think of what to tell Ruben.
"Once upon a time, the world was threatened by a great evil. An evil queen who used to be a little girl who was brought into poverty by those who wronged her. With hatred in her heart, a dark god granted her power to take over the world with an iron fist, commanding a great army of monsters. But a brave party of heroes went on a long journey to defeat the Queen and bring back peace to the world. Knowing about her tragic past, they first tried to reconcile with her and convince her that the world isn't all that bad. But in the end, the evil queen did not listen and refused to accept that the world deserved to be forgiven. So they had no choice but to defeat her and peace was returned to the world."
"So? Do you feel sleepy yet Ruben?" The mother whispered to him
"No."
"Oh you brat-" Ruben giggles at the mother's response
"Besides, that was a sad story. Shouldn't the queen get revenge on the people who treated her badly?"
The mother puts a hand on her son's head as she sighs. "While yes, the girl was treated harshly, the hatred in her was uncontrolled and she threw it onto the whole world. This may be confusing for you since you're still very young Ruben, but no matter what troubles you have in your life, you'll always have loved ones that will help you even if the whole world is against you. Just like the evil queen and the party of heroes that tried to understand her."
"I don't get it," Ruben says as he massages his forehead as if it helps him understand while the mother gives a small chuckle.
"I'd be a bit worried if you did, now go to bed Ruben. An old friend of mine and her daughter you-know-who will be coming by again in the morning so you two can train together. Ok?" She gets up from kneeling after giving a goodnight kiss to Ruben. "Alright then, goodnight mama."
"Goodnight Ruben, sweet dreams." The mother closes the door and Ruben closes his eyes, thinking about nothing, except to sleep.
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In the morning, Ruben wakes up in an old bedroom, dust and cracks can be seen in some corners of the room, and the sight coldly takes him away from his dream and back to reality. The small child from so long ago is now a young teenager covering his whole body with the blanket. He tries to get out of bed but the warm comforting blanket starts to make him reconsider just five more minutes.
"If I stay here Miss Cocolia is gonna drag me out of bed herself," he says to himself. In fear of invoking the wrath of a caretaker dragging her kid out of bed, Ruben is now willingly pushing himself away from the sweet embrace of warmth and getting out of bed.
He looks back to see another bed on the other side of the room is empty now. "Wow, Seele didn't wake me up this time? She usually does that before I end up oversleeping...Though I shouldn't make that a habit." he murmurs to himself.
Realizing that he's alone in the bedroom now, he raises his left hand to take a look at the mark on the back of it. A thin circle with 8 diamond shapes scattered and sorted neatly, with each diamond extending 2 wide lines connecting.
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(This low-effort stigmata was brought to you by Google Drawings lmao)
He stares at the mark on his hand almost intensely before lowering it and proceeds to exit the room to brush his teeth and eat with the other children.
