Avalon walked down the mountainside and breathed in deeply. It was a perfect day. The air was alive and full from yesterday's storm, invigorating the plants and animals with renewed energy. The flowers were budding anew, squirrels were chasing each other up a spruce tree, chattering all the while, and the sky was painted warm colors of orange, red, and gold from the sunset. Avalon had been out of the house since the early morning hours. All day he had walked among the trees as birds fluttered around him in excited circles, the deer came to let him pet them, and the rest of the animals watched from afar with excitement. The wild animals were his friends, and he preferred to play in nature than with anybody else. He always had few human friends because of it, but never minded. Nobody was an outcast in the forest. No, every animal, plant, and beast was a small part of a greater interconnected web that made Avalon feel like he was not alone.
His family thought it incredible and even strange that nature responded to Avalon in such a powerful way, but Avalon never understood the excitement. It had been like this since he was a kid, it was no new thing. Everyone has special talents that make them unique, thought Avalon, they just need to find them. Having a special connection to nature happens to be mine.
Avalon followed game trails to the man-made path where the trees were not overhead, and the sun could peek through. The sunset cast long shadows that stretched far behind the trees like so many arrows pointing in the opposite direction of where Avalon was headed. It was like the forest was telling Avalon to not head home, and he found the thought strangely disconcerting.
Still, he slowly meandered down the mountain and looked upon the city of his birth. Cedra sat in the center of a massive valley on the shore of Lake Adraro, which gave it direct connections to other cities for trade. The lake was not large by any means, but it was large enough to be a center of commerce in west Venaria. It sparkled with a blue brilliance, a perfect mirror stretching on for miles and miles.
Due to Cedra's strategic location, settlement had existed in the area for hundreds of years. As a result, the houses were built haphazardly where the old parts of the city connected to the newer parts. The old city, also known as the slums, was short and squat with thatched roofs and wooden frames. On the other hand, the newer city had recently sprung up within the last fifty years, built from gray bricks made from a mixture of clay deposits and rock found in the nearby mountains. Cedra was unplanned, and was extremely spread out for a major city, its arms extending up the valley walls and into the forest, without a single wall protecting the city from invaders. Even the palace where Lord Tarson ruled was quaint for what should have been an enormous display of wealth and power, made of the same brick as the rest of the newer sections. The buildings were not as tightly packed as a usual city with a wide berth separating the shops and houses that dotted the roads. The only reason Cedra was remotely defensible was because it was surrounded, on all sides, by mountains. The only way to enter the city from the outside safely was through the Neonatal River whose current ran away from the city, another reason to discourage attackers. It was why the city had never been captured by either the Southern Empire or the Northern Empire and had remained as a city-state directly between the two. When times of war came, all of Cedra would band together, and with an entire city defending a single riverbank, there was no way through for any invading armies.
The Neonatal River exited the bowl-shaped valley through a gap in the mountains and roared onward to the plains west of Cedra, acting as the border between the Southerners and the Northerners. Beyond the plains and two kingdoms were lands unknown, said to be haunted by strange creatures, too deadly for the civilized creatures of Venaria to reside near. The river was fed by Lake Adraro which was fed by runoff from the nearby mountains. Known as the Foothills, the small mountain range surrounded and was almost exclusive to Cedra, as no other settlements resided within them. The Foothills were green all year round except for in first and second months when Cedra was blanketed in a thick layer of snow. However, it was summer now, so the mountains were entirely green except for at the highest of peaks in the distance. As Avalon walked down the path he had tread many a time it struck him just how lucky he was to be surrounded by so much beauty near his home.
He sighed as he reached the first building on the edge of Cedra. Torin had built his home apart from the rest of the city because of how "loud" it was. Nobody knew where he was from or why he decided to move to Cedra, but in the last twenty years, he had become as much a part of Cedra as Lake Adraro or the Foothills. All that citizens of Cedra knew was that he was a trapper, and a very good one at that. His pelts in particular sold for a lot of money among nobles, which earned him a comfortable living in the lakeside city. Now that Torin had the money, he also paid Avalon to set the massive skunk and deer traps for him, which coincided with the nature walks that Avalon already took. Of course, he did not have Avalon kill the animals, for Avalon could never do that.
Although Torin was quite the grouchy old man, Avalon did not mind his character. By now, Avalon had known Torin since he was a kid, but it felt like their friendship had existed before Venaria itself came to fruition, and he had grown fond of the old man and the conversations they shared. Torin's hearth was always where he went to visit after long walks in the countryside, and Avalon was always welcomed with open arms.
As Avalon walked up to the log cabin that Torin called home, he saw smoke billowing out of the chimney from within the cabin. With thoughts of a meal on his mind, Avalon dashed to Torin's front door and knocked the special knock only he knew. Torin usually did not open the door for random people as he was not one to appreciate the company of others. Unless, of course, it was Avalon's company.
After he knocked, Avalon heard a voice gruff from disuse from within call, "Come in, boy, the door's unlocked." Upon entering the foyer, he saw Torin crouched over the fireplace turning a spit over the roaring flames. On the spit were, what looked like, two rabbit carcasses, clearly too much for one person to eat on their own. Torin was a thin old man, whom, despite being skinny, had signs of being built in his youth with broad shoulders and big, calloused hands.
Without looking up from the food he was tending to, Torin said in his peculiar, unplaceable accent, "Well, stop your gawking and come inside. If you think you're going to get this food for nothing you'd be incorrect. I need you to go gather some wood from out back to help feed the fire." Avalon merely responded with, "Alright," and placed his backpack on Torin's living room table, a slab of polished yet somehow gnarled oak. Avalon asked if he needed the axe to which Torin said, "I've already chopped the wood, it just needs to be brought next to the fire."
Making a couple of trips, Avalon brought the wood to the bucket next to the fireplace. The mindless physical exertion let him daydream as he walked, which led him to think about his parents, more specifically, his mom. His mom was single and was talking to this new man, Mortis, whom Avalon did not like very much. It was not so much that he was mean or anything, but he was not his dad, and something was off about him.
His dad had disappeared two years earlier, and it had been hard to move on. Torin was always very kind about it and had almost become a second father to Avalon after his dad had died. His mom, on the other hand, never talked about it. Instead, she tried to occupy her mind by talking about her new man, Mortis. But she did not truly love him, she could not for her eyes showed none of the happiness that she portrayed. Or so Avalon believed at least.
Torin must have seen something of what was on Avalon's mind on his face, for he said, "That should be plenty of wood to keep the fire alive for a while. Sit next to me, boy, the rabbit is just about done."
Gratefully, Avalon took a seat, took a deep breath, and took one of the now-cooked rabbits. "I was just thinking about Mortis, sorry."
"No, no, it is perfectly alright Avalon. It is a hard thing to deal with what you have for an adult, much less for a seventeen-year-old. Just try to remember that Mortis means no harm, but I think you know that." Torin watched Avalon carefully, waiting for his response.
"Well, you know it isn't so much Mortis, but mom I care about." Torin simply looked at Avalon solemnly and shook his head. "I know you're better than that. Your mother has struggled with your father's death just as much as you. This new relationship is her moving on, which you need to do eventually as well."
"No, it's not that I am unhappy with her being able to move on. I just think she has not moved on yet either. She is never truly happy with Mortis."
Torin paused a moment before saying, "Well, I suppose Mortis is a bit of a strange name, isn't it? What kind of mother names her child 'Death'?"
To this Avalon sighed, "Apparently it is a name of good luck from his culture, meaning to, 'bring your foes to death' or something like that. I'm not too sure though, he has always given me a strange feeling I cannot describe. Plus, he has never seemed to like me." Immediately, Torin sat upright and seemed to take an interest in Avalon's "strange feeling". He did not speak, but he clearly looked deeply worried. After some time, Torin said, "I think it would be best if you headed home now, boy, I have some things I need to think on."
"Alright," Avalon replied, "then I'll be off!"
But, before Avalon could get up and grab his backpack, Torin grabbed him tightly by the arm and pulled him back down with a force that shocked Avalon more than it hurt him. With a gleam in his eye, Torin said, "Not just yet, boy, not yet." Avalon rubbed his arm and sat back down, confused. He was content to wait and let the old man explain himself.
Torin whipped his head around as if looking for intruders before saying, "Wait here," and suddenly sat up and started as if to go to his bedroom. But, just as soon as he got up, a loud rap came on the door.