Alpha Instinct-Chapter 49: “Shattered Bonds”

Leonard gripped the handles of his swords, the tension from the past few nights still present in his muscles.

"Who were the intruders?" he thought, still trying to figure it out.

Saito, calm as if he were waiting for tea time, stood up. He walked toward the herb’s table, where he had some tea strainers.

"I’m going to brew... make some green herbal tea for us." He smiled. "Do you like cookies?"

"Tea?" Leonard blinked, surprised. Was this a "visit"?

Suddenly, the cabin door opened, and a man entered. He was tall and slender, carrying a couple of bags and a mage’s wooden staff. His shaggy black hair and black eyes, along with his face… were vaguely familiar to Leonard.

"Le...?"

"Le...on...?"

"Leo...?"

The man squinted his eyes, trying to remember.

"Leonard?!" Finally, the man said.

"Kaleb?" Leonard replied, his voice still a little hoarse.

"Oh hoo! I see you two already know each other," said old Saito, his hands on his hips.

"Leonard? What the hell are you doing here?" Kaleb dropped his travel backpack on the floor, and his staff was carelessly left leaning against the corner of the wooden wall.

"It’s a long story, Kaleb. We’ll have time to catch up later." Leonard let his shoulders slump, giving a short sigh, but the surprise was still evident on his face.

"You know Grandpa Saito?" Kaleb asked, frowning.

"Now I’m grandpa to you, you rascal?" Saito grumbled.

"Stop the drama, old man. You know our relationship," Kaleb said.

Leonard, feeling like a fish out of water, spoke up, "Wait... I’m confused. What’s going on between you two?"

"Oh, I’m a nice guy, you know that. So I take care of this grumpy old man who has memory problems," Kaleb said, with a smug smile.

A cup flew through the cabin, spinning in the air. Nothing could stop the cup’s speed as it struck Kaleb’s forehead squarely. "BANG"

"Ow! Damn it!" he groaned, massaging the spot where he was hit.

"Old, am I?!" Saito growled. "Memory problems, huh?!" The calm and gentle Saito now looked ready to attack. "I guess I didn’t spank you enough, not even after you grew up." Saito approached Kaleb, rolling up the sleeves of his tunic.

"No... Mr. Saito, I’m sorry!" Kaleb backed away, rubbing his forehead.

Saito stopped in the middle of his walk and returned to the herb’s table mumbling.

"The only reason I’m not kicking you out is because we have a visitor, you ungrateful brat," Saito bellowed.

Kaleb sighed, relieved. He pulled up a chair and sat down next to Leonard, offering him a firm handshake.

"Well, Leo... I had no family. Saito found me as a child. I was crying in the middle of the forest, and he saved me and raised me ever since." He looked proudly at the old man. "And now I help him with... some things around here."

Leonard nodded, understanding the dynamic. An unusual family... but a family.

"But this brat keeps testing my patience..." Said Saito as he brought a kettle with fresh tea, the fragrance of the herbs filling the air, a comforting smell on that late afternoon.

Saito served the tea in small ceramic cups, each adorned with delicate hand-painted flower designs. A touch of beauty and refinement that contrasted with the rustic nature of the cabin.

"Leonard, have you heard about the commotion in Gothia lately?" Kaleb asked casually as he blew on the hot steam of the tea.

"Commotion in Gothia?" Leonard repeated, confused. He was oblivious to everything, isolated in his own pain and recovery.

"Leonard arrived a few days ago, Kaleb, after being attacked," Saito interrupted, the tone of his voice still carrying a remnant of his previous irritation with his grandson. "How could he know, you knucklehead?"

"I understand..." murmured Kaleb, realizing the tactlessness of the question. He didn’t know how to approach the subject, how to break the news. He had no idea of the deep connection between Leonard and Roland, although he knew that Roland had saved him in Besen years ago.

Leonard, sensing Kaleb’s hesitation and Saito’s heavy gaze, frowned. "Is there something I need to know?"

Saito closed his eyes for an instant, as if he wished that moment would never come. He knew that Kaleb, with his youthful bluntness, would eventually drop the bomb.

"Leonard... a person died in Lumeria," Kaleb began, groping for words, as if walking through a minefield. "Judged for treason..."

"Yes... and then...?" Leonard encouraged, still not understanding where Kaleb was going.

"Well, the body was displayed for three days in Gothia, as punishment..." Kaleb advanced a little further, his voice getting lower and lower.

"How horrible..." Leonard commented, with a shiver. "Orders from the king?"

"Yes, the King himself beheaded him. He was only buried in Mount Lichtwelt because the Church of Light intervened..."

Leonard felt a tightening in his chest upon hearing Mount Lichtwelt, the cemetery of Neumond heroes; a dark premonition overcame him. Kaleb’s voice, increasingly faint and cautious, filled him with apprehension. "Kaleb..." he began, his voice strained. "Who? Who died?"

Kaleb hesitated. Then, holding Leonard’s hand tightly, he said, "Damn it... Leo, it was Roland... The king killed Roland. Accused him of treason."

Leonard’s world stopped.

"No..." he whispered, the word a thread of a voice. "No... it can’t be..."

A void began to open in his chest, a black hole that sucked all the light, all the hope. "Roland? Dead? No..."

He stood up, staggering, his legs weak. "Why? Why does this always happen?" he asked no one. "First his parents and Mia, then Liam, now Roland..." he pondered.

The questions tumbled in his mind, a whirlwind of pain and disbelief. He needed to go. He needed to see. He needed... to do something.

Without saying a word, Leonard ran to the door, grabbing his swords and ignoring Saito’s and Kaleb’s calls. He needed to get to Gothia. He needed to see with his own eyes.

The cabin door slammed shut behind Leonard, the sound lost in the morning wind.

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He ran, blinded by pain, by the need to do something, anything...