On a peaceful afternoon, two boys are playing a game console laughing and mocking each other.
"Ha! How are you so bad at this game?" Kodo said.
The boy at the receiving end of that remark wasn't amused.
"Because you're using the most broken character in the game," Eric replied
A smirk appeared on Kodo.
"Excuses, excuses," he said with a cheeky tone.
They continued to play with Kodo teasing here and there to annoy Eric which was working.
Then a girl around their age arrived inside Eric's room instantly running towards Kodo, the girl speaking with an excited tone.
"Kodo! Kodo!" she jumped onto the boy to hug him." I missed you, I missed you." burrowing her head on his chest.
"Ack, Lillia not right now, and you remember about personal sp—" While that was happening Eric took advantage of the distraction his sister caused to finally win a match."—ah, you cheater I wasn't looking."
Eric looked at Kodo and smirked returning the one he gave him.
"Excuses, excuses," he said with a mocking tone.
Kodo then rolled his eyes, but the girl continued her assault of hugs, pleading to Kodo to play with her.
"Kodo you lost, so can you play with me?"
The boy sighed, then spoke with a calm tone.
"Lillia can you please stop hugging me? You know I don't like getting hugged."
She stopped her hugs, fidgeting.
"But, I haven't seen you in two days," she said quietly.
Kodo smiled.
"Those two days made you miss me that much, huh?"
She nodded.
"But you didn't miss me at all, hmph!" she turned away from him.
Kodo chuckled and leaned to look at her angry face.
"Who said I didn't miss you?"
She looked at Kodo with gleaming eyes.
"You mean you missed me too?"
Kodo nodded.
Her cheeks turned red and she started to play with her hair.
Then Kodo grabbed an extra controller handing it to her.
"Don't let her play with us, she sucks at this game," Eric said.
"Guy, you ain't that much better than her," Kodo replied with a cheeky tone.
"Fine, but you can't help each other out," Eric responded.
Kodo leaned a little towards Lillia, whispering.
"Should we team up on him?"
She giggled and nodded.
They continued to play with Eric bickering about their alliance then the sibling's mother came in with stiff shoulders, she then spoke with a shaky quiet voice.
"Kodo can you come out here for a second?"
He got up and went with her, he noticed she was not her usual self, Eric and Lillia's mother was always cheerful, and had a smile that shined brighter than the sun, but right now she was the exact opposite.
"Kodo your mother called… your father."
Hearing that, Kodo's eyes widened and his heart dropped.
His body moved on its own and made his to the front door, hastily put on his shoes and ran out the door.
He remembered his father always told him that he wouldn't have much time, since he contracted a deadly disease from one of the beasts of Terravita and they didn't have a cure for that specific disease.
The boy continued to run, with no emotion appearing on his face, just his panting breaths and his beating heart.
He started to see red and blue lights shining on the houses around the corner,
But they started to diminish.
As he made his way around the corner and saw the ambulance driving away, his mother and two sisters were outside with his siblings seeking comfort from their mother.
They didn't notice the boy standing on the lawn. Until he spoke.
"Dad's going to be okay, right?"
His mom gestured for him to come towards her.
He did, then she pulled him into their embrace.
"I'm sorry Kodo, your dad is gone."
Hearing those words echoed inside his head, he felt an alien emotion overcoming him, something he never felt before… it was cold and only got colder, the heat from their embrace did nothing to the cold he was feeling.
...
Two days later.
Word spread out fast of Lance Ferrum's death, with all of Terravita hearing about it, and most of the people from Galia attended his funeral many hunters not from the country of Arolf tried to come and show their condolences even the King and Queen of Galia came.
He was a prominent figure in the world, and in his time as a Hunter, he climbed to the top of the ranks becoming an Unrivalled Zenith, a rank only the most accomplished Hunters can reach.
As the funeral reached its end, the clouds covered up the sky and looked gloomy they started to cry, along with the family members of Ferrum except for one.
As they said their goodbyes, one lonely boy stared emotionless at his father getting buried, he felt hollow because the one who understood him most, the one who helped him understand himself as well was gone.
'Dad, what am I supposed to feel? What am I supposed to do? How or why? ….You're the only one who knows.'
Eric, Lillia and Kodo's cousin Lui tried to see if he was okay.
"Kodo, are you okay?" said Lillia in a soft-gentle tone.
But he didn't hear them, he couldn't hear them, because the one he wanted to hear was gone.
The boy turned away and started to run.
His mother noticed she was about to chase him to see if he was okay.
"Kodo! My baby, please wait!"
Then her parents stopped her.
"Jasmine, he needs to be by himself right now," said Kodo's grandmother.
"But—"
"It's okay, the boy is smart, he just needs time to figure out these emotions he's feeling," she hugged her daughter.
….
The boy calmly walked into his, then headed towards the room where he and his father spent most of their time together.
It was his father's den filled with books ranging from history to other subjects, trinkets from ruins he visited beast materials he had slain, and pictures of the people he met on his adventure.
Kodo felt everything was a dream, he wanted it to be one, one he wished he could wake up from.
Nevertheless, it was reality.
He had to accept it, then felt something wet roll down his cheek, he touched it noticing it was a teardrop, something he never shed in his life.
No injury made him cry nor did the scolding of his parents, but this hurt so much, he started to weep.
He continued to cry on his father's chair.
Falling into a deep sleep.
The boy dreamt of him and his father playing in their backyard, but his father didn't look sickly anymore, it was as if he returned to how he looked before he was affected by the disease, and the scenery felt brighter than usual, with the mountains of Montes Magni off in the distance piercing the majestic sky.
Kodo knew it was a dream, he looked down and spoke with a quiet tone.
"Dad… I knew you were sick and I knew one day you would di— be gone, but why did it have to be now?"
His father knelt down and rubbed his Kodo's head.
"I won't be gone forever you know, me, you, your mom and your sister will be together someday again, but not now… And in life, you shouldn't always ask how things work or why they have to be that way, you should just be in the present and experience it, not everything needs an answer, my boy." Lance then looked over his shoulder.
"Sorry, my boy, I have to go say goodbye to your mother and siblings, before I go, make sure to look after them, you're the man of this family now, I'll leave them in your care." Lance said with playfully stern tone.
Kodo nodded as he watched his father go into the blinding light.p.