The Game of Peace (Chapter I-Hermann's wish)

The Game of Peace

Introduction

It was a rainy day in the forest of Totten, all the green pine trees were soaked with heaven's blessing; the blessing of Javco, the god of peace, surrounded the fertile land of Gerte. It was not long ago, 200 years exactly, that war surrounded all the continent and it's seed corrupted all the inhabitants, filling them with hate and distrust for each other. The land has healed now, and it's people merry and kind, all thanks to Javco; he falled from the sky with an army of gold and discussed with all Human lords, in the land of eternal summer; with all the Elf lords, in the land of the defiant woods; with all the savage orcs in the barrens of Jarisco, and with the High lords of the Dwarven kind in their mansions under the mountains. He talked about peace, and how it made no sense to kill between themselves. He gave them a solution—the solution, the game. This game offered the gift of fun, people never knew the beauty of having fun, it was taken out of them since they were little, in order to be trained for war; they didn't know the concept of it, they were too busy surviving the horrors of life. This game was called "the game of ball" and it was introduced as a way of resolving the world's issues. From then on, every conflict, every argument, every misunderstanding in the world, every debt and every event in the land of Gerte was resolved by "playing the ball." Triumphant Javco returned then to his sky sanctuary when he supervises that peace is maintained and all the values he presented, are kept.

Hermann's wish.

"Watch out" Hermann exclaimed as the ball struck strongly in the young man's mitt, it was a powerful fastball, one that won him multiple tournaments back in the day—long time ago, but it still kept it's fiery movement; one that had worried him, but he never expected to be received so impeccable. He had promised to play with his young son Erik after work, he asked him to show him how to pitch, as playing the game was all he wanted to do; even when they were taking the trees down, he pretended to be a batter. He looked him proudly—he has grown to be a strong man. Without flinching more, he moved his hand asking for the ball, and Erik returned it with his own version of the heater, his stance was perfect, his legs strongly caught all the momentum which was released swift as a sling shot, with the characteristic elasticity of a young arm. It also moved! he told to himself as he struggled to receive it—he was not expecting that. "Good job boy, one day you'll play for a big team" he said despite he didn't want him to go, he wanted to stay here in the forest forever, he didn't wanted to return to that big lie. It was all a lie, the game, the ideals everyone thought of, the world was relatively safe, but corrupted until the last bone. He would rather choose to stay far from that, with his son. but deep inside him, he knew he couldn't keep the kid against his will, it was his decision. "Son—you remember what i told you about the game?" he asked while taking his mitt out and approaching the young fellow. "Of course dad, what is more important is having fun, right?" he smiled as they went together through the road back home. It was noon already and it was time to prepare the deer they had hunted before. It was just him, and his only son, they talked about the game, and thanked Javco for it, before they ate and readied for sleep time—.

It was midnight already and hermann stayed late, he couldn't sleep so he decided to smoke a pipe before trying again. Suddenly he heard a strange sound coming from the back of the humble house. He went with his axe—a quick glance; A group of hooded men has entered the family yard, they were too many, he went back and grabbed his axe. He woke Erik and gave him a necklace with a green stone attached to it's cord. "Keep it safe, whatever happens" he said to him while taking him through the back door. As they went away a pair of hooded men stood in front of them; they were tall and bulky, with strange fangs coming out of their mouth—Orcs.

He lightly pushed his son aside and gripped his weapon with both hands "RUN FAST," The young man stood there for a while, and for that brief seconds the two cloaked figures quickly lunged in front of them, a blink in the eyes—the pain. Hermann felt as something cold pierced his body, but he was not thinking how painful it was, or anything else besides, how could i save my son. "Run i said, you fool!"

and he finally reacted, almost tripping with a vine before disappearing in the forest while Hermann tried his best to keep them entertained. So i'm finally going to sleep, wish you the best—son.