User blog:HambleBee/Mortal III

(I - II - III - ? )

"I'm bored..! Are we there yet?" Pura asked Emeric, who didn't seem to mind waiting. In truth, the latter was more interested in the chance of bandits to ambush the carriage, so he would have a fair excuse to create bloodshed.

"No." Emeric answered with a sigh. "This is the fifth time I told you. You either wait or walk. I recommend the former." He told Pura, who just gave a sigh of frustration.

"You know, you're pretty rude for a kind person. Why are you like that? Don't you have feelings for others?" The girl argued with Emeric. She was frightened in almost an instant when the Breton gave her a cold glare.

"What do you know about my feelings? What do you know of my suffering? The pain and humiliation I have endured?" The man asked, trying to keep his anger in check. The driver noticed this, and stopped the carriage for now to try defusing the situation.

"Hey hey hey, stop it, both of you." He warned. "You. I may not be a warrior, but if you ever threaten this child with harm, I will not hold back. You either keep your behavior in check or get out of my carriage. Understand?" The driver told Emeric.

"You think you scare me? I could just kill you know and leave your corpse for the bears." Emeric coldly remarked, his hand on the hilt of his blade. The carriage driver placed his hand on the hilt of his axe in return

"Stop!!! Stop it!!! Both of you stop it!!!" Pura cried out. She looked like she was about to burst in tears...

"Wait, wait. Please don't cry. Okay, we'll stop. We'll stop. Just please..." The carriage driver sighed. He decided not to fight, and knew well that he wasn't going to win against an experienced warrior anyways. Knowing the full consequences of assaulting the driver, Emeric shook his head and returned to his seat.

Pura sniffled, with Emeric just giving a shrug. He never liked kids, and started to think that bringing her may have been a bad idea. But, he also thought that having her as an errand girl would be useful. And also saved him from killing a carriage driver and very likely incurring a bounty all over Cyrodiil, and bounty hunters dogging his every move.

...After a while, the carriage stopped in a clearing. "Alright. We'll have to rest here for the night. You two should get some rest. I'll stand guard." The driver said.

"If you say so." Emeric didn't question the carriage driver, and set up a campfire. He didn't need warmth, but he thought of making it for Pura, who was freezing to death in the cold nights of Cyrodiil. What's more was that it was Frostfall, the coldest month of the year.

Pura kept herself warm near the fire. She noticed the aurora above the skies, and was captivated by it's beauty. Emeric noticed it, but refused to look at it, showing faint signs of what seemed to be pain...

"E-Emeric..? A-Are you alright..?" Pura noticed it. "I'm fine." Emeric grunted, showing little emotion from his voice, despite the despair he was facing deep inside. He realized just how persistent the girl would be, and decided to change the subject with a topic that came in mind.

"...Do you ever wondered that heroes and villains are not what they seem?" Emeric asked.

"Oh? Why? Aren't heroes the good guys? And the villains bad guys?" Pura asked out of curiosity.

"Wrong." Emeric noted. "Does a real hero end countless lives just for a noble cause? Does a real villain ever champion a cause that would bring about change and progress?" He asked Pura.

"But aren't villains evil? And heroes good?" The latter asked.

"Again, you are repeating the same mistake and misinterpretation of individuals who made their mark in history. Yes, it has truth, but, history is always often innacurate and depicted in the way others want it to be. The truth is far more complicated than one believer would tell you.

They say that history is written by the victors. They are wrong. it is written by the true winners: The survivors. It is never a question of how the truth will be released. In my opinion, it's when." Emeric explained. Pura's interest was growing of Emeric's story, and she took a seat and listened closely.

"Let's say that one individual fought for progress, and championed a cause devoted to it. However, the people refused, and sent a person to strike the individual down.

Progress is constant change and evolution. The way of life. The 'hero' struck down the 'villain', who was simply misunderstood, and actually tried to help the very people whom tried to kill him.

The 'villain' refused to use violence. His counterparts resorted to it, and the former and his people had to defend themselves. In the end, the 'heroes' won. But to slaughter an entire civilization just because they were aligned to 'villains'?" Emeric said.

"If the 'heroes' are devoted to preserving the greater good, then why do they slaughter countless individuals to prove their point? If 'villains' are truly the evil people they are, then why do they protect the people under their tutelage?

It's all so confusing, isn't it? 'Good' yet 'Bad' at the same time?" He asked Pura.

"I... think I understand, but... I don't seem to understand it either..." The child admitted.

"I know. I'm thinking the way you said right now as well. Who are the real heroes and villains? Is it the other way around?

If you ask me, it's neither. It's all dependent on the perspective of each person. One side will consider their champion their 'hero'. The other will consider the champion of the other side as a 'villain'. And so on. In the end, it's really up to you to decide." Emeric said.

"I... I understand." Pura said. In truth, she didn't, but she did consider what he said, and would contemplate about it.

"We can talk more about it tomorrow. Now, go to sleep, girl. We have a long journey ahead of us." Emeric said. Pura understood, and decided to lay down on the carriage after making a rug of fur as a makeshift bedroll, gazing at the auroras before slowly turning in for the night.

Emeric continued to observe the fire. He also wondered just how in Nirn he had successfully socialized with a girl he had met only several hours ago, and planned to use as an asset. Funny how fate had twisted his mind in such a short time...

His eyes were empty, but his mind swam in so many thoughts. Thoughts he couldn't get out of his mind...

...Memories he both treasured as gifts, and despised as a great burden...