08-18-2025, 09:33 PM
Another year passes.
In that span of time, I had to sell my equipment to get by. My sword. My armor. Most of my supplies. I was alone again.
The only difference here was I was trying to avoid getting back into my old habits. I tried not to waste money on addictive substances. Kept my hands out of others' pockets. Tried to be honest. It was the most humbling year of my life. I couldn't let those lessons in kindness go to waste, though. I traveled into the alleys and underbellies of many other settlements over that span of time. I kept to myself, only looking for faces among the crowd. The last resort came by...
![[Image: flashback-three.png]](https://i.ibb.co/Pshv372h/flashback-three.png)
Viritas.
I heard the rumors, but I only heard so much.
Monsters wandering here, witches lingering in the corners of the town square so casually. A towering stone palace in the northern end of the settlement proper. Ultimately, I was terrified. But you'd never guess I ran into the woman I was looking for in these streets. For however long it took me to find her? That was the easy part.
She lost her memory. Of everything. There were traces of knowledge in some things, like bringing up her father gave her a terrible feeling of dread or distaste. Besides that... it was like a different person. Regardless, I had nothing else to my name. To my life. So, I remained. Viritas was a unique place, because it felt like just the surface level of the land was particularly mundane in their attitudes. There was the occasional gigantic lizard creature here and there... but even they could hold a decent conversation.
I tried my best then, to be her knight. She never liked the term "knight"... She preferred "guardian". So, I tried my best to be that, too. But... a moment of weakness. After about a year of being separated from her new way of life, I was urged to split off. She was the only reason for me to stay... so naturally, I left. It felt like turning my back on everything, but I was settled on something, then.
I would dedicate this time to myself, from now on.
In that span of time, I had to sell my equipment to get by. My sword. My armor. Most of my supplies. I was alone again.
The only difference here was I was trying to avoid getting back into my old habits. I tried not to waste money on addictive substances. Kept my hands out of others' pockets. Tried to be honest. It was the most humbling year of my life. I couldn't let those lessons in kindness go to waste, though. I traveled into the alleys and underbellies of many other settlements over that span of time. I kept to myself, only looking for faces among the crowd. The last resort came by...
Viritas.
I heard the rumors, but I only heard so much.
Monsters wandering here, witches lingering in the corners of the town square so casually. A towering stone palace in the northern end of the settlement proper. Ultimately, I was terrified. But you'd never guess I ran into the woman I was looking for in these streets. For however long it took me to find her? That was the easy part.
She lost her memory. Of everything. There were traces of knowledge in some things, like bringing up her father gave her a terrible feeling of dread or distaste. Besides that... it was like a different person. Regardless, I had nothing else to my name. To my life. So, I remained. Viritas was a unique place, because it felt like just the surface level of the land was particularly mundane in their attitudes. There was the occasional gigantic lizard creature here and there... but even they could hold a decent conversation.
I tried my best then, to be her knight. She never liked the term "knight"... She preferred "guardian". So, I tried my best to be that, too. But... a moment of weakness. After about a year of being separated from her new way of life, I was urged to split off. She was the only reason for me to stay... so naturally, I left. It felt like turning my back on everything, but I was settled on something, then.
I would dedicate this time to myself, from now on.