Volume 1
Day 1
Most people would consider homelessness as a negative, and even more would think of what I'm doing as a mistake considering I came from a mansion, but it's for the best. I'm able to move forward and grow as a person now that I'm away from my family. For a long time it bothered me how I used to be compared to my siblings who could use magic when I wasn't able, or beyond reminded how much a failure I was, but I realized that you can't force people to care no matter what effort you put in, and that nothing will change unless you do something about it. I can't exactly blame them for how they treated me, since I understand that our family is depending on me and my siblings to carry the Boreas name and hopefully establish ourselves as a kingdom again, and they were so shocked and excited once a child was born that had Kessler's Darkness Curse inheritance, unfortunately I don't have any ability to use magic, so I could understand their frustrations. I'm not saying I deserved what I got, but it was the only comfort or reasoning I was able to find when I was stuck in a cycle of trying to please them and live up to their expectations.
I realized no amount of effort would accomplish anything in their eyes. I truly do wish them the best. True, they thought of me as a failure and treated me badly, but they're my family, the only ones I've got left. My father died from an assassination ordered by King Calvus in an attempt to squash the last of Winterveil's royal bloodline, but it failed because my father held them off while I was able to escape with my mother and baby siblings when I was around 6, I'll never forget the look he had on his face inside our burning home fending them all off. I miss him. Sadly life is kind to no one.
Day 3
I've been hitchhiking for a while now on some merchant ships, they were kind enough to let me tag along in exchange for some fish I was able to catch. All this time to myself really has me thinking about a lot of things. I can gain new experiences and truly live. I'm interested to see the view from the top of Cirrus Island, I heard it's one of the best in the Bronze Sea. The high altitude should be good for training, which is good because I still want to become the world's greatest spearman. I have absolutely no talent, so I'll take any option of getting stronger. Plus, Cirrus is extremely far from my family's reach in the Bronze Sea, not many here know of or care for the Boreas name, because Winterveil was stomped out thanks to the genocidal tyrant Nero Caesar.
Our family was always famous for producing strong ice, snow, and water mages, since for a long period, Winterveil and my family believed magic to be more superior than sea curses. However, Kessler Boreas changed their minds. Kessler was my grandfather, who was the wielder of the Darkness Curse, and also used a spear, which is why my family threw me into spear classes straight away.
He ruled for a couple hundred years but was killed by Nero in one on one combat. He chose to fight him so that his people wouldn't have to be dragged into a war and die, but after that Nero decided it was too dangerous to let any member of the royal family survive, so he tried to wipe us out. Kessler's eldest son, my father, was able to escape with his wife, my mother.
That's enough about my family, this will serve as my reminder to my future self of what was, but to the current me, this is nothing more than baggage.
Day 5
I was able to reach Munera Garden thanks to the kind merchants who let me aboard, I appreciate them a lot for doing that since I could see them thinking of me as a risk, I mean who, in all fairness, would pick up a random young adult with white hair, armor, a spear, and a rucksack full of camping supplies? I probably seemed like some mercenary... which isn't a bad idea for a possible job opportunity, I'd be able to get combat experience and get paid for it. Topic for the future? Anyways, it's a bit heartbreaking to see this place in such a sorry state.
It was once a vacation retreat from Winterveil since it was always snowing and cold there. We'd host tournaments once every few years so there'd be entertainment while you'd relax... It was great. So many warriors won and lost here. The losers had a tradition of embedding their swords into the ground, as a promise to come back and retrieve it when they bloomed into better warriors, making it become the garden of swords.
Now it's overgrown, ruined, and has a massive crack where my grandfather was killed by Nero. If only he knew what type of madman Nero was, I wonder if he would've made a different choice.
Day 8
After leaving Munera and seeing its current state, it gave me a strong sense of detachment? Retrospection isn't exactly my strong suit and neither are feelings, to me feelings won't change how things are so why bother worrying over it? Anyways, I managed to hop onto another ship headed to the Stepstones, I'm looking forward to the view.
Day 9
Reached the Stepstones, nowhere left to go but up huh?
Day 10
My. Hands. Hurt. I've been climbing that blasted mountain for the past day and a half.
Good thing I have calluses from my spear training or else I'd be afraid of what my hands would look like now. Oh well. Good news is I made it to Cirrus Island, bad news I'm light headed. The view is just as great as they say it is, though. Let's get a room for tonight and start looking for a more stable living area.
Day 13
Found some housing, granted it's only one bedroom, one bathroom and it's a massive downgrade from a mansion... But this is mine, something of my own, and it's plenty for me.
Day 15
I've kept up with my training, but being cooped up in my room isn't enough space. Some locals mentioned some other sky islands a short distance from here, so I'll see if I can rent a skyship.
Update: I'm not that good at sky sailing, the ship almost ran out of energy and fell into the sea. I guess I'll have plenty of time to practice, but I enjoyed it a lot. It was nice to feel the breeze and to just fly above everything. Anyways, I made it to this place they call Skycliff Island, and the view never really gets old. The air is so thin, so I'm excited to start training.
I brought a tent and camping equipment for a few days to a week in case I wanted to stay a bit longer.
Day 21
Came back to Cirrus to resupply, headed to a new area I heard about on a small island on the eastern edge of Cirrus. There's some caves there that I can camp and train in. I'm seeing real progress. It's exhilarating.
Day 25
Rest period. Not much new, nothing to say, nothing to write.
Day 27
Remember to SQUARE YOUR SHOULDERS, and move your foot forward more, not that much forward, you got this.
Day 34
I heard commotion so I went into hiding. The last thing I need is some Ravenna spies finding me and getting captured or killed. They were on Skycliff last I heard.
Day 35
They seem to have left but I'm still going to lay low for a while. I'm not taking any chances.
Day 37
Still nothing, everyone says they haven't seen or heard about them since they apparently kidnapped a man who was staying here. Odd.
Day 39
I was out getting more supplies in an attempt to go back to my training spots, avoiding Skycliff of course, but I noticed a few new people on the island that I hadn't seen before, I'll be mindful of them, they seem strong. I've always had an eye for these types of things, the redhead has a lot of magic power but seems poor in control and a bad temperament. The other person... is very hard to gauge. I need to be careful.
Update: The person who was talking to the redhead who probably has anger issues came up to ask about the hooded figures. If they were from Ravenna, or knew enough about the inner workings of Ravenna, they would've tried to kill or take me in on the spot, so I told them what I knew. Shortly after, I heard fighting echoing over from Skycliff. I wonder if that's from the person I spoke to, or one of the hooded figures. The person I spoke to seemed nice enough. I hope they win.
Update: Well it seems like they defeated their target since they came back, albeit looking a bit beat up. They started talking to the redhead again, apparently her name is Iris, and the hooded figures were a part of some group called the Order, and that a noble of Ravenna was a part of it, apparently it was Elius. I think I know of that family, his father should be the Bronze Hound. I'm going to follow them when they leave, but they're splitting up. Why would I do this when it's very clearly a bad idea, and I'd lose the small little paradise that I've built myself? Because this is temporary, I realized that when the "Order" came here and nabbed someone with no warning. That could very easily happen to me. As long as Calvus is alive, he'll always come for me and my family, just like what happened with my father. These people are powerful and could cause a real change, and I want to help to finally be free.
Day 46
I reached Ravenna after following the girl named Iris. She noticed I was following her and threatened to burn my sailboat a couple of times by throwing an admittedly giant blast of magic at my ship. I had to pierce through it with my spear. And afterwards, she would yell at me saying that she would turn me into a pile of ashes, whatever that means.
It's impressive that she has a lost magic at her age. She docked near my ship, and it seems like she's about to head over, let's see where this goes.
Day 47
I explained everything to her, and she tried to kill me several times. I don't blame her, I looked really suspicious following her for a whole week, I'd have done the same.
After a brief clash on the outskirts of the city, she finally listened to me. I explained that I wanted to help, that I overheard her and the person she was with talking about wanting to defeat the "Order", whatever that is. She was skeptical of course, but I explained in very vague details that I have a grudge against Calvus for something he did to my family, and she seemed to sympathize with that.
Maybe I'll learn why in the future, we may have some things in common.
Day 49
My new "companion" is a handful, it feels like I'm dealing with a younger sibling who just tries to fight everyone. It's kind of funny until a centurion walks up and she then tries to fight them too.
Good news is I learned a lot about her, apparently Calvus gave an order to capture her dad. I know how that feels.
Day 51
It's November 9th and the person she was waiting for still hasn't arrived, but we found their boat at the docks, which is bad news. Might have to go silent for a while to get things figured out.
Day 55
No updates.
Day 59
We found traces of battle on the side of the mountain along with some glass, maybe it's related. Glass is the trademark of General Julian of the Bronze Legion, which isn't good. True, the person we're looking for is strong, but a curse user...
Day 63
We found someone else named Morden who was looking for the same person we are. He gives me the creeps. I don't mean that as in his personality, he's honestly a polite and overall respectful person even though he seems quiet and reserved. Though there's nothing wrong with a little peace and quiet, especially since I'VE HAD TO DEAL WITH Iris ALL THIS TIME.
The amount of times I've had to drag her away from someone because she was rude or almost caused a fight... Though she's become a good friend this past month, it's odd. I still plan on keeping my distance, I just find it hard to trust people anymore. Anyways we told Morden what we found and we're going to start doing some digging to find who we're looking for. Might not be able to write for a while.