Chapter 1: Chapter 1: Family First

Chapter 1

Family First

My uncle is an enigma in our family. My father never speaks about him, and if not for the photos hidden away in the attic, I doubt I would have ever known about the man at all.

The day my brother and I found his picture tucked away in a crawlspace was the first time I had ever seen my father lose control. I can still remember the angry tears that streamed

down his face as he whipped us for reasons he never bothered to explain. After a beating like that, my brother and I never bothered to ask about the man for fear of getting beaten again.

Though I didn’t enjoy revisiting those memories, I couldn’t help but ponder them after a letter had arrived earlier this morning. It had been addressed to me, my name written in black ink, Samuel Garner, and had been sealed with an unfamiliar crest, a motif of a winged serpent.

When my father had asked the postman who had sent it, he quickly snatched the letter away and stormed off after the man had replied, "You don’t know? That is the crest of Sir

Lucian Garner.”

Sir Lucian Garner? My thoughts went wild at the implication of the name and title. I wasn’t the most well-read or knowledgeable person, but I was aware that those with titles like Sir often represented people of high importance in the kingdom.

With this revelation in mind, I determined it would be wise to approach my father after he had some time to calm down. Which, I figured, might be a while as he was currently out in the field angrily swinging his scythe amongst the wheat. As I spied on him from the kitchen window, my mother entered the room carrying a basket full of eggs she had just gathered from the hens outside.

“Your father’s in a chipper mood this morning, isn’t he?” She said as she placed her basket down on the table.

“I don’t know what happened between those two, but I wish he wouldn’t take it out on me,” I replied bitterly, stealing another glance out the window. “He wouldn’t even let me read the letter.”

My mother moved to stand beside me and gently took my face into her hands.

“Sam,” she said softly. “Ignore your father for now. He’ll come around eventually. Today is your Choosing Day after all.”

Tears welled in her eyes as she looked at me before pulling me into a fierce hug. “I’m not ready for my boy to be all grown up. It’s hard on us mothers.” After a long moment, she finally released me and wiped the tears from her eyes.

“Now go on before I find something to keep you busy.”

“Yes, ma’am,” I replied with a salute, which earned me an eye-roll before she shooed me out of the kitchen.

Resolved not to push my luck, I made my way through the living room and slipped out the front door.

As I stepped out onto the front porch, I suddenly found myself with unexpected free time. This was a rare thing as our parents kept us fairly busy working on the farm, especially during the summer harvest.

Mom obviously wanted me to use this time to think about the choice I would be making later tonight, but all all I could think about was that letter my father refused to let me read. I sighed as I leaned against the wooden rails of the porch as I surveyed my family’s property.

It was a decent stretch of land, cultivated and passed down through several generations. We were, by all accounts, a traditional farming family. My father is a farmer; my grandfather had been a farmer, and everyone who came before them, unsurprisingly, had been farmers too. Now, it was my little brother and I who stood next in line to inherit the land and, with it, the expectation to carry on the family traditions.

I wouldn’t consider our family ridiculously wealthy by any means, but life was comfortable enough. Between the fields and the animals, we never had to worry about food, and there had always been plenty of produce to sell for whatever else we might need. By all accounts, it was a simple, quiet, and secure life.

And I couldn’t help but feel trapped by it.

However, today was my Choosing Day. For every youth who has reached their eighteenth year within the kingdom, they will be officially recognized as adults and be given a chance to choose their own paths.

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A week ago, the local priest of Wheat Hollow did his best to prepare the young men and women of our small town for the upcoming ceremony. All those who were of age were called to the small church located at the center of town. There, the priest sat us down and did his best to answer any questions that we might have about The Path.

According to the priest, there were four domains that gave access to unique paths: the Martial domain, the Arcane, the Divine, and Cultivation. Each domain had its own benefits and unique abilities that accompanied the choices that would be offered to us in the spiritual realm.

He had said our potential paths had already been crafted over the past eighteen years. The choices offered would ultimately reflect the skills, traditions, and the upbrining up to this point.

The priest explained it by saying that someone who had grown up in a family of warriors may not be offered a path related to the Arcane, Divine, or Cultivation. On their choosing day, when they take their first steps they will likely be offered three different paths that are all connected to a Martial domain.

Which means someone like me, who has grown up on a farm, with a long history of farmers, who wanted nothing more than to be farmers, would likely result in me being, well, a farmer.

To be honest, I have no idea what choices I even want to receive. I know my father is expecting me to pick a path that is related to farming in some way, so that I might be more help when planting crops or raising animals. Even a path related to trading would be a great boon to the family and would ultimately keep me rooted right where I am…close to home… for the rest of my life.

Maybe my he is right, maybe it’s best to just settle down and not dream beyond The Belt and endless fields surrounding our small town of Wheat Hollow. Still, I still cant help but wonder who I could be if I simply had the courage to step out and try something new? It’s an itch I can’t seem to scratch, no matter how much I try to reason with myself.

I sat on the front porch for some time as I considered the choices that I might be offered this afternoon. My thoughts were soon interrupted, as my little brother, burst through the front door running at full speed. Upon seeing me, he slid to a stop and quickly moved to stand in front of me.

“Oh, good! I thought you’d wandered off into town to be with Grace. I was about to chase after you, but you saved me the trouble.” Seth, as usual, spoke with a barely contained excitement, eyes practically shining. “Today’s the big day, are you nervous?”

“I guess so, but I don’t really feel nervous yet. It feels like it’s out of my hands anyway. My choices have practically been made for me.”

“That’s true,” Seth said matter of factly. “I have no doubt you’ll end up with a farming path like Dad, and we can all work and live together just like he planned.”

Despite being a year younger than myself Seth seemed to have a much clearer vision of his future and the responsibilities he was willing to inherit.

“Yeah, family first,” I said half heartedly, as I got up to stretch and step off the porch. “I guess I’d better go talk with Dad and see if he needs any help.”

Seth nodded before turning and running back inside.

As I walked around the house, I couldn't help but hear a steady stream of curses coming from the barn that sits a little ways behind our home. The large doors of the barn were open, and I could see the vague silhouette of my father trying to shoe our donkey. Blue, by every definition, was a jackass. He has always had a foul temperament, and he makes even simple tasks like this way harder than they ought to be.

“Damnit, Blue, stop being so difficult!”

My father’s voice carried across the yard and was followed by the obnoxious braying of Blue’s protest.

“You need a hand Dad?”

Before waiting for a response, I grabbed a handful of feed and walked over to Blue, offering him a treat. This seemed to mollify the indignant donkey as he accepted the offering before him.

“Thank you, son, I’ll just be a minute longer, maybe less now that this old bastard has calmed down.” Dad glared at Blue before tacking the shoe into place.

With his morning chore completed, Dad led Blue back to his stall before grabbing two stools and setting them down by the open door of the barn. He gestured for me to join him as he pulled out his pipe, tamping down the ember reeds inside before lighting it.

“Things will get a lot easier around here once you choose your path,” he said, taking a draw from his pipe and then blowing out the smoke a moment later. “How nice would it be if it were something animal related, then even ole Blue would have to be a little more reasonable.”

Before I could respond, my father placed a hand on my shoulder and looked me in the eye. “Son, I know I don’t have to remind you that today is a big day, you’re about to become a man and you’re setting the example for your little brother coming up after you.”

Looking at my father, I nodded my head in understanding. “Yeah, I know, I honestly can’t tell if I’m nervous or excited, even though I have no doubt it will be a Path of Cultivation.”

“Oh, I remember that feeling well,” my father said, pausing to take another draw from his pipe. “Your uncle and I were up all night trying to guess what Paths we might be offered.”

A brief smile flickered across my father’s face, but it quickly faded into a grimace as if he had just touched an open wound.

Despite worrying that my father’s anger might flare up again? I braced myself and chose to ask the question that had been weighing on me for years.

“Dad, what happened between you and Uncle Lucian?”

My father’s face remained stoic as he continued puffing his pipe, and he was silent for several long minutes.

Well, great. Now I’ll probably get stuck with chores as a reward for prying into my father’s business. Just when I was about to give up and make an excuse to leave, my father finally responded.

“Your uncle and I had a pretty heated argument the day he left home. Well, more than an argument, we came to blows after never once fighting in all our years together. We’re twins, he and I, and I loved him more than anything.”

He paused, taking another slow drag from his pipe as he gathered his thoughts. “We were both supposed to choose a path to help the family farm grow. Raise our families together, live together, and support one another. When Lucian took his steps onto the path after me, to my great sadness, he chose to go a different way. Your grandfather, gods rest him, always said ‘family comes first.’ But that day, your uncle made a selfish decision and left me to carry all these responsibilities on my own.”

As I looked at my father, I noticed that his eyes had a subtle, misty quality as he talked openly about my uncle with me for the first time.

“Your uncle broke my heart that day. I admired him more than anyone in the world, and then.. he left me on my own. I thought we shared the same dream of growing our family, but ….here we are. Now he’s off doing gods know what somewhere in the world, the bastard couldn’t even come home to help me bury your grandfather.”

Dad took one final drag from his pipe before tamping out the contents onto the ground. As he blew out a steady stream of smoke, he turned to look at me, his voice filled with unfamiliar emotion. “Make me proud, son. Set a good example for Seth. Don’t be like your uncle.”

My father has never been what anyone would call an emotional man. Like my grandfather before him, he’s been the perfect picture of stoicism, an unchanging constant, quietly moving and toiling in the world around him. So, to say I was caught off guard by the sudden emotion in his voice would be an understatement. I can’t express how unsettled I felt as he ended our conversation.

Today was going to be much harder than I thought.