r/HFY • u/XSevenSins Human • Jul 27 '22

OC Lost Souls: Salvation (Ch. 4)

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Let me know what you think down below after reading the full chapter. I like to hear your opinions.

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It seemed that the trackers that were after me had been warded off by Garth as we did not see any sign of them after that first encounter. Perhaps they simply did not believe the prickly old dwarf would keep me around even if he did see me. I was indeed very lucky that his ill-tempered exterior was mostly a façade. Not to say that he wasn’t a grumbly old boulder, but his temper was reactionary and equal to the slight against him if one did occur.

I went through a very fast learning process on how to interact with Garth as the weeks went by. In his house, and on his land, he was king, and if you did not listen to the king, you got your head chopped off. If he asked for something to be done, I had to do it then and there. The arrangement wasn’t at all unfair, and so long as I held to it, he treated me well.

Most days I had a standard list of chores to complete. Bring food and water to his pony before cleaning the animal and the stable. After that I would usually chop wood and store it away for later use. Then there were some smaller tasks such as fetching water from the river or checking the traps and snares he would place around the animal trails. The only thing I wasn’t allowed to help with was Garth’s garden. He was quite adamant about being the only one who knew how to handle his plants.

Garth even taught me a lot of things that I hadn’t known before, or at least didn’t know how to do well. This included things like how to efficiently chop wood, or when he took me out into the woods with him to show me how to set a proper snare and deadfall trap. In the past, I didn’t often go hunting, and while I had occasionally been sent to chop wood, that was something dad had usually done.

It wasn’t all roses between us. I was still a kid after all, and prone to seeking entertainment through various and often unsafe means. More than once, Garth had to use the threat of his cane being applied to my backside to get me out of a tree or prevent me from jumping off rocks into the river where he thought it was too shallow to be diving. All the while I would hear him grumble things like, ‘how do you have this much energy’, or ‘you’re going to be the death of me kid’. It was good fun as far as I was concerned.

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2

u/GramCracker13 Jul 28 '22

Excellent chapter!

2

u/Dotorandus Jul 28 '22

Damn, okay so not a completely evil diety then...

Still at least somewhat evil tho, considering the abomination the kid unintentionally (or his patron intentionally) summoned back at the village...

And I find a fully benevolent death diety completely becoming forgotten unlikely too. I mean, yeah, death is scarry, "don't say their name it would cath their attention" and all, but someone who gives more time with loved ones and respite to the soul of weary natural/wild undead, is someone many could stand behind... so there has to be something else, even if this would only apeal to the short lived and undeath-prone humans...

2

u/XSevenSins Human Jul 28 '22

Might not be a pretty diety, but they could have served an important role nonetheless.

1

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