章 15: Past memories and Unknown Future

"Future eh! let's keep that aside for now. We've been together for 3 months and more now and yet we hardly know each other. Let's talk about our past today. It's okay if anyone of you wants to skip it. I'll start if guys want." Olly said looking at the bright stars.

"Mm, I don't mind. Let's do that." Nadia nodded in agreement and others didn't voice out any opposing thoughts.

"Okay, where do I start. My name's Olly Rothschild. I belong to the merchant family of Blue Vine City. Life was good, you could tell by my size when I came here right. But then my mother died when I was 14 and although it was a sad thing everyone knew that this day would come soon as she had been fighting for her life ever since she gave birth to me. The illness my mother had was rare and despite spending a lot no healer could save her.

My dad fell ill soon after my mother's death and everything slowly started to fell apart. My elder brother took over the family business. All would have been but my elder brother's wife started to show her greed. She had my brother completely charmed and in just half year she had almost complete authority over the business.

"So what happened next?" Before Olly could finish Nadia interrupted with glowing eyes. She looked like the person who enjoyed drama and such.

"I was getting to that part, so if you'll listen with interrupting. I'll finish my story." Olly glared at Nadia in annoyance and continued his story. "So ah where was I... Ah So after my sister in law took over the business my stupid elder brother fell ill as well. Symptoms all similar to my fathers and I was afraid to eat at my own home.

It was clear the illness was not natural but they were poisoned but there was no one to help me or my family. It's how this world works, strong feed on weak and the business world is ever crueler as everyone is nothing but opportunists. People who use to kneel before my father now looked at me in disdain when I went to them for help.

The most frustrating was my sister in law just watched me as I tried to fight my way out of the mess. She didn't poison me, she didn't find anyone to assassinate me and she just said I was nothing but a clown dancing around in front of her and she could crush me like a bug anytime she wanted. And so I ran. I left my brother and my father with that vixen and left the house.

I left to gain strength because in front of absolute strength petty tricks she used to take over my family wouldn't work. I awakened my magic after I left the house and one of the guild members discovered me and brought me here." Olly looked around and saw Nadia have a disappointed expression on her face.

"What?" Olly asked

"Nothing, I was expecting your sister in law trying to assassinate you and you awaken your magic but you were still not strong enough and ran for your life swearing revenge or something. It was kind of weak, you leaving your father and brother behind." Nadia replied with a disappointed tone.

"Well, sorry I didn't have the dramatic background you were expecting," Olly replied with a helpless smile. But what was he supposed to do?

"I'll go second then, I was raised in an orphanage. I awakened my magic when I reached 11 and the director of the orphanage was very delighted with the news. Suddenly someone came to adopt me as well but I was happy as I was going to become a mage and have a family as well but I forgot about one thing. People would usually adopt children of age below 10 and preferably below 6 as it was easy to build trust and kinship.

Before I noticed that, I was already in a carriage with my new family. They took me to a big house and their loving expression changed into a cold one. I was locked inside a room and they started to talk about potential buyers who would be interested in mages. I realized they were slave traders and the ones who specialized in selling of magical commodities such as magical beast, weapon, and mages.

Soon I was sold to a rich guy and after 2 years of slavery, I got my chance to escape because of the war. And I ended up here after escaping." Nadia said with a smile in her face.

"You know, you don't look or sound like a person who got sold and became a slave. Just say you don't want to share your story if you don't want to." Olly said with disbelief covering his eyes.

"It's up to you to believe. Let's hear your story, Annie." Nadia nudged Annie's shoulder.

"I don't like telling personal life to everyone," Annie replied with a cold tone as she clenched her hands.

"Awe, that sucks. How you tell only me Annie?" Nadia shook Annie's shoulder but didn't get any reply.

"Let her be Nadia, how about Nate or John? You guys interested in sharing your story." Olly said as he looked towards the remaining two.

"I was born and raised in the ghetto. My mom raised me alone and died after overworking to feed me when was six. After that most of my life was spent on pickpocketing and other things kids from the slums do. I awakened my magic when I was running after stealing a purse and the owner of the purse happened to be a guild member here. I thought I was going to die but he brought me here seeing I had awakened my magic. And that's about it." John shared his story and all that left was Nate.

Nate didn't want to share his story as he didn't have the memories of the real 'Nate' and it would be weird to say he was from a different planet. "I will skip as well. It isn't interesting enough to share." Nate said as he continued to look at the starts.

"Ah, so we have two shy people in the group." Olly shook his head in disappointment.

"Hmph what do you know? Nate said he wanted to be an assassin. He must have lost his parents to some bad guy and wants revenge on them. It's probably why he wants to be an assassin because his goal is to kill the killers of his parents." Nadia said as if she was sympathizing with Nate's pain with 'I understand your pain' look written all over her face.

"Pff... Its nothing like that." Nate laughed out as he heard Nadia. "But it is true, I lost my parents. They died while protecting the northern border."

"Oh, sorry to hear that. You parents must have been great soldiers, you must be proud." Nadia said in a softer tone.

"Proud! Why would I be proud? They died protecting something worthless and left me alone. I would have been happy if my parents were normal people living a normal life." Nate said with displeasure. At least he didn't want to be a soldier dying for a kingdom that was not worth fighting for.

"Yeah, I guess that's what I would have wanted as well. Family! it must be a nice thing to have." Nadia said resting her chin in her knee.

"It is nice to have a family," Nate said while remembering his family from earth. Although he lost his parents in his teenage years, he still remembered the feeling of being loved.

John and Olly nodded their heads in approval while Annie clenched her fist harder as tears were gathering in her eyes. She quickly wiped them away and resumed her cold expression.

Everyone else remained silent afterward as they got lost in their own thoughts and memories. As for the future, they didn't have the luxury to think about it.