Chapter 74: The journey to Zenith city XII

I open the door to the blacksmith shop and I can feel the tension that my mother is giving off, I walk inside and notice Marcus and dad checking out some weapons. I don't see mom anywhere, but I can feel a disturbance. "Hey dad! I'm glad to see you guys learning about the important shops. Where is mom?" I call out to dad who is swinging a sword and testing its weight, he turns at the sound of my voice and smiles. However, his smile soon fades and his eyes look to something behind me. I turn my head to see what he's looking at and I come face to face with mom.

She has an expression that shows happiness, but she is giving off the feeling of annihilation. She moves a little closer and I flinch on instinct. "Why are you so scared sweetie? Its just mommy." Shivers go up my spine and fear envelops me. "I just want you to know that I'm not mad anymore. I understand that you have your own things to deal with." She says the words calmly and evenly, but there is a hidden malice behind her words. "So mind telling me what's so important that you had to ditch your mom? I'm sure you wouldn't abandon me for no good reason." Now she sounds very mad, I look at the other players and NPC's in the shop and they look scared as well.

I slowly back up putting distance between my mom and me, she matches my every step to make sure I cant get away though. "Hey mom, its so good to see you! I just got here." Her aura gets more serious and the happy face she had is now gone. "Look, I know you're mad mom. Please just listen to reason!" She begins to ball up her fist and move closer, I continue to move backwards till my back is against the wall. "If you hit me I'm calling the guards!!" I cant stop the words from leaving my mouth, I wouldn't get hurt by anything she does to me. The feeling of fear is overwhelming that part of me though.

When she hears those words she brings her fist up to hit me, and I see her best angry face with purple cheeks from how mad she is. She knows all about the guard situation so that is stopping her. She drops her fist and beings to tear me a new one. "HOW DARE YOU THREATEN ME YOU UNGRATEFUL BOY!!! I'M YOUR MOTHER AND YOU WOULD STILL THROW ME IN JAIL AFTER ALL YOU PUT ME THROUGH!!!" She is doing a good job at restraining herself from using violence, but I may have made my situation worse by saying that. "I CANT BELIEVE YOU WOULD EVEN SAY SUCH A THING!! I CARRIED YOU IN ME FOR 9 MONTHS AND BIRTHED YOU!! IS THIS HOW YOU'LL REPAY ME?! BY HURTING MY FEELINGS AND THROWING ME TO THE SIDE!!" I think she is letting all her frustrations out since she couldn't catch me when we had our chase. I'm starting to feel bad in all honesty. I've never been yelled at like this before, but its funny watching my mom mad. She isn't the type that has an 'angry' look, its still making me afraid though.

Instead of doing nothing I decide to do something, I interrupt my moms verbal attacks and bring her into a hug instead. She goes from 100 to 0 instantly, and is now quiet. Since she is so much shorter than me I have to bend down pretty far to make sure her chin sits on my shoulder, she hugs me back tight and I can hear her cry a little. "I'm really sorry mom. I didn't know spending time with me was so important to you." She cries harder after I say that, after letting her get her pain out for a good few minutes I finally pull away and look at her. She has red puffy eyes and is sniffling, I really put her through a lot.

She cleans the wetness from her eyes and begins to cheer up. "Oh, I cant stay mad at my baby. You will always be my sweet pumpkin pie!" I cant stop my face from turning red in embarrassment, talk about a nickname you want to disappear from the annuls of history. The other players in the shop snicker at the mention of my nickname, I clear my throat to help my fluster. I get behind mom and push her over to the rest of our family, I look at them all stand together in their beginner armor and weapons. A feeling of true happiness spreads through me, I hope they are all adjusting well to Ancients World.

Mom looks like she just remembered something as I see a light go off in her eyes. "Lets head over to the fountain and take a family photo! I want to get this moment on camera since you wont be staying with us long!" Mom gives no time for objections and is already half way out the door, we all follow her and line up in front of the fountain in the center of the city. Mom then proceeds to struggle with finding the screenshot tab in the player interface. "Cera can you help me, I cant find the camera." I walk up beside her and walk her through the steps, then she starts looking through a camera only she can see and lines it up towards the rest us the family. She puts it on the countdown and we both hurry into position.

She is the only one that got any notification about it, I watch her lose herself in the photo's she took. I turn my attention back to dad since mom is in her own world, I walk over and sit next to him on the fountain. "So are you guys planning anything soon?" I ask a simple question, but since me and my dad think in similar ways he gets the meaning behind my question. He sighs and looks up at the beautiful clouds that are free of pollution from jets and chemical dusting. One thing I'll always hate about my world is the government spraying crops with chemicals, they are fine for the plants. The sky clarity is sacrificed, we had to do something to feed the high population though.

I look up with dad and enjoy the freedom that Ancients World brings, nothing about this world is sick like our world. In all honesty our world is slowly dying, not in the sense of it cant sustain life. More along the lines it is losing its beauty. "Your mother and I are taking Marcus with us on our adventures together. Hailey told us she plans to take off on her own once we are done here in Nelmorp. That only leaves your decision, what do you plan to do?" It was nice of them to wait for me and ask me what I want to do instead of just assuming I'll tag along with them. I'm sure mom was hoping for me to stick around, but I got my own things to do.

I look over to my mom and Hailey as they go through the photo's. She must have sent copies to everyone on her friends list. Speaking of that I'll need to add them. "I'm on my own quest right now, so I wont be tagging along with you and mom. Even though that may disappoint her, I have progress to make." Dad nods his head in understanding and brandishes a smile. "I'll add you guys to my friends lists so we can keep in regular contact with player messages, I also have surprises for each of you. Well, more like great information." We continue to talk for a little while Hailey and mom do what girls do.

I want to give them information on great classes, Marcus has a chance to get a Legacy Magic class since I remember instructions on how to get one. Mom and dad are both swordsman class wielders so I know where 2 Legacy classes reside. Hailey has chosen a duelist, which is why her first weapon is a rapier. I know of a Legendary class that is perfect for her. I have a sick feeling in my gut making my family super strong, its the gamer part of me shouting 'Keep the balance'. It'll only benefit them though, the only thing I gain is a family that is strong enough to help each other when needed. That is all I can really ask for as a son.

Its still early morning so that means I can hang out with them for a few more hours, I want to leave for Zenith by night fall. As I hang out with my family in the best inn at Nelmorp, Giovani's Pub, I go onto play card games and explain each of the ways they can get the classes. They all write down the instructions in their player journals for each individual class, we spend many hours having fun and talking as we go from card game to card game. I didn't know mom and dad could pick up on games such as The Shattering, its one of the most popular fantasy card games among players. Every card is given a power level and you collect better cards from either players who wager or quests, its not big yet. In a few months it will be the pass time in Ancients World, many have compared it to the old vintage card game from over 200 years ago called Gwent. I played it once and its very similar, if you know how to play Gwent then you know how to play The Shattering.