wasted potential

After two similar nights and uneventful days the pair found themself looking at a windmill surrounded by fields of grain that slowely waved with the calm wind.

"Finnaly home" Martel said looking with a glimmer of joy in his eyes. "Get my stuff inside and after that our deal is finished, I'll be getting the money I owe you".

Redrick waited for the carriage to stop near the windmill and started putting the products and personal belongings of Martel inside his house. "I dont think that I have ever been inside a windmill before. Well I wouldn't go near this area anyway, no way to make stable money around here".

"Boy stop staring at my wall and finish your damn job" the old man said while walking towards a room in the back. The main room was quite spacious and was filled with all kinds of stones, metals and weird handcrafted items. Everything was neatly placed on shelfs and displays but the diversity of goods made it feel chaotic.

"Shall I also unpack your stuff sir" Redrick yelled while carrying the last box inside. "Don't you dare open any of these boxes idiot, they are more valuable than your an my life combined"

Martel was kind of a celebrity in Runric, not because he was famous but the exact opposite. His infamy didn't only come from his crazy inventions that tend to explode, implode, set fire or shockingly shock you but also for him valuing any usefull material object over anything that breathes. "He would have sold his wife and kids for artifacts, if he would have them I mean" or "that man is a genius in failed products and destruction, dont get to close to him" were things the town folk would say about the old man.

Though the town folk were not fond of Martel, all the other cities in the kingdom of New Bellum were well aware of his great appraisal skills. Many rich merchants and travellers would come to Runric for this man alone. There were some rumors that the man would talk to spirits of items, and so figure out all their secrets. This was all speculation cause Martel never told anyone about his gift.

Redrick ofcourse was back to his own thoughts while waiting for his money. "This old mans gift cant be that he talks to items. He barely makes any noice, even towards me". The young guard shook his head and looked towards the only empty wall in the room. " I wish I knew what my gift is".

Gifts were powers that anyone would get at birth. The diversity of the gifts you could get was big. Some were able to tame monsters, others could create fire out of nothing but most people had very mundane gifts like being better at farming or never failing in cleaning a dish. The most unlucky ones wouldn't even be able to find out what their gift is, Redrick was one of those.

"When I know I can finnaly find the job I was meant to do, get enough money to buy a house and live my life in leasure"

"Are you going to take the money or am I suposed to stand here for another 5 minutes" Martel had a pouch in his hand that was directed towards redricks chest. "Ah thank you sir, if you ever need my service again than plea..." Martel interrupted "yeah yeah I can find you at the old church. Spend that money well boy, I dont want to find you in the same state you were in before. Now scram I am a busy man and don't have time to talk."

Redrick left the windmill and headed towards the city wall of runric. " it looks as impressive as ever, its good to be back".

Runric was a town that was build on old ruins of a bygone era. The wall was mostly made out of two types of brick, the bottom was made out of the old dark stone bricks that had survived thousands of years. Everything else was made from some lighter bricks that were added to fill in the holes left by erosion and time. This was the reason why the wall looked like it had waves painted on it. The grain fields that surrounded it completely made it look even more spectacular from afar. Visitor's and travellers started calling the town 'sea of grain' because of its characteristics.

"I wonder how the wall looked like before Runric, was it as black as the old bricks now or was it the same colour as the new ones" Redrick actualy started to have a feeling that it would have been another colour entirely.

The small man was now a few hundred meters from the city gate. But instead of continuing following the main road, the young guard went over a path that was almost hidden by grain. This path lead to a small group of trees next to the wall that surrounded a grass field with an old church in the middle of it. The walls had vegetation all over it, the roof was litterd with moss and the windows looked very dusty.

"Finnaly home" Redrick sighed with a smile on his face. Opening the front door made a lot of noice that echoed throughout the whole church. Five rows of benches directed towards an altar was the first thing he saw after adjusting to the darknes inside. The altar was made af white marmer and it depicted a sun. This sun was the god that was worshipped here ages ago.

The death of the sun god religion caused the church to become an orphanage, Redrick was one of the last orphans that got to live here. The caretaker and his wife, Mister and misses Goldfield were very pleasant people who actually cared for their orphans. The town folk were amazed over how the pair could take care of so many childeren and so some would visit and help around. Martel was one of those, he only fixed the church here and there and didn't talk a lot but that was already a big help.

Mister Goldfield died after being drafted to war 5 years ago. Aparantly his sacrifice saved countless people. Misses Goldfield died shortly after, she couldn't handle the death of her husband. The last thing she did was ask the town to leave the church alone so that orphans and homeless at least could find shelter. And so the church was left alone because of the great sacrifices the goldfields made.

But no new orphans would find this place. Redrick stayed the only inhabitant and that was fine in his opinion. "I'll eat my leftovers after resting. Sleeping on wood and stone for 2 months is taxing" redrick went to the right tower staircase that led to the top of the right bell tower. The bell had been removed and the openings to the outside had windows. This made for a great view over the trees and grain fields from every direction. There wasn't much else to the room. next to the 4 big windows, the only thing was a nicely made wooden bed frame with an cheap looking mattress inside it.

"Ohw how I missed you" redrick spoke while falling onto the mattress. It didn't take long for the guard to fall asleep.