What have I done..? My family… I've… NO! No… it wasn't me… it wasn't! I COULD NEVER DO THIS! Regis thinks to himself, revolted with his own actions, clutching his head, gripping his hair tight while sitting in the farthest corner from the door to his cottage.
"It's okay… (cough!) Regis… make sure to live a (cough!) …good life, my boy… and… (cough!) happy 14th birthday to you… my child…" Regis's mother says to him in a soft, motherly voice. Her clothes are washed with her own blood, a testament to what Regis has done.
"NO! Mother! Please! YOU'RE THE ONLY FAMILY I HAVE LEFT! I'll- WAIT!" Regis walks up to his mother with tears flowing freely out of his eyes and down his cheeks. He trembles, trying to think of a way to save her at any cost.
"It's… (cough!) ...too late, my boy…" His mother says, teary-eyed, looking at him with a soft smile, one you'd expect from your mother. She pats Regis's head with her already bloody hands before her life is stripped away from her, and her hand falls cold on the floor.
"NO! MOTHER! Please… Please..!" Regis puts his head on his mother's chest, only to not feel her heart beating anymore.
"Mother… it's all my fault… I should've been the one to die, not you…" Regis says, frustration evident in his voice. He walks outside, mother's body in hand, the only piece of clothing on his body being his ragged pants, stained red with blood. His eyes seem hollow, but carry purpose behind them.
Regis lays his mother's body down on the ground. He digs out a grave beside his mother's body, and about 2 hours of relentless digging later, he buries his mother in the grave right beside his father's.
I'm such a failure… I don't deserve to live… How… just how could I have killed my family? Regis thinks to himself in frustration. His hands are stained with blood. Not his, but his mother's.
He stares at his hands with a defeated expression, walking to a nearby river to wash himself right after. He stares at his reflection in the flowing river, standing there, neck bent.
I… I must change… He steels his resolve while staring at his unclear reflection. His eyes are full of passion.
Regis washes himself up and heads to his cottage in Shadowveil, fully clothed.
"I'm back…" He says to an empty home, the walls and floors stained with blood, proof of the atrocities he had committed a few hours prior.
He sits on his bed, alone. Nobody to accompany him anymore. He stares into the floor, head down.
How lonely it is… perhaps… I should go out and explore the world… grow stronger… and hopefully then… I'll be able to make friends… fit in with others… He ponders for a few minutes, before packing some essentials such as food and water into a straw basket and leaving his hometown, Shadowveil.
The very second he leaves his cottage during midnight, a strong gust of cold wind hits his body, preemptively making him shiver and cross his arms over his chest. He starts rubbing his arms with his hands to create friction, hopefully a bit of warmth. He grits his teeth and keeps moving forward, walking deeper into the city.
Regis's eyes are narrowed as he tries to see something in the distance. What… is that..? It's dark… and cold… maybe I should head ba- His thoughts are interrupted by a loud screech, that of a bird.
W-What's that!? I should run! He thinks while looking back at the bird, getting goosebumps not because of the cold, but terror. Pure, unriddled fear. His eyes are wide, his face pale, and his breathing quick and shallow through his mouth. He turns away from the bird and in front of him, and starts sprinting.
No way… it's coming towards me! RUN, RUN! Regis thinks to himself, but it is too late, he feels a sharp pain and a bit of warmth on his back. As he looks behind him, his face is drained of all color.
"WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH! RUN!" Regis screams out at the top of his lungs. The giant bird has burrowed its talons deep inside of his back. The straw basket has also been ripped apart by it.
The bird stares into the pale Regis's eyes, its eyes carrying no hint of mercy. The sight of this alone makes Regis weak in the knees, as he falls down to the ground.
"Please… please… just let me go…" Regis whispers, his voice shaky as he looks back at the bird. The bird Screeches loudly and digs its talons even deeper into his back, reaching Regis's spine.
"AGH! STOP! AHHH!" Regis exclaims at the top of his lungs, his face is scrunched, tears of blood flowing out of his eyes. He flops his arms around, trying to wiggle himself out of this dangerous predicament.
Do I really have no choice but to die here..? He thinks… but just then, he remembers something…
"live a (cough!) …good life, my boy" His mother's words echo in his mind.
Live… live… I must live… EVEN IF IT'S FOR THE SAKE OF MY MOTHER! He exclaims in his mind.
Now, with newfound grit, he grabs a broken piece of the hard straw that his straw basket was made out of. He lodges it into the bird's eye, and with immense strength and a hint of perseverance, he manages to get the stick through the bird's other eye, damaging its vision.
"SKREEEEEEE" The bird screeches. Its talons reach Regis's ribs, grazing his heart. Regis pulls the stick towards himself with all his might. His back muscles contract as he does so.
"SHUT UP, YOU COMICALLY HUGE BIRD!" Regis cries out, and with a final ripple of explosive power and muscle-mass, he manages to rip the bird's head off, ending its life.
"Huff I… did it…" Regis says while panting heavily, adrenaline pumping through his veins. He pulls the bird's talons off of his back and manages to crawl back home by the break of dawn.