True Death

The sun was awful sharp in the morning, with its rays striking the eyes of a poor farmer, Novim. The old middle-aged man placed his hand to shade his eyes from the sun as he held on his shovel with his other hand.  He moved his hand away from his head and got back to digging the ground to plant the corn seeds.  "The weather seems just right.", he spoke as he dug holes into the ground.  It was just another day at his farm. Nothing was unusual about this day. Minutes later, his daughter sneaked up on her old man and hugged his leg to say, "Papa!" Young as she was, she could only even say a few words.  Novim grinned as he partially twisted his neck to look down at his cute little daughter. He left the shovel and held his daughter up in the air. "You sure have made a long journey today."  He tucked his daughter in his left arm, and started walking towards his hut. "Now let's see what your mother is up to." On entering the hut, he observed his wife cooking soup in a pot. He placed his daughter down and questioned his wife as he sat on his wooden chair, "Thera walked outside again." Surprised to see her husband in the hut so early, she twitched as she looked at him. "Oh! You scared me." She moved away from the pot, and held her daughter in her arms. "Oh, you little cuddly bunny~ You shouldn't annoy your father while he's working. Annoy mommy instead~" The child was visibly upset and grumpy, but a sense of cuteness still dawned on her face. She loved her father, but wasn't much keen on playing with her mother. She wriggled in her mother's arms until she was eventually set free. She walked once again, and hugged her father's leg once more, happily saying nothing but "Papa!"   Novim laughed in his deep voice, "Hahaha." However, his wife did not take this situation lightly. She bloated her cheeks and crossed her arms as she looked away. "Hmph. I guess Thera doesn't care about mommy anymore." Even while upset, she looked beautiful. Her curly auburn hair brought more beauty to her glistening blue eyes. Her freckles lit up as she bloated her cheeks.  Novim spoke, "Stura, she is but a child. When she grows, I am sure she will like her mother much more." Stura sighed as she looked at her daughter. "Well, even if she still doesn't like mommy in the future, I just hope she grows happy and joyful as she always is." Stura bent her knees and smiled as she ruffled her daughter's hair.   "I wish the same." Novim placed his hand over his wife's, interrupting her motion. Stura pulled her hand out as she smelled the soup burning. "Oh! I almost forgot!" She rushed to stove and turned a knob to slow the heat generated by the mana crystal.  With this, Novim stood, "Well then, take care of Thera. I'll plant the seeds."   -------- The day passed normally as Novim worked in the farm. The sun had almost set, but he had accomplished his task already. After spending time with his family over the dinning table, he had planted 10,000 seeds across his farm. He headed to the merchant's guild house of the Guile guild to acquire a few radishes for dinner.  The journey was arduous, but he was able to reach there in an hour. With 5 copper coins in his pocket, he walked over to a counter. "Adam, I need 10 radishes today.", spoke Novim as he placed the 5 copper on the counter.  To this, the man behind the counter replied, "Sure. Anything for you, Novim." As the man scooped the coins closer to him, he yelled out to a woman. "Cristina! Bring the radishes!"   Even in dusk, her skin glowed. A young elf with braided blonde hair and green eyes. Her small nose and pointy chin made her look more like a sculpture than a person. To Adam's voice, she replied, "I'll bring it right away!" She walked over a couple stairs and returned with a wooden box from the storage room of the guild. As she walked towards Adam, she spoke, "Here you go!" and soon scurried back to assist another merchant behind a counter.  Adam opened the wooden box, and took out 11 radishes. On putting them on the counter, Novim spoke in his usual deep tone, "You placed one more, Adam."  To which Adam replied, "Consider it a gift for all your work. We were able to make twice the sales than last year all because of you."  Novim smiled. "Well, Stura sure would be glad to see more radishes to experiment on."  "If she comes up with another recipe, do let me know." spoke Adam.  "Will do."  -------- Now, Novim was headed home. He carried the radishes in his leather bag, which was attached to his waist with the help of a rope. By the time he arrived home, night had begun. He stood in horror as he saw his house broken down. Rocks were scattered everywhere across the land.  He saw a stream of blood running from the back of his house. He rushed there to see what had happened. And as he saw the source of the blood, a tear rolled down his eye. He saw his daughter mutilated with her body cut horizontally in half. He could see his daughter's intestines fall out of her corpse.  "No... No...", he murmured as he bent down to hold his daughter's body. "You can't die! You- You are just a child. You... I..." He had gone insane. Nothing was clear in his mind. He left his daughter's head and placed her back on the rock. "Stura! Stura!!", he yelled. Yet he heard nothing in return.  He dug through his broken house to search for his wife. He prayed not to see his wife there. As he tossed rocks away, cuts began to form on his hands. But the pain he had now suffered was beyond it all. As he shifted yet another rock, he saw his wife's corpse, disfigured by the broken house. "No! No!! Stura!"  He dug further and pulled the corpse out. As he held his dead wife in his arms, he stood quiet. Tears rolled down his eyes, but his face was holding his rage. He was on the verge of mentally breaking. "What did I do wrong? What did I do to deserve this?", he thought.  He sat down with the thud, holding the corpse of his wife.  -------- As the sun rose, he buried his wife's corpse and that of his child's, while desperately trying to calm himself down. Just as he placed 2 roses on the ground, a king's soldier interrupted him to say, "The King offers 2 gold for your loses."