Zapata Valencia Sebastián, The Irresistible Choice

THE IRRESISTIBLE CHOICE

Written By Sebastián Zapata Valencia

Two hundred years ago; a war raged took place in the second biggest and powerful continent in the world, Serian. The conflict was between Serian and Tanes the strongest continent of all time. The Color War originated because Tanes wanted to take possession of the ancient technology that Serion possessed. Nevertheless, when Serian was about to lose the war they decided to hide the ancient power, and until these days the whereabouts are unknown. After the war Serian economy, culture, and ancient technology disappeared. The continent fell in a state of poverty and chaos. The people started to live for trading objects for money and searching for the most wanted peace in the world, the stone of Ea. The legend says this stone was hidden before the war ended and that could control the ancient technology and it contained the secrets of the creation of all. A lot of people started forming groups that latter will be known as guilds, that have the objective of finding the ancient stone.

Three decades after the new Era began, a little boy was born, in a small town far away from Artanida the capital of Serian. The name of the city is in honor of Artania —the god that protects and accompanied adventures in their journey.— This little boy that was just born didn’t know that he’s destined to do big things. This young boy was named Airam Elira, which meant freedom. Airam was born in a particular family. His father was a well-known blacksmith, his mother a peasant and his grandpa was a wise that seemed to know everything. All of them lived in a little house, in a small town that had a little number of houses. Nevertheless, it has a stable economy, that is based on trading objects for money. The trading takes place in the town hall.

The time had flown, now Elira was 17 years old. In this time he had made a lot of friends, his father taught him how to forge, his mother how to grow grains, and his grandfather

taught him about history, he read him every single night a story, he teaches him how to fight and read the ancient language. But that was not all, Elira’s appearance has changed dramatically. Now he’s not a little guy, he was 1.87 meters tall and weighed 88 kilograms of pure muscle. His hands are coarse and ragged, yet strong like wood; the training was daily, from dawn to dusk, and with the years, they became his most valuable weapons. His skin wasn’t white as snow, or dark as night, it was warm ivory, His gaze was deep as the ocean and his eyes green like an emerald. Even though time has passed and he had changed there was something that had never changed; his love for adventures, and the dream of finding the ancient stone. However this was only a myth for him, this was a reality for me. Elira’s father was getting old, he has noticed His son’s passion for adventures, so Elira’s father talks to his Grandpa, and they decided that when he turns 18 they would help him fulfill his dreams. Months later, Elira’s birthday arrived. To celebrate his party, the pope had organized a big party in the town’s guild, many people gathered to celebrate the birthday. However, although Elira received all kinds of gifts; weapons, clothes, books and even an entrance to be part of the guild could be seen well inside in his eyes there was a grain of sadness, it seemed that no one had noticed this, and so the night fell.

When the sun was gone, and the moon was shining in its maximum splendor Elira Airam left his house and walked to a mountain where the smell of pine predominated, where the wind caressed his body softly and lovingly, here Airam sat to see the starry sky trying to appease the doubts of his heart. Minutes passed and Elira Airam could not answer his questions, instead of calming down, he began to stress. Elira Airam not knowing what to do, entered a state of stress, his breathing was beginning to accelerate, his body was shaking, and Elira

was on the verge of collapse. However, a subtle and tender touched Elira’s shoulder. When he turned around, he realized that this cozy feeling came from the hand of Grandfather, who with a smile said; “Difficulties are part of life, but tranquility is part of man.” The young Elira did not quite understand those words, but also without realizing it, he was calmer. The grandfather sat next to Elira and asked what is going through his heart, to which Iram replied: “I have many doubts Grandpa, although I have always wanted to leave, and now that I have the opportunity I do not know if I should go.” The grandfather with a welcoming look told him “What makes you doubt” He said calmly.

“I do not want to leave everything behind, I do not want to leave Papa, Mama, and you grandfather, you are already old I feel that if I leave I may not get the chance to spend more time with you, and I don’t want to waste my time. ” Elira responded.

After these words, the silence welcomed the place for a few seconds until the grandfather replied; “There is nothing to waste when you look for your dreams, it is true that time is limited so do not limit yourself to the time of others, it is not the more time you spend with others but the one who is most with them is the one who appreciates that time. Besides, there is no greater happiness for a father and a mother than to see their son fulfill his dreams. ”After saying this, the grandfather stopped taking a large sheet of paper from his pocket and gave it to him without saying a single word. Elira took the paper and unfolded it, it was a map, it looked a lot like the maps of the adventure stories that her grandfather used to read to her. But this map was different, it had blurred parts, names of cities that did not exist and the paper looked old and crumpled. But that was not all, in the corner, there was a letter posted by hand that said of Papa and Mama “You can”. This

simple and short word was the push Elira needed. Elira full of tears turned to thank Grandpa, but he was gone. The next day Elira assembled her suitcase and went to the guild and there filled out the registration papers, and participated in entrance exams, which he passed all with ease. After this Elira returned home at night and was received by a great dinner made by her mother, As a celebration for having entered the guild, however, it seemed more like a farewell dinner. The next morning, with the suitcase in his hand, Elira had received a letter that the capital of Serian should leave for Artanida to the guild headquarters. Iram left his house without anyone listening since he feared that if he said goodbye to his parents he would not be able to leave. Elira walked through the town towards the exit of the city, and when he was about to leave Elira could see her grandfather and her parents under the tree waiting for him outside the city. Elira was so surprised, he approached them and ask “what are you doing here” to what the parents responded with a smile “You are our son, we knew what you were going to do” after hearing those sweet words, Elira embraced her parents and grandfather, and so the tears occupied the main stage, After the warm farewell Elira not only parted the town with a heart full of intrigue but with a new sword that his father had forged for him, food that his mother gave him for the road and an old book that his grandfather read before leaving. And that’s how Iram Elira’s adventure began.