Oren Faride, 26, Male

The setting sun peaked through the trees of the woods, basking the fields in a soft orange glow. I raised my rake, putting in the final hefty chop to the last of the wheat crops for the day. Looking around, I see that despite a full two months work gathering the crops, I hadn't covered even half of the fields.

A distant yell from the farmhouse sounded out. No doubt the landlord Ishi signalling I was finished for today. I put down the rake and heaved a deep sigh. This was not how my life was supposed to go. In my teens, I had always dreamed of becoming something...more. But it had all gone wrong from the day my mother had died.

My mother was a hard working woman. My father had abandoned us at birth, saying I wasn't his child. After he left my mother to raise me as a single parent, she worked tirelessly. She worked both day and night, providing food so I'd get go hungry and a small cabin on the outskirts of Shorm, our hometown.

But she didn't stop there. She continued to provide for me, sending me to a private tutor to learn how to read and write. She even payed the Great Wizard Rowan, one of the most respected Mages in Averlon, to inspect if I had any magical potential in me when he visited Shorm one day. When Rowan broke the news I didn't have any magical abilities, my mother wasn't deterred. She simply changed course and spent more of her hard earned coins for Ishi, the retired solider now farming landlord, to teach me how to fight with a sword. Unfortunately, I only proved to be mediocre, at best.

This process continued for years. During my childhood until my teens, my mother spent every last of her earnings on me to learn any and all forms of magic, fighting and knowledge I could find here in Shorm or at a nearby town. But alas, it was useless. Despite my failures however, my mother always reminded me to not feel guilty. She told me it was her choice and to respect her decision.

She often would sit and talk with me during meals, dreaming about the day when I'd find my purpose. She always believed I was destined for something great. In particular, she believed I would become a ruler in Averlon someday.

"Mother...that's impossible." I would say.

"Trust me, Oren. One day, you'll find your place in this world..." She would reply sweetly.

I'll never forget those words. Those were the last I heard from her.

My mother would die that night after an attack in her sleep. Half a dozen debt collectors stormed our cabin, raiding everything before killing my mother for her outstanding payment. I had always assumed my mother had payed for everything but my childhood innocence blinded me. Turns out she had debt...lots of them. My mother was well known for borrowing money and never returning it. And it seems the debt collectors had lost their patience with her.

Ishi took me in after her ****. I remember screaming and crying as he dragged me from the cabin. Apparently he knew about the debt too and had made a promise to my mother to take me in if something like this ever happened. He was just surprised she got away with it for this long.

After I grieved the loss of my mother, he taught me how to farm by growing and harvesting crops. Just my luck, it turns out I was quite good at farming. Under Ishi's guidance, I slowly began to take over his work out on the fields. Ishi was kind enough to let me stay at his farmhouse near the fields, as my mother's debt had left me with nothing to my name. Beside in law, I had technically taken over my mother's debt, meaning any money I'd make would be handed over to the Shorm debt collectors.

I shook my head out of reflecting on my past. I started the trek up the fields when I heard a shriek from the woods. I stopped, pausing. And I heard it again, another high pitched shriek. I looked around, seeing no one near me down at the fields. No one from Shorm comes down those to the woods unless your Ishi or the village leader, Joseph.

The third shriek, louder and more of a scream, is what **** my body to move. I took off at a sprint, aiming for the trees. As I hurled into the darkening forest, shadows crossed over my path. All the while, the shrieks continued to get louder and louder. I was getting closer...