“Welcome to your first tier upgrade.” a voice echoed across the grassfield in front of Brad.

  Looking around at the simple rolling landscape with grass swaying in the wind, with a single table and chair breaking the serenity of the location.

  “Please have a seat Mr.Wallace.” said the same disembodied voice.

  “Sure, but what is going on with this?” Brad gestured around to the new setting while heading towards the simple white chair.

  “This is just a temporary area that we bring people to when they must choose certain aspects of their bloodline and it also allows us to somewhat explain certain relevant facts about them in lieu of a parental figure.”

  “Oh! What are the facts?” Brad said, now deeply curious.

  “You have inherited a bloodline that allows certain nature related benefits, but many restrictions regarding industry. Your parents, in service of their paths, were not able to raise you. The path they follow is also the source of your option of ‘Druid’ when picking your class. It is reco–”

  “Hold up! What about my parents? They are alive!? What are they doing? Where are they!?” How–” Brad started rapid firing questions.

  “Let us explain Mr. Wallace.” The voice said, not showing a single sign of impatience.

  “Okay, then start explaining! How can I meet them? What was so important that they gave me up!?” Brad ask, emotion now starting to color his voice, emotions that had long since been buried.

  “They did not give you up per se. Your program should be looked at more as a specialty boarding school. They are with and of the forest, in times of expansion they were not able to personally raise you. As such, their pledges ensured a strong appreciation of nature and the tools to greatly affect it.”

  Slamming his fists on the table in front of him, Brad ground out a question. “And that is supposed to make me happy? What kind of backhanded reward is that for spending most of my childhood alone? Mia told me that only seeing others a few times a week is not normal. Why was I so alone!?” he screamed the end.

  “You were not alone, you had your pack. And as for a reward, it was a necessity that your parents were required to take. The system recognizes the penalties that are perceived to have been unjustly doled out to you. That being one of the topics of discussion, that I will go ahead and address now. You, having been put through such circumstances, have been granted the ability ‘One With Nature’. This has been awarded as part of your prior training. It will prove useful in pursuing your bloodline related goals. That is assuming that you choose to continue your family’s pursuit.”

  “And what are the goals? Seeding the land with nature themed forest babies?” Brad asked, barely not screaming his grating reply.

  “To serve the Nature god ‘Gaia’. Service comes in many different forms, some pray, some fight, and some build bastions of Nature. Your parents chose to offer you a peaceful life with a home to call your own.”

  Not quite liking the answer, but with thoughts racing in his mind, Brad had one solid question that needed answering for clarification. “And that is why I was offered ‘Druid’? It was to allow me to have a domain to call home?”

  “Your assumption is half correct. It was to allow you the choice that their path did not offer. You could have chosen to become a fighter and to venture forth from one battle to another. You were the one that chose a peaceful path regarding your class.”

  “Doesn’t everyone have that choice?” Brad asked, knowing that it was pretty much a universal choice.

  This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

  “To the majority of people that is true, but what do you think the choice is for those coming from great responsibility? How many generational kings view their inheritance as a choice?”

  “What, am I supposed to be some sort of princling?” Brad asked, now scoffing at the insinuation.

  “No, but you would be respected as one in certain circles….” The voice trailed off, now showing some semblance of thought trying to find a path forward before resuming its explanation. “Your ‘Bloodline’ is one of extreme devotion and divine providence. Through service of blood and sacrifice, your family line is in the business of guarding Gaia’s desires. Generations of your family have fought on the front lines and with your parents exceptionalism, your line has been granted a divine boon.”

  “What?” Brad asked before being cut off once more.

  “Your parents made the choice of giving you one. For generations, your family has exclusively taken the class of ‘Paladin’. With such devotion to a single god, that choice was evolved to Druid at your parents request. They were given a wish, one to reward their devotion and they chose having a child with a choice of choosing his path ahead. Part of said deal, you were to be raised away from their world, away from the wars they wage.”

  “Why couldn’t I know this before? Why wait so long to tell me!?” Brad asked, almost hysterical in disbelief, long forgotten questions pressing forward in his mind.

  “For the same reasons that children are not messengers carrying secrets from one king to the next. You were young and not aware of the secrets that protect you. From this point forward, you are your own guardian. You are the inheritor of the Bloodline named ‘Gaia’s Will’. Your family only shares this path with three others. Yours is not royal, but is noble, it is one of service but it is below no king. Your parents are those that gave you a choice from a place of love. Love, hope, and devotion to not only their patron, but devotion to their child and what you may become.” The voice ended with the softest of tones.

  The voice having started reverberating through him with the final words, Brad asked softly, “Can I meet them?”

  “You may, but you must make your way there yourself. They cannot be spared, few are the ones to carry their burdens.”

  Looking up from the table, Brad smiled with small tears in the corners of his eyes. “Can you grant me a boon as well? Can you at least deliver a message to them?”

  The sound of elbows leaning on the table across from him, jerked Brad's face down and to look across from him.

  A woman with the grace matching the cleanest of river flows and the beauty of the purest snows smiled softly at him, chin resting of her clasped hands. “I may, but such a message is not without consequence nor price. The boon was promised and given, further rewards require additional payment.”

  Gulping, finding it hard to directly face the stranger and fighting the urge to look away, Brad instinctively knew that this was someone above the world he knew. “Are you part of the system? Are you… what are you?”

  “I am the patron for which your parents serve. I came to ensure the fulfillment of my boon. I have a total of eight paladins and three druids. You have not pledged yourself to me, yet you have served my purposes. You are truly one of my precious servants already, just as your family has always been. So child, what do you offer for me to grant such a request?”

  Rising from the chair before kneeling next to the table, Brad raised his head just enough to meet the god’s eyes before asking, “I offer myself to grow my land as much as possible and to offer sanctuary to nature. I am not sure if that is enough, nor do I miss the opportunity to accuse me of doing it regardless… but I –”

  “That is quite the offer and one that you do not understand. This promise would bring you directly back into my service, the service that your parents were giving you a choice out of. If you pledge yourself to me, then you will become a beacon of both my gifts and a signal for my enemies to hunt. Yours is a path that knows no rest once chosen fully. As a druid, you have more ways to serve than most, but serve you must if that is what you choose.”

  “Serve I will, if that is what it takes.”

  “Bradford Wallace, as much as I would love to bring you closer to me, as a service to your parents I will recommend that you consult with your partner Mia first. You may serve in many ways, but this pledge is not one of minor significance.”

  Having been lost in the emotions of it, Brad’s face turned red in embarrassment. “Thank you, my Lady.”

  “We shall continue this tomorrow, until then I shall delay your other choices. Wake, discuss, and plan what you two want to make of your futures. Now go and give it much weight in your thoughts.”

  “Thank you, we will discuss it carefully.” Brad said with a serious tone.

  “Before you go, there is one last thing of note. The final part of my promise.”

  ~~~

  Brad awoke next to Mia, tears flooding from his eyes. Still hearing the words and seeing the faces of his parents telling him of their love and their hopes for him so that he could live a life of his own, free of their worries or obligations.

  Did the chapter feel natural to the story?