[Summer – Moonton – 25 Years Ago]

“Eriko! Come fetcha' some dinner or else it's going to the pigs you ungrateful shit.”

Mrs. Glora Sullivan jeered at her six-year old son in the back of their cutely adorned linen-lined home. Just before slamming the door behind her, she exhibited a quick scowl.

Eriko stopped stalking the ants he was examining in the backyard and sprinted toward his home, privately hoping that yet another meal didn't end up in the pigs' trough. Not only would it be another well-made meal gone to the farm animals he despised looking after, but tonight was something special, as his mother had made mashed potatoes and roasted ham. There already wasn't much that Eriko and his father Nicholas agreed upon, however the opinion that their beloved Glora made one of the best roasted hams in all of the west was just something they found common ground on.

Finally reaching the steps as the sun fell into the nightfall, he galloped up the door where his mother had warned him about his dinner time-frame. Eriko opened the door and rushed to his assigned seat at the dinner table. With Glora in the kitchen, serving portions for each of them, Eriko peered to the left and saw a familiar sight. Nicholas Sullivan sat at the head of the table reading the wide-open local gazette unconcerned about his kin seated at his side. Eriko's previous timid attempts in the past failed to engage Nicholas in conversation, but today seemed like a great day to try again for the young one.

As Eriko was about to utter “Father.” under his breath, his mother's shrill voice emerged from the kitchen and interrupted Eriko's train of thought.

“What in the heavens? Are you serious Eriko!?” she screamed from the depths of her lungs. Wild fingers slashed through the air, proving her dissatisfaction.

She points at the trail of dirt and muck accidentally carried in by Eriko's boots from outside that led right to his seated position. The mother set down the plates in hand for her husband and herself before returning her undivided attention to her young boy.

Glora gave a harsh ultimatum, “You either get in the damn tub to rinse that filth off or you get back outside and live with ya' disgusting habits!”

Eriko glanced in his father's direction as he was being screamed at but was disappointed yet again by the fact that Nicholas barely moved a muscle to diffuse the situation and instead used that limited movement to readjust his paper and continue reading carefree.

A half-hour had passed and the young boy now sat outside in the family bath barrel. The chilling night made itself up of pulsing desert breezes. Unable to pour water down his own back without shivering to the point the water fell from the cup before being utilized. While the liquid seemed to stay frigid no matter what, Eriko kept mentally warm by the fact that mashed potatoes and roasted ham awaited him inside.

Once clean enough that he knew his mother couldn't complain further, he exited the bath and returned to the dining area of the home in a rush. To his dismay, not an ounce of food was left at the table. Visibly puzzled about the situation, Eriko ventured into the living quarters of the house where his parents were discussing something in a hushed tone. As they noticed their son, the couple stopped their quiet talk and turned their attention towards the child in an asinine voice.

Eriko inquired about the awaited food he had already envisioned eating only minutes earlier, cleaning up for a bite of his favorite.

“What happened to the ham and potatoes?”

Tears formed.

Nicholas seemed uninterested in responding and instead took a seat, while Glora gave in the awkward familial silence.

“Oh … well it was quite delicious Eriko. Perhaps tomorrow we can try again with you. I hear if you don't act like a pig, ya' get to eat them in this loving household.”

His mother simply laughed at her own twisted vision of a joke and that was the indicator to Eriko that no matter what he said, the situation wasn't going to be resolved amicably. Instead of fighting and losing a winless-battle, he decided to hang his head and wander off to sleep in a bid to defeat hunger subconsciously.

The bright sun rays broke through Eriko's window in the early hours of the next morning, calling for him to awaken. Doing so, the immediate sensation of hunger overwhelmed the boy to sit-up in bed and wince at the completely avoidable pain. Pain brought by the choice of his parents. The phrase “Felt a hex coming,” couldn’t have been more appropriate than when a few moments later, Glora strolled through the entrance to the doorless room with an unpredictable smile upon her sparsely wrinkled face.

Glora noticed the pain-filled expression displayed on Eriko's face and cried in an unprecedented fashion, conveying facetious doubts to her son.

“Oh my baby boy, you seem bothered, is there anything I can do to help?”

The hag had construed her face to a full pucker and tried her best to emulate sympathy; failing.

“...Y-yes, I'm still starving,'” responded Eriko to his mother while dropping his head, expecting the worst. To his surprise, Glora seemed genuinely concerned for his well-being for the first time to Eriko's recent memory.

Glora stared into Eriko with gleaming eyes and stated.

“Well … Let momma' fix that right up for ya'!” She exited the room as swiftly as she strolled in, with intent in every step. Eriko submitted that it was too early to distrust, believing he’d finally be fed.

As she re-entered the room with an even bigger smile than initially, Eriko couldn't help but recognize food from the previous day. Eyes widened, heart raced as the primitive part of Eriko’s brain took over, practically lunging toward the plate. His mother's hands were full with overflowing amounts of mashed potatoes and roasted ham.

“Take this one for the road son.”

Nicholas’ voice echoed through his head before the further startling and continuation of good news emerged from the living room. His father spoke up while reading the newspaper once again on his favorite chair.

“Let's all get ready right bout’ now, the Moonton County Fair awaits the family. Yup.”

With repeated visions coursing through his mind of a warm meal, in addition to the unprecedented fun of a fair, Eriko’s palms began to sweat in anticipation. His eagerness was on full display as he proceeded to jump off of his bed and race to the dresser to change into his favorite outfit, which he was only allowed to wear out on important days. He was more than ready to leave with his family within mere minutes.

A short walk later, the small family reached the entrance sign to the biggest annual festival in all of Moonton, with an equally enormous sign arching overhead. Music could be heard coursing through the air from within the fairgrounds as they paced toward several attractions within. Agi spells are seen and heard being conjured around every additional sign for an attraction. After multiple booths were visited and rare smiles were exchanged between the fiddly household, due to themselves indulging in the festivities. Eriko suddenly halted and walked alongside his parents as he passed an eye-catching, fire Agist performer to his right.

The elderly man had a silver handlebar mustache and sported olive green robes that draped down to his moccasin footwear. They had not only garnered the excited boy's attention but also amassed one of the bigger circles of a crowd within the venue. Combining the talents of sleight-of-hand trickery and Agi ability, the self proclaimed “Great Alimur” noticed Eriko wanting to approach but too shy to do so.

“You there! Young man who quite clearly has an eye for good Agi. Please, would you make your way over to be amazed?”

The man who was currently the center of attention reached out his frail arm, extending firm grip to the young boy with an empty gaze. Eriko looked around to verify that it had been him that was being called upon- but something told him to break free.

Stumbling back on his heels to the floor, the man continued his act. Now hoping to get a front-row view of the show, the boy caught up to his parents who had continued walking forward without him, and tugged on their clothing to force their attention.

Eriko asked in an energetic fashion.

“Mom, dad! Please please let me go see the Agist over there, he even called me over himself! Oh please!”

His parents turned their heads to face each other and after some time exchanging facial expressions that weren't comprehensible, they made a decision that wasn’t comprehensible for the hyper boy at this moment.

His mother answered with a simple, “Of course.”

Right as Eriko was about to break away satisfied with their response, his father Nicholas added some additional parting words.

“Enjoy yourself son, be safe out there.”

The Agist completed his show to a roaring applause from spectators after nearly an hour had passed. Money donations poured into his collection box like soup in the kitchen. Eriko's attentiveness hadn't weakened at all during the entire performance. So when the crowd began to disperse into their respective directions, he bolted in the direction of his parents last location to tell them all about what he had just witnessed.

He was sure that when he revealed some of his theories as to how the Agist performed his tricks, he’d receive some validation.

As he approached the place where his parents were just an hour ago, a perplexed mien had overtaken the lad when he came to the realization. They were nowhere to be seen.

The looks darted from side to side as he hoped to catch a glimpse of his parents became more and more frantic with each sway of the neck. Sweat cascaded down the side of his face like condensation on a window pane as each drop dripped to the dry landscape.

The deserted Eriko made his way through the thick layer of event goers in the walkway toward the highest point nearby, on top of a tall, wooden carriage. Climbing up the side of the wooden wheel, he made it to the top of the platform so he was able to see at a much farther distance than previously before. As he scanned the crowd of several hundreds of strangers, one thing became clearer with each and every face unrecognized, his parents were nowhere to be found.