The following days I tried to subtly broach the subject of what we had seen inside the house with the other kids, but strangely none of them seemed to remember anything. To everyone, we had just opened the door took a quick look around, then everyone but me left. It was enough to make me question my sanity, but still, I couldn’t help but feel curious about that “Secret”. What was it, I wondered.

A week after what happened at that house, I was at the town square, brooding over the succubus’ words. Don’t you like secrets? These words were boring a hole inside my mind, when I was distracted by a teary-eyed Aria running in my direction. She jumped onto me and started to furiously whisper.

“Oof, what?”

“Gaius, Gaius!”

“What?”

“It’s weird! Nobody remembers anything. Even if I ask anybody else, nobody remembers even seeing that woman… But Gaius remembers, right?”

Right! I had forgotten to talk with Aria about it, even though she was the only one who caught more than a glimpse of the succubus. It was a huge relief to know that the whole thing wasn’t just some hallucination.

“Yea, there was definitely someone in there.”

Aria became positively radiant at that.

“Yes! I knew Gaius would remember! You don’t think the others are making fun of me, are they?”

“I don’t think so, when I asked, nobody knew anything either.”

“Oh is that so? So it’s a secret between me and Gaius…”

Somehow she seemed even happier with that, mumbling something to herself.

“I wonder what’s actually going on with that woman.”

Aria went stiff as I mentioned the Succubus.

“You don’t mean to go back to that place, right? There’s definitely something weird, right? That woman’s a demon, right? What if she takes you away?”

“Uh, I don’t know?”

“It’s dangerous, right? Didn’t your mom tell you that? Promise you won’t go there.”

“I…”

“Promise me, please?”

I couldn’t resist those puppy eyes and that pleading voice. That was unfair, completely unfair I say.

“Okay, I won’t go back there.”

“Yay! Then Gaius is going nowhere!”

She hugged me tightly, while smiling, so I could do nothing but reply with a smile of my own. Even though deep inside I knew that I wouldn’t be able to keep my promise, but at least for a moment, I could distract myself from that tantalizing “secret”.

I arrived home to find my father eating dinner before he left home for more patrolling. I suppose now is as good a moment to talk more about my family as there is. Saul, at the time he was captain of the town guard, which actually wasn’t much, considering the permanent town guard was him and fifteen other men. Even if most of the time all he had to do was break up tavern brawls, he was very skilled at his job.

Once, when he was quite young, he led an attack by the townspeople on a very dangerous group of bandits that had installed themselves nearby. Though some people received some quite serious injuries, nobody died. They managed to kill the leader and disperse the bandits. It was drunk on that victory that he found the courage to propose to my mother, Eireen.

The second daughter of a quite successful merchant, she met my father on that one fateful trip, hearing many tales of his bravery. At first her father was loath to part with her, but no one could deny my father's competence as a leader and warrior. It also helped that the bandits that he had beaten were probably planning to attack my grandfather’s caravan when he left the town. Besides, my parents loved each other, even if it was a juvenile love.

Coming back to the present, I had no brothers or sisters. Unfortunately, such a topic was quickly becoming a source of gossip and, even though she claimed not to mind it, anyone could see that it weighed on my mother’s spirit. I don’t remember my father ever broaching the subject and he didn’t seem to mind it, although I guess he was a little bit overprotective of me, but then again, many parents are this way, no matter the number of children they have. Every other day, he would wake up even earlier than needed just to minimally instruct me on how to use a weapon. As a person that deals terribly with waking up in the morning, I can’t say I liked it all that much, but I certainly appreciated his worrying about me in such a way.

“Hey, Gaius, all the kids have been coming up to me to tell me they saw you and Arthen’s little girl hugging and whispering something to each other.”

At my age, most kids would blush at such an insinuation, of having a sweetheart at this age. The bastards, that was probably what they were thinking about, but I was better than that. Probably trying to explain it in anyway would just dig me an embarrassing grave, so I just stuck to a really neutral answer.

“Uh, it’s true, if it’s Aria you’re talking about.”

“I see, yeah, that’s definitely her, since I remember a few years back, after she had been born, that he wouldn’t shut up about it. Arthen’s a good man, I don’t mind if you go for something more serious after you two grow up, just remember that if you make her cry, I will be the first to hit you, right before Arthen.”

I almost fell for his teasing, but just raised my eyebrows.

“Okay.”

At that moment, my mother entered the room.

“Dear! How can you be so nonchalant about possibly hitting your own son?”

“Hey, that’s just if he becomes a scumbag that makes girls cry!”

“Oh, please, as if every tear that a woman sheds is honest. Just make sure that if you ever think you need to hit him, it truly is deserved.”

“Come on, I always thoroughly investigate any crime before I punish anyone.”

“Oh, by Virtue, the tragedy! My son will be put on the same level as a criminal by his own father.”

She was shaking her head in mock disbelief.

“I… But… Don’t say it like that… It’s like I’m a cruel father or something.”

“Aww, poor you. Don’t worry, just make sure you’re not being unfair to your own son, okay?”

“I get it, I get it…”

It wasn’t all that uncommon for conversations in my home to take such a direction. Apparently, when my mother was a child, she had tutoring in many things, among them rhetoric. I wonder if it was just an unconscious habit of hers, or if she was trying to teach me something by example.

Can’t say I’m in favor of such a thing as violence as a way of educating children, but I think that I would probably deserve it in the future. Don’t those who break their promises deserve to be punished? If only I hadn’t had that dream…