Strongest Nova: Path of Vengeance

Chapter 87: Farm House

Stanley knew of a Dull from the 2nd Quadrant who had a family back there with old parents that couldn’t care for themselves. He decided to switch with that person so that he could go back to his family.

Seeing the man’s tears after hearing the news weirdly made Stanley lose all sense of doubt in his decision today. He had done the right choice.

Once the man took his things, he left.

Stanley walked into the house, one that was exactly the same as the one he used to live in.

There wasn’t that much difference in the houses that were in the farm. Since nobody cared about what the houses looked like here, they all followed the same blueprint, and were made to all look exactly the same.

As such, even thought this was an entirely different house, in an entirely different place from his previous house, Stanley still felt the nostalgia brewing once he walked inside.

He undid the straps around his chest and put down the sword next to the door. He walked in, his feet taking him forward even if he himself didn’t want to.

He knew where he was going, and that scared him. Just past that wall was the kitchen and he was scared of what he would see, or rather, what he wouldn’t see when he arrived there.

He did his best to stop and managed to do so right before he entered. He closed his eyes that were already tearing up and clenched his fist to stop them from shaking, however fear had already gripped him and there was nothing he could do about it.

The only thing he could do now was face his fear.

So, he opened his eyes and walked into the room.

The empty kitchen with nothing but a small stove at the end, with not even a dining table was not what Stanley was used to. Even though the house was exactly the same, the inside weren’t.

Still, that did nothing to stop the floodgates of Stanley’s tears as the understanding that his mother wasn’t here, that she could never be here again, became true in the most truest sense it could be for him.

He had always known his mother was gone, but that still hadn’t stopped him from having that tiny bit of hope that if he came back home and didn’t find her there, he would lose that hope as well.

That was the reason why he never visited the farm after the accident, why he never went to his mother’s grave.

He feared that he would lose all hope, and now that he was here he did.

Her absence finally solidified her death in his heart and that made his drop to the ground, bawling his eyes out.

Stanley didn’t know how long he cried for. He only knew that the wooden floor had a large wet spot on it after the tears stopped falling.

He got up from the ground, his eyes blank along with his face. He looked around and took a deep breath before walking away from the kitchen. He took his small sack and took it to where he knew would be a room for him.

There was a bigger room here, one that was meant for the owner of the house. However, he couldn’t bring himself to go there. So instead, he came to the rather small room, one similar to the room where he and his brother used to sleep in.

Stanley tossed his sack in front of him, and dropped on the floor of the empty room. There wasn’t even a bed here, so he could only sleep with his sack as the pillow.

The hard wooden floor didn’t bring him as much discomfort as he was expecting. So, as he lay there, he quickly fell asleep.

Stanley woke up to the sound of the front door slamming shut. "Stanley!" a voice called for him.

"Brother?" he called out and walked out of his room.

Bradley came and saw Stanley, the tear marks in his eyes weren’t cleared yet. "What were you doing?" he asked.

"Sleeping," Stanley said. "I felt tired."

Bradley looked behind his brother, into the room where there wasn’t even a bed. "Why are you sleeping there? You should sleep in the other room," he said.

Stanley hesitated a bit. He didn’t want to say that he didn’t want to sleep in the other room. He didn’t have to.

Bradley realized what was happening from seeing his brother’s hesitation.

"Are you absolutely sure you don’t want to go back?" Bradley asked. "Its still not too late."

"No, I’m alright," Stanley said. "I’ll stay here."

Bradley sighed. "Fine," he said. "Do you want to move the bed from that room to this one then?"

Stanley thought for a moment and nodded. "Yes," he said.

The two brothers spent the next hour slowly bringing out the bed to the other room. The bed itself couldn’t fit through the door, so they had to disassemble it and bring it over one part at a time, and reassemble it.

Bradley was extremely tired by the time he was done carrying so much wood. "God, it’s so hot in here," he said and walked out of the back.

A soft breeze flowed throughout the farm and Bradley took his rest outside. Stanley walked out and sat next to his brother in the shade as well.

The dark veil fully of black clouds and miasma still covered the entire western view of the town, like a dark stormcloud high in the sky.

They could see the Defenders past the many different patches of farmland that were there on duty around the veil.

It was a hot, sunny day, and yet they were still doing their work.

Bradley looked at the veil and sighed. "You really did come here for that, didn’t you?" he asked.

"Yes," Stanley said as he glared toward the veil.

It had been over 3 months since the last time the crawlers had come, so it would be any time that they entered again.

Stanley was waiting for exactly that.