Born in a humble lumberer's lodge in the west outskirts of Norland, Eidryk grew up living a very busy and rudimentary life. He had an older sister, a pair of loving and hardworking parents, two dogs and his wise grandmother. The life inside of the lodge was understandably very cramped, and as such Eidryk spent a lot of his young years outside in the forest; following his father closely during his ventures out for materials and food.
Whenever he stayed at home, he listened very closely to his grandmother's tutelage. Each story she told enraptured him with curiosity and fascination, so much so that he didn't care much about being forced to learn how to read the dusty old books she would retrieve from the only bookshelf in the lodge. The same enthusiasm was not shared when it came to the chores his mother forced on him. He did not care much for cooking at the start... and washing clothes in the nearby stream still hadn't grown on him; but he did admire his mother.
She always encouraged him and his sister to work hard for the good things in life, and knew very well how to be both stern and kind. His mother practically managed everything in the lodge while his father was away, and never once took a day off. Not that his father didn't do anything at all, he was too busy caring for the household in his own way. Eidryk would sometimes get to follow his father to the long trips down south to Talon's Port, telling Eidryk that the trade of lumber was highly valued in a coastal market as opposed to the Norlandic towns that were closer by to their home.
Never once did Eidryk suspect there could be anything more to the reason they would always avoid dealing with the rest of what should have been his kin. Never once had it crossed his mind that his father had been shunned as a coward and his mother as unfaithful, something that would not have registered in his mind if it weren't for the day his grandmother finally blew her fuse.
He didn't think anybody had seen it coming, not even his grandmother herself. He still thinks of it now, how his sister had expressed that she wanted to move to one of the cities to become a scholar. How his mother had questioned it harshly. How his grandmother had brought up one of the paragons of the red faith, Myro, the wordsmith; encouraging Eidryk's sister to follow the path with no shame. And then his mother suddenly blew a fuse, berating his grandmother for pushing her faith upon Eidryk and his sister. Eidryk didn't even understand what was going on, but his grandma did not take kindly to the words of his mother and her own berating words flew back right at his mother.
That's when he learned. His father was a pacifist and a coward, whose refusal to fight stemmed from a traumatizing encounter during his first battle with enemies from the void. His mother had once openly opposed the faith, bringing shame upon his family's name to the point they were exiled from their clan. Though Eidryk understood nowadays that his mother had probably opposed the faith on behalf of how it had treated his father, he just couldn't understand it at the time. The words of his wise grandmother always held the truth, after all.
After that day, everything became unbearable. The cozy cramped lodge turned into a cage over the course of a night. When his father came back from hunting the morning after, the family gathered around a table and it was declared that either they left, or grandmother had to leave. The lodge had originally belonged to grandmother, so she absolutely refused to ever leave it. And Eidryk too felt strongly that this lodge was tied to his life. The weird circumstances their family found themselves in took a sour turn once it was decided that his parents would simply find a new place to settle down and start over. This time much further away.
He was 14 at the time, his older sister who was 18 departed on her journey to become a scholar shortly thereafter. And then it was just him and his grandmother. During her final years she was strangely silent and her stories lacked the luster they once did. Once it had been nothing but fire... but they had fizzled out into the coming darkness. The coming darkness. Always did she rant on about it. He knew very well what she spoke of, but he couldn't help but think that in truth... she was stomaching the regret over pushing her own daughter away, and the encroaching feelings of guilt had manifested as the darkness.
When two years had passed, she became blind. Her eyes were glassy and she would never again properly stare into his eyes. It was easy to take care of her, the abundance of food and materials in the forest did the both of them well. And when she with age got less and less of an appetite, less was needed. For a time, the roles were reversed... and Eidryk read his grandmother's old books to her aloud since she could no longer read the books herself. He would come inside after a hunt and talk about the weather, the plants and the animals. How life was still growing strong. Telling her that the darkness was still far away from consuming them.
She would always smile warmly, and Eidryk would extend his hand so that she could be comfortable that another human being was there with her. Everything eventually gnawed away at her, though; and after two more years Eidryk came home one day to find that his grandmother had entered the eternal slumber that awaited them all... and mourned her passing in silence and solitude. Only the instinct of survival reminded him that he still had to eat, and so he still needed to hunt. And to hunt he needed to forage for supplies... and it didn't take long until he was back at it again.
Year after year, Eidryk would concentrate on doing the things his father had taught him best. He practically knew the forest like the back of his hand, yet still discovered amazing new things every single day. The going-ons of the world around him didn't concern him much, even if he got to hear some rumor here and there on his visits to marketplaces to sell his goods. Every now and then he would wonder if his sister ever managed to achieve her dreams, or if his parents were still alive somewhere out there. He knew he was content with life at least, and he swore to himself that when the day came that it was his time to face fate... he would make damn sure that any regrets or guilt wouldn't be invited to the going away party.
