Surprise!

---- Dalen, a small town (let's call it Viebeck), at the inn called "The White Pony", 2 years later, day 2 ----

It had been a couple of rough, though prosperous, years for Artem because of the war between Dalen and the Timber Craig Kingdom. Nevertheless at the moment he didn't have much left as he had all ready spend most of his money on women and beer. To add further to his 'momentarily poverty' his trusty steed had been killed during one of the battles, leaving him now with basically nothing other than what he was wearing and the few coins left in his pocket.

Having nowhere better to go he headed for a familiar inn "The White Poney". It was no secret that he had been here quite a few times before in the past, mainly because of the innkeepers busty daughter Johanna, but because of the war he hadn't had the time to drop by lately.

As he entered he scanned the room for any familiar faces, but the only one he recognised was the small elderly man standing behind the bar.  He walked up and ordered a pint of their locally brewed ale. The innkeeper didn't recognise Artem at first, but soon his face turned sour "Well well well. You've got some nerve to show up here after all this time, lad.". This definitely wasn't the kind af greeting Artem had expected "Umm..? Excuse me, but.. What are you talking about, old man?". "Oh, have you already forgotten about my sweet Johanna?" he elderly man was now starting to get really angry, but despite of this Artem couldn't help but smile a little as he pictured her in his mind "No, I most certainly have not.". "Oh, don't you dare smile at me like that!" the man raised his voice enraged "You have no idea of what misery you've brought upon her. No no, you just left her to deal with it all by herself and didn't even have the courtesy to support her in any way financially. Now, get out of here!". 

Artem had no idea of what the man was talking about, but before he had time to ask Johanna stepped out of the kitchen door. "What is going on, father?" she asked, but then she noticed the man on the other side of the bar "Artem?". Suddenly Artem knew why the man was so mad at him. Sitting on Johannas arm was a chubby little toddler with dark read hair just like his own. His face turned pale as he looked back and forth between Johanna and the little kid she was carrying. No words could describe the terror he felt. This simply couldn't be true. He quickly took a few steps back "I... I.. need some air..." He managed to stammer before turning and rushing out of the door.

When back out on the street he stopped. "This is just a dream. Just a horrible, horrible dream..." he repeated over and over in his head, trying to calm down but his heart just kept racing.

*Tag - Anyone ;)