Post by Skipius on Nov 7, 2006 8:33:26 GMT -5
It's strange how the mind works. I've experienced such wonderful things in my lifetime. I've watched tiny, woodland creatures frolic under the canopy of gigantic, colorful trees; seen children born; felt the first kiss of a lover. However, when my mind is at rest and I close my eyes for slumber, one memory, from a time when I was about five-years-old, haunts my dreams.
In my dreams, I am back in my family's small cottage in a beautiful forest (I now know to be the forest of Cormanthor, about a day’s walk from Shadowdale). I see a man, who I know to be a locally renowned ranger and my father, my mother, and a little baby girl -- my newborn sister. My father caught three large rabbits earlier in the day and my mother is preparing a fine feast of rabbit stew, filling the room with a wonderful aroma, when I hear a loud, guttural noise coming from behind the front door. I jump as something huge pounds on the wooden door. After only a moment, the otherwise sturdy door shatters into a hundred pieces, exposing our home, and our lives, to the evil that lingers beyond our walls.
Six, huge, ugly creatures (I now know to be ogres) rush into our home through the new opening. I wonder if these are the same creatures my father has been telling me stories about. Just last week he lead a band of ten warriors to storm a nearby ogre compound after the creatures slaughtered a local farming family in the dead of night. I wonder, is that why these creatures have come to my home, to kill my family? I am forced from my thoughts by my father, who is not phased by the ogres' appearance, quickly drawing his favorite weapons, a beautifully crafted scimitar and shortsword. He cuts down the ogre that destroyed our door quickly and begins to battle back a second, when the remaining four surround him. The five creatures, in unison, bludgeon him with clubs larger that my nearly-five-year-old body. After only a minute of this assault, my father drops to the ground, his face and body unrecognizable.
My mother, screaming as she sees what has become of my father, turns to me with tears in her eyes and mouths the word “Run.” Spinning back to face the beasts in our home, she grabs the knife she was using to cut the rabbits and charges the ugly creatures in a brave, but feeble, attempt to save me and my baby sister. The largest of the ogres swings his club, connecting with my mother's unprotected skull. With a sickening crunch, my mother's eyes darken and her body slumps to the floor.
Wasting no time, the heartless monster walks over to where my infant sister is crying, picks her up, and with a quick jerk of the wrist, ends her short life. Then all five pairs of red, evil eyes fall upon me as I began to tremble with fear. I try to run, but I am frozen with fear. Silently, I call upon every god and goddess whose name I can remember to protect me from this evil, but I know deep down that I will soon join my family in the next life.
I close my eyes, tensing and expecting the killing blow from an ogre’s club when there is a noise, like chanting, coming from outside the house. My prayers are answered in the form of a thick cloud, which quickly fills the entire room, but for some odd reason, does not surround me. When the air clears, all five ogres are encased in some sort of thick stone. They are clearly angered and struggle to free themselves from their prisons, but to no avail. A moment later, a new, dark cloud appears in my family's home, only this cloud is not made of smoke but of thousands of dark insects. My little saviors began to sting and bite the exposed areas of the immobile ogres, turning their yells of anger into cries of agony. Within a few minutes, no ogres draw breath and the insects disappear as quickly as they appeared.
I hear more noises from outside the door and turn just as a five-foot tall, thin figure passes into my home. Having lived in the forest my entire life and being taught by my mother and father about the goodly races that inhabit these lands, I immediately recognize the tattooed figure as a wild elf. Although he looks to be only twenty-years-old, even my five-year-old mind understands that he is much, much older. With only a passing glance at the bodies that litter the floor of my once peaceful, family home, the elf walks toward me with an understanding look in his eyes.
“My name is Arminas,” he explains. His voice is light but very powerful. “I am a follower of Rillifane Rallathil and the old ways. I am sorry for your lose. Your father was a good man, but he and your family have gone to be with Mielikki, where they wait for you in peace. You, Gleayn, must come with me. I owe a debt to your father and shall repay it by raising you as my own child.” Without waiting for a response, he takes me by the hand and gently leads me out of the only home I have known. Looking upon my parents and sister one last time, my small mind finally comprehends the loss I have suffered, and I fall into unconciousness.
I awake in what can best be described as a tribal village deep in the forest. There are nearly thirty wild elves who made this place their home. I know from that moment that this is my new home. This is where I will learn the old ways of the druids. This is where I will learn about the creatures that killed my family. This is where I will become a man.
Edited: Removed out-of-character information
In my dreams, I am back in my family's small cottage in a beautiful forest (I now know to be the forest of Cormanthor, about a day’s walk from Shadowdale). I see a man, who I know to be a locally renowned ranger and my father, my mother, and a little baby girl -- my newborn sister. My father caught three large rabbits earlier in the day and my mother is preparing a fine feast of rabbit stew, filling the room with a wonderful aroma, when I hear a loud, guttural noise coming from behind the front door. I jump as something huge pounds on the wooden door. After only a moment, the otherwise sturdy door shatters into a hundred pieces, exposing our home, and our lives, to the evil that lingers beyond our walls.
Six, huge, ugly creatures (I now know to be ogres) rush into our home through the new opening. I wonder if these are the same creatures my father has been telling me stories about. Just last week he lead a band of ten warriors to storm a nearby ogre compound after the creatures slaughtered a local farming family in the dead of night. I wonder, is that why these creatures have come to my home, to kill my family? I am forced from my thoughts by my father, who is not phased by the ogres' appearance, quickly drawing his favorite weapons, a beautifully crafted scimitar and shortsword. He cuts down the ogre that destroyed our door quickly and begins to battle back a second, when the remaining four surround him. The five creatures, in unison, bludgeon him with clubs larger that my nearly-five-year-old body. After only a minute of this assault, my father drops to the ground, his face and body unrecognizable.
My mother, screaming as she sees what has become of my father, turns to me with tears in her eyes and mouths the word “Run.” Spinning back to face the beasts in our home, she grabs the knife she was using to cut the rabbits and charges the ugly creatures in a brave, but feeble, attempt to save me and my baby sister. The largest of the ogres swings his club, connecting with my mother's unprotected skull. With a sickening crunch, my mother's eyes darken and her body slumps to the floor.
Wasting no time, the heartless monster walks over to where my infant sister is crying, picks her up, and with a quick jerk of the wrist, ends her short life. Then all five pairs of red, evil eyes fall upon me as I began to tremble with fear. I try to run, but I am frozen with fear. Silently, I call upon every god and goddess whose name I can remember to protect me from this evil, but I know deep down that I will soon join my family in the next life.
I close my eyes, tensing and expecting the killing blow from an ogre’s club when there is a noise, like chanting, coming from outside the house. My prayers are answered in the form of a thick cloud, which quickly fills the entire room, but for some odd reason, does not surround me. When the air clears, all five ogres are encased in some sort of thick stone. They are clearly angered and struggle to free themselves from their prisons, but to no avail. A moment later, a new, dark cloud appears in my family's home, only this cloud is not made of smoke but of thousands of dark insects. My little saviors began to sting and bite the exposed areas of the immobile ogres, turning their yells of anger into cries of agony. Within a few minutes, no ogres draw breath and the insects disappear as quickly as they appeared.
I hear more noises from outside the door and turn just as a five-foot tall, thin figure passes into my home. Having lived in the forest my entire life and being taught by my mother and father about the goodly races that inhabit these lands, I immediately recognize the tattooed figure as a wild elf. Although he looks to be only twenty-years-old, even my five-year-old mind understands that he is much, much older. With only a passing glance at the bodies that litter the floor of my once peaceful, family home, the elf walks toward me with an understanding look in his eyes.
“My name is Arminas,” he explains. His voice is light but very powerful. “I am a follower of Rillifane Rallathil and the old ways. I am sorry for your lose. Your father was a good man, but he and your family have gone to be with Mielikki, where they wait for you in peace. You, Gleayn, must come with me. I owe a debt to your father and shall repay it by raising you as my own child.” Without waiting for a response, he takes me by the hand and gently leads me out of the only home I have known. Looking upon my parents and sister one last time, my small mind finally comprehends the loss I have suffered, and I fall into unconciousness.
I awake in what can best be described as a tribal village deep in the forest. There are nearly thirty wild elves who made this place their home. I know from that moment that this is my new home. This is where I will learn the old ways of the druids. This is where I will learn about the creatures that killed my family. This is where I will become a man.
Edited: Removed out-of-character information