User:Akuyim/Dark Beginnings

Dark Beginnings
The rain blasted against the roof, a peal of thunder ripped through the night. The fire crackled as lightning illuminated the small window of the cottage. Inside another storm brewed.

A young girl sat on the floor near the fire, playing with her doll, that her mother hand-crafted her. Her mother sat at the table, sewing a new dress for the doll her daughter played with. Her husband had just come home, from being out on some grand adventure, another topic that he refused to discuss.

He hadn’t said one word to his daughter, he didn’t even pick her up when she asked for his hugs and attention. In near silence he stormed off upstairs to do something, other then spend time with his wife and only child.

In the dying fire light, you couldn’t see the tears welling in the woman’s eyes as she toiled for her daughter. The silence shattered as the front of the cottage blasted open, and a cadre of golden plate clad warriors barged into the house.

The woman stood up quickly, spilling the linen from her lap to the ground. The first of them, grabbed her roughly. “Where is he?” he demanded, unwilling to let the woman answer he took to shaking her violently, as she fought to form the words in her mouth.

She could only nod, up towards their room. They bolted up the stairs after their prey. Moments later they returned without him.

The little girl shrieked and the doll tumbled to the ground, as she jumped to her feet. One of the cadets roughly grabbed her, before she could run off. He scooped her up about the waist, and held her firmly against his gleaming golden breastplate, as she tried to squirm away.

“He isn’t here sir.” One of them piped up.

“Looks like he slipped out the window.” Another added.

“Where did he go Aeryaline?” The commander said, as he pulled the woman from the cadet to himself.

“I..I...I don’t know.” she stammered.

“I will not leave empty handed. He will pay for his betrayal. If you see your husband again, tell him, that his daughter will pay for his crimes.” The commander bellowed, as he shoved the woman to the ground.

As one, they exited in the same whirlwind pattern that they arrived. Slamming the door behind them, leaving the woman to cry and weep over the loss of everything she ever loved.

Chuthulia sat up in her room at the inn. She looked around and rubbed her weary eyes. “Father, you will pay. I will find you if it’s the last thing I do.” she whispered with conviction.

She paused in a moment of reflection. Since the night she was abducted from her mother, she was tutored by the Order. Her first mentor, was young, far too young to have an apprentice. He was eager to try and impress the councils with teaching the young hellion the ways.

His teaching, was reckless and brash, his lessons never did quite fully hit their mark. As she began to grow older, she could not hide the flaws that marked her twisted upbringing. The council forcibly removed her from her mentor, and gave her to the wisdom of an elder teacher.

Sadly, the elder was frail and sickly. Dementia was claiming him, so he spent most of his time engaging in wanton debauchery then the tending to the needs of his new student. So her teachings went uncorrected.

One thing the old man, did inform her about was the betrayal of her father. Selling out troop movements to the enemies, and various important documents and maps. Her father, had betrayed all of them, and for that he would be brought to justice, and she decided it would be by her hands.

One of the various courtesans, that the elder man would see, took it upon herself to teach the brash, reckless and rude hellion some of the finer parts of being a woman. She gave her a large red hair pin, the day that she walked away from the elder’s place.

She thumbed the hair pin briefly, before rolling back over and nestled in to get some more sleep. So much had happened since the day she left, most of it was a whirlwind of activity that sprung forth and left her wondering if what she was doing was right or not.

She found a pair of merchant heathens, that offered her work, but most importantly a way for her to see the world, and begin to track down her father.

The menagerie of assembled elves working for the festering maggot farm, and the troll dog, was astonishing in its own right.

A pair of female warlocks, Kaie and Zale. Kaie, She found herself spending a good amount of time with Kaie, and was enjoying that time and attention. As she had learned from her last teacher, love, whether forced or falsified knew no boundaries of gender.

She smiled as she thought of Kaie, before closing her eyes, wishing her brain would be still a moment so she could get back to sleep.

Melvannik the mage, he was refined, and arrogant, his manner was unpleasant at times. But, he was a decent conversationalist, she found that amiable.

Halinth, a rogue, bright, charming fellow always with a smile. Which she was sure hid a more sinister agenda.

Daln, the dying old man. He reminded her too much of her last mentor, frail, weak, sickly and most of all indignant. Always, there to look down on those, he didn’t like, quick to argue his failing point of view. Recently Mirelle, has started to become almost like his arm candy. Sadly the blond elven woman, did nothing more then add to her already growing list of things, to be held against Daln. She was sure, her last teacher and Daln were now cut from the same cloth.

They would have to be watched as well as the pair of heathens. She knew they had secret agendas, and conspiracies, but she had no proof. Save for a mysterious medallion with a red hand on a sheer black background in her pocket.

She would discover the truth about the Hand of Fate, even if it killed her companions.