Gabe waited patiently at the large, oak doors of the city's Temple of the Gods. Surrounded by the sounds of the forum, he felt out of place in the brown rags he wore as clothing. Those around him strolled through the marble streets with pinned white tunics covering their weakness with status. Gabe was the only surviving son of a Farmer who was conscripted into the ranks to then die on the front lines, and a mother who died giving birth to his twin brother, born minutes after Gabe, only to die in the same way his father did. Gabe took over the farm after his older brother died at 19 in a duel. Gabe found his way to the capital of his province to try and find a new line of work after a fire destroyed the house and the fields.
Looking at the people eyeing him, Gabe laughed to himself at how full their empty lives were. They were afraid that a strong, muscular man in dirty clothes would try and rob them if they didn't make it apparent that they could see him. He probably would- if he wasn't here to find salvation.
He wanted to find out how he could communicate with the gods to ask them what he did wrong in his 18 years of life to have his family and his belongings taken from him. He knew not which god to ask or what to say. All he knew is that the gods would help him if he got their attention.
The massive doors next to Gabe opened by the hands of people similarly dressed to him. An old man in a white tunic pulled Gabe aside as he walked in with people dressed better than him.
"What are you doing in here, peasant?" The old man snarled.
"Trying to speak with the Gods, sir." Gabe replied.
"You are not worthy of it!"
"What puts me below all of these people?" Gabe asked, gesturing to the mobile mass of whitely clothed people.
"You don't belong here. Your kind cannot stand near us!"
"My 'kind'?"
"You and your filthy brothers, sisters and parents do not belong here-" The man stopped as Gabe grabbed him by his bandolier and pushed him a few feet up the wall with one hand.
"Just because I don't make others fight my wars does not make me filthy. You, however... You and your 'kind' disgust me. You sit up here in your palace and do nothing but make everyone outside the walls act as a barrier for your person use. You disgrace the gods you serve, and one day everyone will know of your treachery, you repulsive swine!" Gabe dropped the man with clenched teeth, and walked down the ready made path through the shocked crowd to the doors.
It was dark now, and the moon cast faint shadows through Gabe's third story window. He rented a room in a tavern for the night, and he sat at the table next to the window, gazing up at the moon. The moon is shining so brightly that it blocks the view of a lot of the stars... This got him thinking. The moon here could represent this world we live in; it seems great until you look closer and see how much it mucks up. The sky is beautiful in its own right, and the moon is preventing everyone from experiencing this beauty. Instead it hides it under lies to make you think something other than just being here to see the world is the most important thing in life. Gabe sighed. He was getting tired. He rose from his seat and sank into his bed. The room was a slight blue from the moonlight that crept its way in through the windows as Gabe tried to get some sleep.
He woke in the middle of the night to the sound of boots on his floor. He lept out of bed and drove the knife he had under his pillow into the chest of a town guardsmen. The man crumpled with a suppressed moan as Gabe held his hand to the guard's mouth as he fell to the floor. Gabe took the guard's sword and went for the now open door very quietly. He could hear someone coming down the hallway in his direction. Gabe waited for the perfect moment and jumped out of the room- tackling a very surprised guardsman. Gabe put him in a chokehold, and after the man was unconscious, he dragged him next to the dead man. Gabe managed to get to the ground floor without killing any more guards, and he made his escape out the back door. He ran out of the city, dodging patrols here and there. When he got to the forest, he traveled for about an hour until he decided he would rest in a clearing he found.
