Untitled

This is chapter 1 of the untitled series. One day I will be creative enough to come up with a name but for now this will have to do. Each chapter is taken from the point of view of a specific character, it will all start to come together in the future after the characters have all been introduced through their respective chapter. As in the prologue, this is only a rough draft and full of mistakes. I am looking forward to hearing your comments so that I can make this story as good as it possibly can be. Believe it or not, your criticism is the only thing encouraging me to keep writing. So, enjoy. J

Chapter 1 (Carrion)

Music and laughter pierced the silence of the cliffs, disturbing the peace that Carrion was so accustomed to. The mist of the great waterfall caressed the fifteen-year-old's face as he sat near its rocky edge, watching the festival in the village of Ceeny unfold below. Birds were singing there morning songs above him, people were celebrating in the village below him, and a cool breeze rushed past, whispering softly in his ear. The calmness of Carrion's surroundings began to take hold of him, making him yawn as sleep began to creep up on him.

Carrion pulled himself away from the waterfall's edge, and finding a large stone, he sat down with his back resting against it. Closing his silver-gray eyes, he allowed the sleep to overtake him.

He dreamt that he was in his own village, standing in his own room. Carrion could see and hear the festival going on outside of his window. There were harpists playing beautiful music in the various tents stationed around the village. Women were singing and dancing throughout the streets as men sat and drank the wine that being served in the alehouses.

There was so much peace, so much fun and laughter that Carrion could not help but to want to go outside and join in, but he could not exit his room. He turned to survey his walls and found that there were no doors anywhere. He ran toward the window, but it slowly closed and began to fade away until it no longer existed, it just became part of another empty wall. He heard screams coming from outside, but he could do nothing to help; he was trapped in his own room, frantically trying to escape. Finally, Carrion blacked out...

Screams were still audible in Carrion's mind. Even in complete darkness, the screaming of the people in his village persisted. A reddish glow pierced the darkness of Carrion's mind, and, with horror, he realized that he was no longer in a dream. He opened his eyes and looked in amazement and dread, as he saw the raging fire that was consuming the entire village of Ceeny.

The boy's mind was screaming at his body to move and help his people, but his body would not oblige. Instead Carrion just sat there on the cliff, watching all of his memories and friends burn along with his village. Carrion cursed himself for his cowardice, and forced himself to stand.

Carrion noticed a shadow out of the corner of his eyes. He barely saw the attacker before their bodies were colliding, and he was forced to the ground. The boy instinctively rolled with the impact and rose to his feet, prepared to defend himself against the threat; and then, he was looking into the eyes of his mother, eyes full of pain, sorrow, and confusion. She grabbed him and pulled him close to her, she refused to release him from the embrace.

"Mother...?" Carrion was utterly confused. His mother was never an emotional person, but now she seemed to be crying as she held him tightly against her body. "What happened to the village?"

She remained silent, her tears were running down her face and Carrion could feel the warm moisture caress his face as she cried.

"Mother, what's wrong?" He searched her eyes for some sort of answer, but he could not find any. His mother's silence mixed with his fear and anxiousness began to anger him. "Answer me!"

She finally spoke, her words soft as she tried to stop crying. "There are men," Carrion's mother was still out of breath from both her crying and the run into the cliffs. It sounded as if her words were choked out. "They are looking for you. They've set Ceeny ablaze, they killed the elders, and... and..." She trailed of and began to sob bitterly.

"And what?" Carrion was slowly growing impatient, his anger rising rapidly. "What else did they do?"

"They..." she looked away from him, lessening her grip on him. She refused to look him in the eyes any longer. "They killed your father!" His mother released him, fell to her knees, and hysterically began to cry.

Those four words caused him more pain than he had ever experienced in his life. It felt as if a piece of his heart had been ripped out of his chest and replaced with tamefire. Carrion visibly flinched as the words finally sunk in. Taking a step away from his mother, he turned and began to walk the long trail leading to the burning village of Ceeny.

"Where are you going?" His mother cried behind him with a fear in her voice that Carrion had never heard. "You can't go down there."

Carrion did not answer her; instead he changed from a walk to a run, and sped toward the village, never looking back toward his mother.

His mind was a blur as he continued down the cliff. Nothing about this made any sense to the young man.

Why are they looking for me?

He asked himself.

What is so important about me that they would burn an entire village to find? And, why would they kill father?

With his thoughts placed elsewhere, Carrion did not even notice the large man blocking his path. Colliding into the man, Carrion fell, unable to react in any way. He just sat there as the man approached his stunned body.

The man grabbed Carrion by the throat and hoisted him up into the air. Carrion could not breathe. The feelings of helplessness and pain brought tears to his eyes as he felt unconsciousness pulling at his mind.

Through half closed eyes, Carrion could see a figure rushing out of the green bushes that lined both sides of the mountain trail, a figure that only added to the confusion already raging inside of his head. He saw his father, rushing in and tackling Carrion's attacker. The man stumbled backwards a few steps and released his grip on the boy.

As Carrion sat on the ground, rubbing his neck and watching the battle unfold before him, realization struck. His father was not dead, but blood was freely flowing from a deep gash across his chest. Carrion knew that his father never died, he felt as if his father had come back to life. The large hole that had formed in his chest began to heal as he sat on the dirt trail and watched his father fight the man. Even in the intense situation, Carrion could not fight the feelings of joy and concern running through his head.

Carrion's father seemed to glow a soft orange as he launched blow after blow at the large man; in an instant, the entire fight changed.

The enemy took a few steps back, gaining a few feet between him and Carrion's father. Opening his hand, he put his arm in front of him, aiming his open palm at his opponent's feet. Carrion noticed a thin length of metal rope materialize from the ground and envelope his father's feet. In that instant, the large man rushed forward. He closed his hand around an unseen hilt and a long, jagged sword materialized within his grasp. The boy watched in horror as he witnessed the sword entering into his father's chest only to explode out of his back moments later.

Carrion flinched at the pain that seemed to pierce his chest. His father had returned back to life, just to be murdered again moments later. The hole in the boy's heart returned, this time even bigger than before, as he saw his father's eyes grow dull and his body slump down against the sword now nestled inside of his chest.

Freeing his sword from the enemy's chest, the man sheathed it and began walking toward a dazed Carrion. He grabbed the boy's arm, and Carrion did not even resist as he was hoisted up onto his feet. Carrion mechanically walked alongside the large man as he was led down the mountain trail and into his village, now burned and destroyed. Once there, he was escorted to a small metal cage, pulled along by two huge beasts that he did not even recognize.

Carrion slowly ascended the wooden steps and walked into the small metal cage, not even pausing to look at the burning buildings and fields, which he used to call 'home'.

I have no home now,

he thought.

No family, no friends... nothing.

The boy felt like crying, but he was hardly aware of what was going on, and his emotionless state prevented the tears from escaping. Instead, he stood, staring at the dirty, molding, wooden floor beneath his feet, thinking only to himself.

I am alone.

The door slammed shut behind him, and, finally looking at the contents of the cage around him, he found a corner containing a neatly placed pile of hay on the floor. He sat there, thinking of nothing, there was no fight left in him. The cage began to rock back and forth as the two large beasts began to move, pulling the mobile cage behind them. For the first time since entering the metal prison, Carrion looked up.

He witnessed his mother, her eyes full of terror and hopelessness, pursuing the small cage that carried him along. She was coming closer, the gap between them becoming smaller as she hysterically chased after the slow moving prison.

Carrion watched as she reached the cage and slipped her hand through the thick metal bars. He knew that she did not expect to actually be able to free him, but, instead, she was looking for some kind of hope, some kind of way to encourage him to continue onward... she was showing how much she loved him and how far she would go to support him.

Carrion would not reach out to touch her hand. He just sat in the corner and watched. He could not move even if he wanted to. His mind was raging with such a severe intensity that he was immobilized, only able to observe what was happening. He tried to silently mouth an 'I love you' to his mother, but even that proved to be impossible. So, he just sat back and watched as his mother's strides grew weaker, and her desperateness slowly fade away and die out; he watched as the broad end of an arrow exploded out of her chest, forcing her to fall forward and strike the ground beneath her. She died immediately.

His mother's death did not even seem to faze him. Carrion just sat in the corner, starring blankly at her corpse lying motionlessly on the rocky path in front of him. His mind was blank, not one thought passed through it. He could not feel anything at all. Nothing made sense. His mother, his father, his friends, they were all taken from him in less than an hour and it was all because of him. He had no idea what these people wanted with him or what was so important that they would take so many lives to get it. So many emotions and thoughts were locked up within him, that his mind failed to register any of them.

The anger and guilt of not feeling anything flared within him and Carrion subconsciously raised his hand in the air, clenching it into a fist. His fingertips began to glow a bright reddish-white. The glow began to spread down to the base of his wrist.

Bending his arm, Carrion braced himself for the inevitable pain-to-come. He brought his fist down as hard as he could into his own chest. Carrion flinched as he felt his glowing fist pierce through. The boy almost fell unconscious from the pain alone, but he fought it, pushing his fist even deeper into his chest.

When the blood began to flow down his arm and onto the hay covered ground, Carrion slowly began to slump back against the wall. The pain was no longer present, as he slowly lost the feeling in his body. He fell, face first, into the lump of hay and immediately lost consciousness.