Blood Wings
Introduction
In an unknown country, mysterious creatures inhabit its vast lands. These are not the things that bring the important questions to our minds, it’s the history. History creates the future, revealing things that unlock the greatest crimes of all time. While some are better off left alone, for our weak hearts cannot always handle the truth behind the story, such as this one.
Today in this magical country, humans live in civilization, but not only they do. Within it in a lower population, but far stronger then any human, the demons. The monsters that have lived for many years under human rule, under treaty to not change their diets to humans once again.
They aren’t the only races to have wandered in this area, for there was the leothens that once took the skies and the great northern mountains for their own. They were far from being relative to demons and humans; they had powers beyond even the things you would ever imagine.
Both humans and demons once greatly trusted the leothens, but once they became jealous of their power and believed they had enough, they greatly distrusted them. They began hunting down leothens, which enraged the king greatly, but there was nothing he could do to stop the slaughter, the leothens would have to fend for themselves. Eventually, things got way out of hand. He couldn’t even turn to his two great advisors Mirage and Kiothorn for their wisdom to stop the nonsense.
King Aliden, a member of the leothen clan, once ruled upon the country of Kaladin during this period of time, but everything the leothens had and themselves were swept away. A plague called synthosis spread across the land, but to everyone’s confusion, it only took leothens as its hosts, eventually infecting King Aliden himself and removing him from his throne, and his life, handing his position at the throne to Kiothorn, one of his trusted human counsellors.
Synthosis was a horrible plague; it’d drain you of all the strength they could bear, causing great pain and sorrow as they slowly died. Some of them only thought they were just tired, guessing it was nothing big, but these arrogant people realized their fate only when it was too late. They would have turned to their beloved Blood Wings for her help, but to their dismay, she was no longer in existence.
The disease wasn’t the only one who played a part in this scene of history. The humans and demons took advantage of the leothens weakness and hungered for their wealth and power, killed them off, destroying their homes, slaughtering the children, leaving their beautiful villages in ruins upon the now gloomy surface of the Northern Mountains. None are believed to live in this land today, the battle for survival went on for over a hundred years, it just ended not that many years ago, everybody just forced it out of their minds in attempt to forget it like it was just a nightmare. King Kiothorn banned all speaking of it, so they are only thought to be myths and ghost stories today, convincing themselves that the leothens were the monsters.
Those of the old who cared for the leothens and passed their knowledge to their new blood during that war these questions, hoping they would carry these questions during their lives and pass it down, begging the gods for an answer to them: Where did the disease come from? How did it get here? Why did it only effect the leothens? Was their someone behind it that wished such a horrible fate to the peaceful creatures? Did any of them manage to survive, could we ever forgive them?
Within these pages may be the answers to their prayers, and much more. A young child of the race that had been given no mercy was said to run out of the village badly injured, but the mobs didn’t believe he would ever survive to the bottom of the mountain. What befell the fate of this poor boy?
Chapter 1
Home at Last
Kai was returning from his hunting trip on the mountains, taking the traders path to find his way back down. He lived in a little village just at the bottom called Miokar. It was a quiet little town, isolated from the country surrounding it, except for the town they traded with on the other side of the mountain.
Sometimes while he was hunting he would do the villages a favour, he would take their trading goods and bring it to the other side of the mountain to the other village, trade with them, and bring back the traded goods. Many of the villagers were too frightened to pass through the mountains. It made him some extra gold and it helped the village out, as if he wasn’t welcomed enough there already.
He just went by foot through the mountains, bringing a short sword and a bow and arrow with him. The mountain was too steep and dangerous to bring a horse off the trail, and not many animals stayed by the trail, other then the dangerous ones. There was things like large bears, mountain cougars, all that stuff, but some creatures that dwelled there were very unnatural. Giant lizards with spikes along it’s tail, three headed dogs, and birds big enough to swoop down and lift you off your feet. He usually kept his distance from his prey and used his arrows to take it down, he had a strong, powerful bow that always landed perfect shots to pierce the hearts of his target. He brought his short sword incase he ever got into some closet combat with any animals that were not far enough for him to use his bow and arrows.
Because of these odd creatures on the mountains that the villagers were too terrified to even pass through there on the trail, only a few brave souls dared to walk on it’s rocky surface. He was the only hunter who went into the mountains, many of them stuck to the lower lands, but it only meant there would be more things he could hunt. The villagers begged him many times to stop hunting in the mountains for his safety, but he refused their pleads. He knew he could take care of himself, he also knew he wasn’t the same as the others, he didn’t know how, he just was. Those creatures they were so worried about barely even bothered him. He often walked passed him but they remained calm; it was surely a weird experience every time he did.
He always managed to have a good hunt, he had a large bag he could keep all his stuff in, though he often had to drag a lot of extra things back with him. He’d keep some meat for himself, and sell the extra meat and furs to the villagers; there were very brutal winters there. He had all the blankets and other things he needed to keep him warm, so there was no point in keeping them. He did not kill every single thing he saw. Lots of animals were already dieing on the mountains with all the predators there, so he thought he would do them a favour and put them out of their misery. With all that and the money he made bringing the villagers items across the mountain to the market, he was leading a pretty good life.
He got to the edge of the mountain and looked off into the distance where there was a vast forest, and within it was the small glows from windows like stars in the night sky, he was almost home. He looked over the edge of the cliff at the bottom; there was a pile of rocks there, mostly from erosion. The ones that were still around their original size were like boulders.
It was there 10 years ago he was found there unconscious, torn up to bits. They guessed it was because he suffered a terrible fall. He was also wearing wealthy clothes, they believed he was a survivor of some royalty that was faced with a disaster while passing through the mountains, there was enough creatures in there to believe that something like that happened. A villager had found him there and brought him back to the village. They were kind enough to allow him to live with them, which they are now best friends.
The strangest part of it all was when he woke up-he didn’t remember anything. It made him sad that he didn’t know who his parents were, where he had lived, even if he had any brothers or sisters. It felt like part of him was torn out and a creature was living inside the dark abyss, taunting him and biting and scratching at the sides of it‘s bottomless hole, reminding him that he barely knew anything about his life.
Though he knew better to not ponder on it for too long, because he didn’t want to mess up his life now, he loved it too much. He got treated with respect by those around him, it was peaceful. He didn’t know how much more he could ask for from such a small village.
He kept walking along the cliff, ignoring the pile of rocks that laid at the bottom, pushing it out of his mind. He kept walking, randomly kicking a small pebble in front of him, then walking up to it and kicking it again, in desperate need of something to distract him and to kill some time. It was one of the only ways to keep his mind off of the thoughts of it.
The path he was walking on was becoming very steep, it was becoming almost too much to walk on. He did not like it at all, so he found the rock he had his rope tied on. He had put it there a long time ago; he used it quite often while traveling on this path. He was in a hurry to get home as quick as possible (He was already late.), so he had no choice but to take this trail since it was the quickest way to the village. He tugged on the rope, tightening the knot on it, making sure it was still safe to use it to get down the cliff. He tied one end around his waist and began to climb down the cliff to return to the safe forest floor.
It wasn’t too hard, he had done it plenty of times before. He practically had the cracks and rocks he used to hold onto and rest his feet on memorized from the amount of times he had used them. He eventually reached the point where he could not go down any further, the rope wouldn’t allow it because of its length. He untied the knot that was holding its place around his waist and dropped about five feet to the ground, landing on his feet with ease.
He was too anxious to get home to walk, so he ran instead. He was just about out of breathe by the time he got to the town, he could see his breathe in the cool night air. He looked along the small wooden houses, running past them. The only way he could tell which one he was looking for was the chunk out of the door frame. He eventually found it, it wasn’t that hard to. He was six foot two inches, and the door frame was only six foot, it was enough to take part of the door out. He didn’t actually really know how tall he was from his spiky hair, but he still knew he was more then six foot, because if he was any shorter then six foot the door frame would still be whole.
He walked into the house and placed his bag on the hook by the door. He yawned and stretched his arms, he was tired, the trip he had gone on was so long, and very sleep depriving. It seemed like forever since the last time he had a half decent sleep.
He lived in the house with his friend-best friend actually. She was the one who had found him at the bottom of the cliff 10 years ago. He had lived at her house ever since she had brought him in when he had gotten hurt. Krys was very willing to allow him to stay there. She had given him the option to leave, but he had to stay. She had done so much for him, and she was all alone. How could he just do that when she was so happy with him around? It would probably just feed the little monster inside the black pit in his stomach.
She had no parents either, or any family for that matter. All her life she had been fending for herself, barely taking any help from others in the village. The only time she had some kind of family was when she had been adopted by some old folk that once lived here. They told her that her mother was traveling through the mountain while she was pregnant and came to rest in the village, during the time she had spent there she had died while giving birth to Krys. They were told by her mother that her father had disappeared in the war that everybody was prohibited to even mention, so he was supposed to be dead. They had only been with her mother at the time to gather all the information, then she stopped taking any breath and went cold, still holding the newborn girl in her arms. Her foster parents could not just leave her there, so they adopted their into their lives.
Once she became old enough, she did not want to cause any trouble for them anymore and moved out into her own home. She was even living on her own when she found him. They were both 18, so she was only 8 at the time. He did not know how long exactly she had been living on her own before she had met him, he was very surprised by it all.
It also made his heart ache. He didn’t know who his parents were, but he still had a chance that they were still out there; alive. The idea helped cover the empty space where his memories should be. She knew her parents were not ever going to be there for her because they were dead, she could not have the hope he had to help her cope with it all. That was another reason he stayed. It made him feel better being with her, it was almost as if they were meant to be with each other.
Besides, he owed her big time. If he had been in that forest any longer in the state he was ten years ago, he wouldn’t have even seen the moon illuminating the sky with it’s brilliant light ever again. So many of his bones were snapped like twigs and he was torn up to ribbons. Nobody in the village could imagine one simple slip off the side of the cliff could have caused so much damage, he could hardly believe it himself. It was becoming harder and harder to fully absorb and understand the situation whenever someone reminded him of it.
He found that he was thinking way too much in such a short time, he needed sleep. He rubbed his eyes and walked over to the west wall where there was a door, part of it’s frame taken out also. He had his hand on the door handle and he was about to twist it and walk into his room, but something had knocked him over with a great force.
It was Krys clinging to him, though it was more like she had tackled him. She sat on his stomach, glaring at him with his arms crossed. He knew that look very well by now.
He sighed, she always looked at him like that when she wanted answers about something. Either way, he was still glad to see her. He was expecting her to be in bed sleeping by now. He quickly asked, not wanting to keep her waiting, “Hey Krys. Is there something wrong?”
Krys just rolled her eyes at him, ended up sitting him up again and gave him a tight hug, he was quite used to this by now. She replied, “You were gone forever! You were gone for two weeks! You barely even take a week usually! Are you okay?”
He paused for a moment. When his own silence began to bother him he pulled himself back to reality and said, “I’m sorry, I’m just tired a lot more lately. I don’t know why, I feel like I’m getting weaker…”
Krys got off him, leaving him free to stand up now that his interogation was finished. She helped him up, he had a feeling he was going to get this treatment a lot more now that she knew about his drowsiness problem. Though helping him get up was not going to be as bad as her next plan that he was completely oblivious to the thought of it happening. She said, “That’s it, you need a vacation.”
Kai stared at her in disbelief, he couldn’t drop out now. A huge group of deer had just come in by the lake in the forest with all the ruins, he had just come back to bring back what he had gotten on that trip and get a good night rest. He tried to speak to talk her out of it, but she had cut him off before he could even open his mouth to take a deep breathe to start his long complaint.
“There’s lots of other people here that do the same basic job as you, it’s not like the world is depending on you. Besides, the others could use the money with everyone always coming to you to buy supplies from you instead. I’ll take care of it, don’t worry. Just go get some rest, okay?”
“Okay…” She was right, he had been making a lot of gold and collecting tons of supplies that could last him for months. He went to walk into his room but Krys had grabbed onto his hand to keep him from going in.
“Come on, at least try to be a little happy about it, would it kill you to smile a bit? Don’t go on saying it’s too hard, just think about tomorrow. We can hang out all day, we can go to the lake and go swimming, the possibilities are endless! I’ll even make you some pancakes tomorrow with all the stuff you like in it, okay?”
“Alright, I’ll be looking forward to it, thanks.” He caught her off guard and gave her a big hug, practically squeezing the life out of her small delicate body. When he realized he was practically killing her, not intending it to be that torturous, he set her back down on her feet again. “Night, Krys.” He finally managed to get into his room this time without any detours like the last 2 times he had tried.
He went over to his bed and flopped out onto it, spreading out happily on his comfy bed. He rolled over onto his stomach and stared out the window. The moon was shining brightly with all the small stars backing it up. His room was completely visible with all the moonlight that poured in through his window, he could even see the cracks and nails in his floor boards.
His room was not really occupied, there was a lot of space. His bed was in the corner, it had no frame for it, he saw no reason for it, what was wrong with having just a mattress on the floor? Other then that there was his book shelf and his dresser full of clothes, and he had a mirror on the back of his door, but he didn‘t really think that would count as something taking up his bedroom. His book shelf barely had any books, only a few. It was crammed with other things, though. There was stones, crystals, shards of long forgotten weapons and pottery, which he had found almost all of this treasure around the ruins. There was plenty of them plotted around the mountain, he had no idea what they were. For some weird reason, the pit of his stomach seemed to both heal and grow bigger there, he didn’t have any clue why. It was very odd to have the feeling of warmth and pain inside you at the same time.
He sat up so he was at the end of his bed so he wouldn’t be sitting on his blankets and pulled them up and snuggled up under them. It was so warm and comforting to be back again, he had to admit he was glad to be back. He was also very excited about tomorrow. He closed his eyes, drifting off into sleep.
His door opened a crack, allowing the glow of a candle light to come into his room. He moaned unhappily from the disturbance of his dark room, he looked up and it was Krys poking her head into his room, though he didn’t need to look to know that. She stared at him and said, “Sorry, I didn’t mean to wake you. If you need me for anything, just give me a shout and I’ll be right in, okay?”
“It’s alright, I wasn’t asleep, yet…alright, see you tomorrow.” He replied to her, she smiled sweetly before pulling out of the door and closed it carefully, trying not to make any loud noises. He moved around in his bed again, trying to get himself comfortable again in another position. He was facing the wall now, his back turned to the rest of the room. He closed his eyes again and drifted off into sleep.
Chapter 2
A Day To Remember
Kai woke up, he sat up and yawned. What a great sleep, he hadn’t had one like that in a long time. He took a deep breathe of the cool, refreshing morning air and jumped out of bed. He changed into some clean jeans and a shirt, it was a bit chilly so he put on a t-shirt on top and opened his door and went into the main room.
He walked into the main room, Krys was out there already. Like she said yesterday, she had made him his favourite pancakes. This day seemed bright already, he said cheerfully, “Good morning Krys.” He decided to help her out and got the plates and forks out and set them out on the table. He went over to some weird contraption called a fridge, some trader had come in with them. They were powered by these weird cold crystals, he found them quite often in the mountains. He took the maple syrup out and set it in the middle of the table and sat down in a chair.
“Hey Kai! What do you want to do today?” She replied just as happily as him, probably more. Krys was usually the one to be happy, he rarely ever saw her look like a zombie that he just about always was like. Some people had commented on that a few times, one morning he even scared himself when he saw himself in the mirror on the back of his door.
He had never really thought of what they would do. There wasn’t as many things to do that day, he had found those ruins in the mountains by the village and it wasn’t up that high, so she couldn’t complain how high up it was and that he’d be spoiling his vacation. He had been dying to show her, it was interesting. There wasn’t anything around to look at in the village, so why not? Nobody else in the village knew about it, it’d be nice to finally show it to someone else for once.
Krys put the pancakes on their plates and sat down, took the mapple syrup out from the middle of the table and poored some on her pancakes and sat it down again. She stared at him, he was obviously thinking too much again, she said impatiently, “Well?”
“Ummmm…you know I go on the hunting trips in the mountains a lot? I’ve found these neat ruins all over it. I found this one by the village not too high up the mountain there…would you like to come hike up to it with me and look around in it? All the animals are up the mountain so we wouldn’t be running into any of them.”
“Alright, eat your pancakes before they get cold. I’ll pack my own lunch, I’m not too sure what you’d like to bring so I guess you can pack your own. If it’s too much for you we’re heading back, okay?” She said, just as happily as easier, still eating her pancakes.
“Okay…” He took the mapple syrup and put some on his pancakes and started to eat his also. Like always, they tasted great. He stared off and out the window, it looked a little cloudy outside, but he guessed that it would pass sooner or later. It would also be nice if there was some shade from the sun anyway while going up the mountain.
He finished eating his pancakes and brought his dishes to the sink and washed them. He packed his lunch, making himself a quick peanut butter and jam sandwich and put it in the fridge so he could put it into his bag later. He sat on the couch beside Krys and rested his head on her lap, they had some random conversations. One of them Krys seemed rather very obbsessed with was what Kai was planning to do for the rest of his life.
“I’m planning to stay here with you of course, unless you’re planning on leaving me to go with someone that’s worth you’re time…” He said in a bit of a teasing way, he then took in a long breathe and let out a deep sigh.
“Oh please, you’re a waste of my time? Come on, you’re way better then the other brainless dolts here…sure they’re nice looking and everything, but they’ve got nothing else other then that. Have you heard the complaints from the girls? I swear it’s endless…Besides, you‘re a lot better then them in that too.” She said sweetly, her words seemed like honey to him, she twirled a strand of his hair between her fingers.
He couldn’t help but blush a bit. She always said things like that, as if she knew it would make him blush. He was very shy, like she always did in moments like this she giggled at him. He thought for a moment, she didn’t want to interrupt his train of thoughts so just tilted her head at him in a non-verbal way of concerning what he was thinking about. “So…would you really want to spend your life with me? I mean…”
“What? Better question; why would I not want to? We’ve been friends for a long time so we really know eachother well, you’re very responsible and trusting. What more could I ask from you?”
“Ohhhh…well…would you…ummmm…”
“Have you lost your sense of words again dear? You keep doing this quite frequently..” She said softly, she stopped twirling his hair around her finger and placed her hand on his cheek instead and traced the edge of his cheek with her thumb gently, “What are you trying to say?”
“Yep, it’s too hard to talk right now…can I just tell you when we get to the ruins later?”
“Sure,” She said with a disappointed tone in her voice, she was probably hoping to hear it then, “How about we just go now?” She was obviously going to be in a rush to get to the ruins now that she had that to look forward to.
“Okay, meet me outside when you’re ready to go. Bring a jacket, it can can pretty cold.” He went into his room and grabbed his cloak; and his dagger and slipped it onto his belt and put on his robe, just incase. He picked up his bag and went back into the main room and took his sandwich out of the fridge and put it into his bag and went outside.
He had to only wait a few minutes for her to come outside. She had her coat on, she handed her lunch to him and he put it into his bag, he had insisted on this so she wouldn‘t have to carry it. They headed to outside of the village. The cloud’s were passing above them, casting shadows onto them, hiding them from the beautiful sunlight as they headed towards the path that went up into the mountains.
Chapter 3
Truth Revealed
Kai woke up, his expression was filled with horror and he was covered in sweat, the results off what was once a dream that turned into a haunting nightmare. He sat up quickly, breathing at an unnatural pace. He moaned painfully rather loudly, trying not to yell, afraid to wake Krys up. His head hurt, but that was not what was really bothering him. It was the searing pain pulsing in his back, each time the pain vibrated it grew more and more painful.
He slid over to the edge of his bed and struggled to stand, his legs weakened by the pain were buckling, almost giving in under himself. His whole body frame was trembling, he seemed to be reacting really badly to this, and he now knew there was definitely something wrong with him. He was afraid to see, but he still had to look. He swayed a bit, holding his head in his hand trying to get a hold of himself, he could barely think because he was so dizzy and his head hurt on top of that.
He managed to get over to the mirror on the back of his door, he put his back to it, which was still pulsing in pain, it was almost unbearable. He didn’t know how much longer he’d be able to keep himself from yelling, he didn’t want her to see him like this. He hesitantly put one of his hands up the back of his shirt and touched his back. He could feel the skin burning under his fingertips, there was a different, unnatural rough texture to it.
He was even more afraid to see what was on his back now. He pulled his shirt up to reveal the phenomenon that was causing all of this. He stared at his reflection in the mirror in shock as his heart rate had just about doubled. Along his spine on the upper part of his back between his shoulders was what looked like a terrible burn. He had to take out his dagger like sword from his belt on his waist and slit part of his arm to make sure this wasn’t a dream, he could feel the piercing pain from the blade. It was real, the pain also helped distract him from other things that were terrifying him right now.
He didn’t have the slightest clue what was happening to him. He was only worried if it was contagious. There was only one thing he had his mind made up on then, he didn’t want to stay and find out. Everyone here over the past 10 years had done so much without complaining, his heart would certainly cave in on itself if it was his fault for spreading his misery to the rest of them. There was only one solution, he had to leave the village as soon as possible.
He couldn’t even say goodbye, it would be too depressing. They would obviously defy his choice, especially Krys, all emotion but sadness drained from him when he remembered that he was supposed to spend the day with her tomorrow. He felt terrible imagining Krys’s expression when she would wake up to see that he wasn’t there, leaving her alone with no explanation at all.
He sighed, grabbing some things he would take with him. His backpack was still on the hook in the main room by the door, he would just have to put his things in his bag before leaving the house. He picked up a old black cloak that he hadn’t used for many years, shaking the dust off it. He put it on, he had all the things he needed so he opened his door as quietly as possible and snuck out of his room.
He was in the main room now, almost freezing when he had turned around after closing the door, he then became less tense and shook his head. Krys was sitting at the table, out like a light. There was papers and pens and pencils all over the table, had she been writing all night? He took a quick glimpse at one of the papers by her burnt out candle, the dribbles of wax that once rolled down it’s side dried, it almost made it look like it was frozen in time. The paper he had looked at was to one of his neighbours, it said that he wouldn’t be able to do any errands for them.
She was always so worried about him, it almost made him feel like he was a precious treasure that had to be treated with the best care. It made his insides twist even more then they already were when he noticed that he had never realized how much she had cared about him.
He couldn’t help it, he had to do something to keep her from completely being in the dark. It practically seemed like a crime to just leave her with no reason why he left, for all he knew she’d just jump to the conclusion that he had hated her and she’d be haunted for the rest of her life. He lit the candle so he could see better. He found a piece of paper she hadn’t written on yet and picked up a pen and wrote,
(...Imaginary note that's supposed to be here, but it isn't, you'll live, it's like all those notes, all sad and everything...that good enough? XD)
He set the pen down carefully on the table once he finished using it to write his last words to her, being careful not to wake her from her deep sleep. He set the pouch of gold he had mentioned in the letter beside it. He stared at her, he could just imagine the monster in the dark abyss laughing at him.
He noticed she was shivering, with all the pain wreaking havoc inside of him he didn’t realize it was freezing in the room. He got out a blanket and covered her up with it, she only shifted a little bit in her sleep and stopped shivering. He blew out the candle after when he was positive she wasn’t going to wake up on him and catch him in the act of his escape.
He couldn’t help himself, the idea of never seeing her again hurt more then his back. He decided to do what he would never be able to do while she was conscious, and that he would never have the chance to do it again, he bent down and kissed her. She just smiled in her sleep, he couldn’t help but smile back at her. Why would he allow his last moment with her to be so sad, even though she was asleep? He put all the things he was carrying into his backpack, swung it over onto his back and went out of the house and ran off deep into the woods, forcing himself to not look back at the little village where he spent all of his life that he could remember.
He had run so far into the forest he couldn’t see a single soft glow from the place he had forbidden himself to think of. He didn’t know how far he had really gone, but he knew it was enough, for now. To his relief, the burning pain of his dreadful back finally stopped rising and started to become appeased. His legs finally gave in on him, causing him to collapse to his knees. It was a while before he was able to catch his breathe and recover to the strength to move on into the night.
After wandering around for what seemed like an endless time, he reached a small lake. He kneeled by the lake, his legs needing a break again. He took his backpack off his back and set it on the ground beside him, searching through it. He found what he was looking for, a water bottle made of plastic he had gotten from some far off traveler he had met in the mountains. He set the water bottle in the lake’s clear water. Once it had taken in as much as it could he lifted the water bottle out of the lake and drank some of it before twisting the cap back on.
It was too quiet, the sky was beginning to be filled with the warm colours from the sun and there wasn’t a single chirp of any bird that he always heard, even while on his hunting trips. Though he was glad they weren’t because they just about drove him crazy when he was trying to sleep, it was very disturbing. In fact, there wasn’t a single living thing in sight other then himself.
It seemed very ominous to him and very bothersome, but it wouldn’t be even close to as the next thing he would soon see. He looked into the lake at his reflection, he gasped in shock. It was in his reflection he realized his eyes were now deep yellow with disturbing slits. His ears were now pointed, he looked down at his hands, which his finger nails were now sharp at the point like claws. One of the strangest things was the tattoo like mark that had appeared on the back of his right hand that was like a moon and a sun combined, it reminded him of a eclipse.
He couldn’t believe it. He rubbed his eyes and looked at his reflection again, it was still the same. He had convinced himself that it was some kind of demons trickery, but there was one problem with this theory. Demons could only make illusions, and his claws he were digging into his palm when they had curled up into fists from stress were very real.
He almost broke down crying. What the hell was going on? First he got sick, which forced him to leave his only home he ever knew leaving the person he cared about the most behind, and now this. He didn’t have the slightest idea what was happening to him. He was starting to think that he wasn’t even human, instead he was some kind of monster.
He couldn’t take it anymore, it was too much for him to live with. He took out his dagger and put it to his throat, he just wanted to die and escape this world. The only other thing he wished for now that he had somebody he could ask what was going on, but he knew he was alone. That’s at least what he thought. He froze when he heard a foreboding voice from behind him, “You’re giving up already, leothen?”
He looked behind him quickly, searching for where it had come from. In the shadows of the trees was the person he heard, they were wearing a black cloak. He could only see the bridge of their nose, parts of their cheeks and their lips. Other then that, he saw pitch black hair framing their pale white face. He realized quickly they were femine, so some witch had come to cause him more misery by calling him names that made no sense?
He didn’t trust them, whoever they were. He dropped his blade and picked up his bow and pulled a arrow from his quiver on his back and knocked it, aiming for the hooded woman. She only shook her head at him, her nose flared and her mouth shaped into a frown, she was obviously not happy with his reaction. She said with her dark voice again, “You ungrateful rat, put your weapon down before I am forced to cause you even more pain then you’re already in for.”
Kai glared at her, still not trusting her. It’s not like he had anything to live for now, so her threat didn’t faze him at all. He yelled at her, in the same irritated tone as her, “Who are you and what the hell do you want?! Why should I trust someone I’ve never met before that hides in the darkness and wearing such a fashion that I can’t even see their face?”
The woman just shoke head at him again, her face softened a bit, but she still wasn’t pleased. She said still irritated, “ If you wish,” The woman stepped out of the shadows casted by the trees into the light of the clearing, she lowered her hood to reveal her whole face, her eyes were silver with flecks of red along the rims and like he saw before her hair was pitch black, “My name is Mirage, would you please be more calm, leothen? I’m here to help you, surely you’ve heard o fthe fabled clan leothens.”
He still glared at her, not trusting her one bit more. This was his only hope, so he had no choice. He sighed, lowered his bow but he still held onto it and kept the arrow knocked, he replied, “My name is Kai, so stop calling me by leothen. They don’t exist, they’re just a fairy tale, if they ever did they’re all dead.”
“You understand so little, Kai. You are right, they died from synthosis. All of them were caught within Death’s grasp, infected with the disease, all of them but you. Even though you’ve managed to elude it all this time, you’ve still been infected. How pitiful.”
Kai stared at the ground, he was still confused. His heart hurt, the only thing he could hear inside of his conscious were distant screams like a far off memory. He had the feeling of the hole in memories both recovering and tearing itself apart more again, like when he went in the ruins in the mountains. Other then all of that, his conscious was completely blank, just about speechless. There was only a few words were able to make it past his lips, “…What? That’s…impossible…”
“It may sound impossible, but look around you, and what you are. It has been said enough that leothens have lived in the northern mountains surrounded with forests, it’s where we are now. You also bear the mark of leothens on the back of your hand,” He noticed she was eyeing the odd tatoo on the back of his right hand, “You will likely die from what you carry inside of you, but I can help you like I said earlier. With a favour in return, of course.” She was grinning in a very ominous way.
Kai managed to regain his use of words and said, “Alright, I believe you. What exactly do you want me to do?”
A black cloud began to rise from Mirage’s feet and swirl around her, “Bring me the Blood Wings, and I’ll restore you to the way you were before,” she had said before the black cloud dispersed and she was no longer there.
That was one of the weirdest things Kai had ever seen, tonight would surely be burned into his mind. He thought over everything, trying to make a plan to find these Blood Wings. There was one problem, he didn’t even know what they were, so obviously studying on it would be mandatory before doing anything else. He put the arrow back in the quiver, he still didn’t put his bow away, not after tonight. He picked up his dagger like sword and put it back in it’s sheith on his waist. The sun was just rising from the horizon, the giant ball of fire completely lighting the clear blue skies. A perfect day to start. Things were starting to look better, but as far as he could remember in his life, the first time ever, he was alone.
Chapter 4
Still Searching
Even two years later, Kai’s luck hadn’t gotten that much better. Over that time he changed a lot. He had a more darker personality. He was never happy anymore, he was always depressed, secretive, quiet, and he never trusted anyone other then his loyal steed.
Jinta was a horse like creature that had come to him while he was wandering in the forest at the beginning of his journey, so he wasn’t really on his own for that long. The first days alone were horrible. He wasn’t used to being alone, and having new abilities and strength made it even worse. He had burned and blown up several things during that time, and to both his and Jinta’s releif he wasn’t doing that anymore.
They were flying in the sky, he was sitting on the back of Jinta’s black horse skeleton body, on a sadle of course. Jinta’s black feathered wings beated strongly, struggling against the winds. This had been the only time they had been able to fly during their trip to the next town. This wouldn’t last long, lightning flashed in the clouds ahead of them and sheets of rain began to pour down on them.
He hadn’t bothered to put a spell on them to make them invisible today, there was no point in it. He hadn’t seen anybody going this way, even when there wasn’t horrible weather. He knew lots of spells that he had picked up along the way, though Jinta didn’t really need any to hide his identity. Kai was the only one who could see him as he really was, his only guess that he was some creature created by the leothens. It was the only explanation he could come up with that he was able to see him.
Introduction
In an unknown country, mysterious creatures inhabit its vast lands. These are not the things that bring the important questions to our minds, it’s the history. History creates the future, revealing things that unlock the greatest crimes of all time. While some are better off left alone, for our weak hearts cannot always handle the truth behind the story, such as this one.
Today in this magical country, humans live in civilization, but not only they do. Within it in a lower population, but far stronger then any human, the demons. The monsters that have lived for many years under human rule, under treaty to not change their diets to humans once again.
They aren’t the only races to have wandered in this area, for there was the leothens that once took the skies and the great northern mountains for their own. They were far from being relative to demons and humans; they had powers beyond even the things you would ever imagine.
Both humans and demons once greatly trusted the leothens, but once they became jealous of their power and believed they had enough, they greatly distrusted them. They began hunting down leothens, which enraged the king greatly, but there was nothing he could do to stop the slaughter, the leothens would have to fend for themselves. Eventually, things got way out of hand. He couldn’t even turn to his two great advisors Mirage and Kiothorn for their wisdom to stop the nonsense.
King Aliden, a member of the leothen clan, once ruled upon the country of Kaladin during this period of time, but everything the leothens had and themselves were swept away. A plague called synthosis spread across the land, but to everyone’s confusion, it only took leothens as its hosts, eventually infecting King Aliden himself and removing him from his throne, and his life, handing his position at the throne to Kiothorn, one of his trusted human counsellors.
Synthosis was a horrible plague; it’d drain you of all the strength they could bear, causing great pain and sorrow as they slowly died. Some of them only thought they were just tired, guessing it was nothing big, but these arrogant people realized their fate only when it was too late. They would have turned to their beloved Blood Wings for her help, but to their dismay, she was no longer in existence.
The disease wasn’t the only one who played a part in this scene of history. The humans and demons took advantage of the leothens weakness and hungered for their wealth and power, killed them off, destroying their homes, slaughtering the children, leaving their beautiful villages in ruins upon the now gloomy surface of the Northern Mountains. None are believed to live in this land today, the battle for survival went on for over a hundred years, it just ended not that many years ago, everybody just forced it out of their minds in attempt to forget it like it was just a nightmare. King Kiothorn banned all speaking of it, so they are only thought to be myths and ghost stories today, convincing themselves that the leothens were the monsters.
Those of the old who cared for the leothens and passed their knowledge to their new blood during that war these questions, hoping they would carry these questions during their lives and pass it down, begging the gods for an answer to them: Where did the disease come from? How did it get here? Why did it only effect the leothens? Was their someone behind it that wished such a horrible fate to the peaceful creatures? Did any of them manage to survive, could we ever forgive them?
Within these pages may be the answers to their prayers, and much more. A young child of the race that had been given no mercy was said to run out of the village badly injured, but the mobs didn’t believe he would ever survive to the bottom of the mountain. What befell the fate of this poor boy?
Chapter 1
Home at Last
Kai was returning from his hunting trip on the mountains, taking the traders path to find his way back down. He lived in a little village just at the bottom called Miokar. It was a quiet little town, isolated from the country surrounding it, except for the town they traded with on the other side of the mountain.
Sometimes while he was hunting he would do the villages a favour, he would take their trading goods and bring it to the other side of the mountain to the other village, trade with them, and bring back the traded goods. Many of the villagers were too frightened to pass through the mountains. It made him some extra gold and it helped the village out, as if he wasn’t welcomed enough there already.
He just went by foot through the mountains, bringing a short sword and a bow and arrow with him. The mountain was too steep and dangerous to bring a horse off the trail, and not many animals stayed by the trail, other then the dangerous ones. There was things like large bears, mountain cougars, all that stuff, but some creatures that dwelled there were very unnatural. Giant lizards with spikes along it’s tail, three headed dogs, and birds big enough to swoop down and lift you off your feet. He usually kept his distance from his prey and used his arrows to take it down, he had a strong, powerful bow that always landed perfect shots to pierce the hearts of his target. He brought his short sword incase he ever got into some closet combat with any animals that were not far enough for him to use his bow and arrows.
Because of these odd creatures on the mountains that the villagers were too terrified to even pass through there on the trail, only a few brave souls dared to walk on it’s rocky surface. He was the only hunter who went into the mountains, many of them stuck to the lower lands, but it only meant there would be more things he could hunt. The villagers begged him many times to stop hunting in the mountains for his safety, but he refused their pleads. He knew he could take care of himself, he also knew he wasn’t the same as the others, he didn’t know how, he just was. Those creatures they were so worried about barely even bothered him. He often walked passed him but they remained calm; it was surely a weird experience every time he did.
He always managed to have a good hunt, he had a large bag he could keep all his stuff in, though he often had to drag a lot of extra things back with him. He’d keep some meat for himself, and sell the extra meat and furs to the villagers; there were very brutal winters there. He had all the blankets and other things he needed to keep him warm, so there was no point in keeping them. He did not kill every single thing he saw. Lots of animals were already dieing on the mountains with all the predators there, so he thought he would do them a favour and put them out of their misery. With all that and the money he made bringing the villagers items across the mountain to the market, he was leading a pretty good life.
He got to the edge of the mountain and looked off into the distance where there was a vast forest, and within it was the small glows from windows like stars in the night sky, he was almost home. He looked over the edge of the cliff at the bottom; there was a pile of rocks there, mostly from erosion. The ones that were still around their original size were like boulders.
It was there 10 years ago he was found there unconscious, torn up to bits. They guessed it was because he suffered a terrible fall. He was also wearing wealthy clothes, they believed he was a survivor of some royalty that was faced with a disaster while passing through the mountains, there was enough creatures in there to believe that something like that happened. A villager had found him there and brought him back to the village. They were kind enough to allow him to live with them, which they are now best friends.
The strangest part of it all was when he woke up-he didn’t remember anything. It made him sad that he didn’t know who his parents were, where he had lived, even if he had any brothers or sisters. It felt like part of him was torn out and a creature was living inside the dark abyss, taunting him and biting and scratching at the sides of it‘s bottomless hole, reminding him that he barely knew anything about his life.
Though he knew better to not ponder on it for too long, because he didn’t want to mess up his life now, he loved it too much. He got treated with respect by those around him, it was peaceful. He didn’t know how much more he could ask for from such a small village.
He kept walking along the cliff, ignoring the pile of rocks that laid at the bottom, pushing it out of his mind. He kept walking, randomly kicking a small pebble in front of him, then walking up to it and kicking it again, in desperate need of something to distract him and to kill some time. It was one of the only ways to keep his mind off of the thoughts of it.
The path he was walking on was becoming very steep, it was becoming almost too much to walk on. He did not like it at all, so he found the rock he had his rope tied on. He had put it there a long time ago; he used it quite often while traveling on this path. He was in a hurry to get home as quick as possible (He was already late.), so he had no choice but to take this trail since it was the quickest way to the village. He tugged on the rope, tightening the knot on it, making sure it was still safe to use it to get down the cliff. He tied one end around his waist and began to climb down the cliff to return to the safe forest floor.
It wasn’t too hard, he had done it plenty of times before. He practically had the cracks and rocks he used to hold onto and rest his feet on memorized from the amount of times he had used them. He eventually reached the point where he could not go down any further, the rope wouldn’t allow it because of its length. He untied the knot that was holding its place around his waist and dropped about five feet to the ground, landing on his feet with ease.
He was too anxious to get home to walk, so he ran instead. He was just about out of breathe by the time he got to the town, he could see his breathe in the cool night air. He looked along the small wooden houses, running past them. The only way he could tell which one he was looking for was the chunk out of the door frame. He eventually found it, it wasn’t that hard to. He was six foot two inches, and the door frame was only six foot, it was enough to take part of the door out. He didn’t actually really know how tall he was from his spiky hair, but he still knew he was more then six foot, because if he was any shorter then six foot the door frame would still be whole.
He walked into the house and placed his bag on the hook by the door. He yawned and stretched his arms, he was tired, the trip he had gone on was so long, and very sleep depriving. It seemed like forever since the last time he had a half decent sleep.
He lived in the house with his friend-best friend actually. She was the one who had found him at the bottom of the cliff 10 years ago. He had lived at her house ever since she had brought him in when he had gotten hurt. Krys was very willing to allow him to stay there. She had given him the option to leave, but he had to stay. She had done so much for him, and she was all alone. How could he just do that when she was so happy with him around? It would probably just feed the little monster inside the black pit in his stomach.
She had no parents either, or any family for that matter. All her life she had been fending for herself, barely taking any help from others in the village. The only time she had some kind of family was when she had been adopted by some old folk that once lived here. They told her that her mother was traveling through the mountain while she was pregnant and came to rest in the village, during the time she had spent there she had died while giving birth to Krys. They were told by her mother that her father had disappeared in the war that everybody was prohibited to even mention, so he was supposed to be dead. They had only been with her mother at the time to gather all the information, then she stopped taking any breath and went cold, still holding the newborn girl in her arms. Her foster parents could not just leave her there, so they adopted their into their lives.
Once she became old enough, she did not want to cause any trouble for them anymore and moved out into her own home. She was even living on her own when she found him. They were both 18, so she was only 8 at the time. He did not know how long exactly she had been living on her own before she had met him, he was very surprised by it all.
It also made his heart ache. He didn’t know who his parents were, but he still had a chance that they were still out there; alive. The idea helped cover the empty space where his memories should be. She knew her parents were not ever going to be there for her because they were dead, she could not have the hope he had to help her cope with it all. That was another reason he stayed. It made him feel better being with her, it was almost as if they were meant to be with each other.
Besides, he owed her big time. If he had been in that forest any longer in the state he was ten years ago, he wouldn’t have even seen the moon illuminating the sky with it’s brilliant light ever again. So many of his bones were snapped like twigs and he was torn up to ribbons. Nobody in the village could imagine one simple slip off the side of the cliff could have caused so much damage, he could hardly believe it himself. It was becoming harder and harder to fully absorb and understand the situation whenever someone reminded him of it.
He found that he was thinking way too much in such a short time, he needed sleep. He rubbed his eyes and walked over to the west wall where there was a door, part of it’s frame taken out also. He had his hand on the door handle and he was about to twist it and walk into his room, but something had knocked him over with a great force.
It was Krys clinging to him, though it was more like she had tackled him. She sat on his stomach, glaring at him with his arms crossed. He knew that look very well by now.
He sighed, she always looked at him like that when she wanted answers about something. Either way, he was still glad to see her. He was expecting her to be in bed sleeping by now. He quickly asked, not wanting to keep her waiting, “Hey Krys. Is there something wrong?”
Krys just rolled her eyes at him, ended up sitting him up again and gave him a tight hug, he was quite used to this by now. She replied, “You were gone forever! You were gone for two weeks! You barely even take a week usually! Are you okay?”
He paused for a moment. When his own silence began to bother him he pulled himself back to reality and said, “I’m sorry, I’m just tired a lot more lately. I don’t know why, I feel like I’m getting weaker…”
Krys got off him, leaving him free to stand up now that his interogation was finished. She helped him up, he had a feeling he was going to get this treatment a lot more now that she knew about his drowsiness problem. Though helping him get up was not going to be as bad as her next plan that he was completely oblivious to the thought of it happening. She said, “That’s it, you need a vacation.”
Kai stared at her in disbelief, he couldn’t drop out now. A huge group of deer had just come in by the lake in the forest with all the ruins, he had just come back to bring back what he had gotten on that trip and get a good night rest. He tried to speak to talk her out of it, but she had cut him off before he could even open his mouth to take a deep breathe to start his long complaint.
“There’s lots of other people here that do the same basic job as you, it’s not like the world is depending on you. Besides, the others could use the money with everyone always coming to you to buy supplies from you instead. I’ll take care of it, don’t worry. Just go get some rest, okay?”
“Okay…” She was right, he had been making a lot of gold and collecting tons of supplies that could last him for months. He went to walk into his room but Krys had grabbed onto his hand to keep him from going in.
“Come on, at least try to be a little happy about it, would it kill you to smile a bit? Don’t go on saying it’s too hard, just think about tomorrow. We can hang out all day, we can go to the lake and go swimming, the possibilities are endless! I’ll even make you some pancakes tomorrow with all the stuff you like in it, okay?”
“Alright, I’ll be looking forward to it, thanks.” He caught her off guard and gave her a big hug, practically squeezing the life out of her small delicate body. When he realized he was practically killing her, not intending it to be that torturous, he set her back down on her feet again. “Night, Krys.” He finally managed to get into his room this time without any detours like the last 2 times he had tried.
He went over to his bed and flopped out onto it, spreading out happily on his comfy bed. He rolled over onto his stomach and stared out the window. The moon was shining brightly with all the small stars backing it up. His room was completely visible with all the moonlight that poured in through his window, he could even see the cracks and nails in his floor boards.
His room was not really occupied, there was a lot of space. His bed was in the corner, it had no frame for it, he saw no reason for it, what was wrong with having just a mattress on the floor? Other then that there was his book shelf and his dresser full of clothes, and he had a mirror on the back of his door, but he didn‘t really think that would count as something taking up his bedroom. His book shelf barely had any books, only a few. It was crammed with other things, though. There was stones, crystals, shards of long forgotten weapons and pottery, which he had found almost all of this treasure around the ruins. There was plenty of them plotted around the mountain, he had no idea what they were. For some weird reason, the pit of his stomach seemed to both heal and grow bigger there, he didn’t have any clue why. It was very odd to have the feeling of warmth and pain inside you at the same time.
He sat up so he was at the end of his bed so he wouldn’t be sitting on his blankets and pulled them up and snuggled up under them. It was so warm and comforting to be back again, he had to admit he was glad to be back. He was also very excited about tomorrow. He closed his eyes, drifting off into sleep.
His door opened a crack, allowing the glow of a candle light to come into his room. He moaned unhappily from the disturbance of his dark room, he looked up and it was Krys poking her head into his room, though he didn’t need to look to know that. She stared at him and said, “Sorry, I didn’t mean to wake you. If you need me for anything, just give me a shout and I’ll be right in, okay?”
“It’s alright, I wasn’t asleep, yet…alright, see you tomorrow.” He replied to her, she smiled sweetly before pulling out of the door and closed it carefully, trying not to make any loud noises. He moved around in his bed again, trying to get himself comfortable again in another position. He was facing the wall now, his back turned to the rest of the room. He closed his eyes again and drifted off into sleep.
Chapter 2
A Day To Remember
Kai woke up, he sat up and yawned. What a great sleep, he hadn’t had one like that in a long time. He took a deep breathe of the cool, refreshing morning air and jumped out of bed. He changed into some clean jeans and a shirt, it was a bit chilly so he put on a t-shirt on top and opened his door and went into the main room.
He walked into the main room, Krys was out there already. Like she said yesterday, she had made him his favourite pancakes. This day seemed bright already, he said cheerfully, “Good morning Krys.” He decided to help her out and got the plates and forks out and set them out on the table. He went over to some weird contraption called a fridge, some trader had come in with them. They were powered by these weird cold crystals, he found them quite often in the mountains. He took the maple syrup out and set it in the middle of the table and sat down in a chair.
“Hey Kai! What do you want to do today?” She replied just as happily as him, probably more. Krys was usually the one to be happy, he rarely ever saw her look like a zombie that he just about always was like. Some people had commented on that a few times, one morning he even scared himself when he saw himself in the mirror on the back of his door.
He had never really thought of what they would do. There wasn’t as many things to do that day, he had found those ruins in the mountains by the village and it wasn’t up that high, so she couldn’t complain how high up it was and that he’d be spoiling his vacation. He had been dying to show her, it was interesting. There wasn’t anything around to look at in the village, so why not? Nobody else in the village knew about it, it’d be nice to finally show it to someone else for once.
Krys put the pancakes on their plates and sat down, took the mapple syrup out from the middle of the table and poored some on her pancakes and sat it down again. She stared at him, he was obviously thinking too much again, she said impatiently, “Well?”
“Ummmm…you know I go on the hunting trips in the mountains a lot? I’ve found these neat ruins all over it. I found this one by the village not too high up the mountain there…would you like to come hike up to it with me and look around in it? All the animals are up the mountain so we wouldn’t be running into any of them.”
“Alright, eat your pancakes before they get cold. I’ll pack my own lunch, I’m not too sure what you’d like to bring so I guess you can pack your own. If it’s too much for you we’re heading back, okay?” She said, just as happily as easier, still eating her pancakes.
“Okay…” He took the mapple syrup and put some on his pancakes and started to eat his also. Like always, they tasted great. He stared off and out the window, it looked a little cloudy outside, but he guessed that it would pass sooner or later. It would also be nice if there was some shade from the sun anyway while going up the mountain.
He finished eating his pancakes and brought his dishes to the sink and washed them. He packed his lunch, making himself a quick peanut butter and jam sandwich and put it in the fridge so he could put it into his bag later. He sat on the couch beside Krys and rested his head on her lap, they had some random conversations. One of them Krys seemed rather very obbsessed with was what Kai was planning to do for the rest of his life.
“I’m planning to stay here with you of course, unless you’re planning on leaving me to go with someone that’s worth you’re time…” He said in a bit of a teasing way, he then took in a long breathe and let out a deep sigh.
“Oh please, you’re a waste of my time? Come on, you’re way better then the other brainless dolts here…sure they’re nice looking and everything, but they’ve got nothing else other then that. Have you heard the complaints from the girls? I swear it’s endless…Besides, you‘re a lot better then them in that too.” She said sweetly, her words seemed like honey to him, she twirled a strand of his hair between her fingers.
He couldn’t help but blush a bit. She always said things like that, as if she knew it would make him blush. He was very shy, like she always did in moments like this she giggled at him. He thought for a moment, she didn’t want to interrupt his train of thoughts so just tilted her head at him in a non-verbal way of concerning what he was thinking about. “So…would you really want to spend your life with me? I mean…”
“What? Better question; why would I not want to? We’ve been friends for a long time so we really know eachother well, you’re very responsible and trusting. What more could I ask from you?”
“Ohhhh…well…would you…ummmm…”
“Have you lost your sense of words again dear? You keep doing this quite frequently..” She said softly, she stopped twirling his hair around her finger and placed her hand on his cheek instead and traced the edge of his cheek with her thumb gently, “What are you trying to say?”
“Yep, it’s too hard to talk right now…can I just tell you when we get to the ruins later?”
“Sure,” She said with a disappointed tone in her voice, she was probably hoping to hear it then, “How about we just go now?” She was obviously going to be in a rush to get to the ruins now that she had that to look forward to.
“Okay, meet me outside when you’re ready to go. Bring a jacket, it can can pretty cold.” He went into his room and grabbed his cloak; and his dagger and slipped it onto his belt and put on his robe, just incase. He picked up his bag and went back into the main room and took his sandwich out of the fridge and put it into his bag and went outside.
He had to only wait a few minutes for her to come outside. She had her coat on, she handed her lunch to him and he put it into his bag, he had insisted on this so she wouldn‘t have to carry it. They headed to outside of the village. The cloud’s were passing above them, casting shadows onto them, hiding them from the beautiful sunlight as they headed towards the path that went up into the mountains.
Chapter 3
Truth Revealed
Kai woke up, his expression was filled with horror and he was covered in sweat, the results off what was once a dream that turned into a haunting nightmare. He sat up quickly, breathing at an unnatural pace. He moaned painfully rather loudly, trying not to yell, afraid to wake Krys up. His head hurt, but that was not what was really bothering him. It was the searing pain pulsing in his back, each time the pain vibrated it grew more and more painful.
He slid over to the edge of his bed and struggled to stand, his legs weakened by the pain were buckling, almost giving in under himself. His whole body frame was trembling, he seemed to be reacting really badly to this, and he now knew there was definitely something wrong with him. He was afraid to see, but he still had to look. He swayed a bit, holding his head in his hand trying to get a hold of himself, he could barely think because he was so dizzy and his head hurt on top of that.
He managed to get over to the mirror on the back of his door, he put his back to it, which was still pulsing in pain, it was almost unbearable. He didn’t know how much longer he’d be able to keep himself from yelling, he didn’t want her to see him like this. He hesitantly put one of his hands up the back of his shirt and touched his back. He could feel the skin burning under his fingertips, there was a different, unnatural rough texture to it.
He was even more afraid to see what was on his back now. He pulled his shirt up to reveal the phenomenon that was causing all of this. He stared at his reflection in the mirror in shock as his heart rate had just about doubled. Along his spine on the upper part of his back between his shoulders was what looked like a terrible burn. He had to take out his dagger like sword from his belt on his waist and slit part of his arm to make sure this wasn’t a dream, he could feel the piercing pain from the blade. It was real, the pain also helped distract him from other things that were terrifying him right now.
He didn’t have the slightest clue what was happening to him. He was only worried if it was contagious. There was only one thing he had his mind made up on then, he didn’t want to stay and find out. Everyone here over the past 10 years had done so much without complaining, his heart would certainly cave in on itself if it was his fault for spreading his misery to the rest of them. There was only one solution, he had to leave the village as soon as possible.
He couldn’t even say goodbye, it would be too depressing. They would obviously defy his choice, especially Krys, all emotion but sadness drained from him when he remembered that he was supposed to spend the day with her tomorrow. He felt terrible imagining Krys’s expression when she would wake up to see that he wasn’t there, leaving her alone with no explanation at all.
He sighed, grabbing some things he would take with him. His backpack was still on the hook in the main room by the door, he would just have to put his things in his bag before leaving the house. He picked up a old black cloak that he hadn’t used for many years, shaking the dust off it. He put it on, he had all the things he needed so he opened his door as quietly as possible and snuck out of his room.
He was in the main room now, almost freezing when he had turned around after closing the door, he then became less tense and shook his head. Krys was sitting at the table, out like a light. There was papers and pens and pencils all over the table, had she been writing all night? He took a quick glimpse at one of the papers by her burnt out candle, the dribbles of wax that once rolled down it’s side dried, it almost made it look like it was frozen in time. The paper he had looked at was to one of his neighbours, it said that he wouldn’t be able to do any errands for them.
She was always so worried about him, it almost made him feel like he was a precious treasure that had to be treated with the best care. It made his insides twist even more then they already were when he noticed that he had never realized how much she had cared about him.
He couldn’t help it, he had to do something to keep her from completely being in the dark. It practically seemed like a crime to just leave her with no reason why he left, for all he knew she’d just jump to the conclusion that he had hated her and she’d be haunted for the rest of her life. He lit the candle so he could see better. He found a piece of paper she hadn’t written on yet and picked up a pen and wrote,
(...Imaginary note that's supposed to be here, but it isn't, you'll live, it's like all those notes, all sad and everything...that good enough? XD)
He set the pen down carefully on the table once he finished using it to write his last words to her, being careful not to wake her from her deep sleep. He set the pouch of gold he had mentioned in the letter beside it. He stared at her, he could just imagine the monster in the dark abyss laughing at him.
He noticed she was shivering, with all the pain wreaking havoc inside of him he didn’t realize it was freezing in the room. He got out a blanket and covered her up with it, she only shifted a little bit in her sleep and stopped shivering. He blew out the candle after when he was positive she wasn’t going to wake up on him and catch him in the act of his escape.
He couldn’t help himself, the idea of never seeing her again hurt more then his back. He decided to do what he would never be able to do while she was conscious, and that he would never have the chance to do it again, he bent down and kissed her. She just smiled in her sleep, he couldn’t help but smile back at her. Why would he allow his last moment with her to be so sad, even though she was asleep? He put all the things he was carrying into his backpack, swung it over onto his back and went out of the house and ran off deep into the woods, forcing himself to not look back at the little village where he spent all of his life that he could remember.
He had run so far into the forest he couldn’t see a single soft glow from the place he had forbidden himself to think of. He didn’t know how far he had really gone, but he knew it was enough, for now. To his relief, the burning pain of his dreadful back finally stopped rising and started to become appeased. His legs finally gave in on him, causing him to collapse to his knees. It was a while before he was able to catch his breathe and recover to the strength to move on into the night.
After wandering around for what seemed like an endless time, he reached a small lake. He kneeled by the lake, his legs needing a break again. He took his backpack off his back and set it on the ground beside him, searching through it. He found what he was looking for, a water bottle made of plastic he had gotten from some far off traveler he had met in the mountains. He set the water bottle in the lake’s clear water. Once it had taken in as much as it could he lifted the water bottle out of the lake and drank some of it before twisting the cap back on.
It was too quiet, the sky was beginning to be filled with the warm colours from the sun and there wasn’t a single chirp of any bird that he always heard, even while on his hunting trips. Though he was glad they weren’t because they just about drove him crazy when he was trying to sleep, it was very disturbing. In fact, there wasn’t a single living thing in sight other then himself.
It seemed very ominous to him and very bothersome, but it wouldn’t be even close to as the next thing he would soon see. He looked into the lake at his reflection, he gasped in shock. It was in his reflection he realized his eyes were now deep yellow with disturbing slits. His ears were now pointed, he looked down at his hands, which his finger nails were now sharp at the point like claws. One of the strangest things was the tattoo like mark that had appeared on the back of his right hand that was like a moon and a sun combined, it reminded him of a eclipse.
He couldn’t believe it. He rubbed his eyes and looked at his reflection again, it was still the same. He had convinced himself that it was some kind of demons trickery, but there was one problem with this theory. Demons could only make illusions, and his claws he were digging into his palm when they had curled up into fists from stress were very real.
He almost broke down crying. What the hell was going on? First he got sick, which forced him to leave his only home he ever knew leaving the person he cared about the most behind, and now this. He didn’t have the slightest idea what was happening to him. He was starting to think that he wasn’t even human, instead he was some kind of monster.
He couldn’t take it anymore, it was too much for him to live with. He took out his dagger and put it to his throat, he just wanted to die and escape this world. The only other thing he wished for now that he had somebody he could ask what was going on, but he knew he was alone. That’s at least what he thought. He froze when he heard a foreboding voice from behind him, “You’re giving up already, leothen?”
He looked behind him quickly, searching for where it had come from. In the shadows of the trees was the person he heard, they were wearing a black cloak. He could only see the bridge of their nose, parts of their cheeks and their lips. Other then that, he saw pitch black hair framing their pale white face. He realized quickly they were femine, so some witch had come to cause him more misery by calling him names that made no sense?
He didn’t trust them, whoever they were. He dropped his blade and picked up his bow and pulled a arrow from his quiver on his back and knocked it, aiming for the hooded woman. She only shook her head at him, her nose flared and her mouth shaped into a frown, she was obviously not happy with his reaction. She said with her dark voice again, “You ungrateful rat, put your weapon down before I am forced to cause you even more pain then you’re already in for.”
Kai glared at her, still not trusting her. It’s not like he had anything to live for now, so her threat didn’t faze him at all. He yelled at her, in the same irritated tone as her, “Who are you and what the hell do you want?! Why should I trust someone I’ve never met before that hides in the darkness and wearing such a fashion that I can’t even see their face?”
The woman just shoke head at him again, her face softened a bit, but she still wasn’t pleased. She said still irritated, “ If you wish,” The woman stepped out of the shadows casted by the trees into the light of the clearing, she lowered her hood to reveal her whole face, her eyes were silver with flecks of red along the rims and like he saw before her hair was pitch black, “My name is Mirage, would you please be more calm, leothen? I’m here to help you, surely you’ve heard o fthe fabled clan leothens.”
He still glared at her, not trusting her one bit more. This was his only hope, so he had no choice. He sighed, lowered his bow but he still held onto it and kept the arrow knocked, he replied, “My name is Kai, so stop calling me by leothen. They don’t exist, they’re just a fairy tale, if they ever did they’re all dead.”
“You understand so little, Kai. You are right, they died from synthosis. All of them were caught within Death’s grasp, infected with the disease, all of them but you. Even though you’ve managed to elude it all this time, you’ve still been infected. How pitiful.”
Kai stared at the ground, he was still confused. His heart hurt, the only thing he could hear inside of his conscious were distant screams like a far off memory. He had the feeling of the hole in memories both recovering and tearing itself apart more again, like when he went in the ruins in the mountains. Other then all of that, his conscious was completely blank, just about speechless. There was only a few words were able to make it past his lips, “…What? That’s…impossible…”
“It may sound impossible, but look around you, and what you are. It has been said enough that leothens have lived in the northern mountains surrounded with forests, it’s where we are now. You also bear the mark of leothens on the back of your hand,” He noticed she was eyeing the odd tatoo on the back of his right hand, “You will likely die from what you carry inside of you, but I can help you like I said earlier. With a favour in return, of course.” She was grinning in a very ominous way.
Kai managed to regain his use of words and said, “Alright, I believe you. What exactly do you want me to do?”
A black cloud began to rise from Mirage’s feet and swirl around her, “Bring me the Blood Wings, and I’ll restore you to the way you were before,” she had said before the black cloud dispersed and she was no longer there.
That was one of the weirdest things Kai had ever seen, tonight would surely be burned into his mind. He thought over everything, trying to make a plan to find these Blood Wings. There was one problem, he didn’t even know what they were, so obviously studying on it would be mandatory before doing anything else. He put the arrow back in the quiver, he still didn’t put his bow away, not after tonight. He picked up his dagger like sword and put it back in it’s sheith on his waist. The sun was just rising from the horizon, the giant ball of fire completely lighting the clear blue skies. A perfect day to start. Things were starting to look better, but as far as he could remember in his life, the first time ever, he was alone.
Chapter 4
Still Searching
Even two years later, Kai’s luck hadn’t gotten that much better. Over that time he changed a lot. He had a more darker personality. He was never happy anymore, he was always depressed, secretive, quiet, and he never trusted anyone other then his loyal steed.
Jinta was a horse like creature that had come to him while he was wandering in the forest at the beginning of his journey, so he wasn’t really on his own for that long. The first days alone were horrible. He wasn’t used to being alone, and having new abilities and strength made it even worse. He had burned and blown up several things during that time, and to both his and Jinta’s releif he wasn’t doing that anymore.
They were flying in the sky, he was sitting on the back of Jinta’s black horse skeleton body, on a sadle of course. Jinta’s black feathered wings beated strongly, struggling against the winds. This had been the only time they had been able to fly during their trip to the next town. This wouldn’t last long, lightning flashed in the clouds ahead of them and sheets of rain began to pour down on them.
He hadn’t bothered to put a spell on them to make them invisible today, there was no point in it. He hadn’t seen anybody going this way, even when there wasn’t horrible weather. He knew lots of spells that he had picked up along the way, though Jinta didn’t really need any to hide his identity. Kai was the only one who could see him as he really was, his only guess that he was some creature created by the leothens. It was the only explanation he could come up with that he was able to see him.
![xo[.Kai.]ox](https://a1cdn.gaiaonline.com/dress-up/avatar/ava/40/77/67259eb2207740.png?t=1317482247_6.00_01 "xo[.Kai.]ox")
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