Day 14 of Winter Cloak of the year 100
The frosty air filled the chilly night.
Cries and screams fill the room at the House of Abien, but I contribute to neither. My eyes remain clamped shut. The air is cold, yet I do not shiver, and the room is dimly lit with a single candle. I am quickly wrapped in a warm fuzzy blanket that I clench tightly. Suddenly I am placed into soft warm arms and all is quiet.
"Hello" a sweet warm voice penetrates the freezing air and engulfs me.
I open my eyes slowly and see and a beautiful young woman, smiling, and yet, very tired. I blink my eyes, puzzled by the serene angelic look on her face. My mouth opens to speak, but all that comes out is a little yawn.
"Let me hold him" another voice speaks, this one deeper and rumbles the room.
I close my eyes and slowly I am whisked away like floating. My eyes open again and before me I see and man staring straight at me with an enormous smile.
"Why, he already has a full set of hair! Such beautiful black hair!"
I can hear his voice tremble a bit.
"And his skin, its so pale. Perhaps he is cold."
The sweet voice comes again "Nay, he is neither shivering nor crying. Such a beautiful boy, what should we name him?"
A long pause stills the room, but the man continues to stare at me with his great smile.
"Penguin"
"Penguin dear?"
"Yes, remember that mystic creature I saw long ago in the ice lands? It was huge and staring straight at me from a distance. Its side was black as the night yet, the belly was white as snow. I had never seen a creature like that before. The way it stood so tall with its head up, surely it was a noble and majestic beast. I consulted a sage, and she said it was a rare mystic beast called a penguin. Our little boy here resembles a bit like it. How
about it my love? Penguin it is?"
I am turned towards another direction and I am facing the sparkling eyes of the woman before.
She smiles "Penguin it is."
The man's voice rumbles "Aha! Penguin! My first son! He will make us proud!"
I am placed back into the arms of the woman. She gazes at me with glistening eyes and gently runs her finger across my eyebrow. With a smile she whispers "He already has". She kisses me lightly on the forehead. "He already has."
From the attack by the Doppelganger, flashes of memory have recently been lighted before me. I sit here with my paper and quill to record whatever I can remember in hope that someday I can fill the puzzle pieces together.
I was but about a year old now. My new baby brother Sedillo was only a month old.
Mother, Sed, and I were in the garden. Sed Sed was being rocked in my mother's arms while I yanked the grass beneath me and threw it into the air for mild amusement. Without warning, the ground rumbling at the beat of galloping horses. Angry shouting crashed the once peaceful air. I peered about with grass still clenched in my hands. Mother held Sed Sed tightly not knowing what was going on.
Suddenly father rushed into the garden and out of breath.
"They're here!" he said. My mother gasped at those words "No! What do we do?" clenching Sed Sed tightly. The door slammed open and all heads turn. It was only our family sage, her name escapes meó
The breaking of windows and pounding of doors continue to be heard.
"Hurry, place the children with their backs on the ground side by side. I must perform a spell!' the sage exclaims.
"But why, (the name escapes me again.!", asked mother.
The sage replies "To prevent what is to come."
Mother and father looked at each other. They questioned our sage further not, for she is always wise and a trusted part of the family.
We laid on the ground and she approached us slowly, as if all was normal.
"Shepbre dmonktic radlns" chanted the sage. A light green glow covered her hands. She grabbed both of our wrists. I felt the trembling energy. All of a sudden the doors broke open.
"Go! Run with the children!" the sage shouted as she let go of us.
A huge man burst through the door carrying a large yellow axe with both hands. He spotted us and muttered something, I cannot remember, through his black furry beard. Father quickly picked up Sed, and mother picked me up as more men erupted through the broken door.
"Run!," my father directed my mother.
"Get them!" the man with the beard shouted.
My mother looked at my father with a nod and then ran quickly. I peered back seeing my father running with Sed. A man leaped and grabbed my father's legs causing him to fall. Sed was almost crushed but my father had twisted his body slightly and was able to hold Sed up. My mother saw this and screamed as she slowed her pace. A group of men surrounded my father and Sed.
We heard my father's voice "Go!"
My mother screamed into tears and continued to run. I looked back and saw a green glow in the center of the circle of men. Movement seemed to have become still at this point. From a distance I noticed behind the shadow of a large tree was dark image of a woman chanting. The same green glow surrounded her clamped hands. Suddenlyó. I was too far to see anymore.
My mother continued running as the wind blew her tears onto my cheek. I can hear her sobbing and feel her confusion in not knowing where to go.
She ran, the walked, until she could do no more. The night had raided the sky. We were deep in a forest, not knowing north or south.
Mother collapsed and rested her head next to the root of a tree. I laid next to her looking into her eyes as if all was right. She looked back at me and smiled while panting. I blinked and she closed her eyes to sleep.
I grunted but she was too tired to wake. We laid there in the cold night for a short while when a dim lighted green glow surrounded us. The light was serene, almost generating a sweet lullaby, making me sleepy and tired. I feel into a trance and closed my eyes.
I woke to the sounds of the birds chirping as the rays from the sun glared at my face. I shuffled in my mother's arms which woke her. We were in the forest no longer, but on a bed next to a window were the sunshine came through. A small cabin sheltered us from the outdoors. My mother was puzzled by her surroundings when an old entered the room. My mother clenched me tightly.
"Oh you're awake. Don't worry dear, ye are safe. My husband found ye passed out next to our door."
Then a skinny frail old man walked in and stood next to the old woman.
"Are ye alright m'lady? How have ye wandered to these lands?" he said.
My mother was simply clenched me tightly, not knowing where she was, how she got there, or what was going on.
But through slow progression she began to trust the elderly couple.
They were farmers living together peacefully. They fed us and cared for us almost as part of their own family. My mother was grateful and helped with their farming when she was able to do so while caring for me. When I grew older I helped along with their farming as well. Every day mother would spend some time searching for father and Sed. But because we did not even know how we came to this cabin, it was a lost cause. She did this for over 15
years. Her eyes grew baggy and light up with hope whenever someone calls her name. But they would always droop down seconds later in disappointment. She grew sick, but continued to search. I was 16, and one day when she turned from her search, growing more and more sick, I helped her to bed with a pain in my heart. The herbs didn't seem to help at all. It was like she didn't care about getting well.
"Mother, don't go searching anymore. I beg you."
She looked at me and smiled with her serene look.
"They're out there Pen, I know it."
I wanted to find them too, but I doubt they were alive. I had to take care of mother.
"Promise me you won't go out like this anymore mother."
She gave me her usual serene look along with her angelic smile.
"It will be ok Pen. Don't worry."
I took those words to my heart and believed that she meant she would not go out again.
But in the morning, I found her bed empty and the presence of my mother gone. She never returned.
I cried for weeks, and I think the immortals sympathized with me. It rained for weeks, almost never stopping. I continued to help with the farming for the elderly couple, always hoping that my mother would return. After about over a year, I've concluded that she was dead.
There was nothing here for me now. I needed to move on, but to where?
The elderly woman had told me that their daughter, who had moved away long ago to venture herself, had told them of a new prosperous town named Moorgate that lies across the ocean.
I needed to get away and hearing that Moorgate is across the ocean, I decided it was my best choice.
I built myself a boat, gathered my supplies, and bid farewell to the so generous couple that cared for me and mother for so long.
Many long ocean nights passed. I sailed on, praying to the gods that the winds put me in the right direction. At 18, I finally arrived at the docks of Moorgate.
I fall back unto my chair and let out a deep sigh....
Reunion
I might as well collect more of my events down on scroll. Perhaps it will help me figure things out. I continue writing.....
I had to choose a profession. A monk would be good; I needed the enlightenment to relieve my mind.
Nay, that would not calm my soul. I wanted to do things and make things happen. I needed power; I needed to be a sorcerer. So I decided and chose. After joining the Mage's guild I ventured the land myself.
I hunted alone mostly---distancing myself from other fellow adventurers. Their matters concerned me little. They lied to each other, cheated each other, and plotted the fall of others, while sometimes not knowing it themselves. Greed and hate was present and hidden. The ignorant accepted it without even knowing. Others used this power for control. All of it made me a little sick, as well as sad. I trained myself, and learned everything I
could. My magic grew and I spent many long hours studying the Ole Tome of Magik. Many things in that book I could not understand, but as I watched the actions and deeds of other adventures---their love and hate, it seemed to make things clearer.
Couple of years pass and I moved my work to Dark Blizzard's Pass, the cold did not bother me. There I trained setting frost beasts and bears on fire. With all this, I still had yet to slay the 3-armed fiend. When I uncovered its layer and met it face to face, I made many hasty retreats. The beast was a thorn by my side for a long time. I did not want to wait no longer; therefore, I needed to request help from the fighter's guild. Late one
night, I met a ranger alone a recall. I requested his help and he agreed. Couple of hours later the beast was slayed and I thanked my ranger companion.
"Thank you friend, what is your name?" I said.
"Sedillo, it was my pleasure."
Sedillo? The named click in my head with an eerie chime.
I peered at the young ranger.
"Do ye know of the House of Abien?" I asked slowly.
"Aye! That is my House in which I am trying to rebuild. How have ye come by the name sir?"
"Sedillo, my name is Penguin." I replied.
"Penguin? I had an older brother named Penguin. He died when I was very young."
"I did not die Sed."
He looked at me puzzled and confused.
"Penguin?" he peered at me.
I nodded towards him.
"But how?"
I told him the whole story of what I wrote before.
Startled by all this, he begins to sob about mother.
Finally I had someone in town---someone to tell how corrupted the land has become and the wrong that reeks from the dirt.
For a couple of days we hunted together. We made a good team together.
One day while resting in town, a young lady ran up to him and gave him a great big hug.
Her name was Lerrim.
"Sed Sed! You have a wife?"
Sed grinned at me.
"She isn't my wife Pen, she's my sister Lerrim."
Lerrim gave a curtsey.
I peered at Sed.
"Eh? Sister?"
Sedillo sighed and told me the story. Father and Sed has escaped somehow. Although father searched for mother and I, he end up remarrying. Lerrim became my half-sister.
Reality began to spin around in a twist. I felt as if I was almost thrown off the world somehow.
Sister? Remarry?
I looked at Lerrim. She appeared about only but a year younger than Sed!
"How? Why?" I shouted at Sed.
"What do you mean? Father did everything he could. He moved on."
Moved on!? My quill breaks and I reach over to grab another.
I hung my head low, trying to close my eyes from the world. My breathing became irregular and I panted.
So little Sed has been fused with the corruption as well. Sighó
Mother had not been there to raise him, so total blame should not be set upon him.
But father was a good man, mother assured me of this. How could this have happened?
I peered at Lerrim who looked at me with a blink. I see. She began to skip around the location. I glared at her.
Somehow father must have fell victim to Lerrim's mother. A tear fell across the slit of my eye as I thought of poor mother searching for all those years for father and Sed. I grew angrier at the thought of how a vile demon trapped my father like that. Roaring at the top of my voice, I jumped at Lerrim.
"Eek!" She squealed.
Sed tackled me and we both fell to the ground.
I looked at poor mindless Sed, confused and lost. He does not know. He was been corrupted.
My head spun in confusion. Needing to recollect my thoughts, I casted a spell upon myself and BLINKED out.
I sat for days in the camp of Blizzard Pass. Talking to no one, I simply stared at the pure white snow.
I didn't know what to do anymore. I was but a mere mortal. The land was ill and there was pain, suffering, misery, and corruption. The gods did nothing. I bet it probably amuses them.
Couple of years passed and things remained the same. But then one day, I heard a commotion at the Town Square. There I found Ifalna and Fins quarreling. Apparently they were sisters, and Fins had tackled Ifalna to the ground. Suddenly Ifalna drew out a dagger and cut Fins. Her blood spilled on the ground as Ifalna got up and ran off. While Fins chased after her, I gazed deeply at the blood. She had cut her! This ordinary action someone gave me
profound interest. I lever was pulled in my brain. Why must things be the way things are? My answer became different---they don't! I can make things happen. Kali may have made me a mere mortal, but I can make myself to become more. I can create my own fate and destiny. These helpless adventurers take their lives and believe it is all they got. There is more, much more, if only one sought to look for it. I knew what I had to do and my choice
was made. I took Fins blood from the ground and took life anew.
I put my quill down and flex my hands. Looking at the scroll I let out a deep sigh and lay my head to rest on the desk.
Alley back to the library foyer.
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