Prologue
"What do the men want dad?"
"Go with your sister."
"Dad but-"
"I said go and stay quiet, don't any of you say a word."
"Harjo just let them pass their-"
"Their coming towards us so stay quiet while I see what they want."
"Careful dad."
"I promise I will be back soon."
"You said that last time."
"I know but Tyrus he-"
"I don't care about him I care about you! He can rot in hell for all I care, you shouldn't even be under his branch-"
"I wasn't I was under Letour's."
"I know but...just come back...to me."
"I will I promise."
"Are you lost little girl?."
"What are you doing she's just a another peasant in this forsaken land."
"If I leave her she's going to die, hell we almost died getting here I'm taking her until we get out of here."
"If she slows us down I will-"
"Don't worry Dennis she won't."
"The first flame. Bright and strong. Warm and full of life, this is what you will seek. A bearer such as yourself, knows not why, but what, wandering a great distance, with each step forgetting why you are, but you will keep going. For this is your fate, the fate of the accursed, but by then non will have meaning and you won't even care, you'll be just a random soul lost in an abyss of darkness, forever seeeking fire, forever seeking flame."
Those words they echo over and over in my head, beating constantly in my mind as my memory grows fuzzy and my senses get dulled by this horrid curse. I can't fight it, I feel it taking over the longer I wander, it's all I have and all that I've known. Faces once so vibrant, blur and skirt in my memory, fading like the embers of a fire, I can't fight.
The rain soaks me, but I don't care. My finger lightly taps on the puddle I lay upon, but I don't care. I try recapturing my life, but it all melts into nothingness as I feel my very essence slip from me, but what remains is this land. The one I see in my visions, this land that has my answers.
I do care about that.
Once more I lift my head and wander.