Hoofprints in Ash

Matahira's Journey

:: Prelude ::

I was once told that our path is carved into the Earth long before we are born, that the Earth knows who we are and who we are meant to be before we are even cognizant to the world around us. For many in life, their path is but a lazily winding path through sun-dappled glades or wind-swept grasslands; clear, pristine, peaceful. It was never true of the path I was given to walk. Mine was an arduous uphill climb against the jagged face of an immovable mountain; stone so sharp it would cut to bone, footing so precarious that just one false step would lead to ruin.

At times, I often felt I was never meant to survive. There are times I stood on the precipice of living, looking down into the chasm, wanting only to slip over into the dark chasm of death. It would have been easier; it would have been less painful; it would have been the coward's egress. I was no coward.

I was the Daughter of Marsenauk, Dark Cloud of the Horizon; he who was the protector of our village, great warrior of our people, the twentieth generation of warriors in our family. His legacy and shadow were great, as was the terror in our village for any who crossed his path. Great as he was, there was truly only one thing Marsenauk excelled at: violence.

The path he walked was one awash in the blood of his enemies, littered with the bones of those he crushed beneath his might. The Earthmother might have wept at the loss of so many of her Children at Marsenauk's hands. It was a path that had been laid down for him, as it had been for his father before, and his grandfather before, back and back again for some twenty generations of warriors. Ours was a line that left only devastation in its wake.

I have climbed the terrible height of my path, cut and bruised myself against the jagged stones. I have come away wounded, scarred, and jaded against further harm. I stand on the edge of this plateau, looking back on all that I have overcome. I look ahead to the path that now lay before me; the path that has been walked by my father and grand-sires, my ancestors of time immemorial.

And I see nothing but hoofprints in ash.