Awakening
The boy opened his eyes. The smell of burning wood mixed with his own blood assaulted his senses. He looked up into the broken roof. Drops of rain fell on his face. He tried to remember. He was in a small house, or what was left of one. He stayed on his back, not having enough energy to get to his feet. Who was he?
A Thought came to him.
Jarek.
A flood of memories overwhelmed him. He fell unconscious again.
Jarek quietly watched his mother from the window. She was always out before sunset, caring the small garden she kept in front of their house. She was perfect in every way. Her delicate features, almost angelic face looking even more beautiful among the red roses in the garden. A short while later, a slow moving, tired, man walked her way. He wore a simple shirt, covered with pieces of saw dust. His skin looked more like worn out leather, and his face showed signs of great age.
Jarek's father was always smiling.
His mother slowly turned around and walked towards her husband. The two embraced and headed for the door.
Where were his parents? What had become of them?
Jarek's eyes slowly opened again. He thought he must have been unconscious for quite a while, since there were no clouds in the sky anymore. The smell burnt wood still hung in the air, with a horrible stench of rotting flesh. He watched the stars for a moment. He tried to remember what had happened, and where he was. Again the female voice inside his head spoke.
The raid. The cult. The sacrifices.
He suddenly remembered. It was a normal day in Seyda Neen. Everything was quiet, the people were going about their usual business, which for most of the town, was fishing. His dad had returned at the usual time and the poor family had sat down around their dinner table. Then, suddenly, cries of alarm and screams erupted all around the little village. His father bade them to stay inside as he quickly rushed out to survey the situation. He quickly came back inside, his face pale and drained of blood.
He looked around the table quickly, and told them they must leave immediately.
Outside, a scene of carnage and chaos greeted them. The villagers were running around everywhere, often being cut down seconds later by the assailants. Jarek tried to recall the details of the gory scene that was set before him. The attackers didn't seem to be of any particular race alone. There were dark elves, orcs, and barbarians; all of them bearing similar paintings on their faces and arms. The few guards that were in the village were quickly overwhelmed by the initial surprise. Every house, and there weren't that many in the tiny village, was on fire. As the family fled for their lives, they were cut off by a group of orcs, holding their axes with a lust for blood in their eyes. Jarek's dad made a pathetic attempt to stop their sudden charge and was quickly run over.
His mother, out of desperation, threw herself at the orc, managing to confuse them a bit. The orcs were happy with the free kill, but noticed the children running back for the house. Jarek looked over his shoulder and saw his brother catch an arrow in the neck and fall quickly to the ground. With tears in his eyes he ran for the house. He knew he couldn't get away. He hoped the house would provide some protection. He was but a child, and he had just seen his entire family murdered in front of his eyes. He made it to the house alive and rushed inside. There he snuck under one of the beds and listened in mute horror. One by one the screams diminished. Then he heard the door break open.
The orcs and dark elves slowly made their way towards the bed. Suddenly an axe chopped down and broke the thing in half, exposing the very scared child hiding under. He crawled to the wall and managed to stand up, eying the filthy things with tearful eyes. How darks there features seemed. How horrible their toothy smile seemed. How horrible was the look in the eyes of the dark elves. Three orcs slowly stepped towards him. Jareks was shaking violently and couldn't hold back a desperate plea.
"Please no...please....", he said in a shaky voice.
It only made the smiles wider.
Suddenly, one of the orcs moved his axe.
Then came darkness.
to be continued.