Highlander – Origins

The year was 2400 BC; in the small Arzawa village Crystal walked lightly across the warm desert sand. Her head was in a different place as she sat her water skin down, and walked into her family's tent. Since her father was a hunter he had left her at home with her younger sister and mother.

"Crystal, take me outside." her sister begged running over to her.

"I just came in." Crystal replied in a tired voice.

Before her sister could protest their mother snapped, "Take your sister outside!"

Crystal cringed at the harshness in her mother's voice, and hurried outside with her sister. Before she left she grabbed the water skin off of the sandy floor, and slung it over her shoulder. She hated when her father left on hunting trips. Her mother changed completely, and she always yelled at her for everything.

Crystal walked after her skipping sister slowly as her thoughts began to wander once again. For several months she had thought of something better for herself. She wanted so much more for her life. She did not want to stay in the village, or to marry one of the many men chasing after her heart.

"More like chasing after my body." she murmured to herself.

Crystal's sister stopped and asked, "What did you say Crystal?"

"Nothing." she replied.

Her sister shrugged and started skipping ahead once more. Crystal returned to her thoughts while watching her sister. She loved her with all her heart, but ever since she started feeling different she had thoughts of running away from the village. The only thing keeping her there was her precious little sister, and Crystal would do anything for her.

Crystal was drawn out of her thoughts at the sound of her sister's scream. They had walked all the way out of the village, and were now a few feet away from the forest. Her sister was on the ground staring at the mangled form of the village healer. He was face down in the golden sand, but the sand around his body was dyed a deep crimson.

"Get back." Crystal said quietly to her sister.

"Was it an animal?" her sister questioned rising slowly to her feet.

"No animal could do that. At least none that I've ever seen."

"Crystal!" her sister screamed and pointed to her right.

Crystal followed her sister's point and gasped. There before them were four men on horseback, each wearing a mask to conceal their face. Crystal reached out towards her sister only to have a knife thrown at her outstretched hand. She withdrew it seconds before the blade impaled itself in her flesh.

"Crystal…" her sister whispered taking several steps back.

Crystal was trembling; she wanted to run, to get away from these men. She had no way of knowing if they were the killers of the healer, but something in the way they carried themselves confirmed her suspicions. In her heart Crystal knew she could not go anywhere without her sister.

"Come to me slowly." she whispered.

Slowly her sister backed up, and stood in front of Crystal. Both could feel the other tremble against each other.

"Who do you think it is?" one of the men asked.

"I don't know," another replied, "get them alone, and I will tell you."

The men laughed, and started forward on their horses.

"When I tell you, I want you to run for the village." Crystal said to her sister.

"Crystal no!" she shouted up to her, "They'll kill you too!"

"Shh," Crystal soothed and patted her head, "It's alright. I'll keep them here as long as I can. You go warn the others."

Her sister began to cry, but she nodded and pulled away from her.

One of the men laughed and stated, "She won't get far."

"Now Caspian let the little one go. We'll get her later." replied another.

This one was different from the others. He was all in white where the others were wearing brown and black.

"Go, run!" Crystal yelled and shoved her sister into the fastest run a seven year old could master.

Crystal turned to face the four, still trembling slightly. She did not know what she could do against four men on horseback, but she was determined to give her sister as much time as possible. One of the men dismounted and walked over to her laughing.

"We are in luck brothers. It would seem this is the one we are taking." he stated.

"What do you want? Why would you kill our healer?" Crystal demanded stepping away from him.

"Caspian, Silas, go after the young one. Make sure the village doesn't have the chance to prepare for us." he said ignoring her.

"No!" Crystal shouted and put herself between them and the path to the village.

"This one has spirit." the man in white said dismounting.

"Please, let her go." Crystal pleaded, "I'll do what ever you want, just please let her go."

The man standing in front of her laughed, "There is nothing you can do to change our ways."

Crystal turned to run, but was hit on the back of her neck by a strong, hard hand. She was unconscious for several minutes before opening her eyes to the smell of hot sand, and the screams of her village. Crystal staggered to her feet; her vision was blurry for a few moments as she stumbled towards the screaming. As her vision cleared she saw villagers running in all directions. Chaos surrounded her as she ran into the village. She saw the men right away cutting down people left and right with swords.

"No!" she yelled, but it fell unheard amongst the screams.

Two of the men turned on their horses, and looked right at her. One was the man who spoke to her earlier, and the other was the man dressed in white. It was almost as if they could sense that she was there. Crystal turned, and began to run to her tent. She stopped short as she viewed the bodies of her mother and sister. They were wrapped in each other's embrace, dead. Crystal began to shake as she fell to her knees. Everything had been fine before they went out. If only her sister had not wanted to go out, if only her mother had not made them go out, if only their father was home. Her eyes drifted to the side and she screamed. Her father was home, and he too was lying dead with a spear still grasped in his hand. Crystal heard the galloping of horses behind her, and turned to face the four with sadness.

"That's too bad," the man in white stated, "it would appear the spirit in her has died out."

Crystal looked at them silently as they laughed. Tears streaked down her face as realization finally set in. She knew she was going to die she just did not know when. She remembered one of them saying something about being taken. Crystal had several ideas of what they had meant, and none of them appealed to her.

"Well now are you going to come with us willingly, or are we going to have to kill you first?" one questioned.

Confusion surfaced inside of Crystal. They wanted her to come with them, yet they were giving her the option of death.

"I don't want to go with you," she began, "you killed my family and my village. I have nothing now." Crystal turned and picked up a fallen spear, and pointed it at the man in white continuing, "For my family's honor."

Crystal lasted for a brief moment before the one who spoke to her shoved his sword through her heart. Darkness surrounded Crystal as blood erupted from her mouth, and she joined her family in death. She thought she would see her family, a light, anything, but all she saw was blackness. She did not know how long it was before her eyes flew open, and she sat upright in pain. She was lying on a bed of sand in a poorly made tent. Her chest blazed with pain as she got to her feet and looked around. Crystal was sure she had been killed, for any wound like that was sure to leave anyone dead.

She walked out of the tent into the blazing sun shielding her eyes. Looking around Crystal saw that she was in a camp. Tents were set up everywhere, and several people walked aimlessly from place to place. Before Crystal could decide what to do a sharp pain buzzed through her head. She grabbed her head, but before she knew what was happening the pain left her.

"That's how you tell when one of us is around." said a voice from behind her, "I am Kronos."

Crystal turned to see the man who had spoken to her before. His mask was off, but she recognized his voice. His face was painted with black markings, but she could see a scar running down the right side of his face and across the eye.

"You will be in our camp from this day forward. You live because we wish it, and you die if we deem you unnecessary."

Crystal looked at him and questioned, "Why? I'm not special."

"Oh but you are." said a voice behind Kronos.

It was the man in white. He too had removed his mask, and he also had painted markings on his face.

"This is Methos, and the other two are Silas and Caspian. We are the Four Horsemen." Kronos stated proudly.

Crystal took a step back, only to run into the other two men.

"You will do what we ask of you without question. You will be broken of your spirit, and you will be trained." he continued with a smile.

"Trained?" Crystal asked timidly.

Kronos left her with nothing but a smile, as did Silas and Caspian. She was left with Methos staring at her.

"Tell me, how old are you?" he questioned.

Crystal answered a little flustered, "I'm twenty…but why would…"

"That's perfect," he interrupted, "it would have been such a bother if we would have taken your sister instead."

At the mention of her sister the images of her village's destruction came back to her. Crystal looked away from Methos trying to keep the tears from pouring from her eyes.

"You still haven't told me why." she stated quietly.

Methos regarded this with a smile and replied, "Because we wish it."

Crystal looked back at him and said, "I don't even know you."

Methos walked over to her and slapped her across the face stating coldly, "You don't need to know us. We wanted someone, and we obtained someone. That's all you need to know." Crystal stared at him with anger as he continued, "Hate me all you want girl. I own you. Displease me or any of my brothers and you will die again."

Methos turned and left her standing in the sun shaking.

"So I did die," she said to herself, "I thought you went to the spirit word when you died."

Crystal was lost, and did not know what to do. She noticed most of the people in the camp were young women like herself. They all avoided her, and when Crystal tried to talk to them they ignored her. Not wanting to see any of the Horsemen again she returned to the tent she woke up in. After she made herself as comfortable as possible on the sand she let her thoughts wander. There was something about Methos that was troubling her, something about his eyes. With Kronos it was clear that he enjoyed his work, but Methos seemed less sure of himself. In her solitude Crystal finally allowed herself to cry.