Nihsar Dadoodem (Ranger): Origin
Memories of a Nightmare Long Since Past
It sticks in my mind my first hunt. My father, Drandar, doing a guild task for the Alchemists guild in the small town of Ragar; invites me to carry on the family trade. He had been training me for the past year to use a longbow and after building up enough strength to pull back the bowstring felt I was ready for the next step. I was 15 years old at the time. The guild needed the eyes of a panther in order to create a potion they had been working on. My father never cared for a lavish lifestyle, and raised me the same. He told me at one point that this was the Eladrin way of his father and grandfather. He would rather carry a bedroll and sleep in the woods. The journey for this hunt would be a three day excursion so he packed my bedroll along with his. The first day of the hunt, we said our goodbye's to my mother Aldria, and set out on our way. When we looked back at my mother, she had a tear in her eye as she never liked long hunts, worrying for the worst. One would think by now, that she would have been used to this sort of thing as it was generally a bi-weekly occurrence. Nevertheless, my father and I carried on.
The forest was quiet and had a gentle breeze as we walked along. It was cool enough that even with the gear that we carried did not exacerbate our effort with sweaty rags that we wore. It felt good. While I was walking, my father would occasionally peek back at me following at least 3 paces asking me to tread lightly. Every once and a while he had a steeled look on his face. It was confusing to me as everything around was peaceful and undisturbed. I didn't pay it any mind at the time, I was enjoying myself in anticipation of the hunt itself. The first day was just trudging along stopping every hour taking a quick respite from the walking. We had snacks and rations that we munched on as we went, taking drinks from our deer-hide water-skin bladder. Later in the afternoon, we came alongside a river where we followed it for the remainder of the day. Since it was facing the sun as we walked, I gathered that it was in a north westerly direction.
At dusk, we traveled 5 minutes inward from the river to setup camp. My father explained that since the river is a water source for animals, we should not be camping so close to the river. Unpacking our bedrolls, and gathering stones and firewood from the area to finish our camp and clear the small 3 meter by 3 meter area. It wasn't a big fire, however, with the foreshadowing night chill creeping in, it was warm. I felt it was a good time to catch up with my now pensive father to get some of my questions out of the way. It still didn't occur to me why he was acting like that, but i would soon be taught that hard lesson. We talked for what seemed to be a couple hours. The rest of the conversation eludes me, but upon asking my father how much further we had in our journey, a twig snapped close by.
Both my father and I heard it sharply. I looked in the general direction, but my father within seconds of hearing this, grabbed his bow and stood up slightly (almost as if poised for what I know now, as a defensive position). When i looked his way after the snap, he already had an arrow nocked. His eyes were slightly squinting but the normal shade of hazel was replaced by a slight white glow and there was no actual eye left to be seen. It was if the entirety of his eyes were the "white of his eyes". I had also never seen this before. It was here I started feeling my heart pounding and my breath quickened. Something inside me felt like it was out of the ordinary although at the time the only thing that I feared now was not the twig, but my father. His presence was intense and foreboding.
My father took a second from looking in the direction of the twig, motioned for me to step behind him. I quickly followed suit. I looked again in the general direction of the sound and could see a set of yellow eyes reflected from the campfire peering back into my soul. It was the height of a normal person. From what I knew of this area, I thought that the only things living in this forest were small animals. I was now questioning that in my head. I never have felt this anxiety before. This is new and very, very frightening. With the height realized in the distance, my fear went from being my father to the unknown before us.
After what seemed to be an eternity of silence, rather about 10 seconds, we heard another sound. It was a quiet chuckle. Not the humorous chuckle of something happy, but the ominous chuckle of the nefarious kind. There was movement of air and a quick thud. I couldn't see what happened but my father who was standing in front of me toppled back knocking me over and into the nearby brush. I must have been hit in the head as my eyes were closed and when I opened them, my head was pounding and I felt a warmth on my neck. I saw a body next to the fire and a 2 foot long object perpendicular to the body sticking out. I held my breath as I could see after a second of blurry vision that it was my father lying without any movement and an arrow protruding from his chest.
I said nothing, and held my breath as I didn't know how to cope with this. Tears, were streaming down my face, jaw hung in disbelief. Steps were approaching. After another eternity of inconceivable horror laid before me, the shape appeared from the thicket in front of me. I would remember this for a lifetime. The first things I saw, were white teeth on the bottom jaw, the dark green skin and a menacing amount of muscle. There was a giant scar on the left side of the face running down from above the thick bushy eyebrows to the side of a snarled mouth next to the bottom jaw fangs that I first saw. There was a 1 inch pock mark on the other side of the face as if something had torn flesh and healed over covering its cheek, and a mole under its right eye. Thinking back from now, this was the most important features that I would need to remember.
At this point, I cared not for myself or my surroundings, yet I remained silent, shivering, and heart racing. I was not seen. Thank the gods.
The creature kneeled before my now lifeless father, and whispered the words, "Now you know what happens to pissing off Gragnar the Bloody...and now so does your wife. hehehe" He yanked the arrow from my father in one quick motion. The fletching of the arrow was red and white, almost as if it were part of a sigil or crest. From behind the creatures back, he pulled a knife. One that I had not seen before in shape. Above the handle, the blade curved around where it would cover the fist if it was held. With the knife in left hand, the other hand reached down to my fathers pointed ear, pulling it away from his head and with a determined downward stroke, cut off his ear.
He snarled, and yelled "IT IS DONE!". The volume caused me to grimace. The leaves around my face moved making ever so slightly a movement type sound, but not enough to give away my position. The sound caused the now creature that will forever be known as a monster to look in my direction. I was motionless, still holding my breath and could feel now that I was covering my mouth. I did this without knowing. He stared for what seemed like another eternity. How many eternities are going to happen tonight? Then stood up and moved back in the direction that he came. I exhaled when I could no longer hear him, but when I did, I heard in the distance in two other directions, crunching leaves and footsteps that seem to fade back.
More fear. Endless fear. I stayed in that position until the sun started to come up. The sun appearing giving more visibility to the area, I forced myself to move knowing that I would have to at some point need to leave here. I didn't want to, and questioned myself at least three times before gathering the courage to stand up. I inched my way towards the dimly lit shape of my father. The fire had gone out sometime during the night, with just a slight stream of white smoke coming from it now. There was only the small light of dawn now.
I was on my knees crying for the better part of the morning, sunlight now shining through the trees. I didn't know what to do. I had to do something. It's not like I could carry him back. I took a thick branch and started digging, piercing the earth to break it up, and then digging with my hands to push it aside. I dragged the corpse of the person who raised me with all the strength I could muster in to the hole that I had dug. The last tug I fell in with him; his body cold. I climbed out and re-covered the hole. I took the stones that were by the fire now as cold as the earth and outlined it.
It was now afternoon. I picked up my fathers bow leaving mine behind, along with his backpack heaving it into place. It was unbelievably heavy. I made my way back the way we came, slowly trudging back to what was the safest place I knew. Home. At dusk, I was about a quarter of the way back home. I covered myself with brush. No fire, no noise. Its not like I could sleep. I was wide-eyed the entire night, focusing on all of my senses to prey that I didn't hear the same snapping twig that also rang in my ears all night. I didn't move until morning for the fear of being caught by the same damn monsters the night before. It was the second longest night of my life. I forced myself to move upon hearing birds starting to chirp and the dimmest light from dawn creeping in. My legs were cramped and I was freezing even though I had my bedroll wrapped around me like a cocoon all night. I stood up and starting moving again in that only known direction that I knew existed.
I was now in familiar territory. I could see our footsteps from the previous day as I followed them back. I came up to the last hill that preceded our home and curiously I lifted my head to an awkward sight. Smoke. Gasping, I got the same terror sink into me from that first night. I ran, half limping from the weight of the backpack for a few paces, threw off the pack, dropping the bow, and continued running up to the crest of the hill and stopped in awe. Upon my view of what was once our beloved home, and my only known sanctuary, I stood stunned. It was now a husk. Black burned cinders of the logs covered the ground forming the shell of the house were all that I could see. All of the leaves on the trees surrounding the house, burned away by what could have been the largest fire I could imagine took place. I now had nothing. I couldn't approach the ashes of the home as most all of it was still hot and smoking.
I fell to my knees, later curling up into a ball. What happened to Mother? As I asked myself this, as almost hearing the words being spoken again, the words of that infamous shape the first night, then wept again believing that this was the ultimate truth in the world and nothing could change it. "...and now so does your wife". I heard nothing, could see nothing, but felt everything as if I was the arrow pulled from my father's chest.
After what I know now to be the last of the millennia of time passing, a blanket fell over my shoulders, and a figure came around from the side. I knew this person, but didn't place them as the feelings that were splayed across me were all that I was at the moment. This person, picked me up with a heave and carried me in his arms. I was lifeless, but the warmth of his body was then felt. I hugged him out of reaction and passed out.
From my most distant memories until my inevitable death: Thank you, Lurkresh, my distant neighbor. I owe you everything.
