Chapter 2

It was wet. Cold and wet. 3 days had passed since that fateful day, his father murdered in cold blood and him whisked away from his home, to be cold and wet. Rhonin adjusted the cloak he had been given by the woman known as "Ortemis", the cloak that once encased the bloodied weapon used to kill his father. At least he was fed well, he thought. Unlike his father, the woman next to him showed no anger or hatred toward him. Instead, a sense of care and almost motherly love was shown toward him. This was appreciated on his part, Rhonin not being used to an emotion shown to him other than hate or loathing. Rhonin was not completely stupid. Though he had had little to no education at all, he was still a sharp boy. Over the past 3 days, Rhonin had observed his "captor". He had come to a realization that his kidnapper was not normal. Everything she did was in an odd manner, things happened that should not have, and the first time she lit a fire to cook, Rhonin unintentionally observed her making a fire not with flint and tinder, though these were in reach, but her gloved hands. Banishing the thoughs from his mind, the boy trudged through the muddy landscape. A well-trodden path loomed ahead of him, what once may have been hard dirt but was now simply water and mud. As he sloshed across the path of sorts, he decided he would approach the figure. For the first time ever, Rhonin mustered up the courage to ask Ortemis something other than simple requests for water or food. Slowly, carefully, he fired his first timid question

"Excuse me.. Miss… Ortemis. Wh..what is going on?"

"What is going on my young companion is I am liberating you from the ties of a pig-faced guardian and a boxed-in world."

"Yes.." Rhonin understood "But why… I mean… why me?"

"Oh dear boy!" she exclaimed "Oh how naive you are! Come with me dear boy, there is much to learn and you of all people deserve and explanation".

With this, Rhonin followed the slim murderer to a log perched by the muddy road. He sat completely awkwardly, confused weather he should be angry or happy about this figure entering his life. As he sat, he felt oddly comfortable to be in the presence of her, as if she emitted a soothing aura. She began to talk.

"Rhonin. You are not normal. Weather you wish you were or not, such is not your decision. What you are Rhonin… is something others can only dream of being. You are involuntarily something greater than yourself, yet you posses a power completely raw and unfocused. Tell me boy, Do you know what a titan is?"

Rhonin, not sure how to take what he was hearing, replied with a confused frown. "Yes… I think I have. Before mother died." He said, opening to the lady like a book "In a fairy tale of sorts. A titan, like… a being of sorts…." He dragged on , unable to finish his sentence

"Yes boy, a titan. A being known to wield almost unimaginable power, each one unique to its own cause. Yes, you would do well to learn of these". She said, plunging Rhonin into even more confusion.

"Tell me boy!" Ortemis began once again. "Do you read?"

Rhonin replied this time a little more confidently

"Yes. Not well, but I could try".

"One such as you could pick up a modest art such as literacy in the blink of an eye my boy". She said once again, giving Rhonin an 'I know something you don't' smile. Ortemis withdrew a small leather bound book from her coat. It looked old. Very old.

"Read it" She said in her sharp accent. Rhonin placed his hands around the book. It felt old. Not the leather itself, but as he grasped it he got a feeling it was old. Almost like a surge of energy through his body, except so subtle he could barely feel it. Trying not to seem perplexed by the book, he tucked it away in the inner pocket of his cloak, out of both sight and harms way.

"Now, as for where we are going. We are headed to the manor of a friend of mine. You will be staying there for a few months while I tie up some loose ends. He is a good man, and will educate you, and teach you in more than you imagined there was to know. In any case, this is in the future. For now we must trudge on through this cursed muddy weather. Now lad, Let us leave this place. The faster we move, the quicker we may move from this wet and into somewhere dryer."

Ortemis, Felling the conversation had come completely to an end, and also satisfied she had explained enough, vacated her makeshift chair and began to continue her trudge. Looking behind her to make sure her young companion had not become lost, she went hard at the path. "Just a few days" she mumbled to herself "just a few.."

TO BE CONTINUED