Rain: A Manifesto

My Beginning

My memories of my childhood in Edenia are few and far between. I can remember the trees, the wind and the mountains… I can briefly remember my mother and father, although only in appearance. My clearest memory of Edenia is when Kahn invaded the realm. I remember a hand grabbing my arm and dragging me through the Edenian Fields. The man who was dragging me away was an elite Edenian soldier. We reached a portal to another realm, and he began to open it. We both turned around, and watched our realm burn into oblivion. He held my hand as the portal opened.

Running down the field, was a band of tarkatans. They saw us and charged. "GO!" he yelled to me as he charged the band of mutants. "Go child! Get in the portal!" I listened to him, even though I didn't have the slightest clue what was going on. As I stepped into portal, I looked back one last time, and the tarkatans had slit the Edenian soldier's throat. Two of the tarkatans were bathing in the blood, while the other four charged towards me. I disappeared into the portal and found myself in a small village.

I didn't know where I was or what to do. The sky was a dark purple, with a volcanic orange glow above me. A tear fell from my eye, and I collapsed to the ground.

I awoke in an old, but soft bed. "Rest now child." I heard a comforting voice say. I looked to my left and saw an elderly woman was stirring tea. She took a spoonful and put it directly into my mouth.

"Where am I?" I asked as my voice was cracking.

"You are on the eastern shore of Outworld." She said smiling at me. "I saw you knocked out cold by the hill." She fed me another spoonful of tea. "Where do you come from?"

"I don't know… everything… everything burned. I… I…"

"Shhhh now." She whispered as she pulled the sheets over me. Just sleep.

I awoke the next morning and walked into the kitchen where the elderly lady was cooking breakfast. "Good to see you up lad." She said as smiling at me. "I'm cooking ravenbloge."

Whatever that was, it looked good. It was some sort of meat that she was cooking on a stone stove.

"Take a walk around outside if you want child." She told me as she was flipping this Outworld dish up in the air. "I'll call you when the food is ready.

I took a walk outside and stared at the Outworld sky. It was overwhelming. That sky was so dark, but with an orange glow from these volcanoes that were constantly active. I had a deep sadness buried inside me that I wished to be rid of. I looked at the deep and long ocean and walked over to it.

I sat on the shoreline and just stared into the dark water. I began to sob as I thought about what had happened the day before. Although I was too young to understand, seeing so much death made me feel destroyed on the inside. I just didn't understand why someone would do that to my home. My grief turned to anger as my thoughts carried on and I slapped the water with all of my might. What happened next astonished me…

There was a stream of water, just following my hand around wherever I moved it. "Huh?" I said to myself. The water just stayed in formation as if I was controlling a small river. I span my hand in circles, and even shook it consistently, but it just kept following my lead. Slowly, my grief turned into amusement. I began to laugh as I held this stream out in front of me.

"Breakfast is ready lad." The lady yelled to me. My concentration was broken, and the stream of water fell. I got up and ran back to the old ladies home. It was quite a cozy shoreline cabin. I walked in, and the meal she prepared was at the table.

"Have a seat." The old lady mumbled as she pointed to the opposite head of the table.

We sat down and both began to eat. "You're a child of few words aren't you?" She asked with a mouthful of food. When I look back today, I realize she was pretty laid back for an old woman.

"Um…Yeah." I answered awkwardly.

"Well, how old are you?"

"Five, miss."

"Good age." She said. "When my son was five, he used to love ravenbloge."

"It is very good." I said with a neutral expression on my face.

"Yeah, he's grown up. He now works for the emperor. I'm very proud of him." She said with a half grin. "So where is your family?" She asked me, as she burped.

I looked down. "I… I don't know."

"Well where are you from?"

I looked up, and tried to think. "Umm… E… Edenia."

She looked up to the heavens. "Edenia…" she whispered to herself, before everything became quiet for several moments. I still to this day don't know what she was thinking.

"Well, you are welcome to stay in my home if you wish. I wouldn't send a child with nowhere to go into the depths of Outworld." She said smiling. "Just so you know, this realm is dangerous, so you should try to stay in this area."

"I can do that." I said as I took another bite of food.

"I'm Secayda by the way. What is your name young one?"

I blanked out for a moment… all of the sudden; everything in my life had taken a turn. The life I had back in Edenia was gone. Although I was young, I knew a change had come. I had forgotten my real name, and all I could think of was my experience when I was dragging the water. "Rain." I said proudly. "My name is Rain."