The Firinn, Part 1
April 26th 2011 00:35
Dear reader, The Creatures of Ellieu Forest presents the first part of this venture. I knew that this project would take a long time, and would be long. I just didn't know when I began how long. So, instead of having a part 8, I'm going to start the second chapter of this longer piece, which introduce the Firinn (prounounced FIR inn). Enjoy
Sunlight streamed into the room as Ab’Cainl woke up. The musky images from the night before came into full light, and what once was shaded in darkness now glistened. The golden writing that wrapped around the room sparkled with an incandescent glow, and it surrounded so much more than what he saw. It scrawled around the windows, which in the small room were four of them, the doorway, on the floor around the bed, across the ceiling. They were all over. He felt better today than the night before, and as he turned over in the soft bed, he noticed that his hands and feet were no longer bound. Jumping up, he exited the bed, and stood in the middle of the room. Whatever the scroll work was, it wasn’t a holding spell. Then, something didn’t feel quite right. The hairs on his arms rose, the hair on the back of his neck started to stand on end, and then he looked down. He wasn’t wearing anything. As he rushed back to the bed to try and cover up, but there were no covers on the bed. Whoever put him here certainly knew how to hold a prisoner. Or, did they? He knew that he could make it home. Even if he was in the forest. Or, perhaps he was on the edge of the forest. Then, he noticed the dresser in the corner of the room. Maybe there were clothes in there. He walked across the writing on the floor in his bare feet, and as he walked across it, the writing glowed with each step.
“What is this place,” he said out loud, hoping that the voice that was in his head would talk to him again. Nothing. He continued to cross the floor, growing more and more fearful with each step. What if this was the trap? What if they did think of everything and after so many steps, he would slowly start to bleed to death? Or, he would have a curse put upon him, and he wouldn’t be able to reach his final destination? This was nonsense, he realized. If he had thought about all the what if’s, he wouldn’t have arrived at the forest the morning that they were ordered to go in. So, without a second thought, he made it to the dresser, and took out simple clothes. It had been such a long time since he had worn a simple jerkin, leggings, and shoes. They were the clothes of a peasant, a farmer, a layperson. For someone who was a career leader in the military, all he knew was the uniform.
Slipping the clothes on, he noticed how soft the texture was. Once, he had the opportunity to touch the Emperor’s heavy robes, and even these were soften than they were.
“Hurry up,” a voice came in behind him. He spun around, and saw a beautiful woman standing behind him. “We don’t have all day. The sun has been up for several hours, and I would like to introduce you to the rest of the village before it is midday meal.” She threw him a pair of boots, not his own, that had linings of some sort in them. Without thinking, he put the boots on, and walked outside.
As bright it was in the room, the tree canopy blocked the sun outside. Around the outside of the small room, a staircase descended a little ways down, and on the ground, 27 people stood, all stairing at him. On first glance, they all looked the same with fair skin, round eyes, and light hair. Their clothes matched with his. Even the women wore pants. Their ages were for the most part undeterminable, as they all looked middle age, except for a small group in the front, that looked like small children. Each had a different expression on their face, some proud, some scared, some memorized, as if they had never seen a dark-skinned man before. He felt most awkward as he looked at the children, and they seemed to see right through him. Searching the crowd for the woman who brought him the boots, he spotted her, standing in the front, to the right of the children. He wondered why he hadn’t seen her before.
“Human,” she began with a loud voice. “Why does your kind want to destroy my kind?” He felt drawn down to the people, but at the accusation, decided to stand right where he was. Some of the men in the back of the crowd refused to make eye contact, and they were one’s who carried what looked like weapons at their sides. The women looked rather judgmental.
He stood there, not sure how to answer the question. It was true, that his kind wanted to clear the forest. They knew that already. Did they want to know why he specifically wanted to destroy their kind, or why their Emperor King want to tear down the forest.
“I don’t know,” he responded to them. Not one of their faces changed. They still held the same gaze as before. Had it not been for the natural swaying that the body does, he might have thought that they were statues. “I am only a soldier,” he went on, trying to explain to them what his role was.
“We know what you are. We weren’t sure what your role was. We hoped for a commander of sorts. Are you that commander?”
They knew. They knew what he was. No matter what he told them, he knew that they already knew everything, so all his training on what to do in a hostage situation fell mute in his mind. Then, he remembered his mother, a long time ago, telling him of a race that existed longer than any man had lived.
Sunlight streamed into the room as Ab’Cainl woke up. The musky images from the night before came into full light, and what once was shaded in darkness now glistened. The golden writing that wrapped around the room sparkled with an incandescent glow, and it surrounded so much more than what he saw. It scrawled around the windows, which in the small room were four of them, the doorway, on the floor around the bed, across the ceiling. They were all over. He felt better today than the night before, and as he turned over in the soft bed, he noticed that his hands and feet were no longer bound. Jumping up, he exited the bed, and stood in the middle of the room. Whatever the scroll work was, it wasn’t a holding spell. Then, something didn’t feel quite right. The hairs on his arms rose, the hair on the back of his neck started to stand on end, and then he looked down. He wasn’t wearing anything. As he rushed back to the bed to try and cover up, but there were no covers on the bed. Whoever put him here certainly knew how to hold a prisoner. Or, did they? He knew that he could make it home. Even if he was in the forest. Or, perhaps he was on the edge of the forest. Then, he noticed the dresser in the corner of the room. Maybe there were clothes in there. He walked across the writing on the floor in his bare feet, and as he walked across it, the writing glowed with each step.
“What is this place,” he said out loud, hoping that the voice that was in his head would talk to him again. Nothing. He continued to cross the floor, growing more and more fearful with each step. What if this was the trap? What if they did think of everything and after so many steps, he would slowly start to bleed to death? Or, he would have a curse put upon him, and he wouldn’t be able to reach his final destination? This was nonsense, he realized. If he had thought about all the what if’s, he wouldn’t have arrived at the forest the morning that they were ordered to go in. So, without a second thought, he made it to the dresser, and took out simple clothes. It had been such a long time since he had worn a simple jerkin, leggings, and shoes. They were the clothes of a peasant, a farmer, a layperson. For someone who was a career leader in the military, all he knew was the uniform.
Slipping the clothes on, he noticed how soft the texture was. Once, he had the opportunity to touch the Emperor’s heavy robes, and even these were soften than they were.
“Hurry up,” a voice came in behind him. He spun around, and saw a beautiful woman standing behind him. “We don’t have all day. The sun has been up for several hours, and I would like to introduce you to the rest of the village before it is midday meal.” She threw him a pair of boots, not his own, that had linings of some sort in them. Without thinking, he put the boots on, and walked outside.
As bright it was in the room, the tree canopy blocked the sun outside. Around the outside of the small room, a staircase descended a little ways down, and on the ground, 27 people stood, all stairing at him. On first glance, they all looked the same with fair skin, round eyes, and light hair. Their clothes matched with his. Even the women wore pants. Their ages were for the most part undeterminable, as they all looked middle age, except for a small group in the front, that looked like small children. Each had a different expression on their face, some proud, some scared, some memorized, as if they had never seen a dark-skinned man before. He felt most awkward as he looked at the children, and they seemed to see right through him. Searching the crowd for the woman who brought him the boots, he spotted her, standing in the front, to the right of the children. He wondered why he hadn’t seen her before.
“Human,” she began with a loud voice. “Why does your kind want to destroy my kind?” He felt drawn down to the people, but at the accusation, decided to stand right where he was. Some of the men in the back of the crowd refused to make eye contact, and they were one’s who carried what looked like weapons at their sides. The women looked rather judgmental.
He stood there, not sure how to answer the question. It was true, that his kind wanted to clear the forest. They knew that already. Did they want to know why he specifically wanted to destroy their kind, or why their Emperor King want to tear down the forest.
“I don’t know,” he responded to them. Not one of their faces changed. They still held the same gaze as before. Had it not been for the natural swaying that the body does, he might have thought that they were statues. “I am only a soldier,” he went on, trying to explain to them what his role was.
“We know what you are. We weren’t sure what your role was. We hoped for a commander of sorts. Are you that commander?”
They knew. They knew what he was. No matter what he told them, he knew that they already knew everything, so all his training on what to do in a hostage situation fell mute in his mind. Then, he remembered his mother, a long time ago, telling him of a race that existed longer than any man had lived.
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