001. New Beginnings
The wind was high and the sky was open. It was the first day of the rest of his life, and he wasn’t about to waste a second. The burnt village held nothing for him; the dead would not rise again. Good riddance to them. They had done nothing but hold him back, and pin him down. This way he could be free from their mockery and their rumors and their cruel words. In truth he felt the raiders had done him a favor by killing them all. He wasn’t about to seek revenge for the deaths of his neighbors, and he wasn’t going to mourn them. Enough dwelling, he told himself as he finished packing the little he was taking with him into a pack that had survived the fire. Time to start anew.
Ignacious walked from the ruins of the farm house he had once called home and struck out towards the Northern Road. He would work his way through life, doing odd jobs and wandering until he found his niche. He would travel the world and seek out what was driving him forward: power. He had seen power in those raiders, in the way they had so mercilessly destroyed his life around him, and he was certain that he had been spared in order to seek out this amazing force and capture it for himself. It would have been a shame to let this opportunity to go to waste.
His boots crunched on the dirt road as he walked, his pack light on his back, a smile on his face. He knew many would find his thinking a little off, but then they had always told him he was strange. While tall, slim, pale, dark haired, with eyes so deep that it unnerved people, his looks had been enough to distance some. His ability to command darkness had done the others in. They had hated him, even his parents.
A familiar bitter taste entered his mouth as he came upon these thoughts. He stopped just long to spit at their memory before he continued towards the forest that kept him so far from the capitol and other towns. They were dangerous woods, but after the attack he felt as though he had a mission. Nothing would stop him in this, not even the thought of some wolves. He had his powers to fall back on, and those canines would run in fear from him.
He smiled at the thought as he reached into his pocket for a string. He used it to tie his hair from his face, his grey eyes scanning the surrounding area as he came to the trees. He hesitated only briefly before diving into the dimmer light and the foreboding feeling. He would not be afraid. He would not let this defeat him. The young man swallowed a little as he walked slowly down the path.
As time went on he relaxed. Ignacious came into his own courage and walked with his head held high. He spent a good hour marching until he got tired and decided to stop. Just as he halted, an arrow hit the ground in front of him, lodging itself in the ground with a thump. He spun around, trying to find the source, fear suddenly shooting through him. He was confident in fighting foes, or had been, but he couldn’t fight something he couldn’t see. The archer was invisible to him, no doubt in a tree and wearing clothes to blend into the branches and foliage.
He sent a shadow, to blind the man, into a random tree and rushed into the shade of another, masking himself in darkness as he went in. Unfortunately, he ran into another man, another part of ambush waiting for him. The men grunted as they collided. Soon Igancious was being driven from the shadow of the tree and was pushed to the ground.
“Give us all your money!” the man shouted. Others were coming out from the trees, more than he had expected and thought necessary for the robbing and killing of one traveler.
“I don’t have any money!” Ignacious shouted at them angrily, getting to his hands and knees. One of the bandits kicked him in the stomach, knocking the wind out of him, and sent him back to the ground. He coughed and inhaled some loose dirt, and coughed some more. He rolled onto his back and looked up at the men encircled around him. He grimaced as they came to the conclusion he knew they would.
“Then you’re dead,” the same man spoke again, pulling a long, crude dagger from his belt and grinning down at the boy. This fellow enjoyed killing, enjoyed pain and fear. If he lived long enough, he could learn from this fellow. He could find his niche and he could gain the power he sought.
“Wait!” Igancious said. “I may be of use to you!” Themen looked puzzled. He showed them a trick, laying there on the ground, making one of the men go blind. The man shouted in surprise and flailed, making the others laugh. Their leader, who had been speaking, nodded. It was obvious he could see the potential of this power.
“Come with us,” the leader said. “You may be of some use. Tie him.” The other men picked Ignacious up. As the boy’s hands were being tied behind his back he couldn’t help but smile. This was the best day ever.
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