thenexithero

You’ve just arrived in a swampy, dim town. As you look around, your gaze is met with shacks and cabins. It smells of rotted wood and wet moss. You duck and step into a tattered tent, illuminated by a series of candles suspended in the air. At the back of the tent, an old hag raises her head, “What brings you to this dingy town? she begins, then pauses to study your face—”Ah, it’s you. I’ve been expecting you. Sit,” she gestures at a cushion, “Tell me your story.”

((How do you respond?))

"Man, this town is gloomy," I mutter as I sit down at the cushion and look up at the old lady. "Well, I guess you could say I've come a long way." I cross my arms, and introduce myself. "My name is Nivios A'wyn, if you didn't already know" I say as I brush the bit of hair that hangs out of my bun behind my ear. "Like all the... well, most of the other dark elves I've known, I grew up in Nor’Asath. My parents knew I had a knack for magic early on, and they sure took advantage of it." My gaze meets hers as she stares into the black abyss devoid of pupils that is held within my eyes. "They sold me off. Just that easy, and they made good coin off of me, might I add" I say with a slight smirk. "My buyer happened to be a powerful archmage looking for young life to instruct in the ways of dark magic. I fit the criteria, and when he approached my parents with an offer, they accepted it." I look down to the floor. "Ah, maybe I didn't need 'em anyway. I turned out fine, no thanks to them of course" I say with a tinge of hesitation, realizing I had never put that thought into words before. "I mean, I had no choice. The archmage drilled it into my head that if I ran, I'd be killed. Not that it wouldn't have been an improvement on my situation" I say with another slight smirk that fades as I begin my next thought. "I don't know, maybe death sounds a bit better than being a lab rat for hours on end until you can't stand up anymore, just to see how much your body can handle. To make sure you're strong enough for his liking, I guess. One day, I must have finally lost my mind." I adjust myself to sit up straight and take in a deep breath. "One day when he had taken me to accompany him on an excursion, I bent down and grabbed a handful of dirt from the side of the path we were walking on and threw it in his eyes. While he grabbed his eyes and reached out to try and grab me, I ducked away and ran into the forest nearby. All I could think about at the time was how much I hated him and how much I wanted to live my own life. He gave chase, and he caught up to me after a minute or so," I say looking past the old lady, before returning my gaze to her with my next sentence. "He got me on the ground, and told me that my disobedience would cost me dearly. He drew a long blade that billowed a green and purple smoke, and gave me this." I tap the scar stretching across my left eye with the same familiar smirk. "He did some serious damage, and as I lied there the same kind of smoke kept coming out of the wound. I lied there as I felt my life being drained from my body, but as he went to strike again I rolled to the side and swept his legs out from under him. He only stumbled, but it was enough for me to get away. I ran and ran through the forest as a horrible swarm of whispering filled my head, which I began to recognize as the voice of the archmage. He muttered something in a language I was unfamiliar with and just like that, the smoke from my wound stopped." I pause for a few seconds, half for dramatic effect and half to collect my thoughts. "I don't remember much after that, except for passing out in the middle of the street in a nearby town and waking up in little room with someone wearing a cloak. They turned around to reveal a human woman, and she told me I would have died if she didn't find me. She was holding some kind of crystal ball, too." I sit back and uncross my arms, and think about how slim of a chance I have that this lady believes me. I hunch over a bit and look down at the ground again, trying to remember as much as I can about my encounter with the human woman who saved me. "She waved her hands around the ball and told me she could only do so much for me, since my soul was no longer completely whole. As you can imagine, I looked at her, confused, and asked if she knew anything else. She told me she sensed the missing part of my soul far away, surrounded by an evil energy. She asked if I had made enemies with anyone recently, and I lied through my teeth to tell her I didn't. After we talked for a few minutes more, I thanked her and left, and spent the rest of the day pondering how the archmage had damaged my soul in our encounter. To this day, I assume it has something to do with the sword he'd inflicted the across my face with, but I guess I might never know for sure." I look back at the old lady, and continue my story. "Now I know how this all sounds, it sounds farfetched that you're sitting across from someone with only part of a soul. I mean, yeah, it is." "Anyway," I continue after a pause, "I've been traveling around since in hopes he doesn't find me. As to how I haven't starved yet, I do what I have to." I sit back once more. "So there it is, that's my life story" I say with a bit of sarcasm. "You officially know me better than my own parents."