TheOneThatFound

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.”

"You ha-?" Well that was quite unexpected, I thought, but I was so intrigued by this mysterious encounter that I sat down on the modly chair with hopes of finding out more. It's quite uncomfortable, but I forget to pay any attention to such sensations since I'm so amazed by the myriad of magical tools and codexes lying upon one another in this makeshift yet long lived in looking place.

"Well you got quite the stash here old lady. If me telling you a story gets me to know more about this shady place I'll gladly oblige. Hahah."

"And so the story goes like this: Once upon a time there was a young boy loved by his villager mates. He was happy and had the privillage not many other have. The gift of knowing true love. And so early in his life at that! But as he grew up he started to notice how he was diffrent from the others. And never knowing why he was the only child in the village with no mother made it even more distressing."

"You still listening old hag?... Thought you would be fast asleeep by now. Oh well, let me continue"

"So the lively lad and his companions came to play in the forrest one day. It was fun. They knew the forrest like the back of their hand even tho the adults rarely let them play there. Kids being kids, they went anyway and on that unfortunate day they soon realised that they weren't the only ones in the clearing. A humongous black bear infested with dark magic was eyeing them from behing the trees. The boys weren't stupid tho and they acted as not to concern the bear and make it angry in any way. One of them ran to the village for help and he brought no other with him than Nuall's father, the fiercest warrior amongst the villagers. The children ran to safety as he drew the bears attention to himself. All ran but me. I came back beause when I looked back, I saw that my dad had been badly injured. I couldn't leave him there! Right?!!"

"Ah well... as stupid as I was back then, I tried to help my father stand up and run. I just needed to avoid the bear until help came... But the help wasn't enough.  The men from the village came, but my father already bled to death. Ohhhh and I raged. I swore I would kill the damned animal myself if it'd be the last thing I did. And I screamed so that the whole nation would hear the resolve in my sorrow. Yet that scream awakened something in me. The half of  my blood that came from my mother. The blood of a water nymph coursing through my veins. And as I called out into the world not knowing the power that would answer me, I cast a spell. I gathered all the water in the air, the plants, the earth and poured it all into the cursed monster. And I didn't stop until it exploded in a burst of diffused blood..."

"I stood there, you know. Breathing heavily shocked, amazed and terrified of the thing I've just done. But the true shock didn't come until I turned around. The men that came to our aid. They were lying on the ground in a ever extending pool of blood. I dodn't even recognise them. How could I. And I screamed inside my heart, going crazy. But I ran... What else could I have done? Return to the village? I was scared and the villagers... They would kill me... I had no right to have that desire, but I still wanted to live. So I ran, and I swore to never use attack magic again. All I'll ever do is heal people. I'll never hurt anyone again."

"9 years passed since that day. And what do you know, today is the day it all transpired those long years in the past... So I ask you. Did you like my story witch?"...