The Desent Into Darkness (Scicle's Mind)

[The Media Wizard 2958]

Scicle wakes with a start, his heart pounding and his breath heavy. He looks around, not realizing where he is at first. He then realizes he is in his Den in the Kha's city. He sighs, sitting up. He looks around at his surroundings, treating them like parts of his life. He puts one paw on his cut leg and another on his wound directly over his heart. He then looks at the paws themselves, declawed nubs from his time in the Orc's torture chambers. He then holds his tail, his eyes red and angry.

He thinks back to when he was a kitten in the city growing up. He remembers his Mother, his Father, their big house in the jungle, and his siblings. Then he remembers his Father leaving.

"Dad?"

"Yus, ssun?"

"Whur ar yu guing? Itss stil nyt tym."

"Im... guing wit sum frunds sumwhur. Itss uk."

Scicle grips the bed as he remembers seeing his dad walk off with a group of armored Kha, never to be seen again. He remembers the ridicule he and his siblings were always subject to from the other Kha. His Mother had to sell their home and move to the city. He then remembers his Brothers and Sisters, all running away one at a time until it was only him and his mother left.

Scicle stands, gathering supplies from his chests for the short trip. He grabs something deep in the chest and pulls it out slowly. The object finally emerges from the darkness of the chest, and Scicle's eyes burn with pain at the sight of his Mother's necklace. He drops the necklace, trying to forget the memory.

"Scicle, Il be buck tumurruw, Il jusst be in Uren getting suplys."

"Nu," Scicle mutters under his breath, "Yu wunt."

He then remembered the way he had to leave his home and live on his own in the streets of the city. He scavenged food and water from the neighbors when they were absent or traveling. He lived like that for years upon years, it never ending.

Scicle puts the supplies into his knapsack and hefts it over his shoulder and opens the door to outside. He steps out into the damp, moist air of the city and smiles a bit, knowing he will miss it when he is gone. He begins to climb the vines of the trees to the top of the caves as he thinks of his new life.

He remembered Kylar Lars, the philosopher, teaching him how to read and right perfect Common. He remembered Kylar leaving to go rebuild his old assassin order. He remembered Arzota, Fae, Juno, Kyral, Ari, Aron, Wocket, Shieldings, Beth, Araya, Woe, and... and...

Scicle looks up, noticing he is out of the city and next to the ocean. Malinor is in sight, and his thinks to himself, "Freedom is not simply given, it must be earned and proven to be held by those who want it." Scicle looks at the small, child-sized green hood in his hand and looks to the ocean and jumps in. Before he hits the water, he thinks, "This is for her..."