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.”
As Hadiya settled onto the cushion, the musty scent of damp earth and decaying wood filled her nostrils, and the dim light from the candles casted eerie shadows across the cramped space. She cautiously approached the old hag, her gaze piercing through the darkness as if she could see right through Hadiya.
As Hadiya took a deep breath, she met the hag's gaze and began to recount her journey with a heavy heart, "I am a forest dwarf, born into a small village which was nestled amidst the trees. But my home was not one of warmth and love; it was shrouded in darkness and fear." She paused to breath and think, continuing, "My mother's cruelty knew no bounds, her anger and violence unleashed upon my father with no mercy."
A lump formed in her throat as she recalled the moment that changed everything, the day that she took a stand to protect her father from further harm. "In a desperate attempt to shield my father from her wrath, I had intervened, but the consequences were dire. In the chaos that ensued, I-- I ended her life."
The memory hangs heavy in the air, a silent testament to the pain and sorrow that followed. "My father, in an act of selfless sacrifice, claimed responsibility for my actions, sparing me from the village's judgement. But in a village where female dwarves are scare and the law in unforgiving, his noble gesture cost him his life."
Tears threaten to spill from Hadiya's eyes as she recounts the loss of the one person who stood by her. "With nothing left to tie me to that place, I fled, haunted by guilt and grief, seeking solace in the embrace of the forest."
As she finishes her tale, she looked to the old hag, hoping to find understanding and perhaps a glimmer of hope amidst the darkness that had consumed her past.
