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As a boy, there was no one I was more frightened of than Stormhaven’s lady.

Lavished with power, she strode around the pack-lands with nary a glance at the dregs that kept her society running. We were cogs in the wheel; nothing more. Barely worth her time, nor presence - unless we needed to be reminded of our place.

An elder mentioned once that the Lady’s mother had been more lenient, had been pushing for change. Strived for a different society - one where we were equals. I had scoffed at his strange tale. Just like that? Generations and generations of cold, hard tradition thrown out the window. The cycle almost coming to an end all because an upper woke up one day and decided to fight for the rights of the bottom rung? No. I couldn’t imagine it. Wouldn't fathom it.

Whoever, birthed that monstrosity must have been as cruel and unyielding as the twisted banshee.

Along with the rest of her damned ancestors and followers. The uppers we called them, our oppressors who lived freely beyond the wall. Prim and proper, they lived a life a decadence while we toiled away. While we starved. Damn them! Especially, the steely council who lurked not far behind. Always there to serve out punishments when their lady was otherwise preoccupied, being pampered and lavished upon. Her court knew how to cull or fan her temper to twist rulings to their whims. Thinking back on it now - I wonder who in the end was really pulling the strings.

I have many memories of that forsaken place. Of my family and the others trying to survive. The few good memories I had was littered with failures. Attempts at trying to live by the uppers rule or defy it. The night that comes to mind is of my father’s failed rebellion. Full of hopes and sanguine dreams it had been doomed from the start. It seemed to good to be true then and well I guess in the end it was. As we crept through those oppressively, narrow mountain passages, making our way towards our freedom I remember glancing at Qestir and Samsara and thinking this was it. We’d finally be able to taste the free waters and glance at the sky beneath a new visage; a better life. We were going to make it! This nightmare would be all over soon.

I tried to imagine what our new life would be like without having to look over our shoulders. No Stormhaven. No Uppers. No Lady. There would be fields of gold as far as the eye could see. Wide open and vast. A brand new world ripe for exploration far from the mountainous wall and sea that had been our prison for generations.

Ah, the folly of youth.

Time stood still when we finally reached the last chamber, the cold, winter’s night winked at us; mocking as it beckoned us forward. The little dash of excitement and hope coursing through me fading when I gazed upon the exit. In that moment, nothing was more mocking than seeing the eerie visage of the Lady lit up with that blue, unholy light. Her piercing, lifeless eyes seared straight into our marrow. I remember not being able to look away, her very presence seeping into me like a sickness; bile burning in the back of my throat.

She knows. She knows. She knows.

Black shadowed wolves, her soldiers stood at attention, ready to act on the Lady’s orders. For several heart rendering moments she stood quietly, basking in our wavering resilience and the horror in our eyes. When finally she parted her lips and spoke.

“It was time to cull the herd, anyway.” She stated, her voice carnal, lovely, and cruel as it echoed among them. Bored, yet refined. An undertone of disappointment lacing her words. “Recapture those that survive.” Inclining her head towards her assembly, the black wisps that had stood eerily still moved on her command, pushing and kicking at several of the large boulders that lined the chamber.

There had been a horrible groan, a rumble deep within the depths of the earth as the cavern ceiling twisted and bent. Sand and stone dripped like tar from the crevices. The Stormhaven Lady gave us one last glance, a final farewell as she made her exit. Her mockery of a pantheon on her heels.

Everything was a blur afterwards.

I remember the screams and the silence. Qestir and Samsara beyond my reach. I unable to do anything as my parent’s barreled me to the last sliver of bluish light. . An earthen barricade forming between us as I fell towards the unknown.

And their pleading and last final words.

“Live on under the free sky.”

And then it went dark. When I finally awoke I was alone.

Samsara belongs to Flufferooni
Qestir belongs to data-bull
Vargas and Lady Thalassa belongs to me

Description

As a boy, there was no one I was more frightened of than Stormhaven’s lady.

Lavished with power, she strode around the pack-lands with nary a glance at the dregs that kept her society running. We were cogs in the wheel; nothing more. Barely worth her time, nor presence - unless we needed to be reminded of our place.

An elder mentioned once that the Lady’s mother had been more lenient, had been pushing for change. Strived for a different society - one where we were equals. I had scoffed at his strange tale. Just like that? Generations and generations of cold, hard tradition thrown out the window. The cycle almost coming to an end all because an upper woke up one day and decided to fight for the rights of the bottom rung? No. I couldn’t imagine it. Wouldn't fathom it.

Whoever, birthed that monstrosity must have been as cruel and unyielding as the twisted banshee.

Along with the rest of her damned ancestors and followers. The uppers we called them, our oppressors who lived freely beyond the wall. Prim and proper, they lived a life a decadence while we toiled away. While we starved. Damn them! Especially, the steely council who lurked not far behind. Always there to serve out punishments when their lady was otherwise preoccupied, being pampered and lavished upon. Her court knew how to cull or fan her temper to twist rulings to their whims. Thinking back on it now - I wonder who in the end was really pulling the strings.

I have many memories of that forsaken place. Of my family and the others trying to survive. The few good memories I had was littered with failures. Attempts at trying to live by the uppers rule or defy it. The night that comes to mind is of my father’s failed rebellion. Full of hopes and sanguine dreams it had been doomed from the start. It seemed to good to be true then and well I guess in the end it was. As we crept through those oppressively, narrow mountain passages, making our way towards our freedom I remember glancing at Qestir and Samsara and thinking this was it. We’d finally be able to taste the free waters and glance at the sky beneath a new visage; a better life. We were going to make it! This nightmare would be all over soon.

I tried to imagine what our new life would be like without having to look over our shoulders. No Stormhaven. No Uppers. No Lady. There would be fields of gold as far as the eye could see. Wide open and vast. A brand new world ripe for exploration far from the mountainous wall and sea that had been our prison for generations.

Ah, the folly of youth.

Time stood still when we finally reached the last chamber, the cold, winter’s night winked at us; mocking as it beckoned us forward. The little dash of excitement and hope coursing through me fading when I gazed upon the exit. In that moment, nothing was more mocking than seeing the eerie visage of the Lady lit up with that blue, unholy light. Her piercing, lifeless eyes seared straight into our marrow. I remember not being able to look away, her very presence seeping into me like a sickness; bile burning in the back of my throat.

She knows. She knows. She knows.

Black shadowed wolves, her soldiers stood at attention, ready to act on the Lady’s orders. For several heart rendering moments she stood quietly, basking in our wavering resilience and the horror in our eyes. When finally she parted her lips and spoke.

“It was time to cull the herd, anyway.” She stated, her voice carnal, lovely, and cruel as it echoed among them. Bored, yet refined. An undertone of disappointment lacing her words. “Recapture those that survive.” Inclining her head towards her assembly, the black wisps that had stood eerily still moved on her command, pushing and kicking at several of the large boulders that lined the chamber.

There had been a horrible groan, a rumble deep within the depths of the earth as the cavern ceiling twisted and bent. Sand and stone dripped like tar from the crevices. The Stormhaven Lady gave us one last glance, a final farewell as she made her exit. Her mockery of a pantheon on her heels.

Everything was a blur afterwards.

I remember the screams and the silence. Qestir and Samsara beyond my reach. I unable to do anything as my parent’s barreled me to the last sliver of bluish light. . An earthen barricade forming between us as I fell towards the unknown.

And their pleading and last final words.

“Live on under the free sky.”

And then it went dark. When I finally awoke I was alone.

Samsara belongs to Flufferooni
Qestir belongs to data-bull
Vargas and Lady Thalassa belongs to me