ShadowMan
Designated Grumpy Old Fart
The Forsaken, Chapter 1
It’s was after the tenth vaccine booster that suddenly the world changed. The Covid 29 Sigma variant was the last of the deadly virus’ unleashed upon the world before “the change”. The great cities of the ancients were devoid of people and overgrown, crumbling into obscurity and left abandoned as humanity escaped to the hinterlands to put as much space between themselves and the infected. Running away, didn’t work. The virus was now everywhere, quickly evolving, insidiously working inside the genetic code of every mammal on the planet. At first the changes were subtle, small and nearly invisible unless one knew what to look for. Soon those subtle changes were not so subtle. A dozen generations later there was no hiding.
Aerynn was a throwback. A genetic failure. Her village, isolated high on the Rim of the World above the Great Inland Sea. A safe refuge from the demons that roamed the barrens below. The air was too thin for demons, too bright, too clean up here. The scent of pine and cedars filled the air as Aerynn gathered the oak berries that littered the forest floor. Brushing her deep ruby locks aside she carefully inspected each berry for signs of impurity and damage before dropping them in her woven reed gathering basket.
The same recessive gene that gifted her with her long dark red locks was also the throwback gene that stripped her of the gifts her fellow villagers cherished and further identified her as a weak mundane. There was no hiding her lack of “talents” not with that head full of flowing red locks.
Santee, just on the other side of the small clearing had already filled his basket with a wave of his hand. Unlike Aerynn, he was not forsaken and had the gift of movement. A sweep of his hand and all the pure untarnished berries would softly float up and with a gathering wave of his hand swirl through the air like a flock of small birds and dive into his basket. Aerynn had to pick up each berry and inspect them individually by hand.
“Oh, little sister you are so slow.” Santee teased.
Aerynn had long learned to ignore his well meaning brotherly jabs. “I’m in no hurry.” She replied softly as she inspected another single berry before dropping into her half filled basket.
In a world filled with the Gifted and Damned she was simply mundane, ordinary, ungifted….forsaken. During the Great Cleansing humanity suddenly discovered their hidden talents and damnation. While one group of humans evolved forward, the other half of humanity devolved into the dark past and now prowled the vast empty landscape below in the ever present fog. Then there were the forsaken, left as their ancestors were originally, without gifts, no powers and no abilities and no way to defend themselves against the overwhelming night demons. Most forsaken did not survive the onset of the Great Cleansing and soon there were none....except.
Aerynn was a throwback. A child born generations after the Great Cleansing without gifts and were it not for her being born into a protective and loving family living in a village high in the mountains she too would have gone the way of other mundanes….dust. Santee was the strongest of the young hunter gatherers in their village and a very protective older brother. However, soon he would be joining the warriors of the clan. Entrusted with keeping their mountain redoubt pure, safe and clear of demons and wildlings.
Too soon Aerynn would not have the shadow of her big brother always watching over her, as his new duties would be watching over the clan and the village. She dreaded that day. To be alone, without gifts and vulnerable, she would be an easy target for demons, wildlings and distrusting villagers. It was not unusual for forsaken to be cast out of villages. Looked down upon as genetic failures, useless throwbacks and an insult to the gifted. No man would accept her as partner. No family would shelter her. No clan would take her in. No one wanted an unclean, ungifted, throwback to a dark past, a person with no future.
What they didn’t see, couldn’t see, was the seed that was just now beginning to sprout within her, deep inside. Something was emerging from a time before time. A throwback to the beginning. A seed touched by the divine itself was just beginning to sprout. What the others did not see. Could not see. Refused and would not see was actually their salvation standing right before them. Hidden beneath her flowing red locks. Red, a signal in nature to beware, to stay back, danger.
Santee had taught his little sister all the ways of the woods and mountain that he could. He taught her the way of the sword and the bow, of spear, of hand, fist and foot. The way of the forest and mannerisms of all the creatures that lived there. How to track and see the subtle details in the story of their mountain world. But he could not teach her the way of the Gift. For she was born without the talent. Abandoned by the Father Creator in a world of full of wild and ever present danger. He feared for her.
He loved her gentle manner and calm resolve. She was kind, soft and flowing like the whispering breeze that trickled through the branches of the pines and cedars of their mountain redoubt despite the disadvantages of her mundane birth. There was a peace that flowed from her core, cool water to his blazing fire. Even when some of their village despised her presence and felt that she was an evil omen she walked straight, tall and fearless among them. Aerynn met every challenge to her existence with kindness and grace. She turned distrust and anger with her shield of softness. So strong, yet a total mystery to his mind. Her brothers warrior’s heart did not understand her gentle ways. They were simply too foreign to his nature.
A month later at the full of the moon. Santee stood tall in his buckskins. His face painted, weapons in hand, hair oiled, braided and pulled back. Today was the Test. His final passage into the realm of the Warrior. He would descend into the mists below to prove his manhood, skill, cunning and worth against the Demons and Wildlings of a desolated landscape. He would have to pass through the valley of death and light the signal fire on the lost peak far off across the fog sea. A lonely peak that barely jutted above the thick low clouds far in the distance. Only the strongest survived this test to become warriors of his mountain clan. Today was his Test.
He must show no fear in the face of certain death. He must travel fast and deadly. Nothing must impede his mission. No beast, no Demon, no Wildling will stay his course. He MUST reach the far off peak and light the signal fire and return. Return to his people, to his village, to his mountain and to his little sister. Santee turned to the Elders and signaled his readiness. A deep echoing horn sounded and increased in volume. He turned, took a deep breath and then let out his war cry, leapt over the stone edge and began to run. Down the mountain he ran becoming smaller and smaller in the distance until he disappeared into the fog below.
Aerynn stood amongst the surrounding villagers stoically and watched her brother disappear into the mists of death. She was all alone now as she prayed for Santee’s safe and speedy return. She would not cry. Not in front of them. Her brother was a strong mountain man, a superior fighter and hunter. He would return. He had to return. He had to.
Each evening she would sit vigil on a lone rocky prominence straining her eyes for the signal fire to shine on that far off peak. Days turned into weeks. Then a month. Still no fire. Aerynn could not believe that Santee had failed. He could not fail. More days passed by with no light on that distant peak. He should have returned by now. Santee was the strongest of all the young hunter gatherers.
Aerynn could feel the eyes of her village turning against her as each day passed. She heard the quiet mutterings. The down cast eyes that blamed her for her brothers failure to return. There was a tide rising against her. She could feel the air get thicker each day.
A month and a half had passed since Santee began his Test, when Aerynn made up her mind. She had finally completed her traveling buckskins. Her thick hide moccasin boots were ready. She oiled and braided her red hair and pulled it back. Gathered up her journey pack and bedroll. Adjusted her quivver, sheathed her short broad sword, checked her kukri, picked up her bow and spear and slowly looked around her family’s hut for perhaps one last time. She took in a last deep breath, filling her nostrils with the smell of home and silently closed the hatch behind her and began her walk through the village to the end of her known world.
Angry eyes stalked her passage as she headed to the jump off point. How dare this forsaken walk the warriors path! She could feel their anger as she dipped two fingers into the bowl of face paint and donned the warrior’s marks across her cheeks and forehead. Blasphemy!
She heard the scuffle of feet behind her, but she did not turn.
“Just what do you think you’re doing girl!” A deep voice called to her.
“I will find my brother.” She softly answered.
“It is FORBIDDEN!! I FORBID IT!” The elder growled angrily as he stepped closer. “Return to your hut before you shame his name and your village!”
Aerynn slowly turned her head and looked straight into the elders eyes. “I WILL find my brother!”
The elder stepped closer. “YOU WILL OBEY GIRL!! IT IS FORBIDDEN FOR YOU TO WALK THE WAY OF THE WARRIOR!!”
A crowd was quickly gathering behind the elder. An angry crowd, muttering and shifting their feet.
She turned back to fog ignoring the building anger behind her. Just as the elder stepped closer and reached out to grab this young upstart Aerynn let out her battle cry! A great piercing screech like that of the giant eagle on the hunt. So loud and so shrill that all those behind her stepped back and gasped in fear and awe. With that Aerynn leapt over the rocky edge and descended down the mountain on a run into the foreboding mists below. One thought filled her head, “I WILL find my brother!”
To be continued:
Chapter 2: Into the mists of death.
It’s was after the tenth vaccine booster that suddenly the world changed. The Covid 29 Sigma variant was the last of the deadly virus’ unleashed upon the world before “the change”. The great cities of the ancients were devoid of people and overgrown, crumbling into obscurity and left abandoned as humanity escaped to the hinterlands to put as much space between themselves and the infected. Running away, didn’t work. The virus was now everywhere, quickly evolving, insidiously working inside the genetic code of every mammal on the planet. At first the changes were subtle, small and nearly invisible unless one knew what to look for. Soon those subtle changes were not so subtle. A dozen generations later there was no hiding.
Aerynn was a throwback. A genetic failure. Her village, isolated high on the Rim of the World above the Great Inland Sea. A safe refuge from the demons that roamed the barrens below. The air was too thin for demons, too bright, too clean up here. The scent of pine and cedars filled the air as Aerynn gathered the oak berries that littered the forest floor. Brushing her deep ruby locks aside she carefully inspected each berry for signs of impurity and damage before dropping them in her woven reed gathering basket.
The same recessive gene that gifted her with her long dark red locks was also the throwback gene that stripped her of the gifts her fellow villagers cherished and further identified her as a weak mundane. There was no hiding her lack of “talents” not with that head full of flowing red locks.
Santee, just on the other side of the small clearing had already filled his basket with a wave of his hand. Unlike Aerynn, he was not forsaken and had the gift of movement. A sweep of his hand and all the pure untarnished berries would softly float up and with a gathering wave of his hand swirl through the air like a flock of small birds and dive into his basket. Aerynn had to pick up each berry and inspect them individually by hand.
“Oh, little sister you are so slow.” Santee teased.
Aerynn had long learned to ignore his well meaning brotherly jabs. “I’m in no hurry.” She replied softly as she inspected another single berry before dropping into her half filled basket.
In a world filled with the Gifted and Damned she was simply mundane, ordinary, ungifted….forsaken. During the Great Cleansing humanity suddenly discovered their hidden talents and damnation. While one group of humans evolved forward, the other half of humanity devolved into the dark past and now prowled the vast empty landscape below in the ever present fog. Then there were the forsaken, left as their ancestors were originally, without gifts, no powers and no abilities and no way to defend themselves against the overwhelming night demons. Most forsaken did not survive the onset of the Great Cleansing and soon there were none....except.
Aerynn was a throwback. A child born generations after the Great Cleansing without gifts and were it not for her being born into a protective and loving family living in a village high in the mountains she too would have gone the way of other mundanes….dust. Santee was the strongest of the young hunter gatherers in their village and a very protective older brother. However, soon he would be joining the warriors of the clan. Entrusted with keeping their mountain redoubt pure, safe and clear of demons and wildlings.
Too soon Aerynn would not have the shadow of her big brother always watching over her, as his new duties would be watching over the clan and the village. She dreaded that day. To be alone, without gifts and vulnerable, she would be an easy target for demons, wildlings and distrusting villagers. It was not unusual for forsaken to be cast out of villages. Looked down upon as genetic failures, useless throwbacks and an insult to the gifted. No man would accept her as partner. No family would shelter her. No clan would take her in. No one wanted an unclean, ungifted, throwback to a dark past, a person with no future.
What they didn’t see, couldn’t see, was the seed that was just now beginning to sprout within her, deep inside. Something was emerging from a time before time. A throwback to the beginning. A seed touched by the divine itself was just beginning to sprout. What the others did not see. Could not see. Refused and would not see was actually their salvation standing right before them. Hidden beneath her flowing red locks. Red, a signal in nature to beware, to stay back, danger.
Santee had taught his little sister all the ways of the woods and mountain that he could. He taught her the way of the sword and the bow, of spear, of hand, fist and foot. The way of the forest and mannerisms of all the creatures that lived there. How to track and see the subtle details in the story of their mountain world. But he could not teach her the way of the Gift. For she was born without the talent. Abandoned by the Father Creator in a world of full of wild and ever present danger. He feared for her.
He loved her gentle manner and calm resolve. She was kind, soft and flowing like the whispering breeze that trickled through the branches of the pines and cedars of their mountain redoubt despite the disadvantages of her mundane birth. There was a peace that flowed from her core, cool water to his blazing fire. Even when some of their village despised her presence and felt that she was an evil omen she walked straight, tall and fearless among them. Aerynn met every challenge to her existence with kindness and grace. She turned distrust and anger with her shield of softness. So strong, yet a total mystery to his mind. Her brothers warrior’s heart did not understand her gentle ways. They were simply too foreign to his nature.
A month later at the full of the moon. Santee stood tall in his buckskins. His face painted, weapons in hand, hair oiled, braided and pulled back. Today was the Test. His final passage into the realm of the Warrior. He would descend into the mists below to prove his manhood, skill, cunning and worth against the Demons and Wildlings of a desolated landscape. He would have to pass through the valley of death and light the signal fire on the lost peak far off across the fog sea. A lonely peak that barely jutted above the thick low clouds far in the distance. Only the strongest survived this test to become warriors of his mountain clan. Today was his Test.
He must show no fear in the face of certain death. He must travel fast and deadly. Nothing must impede his mission. No beast, no Demon, no Wildling will stay his course. He MUST reach the far off peak and light the signal fire and return. Return to his people, to his village, to his mountain and to his little sister. Santee turned to the Elders and signaled his readiness. A deep echoing horn sounded and increased in volume. He turned, took a deep breath and then let out his war cry, leapt over the stone edge and began to run. Down the mountain he ran becoming smaller and smaller in the distance until he disappeared into the fog below.
Aerynn stood amongst the surrounding villagers stoically and watched her brother disappear into the mists of death. She was all alone now as she prayed for Santee’s safe and speedy return. She would not cry. Not in front of them. Her brother was a strong mountain man, a superior fighter and hunter. He would return. He had to return. He had to.
Each evening she would sit vigil on a lone rocky prominence straining her eyes for the signal fire to shine on that far off peak. Days turned into weeks. Then a month. Still no fire. Aerynn could not believe that Santee had failed. He could not fail. More days passed by with no light on that distant peak. He should have returned by now. Santee was the strongest of all the young hunter gatherers.
Aerynn could feel the eyes of her village turning against her as each day passed. She heard the quiet mutterings. The down cast eyes that blamed her for her brothers failure to return. There was a tide rising against her. She could feel the air get thicker each day.
A month and a half had passed since Santee began his Test, when Aerynn made up her mind. She had finally completed her traveling buckskins. Her thick hide moccasin boots were ready. She oiled and braided her red hair and pulled it back. Gathered up her journey pack and bedroll. Adjusted her quivver, sheathed her short broad sword, checked her kukri, picked up her bow and spear and slowly looked around her family’s hut for perhaps one last time. She took in a last deep breath, filling her nostrils with the smell of home and silently closed the hatch behind her and began her walk through the village to the end of her known world.
Angry eyes stalked her passage as she headed to the jump off point. How dare this forsaken walk the warriors path! She could feel their anger as she dipped two fingers into the bowl of face paint and donned the warrior’s marks across her cheeks and forehead. Blasphemy!
She heard the scuffle of feet behind her, but she did not turn.
“Just what do you think you’re doing girl!” A deep voice called to her.
“I will find my brother.” She softly answered.
“It is FORBIDDEN!! I FORBID IT!” The elder growled angrily as he stepped closer. “Return to your hut before you shame his name and your village!”
Aerynn slowly turned her head and looked straight into the elders eyes. “I WILL find my brother!”
The elder stepped closer. “YOU WILL OBEY GIRL!! IT IS FORBIDDEN FOR YOU TO WALK THE WAY OF THE WARRIOR!!”
A crowd was quickly gathering behind the elder. An angry crowd, muttering and shifting their feet.
She turned back to fog ignoring the building anger behind her. Just as the elder stepped closer and reached out to grab this young upstart Aerynn let out her battle cry! A great piercing screech like that of the giant eagle on the hunt. So loud and so shrill that all those behind her stepped back and gasped in fear and awe. With that Aerynn leapt over the rocky edge and descended down the mountain on a run into the foreboding mists below. One thought filled her head, “I WILL find my brother!”
To be continued:
Chapter 2: Into the mists of death.