Llign is My Name

Note: The following post will be done in first person point of view. The character's name here, Llign, is read as ˈlaɪn. (Homonym: A-llign-ment)

Perfect. Just perfect.

My boots are crusted with mud, I'm soaked to the bone, my joints ache something fierce and I'm dragging my toes through muck and grime of a questionable nature and I am not too keen on stopping just to check on whatever is wriggling around my shins. With any luck, it'll go away once it gets a good chafing.

The night is unbearably cold. Where did this sudden shower come from anyway? One moment I had a glorious and relaxing time sunbathing down by the river, and then the next moment storm clouds gathered like vengeful shadows and it was as if someone upturned a giant bucket on me. If I don't find shelter soon, I won't last through the night, and something tells me it's only just beginning.

Three times I was nearly caught in an ambush this week alone. Three times! It's like the Devil was on my tail. I've been traveling long and far, being a wanderer for as long as I can remember, just skirting the borders of those dense, monolithic habitats known as civilization, never staying longer than necessary, never taking more than necessary. I always avoid fights or scuffles, running deep into the woods whenever Trouble rears its ugly mug at me.

That was how I survived when raiders attacked my people's camp. They came swiftly and unexpectedly. But before I fled, my mother held me to her breast in a final embrace for me, took off her necklace and put it around my shoulders, "Always remember us, and this will keep you safe." I stared dazedly at her as she kissed my brow. I knew I would never see her again.

"Go, Llign, and don't turn back. Never turn back." With tears in my eyes, I obeyed my mother, turned on my heels and darted into the wilderness, hearing echoes from the dead, their fear sending chills up my spine, ushering me to run faster, to never look back.

I kept running until I couldn't run anymore. My legs literally gave out beneath me and I fell face first into the earth. I had blacked out. I might have slept the whole day away, perhaps longer, but when I regained consciousness, I knew what I had to do.

Survive.

Since then, I have learned to always travel light, never to have any lingering attachments to a place or object, and to disappear at the first sign of danger.

A cowardly way to live, that's understandable, but I do what I must to survive. Shame does me no good if it doesn't help fill my empty stomach. I watched as the people traveled by. Learned as they cooked, hunted, cleaned, sewed, and fought. Watched as they talked, sang, danced, laughed, quarreled, discussed, and disappeared into tents and slept...or did other things. Most of them tried to be silent about it, but some just never bothered.

I've lived my years by the bow, taking care of myself and my meals with a few well-aimed shots. It is the one and only object I have allowed myself to feel an attachment for. An affinity, some might call it. If my bow breaks, I steal another one. I am no craftsman, but at least I've learned to craft my own arrows.

However, it seems I have more than thieves, bandits and wild animals to be wary of. Barely a year after my village was savaged, I learned about the strife between some clans like the Magic Circle, Assassins, and women with either severe cases of warts and burns or latent abilities to make predictions of the future. It seems they are fighting over something I presume is big and shiny, completely pointless, and maybe life-altering.

I notice a small mountain with a decent cavern area not more than five yards before me. At a glance, I can tell it was not a completed network, just a simple cave, and that there were no animals inhabiting it. My shelter for the night. It's meager, but I will manage, I always have.

I clutch my mother's keepsake necklace to me, rubbing my hands around it as I puffed as much warm air as I could between my hands, trying my best to warm them, and whispered a silent prayer of thanks to my mother.

Whatever it is, I'd best keep to myself and avoid these conflicts. Life is hard but simple for me and I have few things to do for the sake of my mother and my people.

Survive, and remember...