Origins -Kyrazha

[Rhonya]

The air was humid, filled with steam that nearly took my sight away completely, so thick it was at this point. I had to walk carefully, the stones under my feet slippery and treacherous as I made my way over them. I’d taken my shoes off, the air around me was already warm enough, the stones under my feet a comfortable temperature, heated by the lava that ran a little further away into the steam of water with a hissing noise, heating it up. There was just enough light to see by, the molten rock glowing gently, casting shadows on the walls. I was alone here, for as far as I could see, so I slowly made my way to the edge of the water and dipped a bare toe into it. A light gasp escaped my mouth because of the hot water. It wasn’t uncomfortable though, but it took some getting used to.

Soon, clothing littered the floor, lying in a messy pile because I never bothered to put it down neatly. I looked down at myself with an annoyed grunt. All I saw were my breasts and my stomach, which had gotten huge by now, so huge I had to lean backwards all the time to prevent myself from toppling forwards. It made for very uncomfortable walking and running was a challenge on its own, especially in this snow. It annoyed me greatly, this stomach, this situation and the uncomfortable things that came along with it. Being stuck in camp really made me on edge, walking circles all day long through the huts and the buildings. I had set some traps here and there and caught some rabbits once in a while, but it just wasn’t the same. I wanted to go out, stretch my legs and go hunting and running in these new lands, testing out the snow and my surroundings.

Slowly I lowered my heavy self into the hot water, hiding the sight of that bulging stomach. The water came up to my neck once I found a comfortable ledge of rock to sit on and I leaned back against the edge, finally relaxing a little. I was sure M agrahra wouldn’t approve of me even being here alone, seeing it was a small walk away from camp. But I didn’t care, I’d face her and her staff later. I needed some alone time, some time to think about the things that happened that evening, because I didn’t understand any of it.
Sadok had helped me with a ritual, saying I could go out of the village, maybe find out more about my parents as we discussed long ago already. I wanted to know my heritage, my past and where I can from. My clan, so perhaps one day I could honor my parents in the right way. He’d explained I would only travel in spirit, so my body would remain with him. This frightened me. I’d never been close to spirits, to all this ritual stuff. I didn’t understand it, so I feared it. Curiosity won though from my fears and I accepted. I’d do the ritual, and if I found out something I didn’t know yet, all the better.

I could still hear the whispers in my mind, as if they were still around me in this cave. Maybe they were, but I knew they were only memories as I leaned my head back and soaked in the hot water, thinking about the words the ice elemental had spoken to me at the hut he had lead me to.

“One blade for breaking his heart.  One blade for tearing him apart. You know it keeps him strong. You know it'll do him wrong. Love over stone. Mind over matter. The things that you hold; can fall and be shattered.”

I remembered it vividly, the sight, the smells, the pain… The pain of seeing Sadok lying on the floor like that, cold, half frozen, pleading me not to do it. Not to do what…? I hadn’t understood, I wasn’t hurting him, I tried to aid him… But suddenly there was the knife, iron and harsh, in my hand, and somehow it had ended up in his chest even though I dropped it to the floor. Pulling it out was no use, it only dug in deeper at every tug, Sadok in pain, moaning and whimpering, dying, all that blood, all the pain…

I shook my head a little to get rid of the image as I doubled over a bit, the pain still there, in my chest. I hadn’t killed him, it wasn’t real, and I would never do it… Still, I couldn’t forget those empty staring eyes, looking at me in an accusing way. Why had the spirit shown me this? Was it a warning, a glimpse of the future? This was exactly one of the reasons I didn’t like them, always unclear, showing things I didn’t want to see, that hurt me.

With a sigh I lowered myself a little more into the hot water, until only the top of my face still stuck out above the surface, my nose and my eyes. I leaned my hands back to loosen up my dreadlocks from the ponytail they were in, letting them float out freely on the water, surrounding my head. Sadok had told me to not think about that part of the vision, about what the elemental had said. But it kept going through my mind anyway. Even more so than the thing I had found out at the end of the vision. A cave, paintings on the wall, moving and telling the story of my past…

I remember the images very well. The small drawn figures representing my parents, joining a large force of orcs, two armies fighting and then them splitting up from the rest. Why had they joined the fight at the portal? So many things were still unclear, answers I hadn’t gotten. They had moved to a place with trees, what I now understand to be the Vale. They had gotten a child, a third figure appearing on the wall… Me.

Beasts had killed them, but they had defended me until the end, making sure I had survived, even though I was left alone. It ended there, the movements, the images, just the one little figure standing between the trees. Laughter had suddenly surrounded me and as a bloody handprint on the wall had suddenly changed to a skull, the elemental spoke.

“There should be laughter after pain. There should be sunshine after rain. I can still hear their laughter. I can still hear their song. So many years after. So deep and so strong.”
Laughing Skull… I was a Laughing Skull.

It still had to sink in, the realization, the meaning… What â€"did- it mean? It didn’t change anything, not directly, at least. I still was who I was. I was still Kyrazha Throatrender, mate of Sadok Sharptongue and pregnant with our two sons. I was still the daughter of Qa’ajn, if not by blood at least in spirit and mind. But now I knew, and I didn’t really know what to do with this information…
A painful feeling in my stomach brought me back to the present, as I sat up more straight and put my hands around the bulge down below. I’d been having these pains on occasion now the past few days, they’d come and go away again. I’d probably have to inform Mag about them when I’d see her again too. Maybe it was nothing, but she’d told me I shouldn’t take any risks now anymore. So I wasn’t going to.

Just a few more weeks… A few more and then, I realized suddenly, these two Laughing Skull would be born, in a land where our clanmembers were not even green. Sadok had the Laughing Skull blood as well, and so we’d pass it on.
I relaxed into the water again, the painful feeling passed, and simply stared at the cavern wall, replaying the images in my mind again, trying to make sense out of them. Maybe I would never understand. Maybe I would… At least it had given me something to do. Something to think about, while I was stuck anyway.

[Magra Emberheart]

As I said, interesting and good read xx