Aaronar's Background: Part 2

[Aaronar]

Yes, I know that this is listed as part 2, because it is. No, part one has not been made available. Yet. This was originally put up at the AVE forum, but I figured that I'd share it with the rest of Valorn as well.


Silence. Darkness. There was nothing. All was a void, where even emptiness did not exist. How long cannot be said, for even time did not flow. Slowly a sense of being began to form. The void became defined, solidifying into vast, ethereal, empty nothingness. An abyssal absence of anything coalesced into tangible nothing, Waves of nonexistence centered upon a single point. The pressure of the vacuum intensified, increasing in speed until acknowledgement of self awareness came. At that moment, an implosion of form realized itself around me in a sensation later to be remembered as pain.

Pain, a new sensation, I could feel running throughout my body. It was the first thing I felt, and yet I could already tell I did not like it. Sitting up, wave after wave of this newfound sense arose through my head, and again I was without consciousness. When next I awoke, it was to the sound of birds chirping. Opening my eyes, I found myself in a mountainous forest. Life was abundant, and peaceful. The throbbing in my head was nearly gone, and I began to take stock of my situation.

I was alone, and wearing the remnants of a tattered cloth. There seemed to be some markings on it, but they were indecipherable. All except for one word. Looking at it upside down I couldn’t make it out so I carefully removed the shirt. It read aarO’naR. Pondering what it could mean, I finally came to the conclusion that it must be me. Me, what am I? Who am I? If that’s me, it must be my name. I am Aaronar. Realizing this, I put the shirt back on, and began to search the surrounding area.

Within a short distance from where I awoke, I was able to find food, water and what could be converted into a good shelter. By sundown I had eaten and washed, and laid down for sleep. It wasn’t until the next day that I realized what I had done, without even knowing what I was doing. How did I know basic survival skills, when I didn’t even know who I was? The longer I pondered this, the less I understood what was happening. Finally I gave up and went in search of food, and whatever I could find to make better clothes out of, for the shirt looked as if it would soon fall apart. Even now, my name was barely legible.

As I wandered the countryside, my situation seemed better and better. Plenty of game and fish in the streams were available, and there seemed to be some fruits and nuts that were edible as well. The next day while I was looking for some firewood, I found a strong, straight branch. As I held it, something within me knew that it would become very important to me, but I didn’t know why. It wasn’t until the next week when I came across a strange, glassy rock, that I put my stick to better use. Grabbing a granite stone, I chipped a piece of this black rock off, and with a few careful strokes, I had a fairly crude knife. Cutting a grove in one end of the stick, I placed another shaped piece of this black rock in the grove, and secured it in place with a strip of my tattered shirt.

I spent the rest of the afternoon chipping that rock, to get more tools that I could use. However, being razor sharp, I had many cuts on my hands that were very painful, and the pain only got worse when I washed out the wounds in the stream by my campsite. What truly astonished me, was that when I awoke the next morning, the cuts were gone. Not even a single scar to show that they had ever been. With everything else that was puzzling to me, I paid it no heed, and continued with my day.

With my new weapon, I was able to take down a deer, and treat it’s hide to start making myself some shoes and clothing. Day by day, I would make some improvement, or find a new item to make my life better and easier. My life continued like this for some time. How long, I do not know. It may have been years or even decades. Time wasn’t something that needed to be measured, at least not then. But like all good things, even this would come to an end, for one day while I was out hunting, something happened that had never happened before. I was attacked.

The beast was huge, larger than any I had before encountered. Walking on all fours, it stood at least eight feet high at the shoulder. It’s fur was matted and unkempt, filthy and yet black as night. Walking on paws bigger than my head, claws as large as scimitars and coated with a vile substance clacked on the rocks, and a tail like that of a scorpion was raised in the air, twisting this way and that, waiting to strike a target. This monstrosity only vaguely resembled a wolf, and the head was no different. The ears were pointed and leathery, often with pieces missing as if torn off, and rows upon rows of teeth lining it’s mouth, hungry to devour any flesh it could find. On the snout, was a ridge of serrated spikes running straight back to it’s forehead, and where eyes should have been, only empty sockets existed with a blazing inferno that looked like it was miles away, yet the heat could be felt on my face.

My mind could not comprehend what I was seeing, my body not responding to any commands I gave it. In a flash the beast lunched at me, jaws snapping shut as I was bitten in half. For an instant, pain shot through me, as if every nerve in what was left of my body was on fire, and then it stopped. I opened my eyes, and I was back at my camp. Me, in one piece, spear still in hand, clothes intact. A faint aura was surrounding me and quickly faded into nothingness. I was dead, that much I was sure of. And yet, here I was. Alive, in one piece. It didn’t make sense to me, but then again, nothing had since I first awoke. Suddenly I was startled out of my reverie by an unearthly howling in the distance, the beast was on the hunt.

Throughout that day, the beast killed me over and over again. And each time I died I found myself back at my camp, with that magical glow fading from my body. The beast was furious that it was constantly denied it’s kill, and pursued me with ever increasing frustration. Finally I decided to wait for it at my camp, for the endless dying was not doing my nerves any good. It wasn’t a long wait, for finally the beast followed my trail back to it’s starting point. In it’s desire to rend me limb from limb, it didn’t bother trying to dodge my spear, and waiting till it was almost upon me, I threw my weapon straight at it. My aim was true, the spear sunk deeply into it’s eye socket.

When the tip of the spear seemed to finally touch the fire within, an explosion erupted from the eye of the beast, throwing it off course, and knocking me unconscious. I then dreamed, at least I think I did. I dreamed that a nightmare, of such terror that the mind cannot even begin to comprehend, swept over the land, calling out. I dreamed that the beast heard the voice, and despite it’s total desire to finish me off, heeded that voice without hesitation, leaving me for dead. And with that, the nightmare passed, tranquility began to restore itself, and I fell into inky nothingness.

Upon awakening, I found myself not in the forest, but in a cave. After searching the cave, I came to a portal, asking me if I was ready to enter the land. With nowhere else to go, I stepped through, and found myself in Dundee…