A Tale of a Nameless Homin

[katriell]

Though she had forgotten why she was laying on the ground, injured and just now regaining consciousness, she had a distant feeling that she had not expected to open her eyes again, when she had last closed them. Now she raised her gaze slowly, taking in her surroundings. Horror by horror. The cold campfire next to her head, covered in ashes. The bodies strewn about, most mangled beyond recognition. A few kitin corpses, towards the edges of the area which seemed to have been a camp at one point. The claws of the corpses, curled inward and making a stark silhouette against the twilight horizon.

She looked down, and saw the burns on her legs. From kipesta, probably. What's a kipesta...? She had a fleeting impression of hovering, winged kitin. Gouts of flame. Falling, burning, rolling. Shaking her head slightly to release her delirious mind from the grip of the memory, she saw that her arms were also burned. Looking around again, she wondered who these people were. Had been. And, more importantly as her thoughts became clearer, who was she?

It was obvious what had happened here. Kitin attack. But who are the kitin and why would they want to attack us? She laughed at her own question, as though part of her still knew the answer and was amused by her present confusion. The sound of her own laughter, croaking from her throat hollowly, startled her. And now the ashes beside her were speckled with dark blood. The red contrasted against the grey, reflecting the turn of her emotions as she came to full awareness.

I need to know... The answers to her questions. Some of which it seemed she already knew. What am I? Fyrosian...but does that mean I'm from somewhere called Fyro? Or Fyros? Or is that the name of my tribe...or my race? But those answers she had weren't clear, and only brought more questions.

There was a road beyond the camp. She didn't have any clue where it lead, but it felt important to her. She started to get up, slowly. Painfully, as her skin and limbs shifted. Water...I need water. Stumbling over to one of the bodies, glancing down into the burned-out helmet where the corpse's head would've been. One of the hands still gripped a pike, the fingers blackened and melted against the charred wooden shaft. The other hand lay several feet away.

Determining that nothing useful remained on that one, she moved on to another. This one was smaller, and much more intact. A young female, perhaps. Though it was difficult to tell, as intact was a relative term. Again however, there was nothing she could loot. The third body lay trapped beneath the corpse of a kitin that looked like it had been simultaneously burned by electricity, melted by acid, and frostbitten. The limbs of the kitin and the homin under it were somewhat tangled, and she had to push aside a couple of the kitin's claws to get a good look at the homin. One of the claws broke off at the upper joint, showering her in debris from the charred, melted, and frozen carapace. But the reward she found was great. A waterskin, tucked into the homin's belt. It looked full and undamaged.

Leaning down, she took the waterskin and examined it before opening top and sniffing. Smelled alright...for water. She took a tentative sip. Slightly stale but otherwise it tasted alright, too. By now darkness was cloaking the sky, and the chill of the desert night was setting in. She briefly wondered if it would be better to wait before heading out, then realized that the merciless sun would not be kind to her tender skin. And, glancing around, she decided that she did not want to remain here any longer.

So she hurriedly finished her raid of the camp's remains, wrapping a light blanket around herself and tucking the waterskin under her arm. Then she started walking. Out of the camp. To the road. Toward the direction she somehow knew was the opposite from that which they'd came from.

* * *

It was some time later, a matter of days or weeks she did not know. She had wandered until she saw the inviting lights of a settlement in the distance. She trudged across the dunes, a small hope growing in her heart. Only to be attacked by some creature. She could barely find the strength to run, the skin of her legs afire with the pain of her untended burns. Almost certain her death was imminent as she stumbled and fell to the ground, but the guards of the settlement saw her and rushed out, killing the creature before it reached her.

"Just doing our job," they told her as they helped her up and brought her into the settlement. "Welcome to Kaemon," a woman dressed in purple greeted her. After that things blurred. She was taken inside somewhere, tended and treated. Fed and watered. Then she slept, for the first time since regaining consciousness.

* * *

The next day, she woke to see the face of the woman who had taken her in. "Who are you? Where am I?" were the first words she could find.

The woman smiled kindly. "I am Aekos Apocaps. I'm a Welcomer for the town of Kaemon. That's where we are now - in the quarters below the trainers' lodge. This is one of five small towns established on this island for the welcoming and training of refugees such as yourself." Aekos paused to pick up a cloth soaked in cool water and apply it to her skin. "Now...who are you?"

"That's...a good question." She smiled slightly. "I don't know. I don't remember anything...well...I remember some things but it's vague...and I know some things I guess, like how to speak..." She winced as the cloth came into contact with a particularly tender patch of skin on her shoulder. "Can you give me a name?"

"Hmm...perhaps in time," Aekos replied thoughtfully. "For now, it is time for you to start learning about your own people."

Over the next few hours, she learned about the Fyros. The Great Swarming which had devastated homin civilization, and which had been caused by the Fyros themselves in their search for the Dragon. But, Aekos was quick to say, the Fyros had been the first to bear the full brunt of the kitin's wrath, and that was never to be forgotten. And then the exodus, and the rebuilding of the great Fyros Empire which continued to that day.

"And now homins such as yourself are needed on the mainland more than ever. These are critical times. War is brewing." Aekos would not say more about the war, though.

"And now for that name..." Aekos' lips thinned in an expression of deep thought, her eyes focusing intently on those of the nameless homin she tended to.

Finally, she pronounced, "Lojala. It means loyalty, or loyal one. A fitting name for a Fyros. Serve the empire well, Lojala."

[legokid]

*Tears in eyes*

That was a great tale, its amazing how detailed it is. I've never heard or see a story maitain such detail and wonder after the Great Swarming. She is a mighty Fryos. If you have anymore i'd love to hear them.

[rabcaz]

well spoken my friend, such emotional tale.

Thank you for sharing it.

// Drakfot