Cold. Drifting. Lost. Where am I?
...
Am I dead?
...
There was light. Brightness and color. Shouts. I remember it.
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You told me to run.
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Missing. Afraid. Dad, where are you?
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Fell. Falling. Afraid.
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Empty. Nothing. Can't move. Can't see. Can't think.
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Is this death? Am I dead?
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Help me. I don't know where I am.
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Did they hurt me? I can't feel anything.
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I ran, like you said.
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Dad?
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Cold. Lost. Dark.
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I think I'm dead.
...
...
...
When Ingressus woke up, he knew who he was. And that was all he could say. Where, why, how, and when all came up blank. He was in a cave, that much was obvious. But it was wrong, it was too bright... Sunlight in a cave meant you were too exposed; you had to go deeper to be hidden, to be safe...
Ingressus nearly panicked when he felt something pressing down on him. He thrashed, but the thing moved with him. Then he realized it was a pile of blankets.
His ankle hurt. Ingressus moved it tentatively, feeling something tight encircling the limb. Was he tied down?
He fumbled under the blanket until he got his hands free. Well, at least he wasn't completely tied up. He shoved the blankets off of him, shivering at the sudden intrusion of cool air as he sat up (ow, why did his ribs hurt?) and inspected his restraints. That... didn't appear to be a restraint at all. Long strips of bandages were wrapped around his ankle, tight but not painfully so. Something stiff was strapped on either side of his leg under the bandages, keeping him from moving the appendage. Oh. It was a splint, then. But it wasn't tied to anything. A glance at his other leg showed another bandage wrapped around his shin, but no restraints there, either.
What had happened to him?
"Ah, you're finally awake."
Ingressus locked eyes with the blue Ardoni, and terror seized him. Those markings, that pattern— he was a raider, he was the Champion!
Flashes of songs echoed before Ingressus's eyes, red and green and blue and yellow blazing back and forth across the mountainside. The gleam of diamond, the splatter of blood, screams of anger and pain and fear and this Sendaris plunging a sword into his father's chest—
Ingressus recoiled, his gaze darted around the cave, scanning desperately for anything to defend himself. No sword, no Voltar, how could he have lost them, his father had entrusted him–
YOU ARE READING
Altered Destiny
FanfictionA lost child, scarred and orphaned, is found by a new family. Time passes, wounds heal, and the child finds peace in his new life. His rescuer, once a stranger, becomes a friend and brother to him. But then, pain, denial, betrayal. Best friends, bro...
