Renewal Eternal

1.1.3: To Each His Own

Balance blossomed the world like a flower in spring rain. It made whole what was and what will become. Above all, two sides remain. One vies for control, the other, freedom. Separated, they remain. But, time is an enemy none can overcome. The time of conflict approaches. All peoples heed this call! Rise up and declare your allegiance! For no man, woman, or child can stay out of this struggle. All will impact the world's future in some way or another. It is up to you to choose your fate.

~ From Unknown, Passage from the Song of Challenge, circa 3558 A.G.

2 R.E. – 8 R.E.

Just as life ended for David Peterson, life began for Rajac Rashak. Life as a Ventros suited him in away and alienated him in another. Stoicism and dedication, two traits Rajac held onto from his previous life, were valued while his petulant anger and disregard for others, were not.

The Ventros had long ago been dispersed throughout Vashin. Only the remnant of a remnant lived on Creva Mountain, unmolested, as they toiled away in the small village they called home.

Life on Creva Mountain was peaceful. Something Rajac had never understood until he lived on Thantos. He enjoyed his life on his family's farm, the daily walks in the run-down market owned by Master Cahill and the fresh air of the mountain.

Stress, which once had been a daily accord of Rajac's, disappeared completely. In part, this was due to his age as his parents, Akain and Tai, took care of him like a newborn swaddled in the finest linen. Though, that was not the only reason.

No one relied upon him.

For all of his life, Rajac had taken care of someone. Whether it was his father, a drunk he had to carry up to his bed three nights a week, his men while in the army, or his daughter who he even felt responsibility for as he lay, near death, in the hospital, Rajac was never free.

Freedom does funny things to a man. Rajac took that freedom by the chin and dragged it along throughout his young life.

He explored lands thought too dangerous by elders who were as ancient as some of the towering oaks. He hunted wild beasts, unaided, from afar. And, he followed travels, Experts most likely, as they trecked through the mountain. Them, Rajac made sure to stay away from. Even on Creva Mountain, Experts had a certain reputation that even Rajac headed. Dangerous in the extreme, it was said even the weakest Expert was worth ten men in a battle. Those who sought adventure in the Western Territories often crossed the mountain but never entered the village above.

All in all, he enjoyed himself immensely.

But, freedom never lasts.The village of the Ventros, unnamed due to its paltry stature, lay within the Western Territories. The most feared and violent lands on Vashin.

Creva Mountain was like a flag that jutted between the four duchies in the region. Though Poshani claimed dominion over it, it lay between them all. Near unscalable, unless one knew the paths, Creva Mountain and the people who lived on it remained in ignorance of the violence that surged down below.

Those who lived in the Ventros village, the Rashak Clan, were small in number. Due to this, they lived an agrarian lifestyle which required all capable hands. As his sixth nameday approached, Rajac was called to aid his family in the most important of tasks as so many before him were. Farming.

Backbreaking, dirty, farming.

The adventures down the mountain stopped. The pleasant afternoons in the sunset ceased. His life, his rebirth, it was no more than a peasant's life. A thought he never believed would run through his mind but it was there. Overtime, its presence grew until everytime he shucked corn or pulled wheat, a depression weighed itself down on his mind.