Origins Of Valour

Chapter I-My World Gets Spun Around a Few Times

I'm panting heavily, my lungs ache for air as I run; but I keep going I can't stop or I'll be caught. I look back at the men chasing me and manage to find it in myself to laugh a couple times as they attempt to catch me. I look back and watch them stumble as they attempt to catch me with their magic. I knock over a couple of barrels to block their path and trip them as I continue to rush down the streets ignoring the pain in my legs. I turn a corner, still trying to escape my pursuers, clutching the bread I've stolen closer to my chest. Before they can catch me I do what has always come naturally to me, I melt into the shadows. The look on my pursuers faces as they turn the corner looking for me is priceless, and as I sit there in the shadows I watch them look around in confusion. I silently laugh to myself; the looks on their faces are ridiculous! I move on silently in the shadows of the alleyway, leaving them behind. I am only able to move a small ways through the shadows before I become too tired to continue shadow jumping, but I've escaped for the day the bread is mine. I rip a huge chunk out of it as I sit there hidden in the shadows. I'm no longer a part of them, but still hidden from eyes on the streets.

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Those men just don't know when to stop. This time I've gotten myself a bigger catch. A hunk of meat, and like always, they are on my tail again. I continue the same pattern of running and jumping through the shadows like always, and like always, they follow me. But today is different I see that they stop for once; I tiptoe up to them from the shadows nearby to see what they're saying to each other.
"Go get someone from the mage council, this situation requires a professional hand."
The man that he was talking to then runs off and the remaining men continue in search of me. After a bit more jumping and quick turns I manage to shake them off my tail. I sit in my alleyway, and begin to eat. I'm famished from the jumping; it takes a lot out of me. Not just from my stomach but I'm so physically exhausted that I can barely sit up as I tear into the meat. I had just barely swallowed my first tender, juicy bite when the stone beneath me began to move, and a slight rumbling could be heard and I looked down at the ground around me. Vines shot up out of the ground and I struggled to get out of their reach, but was too slow to react. The vines grabbed me, I dropped my meal and tried to pry the vines off of my body with the little strength I had, but to no avail. I kicked as they lifted me off the ground; the vines squeezed my waist, and my mind exploded with pain. Soon I was left immobilized in midair. The men came up to me, seeming afraid for some reason even though they had me all wrapped up. All I could do was watch helplessly as I was carried away by the vines. They squeezed me harder, but this time I was too tired to even struggle. The world around me grew blurry and dark splotches clouded my vision; I passed out.
When I awoke, it wasn't pleasantly. I sat there for a few moments, hoping this was some mental after effect of hunger. then everything hit me at once, and my eyes snapped open. that was a bad idea, the room was bright white, and hurt my eyes. I closed my eyes again and this time just took small peeks at my surroundings blinking as my eyes adjusted. A group of imposing figures sat in their high chairs from a distance; they're all staring at me disapprovingly.
"Good, it's awake now. We may now begin the judgement." The man speaking was obviously the ringleader of the group. He was tall, thin, and his hair was slicked back from his face. In every way he reminded me of a rat. "Members of the Mage Council, sitting before you is an abominable creature that has proven it can use 'The Forbidden Magic'."
I see expressions of agreement pass among those present, nodding of heads, even some vocal agreement like a, yes, or a mumble.
'Abominable?' I think confused, 'What did I do to deserve this kind of treatment? All I did was take some food'
"Even worse," Rat-face continues. ", is that it has no idea the damage it has been causing within the lower city."
"We have been receiving many, very frightened reports from the citizens and we, as a council, can't help but answer to those pleas." Another proclaims heatedly as he stands up knocking over his chair. This man is somewhat taller than Rat-face, but is roughly twice his size.
"So we are all in agreement that the creature is to be put under high security imprisonment?" Proclaims Rat-face. All those present agree once again. I sit there, still in stunned silence. I notice some guards have started moving, as if to take me away, and that shocks me out of my stupor.
"Wait! I don't know what I did to deserve this kind of punishment! There are worse thieves out on the streets than me!"
"Don't act like you don't know what you were doing, you, you thing! And as for punishment goes, be glad we aren't taking your life!" Another man spat at me with disgust.
The guards move in again and take me away to another cell, again the same bright shadowless white. I am manacled to the wall with chains at my hands and feet with only enough slack to kneel down with my arms hanging above my head. I am left there alone. It felt like an eternity before I had any human contact, even then it was just a guard bringing in a stale crust of bread, and a glass of stagnant water. He gingerly approaches me, as if I was in any position to oppose anything they wanted to do to me. He shoves the bread down my throat, and pours the water all over me, barely any of it actually making it into my mouth. He hits me with the serving tray, a little blood starts pooling in my mouth. As a final insult he spits on me, then leaves. I attempt to fall asleep, but find that hard to do. I try and sleep, hoping to get away from this madness, but everything was working against me. The chains around my wrists and ankles burn into my skin, causing a small, steady drip of blood down my arms, but the worst part was the lack of shadows.
It is the worst part of the imprisonment, and highly unnerving, since I have been around them my whole life; they are my escape and refuge. After spending a few days without the shadows I feel as if I am deprived from food and water itself. Even though every day the same routinely crust and cup are brought to me. In a matter of days I am a bruised and bloody mess. My hair matted to my head with blood from all the beatings received everyday as a kind of cruel 'desert' to every meal.
As I kneel there after my fourth feeding since arriving, I find myself crying, not out loud, but just feeling the wet hot tears run down my cheeks makes me feel miserable. Remembering how just a few days ago I was laughing, dodging cops, and just living my poor life, makes me cry aloud; even though it was poor, and I had to steal just to get by, it was still much better than this. I look up to see a shadow pass by the doorway, and force myself to stop crying. I try and reach for it, hoping i have the strength to jump just far enough to escape. Straining against the chains just causes me more pain, and have stifle a sob. I fail, my cry sounding loud in the emptiness of the cell, but I see the shadow stop, and turn around and approach the door. The shadow stands in front of the doorway for a few moments, and eventually the door opens. Standing in front of me is a richly dressed lord of some sort. I turn my head away, biting my lip, not wanting to gain more ridicule for being seen in this moment of weakness. Instead of a ridiculing comment, I hear a sympathetic gasp of surprise. He rushes over to me and says something to me. I don't quite catch it so I look up into the stranger's face. His face is a mix of emotions, surprise, sympathy, a bit of horror to see what has been done to me, and a somewhat mischievous grin hidden behind all of it. He leans down and unlocks my chains; he holds out his hand still kneeling down in front of me.
"Can you stand?" he asks, my ears actually heard what he said this time.
I take hesitantly his hand in mine and try and stand, as he does; but having knelt in the same position for so long has left my legs weak, and if he hadn't caught me I would have face planted into the floor. He helps be back into a sitting position.
"Looks like you're not walking, I guess I'll just have to carry you." I shake my head, not wanting to look as helpless as I felt, and probably was.
"Work with me here kid. Carrying you will help me get you out of faster. Come here..." He takes off his huge cloak, and reaches out towards me, and I relent. He was stronger than he looked and as he picked me up he didn't seem to be bothered by my weight, probably because I weighed less than a half full sack of potatoes at this point. Living on the streets kept me thin and able to hide in tight spaces, not to mention the lack of food since I had been put in this cell. He placed me on his back, and I gingerly hooked my arms around his neck. He put his cloak on over the both of us, the large folds easily hiding me underneath. He begins walking out, but pauses for a moment, muttering something I don't understand, and then continues on out the doorway. I hold my breath, and soon we are away from what I can only assume was the dungeon. Under the cloak I couldn't tell where we were going, but it felt like it took an eternity to get there; the walk was taking so long that my eyelids were becoming increasingly heavy. On the way I could tell as we passed more people, all of them saluting and bidding the man a good day. Every time they referred to him as 'my lord', rather than by a name, or so I assumed, my ears were failing me again and I was so tired that most just went in through one ear and out the other. A while later I hear a door close, and the man takes off his cloak.
"It's alright, you are safe in here." He sets me down on a huge comfortable bed, and turns to look at me more closely. I reach up to rub my eyes that are really itchy from the crying I had been doing. I then look at the splendor of the room I am in, and am surprised by the luxury of it all. The momentary surprise does little to keep my eyelids from sinking lower, and I barely even notice when I fall over from my sitting position, into a laying one. I struggle to keep my eyes open as I watch the man mix something over at a side table. He walks over to me and pours some kind of drink down my throat. I don't have the energy to care enough to even ask what it is. Just as my mind is about to drift into the oblivion of sleep, I sense the pain leaving my body, and I instantly fall into a deep sleep.