'Lineage' (Prologue)

The only sound I can hear is my own heartbeat in my ears and the crunch of leaves underneath my feet. The crisp autumn air causes my breath to form a fog as I exhale harder and harder, leaning against the oak tree. I am too scared and exhausted to try and figure out what was going on. All I know is I need to get back to home. 

A couple hours ago, I had walked out of town into the forest that lines the outskirts just to get away for a little while. Sometimes the life of in Red Blood town is just too much. Day after day spent in the fields harvesting the food for everyone in town. You just have to escape. Around sunset, I made my way towards the range of mountains that lie just a few miles to the north of home. There was an old tower that used to set here years ago, a mass of rusty and twisted metal stood where it used to. I followed the path that led up to it and once I'd made it to the summit, I sat there and looked down at our quaint little town and wondered about what used to be down in these valleys. Thinking about my grandfather and his stories, I can't help but imagine. Papaw Reaves said people used to live all over this place. All of his stories seemed to stick with me because he had been on journeys that few else had taken up to the Old City. He was responsible for finding the relics that led us towards figuring out who was here before us and what had happened to them. 

But just as I was getting lost in thought, that's when I began to feel something strange, like a twist in my gut. A low groaning came from my right and I noticed the pile of rusted metal bars that once stood as a tower had begun to unravel and stand straight back up nearly a hundred feet high. I stood in fear as the tower rose back up in the way it must have once stood. I had rose up to my feet and tried to find a tree to lean against, but as I did, the tree that was at least 3 feet thick toppled over as my weight met the bark of the tree. With a loud crash, the tree crushed two more on the way down. I began to run as fast as I could back towards down. I began to run straight down the hillside and as I did, the tower came crashing back to the ground in a screeching painful sound. 

Looking down at my feet as I ran back towards town, I wasn't thinking about looking where I was going. Halfway down the hillside, I ran into another tree. It practically splintered and exploded on impact and sent the 10 feet of remaining tree thrown like a toothpick a hundred yards into the forest in front of me, cracking and breaking the trees it came in contact with. I made it down to the edge of the forested area that surrounded my home town and fell to my knees breathing short, hard breaths.

Trying to calm myself, I stand up and lean back against a tree. My breathing began to slow and the pain in me had subsided. As I look back up the hillside, however, my breathing nearly stops altogether. There before me was an empty void of fallen trees, like a large gash has been cut into the mountainside. What chance I had of trying to hide what had just happened would be all but gone by morning when the entire town would be able to see the devastation. There would be questions, rumors of some disaster. I'm not sure I could face up to anyone but Papaw Reaves right now. He would know what to do. My Skill had manifested, in the worst possible way.