Lun'Ture the Half-Elf Ranger

Chapter 1 - Riverfield Village

Days of heat and cold are where the beginning of Lun'Ture story begins, with the cold winter sun relentlessly heating the day to give the uncomfortable feeling of unbalance in temperature as the men and women of the Riverfield Village worked on the construction of the village. Lun'Ture, only a boy then, was an errand helper for his parents -- his father a human farmer and his mother an elven hunter, as they assisted the best they could in the construction of the new village.

The land of their old village, Grassfield, had grown dry and unyielding, so the villagers had to leave -- times were tough in the preparation of the winter, and no village was willing to share supplies with their struggling village... especially when they had nothing to give back. Their previous village, set in an empty field, offered little in terms of resources -- only the few rodents that could be hunted were the meat they had, with their pelts offering only a little bronze or, if lucky, silver. It was his father that decided to gather as many villagers as possible to try and find a new location for the village. As the appointed leader of the endeavor, he was expected to give everyone hope and lead them to a bountiful location that would yield them enough to survive.

Lun'Ture's father, Renard, was a farmer all of his life -- he never explored or learned to fight, just how to plow the fields and raise crops... a life that was simple, but needed to be lived in order to survive. His mother, Chas'Aru, was the one that did the exploring, or used to. She used to be part of a party of adventurers, exploring the unknown and surviving off whatever they could -- however, her life of adventuring got put to an end by a beast of the like she had never seen before... her words would shake and she would be unable to move out of pure fear, the encounter having scarred her and left her unable to properly move her legs. The party, either out of pity or knowing she was a liability (his mother always swore the latter), left her at Grassfield village with a few coin and whatever she had on her. There, she met Renard, a farmer that was struggling to deal with rodents that would constantly come and eat his crops... and the rest is history.

Lun'Ture would run errands for his mother most often, helping her find materials and the like from the forest not too far from Riverfield. She would use them to make traps, bows, arrows -- whatever she could do to try and help the village survive the winter and any beasts that come too close to the village. While they had yet to encounter anything too dangerous, a bear here and there or a few wolves, his mother would often say that you must always be prepared. She was already teaching Lun'Ture what she knew -- how to fight, what plants to look for, what tracks to follow... she was strict in her teachings, always shouting when he did something wrong -- she would always look sad while doing it, too.

It was no different than any other day, really, for Lun'Ture -- his mind wandering as he stared at the various plants around him in the forest -- most of it was barren, but there were a few that survived in the winter... many poisonous (albeit treatable with the right care), and some useful in terms of food or medicine. There was nothing for him to do, really, except run around with either of his parents, delivering messages for his stressed-father or going into the forest with his forlorn-mother. All of the children were helping as well, there was little-time for play and only time for work... no colors, except the barren colors of nature in the winter, even his clothes were just varying shades of brown and black. Back in the old village, they had materials for awhile that allowed them to trade for clothes that had some colors, a bright red or a somber blue to shake the dreary landscape.

This is why, when a flash of lavender caught the corner of his eye, he immediately raced towards it -- knowing better than to run off in the forest, but also knowing that this was something he had to do, had to get something potentially new in his life. His mother, seeing him run off, called after him -- her voice seeming to be heavy chains on his legs, despite knowing that there was really no way she could do to catch him. He slowed his pace some, but did not stop until he could see what the color was... a piece of paper, painted with various colors and words that he could not make out. He ran after it, chasing it in the wind as it drifted slowly out of his reach... slowly out of his reach as he ran further and further after it as it did a slow waltz in the end, taunting and daring him to come after it. His eyes could not leave it, fascinated by the way it moved and seemed-to-glimmer against the barren land... until his legs hit something hard and he was against the barren land, himself.

Dull pain ran through him, radiating from his face that had landed directly onto the cold, hard ground -- a tinkle of warm liquid falling from his nose as he slowly got off the ground, his hand touching it gently and unveiling blood that continued to drip softly. In front of him, he could see the paper that had been taunting him caught on a branch -- forgetting the pain, he reached and finally ceased his goal. On the paper, it was a lavender background with bold and fancy letters that were hard to read but spelled out...

Arade Circus.

The word Circus seemed familiar somehow, but escaped his mind's grasp. Instead, he turned around to try and get his mother to explain what it means to him, her having nearly-all the answers to his questions... but behind him was nothing but nature, cold and unwelcoming. His mind, now removed from the distraction, opened his ears and revealed nothing but silence... silence for all but the gentle wind that flapped the paper in his grasp.