Herpo Chronicles

Genesis

Sometime in the late 7th century AD in an old European countryside valley

"Can you feel the love of our Lord?" howled the priest in his stupid southern accent. A lit match dropped onto the pyre. The congregation roared in affirmation. Thomas hung from the cross silently. The two nails made him want to cry out in agony. It hurt to breathe. He had been hanging for over 12 hours now. A bit of dark smoke began to emerge from the heap of wood. A spider was crawling on his nude body, piercing its tentacles into his flesh.
"That man up there has been condemned for the sin of blasphemy." A large boo from the crowd followed. " He is the son of the Satan...He says he is all flesh and blood just like us..He says his so called 'magic' will help us protect the weak...Cure the ill..But do not fall for his words my men..The Devil is the biggest advocate of deceit and lies....How can this creature cure the ill when he is the biggest illness of all...He and his brotherhood of witches and wizards...ABOMINATION"
The croud went mad with frenzied shouts and boos.

"Tell me. Do you want your children to grow up in a valley that has someone like him...Are you safe with this demon who uses this..( takes out a wooden wand from his pocket) this unholy tool to do the devil's bidding ? ARE YOU", shouted the priest

"Noooo...KILL HIM...BURN HIM"
"Fear not brothers and sisters, today we shall burn his sins away." This was followed by the biggest cheer yet as the crowd rejoiced.
As he hung there, barely able to even hear, Thomas realized how much of a fool he had been, revealing his true self to his village people..His father had settled here with him, 25 years ago when he was but a child..It was basically a valley, surrounded by mountains..He knew his father was different from the rest settled in the valley..His father could do stuff he had never seen anyone else do...His father often used a wooden stick with golden feathers on it and that thing could do miracles...Miracles that he could not comprehend...But he always followed his father's advice.... "Never reveal to the townsfolk what we are and what we can do....Our magic means them no harm but they won't hesitate to harm us..Humans fear what they don't understand...It's in their nature...They have grown used to being the most powerful and dominant species on the planet and will try to subdue or control anyone or anything that they think are powerful than them..."

That was the perception that Thomas had of Muggles ( a term he knew distinguished the rest of the village from them)...And so right his father was..Even 10 years after his father's death, he had lived in absolute isolation in the village, not letting anyone know what he was....well, until last night when he had to reveal himself to save the life of the only person he cared about in the village...The nearby shepherd's daughter.

It had been about 10 years that he had secretly fallen in love with Julianne, who had to be the most beautiful lass in the world. It was 10 springs ago that he had seen Julianne for the first time. Thomas's tiny cottage was at the edge of the village near the banks of the river that the village drew its life from. It was here that they had met when Julianne came there to collect water. They talked, they connected and with every new flower that blossomed for the next 9 springs, their love blossomed a bit, while keeping it all a secret from everyone else. Even Thomas' own father passed away, not knowing that his son had been in love with a Muggle. However, to honour his father, Thomas never even told Julianne what he was..Until the fateful night when everyone came to know...

The thunderclaps and lighting, along with the howling of the wolves from the nearby valleys that night were an ominous sign of what was soon to follow. Julianne had been grazing her flock of sheep when the storm came. Thomas was at his home reading an old parchment that his father used to read often. It was then that he heard the screams..It was difficult to isolate the screams of help over the thunderclaps and the howling wind, but he could never not recognize the voice of the woman he so dearly loved...Panic-stricken, he ran outside, his heart beating fast..The screams made his skin crawl in fear. " JULIANNE WHERE ARE YOU", he kept shouting into the mad darkness outside, while staggering to keep himself from being knocked out by the fiery wind.