The Fall of the Society

Chapter 34: Origins

     Sid stared into Rose's eagerly awaiting eyes and smiled. Her interest in his past was likely linked to the fact he had referred to her as a phoenix and he was about to tell her the story in which he previously had met one. It could also be that she could not remember her past and she longed to know who she truly was, and even though his story was not hers, it could help fill in some gaps along the way.

     "I am not really sure where to start in order to make my story make sense to you, so I will begin at the origin of my being," Sid told her softly. "A lot of what I am about to tell you will see extremely unbelievable, and you may begin to question my sanity, but I assure you it is all true."

     Rose shook her head gently. "Everything I have experienced could be considered unbelievable. You also saved my life without reason or compensation, so I owe you a debt."

     He laughed, "The time for favor repayment will come, but not for a long time. We have a lot to accomplish before then, and I have a plan that you will find greatly beneficial, but I need more information before I fill you in on that." Expecting a response or question, Sid paused, but when one did not come, he continued. "My story starts an exceedingly long time ago, in a convent. It begins with a woman that was a peasant of the time and she did not have any money, which is why she gave birth in the convent. I believe she meant to put me in an orphanage no matter what. Upon birth, I was horribly deformed, and I can remember the response of the clergy members when they saw me. They believed me possessed, a spawn of the devil, so they bathed me in holy water, which of course did nothing except clean me off. My mother had a similar response and fled, likely in great pain, before they brought me back into the room. The circumstances led them to place me in a crate lined with linens and leave me. I cried, but no one came to care for me, as badly distorted as my body was, they did not expect me to last long. After a day I stopped crying and stared at the ceiling, waiting for someone to come and take me from my bed. Finally believing I had passed; they sent a young maid in to close the box and prepare me for burial. Much to her surprise I was alive and staring up at her, she gasped and contemplated running, but when I did not so much as start crying again, she picked me up and held me against herself."

     Rose caught Sid's attention and he stopped talking to see what it was that she wanted. "You can remember being born?"

     "Not quite, but I can remember everything after I took my first breath," he told her. A further look of amazement crossed her face, but he could tell she was done asking questions for the moment and continued. "The young maid, who would become something of a mother to me, pled with the convent to allow me to stay in the orphanage. They refused her but allowed her to take me while warning her that there was something horribly wrong with me and I would bring her nothing but pain. Her attitude was that as a baby I deserved the chance to grow up and prove them wrong. She had no money or family as her mother died during childbirth and her father was a soldier that died when she was a child, which is why she was in the protection of the church. When she had come of age, they had allowed her to live in a small shack on their property in exchange that she did work for them. She would cook and clean, as well as work in their fields to ensure that she was still given a place to live and provisions for herself and for me. As she had no way of obtaining regular things for me such as a crib, she always let me sleep with her, and they would not allow me in the orphanage with the other children so she would wrap me in cloth and place me on her back. I repaid her kindness by never crying, which many within the convent believed was a sign that I truly was a hell spawn. She suffered much ridicule for her desire to see me grow, but she never swayed in her belief that I would survive."

     "My growth was strange, as my body did not grow normally. I had twisted limbs, a distorted body, and tumors growing across all of it. She tried as hard as she could to make clothes that would fit me but ended up just wrapping me in cloth to protect me from the elements. At age three I had only grown a mismatched set of teeth, many missing, and I was still unable to walk or feed myself properly. Luckily, I did not eat as much as others, so it was not a huge burden for her, but I was able to talk fluently and problem solve at a much higher level. I was still small, so she continued to carry me on her back. Those within the convent continued to fear me, and then they developed a hatred. I was an afront to God, and they wanted to send me back to hell where I could not inflict my evil upon them. Needless to say, she pleaded and cried in despair when they came to take me. She was kindhearted and had spent every waking moment of my life with me since she had been allowed to keep me. Her argument was that I could speak, and I only ever had kind words and I did not complain about my situation. Their response was that I had entranced her, forcing her to believe these things. They took me by force and left her wounded in her shack. She had tried to protect me, to refuse to let them take me, even told them we would leave and never return, but they took me all the same. Her injury was severe, they left her laying in a pool of her own blood. This act angered me, I did not care that they hated me, but to hurt her was unacceptable. For the first time in my life I struggled against my bindings as they had wrapped me more tightly to transport me back within the church. I tried with all my might to fight, but my body was not suited for that sort of thing at the time."

     "Back within the church they prepared a ritual, speaking what I can only figure were words of madness while holding my unholy form above a basin of holy water. After a short while the man dropped me into the container of water to much approval from those watching the ceremony. I watched him in anger from the bottom of the water. Deciding that I had to fool them I stopped breathing out and I was incredibly surprised to feel that this did not cause me discomfort, in fact laying under the water was peaceful and serene. Shortly later they all left the room, leaving me in the basin, hoping the holy water would hold the evilness of my soul. I began fighting my wrappings again, wanting nothing but freeing myself to get back to my mother. A strange feeling came over me and I could feel myself growing stronger and finally managed to free myself and struggle back to the surface of the water. Pulling myself free from the basin I crashed to the ground and began to crawl with all my might, ignoring the pain of the fall and the many injuries I endured while moving across the uneven and often rough ground."

     "The trip took me an unsurprising amount of time as I learned to control my limbs for the first time. It was painful and felt unforgiving as my muscles seized and my skin burned from friction. I refused to stop, leaving a trail of blood and water as I crawled naked across the grounds of the monastery. Reaching the place where my mother lived, the door was left open, so I crawled inside. The sun had already set, so everything was dark, no candles had been lit, and I was worried that she had passed while I was gone. Making my way across the dark dirt floor I found her and could hear shallow labored breaths and I knew that she did not have long, but I was too tired and wounded to try and take care of her so I did the only thing I could think of. She was laying on her back, with a horrible wound to her abdomen, so I curled up and laid my grotesque and disfigured form on hers and passed out from exhaustion and pain."

      Rose stared at him, wondering how he managed to escape from such a tortured situation and could see the sadness on his face. Standing she made her way around the fire and placed her hand on his shoulder. "If you do not want to continue right now, I will understand," she told him softly.

     Sid looked up into her tear-filled eyes, "Pain is what makes us feel alive, it is what tells us we are still amongst the living." Rose sat down beside him and continued to listen. "I awoke a short while later to an earsplitting scream. A nun had come down to prepare my mother's body for transport and found me laying on top of her, which scared her because she knew they left me laying in the vat of holy water. I could hear her running but was still too weak to move much. Then to my surprise my mother sat bolt upright, nearly toppling me onto the floor, but she managed to catch me. We looked at each other in surprise for a moment before she jumped to her feet and placed me on our bed. She was a remarkable sight as she quickly gathered our things. Covered almost entirely in a mixture of her own and my blood her cloths were dark red. This sticks out so much because the only colors those around the convent wore was black and white. Voices echoed across the grounds as she scooped me up into her arms, wrapping a blanket around me, and she rushed out of the small shack. We disappeared into the forest, hoping to escape any pursuers, never wanting to return to that place.