Assassins Bane (wof medieval human AU)

Blood and Bone

"I knew nothing but shadows and I thought them to be real."
― Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray

Dear readers, my name is Sarai. You know who I am, hopefully. You also probably don't like me all that much.

First things first. I don't care.

Second, I'm beyond used to it.

Third. Despite this, I have an incurable hate for injustice, believe it or not, and I have decided that before we continue on, you should know the story. The whole story. My story. Or at least as much of it as I feel like recounting at this moment.

If you don't want to know it, then go on and skip to the next chapter and oh dear I skipped breakfast. If you do want to know, good for you, I ate lunch already. 

Any way, whether you read it or don't, here it is.

Eighteen years ago

Once upon a time, there lived a small family in the SandWing Kingdom. They made their home in a tent, under the shadows of a dune and there they lived.

A man and a woman.

Long before the family knew that they would be expecting a new arrival, something awoke. Two minds, working and thinking.

Along with these minds, two bodies began to grow as well, sheltered and nurtured in the dark warmth of their mother.

As time went on however, one of the bodies began to weaken. The stronger body took all the nutrients for itself, and the frail one began to become absorbed.

But the mind didn't.

Though his body was weaker than his brothers, his mind was stronger, and it remained, by itself, refusing to become one with the other.

Finally there was only one body where there once was two, with two separate consciousnesses inhabiting it. 

The strong mind waited, avidly for the moment it would come into the world. It didn't care that its body was gone. As long as the weak mind remained asleep, the strong one could claim the body as his own.

However, things did not happen the way he expected.

The weak mind awoke, the strong one was forced back, and upon birth, no one knew that there were two where there should only have been one, and one where there should have been two.

He could only watch. Watch as the weak one was petted and held and cared for. He could only watch as the body that should have been his began to grow and move about, while no one knew of his existence.

He was trapped, and everything seemed to mock him.

The birds and squirrels especially. They would scamper about happily, free to go where they wished and do what they wanted. Unburdened.

It was wrong. Very wrong, and finally, when the weak mind fell asleep while resting his small body under a tree, there was a chance to correct this wrongness.

The thrill of being able to move was nearly too much to bare.

The bird was drawn to him almost, landing on his small hand to nibble on the bread crumbs he had found in their pocket.

The sick, crunching noise as he broke its small body was thrilling.

By taking away its freedom, he was, in his mind, making up for the lack of his own.

Now realizing he could exist fully while the other was asleep, life began to hold meaning.

The dead birds, the mangled squirrels left on the sand.