Defiant, The Lion

[Sage]

Deep in the Darkwood Forest, far west of Darkwatch, the city of elves and military outpost of the Algerothian humans, a gruesome scene was underway. An older soldier had been restrained by a group of bandits whom had ambushed and looted an Algerothian patrol. Their camp would be ransacked and burned, all valuables extracted and every life taken. The haul was good, each of the snickering highwaymen replacing pieces of their makeshift armor with the fine craftsmanship of the old man's deceased companions.

Captain Raius Blackthorne, the Lion of Bale. His name once sent shivers down the spines of enemy soldiers. Now he was a washed up ex-General, given a cushy post and lessened responsibilities to keep him occupied with meaningless busywork until the end of his days. When King Syrus still reigned, he at least was kept around the Capital in order to tap into his vast experience while training new recruits at the Academy in Toryn.

However, since his brother had usurped him, Raius had been put under the leadership of General Darius Ravenshield, and sent to a far-flung outpost in Darkwood Forest. It was during service in his effectively demoted capacity that his party had been overrun by the cowardly men. As the fires spread to the nearby trees, casting bright light into the clearing, Raius realized he recognized several faces. Some of them were ex-military, men who had served with him. Sieg's tyranny had driven many an honest man into the wilderness to fend for himself whatever way he could.

The others he did not know where he recognized them from, but while their gear was substandard, their ambush tactics and effectiveness in combat were hardly diminished. He could only guess they were out-of-work mercenaries, or even assassins from a collapsed guild, such as The Syndicate. If that much was true, he knew he would not make it out of his situation alive, and once they felt they had gotten any valuable information out of him, he wold be killed.

Death would come swiftly. Captain Raius would never betray a secret to the enemy.

[Shin]

It had all happened so fast that Sora didn’t believe that any of it was real. He hoped and wished that it wasn’t real, that the stinging heat from the flames was an illusion, that it would all fade and his parents would stand back up. He sat there, waiting, tears streaming down his cheeks as he fought back the sobs. He had tried to stay brave like his father had told him. But it was hard, so hard.

“Get up. Get up…” He kept repeating over and over, the words drowned out by the roaring fire. The bandits had locked him in here, thinking it fun to force the young boy to watch them rape his mother and then kill both his parents in front of him. Rage and anger built up inside of Sora, an anger that he could barely control. Was he mad at himself, the bandits, the gods, or his parents? He didn’t know, he didn’t care.

“ha…ha…HAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!” Sora busted into a child like fit of laughter, his hands coming to his face as if to scratch out his eyes when another beam fell and the house groaned under the protest of it’s own weight.

--

It was the first house to go up into flames and it was the first to collapse fully, caving in on itself with a rush of fire and smoke. Cheers from the bandits went up as it fell, only to be silenced a moment later as the roof that came crashing down was brutally blown apart along with part of a wall. Had there been something explosive inside?

A few moments later a boy no more then thirteen came walking out of the fire and smoke, his face soot black and obviously smeared with tears that were no longer there. His clothes were burnt and dark, yet he wore a large smile, one stretching from ear to ear and he laughed hysterically. Seeming to not see any of the bandits as he walked, one unsteady step in front of the other, his orange eyes seeing through the bandits, dating around searching for something or someone, all the while still laughing uncontrollably.

[Sage]

--7 years ago, scene of fire--
A large, dark figure stood behind the treeline near the burning remains of Sora's home. The smell of charred flesh and wood was pungent in the air, and the rejoicing bandits howled with laughter as their leader stepped forward, watched closely by the figure hidden in the shadow created by the dancing flame against the edge of the forest.

He was an unusual-looking man, and he features made him look no more than twenty. His hair was white as snow, and tied back in a long tail, resting against his back. His eyes were unnaturally blue, standing out in the firelight bracing his face. A faint sheen appeared over his body, illusory armor cast around his form to protect him from the boy's potential retribution.

" You managed to survive, congratulations. You have earned freedom, should you choose to embrace it. "

The crowd of restless bandits roared around Talis, clattering their weapons loudly as a semi-circle was formed around the boy, surrounding him with his back to the fire. One in particular stepped forward, a shirtless man with a large crescent scar protruding in angry red from his chest. His weapon of choice was a large battleaxe, it's handle gnarled and blade chipped.

" Man in charge says yer free to go, son. But remember these faces. If I'ma seein' you again outside uh tonight, I'ma rend your flesh like your bitch of a mother. Don't like lookin' over my back, see? "

Talis, clearly the operator controlling the otherwise aimlessly violent assortment of men, gave a disapproving shake of his head and turned on his heel. He walked a short distance to where the semi-hidden man waited for him in the shadows, and with a slight shift in the wind, they both disappeared.