I grew up on the western continent among the pine forests of the southwest.
Daily, I would venture off on my own seeking serene places where I could become
one with the trees. Throughout each day, I would help any little forest creature
I happened upon that was hurt and needed healing using the tiny moonstone my
mother had given me. For poachers had invaded our territory, hiding their crude
traps among our forest. I know of this because on many occasions I would disable
their traps and rescue the hapless creatures who would get caught in them.
The culprits were two Darshak thugs. During my time spent in the trees, I would
see them pass below me speaking in their own raspy language about how they were
going to capture the saboteur, and what they were going to do to them when they
did. Pretty soon a few days went by where I saw no new traps and traps that I
had set off were being unattended. I thought maybe they had become discouraged
and went elsewhere. Then I saw the most beautiful butterfly fluttering off in
the distance. I had to go follow it, when to my surprise I got ensnared in one
of the Darshak's well-concealed traps. I had let my guard down and now was
hanging from a tree with nothing to cut myself free.
The rope around my leg was very tight and I tried to loosen it to no avail. Just
then my worst fear was being realized, for the two poachers were headed right
toward me through the trees; and when they saw what they had caught, they were
devilishly excited. They glared at me with obvious dishonorable intentions.
They cut the rope and I hit the ground. One of them grabbed me and pulled me up,
holding me from behind. The other one laughed and then hit me, and asked in a
degrading voice if I was the one ruining their hunting. I was terrified at what
they were about to do to me.
Then the man standing in front of me looked past me, his face panicstricken, and
drew an axe. The man holding me turned around and then threw me toward the
ground drawing his sword. I myself looked in that direction and saw an angry
bolok cougar bearing down on us. The two thugs moved to meet it now only about
20 yards away as I scrambled to my feet and fled up a nearby tree. The man with
the sword cut it a few times, but the other with the axe could not connect. The
creature then overwhelmed them, and the man with the sword became fallen.
Meanwhile, his partner ran away as fast as he could through the woods with the
beast chasing after him.
I watched in horror as they both disappeared from sight. The fallen one lay
motionless on the ground as I came down from my perched safety. He looked my way
and grinned. He saw me reach for the moonstone in my pouch. "Yes," he gasped
evily, "please help me and my friend. . . this pain is unbearable!" But I could
tell he was just leading me on. I remembered all the poor forest creatures I
spared from these two, and some of the ones I could not, and thought to myself,
let them see how it feels. What's more, I thought about what they had intended
for me and then I realized that the other half was not accounted for and may be
up and on his way back.
With that in mind, I ran away into the forest the opposite way that the chase had
taken place earlier. As I ran, I could hear the fallen one yell for help and I
could feel my moonstone hitting my side as he did. But I kept on running. That
night, I could not sleep. In my mind I kept hearing persistant cries for help.
The few hours I did sleep were plagued with horrific nightmares about leaving the
fallen one in the forest. And another about raising him and what he did to me
afterwards.
I had to set my mind at ease. The very next day, I made my way back to where all
that had occurred the day before, ever so cautiously; and sure enough, there he
remained lying, now very quiet and very still. I clutched my moonstone in my
hand and went toward him. As I did, it became more noticeable that the rats had
gotten to him overnight and when I knelt down beside him, my moonstone would do
nothing. A part of me felt sorrow. Another part of me was strangely relieved. I
had mixed emotions and did not know how to feel about this. I searched the rest
of the day through the forest for the other and the bolok that had separated the
two, but found absolutely no sign of either.
After that, I did not visit the forest as often. A few months passed by and we
received news in our part of the land of a great war that had taken place in a
group of islands called the Lok'Grotons. I heard that was where many races from
all over the lands were gathering to live but also that the place was infested
with hostile creatures. . . and the Darshaks were nearby. Now because of my
experience, I wanted to live among these exiles and help them -- the way I could
not help that one particular day.