Forsaken: A Story of the Damned (C1)

Chapter 1: Once an Heir

The sound of footsteps woke me up from an uneasy sleep. They were hurried but purposeful. I opened my eyes and sat up shaking off the strong beckoning of my bed. I calmly listened and realized that whoever is causing all the ruckus was coming towards my room.

I quickly grabbed my trusted dagger always kept beneath my pillow, and quietly hunkered down behind the wooden lampstand next to me after forming a body shaped pillow lump under my sheets.

The doorknob turned and with a sickening click, the door opened. Two heavily armed men with swords drawn entered my room. I was tempted to show myself but decided against it. They could be looking for a burglar and I might just be being paranoid. But a voice in my head told me that these men were up to no good.

What they did next confirmed my fears.

One of the armed men slowly walked towards the other side of my bed. He took a deep and determined breath before mercilessly stabbing his sword into the lump.

My body froze. These men were trying to kill me. But, why?

A multitude of questions flooded my mind, but I knew I had to act fast. I managed to buy myself a few seconds of life due to my paranoia, but my escape will not be easy.

And just like the intense hammering inside my chest, a storm seemed to have appeared out of nowhere. The cracks of lightning and booms of thunder masked the movements I made towards the window closest to me. I begged the gods to distract the men for a few more seconds so that I could escape.

I reached out towards the window latch but before my fingers could touch it, I heard a familiar whistle of blade cutting through air piercing my hand, nailing it inches away from freedom.

I screamed a pitiful scream. I tried to pull my hand away, but it was just too painful.

“Scream all you want, boy. But no one here will hear you. We promise to make it quick.”

One of the men pulled the knife off my hand thereby freeing it off the wall. I crumpled on the floor crying and wheezing.

I looked at my assailants. I knew both but the faces they were making made them unrecognizable. Between sobs, I managed to speak the words I’ve wanted to ask all this time.

“W-why?”

Both showed a cruel smile.

“Because you are damned.”

As if on cue, one of them raised his sword and swung it towards my head. I saw a brief flash or lightning streak across the night sky before I felt my head being hacked in two.

**

I regained my consciousness inside a void. I could not speak nor breathe. I was still and mobile at the same time.

I felt my entirety being dispersed little by little and found it hard to keep myself together as a wave of sleepiness assaulted me. The feeling of disintegration was calming, hauntingly so. And I was tempted to just let go.

But I knew that I shouldn't. Brief flashes of what happened next crashed into my being like angry waves of an ocean.

They bastardized my corpse and mutilated my limbs thereafter.

I was displayed outside of town destroyed, naked and dismembered to let the crows feast on my shame.

I searched for my parents, but they were nowhere to be found in between the scenes. A sense of warmth washed over my being as the thought of my parents being safe crossed my mind. They were not there. They could still be safe.

I felt a strong force envelop my essence. It was frightening. Even more frightening than when I was killed by those men.

I tried to fight back but I was as helpless as I was before my death as I am now. I could only let myself be swept away.

During a journey of what felt like an eternity, the current carrying me slowed down and the mysterious force I once feared became as gentle as my mother's embrace.

A voice of a man reverberated everywhere in the void.

"You have been punished with damnation at the tender age of seven and your life - everything that was meant for you was given to someone else."

I felt the void rend and churn. For the first time ever, I heard screams of fear and agony respond to the storm that was brewing around me. The void was being ripped in twain and I was smack dabbed in the middle of it.

"I grant you - new life. Walk once more on Earth and bring with you my rage and sorrow. My enemies are yours. Smite them, so they will fear my wrath”

Before I knew it, I was floating above a single thatched house in the middle of a field outside of a small town. I could hear the quiet whimpers of a scared child. I gravitated towards the sound and found myself inside the house lit only by a single candle atop a wooden table.

I expanded my senses and saw the child crumpled like paper next to the wall.

I drew close and saw that he was asleep. To my dismay, I realized that the child didn’t have long to live.

The child, maybe through some miracle of being near – death, opened his eyes and looked at me. His pupils were bright red and glowed like the most brilliant of rubies.

Damned.

“Are you here to take me away?” asked the child, almost hopeful.

I had no idea what to say. Strangely, though, I knew I had the power to free him from his misery.

“Do you want to leave this place?”

The child nodded.

“Can you see the light behind me?”

He nodded once more. I directed my essence in the direction of the light and the child – no, his soul began to drift towards it.

“What about my body?” the boy asked before completely passing through.

“I will bury it with dignity.”

The child shook his head and smiled. “I wanted to be a knight when I grew up. Can you do that for me?”

I chuckled at what the kid wanted me to do.

“What is your name?” I asked in affirmation.

“People call me Mappu. I used to mop the floor of some houses in the town. I never liked the name.”

“Rest well Mappu. I will not let you down.”

“Thank you.”

The child disappeared into the light and the house returned to its eerie calm.

I floated towards his broken body. He had wounds everywhere. It was unsurprising that he died. I willed myself into it and felt Mappu’s – my heart beating. I was in pain but it was dull and felt like a distant memory.

Using the power I got from when I was still in the void, I healed my new body.

The wounds slowly disappeared as Mappu’s memories flooded my mind. He was maltreated by his uncle. Mappu was sick and couldn’t prepare him food. The burly man got angry and, in his anger, backhanded Mappu into the wall. He was beaten for a few minutes. The beating was something a normal kid could not endure.

It didn’t seem like this treatment wasn’t a one-time thing. I surfed Mappu’s memories and found that he was beaten to an inch of his life several times already and that the meager pay for his work was confiscated every time by his uncle to fuel his vices.

The reason why Mappu survived each time was because of his hardened constitution. He was one of the damned. Believed to be born of the devil and a human woman.

Seeing Mappu, and most of the damned I have met in my previous life, I could not shake the possibility that the damned are simply misunderstood. And that the kid who died in front of me today was a ray of sunshine and could’ve grown up into a good man had he been given different circumstances.

The wounds healed and an hour later, I was on my feet. I rinsed myself off the blood and grime that stuck onto my body in the river behind the house. I absentmindedly put on cleaner clothes – cleaner being a loose term for the sorry pieces of rags I was left with. Mappu has had a hard life. Harder than most, maybe.

I sauntered back to the house and saw Mappu’s uncle arrive. I went inside to find out how he would react.

“Fetch me something to eat.” Said Barno. Yes, this oaf of a man was named Barno.

I pretended not to hear and went about my business – waiting. As I calculated, Barno blew his fuse. He stood up and approached me – red faced. I saw him pull out his club from the side of the table.

“You know. I thought I beat you enough earlier. I’m happy you didn’t die. This time though, you will. And I’ll make sure I’m rid of your stinking ass.”

That was all I needed.

I faced Barno, emotionless.

“You have killed me once. I will not let you do it again.”

As he approached, I raised my palm towards him and murmured.

“Feel my rage and sorrow.”

Dark tendrils rose from the shadows and took a hold of Barno, freezing him on the spot.

“Burn in hell.”

The tendrils ignited as Barno screamed and begged for his life. The tendrils dragged him down into the pits of what I could only assume was eternal torment.

“Mappu. I have avenged you. I hope that in your next life, you will find happiness.”

I searched the place and found 30 silver and 55 copper coins.

“Meager, but enough for me to find food and a place to stay for a week at least.”

I cut the bed sheets into a makeshift cloak and made the rest into a bag where I could put my necessities. Something that, to my surprise, didn’t comprise of anything but another ragged set of clothes. I took Barno’s hunting knife and left the house.

End of Chapter 1