Rising, over another countless hill, Moonshade Fairview had a small glimpse of joy
accompanied by a growing smile of finally making his destination. Stopping only to soak in
the view of the warmly lit glow of the street lanterns and what appeared to be heaven.
Finishing off the last of the water from his wineskin he once again started toward the
great city walls of Iridine. The yellow-orange glow of the sun warming his back seemed to
push him along the seemingly deserted dirt road. Overwhelmed with emotion he dropped to
his knees at the entrance to the city. Silence rang in his ears only hearing the faint
rustle of fallen leaves. Clutching fistfulls of dirt and grass from the street, holding
his arms outstretched with the grains of dust sliding between his fingers cascading back
to where they had been plucked. His head sliding back to gaze upon the heavens which had
guided his weary legs to that very spot. A lazy breeze blowing around the the shaded
alleyways whips into his face blowing his hair slightly off his shoulders. With years of
pain and heartache behind him this short moment of happiness had been long awaited. With
this sense of happiness he knew then that this would be his new home...for now.
The silence was broken with the scurrying of feet from behind him. Spinning to his feet he
seamlessly drew his weapon, newly acquired from woods outside of town, bringing it up to
the chin of a fragile young woman. Her facial expression of worry was soon changed to fear
for her life with the cold touch of the tip of his stave to her throat. Trembling and
trying to stutter a word from her mouth she raised her arms into the air in a sign of
surrender. Managing only to spit out the words of 'Your...b b back' while her eyes slid
down to his side. He lowered and stowed the makeshift stave. After catching her breath she
moved to look at the gashes running down his back. Apologizing to the lady he lowered
himself again against the cold ground to accomodate her examinations. Random thoughts
splashed through his mind, like sparratic shots of lightning, ripping through his personal
hells inside him. He thinks back.
Having little to no recollection of his childhood a void of his true past is shadowed by
false images made up by his sub-conscience to try to fill this void. With no idea why he
has no memory of the first 15 or so years of his life he has spent the last 5 years trying
to find what his 'life' is supposed to be. Spending 4 years in a small lean-to outside of
Aestiva his only cares being to find food for the next day. His spare time was spent
journeying to a nearby mountain range where he had discovered a small pool of metallic
liquid that would swirl and bubble from no apparent source. Living here was his only
friend. A dwarfly old man standing only 2 feet tall with facial features that seemed to
morph and change with each flicker of the surrounding torches. This mentor had
semi-adopted Moonshade to be his understudy of the largely unaccepted mystical science.
Each day knowledge of the arts was poured into the mind of this young man. After years
came the holocaust of so called Witches and Sages. The old man was slayn in cold blood
sprinkling his lifeforce across Moonshade's face. Escaping with only his life his quest
for knowledge had only begun.
Awaken by the gentle drips of rain from the tree above him he gazed around for the
mysterious woman who had healed him. With no sign of her to be found he felt the tug of
bandages running around his waist. Rising to his feet, brushing the grass from his
breeches, he slowly strolled into the nearby alleys disappearing into the shadows.