3. The Story of Jena The Ilmateran

The Story of Jena The Ilmateran

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    Account Name: NealParr
    Character Name: Jena The Ilmateran

    And the story begins:

    "How long has she been here?," asked the man who had just come into the room. Jena, looked up slightly and saw him through blurred eyes. He was a tall man, elderly, and wore a long ragged light gray robe and a dark red skullcap.

    “Three days,” replied the custodian. “We found her at the gates. Bloody awful mess. I don’t know how she made it.”

    Jena tried to sit up but the pain was excruciating. Her body was severely bruised and several of her ribs were broken. The bleeding had mostly stopped but the cuts left deep crevices of dried blood over every inch of her body. Every movement brought tears to her eyes.

    The men were talking now in low voices. Jena could barely make out what they were saying.

    “The entire village was overrun as near as we can tell. It appears the marauders caught them by surprise. She is the only survivor,” the custodian was saying to the tall man.

    “The only survivor,” repeated the tall man thoughtfully.

    “Her home was completely leveled,” the custodian said in a bare whisper. “We found her family there, or rather what was left of them. There was evidence that they bound her and forced her to watch as they did it. There is also evidence…” The custodian leaned in closer to the tall man. “We believe she was defiled. Brutally.”

    The tall man visibly flinched. Jena tried to make out his face in the darkened room. He had a long unkempt beard that framed deep, caring brown eyes. It was apparent that he was quite old and wise and that he had seen deep sorrow in his days. His eyes reminded her of her dream.

    “Somehow she made it to the gates. A day’s journey if you are in the best of health. I really don’t know how it was possible for her. She won’t speak much, but she told us that she walked the entire way. Alone.” The custodian seemed lost in thought, as if wondering by what miracle she lived. “We didn’t know what to do with her, on account of that she’s now an orphan. So, naturally, we contacted your Order.”

    “So young,” the tall man said. “She can’t be more than twelve, thirteen…”

    For a moment, Jena blacked out. The pain enveloped her in a warm tingle that encroached upon her vision until it completely obscured the two men, the room, and her consciousness. When she came to, the tall man was squatting over her, looking at her with his kind eyes that seemed to automatically fill her with relief.

    “My child,” he said. “It is a miracle that you still breathe. How came you to be in the city?”

    Jena swallowed back the pain. It was hard to speak but she felt that she could confide in the kind man before her. Licking her cracked lips, she forced out the words that described the vision she had received as she lay in the ruins of her house bleeding to death.

    “I was dying… I knew I was dying because I could feel my life slipping with the blood out of my body. And I didn’t care. I was lying on the floor and dying and I didn’t care. I just let it happen.”

    “I think I did die in fact. Or perhaps I was dreaming. My eyes were closed and it was completely dark. I thought ‘I am dead. I am as dead as my father and mother and brothers’.”

    Tears flowed down Jena’s cheeks.

    “Just then… in the darkness, I saw a light and the light was warm. I felt no more pain. I felt no more hatred. Only peace. The light became man. He was covered in blood and mutilated. He seemed to hunch over from the pain but in his face I saw a kind of peace… and strength. The strength to carry the pain and the will to do it. His eyes were so kind. Much like yours sir. He seemed to be beckoning me to follow him. Suddenly he vanished an in his place I saw a symbol. Two white hands bound by a blood red cord.”

    “I awoke on the floor of my ruined house,” Jena continued. “All around me lay the bodies of my family members. My own body was broken and still bleeding. The pain! It was overwhelming. But I knew I would not die. Not that day. Somehow I knew I had the strength to come here. Despite the pain, and the blood, and my broken bones, I knew I would make it. When I saw you enter this room I knew that I had.”

    The tall man seemed to nod in satisfaction. A smile crept over his lips. In words almost too inaudible to hear he began chanting. The pain was taken away immediately. A swirl of lights enveloped Jena and swirled around her, lifting her from the floor and suspending her in the air. Her wounds closed and the blood dried and turned to dust. The pieces of her cracked bones found each other and mended. Her swollen and bruised organs healed as her blood resumed its natural flow. Her muscles relaxed and she gently fell into a deep healing sleep while her body slowly drifted to the floor.

    The tall man stood over her admiring her beauty. He knelt down and softly stroked her hair as she slept.

    “My child,” he said in a gentle whisper. “The man you saw is Ilmater and he has chosen you to be his bride. Your life is now his.”


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