Jalen Brent

[Selfmast]

Written in February 2015

Jalen Brent is the only child of Jason and Heather Brent. The Brents lived in a small cozy cottage in the Rawlinswood's outskirts where they had many domesticated animals roaming about. Heather Brent was a strict but nature-loving woman, who did her best to raise Jalen to be an adult, who would respect and value nature and its inhabitants, while his husband was away working and providing food for the family. Jason Brent was a bit peculiar man. He did what he could for Narfell's citizens. Worked as a fisher, hunter and even a simple messenger as needed but always making sure his family would have a roof on top of their heads and food on their table.
As Jalen grew up he and his mother would go walk around the nearby forest from time to time. His mother taught him the names of the flowers, names of the animals and eventually tried to make him understand what it is that makes nature so important. Being the young and reckless boy he was, he didn't really pay that much attention. He was more concerned on how to climb a tree as fast as possible and how to get near a deer without it noticing him and running away. On one occasion, Jalen noticed a deer in the distance and started approaching it as silently and slowly as he could. He really wanted to catch the deer off guard this time. This time he wouldn't fail. Not this time… The deer was sniffing around and eating and doing what any deer would do in the morning. Suddenly the deer winced as it noticed a human figure in the distance. The sun was shining from behind the person's back so the deer couldn't see the person but something was different about the person. There was something... calming about the person. The deer started actually approaching the figure. Jalen looked eyes wide-open at the deer that had actually started walking in his direction but it wasn't just his eyes that were wide-open but also his mouth when he saw the deer walk right past him towards Heather who had appeared a few feet behind Jalen from nowhere. Neither of them had noticed Jalen who was now hiding behind a bush as he followed his mother and the deer. It seemed like they were talking to each other. Being the determined person he was, Jalen kept approaching the deer. He had decided to complete his task. So Jalen eventually did get to surprise the deer. Unfortunately but expectedly the deer got scared and ran away, accidentally nudging Heather and making her fall to the ground. Her injuries were very minor but being the strict woman she was, she grounded Jalen for a whole month for not respecting nature as she had taught. For this month Jalen was mainly thinking about how was his mother able to communicate with the deer. This is when he first started showing interest in the secrets of nature. Jalen and his mother would keep going for their walks and Jalen would now listen intently, learning many new things.
Soon after something had happened to Jason at work. The job was unlike before. Jalen never found out what it was. Only thing he knew was that he and his mother were home worried about Jason and waiting for his return. He'd always come back before sunset but not this time. Sunset was two hours ago. To Jalen and his mother's relief Jason came back home in the middle of the night. But something had happened to his arm. Blood was dripping and Heather got to work. She bandaged the wound and took care of Jason. Next day Jason couldn't work at all. He couldn't work for a few days because of high fever. On the fourth day after the injury, Jason forced himself to go find some work. Heather's resistance was futile for Jalen's determined nature was herited from his father. Jason couldn't work as much nor hard as he wanted to and was used to and so his family didn't have that much food on their table for some time.
One night Jalen woke up to a loud ruckus heard from downstairs where his parents slept. Jalen was very scared and waited about a half an hour before he got the courage to go downstairs for he had to make sure nothing had happened to his parents. Then slowly, step by step, he descended the stairs as silently as humanly possible. When he got to the bottom of the stairs into the kitchen, he was in complete shock as he saw his dear mother lying on the ground next to the dinner table in the kitchen lit by full moon. He ran to her desperately and yelled "MOM!". He shook her for a minute in desperation until luckily she awakened. She took Jalen back to sleep and convinced him that everything was alright. Next time Jalen woke up, the sun had been up for some time and when he descended the stairs this time, everything seemed to be back to normal. Jason was eating breakfast and getting prepared for work and Heather was preparing breakfast for herself and Jalen.
During the next few years, Jalen would go to the nearby forest by himself every morning and at dinner time he'd be back home and every evening before sunset Jason would return home. But not everything was as it used to be. Every evening right after sunset, Jason would leave into the forest. Jalen was told that his father was building them a new house into the woods. Jalen asked no further questions.
During the next few years Jalen started visiting the nearby towns, Peltarch and Norwick, with his mother on a weekly basis. He got to walk around by himself while his mother was doing grocery shopping. Jalen made a few friends and not many weeks passed until he got himself into a fight. Some bullies called his mother a tree-hugger which enraged the short-tempered young teenager. Jalen got grounded again. In fact he got grounded after every fight but never did he learn anything else but how much he hated the word tree-hugger. Not long passed until one evening, Jason hadn't yet returned and the sun had just set. It was raining heavily. Jalen was still awake and noticed his mother behaving strangely. She seemed restless, frequently glancing out the window, apparently waiting for Jason's return but he didn't show up. Jalen decided to go to bed, trusting in his father's safe return but Heather remained awake. Again, Jalen woke up to loud but brief ruckus. He rushed downstairs only to find the door torn down, the dinner table crushed and his mother nowhere to be found. He rushed outside into the pouring rain and saw some kind of tracks that lead into the forest. Without thinking twice he started following the tracks which lead far into the forest to an area he'd never visited before. Jalen became weary quite quickly for it was not an easy task, moving on in the pouring rain and on wet, slippery dirt. Then suddenly, his exhaustion made him careless and he slipped, hit his head and passed out. The morning came, the storm was long gone and the sunshine woke Jalen up. First thing he turned his attention to was the tracks he was following which were now washed away by the rain, nowhere to be found. Quickly after he winced as his head started aching immensely as a result of the blow. He had no choice but to go back to the cottage. It was already an afternoon as he got closer to his cottage. The forest near the cottage was so dense that he couldn't even see the sky but he did smell something funny. After walking on a while, he realised it was smoke he smelled. He started running as fast as he possibly could only to find his cottage had been set on fire. His home, the cottage that had been built by his dear father, the place where Jalen had spent all of his years with his family... Jalen knew there was water nowhere near and even if there had been, it was too late. He watched the Brent cottage burn down to the ground and the only water nearby was the drops of tears pouring down his cheeks. He had lost his family and his home. Jalen remained near the burning cottage, trying to make sure the nearby trees wouldn't catch fire. Luckily he managed to do just that. He spent the night near the cottage, sleeping on the ground. The burning cottage kept him warm and the flames kept the wild animals away. Next morning he rushed to Norwick to find out what had happened and found out that some Norwickians, living in the outskirts of Norwick, had been found dead. Jalen was still in shock and too confused to make anything out of the information he'd gathered and so he concentrated on what he had to do. He had to find work. He knew some of the people who employed his father and got jobs from them. First he only got a roof on top of his head and food but he soon got to earn some money. He worked for some nastier employers and learnt that there's no one to stand up for him but himself and so his short-temper became very useful when dealing with this kind of people.
And now, Jalen has continued walking around the woods, doing his best to follow his mother's teachings. He has now become a protector of Narfell's forests and even took the druidic oath. He is determined to find out what happened to his family but even if it's hard for him to admit, now is not the time. He has to arrange his life.
Jalen has learnt shapeshifting and noticed that sometimes he loses control completely but only when he's battling defilers of nature. It feels like an animalistic rage takes over and on few occasions he doesn't even have any recollection of what has happened. He only finds himself suddenly waking up in the forest.
It's starting to happen more and more often. Like a beast inside him is awakening...