3. Early memories and recent experiences

Early memories and recent experiences


  • The crackling of the fire. The howling of the wind, outside in the plains, and its murmuring in the tree tops.. The occasional howl of a half starved wolf, during the nights.. The only sounds that broke the otherwise perfect silence of this solitude.
    For Lortaine, they had always meant comfort, a little feeling of safety in the rough lands surrounding the small log cabin, where she was born and raised..
    Never was she really unhappy, but somehow, every new day that dawned, gloomily, the sun shrouded in clouds and the howling snow storm, yes every new day seemed for her like a further step down, away from her sanity.. The burden she had been carrying becoming heavier by the day.
    Lortaine never got to know her mother, Naelith. The second the girl had been born and given a life, her mother was left by hers, due to the heavy birth along with a minor sickness she had been suffering some time before that, already..
    All she knew about her were various tales.. Naelith apparently used to be the adventurous type, a powerful as well as beatuiful and charming sorceress, either. There was a painting around, on a log wall, in the house, made by an unknown artist, and Lortaine was certain her mother had looked like that, since, while she was growing up and blossoming into a woman, more and more looked very similar to that, as well. She sat outside in the cold, by the grave, by the riverside, under a large weeping willow, a lot. She could find no one to blame but herself, her fateful entry into this world..
    But almost from her first cry on, it became clear, so very clear, that her mother Naelith, though she had to leave this plane, had left a most curious legacy for her daughter, Lortaine.
    It were small and almost subtle things, at first. An apple on the table for example, that baby girl Lor wanted but could not reach, simply jumped towards her reach like pushed by an invisible force. A stray dog that had been frightening the girl suddenly ran off whimpering like it was suffering mysterious but not very heavy pain.. Also little animals tended to appear around her when she got bored, even though they never stayed for long to her dismay.
    As she grew older, the strange effects occurred less often, and seemed less random, because apparently it was always the result of something that Lortaine had been thinking about.. a potential, that most likely was domed to be wasted.
    Wasted, as her father Grim was not more than a woodman, a poor one as well, and the chances of a tutor coming into these secluded regions were nigh non-existant.
    Lortaine was trying to help as much as she could keeping their home in order and doing the housework, as she was not suited to do any sorts of heavy work at all.
    Grim however never seemed to had gotten over the tagic death of his wife, he did not blame his daughter of course, and loved her as much as a father could love his children, so that she became a little spoilt, despite the usually hard life one thought she would be leading.
    However, as Lortaine had seen her sixteenth birthday, Grim was struck with a strange disease, it started out as not much more than a little headache and the like, but it grew more severe each week. Lor of course tried to take care of him as well as she could, but after months, there was still no sign or hope it would get any better.
    Although the supplies were running low, since Lortaine could of course not do the usual woodcutters' work, neither did she have much time since she was looking after her father, she set out for a nearby settlement to call for a medic.
    To no avail.
    The medic, an old and experienced wise man, although he could not help, explained that Grim could not get over the loss he had suffered, and given up, and was going to die of grief. He probably would have done so earlier, but not before Lortaine had grown up, so she should be safe on her own..
    The girl despaired, and defiantly, continued to hope for her father to get better, staying at his side day and night. This went on, but not much longer, and her father passed away very peacefully, after a long disease, in the end, he had been sleeping almost most of the time, and when awake, not even recognized his daughter and mistaken her for his dead wife Naelith.. Lortaine mourned and cried, until she could finally accept it, accept that she had lost everyone now. Although she was not used to hard work, she buried her father down by the river under the weeping willow, next to her mother, but her tender little hands were bleeding when she had been finished digging a hole in the frozen ground. When she was done, she only had a moment to look at the two graves, together at last, when she passed out from the exhaustion and lack of sleep she had been through in the last few days..
    She awoke back in the cabin, next to the fire, wondering how she could have been safed.. "Awake at last?" a very high pitched, somewhat unpleasant voice said mockingly, "I thought you were going to hibernate.." Lortaine got up, melting crystals of ice were still in her hair and her clothes soaked, as she looked to where the voice as coming from. A strange, very strange creature, as Lortaine had never seen it, was sitting on the table, etching obscene rhymes into the tabletop with a kitchen knife. It was rather small, with claws and sharp teeth, and a pair of horns on its head, a pair of batwings on its back, the face looked rather funny, with a big nose and beady little eyes, and the skin of the creature was of dark azure color.
    "Oh, no need to thank me, it is not like I saved your life or something.. oh wait a moment, I did! Hooray for me!" the creature continued when Lor just sat perplexed on the rug by the fire and said nothing. "I apologise.. I really am grateful for what you have done.. but.. why.. and what are you..?" The creature stood up, made a deep bow, eventually falling off the table, getting up from the ground, muttering curses. Lortaine failed to suppress a giggle. "You think this is funny, huh?" the mephit replied furiously, dusting off itself, trying to retain some dignity. "Sorry," Lortaine whispered, finally managing to wipe the grin off her face. "Fine, fine.. once again, I am called Magoth. But you, you can also call me The Great Magoth or Magoth the Great, for I am a most powerful inhabitant of another plane, sent here with the only purpose to assist you.." Magoth said the last part of this rather grumbling and with a displeased expression on his face. "Magic flows through your veins, and when your blood had soaked the earth where a being of great power lies buried, I was called forth. And from now on, you shall be able to call me whenever you are in need.. most unfortunate for me..!"
    Lortaine finally got up, and courtsied formally. "You are cute!" She said with a grin. "I am not!" Magoth shouted, extremely annoyed.

    And so, Lor's life did not end this day, but should only just begin. Her little familiar had cheered her up some more again, but sitll she realised she could not survive out here on her own, for long. She thus packed up everything she found worth taking, but she even posessed less than it would have been to much to carry, even for her, and then she set out, to reach the nearest town, where she would have to try and find something to do, to make a living. She decided not to show off her magic talents much, for she feared she could cause harm without wanting, or that someone could want to take advantage of it..
    Magoth the ice mephit, as she found out, apparently had known Naelith, or even been her familiar, back these days.. but he could at least tell various things, some seemed to make no sense, some apparently were wrong, but they were fun all the same.
    Even though it was in her blood, Lor was not ye thinking of going the adventurous path, like her mother did, as she was not very courageous, and rather spoilt. Little did she know she was to become a very powerful sorceress herself, one day..
    After a long travel, at least it seemed that way to her, she completely lost her way, Lor could finally see several silhouettes of large huts and houses through the snow storm she was walking in. She started to run faster, eager to spend a night in a warm inn and eat a full meal again at last, as she bumped into something and fell back into the snow..
    As she stood up, a little dazed, she saw she had ran into a sign. A sign which read:
    "Welcome to the town of Norwick"
    And that is where our story begins…


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