The ruins towers up – keeping a mournful dignity in it’s defeat - with it’s black color contrasting the emerald green forest around it, a dark granite portal with demonic faces – grinning their monstrous smiles – two dark rubies making their eyes come alive. Several dead clerics of Belar lies dead or dying upon the floor with their chests ripped up by an enormous strength, a glowing portal in all the colors of the rainbow sends out a faint light, revealing the broken symbols and candles of Belar in all the disgrace. In front of the glowing portal a petty naked creature in a foetal position obviously afraid, the creature seems humanoid except for exceptionally strong claws with blood dripping from them. “Why me,” the demonic creature whispers and begins to rock back and forth, “why not one of the others? They could have done this without blinking,” he continues while rolling over to get up on all four feeling the cold, uneven stone floor. The angry lights entering the granite portal blinded him and he closed them as a reflex, while crawling out into the forest. The blinded and scared creature however didn’t get to enjoy the peace of the forest for very long because a small dog-like creature came jumping out from a bush towards him, a long scimitar swinging wildly – the kobold was obviously desperately trying to hit him. He rolled to the left by instinct and sent a strong kick towards the kobolds chest causing it to fly several meters away from him, he got up himself in the same movement and began swinging his claws wildly towards to direction of the kobold – being blinded by the sun and all – and suddenly feeling a slight resistance from leather, deciding that it was the kobold he made a thrusting movement with his arm and made a hole in the creatures chest, feeling the heartbeats of the kobold grow weaker he drew his hand out of the chest and sighed, “I’ll never be good at this, not ever!” He began shaking uncontrollably and a nausea began to spread through the body as an unstoppable plague. After a few minutes and a little vomiting it stopped, and he looked at the kobold who stood a bit clearer now – the small face held a mocking grin from beyond death and with a last hit of anger he ripped off the kobolds jaw – he would not be mocked by a petty creature from beyond death. He began ripping off pieces of it’s flesh and eating it rare along with a few blue berries – that tasted slightly bitter – to remove the worst nausea. This was the life he was going to have, the one he’d have for the rest of his mortal life. “Why me,” he sighed again and began walking off in the disappearing light leaving behind a trail of blood.
Soon he reached a small abandoned camp site where a burned out fire was the only remains, and suddenly he felt exhausted and sat up next to the fire. He closed his eyes and just needed 5 minutes, 5 minutes… He woke up lying on his back looking directly at the bright rising sun, that colored the sky in shades of red, violet and yellow. He felt his cold, sore muscles object as he got up and stretched his body before looking around, and he saw a city lying near a line of sand in the horizon and he felt the need to go there and investigate. As he neared the city he saw a sleeping man lying in the chest-tall grass and it didn’t take him long to slit the mans throat with a single claw, then he took off the mans clothes and put them on himself before moving closer to the city. As he reached the city he saw a sign written poorly saying: “Cardo – sity o’ da mersenaries” Which he decided to read: “Cardo – city of the mercenaries” he stood there for a short while before walking into the poor town – looking at the clay houses interested but repelled by the smell of urine, so instead he walked into the only building built of wood and stone with a pictogram of a hammer and an anvil. He walked in there and smelled the smell of expensive perfume trying to cover up the smell from outside, he could see a smithy in the corner and a healer in the other corner treating a patient who seemed to have had his leg amputated. “What’s ya name, lad?” The smith said without looking up from his work, “N… Nedaros,” He said improvising, knowing that humans were much more sensitive about names than infernal people. “Nedaros, then? Hand me the water over there, boy, make yourself useful!” The smith continued in his rough voice pointing at a metal bucket in the corner. Nedaros took the bucket and casually put it down next to the anvil while saying “You know which way the capital lies? I’m sort a’ lost” The smith looked up and smiled, “Ask outside for a guide they’re cheap, unless of course you don’t have the money,” Nedaros smiled and shook his head, “Walk down the main street, away from the entrance sign and continue walking in that direction. In the evening you will reach an oasis, stay there and drink all you can because after that it’s several days without water if you want to reach the capital,” He said and dipped the dagger he was making in the water, “You’re either going to want to go very fast, or get a weapon,” The smithy said and gestured towards the dagger, “no thanks, I already have one” Nedaros said and hurried away he didn’t want to get too acquainted with these people, some might feel like turning him over to the government. He began walking out of the town the way the smith had described, though within an hour he had a headache so horrible that words could not describe it, and he half-buried himself in the colder sand beneath the surface. Within a few hours midday had passed and the heat was again at a temperature he could stand, then he began walking towards the oasis, or rather where the smith had said it were. Had he not known that there was an oasis he wouldn’t have found it, it was hidden behind large rocks and sand hills and only a little grass grew around the minor lake, Nedaros actually jumped directly into it, lying in the shallow water being cooled down. He soon regretted this as the desert nights came, he began freezing and was afraid of getting frostbites, he placed himself in a natural shelter of bushes to keep a little of his heat and rubbed each part of his body as they became cold. Nedaros decided to stay in the oasis at day and travel at night instead of his previous approach, he gathered fruits – which were red and yellow in appearance – and drank plenty of water, using the adventurers boots for water containers since they were the only waterproof things. As the night came he began gathering the things, keeping fruits in a shirt and the water in the boots as he hurried across the sandy terrain. Nedaros ran all day without seeing a change in the landscape – except for a city in the far horizon, but when Nedaros began making a shelter for the day he was still far from it and he knew he wouldn’t reach the city soon. On the 5th night he reached the city and actually fell into the city gates to get the guards attention, water had run out earlier the same night and the last fruits had been eaten already. A guard opened the gate nonchalant to show his superiority, “We have one of the Cardo heroes here, let’s give him to nobility. He won’t mind,” Nedaros wanted to object, wanted to tell them that he wasn’t from Cardo at all, but he was simply too tired, and fell asleep before he said anything.
He woke up in a rough, yet soft, bed inside a stone building with lots of simple sculptures to enhance the rooms atmosphere, “Lie still,” A soft female voice spoke to him and forced his tired body down with a single hand, had he not made so many mistakes in the desert he could have thrown her across the room for that, but he wouldn’t be able to do that to even a cat now. “You’re still not well,” he heard the voice continue, “You’re telling me that? Whose head haven’t stopped spinning yet, yours or mine?” He said and sensed a suppressed laughter though he couldn’t actually see if he were right. “Eiroth is going to love you,” She said softly and he sensed that he would be told more soon so he didn’t say anything, “He is a fairly normal boy considering that his parents wants him to become king and all that,” She said and sat down on the side of his bed so he could actually see her, she was wearing a violet dress with her curly nut-brown hair hanging loosely down over it, Nedaros noticed the thin golden medallion hanging around her neck in a thin chain, this was no healer or nurse, this was a noble or she could not have afforded such a medallion. “I’m Nedaros, ma’am” he said respectfully to be on the safe side, she smiled and blushed before asking in a nervous voice: “How’d you know, people always seem to see right through the disguises?” She asked and looked at him with large, round, blue eyes that would be even harder for him to say no to than her golden tongue. “The medallion, it’s too expensive. Am I right to expect that you are in fact Eiroths mother then?” He said warmly as if they had known each others for decades, she gave him a sly smile “You’re right, with a teacher like that Eiroth will not be in a bad position,” she smiled and helped him up, so he could sit on the side of the bed, next to her. “Come on, lets meet him” she said and nearly danced all the way to the door and Nedaros looked at her as he danced over there, she couldn’t be much more than 15 she must had been from a good family or a part of a trade agreement or she couldn’t have married that quickly, if she even had. Nedaros followed her soon after having to put on pants and shirt first, and found her just outside his room in a large garden with rare plants and herbs growing everywhere, among them ran a boy with dirt in his face and on his hands constantly avoiding the hands of servants who were trying to stop ‘the young master’ from getting too close to some apparently dangerous plants in the garden. “Eiroth!?” Nedaros said in a firm voice to the child, who immediately changed directions towards the stranger and his mother, “Who are you? Why have mum hired you? Where do you come from? What are those?” At the last questions it took him a short while to understand that he was talking about the claws, “Alright, I’ll take them one at a time. I’m Nedaros, I’m not quite sure if I’m hired, I come from Cardo and these are claws,” he said to the curious child he already had turned to his mother to ask, “Why’s he here? Is he my new teacher? He’s not going to make me read you know!” The boy said to his mother and she answered patiently, “The guards brought him, and you can ask him if he even wants to be your teacher.” She said and he caught her eye for a short time but enough to tell her his decision.

Nedaros taught Eiroth for years – how to read and write, despite the many protests – and felt proud when he found out that Eiroth were likely to become the new king. However when his mother asked him what he wanted for a reward he asked for his freedom and had it granted, even though he could see how much it hurt his mother to let him go just like that. “I will come back one day,” Nedaros promised before walking out the door and out of their lives…

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This originally was made for a character that I retired before even finishing the sheet, but I liked the concept even though it was horribly unbalanced and I finished the history, I have long thought of finishing the story the way I originally intended to but I am simply too lazy.