*SNAP*
“GRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!” In a flash of movement, a broken quill flew across the small room and struck the metal wall with a slight twang. The two pieces, split roughly in two, were left where they fell out of spite from the charr who had tossed them. Karra harrumphed and shifted in the seat at her desk as she pulled out a replacement. This thing.. she would conquer it just as she conquered all the obstacles that have stood in her path. With a grunt, she dipped the new quill in her ink well and began a new page...
My “father” was a traitor to charr before I was even born. I had no say, no chance, and his weakness curses me from afar.
Before my mother and father met, they were not of the same legion. Mother, Kaelar Strikeblade, was of Blood Legion with every aspect of her being. She fought for the legion, bled for the legion, and would have died for the legion just like any respectable charr. Her loyalty and honorable actions make me forget the mistake she made with my father.
Just thinking of him makes my blood boil and horns itch.
Father was of the Iron legion though a poor inventor and soft of heart. How he seduced my dame is beyond me. Nevertheless, my parents were in love. An odd type of love where they thought more of each other than of their warbands.
Traitors...
When my mother grew with cub, my father convinced her to elope with him into the Diessa Plateau. Before leaving, he publicly announced his desertion to his warband and spit in his legionnaire’s face. Mother howled at the sight for it meant surely her family would cast her out just for associating with such a coward. Without waiting to face the humiliation, she left immediately with father.
Karra quickly placed down the quill before she snapped this one as well. A long, overdue sigh escaped from her muzzle as she rested her forehead in her paws. Memories began to swim inside her head and the bottled up emotions slowly began to escape from their cages.
“Mother...” she whispered silently, hiding her feelings in that single word. She was charr, she did not feel human sentiment for family, but the damage her father had done was a deep scar. Resolutely, Karra picked up her quill and began again.
At the time of our birth, my twin and I entered a lonely world. We lived high in the mountains with only our parents to care for us. At first, I must begrudge that I found no faults with our way of life, but mother soon blessed me otherwise. She spoke of the charr in such high regard, I would always ask her to why we would leave such a great world. She would stop her story, frown, and then bark at me to go practice my swords. Father, on the other hand, did his best to belittle charr society at every turn when mother wasn’t looking. Auror latched onto father like a tick and he swelled up with father’s love.
Then the best and worst day of my life happened.
As we slept, father’s warband invaded our home. They came in at a rage, smashing our things and calling for the Deserter. Father tried to escape, but mother grabbed him by the scruff and knocked him down at the feet of his warband. The look of utter betrayal on his face somewhat pleased me.
Auror looked away as they chopped off his head in our den.
For a moment, the Iron legion warband seemed to consider attacking mother, but she growled loudly at them, baring her teeth. The Legionnaire mumbled something about us going to the fahrar and mother promptly replied that her cubs wouldn’t join Iron while she still breathed.
Nevertheless, the warband offered to escort us back to the Citadel.
Karra stared at the pages written before her and laid down her quill. How far would one go when writing these journals? She wasn’t quite sure. Leaning back, she smoothed her mane down on top of her head as she stared at the dent in the metal on her ceiling. Auror...where was that maggot now? Karra snorted, grabbing her quill.
Before we reached the gates, a group of grawl attacked the warband. The battle was little more than a skirmish, but at some point during the fight, Auror ran off into the wilderness. That day both Mother and I were confused. Deep down in our hearts we weren’t sure if we wanted chase after him or not. When the warband regrouped, we spent the rest of the day trying to track down the blasted scrub, but there had been no rain recently and he weighed so little, he made little tracks.
Karra paused, unsure if she wanted to write what her heart told her. Did she feel remorse for her brother? The charress wasn’t sure.
As soon as Mother and I entered the citadel, she led me directly to the Blood fahrar with Primus Korax. I flourished under his tutelage and my years flowed like a sweet honey to me.
Finally, I was among my own kind instead of cooped up in the middle of nowhere.
On the eve of when my band would be titled, I had been heading back from a particularly enjoyable bar fight. When I turned the corner, a ghost stood before me. The years had aged everything about him save for his eyes. Those loving eyes...
Karra shivered in her chair.
Auror spoke of family bonds, of love, of sadness, of sorrow... concepts I cared little for and never thought twice about ignoring. He wished for me to join him on a quest to explore the world. “I miss you,” he said, “I miss your blunt personality as those around me nowadays are far too slippery for my liking.” Briefly, I wished to burst out laughing at his jokes, remembering such times when we had grown up... but I did not.
For a long moment I stared at him. A younger version of the same charr that had took us away from our people and aimed to keep it so. When Auror opened his arms for me, I froze. A demon inside me remembered his embrace when we’d be each other’s protector, how warm it had felt...how safe. With great force, I cut the emotion from me and spat on the ground in front of him. The look on his face caused a smile to etch itself upon my maw.
I have not seen him since that day. Nor do I wish to see him ever again and to be reminded of that poison called love.
The charr closed the fresh leather bound pages and cleaned her quill silently. It was late. Tomorrow she would be leading her warband against the ghosts of Ascalon for the upteenth time. As she got up, she blew out the candles in the room and the room fell into a comforting darkness.
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