[Chapter 1] A Change in Routine

Just another average day. Just another average run through routine...or so he thought.

Liquid life splattering on the walls and floor, screams resounding through the dark night air, and bodies dropping cold, unmoving, and afraid. Images resembling these playing in stroboscopic motion before the mind’s eye tortured Bane as he lay still in sleep’s quiet embrace. A gasp filled his lungs with air and his skull met the cold stone floor with throbbing pain as reality returned to him. A moment passed before the throbbing died down and he scanned the room.

The air was still and stuffy, the lack of windows or openings contributing greatly. A thin layer of fresh dust carpeted everything around him"including himself. He was always surprised he could breathe it all in. Rocks and stones arranged into furniture made the place seem a bit more like a home.

He quickly looked over to the stone slab in the center of the room that served as a table. The two desert squirrels laying on top of it let him know that Cale was already out and about. Cale had risen with the dawn and gone hunting as usual, leaving Bane to get water.

This had been their routine for the past few years, going out every morning to find necessities, and then returning to the dark lacking basement they called home. Bane got up from the floor where he slept and strapped the empty water barrel to his back.

Bane was sixteen, old enough to be considered a man back home. Dark thick eyebrows rested above his intense brown eyes. The years old clothing he still wore were torn and worn from overuse. A guard-less sword with an unwrapped bone handle that he had found off a dead bandit rested in its hardwood sheath buckled to his belt. Its curved single edge blade often reminded him of his father. He carried a pack vest that always became uncomfortable with the barrel on his back.

The trek to the lake was not a long one, and he had already gone through it multiple times. It would take him close to the edge of Ragnuviere territory, near the end of the desert lands and towards the advances of “civilized” Ashrix. Many stories both fantastic and frightening have been told of Ashrix in Ragnuviere, but they served to neither intrigue nor deter Bane from going near the border. He just went there for the water.

The desert stretched as far as the eye could see, with occasional pots of water and trees, or cacti. The sand was soft and often sucked Bane’s foot an inch down. He just freed himself and continued on, no long bothered by the slight inconvenience.

An hour trickled by slowly with the sand before he finally arrived at the lake. It was a large pure water lake surrounded by more greenery than one could find for miles around. The light glistened beautifully off its undisturbed surface, drawing attention away from the abundant fish that called it home. Bane unstrapped the barrel and uncapped it before lowering it horizontally into the lake with both hands. The cool lifesaving liquid flowed into the cylinder and would fill it to the brim. The container filled slowly. As soon as the canister was filled with as much as it could hold, Bane lowered his head into the lake and drank whole-heartedly"there was no sense in drinking from the barrel he walked all the way out to fill.

With his thirst satisfied, and the water barrel full, he strapped it back onto his back and set off. He sighed in disappointment at his otherwise uneventful trip, but as he took his first step towards home, a bright light radiated from over the lake behind him. An outward pulsing force followed after, knocking him off his feet onto the floor. Then a large column of water erupted upwards from where the light had first shone"as if an explosion had been set off beneath the water’s surface.

As the light faded and the water finally settled, Bane looked into the lake with rare interest and curiosity. He let the barrel reunite with the ground and dove head first into the water"the hot desert sun would be more than enough to dry his clothes later. The fresh water welcomed his open eyes, allowing him to see the object of his curiosity. A jagged black crystal roughly the size of his fist lay nestled on the lake floor.

He placed it into a pouch on the front of his pack vest and returned to the surface. The new bulge was uncomfortable, but tolerable and he knew he had to leave quickly. The barrel’s reunion was cut short as he re-strapped the barrel to his back and hastily left the area. He absolutely could not be seen by the guards that were definitely on their way.

Author's Note

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