Prologue: The Beginning
Haunted Caverns
Burned Region, Ganghe, Drande Kingdom
WAH!!! WAAHHH!!! WAHHHHHH!!!!
“Good grief what is causing all that racket.” Complained a woman from nearby a cookpot.
“No idea, Lark, you want to go look?” Damaris Rendon glanced at his wife.
“No, I don’t. we shouldn’t even be stopping here. Tis bad luck and misfortune, mark my words.” Lark puckered up at him.
He grunted in disgust. “Always the same words, but nothing happened in the past.” Damaris frowned into the darkness. There was something out there all right, but it was harmless. “I’m going to go look.” He decided and rose from where he crouched next to the fire. “Chime, watch the fire and put logs in when it grows dim.” He instructed the girl standing by.
“Yes, sir.” Chime took his place without complaint.
Lark just shook her head. “Trouble.” She muttered angrily at his back.
Damaris ignored her. He’d long since grown used to her attitude. It didn’t mean he appreciated it, but tolerated it because there was nothing else, he could do right now. Instead, he focused on following the noise to the origin. He took up a lantern and began walking.
“You’re really going to go look?” Another man called.
“Yes, I am, Arch.” Damaris ignored the snorts of other men. “I have a feeling that something will change for the better tonight.” He shrugged. “Dunno why, but that is how I feel.”
“I’ll come along, then.” Arch followed in his footsteps. No one else did. They thought it was a fool’s errand and wanted no part of garnering Lark’s wrath.
Several minutes later, Damaris came to a halt. He frowned at the pile of rocks that partially blocked the opening to a cavern and sighed. “What is this?”
Someone else came to his side, but not Arch. Instead it was a boy of unknown age and origin. He studied the odd markings. “It is a warning.” He stated. “Says to keep out. Forbidden magic was used here and anything going in and out will become cursed.”
Hmm, a dilemma because Damaris believed in his gut. Not strange markings from a species he’d yet to view. “I’m still going in.” He didn’t bother looking back as he clambered over the rocks.
“You’re an idiot, Damaris.” Arch sighed, but he followed the leader’s path. “So am I, but someone needs to keep track of him.”
The boy laughed. “I’ll stand guard.” He added. “For what its worth, I believe leader Damaris’ gut is onto something inside of there. Even I can tell that what radiates from within holds good luck.” Curiosity gleamed in dark blue eyes.
A few steps within and Damaris began doubting the wisdom of walking forward. Before him lay skeletons of all kinds of species, not just human either. He identified several weapons he wasn’t about to lay finger on.
Those things, he thought would be the cursed items and the victims who’d foolishly entered with plundering in mind. This time, Damaris was more curious than anything else. “I think I found the source of the noise. This is unbelievable.”
Dark grey rocks towered in uneven piles around Damaris Rendon as he held a lantern casting warm light five feet from where he stood. Earlier, he’d heard crying and wen to investigate the source. Typically, he ignored that kind of thing, but this time, gut instinct made him heed it. Now he hoped he wasn’t a total fool in wandering around what was essentially banned territory of Felines.
Now that he stopped looking, he found the source of the crying. A swaddled child that began blinking at him in the pool of light. Big feline ears poked out from the mostly bald head. There was something on the infant’s throat, but he couldn’t quite see what it was.
“Damaris Rendon, what are you looking at?” Someone called from the mouth of the cavern.
After a moment’s study, Damaris called back with a basic assessment. “An abandoned child. Looks about a year in age. Clearly of mixed species. A feline of some sort.” He knelt closer but didn’t touch the baby that was now quietly watching him. “A female, and already shows awareness of her surroundings.”
“Are you kidding me?” Arch walked the rest of the way in and paused in shock at the surrounding mess. “This is horrifying.” He shook his head and ventured further in to see what Damaris found. “Yep that is a baby female all right.” His nose wrinkled at the funk rising from the swaddling cloth. “Hasn’t been cleaned in a while, I’d say.”
“You’re right.” Damaris shrugged and handed the lantern to Arch. “Hold this while I pick up the basket. I’m taking her out of here.” He didn’t care about warnings of arcane curses. This child didn’t deserve to die abandoned in this creepy place.
“Whatever you say, boss.” Arch carefully looked around before providing space for Damaris to move. Then he led the way back to the front. Soon as natural light indicated their arrival to the front, neither man knew what to do about getting back out.
“Just go in front of me.” Damaris directed. “Once you reach midway, I’ll raise the basket to you.”
“If you say so.” Arch didn’t want anything to do with the smelly thing but didn’t defy Damaris either. He was startled when the boy from earlier appeared with hook-end apparatus in his hands.
“Ah the cavalry has arrived.” Damaris commented. “Thank you, boy.” He focused on raising the basket to Arch.
Arch frowned at him in disbelief but obeyed the order to raising the basket higher. That’s when the boy spoke calmly.
“I’ll brace it while you two climbs out of there.” He offered. “I heard some of the conversation echoing as did half the camp. They’re trying to figure out how to assist now.”
Arch and Damaris grimaced but complied with the suggestion. There would be some discussion all right and Damaris knew some would want to boot the child to the next merchant town and leave it at the mercy of whomever had a spare cot and blanket.
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He was surprised when Lark and the others came over and took the basket out his hands. She regarded him somberly. “This is an averted tragedy indeed. You were right as always.”
Well, that was satisfying but a bit mystifying as well. Lark rarely agreed with anything without a real fight beforehand.
Thus began, Tessa Rei’s life began with the Damaris merchant clan.
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Character Introduction:
Main Female Character
Tessa Rei
Gender: Female
Age: 16-26
Appearance: Short black and blue hair long fringe over right eye. Slightly slanted eyes, right – blue, left – gold. Features hint at a bloodline other than purely human. Her ears have a feline tilt and tufts of fur on the ends. She has slightly tanned skin, which is mottled with stripes of black and orange along her high cheekbones, arms and legs. She doesn’t possess a tail that anyone has ever seen.
Height – 5’6”. Slender build with enough curvature to prove she’s female, predominantly athletic and not afraid to hide the fact. She favors loose fitting clothing but will dress formally when the occasion calls for it.
She was born with a marking on her throat that resembles a stiletto. Believed to be either cursed or blessed depending on which kingdom she resides in.
Personality: Mischievous, brooding, grouchy, lively it all depends on her environs. She has a short temper and sharp tongue, which makes her a loner. However, she does have a kind heart. Sometimes she’ll be found assisting youngsters doing chores if they’re assigned something too difficult to accomplish by other adults who don’t enjoy watching over them while in a city.
Background: A bit of a mystery because she was a year or so old when a traveling band of merchants found Tessa Rei in a cliff filled with ancient rusty weapons. It was a known fact that the area they traveled in was haunted with revenants from a buried town. Since she had characteristics of a feline, they determined that she’d come from one of the legendary feline colonies. However, the speculation about her origins remains a mystery. Currently she’s sixteen and remains with the merchants that found her. She knows she’ll have to separate from them and make an independent life of her own. Doing so might be difficult since she doesn’t know what skills she has would be useful in the city.
Location: Burmese Seaport, Dandre Kingdom
Main Male Character
Meridian (Ian) Cerne
Gender: Male
Age: 18-28
Appearance – Silver frosted green hair, black eyes, and dark skin with pointed ears. 6’, slender but muscular build. Favors loose or tight-fitting clothing, boots, and always carries a sword or bow as weapons even in the city.
Personality: Quiet, reserved, and aloof on first meeting. Once he gets to know people, he’s a prankster and full of mischief. He’s got a temper but has trained in self-control and won’t let anything provoke him, unless there’s unfathomable cruelty. At that point, he may snap and massacre the ones being cruel. If that happens, he’ll disappear somewhere for a few days to cool down, so he won’t hurt others. Yet, he’s never been charged with crimes since the ones killed were criminals that would escape through loopholes in the current judicial system which doesn’t exist. He is a human/fae hybrid but won’t disclose the reason why he’s mingling among the humans, much less the merchant clan that Tessa Rei travels with.
Location: Burmese Seaport, Dandre Kingdom
Laina Damaris
Gender: Female
Age: 17-27
Appearance – braided into a bun, blond hair with violet streaks on either side of her ears, large blue eyes, and a fair complexion. She’s 5’6” and buxom. She dresses neatly and favors corsets concealed in soft fabrics. She’ll wear breeches, sleeveless vests, and boots when traveling on the routes. Carries a knife, ax, and hidden needles in her hair. She never knows when she’ll need to repair wounds or torn clothing for someone.
Personality – Somewhat grouchy, aloof, and snooty towards strangers. Growing up she was class conscious and rude. She’s become less so since intermingling with Tessa, Meridian, and Trey. They tended to treat her rudely and make her think twice before treating them as if they were servants. She’s also figured out that being friendly towards them will gain their support when she wants to make a break from the merchant clan to avoid an unwanted marriage.
Location: Burmese Seaport, Dandre Kingdom
Trey Conrad
Gender: Male
Age: 20-30
Appearance: Can alter it with an illusion so no one knows what he truly looks like. Currently, around the trio he calls friends. He’s 6’2”, has short brown hair, dark blue eyes, and dark complexion. He’s generally found working in the portable garden that feeds the merchant clan their vegetable and herbs. He’s also a blacksmith, and herbalist. He tends to wear loose flowing vests, breeches, and boots. He carries a scythe and broadsword.
Personality: Enigmatic and not inclined to reveal his past to anyone. Came to the merchant clan as an apprentice and remined with them due to disinclination towards going back to his mountain brethren. He’s believed to be fae or something else, but no one knows for sure.
Location: Burmese Seaport, Dandre Kingdom
World: Cadel – twelve large continents, four explored, eight remain unknown and veiled behind barriers that keep magical intruders out. Current continents known about – Dandre Kingdom first continent Grenada. Separated into three smaller states – Burmese, Dandre, and Ganghe. Ganghe is where Burmese Port is located. It focuses on export and import of supplies. It is seventeen miles away from Abalone Bay that hosts educational opportunities of all kinds.
Present – Tessa Rei eventually wants to relocate to Abalone Bay where she knows of family members who reside there. She also wants to learn about her past. She’s been alerted to the fact that somewhere in Abalone Bay, a relative resides. To travel there, she needs marketable skills. She needs experience in dealing with city dwellers as well. She has three other friends who’re looking for similar opportunities in Abalone. However, all of them are redirected to somewhere they’ve never been and don’t have a clue as to how they got there.
Mussel-Waste – a large peninsula that could sometimes be mistaken for a mini-continent due to its variety of landscapes. Now the four adventurers have discovered a problem. They’re stuck somewhere and must use what innate talents and abilities latent but now present and untamed, to survive.
Species: Humans, hybrids, demons, demi-deities, fae, and others to be determined.
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Burmese Bay Seaport, Country – Ganghe, Kingdom – Dandre, Continent – Grenada
Waystation 21 – The middle of forty-two waystations set in the route going to Burmese Bay Seaport
9 a.m.
The quiet corner of the enormous waystation was shattered with angry shouts and furious snarls. A heavyset man brandished a spiked club at a young woman seated in front of a tidy caravan. “Hey there, Missy! No felines allowed. Get out of this waystation.”
Baffled, Tessa Rei pushed hair from her eyes and stared at the stranger in bafflement. “May I help you sir?” She regarded him cautiously. She didn’t budge although the club swung dangerously close to her face.
She remained composed, but small sparks began flying up from the fireplace.
“Begone, stranger. She is not fully feline.” A male voice called out. “Leave else you turn into a torch swinging that thing around.”
Tessa Rei remained motionless. At her perch, she was greatly disadvantaged which annoyed her to say the least. She had a small branch at her side which she gripped tightly in her left hand.
“I thought weapons are banned in this way station.” Damaris Rendon materialized from a large caravan wagon. “May I know what your name and rank are?” He addressed the man politely.
The strange huffed and backed down as soon as he realized who addressed him. “Pah, a mage, a Merchant Leader, both protecting a bastardization of a feline and human?!” His outraged expression didn’t make the others budge. “I demand removal of this stain upon the grounds.” He screeched, foaming at the mouth as he swiped at Tessa, but missed as she rolled off her perch and swung her branch in retaliation.
His screeching cut off as she managed to hit him squarely between his legs. He crashed to the ground, right into the campfire.
Immediately the stench of burning flesh engulfed the small area.
“Oh, disgusting!”
“Get rid of that stinking scum.” Another complaint roared from another wagon.
“Why must this happen every time we stop on a route in the East?” Laina came out and sighed when she came over to Tessa. “Are you all right?” She helped the other girl up, while keeping a wary eye on the scorched man who was bellowing in pain as other guardsmen hauled him off in chains.
“I’m fine, but I don’t know what impact this will have on the Damaris merchant clan caravan.” Tessa murmured uneasily.
“Nothing. We leave as planned later today.” Damaris Rendon proclaimed. “Is there anyone else who wishes to take further issue with my clan citizens?”
When no further challenges issued, he nodded with satisfaction. “Good, now disperse!”
To Be Continued