Lost

[Linden]

Lost Relations

The characters, lands, original races, and themes of this story are the sole property of the creator, Linden, and are not to be used without his express permission

Book: I Chapter: I Sceene: I

He got off the barge that had brought him into port and stepped into the dark streets of Arania. He had the pale skin of an albino, one of the cursed, but it wasn’t completely white, having a greenish hue to it that marked him as one of the Leaf-Men, Tree friends, servants of the earth spirit, and dwellers of the wood. His eyes weren’t the normal color of the albinos and seemed to change with his emotions, but his hair was as white as the snow upon the tall mountains keeping with the tradition of his curse. He wore a long black cloak that was covered with what appeared to be sprouting seeds that wove their way through and over the cloak. Along with this he wore a pair of deerskin pants, black gloves and a white tunic with the same seedlings moving through it. His white hair ran down over his face and hung loose down his back, decorated with leaves that looked.
The Leaf-Man stared out at the surroundings taking in all the sight sound and smell that he could. He was supposed to meet someone here who would help him find out why he was here. Five days ago the earth spirit came to him and told him that he was to come here that there was something important for him to do, but he didn’t tell him what. Now he was in this city waiting for someone that he didn’t know and who probably didn’t know he was here, but for now that was unimportant and there was enough around him to keep him distracted, but the most important one would announce itself in a moment.
On the boat behind him he heard a large crash and a horse neighing. He looked back and a great black beast, with a pure white mane and tail, gray shocks, and a white score on his head. His legs were longer than a regular horse, more muscular, his coloring was most certainly not normal, and his eyes were not that of a regular horse, they showed intelligence. This creature was a Lysisan; a creature blessed by the earth spirit and brought above others of their species chosen to lead the rest. The animal was obviously not used to being held captive, and it would not put up with it anymore.
The beast’s captors tried to come up behind the creature but they got a hoof in the face instead. The creature then went into hysterics jumping and kicking everything within its reach having no care to weather they were men, women, or children treating all with the same roughness. Normally The Leaf-man wouldn’t care about such things but he couldn’t allow one of the earth’s servants to hurt these normal people, especially the children. He ran up the plank that connected the boat to the dock and tried to get close to the creature, but its Outburst was preventing him from doing so. He tried to calm it but his powers were still too young to have any great effect. Then he saw his opening. He grabbed the beast’s reigns and pulled bringing it down to its feet.
The creature fought but there was nothing that it could do he was beaten, and then its eyes met that of the Leaf-man’s and something passed between them. He remembered something that He had once heard before he became a leaf-man. Something that his grandfather had said, “a leaf-man doesn’t find his true powers until He meets his partner, his beast, his Lysisan, and then the seeds in his clothing would sprout surrounding him with vines and leaf would erupt from him forming an armor stronger than that in all the king guard.
A realization flashed into the leaf-mans mind, “your name is shale,” he said no more he just stood there staring into the eyes of the Lysisan looking into and studying his mind. According to his grandfathers stories he would gain his full power now.
After a while after nothing happened he realized that either his grandfather was wrong, or this wasn’t his Lysisan and the Leaf-Man didn’t like either. Before he had time to contemplate what had just occurred though the Leaf-Man heard a girls voice from behind.
“Thank you for getting my horse under control, you can step away now.”

[Linden]

Book: I Chapter: I Sceene: II

“Thank you for getting my horse under control, you can step away now.”
The Leaf-Man looked behind him and saw a young girl surrounded by a contingent of the king’s personal guard. It was not hard to guess who she was. It suddenly made sense; only a princess of Arania would dare take a Lysisan as if it were a common stallion.
He looked into her eyes, “Do you even know what this creature is.”
She let out a small laugh, “Why of course I do it’s a Lysisan, and nothing less that it would be suitable to be my mount.” The arrogance of this girl infuriated The Leaf-Man How could she act as if she was doing nothing wrong in this, didn’t she realize that what she was doing was the ultimate blasphemy. The girl didn’t seem to care about any of that she was a princess and didn’t have to care about anything she didn’t want to. The Leaf-Man just stood there and watched the soldiers take the Lysisans reigns and lead it down to where the girl was standing; there was nothing he could do to stop this. They brought it down to the princess, but as soon as she tried to touch it went into the same rampage that it had been in when he had been on the boat.
A guard in a highly decorated uniform came forward and yelled, “Protect the princess”
Men started to move in towards the creature drawing their swords and making motions to stab the beast. The leaf-man moves in pushing his way through the guards and yelled, “no.”
Startled the men moved away, Now that they saw him up close they knew what he was and decided to give him the respect that he deserved. As a leaf-Man and one of the cursed he had even more authority than the Princess, maybe even the King.
The Leaf-Man moved over to the horse and stroked its main, bringing its head down, and taking the reigns. The princess watched with amazement at what he was doing. No one ever told her NO, but he seemed to have the creature under control. A devious plan formed in the girls pretty little head, and her smiling face showed it.
“You boy what’s your name”
The Leaf-Man found this funny, His age was well over fifty, but he looked at himself once and realized that he looked very much like a young man. He stared up at the princess and sitting on her imperial stallion.
“Why is it that when you have such a fine horse already that you want such a dirty beast, I could take him off your hands for you if you wish.”
“Now why wouldn’t I want a Lysisan? “ The princess said staring at him.
The Leaf-man was not content with this answer, but there was nothing that he could do about it so he just shrugged it off and said, “as you wish, but remember you are now held accountable for all that happens because of this.
“Fine then,” the princess said this while trying to touch the Lysisan again, and again it went into hysterics.
The leaf-man had to get the creature under control again and it was then that he noticed the princess’s eyes. They didn’t seem to have a specific color, but kept changing. He remembered something that one of the elders had one told him, “Once a leaf-man meets his Lysissan it will not meet him willingly, for in him the creature will sense the end to his freedom, and the coming of endless life.” Of course the elder didn’t use the term Leaf-Man that was only a term used my men. In truth whole races of elves and dwarves were counted among the groupings, gnomes and half-lings as well, and sometimes even an orc, but they all referred to themselves as Children Of The Earth, and it was in truth the men that were the rarest among their numbers. The Leaf-Man began to think maybe this girl was the one that the earth had sent him to meet.
“Might I ask your name princess?”
“Only if you tell me yours first.”
At this he smiled, “my name is Linden, Linden Reaverwood, and yours?”
The princess gave a small show of her surprise. This man had disappeared from the kingdom over forty years ago with the highest bounty that had ever been placed, on his head.

[Linden]

Book: I Chapter: I Sceene: III

“I asked for your name princess,” Linden said with a hint of agitation in his voice.
The princess struggled to get out the words without making her voice squeak but she failed and said in a low voice, “My name is Arania sir.”
Linden looked hurt at the tone that she was taking now, “please do I really look so old that you have to call me sir.”
“You may not look old but you are sir, you are well into your sixth decade of life and as such must be shown the proper respect.” Arania said her words in a way that she hopped she would not show her fear, but she did not fool Linden. He knew the stories that were still passed around about him, how he killed the entire kings guard by himself, how he seduced the back then princess Arania (all princesses of Arania are named Arania) and tricked her into helping him escape, and his favorite of how he single-handedly stole all of the money from the kings treasury. In truth the old princess was a whore, the king had spent all of the kingdoms money, and the kings guard was little more than a marching band. It still amused him how the old man pinned everything on him.
“I must wonder princess how one such as your self has learned to show respect for anyone.” At this Arania could barely contain herself but her own intelligence told her that she should hold her tongue. If he wanted to he could kill her and that would be very bad.
“As a member of the royal family of Arania it is my duty to show the proper etiquette to one such as your self.”
“Well then I should come to the palace and tell your father how well your doing.” The princess started to protest but linden calmly pointed out that without him she would never get HER Lysisan back to the palace and leaving it out here to terrorize her people wouldn’t be a very good idea. To this fact Arania had to concede and so they left for the palace She on her horse he leading the Lysisan and the entire kings guard uneasily following behind them.

[Linden]

Book: I Chapter: II Sceene: I

They arrived at the palace the princess Arania had her horse taken to the stables and Linden told the Lysisan to follow it. He moved to go into the palace but just after the princess got through the front gate the guards moved in front of him to block his passage.
“We are sorry great one but under the law of the late king Alexander Arania Ashwood XIII we cannot allow those who have committed treason and have not been punished for their crimes to enter the palace.” The guard said this with a degree of fear coursing through him, if what he had heard was correct he could be dead within a the second that this mans whim deemed him to be so, not to mention the fact that he was a cursed one and a Leaf-Man well he might as well be pronounced damned where he stood.
Linden got ready to make a move when the princess said, “Its all right Laurence he can come in.”
A frown appeared on lindens face, he was hoping to have some fun, oh well he could have that later. He pushed his way past the guards and then smiled back, “I guess its not your time my friend, but if you wait long enough, well you never know.” He then turned around and walked alongside the princess to the thrown room.

[Linden]

Book: I Chapter: II Sceene: II

As they were walking down the hall Linden halted them for a moment and stepped into a side room. When he emerged he had a hooded cloak on and had painted his face to resemble that of normal people. The princess walked over to him and touched his face o see that some powder had come off. Linden quickly pulled out a small pocket mirror and fixed the smudge.
“Where did you get such a substance?”
Linden smiled, he had expected this, “oh this stuff, you wont find it in any of the lands of man. It is only sold in the lands beyond the great barrier range.”
“But why do you wear it, do you not want them to recognize you.”
“No it’s that I do want them to recognize me that I do this. I was wearing this stuff last time that I was here and I don’t want them to think that i'm important.”
Arania suddenly became aware of the fact that he was someone of great importance, being both a Cursed one and a Leaf-Man he was probably subject to no one less than the spirits.
“This is very nice place here,” Linden said this while brushing his hand against a banister.
“Why wouldn’t it be, Arania has always been the jewel of the kingdoms of man.”
Linden looked down and shook his head softly, “it wasn’t always that way, only in the age of dear king Alexander Arania Ashwood XV, he and I were good friends. He saw the way that his father had run the kingdom and was disgusted. It was finally the breaking point when his father blamed his gambling habits on me saying that I had stolen all the money in the coffers. Good old Ashy he was the greatest king in the history of Arania.”
“You knew my grandfather”
“Yes of course I did, you know his sister always fancied me, when I turned her down she created that rumor that I had used her and that’s how the old king got the idea of framing me.”
“So you’re not really dangerous like they say you are,” The princess asked in a questioning way
“Well only to beautiful young women, so I wouldn’t let your guard down just yet princess.” Arania blushed at this having not expected it at all. The two continued on to the thrown room together.

[Linden]

Book: I Chapter: II Sceene: III

The thrown room was a long hall with huge windows all along the left side with coat of arms, and weapons decorating the space between each. The ivy that grew all along the side of the castle could be seen at the edges but none of it touched the inner part, allowing light to flow through. On the right side of the room were gilded doors leading to royal quarters. There was a long Table running down the center of the hall.
Princess Arania arrived in the thrown room, which at the time was loud with the laughter of those friends that her mother chose to keep around her, music playing, and her father arguing with his advisers, but hen she was announced and shortly after so was linden. At this the laughter stopped the music stopped and the arguing stopped, then things got really loud.
“What is that abomination doing here in my thrown room?”
“Oh my dear king Alexander I’m hurt, here I am invited by your lovely daughter into your presence, a daughter who led me to believe that old men where treated respectfully, and I’m treated like a common criminal.”
The king shot his daughter an icy look before saying, “criminal yes, common no. You are hereby charged of high treason, and under the law of my grandfather you should not even be here.”
“Still as ignorant as ever, old Ashy was never able to speak ill about his father, not even after his death, it’s made it very hard for me to get around here in the city.”
“What are you talking about?”
Suddenly the doors to the side of the thrown room opened and an old woman walked through them, pushing through everyone in her path, She seemed to be very mad. There was something familiar about her but he couldn’t figure it out, but then it hit him.
“Oh Arania its you been a long time, and it obviously hasn’t been kind to you.” Linden said these last words with a small laugh.
“How dare you show your face here. Haven’t you dishonored me enough.”
“Me dishonored you because of you and your damned father I never got to go to my best friends wedding or see any of the moments that were my right as his best friend to do,” Linden took a moment to look up at the king, “I never got to come and see his son until now. I was supposed to be his godfather.” Linden took a moment to pause, “the only good thing that came of this was that…” Linden stopped himself before he said something that he would regret.
At this the woman’s hatred flared and so did her face, “I could have given you a kingdom. Why didn’t you accept it?”
“I didn’t want it, and for that you took everything away from me. You know I feel sorry for you you’ve had to live with your hatred over me and what you’ve done for all these years, and I’ve been able to move on and find something all the better, you truly are a miserable old shrew.”
“How dare you speak such to me,” The old women turned to the king, ”Nephew I demand that he be arrested at once for his acts of treason, and slander against the name of the family.”
The king was too confused and distraught at what he had just heard; he didn’t know what to believe, what to do, or what to say. When it came to it he just waved his hand in the air to signal the guards to do as she had commanded, but this was not to happen. As the men drew close Linden cast off the hood of his cloak to reveal his white hair and the leaves within them, and he shown with a dark light that made the powder mask evaporate on him and showed his pale green tinted skin. The light that shown in through the windows dimmed and slowly faded away making a darkness that surrounded Linden, A darkness that was aided by the rapid growth of the ivy that had surrounded the windows but now covered them.
“You dare to hold me to your narrow minded laws, I am a Cursed one, a Leaf-Man, Blessed by the god of darkness, and chosen follower of the spirit of the earth, in the time that it takes me to blink my eyes your lives have already come and gone. Compared to me you are but ants.” Linden would have gone on had it not been for an interruption from the side.
“Enough,” a dark robed man said which automaticly banished the darkness and sent the ivy creeping away from the windows. He came forward and pulled back his hood to reveal that his skin was a milky white and a black crest marked on is forehead. This man was the high priest of the god of darkness, the same god that Linden was pledged to serve from the time of his berth, the same god that was the one reason that the world wasn’t total chaos right now.
Linden dropped to his knees before the man and touched his head to the floor. He was nothing compared to him and his cheap tricks that would have fooled these people into submission were now nothing. He could do nothing and he knew it, “my lord pleas forgive me I lost my temper and gave into my anger, I swear that it will never happen again.”
The king stood up and said in a shaking voice, “that’s quite all right I had never really believed those charges against you, especially when my father spoke so highly of you.”
The priest turned around with venom in his eyes, “you idiot he was talking to me,” at these words the king was quieted and in a state of shock. The priest then turned back to Linden, “well you’re here, I guess you got the message, At least the earth spirit is good for something.”
Linden clenched his fists, “yes my lord the great spirit is good for many things.”
“Great Spirit eh, well I see that your loyalties are split young one, are you for the earth or the darkness.”
“My lord I chose the earth, but darkness chose me. I am sworn to the earth but I will always serve my god whenever he calls upon me to do so.”
“Very well then, that is good enough, I have a mission for you that has great importance to it.” The Priest then looked over to the princess, “young Arania is to go to the Temple of the two gods and conduct the ceremony that will keep the god of darkness and light sealed away for another millennia, you are to be her Protector.”
“But my lord if the God of darkness can be awakened why not allow it to be so.”
“You fool do you understand that if the god that we serve were to be awakened then the god of chaos would be brought forth as well. The darkness understands this and that is why he does not allow himself to be brought forth. Now you must go, the earth condones this as well giving you full leave to carry out this task.”
“Yes my lord I understand that I must go, but I do not know how I am to attain my goal. I have barely grown into my leaves and the most I can do with darkness is simple illusions and tricks. How can you expect me to carry out this task?”
“Because you must, it was the only reason for your birth. This is your place in the tapestry, and if you fail it will unravel into chaos.”
“Yes my lord.”
Arania had been watching in the background, listening to what listening to what they were saying. Did they really expect her to go through this, to accept this? No she wouldn’t, she would not stand for this, “excuse me my lords but what makes you think that I will cooperate with these plans of yours.”
Linden made to talk but before he could he heard the sound of another voice from behind him, “Arania you will go, you have no other choice.” At this Arania began to protest but was halted, “as your father you will do as I say, now prepare yourself for departure.”
At her fathers words, and realization that his words were final she started to cry and ran out of the hall to her chambers.

[Linden]

Book: I Chapter: III Sceene: I

Linden walked through the halls of the royal families bedchambers; he knew them well. These halls were where he had first studied under the Priest of darkness; they were where he had first met Alexander, where he was betrayed. He had many memories here and he could not help but feel split here, between himself now, and who he was then. This was where he spent his childhood.
Linden walked and looked at the doors, some having not been used for decades, but then he found the one labeled Princess Arania Ashwood.
“Here it is”
Linden knocked three times on the door and waited for an answer. He began to knock again when he saw that the door was unlocked. He turned the doorknob and gently opened the door and stuck his head in.
“Princess can I speak to you”
He was answered by being hit on the head with a vase, and as he fell he saw the face of the princess smiling down at him until his eyes fogged and it became too much of a strain for him to keep them opened. Linden slowly drifted into a hazy sleep.