Alia Stormkiller - Pt 1
By: Cerulean
Alia Stormkiller....
Alia to this day only remembers bits and pieces of her life before the age of 7. She can remember other family members being around and some names do stick out in her mind, but to this day she has only met 1 other relative, her cousin Cerise Stormkiller. Cerise didn't have much more information about the family then Alia had, but Cerise did know that more members did survive, so Alia has hope that she may still find some of her family.
Alia's story started years ago when she was about 5. All she can remember was it was a cold rainy day. She remembers riding in a wagon next to her mother. Her father was walking with some other men outside the wagon. Kids, some of her brothers/sisters where either outside with the men or in the wagon. She has no idea where they where headed to. She remembers that even though it was rainy everyone, including the kids where unusually quite.
The day was just slowly passing by. The slow rhythmic motion of the wagon along with the gentle rain put Alia to sleep. This was the first real rest she had in days. At night she had been having nightmares of huge creatures attacking everyone. It was even scarier for her as they resembled large dogs and bulls and her family owned both dogs & bulls.
Suddenly Alia was awaken by shouts and the wagon gaining speed. She had no idea what was happening and as she tried to look the wagon suddenly was hit by something and she started to fly through the air. She hit hard bumping her head and passing out. A glimpse of a large snarling creature dragging off a person then darkness.
Her head was pounding and it was still raining. It was dark, someone was there and Alia started to moan. A female voice in a sharp tone said "Be quiet and drink this". A cup with some liquid in it was shoved into her hands. Alia obeyed and drank up. It wasn't to bad and soon she fell back asleep.
When she awoke she laid still and slowly looked around. She noticed she was in some sort of cave. A small fire was going, things where tossed everywhere and there was an old woman near the fire. The woman looked up at Alia and said "So you live. Well come over here and get something to eat." Alia pulled herself up and slowly made he way over to the fire.
Alia started to ask where her Mother & Father where, but the old woman cut her off saying "Look, I have no idea where any of you family is. I found what was left of your caravan. There was no one else around. The Charr tend not to leave any bodies. They don't kill everyone, they just wound and capture as they want humans for slaves.
Alia pleaded with the old woman for weeks to take her back so they could look for her family and she was met with resistance. Always being told that there is no hope of finding them. Alia even attempted to run away on a few occasions but ended up getting thrown into a cage until she learned to do what the old woman wanted.
Over time Alia learned the best way to survive was to just keep quite and to pay attention. She watched as this woman would cast spells, she observed where this woman kept her books and she paid close attention the day the old woman brought home a live goat.
Alia watched as the old woman practiced spells on that goat until it died. Then she watched as the woman cast another spell and a creature sprang forth from the goats body. Alia was stunned by this, not scared but very interested. She was determined to learn how that was done. Without telling the old lady she had already learned some of the spells, but this one was one of the most difficult she had seen.
Later Alia tried to do the same, but realized she had to wait for the old lady to repeat it. It didn't take long as no more then a week later another goat was brought in. Even though Alia was supposed to be asleep she carefully observed and sure enough the old woman cast the spell and the creature appeared.
The next day Alia found the remains of the goat and tried but nothing happened. She tried a few more times with no success. She was sure she was doing it correctly, but something was still missing. Knowing that the old woman would be back soon she hurried back inside and quickly grabbed the old woman's books. It didn't take her long to find the spell she was looking for and she realized that the body had to be an unused body for it to work. She was determined that the next time the old woman left she would find a body and try again.
This time Alia's luck wasn't as good. The old woman hold up inside the cave for about a month before venturing forth. It was winter time and it had snowed. Alia realized that she couldn't go out without being caught so she stomped around the cave and noticed the container of the salted fish. She thought why not try so she grabbed one of the fish, placed it on the ground and cast the spell. Much to her surprise a Minion popped forth, it didn't do much just followed her around and a little bit later it fell apart and disappeared.
Alia was extremely excited about this and she did it 3 more times. Alia decided that she would show off her skill when the old woman came home. She was sure that she would be pleased with her and maybe allow her to go with her when she leaves.
A few hours later the old woman came home and was busy doing things that she didn't notice Alia until Alia had almost completed the spell. Suddenly the old woman spun around yelling for Alia to stop, but it was to late. The minion burst forth and with the old woman yelling with a knife in her hand from cutting meat it attacked. The woman wasn't ready for this and the minion struck a fatal blow before the she could move.
Alia screamed and ran to the old woman's side. "You silly, foolish girl. Messing around with things you have no knowledge of", with that she died. Alia tried the next day to dig a grave but the ground was frozen so she gathered rocks and covered the old lady.
What to do now, she wanted to leave but another storm moved in and she realized that she should wait until the warmer weather before leaving. So for the next month Alia kept busy reading the books and getting things ready to go. So when the snow started to melt she headed out. Not sure where to go she headed south.
Alia traveled for days without seeing anyone. Then on the 5th day it became cloudy and cold, she could tell that it was going to snow and she needed shelter. A quick search turned up nothing so she started trying to put something together to help her get out of the weather. She managed to create a crude shelter that was keeping the snow off of her but she was not able to get a fire going. After what seemed like an eternity she fell asleep.
A little while later she woke up to a strange noise. It sounded like branches breaking and then she realized he shelter was caving in. She tried to get out but wasn't in time and the roof collapsed on top of her knocking her out.
Alia again cheated death as the next morning while she was trying to get free she heard some people. Afraid of what they might do she kept quite, but only for a few minutes as she realized if she didn't get free soon she would freeze to death. As the people got closer Alia shifted trying to get a better look at them but this caused another section to fall again knocking her out.
Hours later as Alia was waking up her first realization was she was warm. She carefully opened her eyes and saw a girl about her age staring back at her. "Hello there. We where worried when we found you that we where to late. Looks like we where wrong", said the girl. "My name is Sandra and that is my mother Geena", she said. Alia could only mumble "Alia".
"Alia, well that is a nice name" said Geena.
"Before anything else, I need to know. Was there anyone else with you in your shelter?" Said Geena.
"No" said Alia.
"See Mom, I told you we did a good job of searching" said Sandra.
"Alia, I am sure you are hungry. Lets get something to eat then we can get you cleaned up" said Sandra.
Alia was starting to loosen up with these people, but decided to keep her talent hidden for now. After eating and getting cleaned up Alia put on the new clothes they had given her instead of the rags she had.
"I thought you would have been asking me about where I came from and why I was alone", said Alia.
Geena said "If you wanted us to know you will tell us in time."
"You don't know me, why are you being so kind", said Alia.
"We have no reason not to be", said Sandra
Alia then spent the next few hours telling them her story, then said "See, I caused the death of the woman, are you sure you want me to be around".
"Alia, that was an accident. You where trying to show her that you could do things, You didn't realize what could happen. Alia with power comes responsibility and to learn that responsibility you need proper training. In the spring we will be traveling to the city and there we can help you find someone who will teach you."
...to be continued