Luke Aranxius
Luke grew up with his mother and father, famous Lawyers of the court. They stressed the importance of reading to Luke at a very young age. They had him read dictionaries, encyclopedias, current news, histories of the local region and politics of the Forgotten Realms. His grandfather looked after him often as his parents were at court or with clients most days of the week. He would read to him as well, but the books that were read to him were fascinating stories of great monsters, magic and heroes. Luke liked these stories but was drawn more to the tales of magic. Soon he begged his grandfather to take him to the libraries of the wizards guilds so he can learn all he could about magic. At first his grandfather obliged, seeing potential of a bright mind, but after a few months, Luke became obsessed. He would pour over these books and neglect the studies his parents set for him. Seeing this, his grandfather visited less often and a servant was hired to watch Luke, making sure his original studies were kept. Luke longed for his stories and his tales of magic, wanting more then ever to write tales of his own experiences. When he turned 14 he planned for a few weeks to sneak out at night, break into the libraries and take as many books as he could and stash them in his room. He choose a night and prepared. Sneaking out was easier then he thought, and breaking into the library was a breeze for someone his size. He found several books he deemed worthy of his efforts and headed home, quick as a blink. He stashed them under the bookcase in the family library and headed to bed before anyone noticed. The next morning we was awoken by the butler, Cepho “Your parents are being taken away by the Wizards guild. Hurry before they’re gone for good.” Luke jumped out of bed and hurried to his parents in time to see their arms tied behind them, being pushed out the front door. “Mother! Father!” Luke ran to the door “Why are you taking them? They did nothing wrong! It’s me you’re looking for-I stole the books!” They stopped. “Go retrieve them for us. They contain powerful secrets that can not fall into the wrong hands.”
Luke hurried and retrieved the books from their hiding place. “Here! Please let them go, it was me!” The books were pulled from his grasp and he was held back. The men looked at his parents with disgust. “Using your son as cannon fodder? This is a crime most unpleasant. You will be tried as traitors of the crown and punished as such.” Luke lunged forward, tearing at the bindings around his mother’s hands “NOOO!”. One of the men spoke a word and a gust of wind pushed him into the opposite wall, shattering a mirror and he fell. His mother tried to run to him, shoving past the men. Somewhere in the tussle a knife was produced and his mother fell, red staining the floor where she lay. His father broke out of his restraints, yelling throwing blows at the men leading him outside. But not for long as he fell alongside his wife. A silver mist formed around the men and they were gone.
Luke ran. He didn’t know he was running until he was halfway across the city. He had to leave. He couldn’t stay. They would look for him and kill him too. It was all his fault. He didn’t mean for his parents to get hurt, he didn’t want them to die. All he wanted was to read about magic and adventures. He continued running and running. Soon he was at the outskirts of the city. He found an abandoned building and ran inside. It was the old library. The books here are either all gone or ruined, collecting dust on shelves or the floor. He located a room in the back and stayed there all day. When night came and he was his hunger was peaking, he ventured out to see if he could find food. He stayed in this library for the next 12 years, making it his home. Soon, people came to know this library as haunted. He did everything he could to ward people away.
One night Luke fell asleep, reading a book he recently pillaged from the purse of a woman in the city. His dreams came and went until he found himself in a place of darkness, grey clouds getting lost behind tall black spikes of mountains. The only sign of life here were murders of ravens streaking from peak to razor peak. As he stood up one of these murders of raven dived upon him, piercing his flesh with their sharp beaks and claws. With every stab his mind was pierced with the memories of his parents. Watching them being led away. Watching them try to escape. Watching them fall unconscious, not breathing. Again and again, these memories flashed through his mind and the ravens attacked. He barely noticed the pain of his flesh; the pain of his heart grew stronger and stronger. He collapsed, falling on jagged rocks in the black dirt. The pain became unbearable. He began to convulse thrashing on the ground, spitting foam from his mouth as he screamed. Then it was gone. The memories faded with the ravens; were those too a figment of his imagination? No, they were too real. So were the mountains, but those were gone too. He was in his library, his home. He looked down at his hands. They were bleeding and there were pieces of his own flesh under his fingernails. Running to his mirror he glimpsed at his face. For a brief moment he saw puncture wounds and scratches, the blood mixing with the tears he shed in this vision. Then his face was not his own. It was a raven. The raven spoke “Bring me more. Memories I crave. For this I will give you what you seek. Write them down. I will see them”. He rubbed his eyes and it was his face once again. But there was something more. Leaning against the mirror, a longsword in a black scabbard waited. The pommel was a black raven head, the steel a dark Damascus, winding to form spirals that split into a cross guard. A black crystal was set in the split of the cross guard. He knew at once this was no dream, but a premonition. He knew what he must do. He sought out the thieve's guild, asking them to help him steal books from the libraries and if possible, the wizard's guild. Of course there was a cost; he made a promise to be available if the need should arise. For months he used them to seek information about his dream. The more he found out, the more questions he had. In the months that followed, he searched for his old family butler. It took some time, but he was able to track Cepho down. Luke asked him to recount what he remembered about the night of his parent's death, inquiring of the names of the men who killed them. Before he could get his answer, townsguard arrested him, knowing him to be the thief in a recent library robbery. He was brought to the jail and was there for two days when he heard a commotion outside his cell...
Comments