Post by Twi on May 6, 2010 20:23:44 GMT -5
Sarah ran as hard as she could, lungs gasping for breath but not enough time to catch it. She felt like she had been running forever, but she knew it had only been maybe ten minutes at most. Funny how your life being threatened changed the way time seemed to pass.
"Witch! Demon!" The sounds of the mob behind her reminded her she couldn't dawdle to muse on such things. The names were getting worse and worse, and many people were screaming to hang her like those witches at Salem. It was terrifying to think that the people she had lived with all her life were now mercilessly seeking her death. Why her? She had never made any deals with the devil, she even went to Mass every week with them. But, she'd been cursed for some reason with strangeness about her, and because of that strangeness she was going to die if she didn't keep running.
Suddenly Sarah froze, not because she couldn't run anymore or because she'd seen something startling, but because she was literally freezing as ice began building around her body. "Demons!" She screamed trying to futilely move away from the pillar of ice she was becoming. How ironic, that while everyone was screaming to burn her at the stake, she was being frozen into one. The ice had grown up to her waist before it stopped, and Sarah waited for the ice, or the mob, to finish the job of killing her. Neither did so. The noise of the mob drifted away while the ice stayed there, and slowly began to melt. A strange person came forward, with a sword at his waist dressed in clothes the likes of which Sara had never seen. His hands were covered in ice, but this didn't seem to bother him as he reached forward and caught Sarah when she was completely released and unable to stand on legs numb from the cold.
"My apologies, lady, for having to stop you in such a manner, but I feared you would bolt from me if I did not stop you first." He spoke in an accent as strange as his clothes and Sarah did want to run, but her legs were still too numb and she was so tired from running already.
"Who are you, are you a demon? Or a witch?" He was a man so he must not be a witch, but how else could one explain how he froze her to the spot? "The townsfolk will be here soon, and they won't care if there needs to be another one to hang."
"They will not be reaching us maiden; my companion is distracting them now and leading them away. We are neither demons nor witches though we possess strange powers like yourself," the man said calmly. Sarah jumped though and tried to move away.
"I have no powers; I made no deals with the devil!" She said, struggling against his hold, but he was too strong.
"You didn't, but you certainly do have power, just look at yourself," the man said, nodding his head to her hands which had already become completely invisible, and the rest of her was becoming more and more transparent."We know you have done nothing wrong, and so we are here to offer you a haven where no one will persecute you for these abilities. I am from the Isle of Avalon where people like you and me are welcomed. Many of us have powers, and we use them to better our lives without fear of mobs. Will you come with us?"
Sarah stared up at him and his ice-covered hands as her own hands became visible. Finally, she nodded and from that day on no one saw or heard of Sarah Barkin again and it was assumed the devil stole her away before the people could kill his servant. They didn't know that on an island far away, she would outlive many of them and master her abilities in peace and security.
~~~
Since the beginning of time, there have been born creatures with special powers. These beings have been shunned by those not gifted and many times were killed horribly. During the Medieval Ages such deaths occurred often, and the chances of catching an innocent and saying it was gifted was high. So an incredibly powerful gifted person by the name of Merlin went with his close friend known as the Lady of the Lake, to build a safe haven for these gifted ones to stop the senseless killing. They founded a school where gifted could master their powers and thus cause no harm to those around them, and then they could decide to either rejoin the world or stay in the haven they called the Isle of Avalon.
Avalon is an odd island. When the gifted arrived the isle was already steeped in great power from a different age. The creatures,plants, and the very weather and terrain were affected by this. In the South there is a hot and dry desert where very little can survive. In the East there are high and frozen mountains where little can live for the opposite reason, though some seek out a life in the tundra below the mountains. In the North are tropical rain forests, humid and warm with incredibly large amounts of life in all kinds and varieties. Lastly, in the West is a temperate forest with much life as well, but in less variety. In the center of this odd island lies a great meadow by a huge lake where the school was built. The school grew to be more accurately known as The Castle, or Castle,since the school building is a huge castle of great beauty and grace. Merlin and his sister brought many to this island to live in peace away from the non gifted, he even hunted down and brought to the island the few gifted animals there were left in the world; creatures like unicorns, dragons, and the likes, though some of the mythical creatures had already called this place home, finding the isle to be a last retreat from mankind.
Over the years the rest of the world grew to disbelieve in gifted and so became the society we know today. The gifted on the island mostly stayed on the island instead of returning to a world where they must hide their powers and live in secret. They even got married and have children. Some of these children had the gift, others did not and were not allowed to live in the castle which was a school for the gifted and the gifted only. A village was made outside the castle, and another at the bay where the island's only ship to the outside world was docked when not out looking for gifted children. Over the years social classes grew from between the gifted, non gifted, and the newcomers. The non-gifted were at the bottom of this order and were treated like slaves doing all the work. They cleaned, cooked, and worked for the gifted in return getting the benefits of the gifteds' powers. The next class up are the newcomers who were not born on the island but were born in the outside world with gifts and brought to the island. They were looked down upon by the highest group, those born on the island with a gift, and while not treated like dirt as the non-gifted were they were certainly not given a warm welcome. The highest class, those born on the island, considered themselves superior for having a heritage of power and being native to the island. Their arrogance lead them to begin to not only look down upon the newcomers and non-gifted but anyone who’s gift had lead to an inhuman and malformed body. This group, comprised of mainly of islanders since these distortions were more common in families with a long history of magic in their veins, resented their treatment, the bullying and exclusion from the group. Finally it grew so bad they fled from the castle. The group set a base for themselves out in the wild. They learned to use their gifts not in a safe and cozy classroom but in life and death situations as they learned to survive in the harsh environment. This sort of lifestyle changed them greatly, building a group resentment and hatred toward all those that lived in the castle. They began to lead attacks against the castle, sometimes stealing gifted infants to raise as one of them and increase their numbers. These children grew up in Spartan like circumstances, raised to hate the castle dwellers as the first who fled had. This group was called the Forsaken.
Of course the castle would not just sit back and be attacked. Long before any of these classes arose there was already a class apart from the others who served as army and police of the island. The Seekers were originally those who would be sent to rescue gifted still being born in the outside world. They were trained in combat and hiding themselves as a normal human, in fact some of their number are non-gifted from the island, who are grudgingly respected by even the islanders for the Seekers’ orders were second only to the Headmaster of the school who was the leader of the island. They were the ones who would sail the one deep sea vessel out to the outside world to find and bring back those who would become the newcomers. They eventually took on all other tasks which required a more violent party, policing the island, defending against some of the more dangerous creatures. When the Forsaken appeared it was one more task for them. To defend the castle and villages. Being above all the classes but from all the classes the Seekers’ position is complicated, they need to be strict and painfully fair. They have also been trying to reduce the bullying in the school since even after the Forsaken declared war against the castle some students run away to join them feeling they cannot stand the treatment they receive at the castle.
Thus does our tale begin, five different groups living on one magical island. The Forsaken fight the Castlers, the Gifted enslave the Non-Gifted, the Islanders look down upon the Newcomers, and the Seekers try to bring peace to everyone while at the same time seeking out others with powers and bring them to their ‘fair’ Isle of Avalon.
"Witch! Demon!" The sounds of the mob behind her reminded her she couldn't dawdle to muse on such things. The names were getting worse and worse, and many people were screaming to hang her like those witches at Salem. It was terrifying to think that the people she had lived with all her life were now mercilessly seeking her death. Why her? She had never made any deals with the devil, she even went to Mass every week with them. But, she'd been cursed for some reason with strangeness about her, and because of that strangeness she was going to die if she didn't keep running.
Suddenly Sarah froze, not because she couldn't run anymore or because she'd seen something startling, but because she was literally freezing as ice began building around her body. "Demons!" She screamed trying to futilely move away from the pillar of ice she was becoming. How ironic, that while everyone was screaming to burn her at the stake, she was being frozen into one. The ice had grown up to her waist before it stopped, and Sarah waited for the ice, or the mob, to finish the job of killing her. Neither did so. The noise of the mob drifted away while the ice stayed there, and slowly began to melt. A strange person came forward, with a sword at his waist dressed in clothes the likes of which Sara had never seen. His hands were covered in ice, but this didn't seem to bother him as he reached forward and caught Sarah when she was completely released and unable to stand on legs numb from the cold.
"My apologies, lady, for having to stop you in such a manner, but I feared you would bolt from me if I did not stop you first." He spoke in an accent as strange as his clothes and Sarah did want to run, but her legs were still too numb and she was so tired from running already.
"Who are you, are you a demon? Or a witch?" He was a man so he must not be a witch, but how else could one explain how he froze her to the spot? "The townsfolk will be here soon, and they won't care if there needs to be another one to hang."
"They will not be reaching us maiden; my companion is distracting them now and leading them away. We are neither demons nor witches though we possess strange powers like yourself," the man said calmly. Sarah jumped though and tried to move away.
"I have no powers; I made no deals with the devil!" She said, struggling against his hold, but he was too strong.
"You didn't, but you certainly do have power, just look at yourself," the man said, nodding his head to her hands which had already become completely invisible, and the rest of her was becoming more and more transparent."We know you have done nothing wrong, and so we are here to offer you a haven where no one will persecute you for these abilities. I am from the Isle of Avalon where people like you and me are welcomed. Many of us have powers, and we use them to better our lives without fear of mobs. Will you come with us?"
Sarah stared up at him and his ice-covered hands as her own hands became visible. Finally, she nodded and from that day on no one saw or heard of Sarah Barkin again and it was assumed the devil stole her away before the people could kill his servant. They didn't know that on an island far away, she would outlive many of them and master her abilities in peace and security.
~~~
Since the beginning of time, there have been born creatures with special powers. These beings have been shunned by those not gifted and many times were killed horribly. During the Medieval Ages such deaths occurred often, and the chances of catching an innocent and saying it was gifted was high. So an incredibly powerful gifted person by the name of Merlin went with his close friend known as the Lady of the Lake, to build a safe haven for these gifted ones to stop the senseless killing. They founded a school where gifted could master their powers and thus cause no harm to those around them, and then they could decide to either rejoin the world or stay in the haven they called the Isle of Avalon.
Avalon is an odd island. When the gifted arrived the isle was already steeped in great power from a different age. The creatures,plants, and the very weather and terrain were affected by this. In the South there is a hot and dry desert where very little can survive. In the East there are high and frozen mountains where little can live for the opposite reason, though some seek out a life in the tundra below the mountains. In the North are tropical rain forests, humid and warm with incredibly large amounts of life in all kinds and varieties. Lastly, in the West is a temperate forest with much life as well, but in less variety. In the center of this odd island lies a great meadow by a huge lake where the school was built. The school grew to be more accurately known as The Castle, or Castle,since the school building is a huge castle of great beauty and grace. Merlin and his sister brought many to this island to live in peace away from the non gifted, he even hunted down and brought to the island the few gifted animals there were left in the world; creatures like unicorns, dragons, and the likes, though some of the mythical creatures had already called this place home, finding the isle to be a last retreat from mankind.
Over the years the rest of the world grew to disbelieve in gifted and so became the society we know today. The gifted on the island mostly stayed on the island instead of returning to a world where they must hide their powers and live in secret. They even got married and have children. Some of these children had the gift, others did not and were not allowed to live in the castle which was a school for the gifted and the gifted only. A village was made outside the castle, and another at the bay where the island's only ship to the outside world was docked when not out looking for gifted children. Over the years social classes grew from between the gifted, non gifted, and the newcomers. The non-gifted were at the bottom of this order and were treated like slaves doing all the work. They cleaned, cooked, and worked for the gifted in return getting the benefits of the gifteds' powers. The next class up are the newcomers who were not born on the island but were born in the outside world with gifts and brought to the island. They were looked down upon by the highest group, those born on the island with a gift, and while not treated like dirt as the non-gifted were they were certainly not given a warm welcome. The highest class, those born on the island, considered themselves superior for having a heritage of power and being native to the island. Their arrogance lead them to begin to not only look down upon the newcomers and non-gifted but anyone who’s gift had lead to an inhuman and malformed body. This group, comprised of mainly of islanders since these distortions were more common in families with a long history of magic in their veins, resented their treatment, the bullying and exclusion from the group. Finally it grew so bad they fled from the castle. The group set a base for themselves out in the wild. They learned to use their gifts not in a safe and cozy classroom but in life and death situations as they learned to survive in the harsh environment. This sort of lifestyle changed them greatly, building a group resentment and hatred toward all those that lived in the castle. They began to lead attacks against the castle, sometimes stealing gifted infants to raise as one of them and increase their numbers. These children grew up in Spartan like circumstances, raised to hate the castle dwellers as the first who fled had. This group was called the Forsaken.
Of course the castle would not just sit back and be attacked. Long before any of these classes arose there was already a class apart from the others who served as army and police of the island. The Seekers were originally those who would be sent to rescue gifted still being born in the outside world. They were trained in combat and hiding themselves as a normal human, in fact some of their number are non-gifted from the island, who are grudgingly respected by even the islanders for the Seekers’ orders were second only to the Headmaster of the school who was the leader of the island. They were the ones who would sail the one deep sea vessel out to the outside world to find and bring back those who would become the newcomers. They eventually took on all other tasks which required a more violent party, policing the island, defending against some of the more dangerous creatures. When the Forsaken appeared it was one more task for them. To defend the castle and villages. Being above all the classes but from all the classes the Seekers’ position is complicated, they need to be strict and painfully fair. They have also been trying to reduce the bullying in the school since even after the Forsaken declared war against the castle some students run away to join them feeling they cannot stand the treatment they receive at the castle.
Thus does our tale begin, five different groups living on one magical island. The Forsaken fight the Castlers, the Gifted enslave the Non-Gifted, the Islanders look down upon the Newcomers, and the Seekers try to bring peace to everyone while at the same time seeking out others with powers and bring them to their ‘fair’ Isle of Avalon.