Ark's Story... From the beginning

A bright light woke the frail man from his slumber. He found himself setting upright on a wooden bench. From the feel of the ground beneath him, he wasn't on ground at all. He began to regain his senses as a fresh breath of salty air wafted upwards towards his nostrils. Opening his eyes he attempted to survey his surroundings. The small boat he was in had turned and the sails were no longer blocking out the sun. That damn light had woken him up from a peaceful rest. Wait. Was it peaceful? He couldn't remember. He shook his head and attempted to stand. His actions were abruptly stopped by the sound of chains rattling against his cuffed feet. Tugging on them in fear he heard the rattling continue on down either side of the boat. The chain he pulled on ran through many other ankle cuffs, holding down a few men and women around him. What was he doing here? Was he a prisoner? He coughed a hacking cough, pulling his open hand to his mouth he couldn't make it stop. A few moments passed as he cleared his throat. Looking up with watery eyes he looked towards the only two men who weren't chained down. "Where are we?"

One of the men looked up from his opened pouch with a smirk, "You boy, are well on your way to Moonglow." The frail man looked down at his hands, Moonglow? Where was Moonglow?. His attention was quickly changed to the blood on his hands. His right hand had fresh blood on it. What? Where did this come from? Finishing the thought he reached up and wiped a bit of blood off of his lip and began to cough uncontrollably again. Doubled over in pain he continued. He had to be dead. Seconds passed, minutes maybe, even hours, he couldn't tell. He laid a shaking hand on the bench, wiping blood onto it he pushed himself up and back to an upright position. The man who had answered him earlier was now talking in a
hushed tone to his companion. Not able to make out the words, the chained man set back up and wiped what blood was left on his robe. Wait. Where did he get this robe? It's light blue color was now stained in many places with his own blood. Was this his robe? Did he steal it? Is that why he was chained to this boat? The tiny vessel hit a wave and sent it's passengers almost tumbling. Had he any food in his tiny stomach it would have been emptied onto the boat's floor for sure.

The earlier silent man laid a hand on his companion, "Don't worry mate, we'll be there soon enough." The man held a hand to his stomach and returned from the side of the boat, wiping his mouth with a free hand, "Aye, I know. But you could be a bit more careful with her. She's been through a lot." The first man nodded and returned silently to his work, sailing the tiny boat. The second man stood up, bracing himself on the side of the rocking vessel. "Alrighty lads, and lasses, you're going to be dropped off here on Moonglow Isle. No questions asked, just get off the damn boat when we tell you to. And no funny business, you'll get a small supply pack to help you along. Can't have you getting killed by a couple of mongbats the first time you step into the woods now can we? We aren't murderers ya know." He laughed, turned to his friend, and slapped him on his shoulder while pointing into the distance. "There she is, Moonglow Isle, I knew you could get us there. Never doubted ya mate."

The man in the bloodstained robe watched their conversation intently, trying to pry out any pieces of information he could. Moonglow? He still couldn't remember the name. It sounded familiar but he wasn't sure. Why was he on a boat to Moonglow in the first place? What... was his name? Who was he?! Why couldn't he remember? The fear struck him hard, paining his chest again and sending him into a fit of coughs and spitting up blood. Once it passed he attempted to clean his face with the sleeve of his robe. Wiping the last bit of blood, he thought, off of his lip he noticed something on the inside of his sleeve. Intrigued by this he rolled his sleeve back and attempted to read the word sewed into the inside of it. So focused on this, he hadn't noticed his boat had stopped and the seasick man stumble to his feet and begin to read off a list. The chained man began to mouth out the word under his breath "Ar...ker...en...os." "Arkerenos?" The man with the list spoke up, "Arkerenos! You, the ... bloody one. You must be Arkerenos, get off my damn boat.

The man looked up from his now red sleeve, "What?"

"Get off my damn boat, just like I said. Here, take this." The man tossed Arkerenos a backpack and proceeded to unlock his shackle and shove him off the boat onto the ground by his arm. Arkerenos failed in his attempt to keep his balance and fell flat on his face and chest. Pain shot through his body as he attempted to catch his breath. Feeling another coughing fit come on, he pushed himself up and grabbed the pack. Wiping dirt off of his bloodstained robe he took one look back at the little ship and continued on into the forest along with the rest of the freed men and women.

Arkerenos... Yeah. That sounded almost right. Ark, that was it! His friends called him Ark. Saying his name over again out loud he nodded in agreement with it and pressed forward. Okay. He knew his name.

Now what..?

((I know I know, it's super long, and it's only his first one. I write in my spare time and I have a bad habit of just continuing and never stopping. Let me know in AIM or Vent if you guys would like me to shorten it down. I'm gonna be posting a couple more soon.))

Stepping into the woods, Ark looked forward to watch the other former prisoners. No one seemed very talkative. Why would they be? Shaking his head at his muddled thoughts he continued on. The others quickly split up once they reached a small path just a few minutes into the woods. Deciding to walk right, he headed down the path. Looking back he found himself alone, the rest of the no longer shackled people heading down the path the opposite direction, still as quiet as ever. Shrugging he continued down the dirt pathway, watching the treeline on either side of the road closely. Luckily he had been attentive because a small creature burst forth from the bushes and charged at him. Brown wings flapped as the creature charged at Ark. Trying to get a good look at it, Ark walked backwards away from it and pulled his backpack from his shoulder. The creature screeched and Ark got a better look at it. It looked like some sort of primate with wings, the thing's frame looked frail and it's wings were already torn. Not able to take flight properly, it wobbled after Ark. Digging through his pack frantically he found a small dagger in the bottom. Grasping the hilt of the dagger he dropped the backpack to the ground, spilling what little contents it did have.

The creature was able to take flight finally, catching a breeze and lifting itself a few feet into the air. Swooping towards Ark it finally hit him... Mongbat! It was a mongbat! Brandishing the knife in front of him, he waited for the opportune moment. It seemed like forever had passed until he saw it, the moment the mongbat swooped at Ark to slice his face with it's claws he reacted. Taking a half step to the side and ducking his head he shoved the dagger upwards into the abdomen of the mongbat. The speed of it's flight ran the small knife down the length of it's torso a few inches. The impact of the mongbat was something Ark wasn't expecting. His dagger was ripped from his hand seeing as how it was now stuck firmly in the crashing mongbat's chest. Not able to pull his hand free quick enough the toppling mongbat almost took his hand and arm with him. He pulled his arm in close to him as pain shot down the length of it. Nothing more than a pulled muscle he figured. Wait, how did he know that? Rolling back the sleeve of his robe he looked at his arm, he studied the muscles running up and down it. No bones protruded from the skin but it sure felt like it. It had to be a muscle. He walked back over to the downed mongbat and kicked it over with his foot. Leaning down he pulled the dagger from it's chest. He stood a moment over it's body, triumphant in his kill he smirked. Wiping the blood off the dagger onto his robe, he turned around to gather his things.

The pack only had a few cloth bandages, an unlit candle, an empty book, and now a dagger which he returned to the front pocket. Slinging the pack over his shoulders he continued down the path. Looking at his arm again, his mind was flooded with images from a book. Diagrams and pictures of the human body spread across many pages, muscles and bones carefully labeled. Stopping in the path a moment he shook his head. His memory was coming back to him... good. His breathing became raspy as he brought up his hurt arm to his chest again. Attempting to hold it off, he dropped to a knee and gave up in his attempts. His other knee followed as he planted his hands into the dirt. Blood rushed up into his throat, forcing itself out of his mouth and covering the ground. Minutes went by as he hacked and coughed, feeling weaker and weaker by the moment. He wasn't sure if it was coming from his lungs or stomach but he knew there was no stopping it. When it finally stopped he took a few moments to attempt to get to his feet. Several minutes passed as he regained his strength and stood up. Grabbing a couple clean bandages from his pack he wiped the blood off of his mouth and hands. Tossing one onto the ground he continued down the path.

How sick am I? What illness is this? Releasing a slight cough he continued walking. After a minute or two of passing residential areas he came upon a fenced in community. A wooden sign hung from a rotting post that read, "Moonglow, City of Magi". City of Magi huh? Maybe someone here would know about this sickness. With a hand to his chest he then heard his stomach growl for the first time. It had growled before but he must have ignored it because by now his stomach was completely empty. Walking into the closed in town, he moved the small metal gate aside. The town appeared clean enough, the grass was kept to a low height, no trash could be seen on the ground from the road, and the people seemed generally happy. Ark watched closely as the men and women went about their daily chores. One man got close enough that he began to nod his head to Ark only to glare horrifically at the blood upon Ark's robe. Looking down he gasped, he had forgotten how dirty he looked. He always kept himself clean. Didn't he? Yeah, he was sure of it. He detested his current look and walked towards the closest building.

As he approached the building he was given a blast of wonderful scents. Apple Pie! A salty breeze from the sea had rolled up onto the island and on it's way across grabbed the freshly baked pies' wonderful scents. Rushing towards the building he peered inside. His eyed widened in amazement. Fruits, vegetables, meats, breads, bottled spices, wines, ales and any other food item you could imagine populated the store. His stomach let out a loud growl and he proceeded around the corner towards the building's open doorway. Stepping in he was overwhelmed as the multitude of scents washed over him. Walking up to the counter he peered at the fresh apple pie behind the merchant. "I'll take that one! I'll take two actually!" Ark reached towards his hip for his pouch. Slapping the side of his waist he looked down. There was no pouch there. Of course there wasn't. Was there ever one there? "One second, sir." Ark turned and scoured the corners of his backpack. No gold could be found. "I.. uh.. I'm sorry. It seems a.. uh.. thief stole from me! Of course! It must have been a thief! He stole everything I own!" The merchant narrowed his eyes at Ark, seeing through Ark's bluff he crossed his large arms over his chest. "You better be getting right on out of here. I don't take kindly to beggars in my store. Now get!" Ark sighed, turning on his heels he took his grumbling stomach outside with him.

He stepped outside and let out a hacking cough that shot blood a foot or two in front of him. People around him gasped and dodged away from him quickly. Grabbing the bandage he earlier stuffed in his robe's sleeve, he wiped the blood from his mouth and continued down the streets of Moonglow. The next store closest to him was an Alchemist's shop. This guy must know what I have. Holding his hurt arm against his chest he continued slowly towards the door of the shop. Bursting through the door a fit of coughs began to rise up in his chest. Not able to hold it back, Ark made it only a single step in the door and coughed up blood on the closest customer. She screamed and bolted as far away from him as she could. "I-i'm .. s-s-sorr-," he coughed again and was able to stop the projectile from his mouth with the sleeve of his robe. "Guards!" The shop owner was now rounding her counter and moving towards the doubled over Ark, quarter staff in hand. She poked him in the chest, hard, and shoved him back out the door. A passing troop of guards were behind him in moments."What seems to be the problem ma'am?" The guards were now surrounding Ark and the shop owner in a semi circle. Still bent over, his chest hurting more than ever, he did all he could to hold back his coughing while also trying to count his new opponents. Four? Five, maybe? He couldn't tell. "This man is sickly and is infecting people in my store. He even attacked a woman, I want him arrested!" The guards grumbled to each other and moved in towards Ark. Not sure how to fend off all of them he thought frantically for an easy way out. His time for thinking had ran out. His body was done. He lurched forward and landed face first into the ground. The world spun for a moment and then everything went black on impact.

The guards picked up Ark's body by his arms and begun to drag him out of town. "He's still alive. We'll take him to the edge of town and leave him. Francis wouldn't like it if we brought a man this sickness to her inn's doorstep. The shop owner next door said he didn't even have enough money for food. Probably a beggar who caught something." They drug him around the shops down alleys until they made it out of town. Tossing his body next to a tree at the edge of the woods the guards left him there to die. Over the next few hours Ark would wake up for moments, not able to move, barely able to breathe, his memory began to come back in pieces during these moments. He lay on the ground in that same place until nightfall. When he came to, his eyes fluttered, scaring away a mouse that had run up next to him. His body still ached, breathing still short, his head pounded as if he had been kicked multiple times. His chest. He didn't even want to think about his chest. He was sure all that was left of it was a huge hole. This was it. He would die here. On the outskirts of some port town called Moonglow. Ark would die a painful death. A cold breeze rolled over his body sending chills down his spine. A light humming noise could be heard from somewhere. Moving his head from side to side he couldn't spot it's origin.

A raspy voice could be heard over the humming. It was laughing at him. The laughing eventually died down and the voice began to speak to him. "Ooooh young onnne.... a foool you aaaaaare. Get up young Arkerenosss, it is not time for youuu to diiiie.... Weeee have manyyyy a dayssss travellll ahead of ussss." The voice began to cackle as Ark drifted back into unconsciousness...

"This body is near useless. Frail. Weak. Sickly. I suppose that last one is my fault." The world was dark around the tall figure, no ground, no sky, only darkness. He extended his hand and a small pale light appeared inside of it. Opening his hand he released the light and let it float in front of him. Growing, the spell's rays were reaching only more darkness. "Bah, nothing.. Of course." The thin man floated around in the darkness for the moment before slowling to a stop. "It seems this body may prove useful after all. He seems to have some sort of skill at least. Now... to hone those skills.. to empower them with what's left of my own... Yessss. I'll just have to work with this mortal long enough to take his form... Now, to establish communication and play the role...." The raspy voice cackled and trailed off as the man's skeletal fingers wrapped around the small orb of light as his incantations filled the air around him...

"Wake uuuup Arkerenossss. You musssst movvvve. Nooooww!" Ark returned to consciousness and opened his eyes. It was still night time but the stars were lighting up the treeline a bit. Who was that voice? "Who.. who's there?" Ark muttered weakly. "That doessss not matter, you musssst move nowwww or die!" Ark attempted to find the owner of the voice but had no luck. Looking above him, he searched for an answer amongst the stars. With his head now upright he could hear running footsteps from far off to his right. I've got to get up, now. He began to regain feeling in his arms and legs, but was only able to move them slightly. Still trying to move out of the way of whatever was on it's way towards him, his broken focus didn't notice the voice's cackling. His body suddenly jolted upright, his vision blurred into a red haze. His hands planted next to him, pulling his torso upright and moving his legs around to get up. Excruciating pain shot through his limbs. He couldn't move, yet he was. Something else had taken control of his body. Whatever it was now had him upright and standing. He couldn't shake the red haze, the sky, ground, trees, bushes, everything was red and now melding into one shade of red. His body was now standing and taking steps on it's own. He attempted to cry out but the pain was overwhelming. His body took a few steps into the woods. Moving behind a nearby tree his figure took a crouching stance keeping one hand on the tree to balance himself and another at the ground.

Moments passed and nothing happened. Still crouched, Ark's vision began to return to him. The red tint of everything turned maroon and then back to it's own darkened shades. Before his sight had been handed back to him, he could feel control of his own limbs returning as well. Once both his vision and ability to move was back he simply stayed in his current position. Moments later he heard the footsteps again, this time much closer. Crouching lower he waited and watched. Seconds later a man in a green robe ran down the path into Moonglow, close by were a group of 3 men wearing pink dyed robes trying to cut him off. Ark kept quiet not to alarm either party of his presence. The pink robed men began to mutter oddly familiar words. Ark was able to catch syllables under their breath. They spoke things like "Corp", "Flam", and "Ylem". What did they mean? Why were they familiar?

He watched as the group chased the man into town. Using the tree to balance himself he pulled himself back up into a standing position. Shaking out numbness in his limbs he stepped out from around the tree without hindrance from his previous physical state. Looking his limbs over he saw no nicks or cuts like he had obtained from being dragged across the ground before. His robe was still spattered with his own blood however. Putting his hands to his temples he rubbed, trying to remember what all had happened to him. Pieces of his life before the boat ride to Moonglow were coming back to him slowly. His life of a.. mercenary it seemed? He'd worry about it later, right now he had to figure out what to do next.

"Wissssse of you to listen to meee. It kept you aliiiiiive just as my adviccccce will do for youuuu in the futurrrre." Ark looked all around him, no one was near. "Worryyyy not young Ark, I will help you make it out of this placcccce." Ark realized the voice was coming from inside of his head... "Who are you? What do you want from me?" Ark exclaimed as he walked out into the pathway, peering down each direction. "My name doessss not matter, young onnnne. What I wannnnt from you is sssssimply for you to help me retrieve somethinnnnnng I could not." Ark continued to search for even a sign of where the man might be, giving up he asked, "Where are you?" The voice cackled inside of Ark's head. "Youuuu dwellll on thingsss that do not matterrrrr. Intoooo the woodssss, now!" Ark peered through the woods, nodded, and headed in. This voice had already saved his life once, it wouldn't have done that if had just planned on killing him anyways.

Stepping through the woods Ark ducked under a limb and walked forward, keeping an eye on his surroundings. "Where am I going?" he asked the voice. "Forwaaaard." Sighing he continued on for close to half of an hour. Here he found a small path on the other side of the trees only about 15 feet away from him. Attempting to take a step forward his legs locked in place, almost knocking him off balance. Catching himself on a nearby tree he exclaimed, "Hey! What the hell?!". "Waaaaaaait, crouch, preparrrrrre. The blade, retrieve it from your packkk." Ark raised an eyebrow, unsure of this being's intentions he proceeded to pull the small dagger out of it's pocket. The blood of the Mongbat still clung to the blade. Wiping if off onto his robe he muttered, "Bah, need to get a new robe anyways.." He grasped the hilt of the dagger firmly and took a crouching stance once more. Whispering now he asked the unseen being, "What am I waiting on? What sort of monster follows a path like this?" The voice on laughed a maniacal laugh that trailed off.

Minutes passed and Ark's legs began to cramp. Keeping himself in the same position he attempted to ignore his aching limbs. I'll have plenty of time to rest up, just got to keep going... His stomach rumbled loudly, loud enough to scare off a small rabbit that had moved up close to him. Placing a hand on his stomach he felt it rumble again. "I can't even remember the last time I've had a decent meal.." he muttered to himself, laughing a bit. "Quiet you must beeee, Arkerenos. He comes closer, when I tell youuu, you must attack. Not a moment laterrrr, you musssst do it quicklyyy. This being will not give you anotherrrrr chancccce to strike. You musssst use the blade, pierce his heart, plungggge it deep withinnnn his soulll...." Ark listened to the words carefully. Beads of sweat dripped down his face. Moments later he could hear the clopping sound of a horse's hooves. Watching closely, Ark could see a man setting atop a seat on a small cart being pulled by a horse. Ark whispered under his breath, "What? This guy? I won't murder some random guy returning home from the market!" The cart was almost directly in front of Ark and the man awoke from his half asleep state to stop the cart. Damnit, he heard me. Now what? I won't kill this man...

The voice grew louder in Ark's mind, the same red haze began to cover his vision, losing control of his limbs Ark could hear the voice yelling now, "You will do as I ssssay! Kill! Now!" Ark's body burst from the trees, charging at the man. The man, now more aware, attempted to reach for a weapon just behind him. Ark's sudden entrance spooked the horse, it raised up on it's hind legs as it's screeches broke the silence of the entire forest. The man finally found what he was looking for and flipped around, crossbow in hand, and fired a bolt aimlessly towards the charging man. His bolt flew by the man that was now planting a foot on the edge of his cart and leaping up at him. The horse's front legs landed and it took off down the path doing everything it could to get away from the newcomer. The horse's sudden movements jolted the man atop the seat and he dropped his crossbow to the ground below. Ark was upon him now. Leaping off of the makeshift foothold that was a broken piece of the cart, Ark leaped at the man's throat. Blade in hand he swung and missed. The man was moving now along with the cart. Ark was leaping head first just by him headed straight for the ground. His hand shot out quickly and grasped the man's tunic, dragging him to the ground with him.

The horse and cart barreled down the small path away from the two men now lying in the grass next to the path. "KILL HIM NOW ARKERENOS." The voice was booming in his head, he retrieved the dagger from where it had fallen when he fell and turned towards the man. The well-clothed man was now crawling away from Ark on hands and knees. Ark leaped after him and dug the dagger deep within the man's back. He cried out in pain as blood gushed from the open wound. Falling to the ground he screamed in agony. "NOW, FINISH IT NOW," the voice grew deeper as Ark flipped the man over. Ark didn't even notice that ever since he made it out of the trees the red haze had faded... The voice cackled to himself as Ark plunged the knife deep within the man's chest. Ark breathed heavily with each stab, yanking the dagger out he plunged it straight back in creating another gaping wound. A dozen and a half stabs later Ark was completely covered in the man's blood. His robe was covered as was his hands and face. Breathing heavily he began to cough. There was no stopping this time, he had put too much strain on his lungs in the past minute. Slowly he pushed the cough down lower in his chest until it stopped. He flopped over onto the grass next to the body of the man.

A horrified look crossed over Ark's face as he looked over at the man's mutilated body. Breathing slowly he asked, "Why... why did you make me kill him...? He... did nothing to me..." The raspy voice laughed and replied, "I made you do nothing young Arkerenosssss, you had complete control of your own body the entire timmme." Ark's breathing quickened as he realized what he had just done. He had just murdered man for no reason. Yet he felt no remorse... "What is wrong with me?!" He exclaimed as he attempted to get to his feet. Standing he looked down at the gruesome scene that he had caused only moments before. Closing his eyes he shook his head. "No, I wouldn't have done that if I was in control of my own body. This is your fault and I'm not the one to blame." "And whooooo do youuuuu think is going tooooo believe thattt?" Ark's mind began to race as he realized he was stuck and the being was correct... no one would believe him. Ark looked down the path and saw that the horse had lost it's cart. It was now turned over on the side of the road. Walking down the path he could see a basket of food tipped over onto the ground. Ark gasped as his stomach growled once more and he sprinted towards it. Crouching over it he grasped an apple and bit into it. It's juices ran down his face as he reached with his other hand at a loaf of bread. He gorged himself until he threw up.. twice.

Setting next to what was left of the basket of food Ark smiled. His stomach was finally full, for the first time in... he wasn't even sure. Moving past the basket he scavenged through the cart. Underneath a few bolts of cloth he found a dark orange robe along with a set of clothes. He quickly stripped off his bloody clothes and wiped the blood off his face and hands with a spare bolt of cloth and a flask of water he found. He changed his clothes and grabbed a few empty pouches. Digging through bolts of cloth and other useless items he found a small box. Opening it slowly he reached inside and pulled out two scrolls and a small brown stone. "Interestingggg. It seemssss you've found a much easier way off of this forsakennnn island." Ark turned the stone over in his hand, looking it over. "This seems so familiar to me.." The voice returned into Ark's mind, "Do not worry about it for nowwww. Resssst, there is a bedroll amongst the cart." Ark nodded and placed the stone and the two scrolls back into the box and retrieved the bedroll. Lying it out Ark didn't realize how tired he honestly was until he laid his head down. His eyes fluttered a moment as he closed them finally and drifted into sleep...

"His body is stronger than I thought... This is going to be interesting... His bloodlust is unstoppable once you ignite it... That poor merchant never saw it coming...." The frail man now set on a throne amongst the darkness, his orb of light floating next to him. He cackled and outstretched his hand towards the orb. It began to glow a bright red as the mortal's body rose from his position, his mind still fast asleep...