Ruveneska, Chapter 2: Horrible Hatred by Darro

Shuren lied in his bed, eyes shut as flashes of a dream shot through his mind. What seemed to be reality was very mysterious and confusing dream.

Shuren was in a cloud of darkness. It seemed as if he were floating in mid air. Suddenly, Shuren caught a glimpse of movement out of the corner of his eye. Shuren peered in the direction of where it came but he saw nothing in the dark. Once again Shuren saw another flicker, but this time it was quicker. He jerked around and searched for a presence.

“Whose there?” shrieked Shuren. There was no reply. “Hello?” Shuren called out. There was a sudden sound of a woman giggling. Shuren looked to his left, where the sound came from. He could see a faint figure, in white elegant clothes that flowed in an invisible gust. Shuren ran closer to get a better view. The figure began to reveal itself. Now, he could make out a female’s body from behind with shoulder length silver hair. Shuren suddenly reached an invisible wall that ceased him from moving any further. He struggled to reach her, but it was futile. Shuren took one last look as he saw her glance behind and smile to him.

Shuren was ejected from his dream in the middle of the night. He has never experienced something such as that. “Who was that girl?” pondered Shuren. He could not stop thinking about her. The image of her smiling at him ran through his mind constantly, as some sort of obsession. Desperate to relieve his mind of the mysterious woman, he walked around and stared at the night that surrounded him.

The sky was dark blue, illuminated by the full moon. Shuren took a few moments to gaze at it. Full moons were said to be a sign of evil or an omen. Shuren walked around, remembering what had occurred the day before. That man in black, who was he? A shiver was sent throughout his body that caused him to go back under his sheets.

He lied down on his mattress of dry itchy hay. Shuren let his senses take over his emotions. He smelled the misty air, which gave him a pleasant sensation. He felt the cool breeze blowing gently through his window. He listened to the slow flowing stream that surrounded his house.

Shuren almost fell unconscious until a strange feeling ceased his rest, followed by soft sounds coming from outside. He sat up and looked out the window. Shuren was alarmed that someone would be outside this late. He quietly walked out of his house. He searched around but saw nothing. The footsteps sounded again. “Are they thieves?” Shuren thought to himself. Suddenly, he found himself running toward the sounds carrying his knife. The steps increased louder and faster as Shuren got closer. He was almost out of the village. He got closer until he realized it was a man carrying something. Shuren continued chased after him. He ran out of the village and into the hunting forest. Shuren tried to stop him from reaching the forest but he could not, he was lost. Shuren halted and started to breathe heavily.

Suddenly, out of the bushes a giant Reza - a ferocious fee-lion - attacked Shuren. He was knocked onto the ground, dropping his knife. The enormous cat swiped Shuren a few times across the face blocked by his arms. Shuren grabbed a nearby rock and smacked the Reza with it, knocking it out. Shuren threw the animal aside and stood up. He dashed out of the forest; searching for the figure.

Shuren reached the other side of the forest; the furthest he has ever been away from the village. Shuren saw something in the distance. It was a man in what appeared to be black leather clothes. The memory and fear from the day before returned to him instantly. Out of fear, he turned back and ran through the forest, his heart pounding at his chest. His legs were about to give in any second, though he kept running, apprehensive to look back.

Back through the forest he ran until he stumbled over a tree trunk and was sent hurtling on the ground. Shuren was forced to look back. There was no one. Relieved, he got up and dusted himself of. “Running after some mysterious figure in the middle of the night? Am I insane?” thought Shuren.

His thought was interrupted by the roar of the Reza. “Damn!” The beast continued to chase after Shuren, thirsty for revenge. Shuren did not let it catch up. Somehow, he was outrunning the incredibly fast creature without a pause for breath! Before he knew it, Shuren was back in the village still sprinting, unable to sojourn. He was heading straight for the farm. Shuren crashed into the fence and landed in a pile of hay, creating a large ruckus.

Every Gippy in the village of the Hogony walked outside sleepily and grumpy.

“What the hell is going on out here?” Trone demanded.

Shuren hesitated, then said,” I - I was being chased!” Shuren stuttered.

“Why were you even out here you brat?”

Shuren did not answer. He spotted Bastian walking out of his very large house. Shuren was ready to run home and hide away from the village.

“Bastian, This kid has been snooping about again! Kick him out!” complained Trone again.

Threatening shouts and protest filled the air, while Bastian calmed them down. Bastian snorted, “I will deal with this fool later everyone else go back to bed,” he ordered. Everyone went back inside their huts.

Shuren could only imagine what Bastian had in store for him. He remembered a time when Shuren found a bag of rasclebarries in front of his house. Bastian claimed that he stole it and forced him to pay off one hundred kindos for stealing! Shuren never had that much money in his life! He had to do unnecessary work for the next couple of weeks, barley earning enough. A bag of rasclebarries at the market only cost fifteen kindos! Bastian constantly used anything legal to make Shuren’s life miserable, and he succeeded.

Shuren trotted home, reluctant to think of tomorrow’s punishment. He entered his house. He lit a candle and cracked open the new book he checked out from the library. The main character, Craig, was a fulfilling a mission and he, trolls surrounded him; Shuren was eager resume reading.

Craig gazed around in fear. He could not do anything about his situation. The trolls were three times his size. He looked in his sack and had nothing but an apple and a boomerang. Craig backed up and was cornered to a cliff. He was now even more worried. He had yet to fulfill his promise to Lillian; to retrieve a stolen family heirloom. Craig thought about Lillian and knew he still had a future with his beautiful wife. He could not die there and then. Courageously, Craig pulled out his boomerang and threw it over the trolls catching their attention. They looked away as Craig sneaked underneath the trolls hoping that they would not step on him. Luckily, they did not. When Craig reached the other side, Tolls looked back only to discover that Craig was gone. He hid in a nearby forest and hid there for the rest of the night.

Suddenly, a breeze came through Shuren’s window, blowing out his candle. Shuren tried to relight it, but it was futile. He could not sleep the bright glow of the moon kept Shuren’s eyes open.

He walked out of his house to visit the stream. He threw a few stones into the water. He studied the ripples of the water as the stones disrupted the flow. “A small impact like that could ruin flow of life. . .” He observed and waited for the water to flow back to normal, realizing this took a while. “It takes time for the stream to heal . . . life is like a stream, it just keeps flowing.”

Shuren saw a fish swimming in the stream for the first time. Alarmed by this, he placed his finger gently in the stream drawing the fish towards it. Soon, more fish appeared. He pulled his finger and dried it on the dirt.

Shuren began to formulate his future. Once he turned of age, he would move out of the village to another one. He would no longer be hated, and then he would raise money. After he had earned enough money, he would travel about Oryk. He then thought about family, his parents. He was clueless to whom they may have been. His thoughts shifted to his own family; a wife and children. The thought of a wife returned him the thought of that beautiful woman from his dreams. Then he had a new idea, he would journey to find her. “Once I am wealthy enough, I’ll find her,” declared Shuren.

His attention was caught on his home. He inspected his hut closely; it was poorly constructed. He had no screen on his window. There were holes in his rooftop and gaps on the corners of his house. The floorboards inside were loosely together. “This could use some fixing up,” thought Shuren. He glanced at his training dummy; it had holes all over from knife throwing. He needed to work on his aim. Shuren got and pulled out some throwing knives and began lightly training. He worked on different stances, but none of them worked; he was horrible at aim. He trained harder and harder until he was too exhausted to even go to bed, he lied out on the dirt and fell asleep.

Shuren ran. He kept running. He saw her again, the beautiful woman. “Who are you?” He ran after her, he was getting closer. He ran and ran, but she did so also. “He was almost there.” Just a few more steps and he would be able to grab her hand. “She’s so beautiful . . .” Shuren thought to himself. She turned around, only enough to see half of her gentle face.

Shuren woke up to a cold splash of water. He jolted up in confusion; his clothes soaking wet. He saw a Gippy with a smug look on his face. “What?” Shuren asked grumpily.

“Get up, Bastian wants to see you!” ordered the Gippy officer.

Hesitantly, Shuren walked over to Bastian’s giant house. He walked inside, stunned by the contents. The volume was simply massive.

A waiter walked in the house. “Get down on the floor you longkoth!”

Angered, Shuren laid on the floor, ready to sleep again.

“Bastian will be here to punish you soon,” he said.

“What did I do?” Shuren demanded.

“Ha, funny little brat, don’t lie, that will make your death even more painful!”

“WHAT? Death?” shouted Shuren

“Shut up, he’ll be here soon!” The waiter trotted out of the house.

Shuren waited patiently for Bastian to come in the house.