Interlude: Lion’s beginnings
The eternal spider is my country’s icon. It produces silk that is all but impervious to the elements. It can be hard enough to cut through steel while being light and flexible, so its silk is highly valued and brings great prosperity to the country.
Everyone in the country is taught at a young age that it is the job of every citizen to protect those spiders, and those who rake in a multitude of achievements and are proved to be trustworthy, are given spiders to keep as their own.
The giant spiders constantly crawl around our country to make webs and lay eggs, the webs they spin around the country are said to be one of the five most beautiful sites in the world. Whenever I see them, joy fills my heart.
“Lionheart, stop staring at the webs and come over here.”
“Ok, brother”
-Break-
I love my older brother; he has taken care of me and has always stayed by my side since I was a child. He is the only one who has done that since our parents were taken away.
I still remember the army coming to take mom and dad away. When I asked my brother with tears in my eyes why is this happening, he said, “Mom and dad did something bad they won’t be coming back, but I will take care of you”. After that day, I heard mom and dad were executed the following day.
My mom and dad owned the country's most significant artisan weaver business. They were trusted with hundreds of spiders. They were my heroes. It didn’t make sense why they were executed, so I went around to everyone I knew.
When I knocked at their doors, they all told me the same thing “Sorry, lionheart, we were not allowed to talk with you anymore,” hearing this broke my heart, but it was worse when their parents answered.
They said horrible things to me like, “Get out of here.”
“I don’t want my kids to be infected by your family.”
“Scum of the nation, your exitance is a blight to every citizen.”
Broken-hearted by what they said, walking home I can hear people around the town talking about my family and looking at me.
“To think that’s what the Animus family was doing, and yet they always went around acting all holier than thou. When all they were was traitors.”
“I concur. In my opinion, executing them was too easy a punishment, considering their irreparable damage to our country.”
“DONT SAY SUCH THINGS ABOUT MY PARENTS!”
The woman infuriated by my screaming, told me, “A child of villains like them has no right to speak about this. Do you even know the gravity of your parent’s actions? You should be on your hands and knees begging for forgiveness for your parent’s actions.”
“Yeah, you brat, even if you spent your entire worthless life working, you could never repay all the damage your parents did to the nation. Now apologise for all your parent’s sins.”
I try to speak up, but my voice is entirely suppressed by the never-ending words the women scream at me.
“APOLOGIZE”
“APOLOGIZE”
“APOLOGIZE”
They keep screaming at me. When I was about to say something, I noticed all the looks around me. Every adult was staring at me, waiting for me to apologise. All these looks caused me to freeze up. I couldn’t get my mouth to work.
But the screams of apologies didn’t end. In this situation I feel all I can do is apologise. So, as I prepare to get on my hands and knees to apologise, I suddenly hear.
“I’m sorry for all the sins my parents have committed.”
It’s my brother. He’s on his hands and knees apologising.
“Do you think that will fix the damage your family has caused”
“No, it won’t. Apologizing never had the power to do that, yet you insisted. No matter what I do for any of you, it won’t undo the damage my family has caused, so maybe instead of bullying the 7-year-old behind me, you fine adults all around me should put your heads together and try to figure out a way to help yourself get through the countries current issue. But right now, I need to get my brother home, so good day to you all.”
The woman looked angry but didn’t say a word as my brother took me home. “Lionheart, I will tell you one day what our parents did, but remember, no matter what our parents did, it is not your fault. You hold no blame for the current state of the country. “
-Break-
So, as we return home, we see the head butler of our house. He’s been with me since I was a kid. He has also been with my brother since he was a kid this kind man has been taking care of us since we were kids.
“Lord Cole, I would like to hand in my resignation.”
“Ed, are you leaving us too; you’re the last of the servants with us.”
“My lord, you must have known this was coming after our conversation. I had warned you, but you didn’t listen. This is simply the result of your actions. It has been a pleasure.”
“Ed, please don’t leave Cole and me all we have left.”
“Young master, it has truly been a pleasure serving your family, but I have a family I need to keep fed, and working for your family can no longer accomplish that, so goodbye.”
Ed said as he left. All the servants have left, and all my friends are gone. Everyone hates us, and my parents are dead, so now it’s only my brother in this big house, and the thought of that alone left me crying.
But Cole said, “Don’t worry, I will take care of both of us no matter what happens. Trust in me, Lionheart.”
“I trust you, Cole.”
Name: Lionheart animus
Age: 7
Birthday: Scorpio 8th
Hair: Brownish gold
Eyes: white
Height: 110 cm
Likes: spiders, brother,
Dislikes: citizens of his country, lies
Part 2: Reunion of monsters“When am I going to see something other than snow?” This is getting irritating. “HOW MUCH LONGER!”. I have been walking for to long; I had a lot of energy at the start while running down the mountain, but as time passed, most of my energy and excitement went with it. The way Capti framed it, I thought I would only have to walk a little, but nooo, it’s just walking.I could get to the top of the mountain to leave Draga quickly enough, so it seems my little house was closer to the top of the hill. I guess Capti made it further to his destination than he thought. I don’t feel like losing to him, so I start running.“Just watch Capti. I am going to have lots of fun,” but as I am running, I bump into something, which causes me to trip and fall face first into the snow. “Ouch, what was that,” as I turn around to look, I see an adult man with scars all over his body.After I get up, I take a second to ready myself. This is the first person I have met, and I have al
“When we get to the village, I will need you to follow me very closely, you hear me.”“Yes mam, but may I ask why.”“I still don’t fully trust you, so don’t ask questions. Just know that if anyone sees you, you’re dead, that’s all.”You can’t end a sentence like that, all it’s going to do is make me panic. Still, she has got me this far, so let me put some trust in her.So, when we arrive at the village, we sneak around as stealthy as possible, but whenever a crowd of people walk by, she asks us to hide, but I notice she is also hiding.“Why are you hiding with us as well? Aren’t you a member of this village?”“I am, but you see, I went outside against the rules, so if anyone spots me, it will be annoying and waste a of time as they scold me.”So she was already a rule breaker, to begin with. I guess we got lucky with who came upon us.I noticed that everyone’s clothes look quite primitive in that they are made from natural materials, not anything processed.So as the little girl cont
Hey Cole, do you know any songs other than the heroes.”“Yes, I do, but why do you ask Orb,” Cole says in the saviour’s song.“It’s just that I don’t want the guards listening in on our conversation, because I don’t know what information we say, will set the people here off,” I reply in the saviour’s song.“I see, but it could also raise their suspicion if they can’t understand us. There is nothing scarier than the unknown.”“I get your point, but with how they treat us, I doubt they could get any more suspicious of us.”“That is true.”“So now, since we can talk without worry Cole tell me about yourself.”“It is rude to ask for information before presenting your own first.”He is starting to annoy me with this whole moral’s thing, but if this is what it takes to make friends, so be it “Ok, then ask me anything.”“Well, first, why did your hair just turn red a second ago.”“My hair changes colours according to my emotions.”“So, what does red mean.”“It means I am Relaxed.”“Why did y
Φ Arising from my bed, I feel an intense presence right next two me, so out of complete instinct, I go to attack it, but as he is about to make contact, I see the presence is Orb.“Orb, what are you doing here,” I say, shocked“You told me, we start my training today, so I wanted it to begin the moment you awoke.”There is raw determination in those eyes. He must be excited to become one of us. So full of drive. I say, “Sorry to keep you waiting, Orb. Let’s us go and begin your Training.”Φ Since yesterday I haven’t been able to get the taste out of my mind. How did I go my entire life without this? The fact that people eat this every day has filled me with nothing but jealousy, but now I will be able to learn how to hunt animals whenever I need to.-Break-As Sequoia and I walk to the hunting grounds, I look around the town and take note of a few things first; everyone gets up early in this village. Even sitting beside the chief’s bed, I heard people working away outside. I also hear
Today has been unnecessarily difficult: Physical exercise, all the learning, and even almost dying. It was just too much for me today, but at least when I went to dinner, I saw Buloke with both his cheeks swollen, but still he got off too easy for almost killing me. I still can’t punish him for hurting me, but at least I can reward Willow. I should see what I can do for him, but that is tomorrow’s Orbs problem. Right now, I am going to sleep.So, as I am about to get into bed, something drops down from the roof and lands on my back. As I am about to say something, a hand appears over my mouth, and I hear, “Quite down, or I will snap your neck.”Following my instructions, I quieted down, but the voice I heard was oh so familiar to me. I heard it every time I approached Sequoia house, It was Maples.Soon after this, Maple gets off me, and I quietly ask her, “How did you get down from up there.”“They needed to take me down so I could do some things.”“I see you needed to relieve yoursel
Φ As I feel the warm comfort of a bed, I realise what happened. I don’t want to get up because if I do, I have to face the fact that I failed again, even after everything I said to Orb. How many failures does this even make? Mother and father, I am sorry for letting all you’ve done for me go to waste. I genuinely am pathetic.As my despairing thoughts continue, tears fall from my eyes, and soon after that, I hear, “Doctor, he’s crying.”That Voice was Orbs, so I quickly opened my eyes to look around the room, and saw the doctor coming toward me with Orb not far behind.After the doctor gives me one last look, he says I should rest for a few days. Then it’s just me and Orb left in the room as the doctor went to handle other business. Orb has a worried look and says, “Willow, I.”“Sorry Orb, this is sort of embarrassing after everything I said to you earlier,” I say quickly, stopping Orb’s Sentence. “I guess this was a bad day. I still have next time; I won’t give up.”“Willow.”“Don’t
-Break-Φ I have been in this cell for almost six months. The only contact with people I have had is the guards who bring me my food, and the doctor who comes to treat and check on the progress of my frostbite. Still, I do not know why I am still here. If I were an issue, I would be executed if I weren’t, I would be let go, but I was much more likely to be completed.My reasons being, that these people were highly hostile towards outsiders when we first came, they immediately tried to dispose of Orb and me, and if you add in that most of them look at me as if I am some monster, as well as their primitive clothing I can only guess they are an isolationist village that doesn’t let people come in.But how long have they been like this, people have been adventuring the bottom half of Fimbulwinter for centuries, and there have never been any reports of civilisation here, and from the brief look I had around the village, they seem well adapted? They must have been living here for quite some
It has been eight months since I joined the village; to put it simply, it has been fun. At first, all I did was wake up, train, eat, and then sleep, but over time I was able to make a friend: Willow. Through our mutual love of animals and knowledge we were able to bond, and since we both became warriors, we have grown closer; it seems through all the time I spend with Willow and the other kids, all of the older villagers have been more friendly with me. It also seems Pine and Sequoia were putting in a good word for me.Being part of this big family has made me enjoy being here, even though some people would like me to die. Regardless, I have many people who care and want me to be around now. It makes me want to stay here forever, but I still need to leave. I can’t stay here forever, so I have two objectives to accomplish to do.The first, is to make it so I know the entrance and exit to the village. I still have to be knocked out whenever we go hunting. From being here for so long, I