• Last Edited: October 5, 2008
    Note: the childhood of the hero in this story is based off of Gaara from Naruto, but the rest is different.
    A body lay limp only supported by two ancient trees which had been somehow suspended in a warp of time, but always remaining in the same place never moving from their selected spot, chosen by a mystic elf or some kind of inhuman sorceress. The twisted branches of the tree were thick enough and strong enough to support the weight of a full-grown man; which is what they were brought to life to do.
    Long ago a legend of a hero fell in the midst of battle by the mortal wound of an enemy. Now he has returned reborn from the dead. But this wound was not just any injury, as he had not really fought his best in the fateful battle for it had been caused not physically but by an emotional or mental wound which penetrates into the mind and soul of the unfortunate host. He had fallen when a deep cut was inflicted by an enemy that had hid in the darkness of his own heart. His lady had been a beautiful woman, but she had never really loved the hero. To her love was but a game and a couple days after their wedding, before the war, she told him thus. His heart was broken, torn apart, and he was not himself there after. He could not bear speaking to her, or even looking at her. Had she not even considered that he truly had feelings for her that were not just real, but stronger than any for another before? After this and the wound, his pure heart seemed to disappear in a flash, leaving emptiness and negative feelings where goodness had once lain. This emotional scar would never disappear from the hero’s mind until his death which was all too soon, but perhaps better than living with such sorrow and burden in one’s heart...
    This is the past of the hero reborn (but is it really him or just another whose power is greater than the mystic before him?):
    This hero did not start out as a well respected popular or kindhearted person, but rather grew up on the darker side of life. Not only did he lose his mother, but he lost his father. The only positive thing one could say about him was that he had never had anything to begin with, so nothing was lost. But to him something was lost, his mother, who had died in childbirth, was gone and according to others he was the monster who was to blame for this though it was clear once she gave birth to the baby she had little chance of surviving. An innocent child at first he was as any other child would behave, constantly depending on others, though he did not cry out or scream as many other children do, but was silent. His father was leader of the village, so had ultimate authority, and as he grew provided his son, who was crucial to the passing on of the family’s name as well as protecting it and leading as he did. This monster child, was not normal that was clear, but whether he was good or evil was about to reveal itself to the village. But their perspective and misunderstanding perhaps is what causes him to become so withdrawn and unethical in nature. After the murder of the assassin his father sent after him, he sees he has failed in taming the demonic child whose power was so great that it was not only a threat to the outside but to the village itself. The hero’s father orders the village to not talk to him, or even to look at him, pay no attention. This results in not pure anger or jealousy, but hurt and confusion of the village’s fear and hostile behavior as well as the ridicule to the lonely child. His playmates suddenly become estranged and ignore him; some even make fun of him calling him names. As the assassin lies dying he reveals that he was the man who had only pretended to care for him and underneath the whole time he hated and blamed him for the death of his sister, and had only pretended to care by the leader’s orders. The hero had sensed this, but never really gave up on the fact that he might be able to become best friends with this man, which on the hero’s part was only human nature. And the human qualities this freak of nature had seemed to vanish from the people of the village’s sight as he grew especially after the murder. The hero had not wanted to kill the man, however, the man was attacking him so defended himself instinctively. Despite his unlikable qualities, he might have become a more attractive child had he received any real compassion from others.
    But unfortunately was doomed to over time become the monster the village had always labeled him to be. The hero in the present time was expected to be born of noble parents of royalty so as to receive all the necessary training and care from his people and servants. But as timing would have it clearly was not, and this came as a surprise to the one watching these events unfold. Had she been awakened earlier or reborn really, the sorceress would have been able to perceive these horrible circumstances. But like the hero she had been brought into a situation which no one had thought of or expected to be possible since the magician/sorcerer who had cast the spell was so well known and powerful. It was said he could bring back the deceased spirits of the dead and even bring them back to life though the circumstances are not looked into enough to explain how. The time of the sorceress’ birth and the personality had been exactly than the mystic had foretold. But what was looked over was that her age was about the same as the hero’s. So as the growth of a person takes time and awareness increases and only becomes full at a certain age, the sorceress was only aware too late to go to the hero as by then the event had occurred that established and left a inerasable scar. He is stolen one day by another who has also been revived from a past life.
    Either way life goes on, but barely; she is almost too late. Too far away to heal him completely she compromises to support the hero. She is the one who had in her past life constructed the “time warp/bubble” for two of her most ancient and sacred trees of life and only remembers in time to use them to give the hero hope, for something had called her to the task when she was not busy. He lays limp in “her arms” (the trees) and she feels through the ancient senses of the trees that he is barely alive. This is quite a shock to her, as his power was so great; could another like him have already been summoned or accidentally created as he had been? Otherwise it must have been one of the creatures of the forest or some evil shadow or force that had caused the hero to be hurt so. And his frame is so frail, she wonders to herself. It is not like the hero before, that old mystic must have overlooked this aspect as well. The hero she finds is also small, instead of tall, and skinny. Wow, this is quite an odd hero the old man found himself. Hopefully, she thought as she made her way slowly through the beginning of the thick forest, his personality isn’t also in such poor shape.
    Slowly the duo of trees sent their life force [into] the scrawny boy, trying to reassure him that help was on the way. But the boy’s aura seemed unable to register this thought which was another result of his neglect as a child. He had never truly had another to care for him, let alone back him up in battle as he had never needed it.
    Arriving closer to the middle of the dark forest she was able to sense his aura more clearly and saw through the trees that he was bleeding, and a wave of nausea passed over her as the odor of his past and his solitary life without companion swayed her for a moment. Panting at the sudden reality and understanding that who she was about to approach was a killer and a freak as the villagers had put it, instead of hatred and fear (as she had not actually attended the events so didn’t know how horrible the murders had been and did not know him at all) tears came. It had been so long since she had cried, and her sympathetic personality had picked up the loneliness stronger than the hate and bitterness which she had never experienced before. Trying not to stumble among the trees on her way though she had become exhausted trying to run the first mile into the forest because she was so out of shape, compassion flowed sprung bloomed flowered out of her heart which unlike any she had felt before. Suddenly she noticed something as she slowed her pace to a fast walk, pulling her senses which had almost become incomprehensible due to her fatigue away from the hero. There was someone or somebody stalking her.