Some people will tell you all about their parents some will tell you about their family or where they come from, perhaps even their name. I want to go ahead and tell you none of those things, because I do not remember any of them, I can tell you only the vaguest memories of my earliest childhood. I can only paint with broad strokes but sit back relax let me tell you what I know.
I was born somewhere rather delightful in the west the sweet summer air soaked in the soft scent of sea salt and cherry blossoms, where a young child played out upon the sands. Most people see the world in binaries, men and women, young and old, gods and man…but they don’t see the in-between. Where ever I grew up for those short years I can remember that the duties of men were of war, to farm while it was the job of the woman to craft, to watch the home. However there are those that are touched by the spirits, those you can tell are not of either of these worlds, but one who must cross the bridge between. My people whoever they were called these children the Phim, they wore the flesh of men and clad themselves as women…I was one of these children.
I remember so little of the day, I remember seeing a strange glint along the river a jewel, bright and green…quickly I went to snatch it up, that was the last memory I have of the place that was home. I never did see that gem again, what came after was a whirlwind of strange men who first commanded us in a foreign tongue, then a second that spoke our own. We were commanded to do whatever they told us, and if we didn’t we would get struck rather harshly with a rattan stick. It didn’t take long for us kids to get along with the program and do what we were told. They shackled us, almost everyone was older than I was, and we were paraded out in front of people on a block as they rattled in their language like we were cattle, pieces of meat. That’s where I was sold, today I can count the coins that clattered on a pedestal, my life was of decent value…maybe it was from my age, I can laugh however they paid extra thinking I was a girl, might have been the floral dress. From there I was taken in another ship to the place that would become my blood spattered and gilded cage. The place was a large island full of share croppers, all with but a single lord over all of them he was the one who purchased me for a handful of coins…and his name was Niko Vanhados. Never will I forget his short spiky hair and cold steel grey eyes, he was at first happy with his purchase perhaps until I was brought by his other slaves to be cleaned. The word he used at first meant nothing to me but the telltale sign of anger, that and a few flipped tables and ranting at the older staff.
The first few weeks of acclimation were hard as I was given a very quick stern lesson of what to expect, what to be and how to speak…proper. Despite not being what Niko expected no less I was held to the female standard, I became the house serving girl. I never grew large of frame, my voice was soft and my form delicate, Niko always called me his Mouse. Niko however among many things was a sorcerer of rather good power, and his desires were certainly different to say the least. But as the perfect serving girl, I learned to clothe him, bath him, to play the sanxian, to arrange and file his library as well as write his letters. I considered escape once but I found the hanging body of a few of the other slaves hanging in a tree after a similar stunt. They hung there dead and lifeless until they rotted and poured their flesh and fat back into the earth. As I grew older my duties became more plentiful, as age or anger had taken the last of his slaves I was the sole object to absorb his frustration. An anger that only grew as I aged, no longer the soft cherub that he originally desired, but he found uses for me, picking up almost all of the duties in his household. From then on I did studying, I found peace in fixing and making clothes for Niko, the skill of needlework was my little escape from the world, in my blood rust cage. It was no surprise that with delicate fingers and dedication I was able to turn any bolt of silk into that which gods could covet. It was however not the only skill he saw in me, I had the skill with numbers, I was good with money and I became the hand that expanded his fortune. When I reached majority, all of these things were not good enough for Niko, he used me for his purposes whenever he desired…which became often and violently.
I did not hold being a slave as the worst thing in the world, but the rough hand he took with him, left me often unable to do my tasks for several days…well at any rate. Now it is not to say there were not good things about Niko, he liked good wines, good food, soft beds, and I could always treat myself to my own needlework. Sadly with age it often destroys our beauty even in the best of cases, and without even the best of my looks Nikos hand grew stronger, it seems age and rivals did not calm him either. So in what I assume to be my early thirties I started what would be the opening of my cage, I first began to fabricate for him rivals in which to strike at him in his business. I made up others, who were striking out at his business to cause him “losses”, it was just the beginning of my hand. It took a slow many years as I had reached on out to provide a pair of bodyguards for my master, those who I watched practice every day learning my own way around a sword…something I had been forbidden since my youth, but it’s something I would need to learn. I understood nothing of the occult studies he had over the years, but I took to learning every single iota of information. Slowly but surely I took everything from Niko VanHados, I slowly bought away his business, bled dry all his investments set aside on an isle not far from there. I found all his allies, and turned them on him, small written slights, false letters, I practiced how to use a blade after settling Niko down for the night. Every meal I served him was softly tainted with purchased poison, I took from him wealth, his allies, his friends, his business, and his health….but he still had two things left that I wanted, his life and his pride.
I was nearly forty by the time the opportunity came; he chose to summon himself a demon something to help ail his weakening flesh, but when the demon arrived from malfeas he went to make demands of it as it could sense the binding circle that called it offered its summoner no protection. As he shot back, he crossed the second circle that I made and was protected for the moment before the blade I pulled off one of the soldiers cut him as grew in fear realizing the position he was in. I held the blade out in front of him back towards Niko as the demon spoke in old realm, offering many things in return for its release. It was a shock to my masters face when I spoke back to make a deal as Niko in fear started to beg in front of me, tears rolled down his eyes, unable to understand my turning on him. He offered me wealth…which I had already taken, he offered to free me, which was already mine, he begged for his life, and I had taken his pride away as well. I laughed with the melodic sound of eternity as he shook sobbing pleading, a glint of something on his neck caught my attention as I grabbed it out of to gaze upon it….a beautiful ruby, etched with orichalcum, and I fell within its depths. Time seemed to stand still as I drowned within that ruby, essence accumulated as my mind expanded as the energy burst into a bonfire. It was at that moment I was chosen, within the facets I saw a moments of lives unlived, another facet I saw an old man forge the amulet, another a wedding gift of a milky jade blade, treasures and memories of old conquests, I…was reclaiming what was mine. In that instant my gaze tore away and made the demon my thrall, as was proper, but a memory gave me a spell in which I grabbed his head in both hands “You shall never speak your life before this night’s sun sets.” With that moment I left Niko on the floor, and with a press of will the demon came with me, in that moment I had also taken his life and my own existence with it.
I was reborn as a twilight in my assumed thirty eighth year of life, I had all of Nikos fortune, I had years worth of silken cloth, but before I could enjoy that there were old memories that still called to me. I spent the better part of the next year in travel across the western seas hunting down what belong to my past lives, as well as perfecting my tailoring, learning more of the world, and of the occult. I found myself in the skull stone archipelago, home of the Silver Prince…I was a vibrant star against the cold drabness of the stone. My search however took me all over out in the darkness to find a deep mausoleum, I had to puzzle my way through the traps, but at its depth was a shallow sarcophagus the talisman gleamed as I pressed my hands along the stone as it opened up. There she was Final Light on the Edge of Darkness, an elegant blade made of beautiful milky white jade, the edge shined with beautiful orichalcum, it sang to me as I placed my hand upon it and we became one before it vanished.
I planned to leave as silently as I came but before my ship arrived I was contacted by another solar, a night caste those who struck out against the darkness. They made me an offer one that was intelligent, in gathering our strength together in a circle we would be stronger, as well as offering me an assistant to be our go between, Yun Li. However mistakes were made and circumstances cut our night castes life short, however Yun Li was easily able to find their next life….Salt Wolf. The third of our group is Hurricane…strong, larger than life, and one who easily accepts the greatness of perfect style and fashion. In the end I have chosen to liquidate my holdings and pour them into several places as we have chosen to move along with the Denzik city ship…it keeps the wyld hunt at bay and gives me all the time in the world to perfect my crafts and my knowledge.
![Mouse - Simply Mouse [Solar] Empty](https://2img.net/i/empty.gif)
by kareruren2020 Mon Sep 26, 2016 12:46 am
