“Loid took a deep breath. “Once upon a time there was a small city of magical creatures, far away from a human world. Despite the distance between these two worlds, the life and the people in that magical city were very similar to humans. Everyone knew how to use magic and everyone was taught equally how to use the powers of their body for different spell casting. Life was fine and life was good,” Loid started, his voice clear and playful.
“But then something happened?” Elena smirked at Loid over her shoulder and the man chuckled.
“Laney, you’re getting ahead of the story.” He shook his head. “The city had a legend that one day a boy with pale blue eyes would be born and on his 20th birthday he would lead the city to a new era. Every man in that tribe had brown eyes and every woman had green eyes, so pale blue eyes were very unusual. What a glorious day it was when finally, the legend came true and a pale blue-eyed boy was born to a regular couple. Everyone was rejoicing, a big party was held and the boy was showered with love from the very first moment he took his first breath. Anything he wanted, he got it, except for one thing; freedom.”
Elena’s eyebrows knit together.
“Did they treat him like some celebrity?” she asked over her shoulder. Loid cocked his chin.
“Like a god. He was destined to take the city and the local tribe to a new era. It was his story. He was the hero everyone had anticipated. He got everything he wanted, but couldn’t run away from his fate, no matter how hard he tried,” Loid continued, drawing a wide arch in the air with his hands animating the story.
“…I feel him… Not to get to choose but to live forced to something…” Elena sighed. She didn’t wish her destiny to anyone else.
Loid pulled a twig out from a nearby push and played around with it, the twig dancing on his fingers. “Shit, ain’t it? I thought you’d like this story,” he grinned from ear to ear. “Anyhow, the story goes the boy was frustrated and resisted his destiny. Told everyone he didn’t want to do it, that he was just an ordinary guy and there was no way he could be special in any way. He asked from the priestesses how did they know he was the fated protagonist of the city, what if someone else with pale blue eyes was born after him, but the priestesses assured that the legends never lied. They were sure that he was the one the legend had foretold. They advised him to be happy about his role. Happy about his destiny to take the whole city and the tribe to a new era. What a privilege!” Loid almost yelled, his grin widening. “To ensure he would be prepared to his role when the 20th birthday day would arise, priestesses made the boy study magic and how to take all advances of his natural energies extra hard”.
“At least he was prepared for his role. For me, I just tried to ignore it. I got no education, no one was there to guide me. I was just thrown into the deep end, head first,” Elena muttered bitterly.
“Everything tends to have at least two sides, if not more. The boy’s life wasn’t all miserable you see, but it wasn’t very happy one either,” Loid reasoned.
“If he resisted so much his fate, do I dare to ask what he did on his 20th birthday?” Elena asked, not really sure did she want to hear the rest of the story anymore.
“Nothing. He did nothing.” Loid jumped the twig up to air with perfect circles. “He went out for a very, very long walk, hoping he could avoid the inevitable. His heart wasn’t in the role, and he hated how someone or something had enforced his future. He had ever only wanted to be free, be who he really was. Not The Pale Blue Eyed Boy, The God like Leader everyone looked up to with high hopes, but his own self. It was said the boy didn’t even know what his true self was like.” Loid stopped, looking far into the distance with a small smile. “When he came back home at the evening of his 20th birthday, everything was ruined. The whole city had crumbled down, people lied around dead, the rest who were alive tried to escape that hellish nightmare. The boy, now a young man, didn’t know what was going on or what had happened, but the furious people with the lead of their survived priestesses cursed the young man. ‘This is your fault!’ they screamed, as he tried to enter the city to find his family, ‘You resisted your destiny! You denied your role as the protagonist! If only you had followed the given path this wouldn’t have happened!” they cried and wailed and yelled at his face, and he barely understood them.” “And the young man?” Elena asked when Loid was just before her face, looking into the horizon. “He ran,” he simply stated and made his way slowly down the mound, the twig swinging in his hand. “Like said, he knew he had screwed up things so badly he could never return to his role as a protagonist. He thought that if he became an antagonist, maybe he could salvage something and redeem himself. So he did.” Elena looked at Loid’s back. Suddenly her heart started to beat fiercely. “Loid?” she called him. “What was his name? That boy’s, who turned into an antagonist?” A sly grin, with something forlorn in it, appeared on Loid’s corner of a mouth. “How should I know?” He snorted with a chuckle.
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As my ARE Novel, where the above snippet is, is coming together very slowly I thought it would be nice to tell you something about Loid and his past. Would you want other things to be told, things which I have planned for the novel, about ARE’s characters?