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My personal history: Part One, England |
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I was "born" around 1282 in the British Isles during the reign of King Edward, and the time of Sir William Wallace. Living among the Britons during that time period, I was raised upon the brave stories of King Arthur and his knights. As a child, I vowed that one day I too would become a knight and serve the people of my country justly and with honour. That is what perhaps led me to my first death and reawakening as an Immortal. The lands of Britannia had grown fat and greedy seizing upon every opportunity to oppress the weak. It was a time of turmoil for the Northern lands of Scotland as well. The brave Sir William Wallace led his people many times in victory of his oppressors finally dying unjustly as a martyr to the cause of freedom.
My village lived and died by the sword. Barbarians, vikings, and Saxons frequently attacked my homeland, but with the ferocity of my people, we managed to survive and prevail over our enemies. I quickly learned that those who never learned the ways of the sword, were quick to die by the sword. It was said that our people could never be bested in battle. It was said that we were descended of the brave knight Sir Tristan who at the fall of Camelot, took as many men as he could and fled the land settling in what is now present-day Yorkshire. King Edward was jealous of our people at that time. Frequently wanting our people to fight as nobles against the Scots, he tried time and again to get us to fight in his "unjust" war. My people refused him and for that, we were often found to be persecuted and attacked from time to time by mercenaries and "rogue" soldiers under the employ of King Edward.
When I was 29 years of age, I was out on patrol with my brothers and a small band of warriors when we were ambushed by a group of rogue English soldiers and German mercenaries. Although we fought valiantly, we all fell in battle, myself taking an arrow to the heart. When I awoke, I found myself alone in the night, an arrow in my chest, and my brothers and comrades fallen all around me. I felt no pain and removed the arrow from my chest with ease. I was shocked at how easily and quickly the wound healed and was in shock from what was going on when I was struck suddenly with a pain in my skull such as I had never before experienced.
It was at that moment, that from the woods emerged an elderly looking man who claimed to know who I was and who claimed to have known me for a long time. He spoke to me of the Game and of the nature of my newfound Immortality and told me that he too was Immortal as was I now. He took me in and taught me everything about what it meant to be Immortal. It was only much later when I discovered that he was known as Merlin, the advisor and wizard to the great King Arthur himself. He told me that Arthur himself was Immortal as I was and that one day, if he indeed was to be the One, then he would again make himself known. This of course sparked many of the legends and stories of Arthur never actually dying, and of his journey to the isle of Avalon.
For years I trained and lived under the tutelage of Merlin until, restless to know of the fate of my people, I returned home. Upon my return, there were none who remembered my face. Years had passed and my friends and family had all perished. What was left of my kin, told stories of the valiant knights who defended the land, I having been one of them. The land however had changed. A new king ruled and the kingdoms were slowly becoming more united. The Black Plague had ravaged the lands and much of what I had once known had passed into death and decay. The traditions of the Roman Catholic Church seemed to reign supreme, kings and nobility chosen "by the hand of God" as it were. To me it seemed much more man, than God, the rich priests and fathers flaunting their wealth and power as if they were kings themselves.
As for me, I lived amongst my descendants as more of a shadow or a ghost of the past, not involving myself too much in the troubles of my land. It was not until a caravan of men travelling from the East came to my city, when I decided it was time to move on. The people of the East said they came from the lands of Asia Major, the land of the Rising Sun. Intrigued by their ways, I left England and travelled with them by land and sea until eventually reaching the old Spice Roads. Rather than continue my travels in the southern portion of Asia, I was enchanted by the people of the Northern isles of whom stories were told of the great samurai and their skills in the ways of the blade, both as swordsmiths and great warlords of their time. I turned my attention to Japan and in the late 1390s arrived on the Japanese coast.
As for the rest, well that's a story for another time.
 Draketooth Silvertongue · Sun Mar 02, 2008 @ 04:53am · 0 Comments |
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