UmbraCustos

Vulpin watched as the stream water flowed by.  He let the sounds and smells of the forest wash over him as he studied the water's patterns.  The swirls and eddies caused by the passage of the water around obstructions and debris were almost hypnotic.  He was still as stone as his eyes searched the movements of the water.  He watched and watched.  After several hours had passed, he decided that something was off.  Something was missing.  He looked at the leafy forest around him and contemplated the missing element.  The world around him was fundamentally wrong.  Warped like a piece of lumber that had been exposed to the elements for far too lo

Chapter 3 All was still save for the wind and snow.  We were hunkered down in our mean little huts and trying to conserve what little body heat we produced.  Outside, the winter wind raged, wild and bitter.  The white landscape hidden by swirls of white snow carried about on the violent breeze.  This wasn't the gentle snow that children could go outside and play in, this was snow that cut exposed skin.  Frozen bits of ice cast about by the tempest. Imagine our surprise when we heard a friendly knock upon our crude door.  We had made it with bits of sticks tied together with string and it fell right off the hinges at any careless touch.  Thi

Occedrûn Chapter 2 The first night was the worst.  Many people had been caught unawares and were forced to sleep in the open.  People swept as much forest debris off a spot as they could before hunkering down on it for the night.  The lucky ones were able to build fires, the unlucky ones shivered through the night.  A few climbed the trees and tied themselves to branches for fear of predators.  In their defense, the predators were terrifying.  The wolves were feared like the plague and there was much fingering of charms as the dark night settled onto us like an all-encompassing blanket.  The few weapons that people had managed to smugg

Chapter 1 My family members were roughly dragged out of our house near the capital and thrown onto the ground.  We were being exiled, but on the bright side, at least we landed in grass and not mud.  We lived just far enough away from the city that we had gotten our own little grass-covered yard.  Apparently, that sort of thing came in handy when you were being thrown out of your house. My father and brothers appeared to be contemplating arguing, but thought better of it when they saw the nasty gleams in the eyes of the soldiers that had just forcefully evicted them.  It looked like they were itching for an excuse to use the spears that wer

Occedrûn - Prologue High in the mountains that formed the natural border between the Aenorian Empire and its smaller neighbor to the west (Occedris), lay a small sleepy village.  It bore the unassuming name of Beredore.  There was nothing particularly special about the village; although several important battles had taken place nearby throughout the long history of the empire.  No important roads ran by it and people rarely had reason enough to subject themselves to the hardship of a hike through the mountains to visit.  The village largely escaped attention by virtue of being so small and remote. It was so small and insignificant in f