User blog:Shynano/The desert trek

This is my first attempt at some fan fiction, a work in progress, not sure where I will go with this one. Only setting the scene for now. Please dont be afraid to give advise. Also English is not my first language.

The Desert Trek
In Lescatie, not all villages were full of young man wanting to be heros. One village, called Dhuron, was a simple village which exported potions and herbs. Monsters had yet to show up in that part of the country, and the amount of essential medical supplies it exported meant the order did not try to recruit there. The village of Dhuron was secure with rough sea to the north, and a desert to the south, The latter of which was never crossed in living memory. The village was connected to order held territory through a single road which led to Lescatie.

Dhuron was not the most pious of villages, but the lack of communication with other countries then lescarte made it somewhat ignorant towards monsters. They were loyal to the Order, but did not supply troops, for they were no fighters, but herbalists and alchemists. Nevertheless their work was vital to Lescatie, and to a lesser extend the rest of the countries loyal to the order.

Unfortunately for the villagers, Lescatie was quickly and unexpactantly overrun by monsters. The only route to the rest of the world was soon cut off, making escape impossible. Fleeing to sea was not an option since the village had no harbor or ship building experience. Trying to break through was also not an option, for no one had combat experience. Overall, the village was isolated.

Fortunatly the monsters refrained from attacking. But that did not matter, since the village was not self sufficient when it came to food, having to use their fields for herbs to appease the Order. The monsters knew this of course, and the reason they did not attack was not because they were afraid, but because they believed the village would come to them in time, hunger forcing them to do so.

Prolog
All was quiet in Dhuron and the townspeople were just going about their daily lives. The next merchant shipmant was scheduled to arrive only two days later. Because merchants were often delayed, the village had enough preserved food for two months. This did not mean that people weren't excited about seeing a trader again, because that meant that they could buy other things, hear the news from the country, (even though most of it was obviously order propaganda) and maybe get some new dishes on the dining table.

It also helped that the village had a tradition of having the day off on "Merchants day". And that people were tired of working in fields day after day.

For one young man however, the next merchant was currently off his mind. because his mind was not In Dhuron. Literally.

Jack was a seer, blessed with a rare gift of magic that sometimes manifested itself without training. Jack could see and hear without eyes or ears. Even more impressive, these senses could be extended in any direction. West and east, north and south, Jack's sight could even let him fly like a bird. He often enyoyed flying through the sky seeing everything that happened from above. Even at night when he slept he could do this.

It does not take much imagination to see the value of such a gift, that was called scrying, if used for military purposes. If people knew of Jack's gift, they would probably send him to the Order for his magics to be used in war.

Jack was too wise to let that happen.

He had seen the towers of Lescatie, their harbors and ships, even the palaces of the nobles, from both outside and inside. He saw the training of the strongest, the wealth of the richest, the poverty of the poorest. He saw the faithful people crawl before their masters of the nobles, only for the nobles to act with great arrogance.

All this convinced him of one thing; that no good would come from going there.

Jack was born with this gift, he could use it literally as a baby. As such he learned of the world around him before people expected him. He learned of politics and corruption before he could speak. He kept his "gift" a secret as such. Apart from him and his parents (which he showed his gift when he was fourteen years old) no one knew.

Which is why he was so conflicted right now.

Jack kept his eye around him. He knew of Lescatie's fall to the mamono. He knew he could not get others to believe him, even if he showed his gift to the village. Some might even accuse him of witchcraft. Lescatie has stood for a long time, no one would believe it fell in the time between now and the last merchant. But although Jack was not very loyal to Lescatie, he wanted to save his village from what would come. He continued thinking about what he could do, scrying the road to the rest of Lescatie, which was only used by a single caravan, which was oblivious to the chaos they unknowingly escaped. He thought and he scried, searching for some form of proof.

Only to be shaken awake by his father John.

"Hey Jack, you do need to work today you know, the merchant is due for two days from now." he suddenly heard from behind him. Turning around, he looked his father in the eye. He has not told his father of his crisis, for although he would believe him, there was nothing he could do.

"I am sorry father, I just got a lot on my mind lately." he replied.

Yes, this was the biggest understatement of his life, he wanted to safe his village, but did not know how. Yet he knew he had to get to work, lest people get suspicious. At night, he would scry again, searching for a solution.