My feet were tired. Tired of the furious steps that walked in stride. The steps that elapsed the time, still quickening my pace.
They would run so far, yet never far enough away. Never far enough away from that parasite!
((she whispers an inept remark as she pens an arcane symbol)) Nor his minions! Now... I have seen them again. These lands, this soil.. Different from before. It's darkness creeps beyond the shadows. ((she sniffs the air)) It couldn't be him.

I still dream of those nets and horrors steeped in laughter. I should never have rested along that tree. I should of known by the broken twigs, the leaves disturbed. He kept me in that cage for so long. A word for a morsel of food, a gesture for a drink. Why he called me exquisite, I'll never know. "More tricks Styx!" Those words would echo that room like the sound of a hawk in an open field. He'd come for my hair, then my blood and mark me with his branding's. The only way from that cage was by his hand, with savage and cruel agenda. From room to room, hand in hand I'd stand and then they'd taken my innocence. I'd grown cold, my eyes they had blackened. I couldn't remember the sounds of the wolves or the rushing of the streams.

I remember the spiral throughout their dimensions, lost and worn more thin. The more deprived, the more I had seen. The more I had learned, I had seemed to awaken. My mind had traveled a labyrinth, only he directed the path. Compromising not only my freedoms, but my will its acquisition. From esoteric allusions to alchemical agendum, the more abstract his pursuits became, even with elaborate schemes to separate fools from their possessions. I remember the endless pickpocketing and mousetraps we'd set. At least it had gotten me away from those rooms, that cage...

Perhaps someday, I will write about my escape more vividly. I have yet to bear, or comprehend what I had even seen that day... I was just happy to return to the forest, my home. I would see them return as well. Hunting for me they would search the forest and when they could not find me, they'd burnt it to the ground.

Thus, I have traveled the endless miles and the years have passed. I have survived, to whither to only wander. To swindle again, setting my snare. To run with swift feet and awakened eyes, I am tired. Never far enough away it seems and now I have seen them again. The demons, but in their multitude. Emaciated figures inclined to consume and back to the abyss, to only return again. Their dark mercilessness maelstrom ensues.

The people, they call this place Valorn. A bit barbaric, but a civilization non the less. They have bound together and bind still. A force within a force, strength within their numbers. I wasn't sure if I'd stay and then they'd reached out, placing me within their count. I still set my trap as I had very little. My hunger still more for comforts then food. Then the first women came, thick-lashed with emerald eyes, verily so kind, it hurt. Then another and another, until one, she knew. She was wise, the most beautiful of these lands and she knew it. With her flowing red hair, she called me the best lil' darn con artist and she laughed, still gave me her coin. My heart it breaks and it aches from all the things that I have done. Change is difficult, an unenviable position and truths they hurt. One woman, her words melt like warm butter, tempestuous and true. Reminds me of another I'd spoken with. He hides in the shadows, animalistic but pure. And then...there is he.. Untouchable with a light that has yet to dawn. We will see. ((she smiles and mocks him within her thoughts and laughs sweetly))

For now I train and learn from a man that seems to keep me in his best interests. Although he's stubborn, he is wise offering a quick and effective revision. I will learn what I have to from many in all the forms that matter. All in due time... This journey has yet to begin.