They always used to tell me I was born to do great things. They could see it in the stars, they said. Great things.
Maybe they were wrong
Kida woke from his reverie spitting the sand from his lips and casting about the deserted beach that had been his three-day home. He fished around in his pockets for another of the wild mushrooms and settled the wide brimmed straw hat more firmly over his ears. The wind was warm here, and there were none to order him about. No, there were none left to do any ordering.
I wish these scars would heal quicker. They blasted itch.
He scratches at his trunk through his shirt, not fond of the scars or the memories they bring.
She said something to me, then ... but I couldn't hear her. I should have tried harder to stop screaming. I had a feeling it was important. Something about the way she looked at me.
He climbs to his feet and shambles down into the surf, feeling the tide come in against his ankles, his shins, his knees.
She was so beautiful. If only I could have stopped ...
Well? What do I do now?
Kida sways in the wind like the tall palms. He lets life wash past him now, from the end backwards. Searching for ideas, he supposes. The damned cannibals in the belly of that creaking ship. Their shining, pointed teeth. The assault on that ship, where he lost the men he commanded. The screams of those who followed his order, his whim.
I didn't think there'd have been so many. Still, there's no challenge in a thing if you know all about it.
The demotion that had put him in the field, in charge of those few men. Recklessness. Conduct unbecoming of an officer of the legions. His father's letters. The anger in his words.
And the sadness, too. He always had high hopes for his wayward son, didn't he? Serves him right, the arrogant bastard.
His twenty-first birthday. The last day of his free-ranging ways, his father had said. His mother had beamed at him, congratulating him in attaining a post in such a noteworthy legion.
They don't call it the Red Piss Legion for nothing, mother. Scoundrels and cutthroats, all.
The neverending river of parties, dances, taverns, women, pipes ... The faces, the voices. They all blended together after a while. None of it meant anything.
They always said I was destined for greatness. Time of birth ... the stars don't lie. Maybe they were wrong.
Maybe they were right.
What's to follow is the story of Devar Kida, son of a gem merchant, destined by birth for great things, Chosen of Luna, and sometime bum. More to be revealed of his life prior to his battle with the Lintha, that which resulted in his Exaltation into the ranks of the Lunars. But chiefly it will be a chronicle of his deeds, so that they may not go unsung ... you know ... in case he has a few too many mushrooms one day and dives off the deep end.
Maybe they were wrong
Kida woke from his reverie spitting the sand from his lips and casting about the deserted beach that had been his three-day home. He fished around in his pockets for another of the wild mushrooms and settled the wide brimmed straw hat more firmly over his ears. The wind was warm here, and there were none to order him about. No, there were none left to do any ordering.
I wish these scars would heal quicker. They blasted itch.
He scratches at his trunk through his shirt, not fond of the scars or the memories they bring.
She said something to me, then ... but I couldn't hear her. I should have tried harder to stop screaming. I had a feeling it was important. Something about the way she looked at me.
He climbs to his feet and shambles down into the surf, feeling the tide come in against his ankles, his shins, his knees.
She was so beautiful. If only I could have stopped ...
Well? What do I do now?
Kida sways in the wind like the tall palms. He lets life wash past him now, from the end backwards. Searching for ideas, he supposes. The damned cannibals in the belly of that creaking ship. Their shining, pointed teeth. The assault on that ship, where he lost the men he commanded. The screams of those who followed his order, his whim.
I didn't think there'd have been so many. Still, there's no challenge in a thing if you know all about it.
The demotion that had put him in the field, in charge of those few men. Recklessness. Conduct unbecoming of an officer of the legions. His father's letters. The anger in his words.
And the sadness, too. He always had high hopes for his wayward son, didn't he? Serves him right, the arrogant bastard.
His twenty-first birthday. The last day of his free-ranging ways, his father had said. His mother had beamed at him, congratulating him in attaining a post in such a noteworthy legion.
They don't call it the Red Piss Legion for nothing, mother. Scoundrels and cutthroats, all.
The neverending river of parties, dances, taverns, women, pipes ... The faces, the voices. They all blended together after a while. None of it meant anything.
They always said I was destined for greatness. Time of birth ... the stars don't lie. Maybe they were wrong.
Maybe they were right.
What's to follow is the story of Devar Kida, son of a gem merchant, destined by birth for great things, Chosen of Luna, and sometime bum. More to be revealed of his life prior to his battle with the Lintha, that which resulted in his Exaltation into the ranks of the Lunars. But chiefly it will be a chronicle of his deeds, so that they may not go unsung ... you know ... in case he has a few too many mushrooms one day and dives off the deep end.
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