Celestial Memories, part 1
Celestial Memories
By Aliza Starwing
(Edited by AshuraK,
because my orignal was bad grammatically)
In the beginning, most people don't remember their childhood. When children start to memorize things, it happens around the age of four or five. I, however, am slightly different.
I started to remember like everyone else, but my past is not a pleasant one. My past is fuzzy... hard to recall at that. What I do know is that someone found me, and told me the truth of my true parents. The person that took me in, told me that my parents abandoned me like an aven chick from the nest.
At first, I didn't know what to think. Then I reacted in the normal way, the normal way being a flood of emotions that over takes a person. I was sad, angry, and all other sorts of emotions, all were flooding in and overwhelming my rational thought process.
The person who raised me was talking to me in a calm and soothing voice. She was trying to calm me down, but I wouldn't hear any of it.
As she continued trying to help me, slowly I lost my temper, and then finally snapped. I ran up the steps of the two story house, and grabbed a gym bag from my closet. I grabbed random things, and stuffed them into the bag, like a few sets of clothes and a few other things; necessities.
When I was done, I zipped up the bag, and turned around. There she was. The woman who had raised me my entire life thus far. She took me in, treated me like her own daughter even though I wasn't. I had always thought of her as my mother until that day when she told me the truth.
I stood there for a minute staring at her, thinking to myself, "Well, what is she standing there for? I'm not her daughter, so she can't tell me what to do anymore". I was wrong on that assumption. I stared at her while she stood in the doorway. She just stood there, and stared right back at me.
"I admit you have the right idea seeking out your parents, but... where are you heading?" she asked. Her tone, if I recall correctly, was soothing, but her face said otherwise.
"I'm..." I began but couldn't finish.
She looked away from me for a moment. I saw her begin to quietly sob.
She, then, faced me again with tears flowing down her cheeks, and some still in her eyes.
I was going to open my mouth and try to say something once more, but I just ended up shutting it again.
"Aliza... I've raised you... as my own... and now you... you just plan to... run out on me?" her voice breaking in between the sobs. "Leaving me... unhappy... and alone?"
Though my emotions were still running high, I still managed to calm myself enough to speak. I thought my words through carefully before I said them.
"Mother, who I thought was mine even though we look nothing alike, you have taken care of me for nearly eighteen years and I now feel that I must leave."
I paused and took a breath before I continued.
"I know that you don't want me to go. Even though after I leave I will start to cry and I know you will be here crying as well. I know what I must do, but it is hard to take the first steps in doing so."
I paused again and took another breath.
"I feel it in my heart and my soul. I promise to come back and visit you again and again. Even though there may be a great deal of time between these visits, I know this is the path that I must take," I said. After I finished speaking, I stretched my wings only a little bit seeing as the room wasn't big enough to extend them to full length. There was a long silence between us in which I retracted my wings close to my body once more.
"Go if you must... but never forget where you came from or who raised you," she sobbed.
She headed for her own room, and shut the door. I heard the little click of the lock being put in place. I slowly walked out of my room, and went up to the door of her bedroom.
"Mother..." I whispered, putting my hand on the door.
I stood there for what seemed like hours when in fact it had only been a few minutes. I kept hearing within the room her sobs and pleaing to the deities for me not to go do what I had to do. Tears started to steam down my cheeks.
"How can I go and do this to her... to us?" I thought to myself, still standing there by her bedroom door. "How can I just leave her here without company and comfort?"
"Because I must," said my conscious.
The more I stayed there glued in that spot, the more reason it gave me not to leave. After a bit, I left. Because I had to. I had a right to know. To know why I had been abandoned. And so with a heavy heart, I took my belongings, and went down the stairs, and closed the door behind me. I put my key into a hidden spot that only I would know about, and I took my first steps into the world on my own.
I stood on the steps of my old house and looked around. I had never really noticed how beautiful the town was. I took the steps at a quick pace, and just set off walking. I don't know why I did this, but I just felt I had to take in all the sights of this wonderful town before I left. I strolled up and down the streets and all around town taking the time to look in various shops.
After a while I stepped into this one shop and the man behind the counter, whom I assumed to be the owner of the shop as well as the person who ran it, looked at me and said, "Why, my my my, if it isn't little Aliza."
I stopped and looked at this man with nothing but curiosity in my violet eyes.
"You know me?" I asked.
"Why, yes I do, Aliza. It's me, Ed. Your mother brought you into my shop many a time. And from what I understand, you're leaving, yes?" the shop keep replied, and he continued on. "I must say this is a grave time to be leaving with the 'monsters' multiplying and ambushing everyone that crosses their path."
He shook his head and frowned. I sighed and frowned as well, but for different reasons.
"How does he already know I'm leaving?" I asked myself. Then it hit me.
"My mother called you shortly after I had left her in the house didn't she?" I stated more than asked. Ed nodded.
"Yes, she did. She is worried sick about what you're going to get yourself into. She asked me to do her a favor and give you something for your trip" He turned around and went behind the counter once more and into the back room. I heard him rummaging about for something while I looked around.
The little bell on the door rang, announcing to all in the store that someone else had entered. I stopped looking at a piece of chainmail and glanced over at the door. The person who had entered looked like a wolf. I couldn't see too clearly though, because the sun was setting and the way the light hit the door made the person look like nothing more than a shadow. The wolf-shadow walked over to the counter and rang the bell on it. As it had walked over to the counter, the sun failed to reach the figure, and details became clearer. It was simply a she-wolf, dressed loosely in various shades of blue. But she had an air of seriousness about her.
Ed finally found what he was suppose to give me because he came out carrying a few things wrapped in what looked like silk. He then noticed the she-wolf and quickly set down the things he had gotten for me on the far side of the counter.
I continued to watch the she-wolf with interest. They discussed whatever they had to discuss, but her expression seemed... well, it seemed something, but I couldn't put my finger on what. The exchange took no more than twenty or so seconds. The she-wolf looked over at me, and smiled before she left the store. That look and that smile sent chills down my spine.
After the she-wolf had left, I went up to Ed.
"Who was that? What did they want? And what the hell is that stuff suppose to be?" pointing at the stuff that was wrapped up and sitting on the far end of the counter.
"Slow down! One question at a time" Ed said panicky.
"All right, all right" I said, calming myself down just a bit, and stepped back a little so Ed could have some room.
Ed walked past me at a hastened pace, and flipped the sign on the door saying his shop was "CLOSED". He also fastened the lock and deadbolt.
"Why the hell is he doing that?" I wondered silently.
My questions were soon answered. Ed pulled me by the hand into the back room, and sat me down on a chair.
"Stay here," he said, his tone was dangerously on the verge of mental collapse. He left the back room for a minute, and then returned.
"There is much to tell you, and not much time to do so" he started out by saying, leaving the back room once more for another moment. When he returned that time, he was carrying the stuff he had brought out a little earlier.
Ed set the stuff down on a small table in the center of the small backroom. I started to stand up, but Ed turned to me and basicly ordered me to sit down. I did as I was told and sat down.
"What-" I began but never finished because Ed interupted me.
"Will you be quiet for just two seconds so that I can explain?" He said firmly. I sat there dazed by this man whom obvisiously knew something and was trying to tell me, but I in turn was acting like a five year old just about to run into the street with a parade going down the same street.
Ed turned from me closed the door to the back room and locked it. He then turned from the door to the table in the center of the room. He walked to the table and started to unwrap the stuff in the silk. When he was done, he motioned for me to come to the table. I stood up from the seat I was sitting on, and walked to the table. What I saw on the table amazed me beyond belief.
What sat on the table, now that I could see it fully, was a variety of items. I already had one pack with my basic essentials: food, clothes, etc... What I saw here went above and beyond the esentials. There was a backpack, weapons, spellbooks, armor, and a bunch of other items I couldn't even begin to describe. I soon spoke after taking in all the wonder of having all this unfolded under my very nose.
"What is this all for?" I asked.
"Not so loud Aliza," Ed answered in a quiet but stern tone. "They might be entering the building at this very moment. Even though they will have to break the door down to do so."
He gave a slight chuckle. I looked at him with a surprised and confused look on my face, wondering to myself, "Who and what is he babbling about?"
Ed looked at me and then spoke again.
"Ah yes, I must get to the point before they come busting in here like uncivilized ruffians. As you can see, Aliza, there are weapons, armor, and spellbooks here for you to choose from" he explained, "As well as a pack for you to carry whatever you pick up along the way in your journey and what you choose here."
"Why should I have to 'choose' anything? I thought I was just going on a simple trip to find my parents?" I retorted. Ed shook his head.
"Aliza, I have no time to go into details right now. I need to tell you the basics before they come, and even then I might not be able to tell you it all, so be quiet and listen for a change" he continued, "And, yes, you are going to go find your parents, but it isn't as simple as you think it's going to be.
"As I mentioned to you before, the monster population is going up and you will need protection. I know for a fact that you haven't been taught how to use weapons as this town is protected by soldiers, and as a result, is relatively peaceful."
Ed paused so I could keep up with his explanation.
"You have to look through all these things quickly and choose which feels right for you, which means everything" Ed went on. "Especially so with the spellbooks because they contain offensive and defensive spells, and based on your decision, you will have either a hard time or an easier time with magical tasks."
I walked up to the table and started to look at the assortment of weapons, spellbooks, and other miscellaneous objects. I started with the spellbooks considering it seemed to be the easiest thing to choose. In the end, I chose two books of magic, and packed them away in the napsack on the table. I looked at the armor on the table. After choosing what armor felt right, I put it on, and only started to look at the weapons, when there was a pounding on the back room door. We froze in place, but the pounding continued.
"Open up in there!" shouted the voice from behind the door. The she-wolf! How'd she get through the front door?!
"It's her... the vixen.... Come, I must get you out of here" Ed breathed as he moved closer to me and was motioning me to move further from the door towards the back wall.
"Vixen?" I wondered silently. "I thought that was a she-wolf?! She's really a female fox?!"
"Come on, shop keeper, we both know you have the one from the poster in there with you! Why else would we have to bust your shop door down? There isn't a discounted lot of items" the vixen said through the door, obviously annoyed. "Now... you can do one of two things, shop keeper: one, hand over the 'Wanted One', or two, aid her and be sentenced."
"Ed?" I breathed, frightened.
"So whats it gonna be, shop keeper?" the vixen asked.