Far from Home

Warm Sands

It was a dark, gloomy night and stowed away in the back of an old, rickey wooden cart manned by an imperial soldier, M'aiq was far from home.

M'aiq is one of few to occupy the vast, isolated deserts of Ragnorak. His homeland is a perilous place with no mercy for weary travelers but to its common natives the "mist folk" tall, broad hardy men and women with darkish skin it is considered sanctury of peace and tranquility. Over the years the mist folk have evolved to endure the extreme scorching and endless heat, the burning sand beneath their bare feet and even the plague of gruesome, deteriorating undead roaming aimlessly throughout the the dark moonlit nights reciting their death in an eerie and furious tone, striking fear into any who have witnessed this frightening experience , however not the mist folk. The mist folk have also become notorious for their venturesome titanboa hunts.

Titanboas are one of the gigantic, venomous snakes also occupying the vast, seemingly endless desert. Scaling to the size of 70 men laying face down and could easily swallow a whole elephant if needs be. Its scales are slimy and highly poisonous and often used for the mist folks arrows and spear tips in order to grant a slow and painful demise to their enemies.

M'aiq was once part of a small, uncivilised, barbaric clan. Known to occupy the rocky cliffsides on one of the few huge, sandcovered mountains throughout the desert, here they were secure from the spine chilling predators which strayed throughout the desert. Not only that but the extreme height of the mountain gave them great advantage to anyone foolish enough to attack. The cliffside was surrounded with wooden crafted spikes to warn off others and at each corner a rickety, old archer tower was manned. The camp was occupied by about 60 men all living in small, sparsely furnished tents made of animal hide and bark. Their leader nicknamed Xorag the mighty was a deceptive, manipulative orc 6 foot tall, with pale green skin and a mouthful of yellow disgusting teeth. He had braided dark hair and was often only seen around the camp once a fortnight. He had acquired selfish and self absorbed goals of wealth and riches. He was abrupt, unfair and severely moronic However with his right hand man Randall the cunning as his nickname was around the camp. A small and scrawny man with extreme sunburned skin and a balded head with an appearance somewhat similar to a weasel although unlike the other members of the clan, Randall was extemely intelligent and was a confident yet a misleading speech person for the camp.

Randall was used by Xorag as a vehicle of propaganda and gave fraudulant and deceptive speeches throughout eachday convincing the others to endure labourious and painful tasks to "better" the camp, these included building reinforcements such as more jagged spikes, bulding small sandstone walls to secure the camp and hunting the hazardous creatures of the desert. All while Xorag feasted and relaxed in luxury in his large cloth tent filled with expensive jewels and furniture.

Despite the others absurdity to the blatantly clear dictatorship throughout the camp. M'aiq understood the manipulative ways of Xorag. He knew he had to depart from the faction. Nevertheless, he new his chances of surviving alone in the lands of mystical creatures and ferocious beasts was slim but despite this he had to chose whether to live and suffer in a unfair camp ruled by bruteforce and manipulation or attempt an escape.

He made his mind up. In the dead of night when everyone would rest but the malevolent undead he was to make his escape. He knew of a border visible from the cliffside and not to far east from the camp leading to the continent of Dawnstar. A place with vast grassland plains with prancing horses huge kingdoms and flourishing sunflowers and deep, mysterious forrests swamped with mystical beasts and fairies.

It was around when midnight M'aiq left his small tent packing few belongings such as a small dagger and a gold, ruby necklace his mother gave to him when he was young. M'aiq dashed to camp exit and stumbled down the rocky pathway towards the boundless desert, around him he seen hoardes of distored undead covering the deserts plains. In fear he sprinted east but this was extremely foolish and unswise of him as the undead sensed the fear within him amd began stumbling towards him grunting and letting out enraged roars attemping to grasp him with their fleshless fingers.

After running across the hot sand avoiding hoardes of distorted, living dead. M'aiq caught a glimpse of the border although something was not right he seen another unkown mistfolk tribe being bound by imperial soldiers. The soldiers were equipped with iron swords and shields with full shiny sets of armor while binding the mistfolk some simultaneously fought the sinister dead, puzzled M'aiq decided to help he leaped towards one of the undead gauging his dagger into its eye leaving it to fall lifelessly to the warm sand, M'aiq turned to see two more limping towards him only to be shot in the stomach by imperial archers however the imperials were new to this land and were uneducated in the ways of the desert and were unaware only a blow to the head could slay one of these foul beasts. M'aiq dashed towards the undead viscously pulling the arrow out of its chest while avoiding its grasp, he then repeatedly stabbed it with the half broking arrow in its face, as it fell to the floor M'aiq turned slashing the face of the other. He looked around to see the gory and gruesome scene left behind only to be bludgeoned to the head by a wooden club by an imperial soldier knocking him to the floor unconscious...