~Chronicles of the Lost
Chapter 1: New World
Pain and suffering are common place here. Those who don’t know it are long dead, or too rich to care. Everyday I find myself fighting for scraps that have been thrown away by those who can afford food and housing, and everyday I leave a corpse behind in those fights. I’ve never lost, most of the other kids living on the street know to leave me be, but every once in awhile the hunger gets to them and they challenge me anyways. It’s harsh and senseless violence that wouldn’t happen if either of us hadn’t been there. It makes me think, would the world be better off if I were to leave this place? would less people die cold and alone If I weren't there to take the last of the food? Probably not, but that doesn’t stop me from feeling so empty and worthless inside. Perhaps one day things will change, whether they’re for the better or not I don’t care, as long as these never ending days of torment and misery leave me be.
Never would I have guessed that things would get so much worse before getting a little better.
Finally a Change had occurred, it was faint but I noticed it. Less kids roamed the streets, and the city nights seemed quieter than normal. Cars that would usually fill the streets were missing and the daily movements of the city seemed sluggish compared to the normal hustle and bustle of the week. It was War, a war had started and I didn’t even know it until I had overheard a conversation. The whole country had been in a state of panic because of several bombings from a rival nation on our borders. People were being taken by the military to fight the wars while kids were being picked off the street and thrown onto the battlefield. Apparently I had been one of the lucky few that had avoided being captured by the military to be trained. But this information gave me some relief, less kids on the street meant less competition for scraps of food. If I was lucky I wouldn’t have to kill someone to get my food for a long time.
I was wrong, competition for scraps had been fiercer than ever, a large portion of the wealthier populace had been recruited which meant less scraps were thrown out. The rumor I had heard about the military picking up kids seemed to be false as the competition never seemed to let up. In the past few days I’ve had to kill for 8 of my meals, all while doing my best to avoid any soldiers roaming the city, lest my assumptions be false and they try to capture me. One of the kids I killed, she had beautiful blue eyes...filled to the brim with determination.
Today’s the worst by far, as other kids have started to band together in hopes of taking me down for the bread crusts in my hand. These crusts were worth three souls, I ate them gratefully and without remorse, I promised myself I wouldn’t look back on my past anymore. Hopefully the past wont catch up to me some day. The sun hides itself behind a sheet of clouds and soon the sounds of thunder fill the city streets. From an ally I watch as people walk down the streets, either moving inside to avoid the rain or pulling umbrellas out to continue along their day.
It’s not long before the rain starts to fall, slowly at first, but quickly becoming a torrent of water that washes the grime and muck from my scraps of cloth for clothes and my blood stained body. No matter how pure the rain, the blood will never wash away, that’s all I know.
“hey kid!”
I look around, hoping it’s not a soldier calling me. I see the man who called out and find myself taken aback by his appearance. A strange old man, with eyebrows bigger than caterpillars and a goatee much the same, was wearing what appeared to be a yellow suit with multi colored polka dots. With the way he looked, I almost thought he was some sort of business clown. Then I took notice of the doorway he was besides. Beads of every color imaginable hung from the top of the doorway and stretched almost to the floor. The doorway itself seemed to be carved from woods of every kind, reds, browns, lights, darks, and other strange colors as well. The patterns they formed depicted images of rolling hills with strange four-legged creatures roaming them. From what little I knew about animals I could tell they seemed to be horses of some kind. Before I could finish my expectation of the door the man calls out again.
“I haven’t got all day y’know, are going to come out of the rain or what?” He looked at me while trying to avoid any drops of rain that might ruin his strange suit. Normally I would have just run off, but something about that doorway made me curious. I had never seen anything like it before and this man clearly wasn’t from the military if he was dressed like that.
“If you're coming along hurry it up will you, I’d rather my new suit not get ruined by this rain!” And with that I found myself walking to the doorway with a strange old man waiting for me. We passed through the doorway and instantly I was meet with a warm, dimly lit room that seemed to contain only two large chairs and a fireplace. The walls didn’t look to exist and when I looked behind myself there was no doorway either. It was as though the rest of existence had disappeared and only this room was left.
“Now why don’t you take of those ratty clothes of yours and come sit by the fire with me, huh?”
I looked at the man, or at least where there was once a man. Now there was a tall serpent like creature that seemed to be a mix match of all sorts of animals. It was odd that I didn’t feel afraid, it was all like a spell to me ever since setting foot in the doorway. I obediently removed the soaking rags covering my body before walking over to the empty chair and sat down to enjoy the warmth of the fire. I could feel myself starting to blush due to my being naked around another person, or living thing.
“See that's better isn’t it?” The serpent asked with a laugh “ Your world is so lovely with it’s chaos but it’s rather dark for my taste, I like losing myself in a good fire after a visit” I found myself looking at the fireplace as he spoke, the fire had started to show images of creatures living their lives. I recognized them from the pictures on the doorway.
“You can see the can’t you boy?” my attention turned back to the creature sitting next to me and nodded in response.
“They’ll be your new neighbors, at least if you decide to come with me to this world that is” The serpent smiled at me and I returned a smile of my own. A sudden look of realization hit the creatures face and he exclaimed
“My goodness I haven’t introduced myself yet have I?” He stood up and gave a bow “My name is Discord, master of chaos, ruler of strange, and king of myself” He gave a laugh and snapped, he disappeared and reappeared in his chair “and how about you, what’s your name?”
“I...” I don’t know It’s been too long since I’ve last interacted with anyone like this. Heck most of my memories were forged on the streets, I don’t even know I ever lived in a home. I frowned and looked back to the fire leaving Discords query unanswered.
“Hmm, you don’t know it? well I’m sure we’ll come up with something later but for now, how bout it? Want to join me in a whole new world?"