L
Lysander
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Chronicles of Fate
Chapter 1:
Awakening
Awakening
1st Day of Spring, 1001 AR
"Screeeeee-!" The sudden noise made One-Eye flinch. He raised its scarred muzzle quickly, turning its head towards the noise. Sweeping a crimson eye over the scene; a small grey rat was curled up in the corner of the nest, a chunk had been torn out if its ear and it bled profusely. A much larger brown rat sat in the middle of the nest, gnawing at what appeared to be a crusty heel of bread. It appeared that a fight had broken out over scraps; a common occurrence in a place like this. The other occupants of the nest sat curled up in the scraps of cloth and straw they called a nest.
One-Eye yawned getting up and shaking himself from sleep. He stalked over to the brown rat and hissed at it; lunging for the heel of bread with his mouth. One-Eye saw himself in the eyes of the brown rat; he was big at least a foot long from end to end, not counting the tail. His fur was snow white and his eyes crimson. His body was covered in numerous scars; the most prominent one was over the eye and accented his milky white eye perfectly. The brown rat almost looked like it wanted to fight at first, then though better of it and let the scrap go. An albino was usually the runt of the any litter, but this rat was king of this colony. He had proven himself to be the toughest of them and so if you wanted to live you obeyed. Besides, the brown rat thought, it could get another where that had come from, so it slunk away to sleep.
If One-Eye could smile he would have. Grabbing the heel of bread, he scurried out of the nest. The nest was inside of a small crack in the wall of a dungeon that widened eventually to give enough room for that many to sleep. One-Eye squeezed through the crack, then sat to eat his meal. Once he was finished he took off again, scurrying fast across the stone floor. He was in the middle of a dark stone hallway. Both the walls, floor, and ceiling where made from stone blocks and mortar. One end of the hallway ended in stairs and no light came from that direction. The other direction had some faint light so One-Eye headed in that direction. That was his destination anyway; One-Eye was fascinated by the big ones. They confused, scared, and angered him, but most of all made him curious. He had been approaching the sleeping ones each day getting closer and closer. Some would make a noise or move so One-Eye had ran, but others hadn't done anything except breathe.
The cells were made just the same way as the hallway, but the only thing sepreting the cells from the hallway was iron bars with a large locked iron door. Passing each cell he peered in; they where dark, but to his eyes they where very light. On the right side of the hallway the cells had windows. The windows where positioned at the top of the wall and one would need to be taller then 6 feet to see through it. The windows where small and rectangular with iron bars, and moonlight fell through the windows, creating an imprint on the floor. The only furniture the prisoners had was a sackcloth sleeping pallet stuffed with straw with a matching tattered blanket. They wore only tattered rags as clothing. A clay bowl of water and a bucket to relieved themselves in sat on opposite sides of the cell. The cells on the left side of the hallway where similar, but without the window. Most of the prisoners sat curled up on their pallets sleeping.
That's all they ever did; sleep. In what the big ones called "time" it had only been a few days, but to a rat that was a long time. They had just slept in their sack nests, and that old big one and the two mean big ones would come to each of them occasionally to look after them. Well the old one looked after them; he fed sticky gruel, made them drink water, and even tended the scratches and bruises on them. He didn't understand the big ones, but then again he was a rat; he didn't need too. One-Eye finally found what he was looking for; the sixth cell on the right. He squeezed through the bars, and then scuttled further into the cell. He scurried around the imprint of light and up to the prisoner. He approached cautiously at first, but with no reaction he got bolder and bolder and finally he simply ran up to the prisoners tangled mess of hair and sniffed it.
This big one smelled weird; well they all smelled weird, but this one especially. He continued to sniff and explore the big one until it groaned and started to get up. The noise startled One-Eye and he full pelt ran away from the big one. He had learn't his lesson. Big ones were scary.