Road of Darkness

Kael wandered down the rocky path, away from the chaos he had just created. His first act of violence had been a nightmare he did not expect. It was one thing to slaughter a pig at the butcher's shop, but to crush a man's skull with a rock... It sickened him to think of.

He could never go back now, not that there was anything left for him in the small village. It was true that he had always been an outcast, but a murder, that was grounds for a lynching.

Stopping beside the pond he had collected water from the last ten years of his life, he stared at his reflection in digust. The hulking torso, unlike any mans. His long, freakishly muscular arms, more powerful than any animals. He was a freak. The deep purple eyes looked over his abnormally long, pointed ear tips. What was he anyway?

"A freak. For that is you're question is it not?" A pale, darkly clad women stood spooked Kael and he jumped up to face her.

"Who are you?" He questioned menacingly.

"Who am I? The question is who, or what, are you?" The women approached fearlessly. "I know the answer to both of these."

Stopping just short of Kael, she bowed almost comically. "I am Trindel, the Witch of Kruschnoa." Trindel paced in front of him, smiling as she did.

"You are the anomoly, the creature he has been looking for."

"Who's looking for me and what does he want?" Kael couldn't help being interested as no one had ever wanted him around, much less looked for him.

"The master, ofcoarse. He waited for you along time. We didn't know whether you were the propheted one of evil, or... well, not." Trindel put her hand on Kael's chest. "So strong, so big. You are definately the one."

"Oh." Never good with words, Kael let Trindel reveal as much as she would. "And who says I am evil?"

"Well, crushing the sheriff's head with a rock after breaking his dog on a railing isn't the work of a saint."

Kael was angry at Trindel and the allegations. "That man was an abusive drunk, ask his daughter."

"Ah, but you see? You've got the rage. Even now you are thinking about what you would do to me if I started a problem. You're mind works in the way of evil, Kael, because you are the child of a darkened path."

Kael was aggrevated at the fact that Trindel was right. Atleast about fighting her. He tried to walk on anyway. She was no one to him.

"Not so fast, dark one. The master needs you. You must stand at his side." She rushed in front of him to stop him.

Kael, still irritated, lifted Trindel effortlessly by the throat. "I am to stand at nobody's side. My path is my own. Nobody is my master."

Kael tried to be as treating as possible, but Trindel was not impressed. Setting her hand on the fist around her throat, she held it there a moment until, all at once, Kael dropped her, screaming and clutching his hand which now had the burned imprint of the witches much smaller palm.

He spun round to grab her, but she was nowhere to be seen. Stupified, he listened as an echoing voice laughed in a high pitched cackle.

"He will find you, and when he does you will beg for his mercy. He will have you. In the ened you will bow to his presence." The voice trailed off and Kael was left alone.