Golddess: Story of a White Mage, Chapters 0 through 2
Posted: Wed Mar 30, 2005 9:11 pm
Chapter 0
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I've never really been a very open Mithra. All my life, I was a social outcast. I guess thats what everyone is when you're not an Elvaan and you live in San d'Oria.
We lived in a quaint little 2 room house at the edge of the city, just mom and me. We were the only Mithras in the district. The Elvaan children would make fun of the fact that my family was different than theirs, because I didn't have a father. I was even an outcast amongst the outcasts, the other races children always siding with the Elvaan, trying to gain some sort of favortism.
Mother would talk often of father with such admiration, though I can't remember anything about him. She said he was a great White Mage, and that he was a key element to our victory over the hordes of beastmen. Of course, the Elvaan would never admit to such things. They like to think that they single-handedly drove back the beastmen, that no one else did anything of value.
Whenever I would ask mom why dad didn't come home after the war, she would close her eyes and a tear would roll slowly down her cheek, and she would tell me that he went to visit Altana. I was too young to realize what mother actually meant. As a kitten, I'd always hoped that I could visit Altana too.
I began practicing White Magic at the early age of 2. By the time I was 5, I knew how to cast a few mid-level spells. Actually casting them though, I was still too young to have the strength and endurance to cast such spells, and would passout whenever I attempted to cast them. Mother did not approve of me following in father's pawprints, but she would always offer advice. She always used to tell me that if I want to know White, I must also know Black.
So I decided to try my hand at the Fire spell. Little did I know just how different Black Magic is from White. 2 years later, I felt I was ready to cast Fire for the first time, but there was an accident. I made just a little spark, but that spark flew off into a hay pile, and soon the entire district was up in flames.
I was so scared. The flames were so big and hot, smoke was everywhere. I cried out for mother, mewing weakly. But no one paid attention to the lone kitten as they fled to safety. Then, a miracle happened. Out of no where, Leviathan appeared, and a mighty rain did fall. Shortly afterwards, all the flames were extinguished. Everyone stared around confused, but soon all sorts of rumors were flying back and forth.
"Someone used Summoning Magic! That magic is forbidden!"
"I'll bet it was that Mithra, she was always a shady character."
"We must tie her up and toss her to the Orcs before Altana smites us all!!"
After that, everything was a blur. Torches were lit, pitchforks were raised, and a little Mithran kitten was crying in the darkness. I cried myself to sleep that night.
When I awoke, I was in a ditch on the side of the road. I went to my home, but I heard strange voices coming from inside. I snuck in through a little tunnel in the side that I had discovered a few years back. Fortunately I was still small enough to use it. The voices became clearer as I moved closer to the other end behind the stove...
"...didn't put up much of a fight, did she?"
"Of course not. She was not Elvaan, so she is inheriently inferior to us."
I peeked out from the hole, and looking underneath the stove, I could see 3 pairs of feet sitting at the table. A fist was slammed down on the table, startling me.
"Y'know, I'm sick and tired of all your Elvaan superiority comments. Why did we do what we did, to seek forgiveness from Altana? Altana knows we wouldn't have done it if it had been an Elvaan who had summoned Leviathan. I feel sorry for us all, but mostly I feel sorry for that poor Mithran kitten that we just made an orphan last night! Gentlemen, I bid you adieu. Do not expect to see me around these parts again."
One of the men got up and left, slamming the door behind him. I choked back tears. A Mithran kitten orphan? Were they refering to me?
"What's his problem?"
"Bah, you know Bards, if it isn't one thing it's another. Hard to believe a fellow Elvaan could choose such a path in life."
"Indeed. Well, we'd best get going, this place has already been cleared out of all posessions. No sense spending any more time in this crap-hole."
The 2 other men got up and left as well, shutting the door behind them. I stayed hidden for a few more minutes, then wriggled my way out from behind the stove. I looked around the room. Everything was gone. I rushed into the sleeping quarters. It had also been ransacked. I ran over beside the bed. "They couldn't have gotten into this," I thought. "There's no way they would have noticed it!"
I felt around the floor, and soon found the familiar clawmark. I dug my claws in, and tugged at the floorboard until it came free. Underneath, my teddybear blanket still lay, perfectly folded up. It was made of a rare cloth. Mother told me that the cloth was given to father by a random traveler he saved out in the desolate regions of the Glacier. Mother was pregnant with me at the time, and they both thought it would be a wonderful gift for me for mother to use her clothcraft skills to turn it into a blanket.
I picked up the blanket, and hugged it close, tears running down my cheeks, mewing softly. I looked around for anything else that might have been left behind, finding a few gil and a loaf of bread. I headed back into the tunnel to await night, in case anyone else decided to show up. When night came, I left San d'Oria, and began life anew as a Mithran vagrant.
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I've never really been a very open Mithra. All my life, I was a social outcast. I guess thats what everyone is when you're not an Elvaan and you live in San d'Oria.
We lived in a quaint little 2 room house at the edge of the city, just mom and me. We were the only Mithras in the district. The Elvaan children would make fun of the fact that my family was different than theirs, because I didn't have a father. I was even an outcast amongst the outcasts, the other races children always siding with the Elvaan, trying to gain some sort of favortism.
Mother would talk often of father with such admiration, though I can't remember anything about him. She said he was a great White Mage, and that he was a key element to our victory over the hordes of beastmen. Of course, the Elvaan would never admit to such things. They like to think that they single-handedly drove back the beastmen, that no one else did anything of value.
Whenever I would ask mom why dad didn't come home after the war, she would close her eyes and a tear would roll slowly down her cheek, and she would tell me that he went to visit Altana. I was too young to realize what mother actually meant. As a kitten, I'd always hoped that I could visit Altana too.
I began practicing White Magic at the early age of 2. By the time I was 5, I knew how to cast a few mid-level spells. Actually casting them though, I was still too young to have the strength and endurance to cast such spells, and would passout whenever I attempted to cast them. Mother did not approve of me following in father's pawprints, but she would always offer advice. She always used to tell me that if I want to know White, I must also know Black.
So I decided to try my hand at the Fire spell. Little did I know just how different Black Magic is from White. 2 years later, I felt I was ready to cast Fire for the first time, but there was an accident. I made just a little spark, but that spark flew off into a hay pile, and soon the entire district was up in flames.
I was so scared. The flames were so big and hot, smoke was everywhere. I cried out for mother, mewing weakly. But no one paid attention to the lone kitten as they fled to safety. Then, a miracle happened. Out of no where, Leviathan appeared, and a mighty rain did fall. Shortly afterwards, all the flames were extinguished. Everyone stared around confused, but soon all sorts of rumors were flying back and forth.
"Someone used Summoning Magic! That magic is forbidden!"
"I'll bet it was that Mithra, she was always a shady character."
"We must tie her up and toss her to the Orcs before Altana smites us all!!"
After that, everything was a blur. Torches were lit, pitchforks were raised, and a little Mithran kitten was crying in the darkness. I cried myself to sleep that night.
When I awoke, I was in a ditch on the side of the road. I went to my home, but I heard strange voices coming from inside. I snuck in through a little tunnel in the side that I had discovered a few years back. Fortunately I was still small enough to use it. The voices became clearer as I moved closer to the other end behind the stove...
"...didn't put up much of a fight, did she?"
"Of course not. She was not Elvaan, so she is inheriently inferior to us."
I peeked out from the hole, and looking underneath the stove, I could see 3 pairs of feet sitting at the table. A fist was slammed down on the table, startling me.
"Y'know, I'm sick and tired of all your Elvaan superiority comments. Why did we do what we did, to seek forgiveness from Altana? Altana knows we wouldn't have done it if it had been an Elvaan who had summoned Leviathan. I feel sorry for us all, but mostly I feel sorry for that poor Mithran kitten that we just made an orphan last night! Gentlemen, I bid you adieu. Do not expect to see me around these parts again."
One of the men got up and left, slamming the door behind him. I choked back tears. A Mithran kitten orphan? Were they refering to me?
"What's his problem?"
"Bah, you know Bards, if it isn't one thing it's another. Hard to believe a fellow Elvaan could choose such a path in life."
"Indeed. Well, we'd best get going, this place has already been cleared out of all posessions. No sense spending any more time in this crap-hole."
The 2 other men got up and left as well, shutting the door behind them. I stayed hidden for a few more minutes, then wriggled my way out from behind the stove. I looked around the room. Everything was gone. I rushed into the sleeping quarters. It had also been ransacked. I ran over beside the bed. "They couldn't have gotten into this," I thought. "There's no way they would have noticed it!"
I felt around the floor, and soon found the familiar clawmark. I dug my claws in, and tugged at the floorboard until it came free. Underneath, my teddybear blanket still lay, perfectly folded up. It was made of a rare cloth. Mother told me that the cloth was given to father by a random traveler he saved out in the desolate regions of the Glacier. Mother was pregnant with me at the time, and they both thought it would be a wonderful gift for me for mother to use her clothcraft skills to turn it into a blanket.
I picked up the blanket, and hugged it close, tears running down my cheeks, mewing softly. I looked around for anything else that might have been left behind, finding a few gil and a loaf of bread. I headed back into the tunnel to await night, in case anyone else decided to show up. When night came, I left San d'Oria, and began life anew as a Mithran vagrant.