Role

Chapter 2

Racing back home and hours still from our city, I could see the flames lighting
up the late afternoon sky. The city was ablaze, fires in every corner, every
tree and every home.

I searched in vain, but there were no survivors. It was me, and me alone.

At least I thought I was alone, at first. It was a foolish thought.. not
everyone in Verolyn could be dead. Those that started the blaze likely did not
incinerate themselves. Those that destroyed my Kingdom. It was my duty to see it
protected. And now, it was my duty to see it avenged.

I found tracks leaving the city, and knew what must be done. I tracked them for
three days. They moved quickly, on horseback, but I moved quicker through the
mountains of my home.

Alas, I found their camp and stalked ever closer. I must have proof that these
men were those that I hunted. Those that destroyed my Kingdom. The glint of fine
silver in the moonlight, poking through a saddlebag caught my eye. It was a
candelabra from my father's study, a gift from my mother's father to him on
their wedding day. An unmistakable heirloom, impossible to forge or copy.. I had
found Verolyn's betrayers.

What followed was the simplest of matters- six arrows placed in six skulls.
Unsporting, perhaps. But this was not for sport or for trophy. It was vengeance,
and Verolyn was avenged.

But now, I was petrified by a new thought. What comes next?

I contemplated rebuilding Verolyn, restoring it to its former glory. I could do
it, I was sure, gather survivors and displaced Elves and start anew.. but it
would never be the same. It would never be home. So instead, I suppose I just..
wandered. I lived in the wilderness of the mountains. I picked off thieves and
brigands when I found them, but never remained to accept a thank or a prize. I
trekked onward, as the mountains turned to forests and to plains. One evening,
without intent or conscious decision made, I found myself standing in Darsylon.

I was anonymous, amongst my distant cousins, for the first time in my life. A
common hunter, perhaps a ranger, but certainly not a Prince. Where to go, and
what to do?

The simplest decision is often the best, and I found my way into the Ranger's
guild.