Role

Chapter 8

THE ESCAPE

The young ranger soon became constricted by all the rules laid upon him,
but the burden of his responsibilities and his duties. It was like a vice
slowly crushing his brain. He sought a way out of his cage, as he called
it.

The great plague came, a darkness that destroyed the grove and stained
the wilds, killing the Great Bear. Surin felt a great power beckoning
him, the darkness in his heart was rising. While the the plague took
its toll, the members of the grove fled and scattered in fear. Strangely
enough, Surin was not affected by it. The evil in his heart was not scared
of this, it was in tune with it. It was calling him. At this point he saw
his way out. He ran deep in the stained forests, far from his peers and
elders. He hid, knowing all would believe he perished like so many others.
He was right. Surin was abandoned as a casualty of the darkness and what
was left of the Grove went far away to lick their wounds and hide.
As time went on he was forgotten. At last, he was free.

To add insult to injury, he took the last name of his mentor, Bethial.
He found it amusing, a jovial mockery of his past and he called himself
Menethias, Surin knew it meant "Protector" in the language of the old
druid.