Verlo's backstory Prologue and part 1

Prologue shit
Sunlight filtered through the canopy above the young woman as she wandered the forest, idly looking for ingredients, though her mind was not fully on the duty. She simply walked, feeling the grass beneath her bare feet, and the warm sun on her head and back. She smiled. It was a good day. Spying a clump of mushrooms to her right, she jumped over a small fallen tree and bent down to harvest the fungus. As she was working, she heard the snaps of animals moving in the bushes from the opposite side of the clearing behind her. She thought nothing of it. The only animals they got this close to the human settlement were harmless, creatures such as deer and squirrels.
It was when she heard quiet murmuring that caused her to turn around. She glanced around, not frightened but more than a little curious and wary. She noticed a bush rustling slightly and, squinting her eyes, saw the glint of metal.
She stood up quickly, the mushrooms tumbling, forgotten, from her lap.
“Hello? Is any one there? I can see you,” She called out to them, her voice containing the bare trace of a tremble. There was not need to get frightened. Not yet anyway. “It’s okay, there’s nothing to be afraid of!”
“Oh-ho-ho, but there is,” The deep voice traveled from behind her, and as she spun around, chills going down her spine and blood rushing from her face, she saw a man steep out from the bushes, a mere foot from where her face had been just a moment ago. How she hadn’t managed to see him was beyond her. The man, while not huge, was definitely not small. He was quite tall, and had short, silver hair and a pointed face. But the thing that stood out most for her were his eyes. Bright red. Like nothing she had ever seen before.
“W-What ever do you mean by that?” She spluttered, her voice shaking as she wildly looked behind her to witness two other men step out from the bushes she had just been looking at.
“You’ll find out. I assure you,” The red eyed man said, smirking a terrible smile that filled the woman with dread. His eyes never left her as the one of the other men grabbed her from behind, trapping her arms behind her back and lifting her in the arm.
The panic hit her like a falling boulder. Her legs kicked in the air and she screamed like a wild animal.
“No use screaming, my dear, no one can hear you,” The man said in a pleasant voice.
“P-Please! Please don’t do this!” The woman sobbed hysterically. “Please, don’t kill me! I can give you any thing you want! Anything!”  
“Oh, you’re about to, love,” He said, grabbing her by the throat. As soon as his hand made contact at her neck, the man behind let go, and she was violently thrown to the ground, held down by the man’s hand. “Just lie back, relax,” He said in a sickeningly calm tone, lifting up her dress and tearing it off over her.
The woman thrashed around, screaming her throat hoarse, tears streaming down her face, chanting over and over, “No, no, no, no, no!”
The man brought his face close to hers so that all she could see were his blood red eyes.
“Don’t worry, you’ll enjoy it, you tramp.”


Chapter 1?
I was born on a pretty regular Saturday evening on the 25th of November, 2996*. I came out calmly, unlike most babies apparently, and just lay in my mothers arms for a while, before I decided to open my eyes. That was my first big mistake. That or my birth, which really started it all. But I suppose I couldn’t really control that.
Either way, opening my eyes didn’t go down well for me. My mother looked into them, bright red, unlike anyone in the village, or even the whole city, and started screaming. She basically threw me back at the nurse and fell out of the bed, sobbing and crying. I don’t know why. She never told me about it, I heard it from some of the kids at the local school, who heard it from their mothers. I don’t know whether I should believe them, but somehow, I think it would be something my mother would do. She’s hated me since the moment I was born.
She doesn’t outrightly show it, but I know. Any little thing I do wrong, anything at all, she blows it way out of proportion. I once dropped a piece of bread on the ground and she sent me to sleep outside for three days. She hit me, burnt me, stabbed me and basically just abused the shit out of me.
I used to try and get close to her, I really did. I would climb into her bed at night and sleep next to her until she woke up and threw me back out. And she never, ever looked me in the eyes. I don’t know what I did. But she hated me. And there was nothing I could do to change that. So I accepted it.

The school I went to was a local school in the smaller section of the Human’s Kingdom. They call it the farming sector, because everyone who lives there owns a farm and supplies provisions for the whole kingdom. Because of that, we’re all a little bit further away from everyone else, on the outskirts of the castle and surrounding city. The school we go to is a little further into the city and is one of the seven schools in the whole kingdom. And of course, it’s the shittiest.
It was a tiny little building with only two teachers and about ten students. Most of them were the farmers children, but a few were city kids who were too poor to afford the finer schools. We hardly learnt anything, because none of the kids paid attention and the class room was always so loud we couldn’t even hear the teachers. So they gave up. They would simply sit in the class room as watch as the children ran riot. It’s a good thing no one ever came to check up, because those teachers would have a lot of explaining to do. But to be honest, I think that the council forgot they even had a school there.

I hated school. I was picked on by all the other kids because of my red eyes. They told me that their parents forbade them from playing with me because I was part ‘sorcerer’. I didn’t know what this meant, and when I first asked my mother, she hit me across the face so hard I saw stars, and had a black eye for a week, but didn’t get an answer.
During school, I sat by myself in the corner and try to occupy myself with my thoughts. But it’s mostly just filled up with loneliness, so it wasn’t much fun. But after school was worse. With no teachers supervising, the other kids would chase me and bully me. If I was ever caught out by any of them, I had to be prepared for a long run, because those kids would chase me all around the city if they had to. So thats when I learnt to hide.

I seemed to have a gift for it. One second, I would have a gang of rioting, yelling kids after me, the next I would step to the side into the shadows that they would all run past me, completely unaware that I was no longer ahead of them. It also taught me to embrace the dark and shadows, so I mainly came out and played by myself at night when everyone else was asleep. It was great fun. It was like I had the whole city to myself. The shadows were my friends. They never hurt me or made me feel bad. They would envelop me and welcome me, wrapping itself around me and making me one with it.
The night and moon was the same. I felt love when I was under the moon, like someone was watching me and loving me from above. I just felt so at peace and calm. And then, during the day, the nightmare that was my life would start all over again. The bullying, abuse and loneliness that was a horrifying reality, and the cool, dark night that was a blissful dream.

One day when I was nearly five years old**, I was coming home from school, walking slowly because I didn’t want to get home, but fast enough that I was ahead of the bullies that would immediately attack if they even caught sight of me. However, it turned out, it wasn’t fast enough.
“Hey look, it’s the red eyed freak!” An excited shriek from behind me was the warning I always had one ear out for. Without even a glance behind me, I took off, sprinting down a side alley as I heard the thumping and enraptured yells behind me.
I weaved through the many streets and side streets of the city, but the bullies always stayed behind me, letting their presence known with heavy breaths and the occasional threat and insult. My eyes skimmed over the street, and I spied a thin, shadowy gap in between two buildings. Gathering my energy, I used it to give myself a small burst of speed and dashed towards it, wriggling into it as quickly as I could and felt the familiar darkness take hold of me. I crouched down, hunched over to hide myself as best as I could.
“Hey! Where’d she go?” A confused voice rang out from outside the darkness, and I smiled, knowing I had out smarted them again.
I listened to them run off in search of me and I raised my head, climbing out of the tiny refuge and started back home.

I was lost in my own thoughts when I turned the corner and ran straight back into them.
“Ha! There you are,” The lead bully grabbed me by the collar of my shirt and pushed me into a wall. I gasped and looked around wildly, but there was no adults around. “Thought you’d gotten away, hadn’t ya?” He said, his voice filled with so much venom and hate for such a young child.
I didn’t say anything, and he hit me in the gut.
“That’s for trying to run away,” He said triumphantly as I slid to the cobbled ground, gasping and trying to get my breath back. I stood shakily to my feet, but he just pushed me over again and kicked me. A few of the other kids came over to join in, but soon faded back into the background.
“No wonder your mum hates you, you’re so weak and helpless!” The young boy said, smiling and he hit me over and over. “You should just die!”
That’s when the anger hit me. Like nothing I’d ever felt before. I’d been angry, don’t get me wrong. But this was like I was possessed. As the boy (who’s name was Hextor if I can recall properly) went to punch me again, I grabbed his fist with immense strength, feeling pleasure as I saw his vile facial features change from one of dominance to one of confusion and fear. I glare at him with all the anger and hate I had ever felt and twisted his arm in a 360 degree angle, hearing and feeling the bones snap satisfyingly. He started to scream and cry, and the kids behind him froze rigidly. I could almost feel their fear. I then raised my leg and kicked as hard as I could, sending the boy sprawling backwards. I think it was then that people started looking out windows, noticing the fight going on in the street.

And then something strange happened. As I was starting at the boy lying there in his own blood, sobbing pitifully, I saw the shadows created by the sinking sun suddenly snake around Hextor. I was doing it. And I didn’t want it to stop. It was about three seconds after I realised that Hextor also realised, and boy did it scare the shit out of him. His eyes, huge wet saucers in his face, locked onto my hard, cold yet blazing ones, and he realised that I wasn’t going to stop. He started screaming again, writhing in fear and agony as the shadows wrapped around his neck and wrists, slowly tightening, and his screams started to turn into strangled coughs.
People were panicking now. The other kids had run off, and adults ran around, yelling and screaming, too scared to approach us, but wanting to help the young boy.
Just as it seemed Hextor’s life was almost gone, I was pulled out of it, and the shadows snaked away from him, back to where they came from. Hextor collapsed in a heap, coughing and heaving as he tried to get breath back into his body.
I took one frightened look around, confused, like I had just woken up. Then I ran. Right back home, back to my mother, who beat me for being late, then forced me to start my chores. And I said nothing. But I knew she would find out some time. Some time soon.

Two days in fact. Everyone avoided me and my mother for those two days until someone finally told her why. I was expecting the worst punishment yet, but she just seemed frightened, but strangely in control.
The night of the second day, I came home from collecting a list of ingredients my mother needed from the forest just behind our farm. I came in and saw her waiting at the table, obviously anxious. It was late, and she usually had dinner prepared at this time, but there was no smell of cooking vegetables, nor the warmth from the oven and stove.
“What’s wrong, mother?” I asked her, placing the ingredients on the table and climbing onto my own chair. She glanced at me, looking at me, at my face, but not in the eyes.
“Go and get a bag, and get dressed warmly,” She told me simply. I did as I was told, admit a bit confusedly. When I was ready, I came out and saw her holding something wrapped up in white cloth.
“What’s that?” I asked her curiously, and she frowned, but still didn’t look at me.
“It’s none of your business right now!” She snapped. “Come on.” She grabbed my arm roughly and let me out of the house through the back door. We crossed the wheat field and entered the forest.
I began to ask her whether it was wise to be out here this late, but decided against it. She was being surprisingly more docile than usual.

We walked for a while, with only the full moon to light our way. I didn’t mind. I liked the forest, especially at night, even though I had never been far in. There were rumors of many ferocious, feral animals that haunted the woods at night. Just as my legs were beginning to feel numb and my eyes tired, we stopped. We just stood for a while, hearing the wind whistle around us, the chill biting into our very bones. My mother sighed, closed her eyes and tilted her head upwards, then looked down, her eyes downcast.
“Eat this,” She produced a small piece of bread from the white cloth. I did it, like an obedient dog. Then she put the cloth in my bag and crouched down.
“Listen. Daughter. You have to stay here.” She said.
“What?” I asked, feeling panic rising in me. I didn’t know where I was and had no idea how to get back. “But how will I get back?”
“You won’t be coming back!” She growled. “You need to get out of here. This is all your fault. Why on earth did you do that to that boy?! I convinced the town that you were harmless. You stupid little bitch,” She said, her hand grabbing my neck and tightening slowly. She still didn’t look me in the eyes.
I was confused. What was she talking about? Why wouldn’t I be harmless. I didn’t know what happened that day any more than she or anyone else did.
We stayed like that for another minute or so, before she let go. I started feeling drowsy.
“Goodbye,” And then, for the first time since I was born, four and a half years ago, she looked be dead straight in the eyes. And I saw it. All her emotions for me. The hate, regret, anger and sorrow. But not one trace of love.
Looking back, I feel like I should have cried. But I didn’t. A four year old child, in the middle of the forrest. Watching, as her mother walked away from her for the last time, without even looking back. Not once.