Blackblade 0.08 - Leaving the Desert

The sun was low over the desert, painting the sky purple and the barren soil a dusky orange. A lone figure walked slowly, slouching, the setting sun to his left as he meandered. He was in no rush, kicking small rocks carelessly with his boot. He appeared to care little that the sun was setting: it neither goaded him to reach his destination, nor enticed him to make camp. He merely walked on. He was annoyed, if one was to pick a single word for it. Annoyed at the walk: it was boring, the temperature was always uncomfortable and the light was always the wrong intensity. Annoyed at his clothes: the chain link shirt he was wearing over his thin underclothes was heavy, and the glamour it produced made a superfluous, rather silly-looking outfit, though Mimry insisted that it was what they wore in the north and it would stand out less than his regular clothes. Easy for her to say: she didn’t have to go somewhere looking foolish. Somewhere where he knew no one. Where they did everything backwards, or incorrectly, and he had no idea what, why or how. Where he had nowhere to stay, and no job, and looked different, and the only things he did know how to do were either secret or witchcraft. He scowled slightly and kicked a rock harder, sending it careening away. Where he had to spend the next 30 years looking for something that didn’t exist. In crowded towns with loud people and conversations and questions. Yomiel stopped. He clenched his hands, his eyes, his jaw. He took several deep breaths before carrying forward, though it took a few steps before he opened his eyes again, and even more before he loosened his hands. His jaw remained tight. Stop thinking about it. It won’t make it better. It never makes it better. He hated talking to people. Hated crowds. It was bad enough when he knew everyone; now he knew no one. Why, out of all the names in the bowl, did they have to draw his? It should have been Sissel walking out to see the world. Not him.
Category:Banishment of the Blackblades