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Message: <blockquote data-quote="ThaDoc" data-source="post: 2228346" data-attributes="member: 31503">Letting out a humph, and focusing on the "path" ahead, Shenk paused at length. It was unlear whether he was lost in thought, or deliberately forcing silence over the point of conversation. Just before Bison, deterred by his silence, was about to start off back to the front of the column, Shenk finally spoke up.  "...well...I was birthed into a tribe hostile to our kind. My mother tried to keep me safe, but the others were... not as enthused..." A pained look came over Shenk's face "One day in my tenth year I was playing with myself as was accustomed to years of being an outcast, when a group of the other children from the tribe approached me, intent to do a bit of their own brand of playing."The pained look lingered for only a moment more before melting into a furrowed brow filled with anger. "I was different from them. It was a fact reminded to me only too often.""My mother scolded me whenever I fought back. It angered me more when I was scolded in front of the others. Always they started a confrontation, and I Was Scolded"Shenk gripped the hilt of his mighty sword as tight as if battle was upon him. "That day was the day I would fight back. The avalanche of stones thrown at me before that day had lain across my back, weighing down upon me. That day I would throw Them ALL Back!" "And throw them back I did." Shenk paused to study a small field rodent, gnawing on whatever berry it had collected for itself...just before it was snatched up by a roaming bird of prey.  "...one of the lads stepped forward and slung a stone at me. The damned thing struck me square in the head. I knew it had opened up a wound. Blood was all about my face. What happened next was...difficult to forget."  Shenk lessened the grip on his sword and rubbed at a scar over his brow. "A fury began to well up within me, burning my very soul. My vision slowly clouded over and before my mother's scoldings could take root the rage boiled over... into my fists... into that boy." "From that, it wasn't hard to imagine the repercussions from that savage display. The tribe elders gave my mother an ultimatum. Either I was to leave for good, and take with me my tainted heritage... or they were going to end it with their own devices... more stones most probably" "So I was sent away. What else was my mother to do? Let them kill me?" Shenk paused to take a sip of water and offered some to Bison...though he wasn't quite sure *why* Bison would need any. =P "...I survived for two years on my own...some inate skill came over me. Taught me how to hunt, how to sleep wide awake, how to co-habitate with nature. That brings us closer to what stands before you today. I came across a hermit as I made my way north for the hot season. This old man had strange powers. He communed with himself, to a being above all things we know. His resolve gave him power, a power he shared with me... right after I tried to steal a fresh hock of venison..." Shenk chuckled heartily as he remembered his run-in with his old master. "I was fond of that old man...it was a sad day when he went. Before he left though, he showed me how to fight, how to carry myself with more dignity than was afforded our kind, and most importantly how to wield the power awarded to the questors of a long-lost god." Studying the twisted face of his audience, Shenk realized he had gone on much too long. "So my friend, are you satisfied with my response?" A nod from Bison just before he carried on back to the front of the party left Shenk to return to managing his difficult trudge in such heavy personal fortifications. Only this time his thoughts weren't wholly upon when the next enemy encounter were to occur. They were fixed upon the bloody, mangled body of that boy from not so long ago. The boy's life extinguished because fate chose him to incur Shenk's pent-up wrath that day. As the group made its way over the next hill, Shenk reflected on everything that made him who he was today. He knew now that his mother's scoldings were never from her disdain for the colour of his skin. She loved enough to send him away and he was still alive because of her.  "Someday..." Shenk muttered under his breath, "someday I will return and show them what this abomination has become..." His hand had made its way into his belt pouch unwittingly; pawing at a stone the size of a child's clenched fist; the dried blood covering it from what seemed another life. Courtesy of Shenk Bloodrock</blockquote>

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