Chapter 1


I’ve been an evil man; I’ve been a good man.  At times I was a vain man and always was I an arrogant man.  I’ve definitely been a sick man, though that’s no excuse.  I’ve been a sad man and a happy man, most often some perverse mix of the two.  I’ve been a dangerous man.  But most of all, I’ve been my own man.  Everything I am, every flaw, vice, virtue and quality, is mine.  At times that wasn’t true, and so I know never again to take it for granted.  I shall tell you my story, and I hope you will not judge me too harshly.  I hope that at least, you will think I am an interesting man.

My life began in the Stone Labyrinths.  I was born in a colony of Lemurs and my parents were servants.  I suppose the term servant is being generous, we were closer to slaves.  It is worth noting that this colony was probably closer to Kadaikos than Yliakum.  Both my mother and father were Enkidukai and both were weak, or so I thought.  I think I was born with the arrogance I am so well known for; I often wonder if as a cub I would expect those who wiped me clean to thank me for the privilege.  It was my arrogance that made me think my parents were weak.

I was young and foolish, and by the time I could walk I was already judging those around me.  The Enkidukai were all treated like slaves and none stood up for themselves.  I would have none of it; I thought I had a right to a better life.  I began to steal knives from the kitchens, daggers from the armories:  Anything that I could conceal.

I taught myself by fighting bags of rotten fruit I smuggled from the kitchen refuse.  I was methodical, judging the force of my strikes, trying to judge if they would kill.  I would sneak around, just to get better at it.  Often I was caught and laughed at for being a stupid cub.  They never respected me enough to pay me much attention.

My life wasn’t as empty as I make it seem.  I had friends, I played games, I read books.  Much of the time I was very happy but, it never lasted; I would always find a reason for displeasure.

It was such an idiotic dream.  I would assassinate the Lemurs until they’d be forced to give us Enkidukai our rights.  It didn’t go as planned, but I learned a lesson from it.  I learned true bravery.

I didn’t learn this bravery when I snuck into the aristocrat’s room.  Doing that taught me stupidity.  No lessons of bravery were gained by slicing his throat or his wife’s with the poisoned blade.  That taught me only about death.  No, I learned of bravery when my fur was found on the corpse.  They couldn’t identify it as mine specifically, but they knew it was Enkidukai fur.  They executed a hundred Enkidukai.  It was those hundred who taught me bravery, many knew it was me, none told of my guilt.  Not long after, I was cast away from my home.

When I mention that I wasn’t always my own man, people often think I speak of my time as a slave.  But I do not.  That topic will come, just know that this is not it.

As I said, I was cast out.  I later found out that I escaped at the expense of my parents lives but, at the time I didn’t even consider the possibility of their deaths.  I travelled the labyrinths and survived easily enough.  I’d learned much about what I could and could not eat as a child, and the self taught sneaking skills came in handy on many occasions.  I leaned much during my times alone in the labyrinths: to fight, to hide, to run, and to cook.  But it was not a time that would be interesting to read about.  Needless to say I killed and I hid.  There wasn’t much else to it, besides scavenging.  It is a miracle that I managed to keep my arrogance.

Eventually, I arrived in Yliakum and quickly moved into the city of Hydlaa.  A beautiful Enkiduyba named Nilaya helped me get on my feet, and her many friends quickly became mine.  Much of my time was spent at the gazebo behind the temple of Laanx, where the great cook Hevrah would often serve dinner to his friends.  At other times I was in Kada-el’s, often with Kada-el herself.  I told all who would listen that I was a great assassin, and seeing the turmoil in my eyes they would humour me.  But, I knew they doubted me.

I eventually became something of a savior.  I would defend the honour of the women, I would challenge the evil.  I suppose I saw what these residents of Hydlaa took for granted: that Yliakum was a land of equality.  In seeing that, I saw it to be my duty to keep it so.  But, as with every story, a woman arrived.

I should take a moment to introduce this woman.  Her name was Karyuu, perhaps it still is; I do not know where she is.  She was beautiful, ethereal.  A hunter, an explorer, a ranger, in short she was feral.   I loved her from the moment I saw her, and perhaps her love for me was as instantaneous.  

Regardless, I needed to prove myself.  I sought quick and easy power and fell in with the wrong crowd.  I joined the Cabal, a powerful guild whose power was matched only by how evil they were.  I committed atrocities while in the Cabal, I finally became that great assassin I claimed to be.  And in order to deal with my actions, I went crazy.  I started hearing a voice in my head and believed it to be a great wizard from an old children’s book I used to read: Nostra Khan.

[Going to be fleshing this out more than adding to it for a while.  But tell me what you think]