Prompt: “Everyone is born with a natural tattoo of their spirit animal. Every person gets the traits and abilities of their respective animal. But when you were born your father, having a bear tattoo and your mother, bearing a dove tattoo, were horrified. Leviathan.”
Name is Tak.
Strong in strength. Not in brain.
Cast out from family at young age. Now must fight to live. Getting stronger all the time. But live alone. No friends. No family.
Was with family. Group of Goliaths. Just like me. Natural symbols just like me. Born with magic symbols. Determine your fate.
Father was born with bear. Strong and mighty. Strikes fears into enemies. Respected among Goliaths. Mother was born with dove bird. Peace bringer. Fought with words as well as fists. Kept tribe united.
Tak.
Me.
Born with…mark of beast.
Large lev…levi…lev
Large serpent across back.
“A Leviathan.”
Right. Large leviathan on back.
Mark of the beast. Dark omen.
Caused outrage among tribe. Many people wanted to put ax through skull. Chop up and feed to wolves. Might please magic spirits.
Very super…tutencious
“Superstitious?”
Yes. That. Scared of magic and powerful gods. Hard to punch god in face.
“Makes sense.”
Father and Mother respected among tribe. Allowed to keep me. Not fed to the wolves. But watched very carefully by elders. They feared death would come.
Had uneasy relationship with herd for long time. Things got worse when I became…
Little older.
Went out in the woods. Other young Goliaths trained in the woods without me. I wanted to train with them. Wanted friends.
Went out and tried to train with them. They were not happy to see me. Big ones held me down. Beat me up.
Then…
Don’t remember. Other kids said that a black shadow emerged from body. Said it made them cold. Very cold.
“But you don’t remember this happening?”
No. Kids were all around me. Kicking me. Hitting me. They were mean Goliaths.
As they were hitting me, mind went black. Don’t remember what happened next.
Woke up on ground. Alone.
Walked back to camp. There the elders had gathered. They asked me a ton of questions. I did not know answers.
The boys said that the shadow attacked them. I told elders that the boys attacked me. It did not matter.
They decided that I was to be killed. Father and Mother were outraged. They tried to fight. Tribe too strong. Too many Goliaths.
Whole camp broke out into a fight. Mother dragged me from the center of tribe and she told me to run.
Pleaded with her. No time. Had to run away.
Don’t like running. Like fighting. Punching. But I was too little. Had to run.
Ran as fast as I could.
“Wait…how old were you?”
Don’t know.
“Well hold old are you now?”
….don’t know.
Let me finish story.
“Alright. Sorry for interrupting. Continue.”
Ran away from the tribe. Not looking back. Ran from sunset to sunrise to sunset again. I ran until I couldn’t run any more.
Legs worn out. Could barely move.
Found nice river. Laid down next to river to sleep.
In morning a man found me. His name was Peace.
“Was he a Human or a Goliath?”
Neither.
He called himself…Tea Ring… He had pale white skin like snow. Two large horns on his head. Beard across his face.
Nice Tea Ring.
“A Tiefling.”
Tea Ring. Right. He took me in. Raised me all by himself.
He was nervous at first but let me into his home. Could tell I was alone.
He told me he was an outsider just like me. Not allowed to live within the Elf City… called Pair of Lips.
They threw him out like they threw me out of tribe. Did not care about Leviathan. Did not fear black shadow. Did not fear death. Did not fear me.
I lived there many years with Peace. No one bothered us there. No Goliaths. No Humans. Simple life as farmer. Not hard work. Suited me well.
I helped him raise animals. Farm the lands. Grow food out of ground. Get water from river.
“So what changed? Why did you leave?”
I became bored. Lots of farming was good for me. But I grew restless. Needed to move on. Needed new challenge.
Not enough smashing.
I told Peace that. He understood. He supplied me with food and told me to wander away from Gaea Mountains. Told me to head south to city of Xylon. More diverse city. Maybe find adventure there.
“The Gaea Mountains? That’s where you’re from?”
Yeah. Gaea Mountains. Tribe of Goliaths live there.
Now going to Xylon.
“What a coincidence. I am heading there as well.”
Why you going there?
“Well I’ve heard that fighting monsters and going on adventures is a great way of making it rich.”
What kind of monsters? Goliaths like me?
“Well…no…not like you. But maybe other Goliaths. Like the ones that were mean to you.”
You kill Goliaths for money?
“Well no. Just monsters in general.”
You like money?
“Yeah you could say that. Who doesn’t like money. More importantly, I wanted to explore the world. I guess I just needed a change of scenery.”
Understand.
We go to Xylon together.
“Really? You’re not threatened by me? You trust me?”
You funny, little man. You seem harmless. Plus I can throw you if you become a problem.
“Yeah that makes sense.”
If you come with me. You must tell me your name.
“Oh sorry. I guess it’s rude that I didn’t introduce myself right away. My name is Sigthyme Bolger of Terrahnzia. Nice to meet you.”
Too many names.
“Oh, sorry. My name is Sigthyme.”
Si…sig…
I call you Siggy.
“Siggy it is!”
Nice to meet you, Siggy.
“Nice to meet you, Tak.”
Other Dungeons and Dragons inspired pieces:
Writing Prompt #15: A Band of Misfits Try Saving The Day
Header Photo Credit to daleicious on DeviantArt
Writing Prompt submitted to r/WritingPrompts by u/DeAndrich
Allen The Writer 