The Ageless One: Beginnings - The Ageless Author (fox in socks read aloud txt) 📗

before this. The other orphans had always seemed more interested in playing soldier than learning about the strange visitors, so he didn’t have much in common with most of them, but they had never treated him cruelly until now.
He couldn’t walk anywhere without a child saying, “should I get a cane for when you get old?” Or “Don’t you know you’re not allowed to be older than the mayor!” And then there was the chanting, “You want to grow old! You want to grow old!” It was more than Doelan could bear.
You might not think it such an insult, but then again, you’re not a gisler. Eternal youth is what makes a gisler a gisler, so Doelan not understanding it was like a bee not understanding honey. It was almost as if he was a wasp raised in a beehive by mistake, and unfortunately for Doelan the other gislers’ words stung, just like a swarm of bees.
Eventually most of the orphans lost interest, being told off by the elders for their behavior, but Neron and a few of his friends kept tormenting Doelan. He learned to avoid them, and those boys were scolded, but for a long time Doelan had no friends while Neron continued to be a nightmare. He was the gisler who didn’t understand eternal youth, and he was alone.
Then, one day when he was ten years old, Doelan couldn’t take it anymore. As the orphans were playing outside in the gloomy evening twilight, Neron said something worse than anything he had said before, and then began chanting with his friends, “You want to grow old!” over and over. And this time Doelan snapped. He hit Neron and jumped on top of him! They attracted a crowd of children, some of which weren’t orphans, and eventually, Erid showed up.
“That’s enough!” cried Erid. “Stop!”
But he could barely be heard over the screams of children shouting, yelling and surrounding two fighting boys, one on top of the other. They were in the grass field, not far from the marble Halhor cottages, and some people among the cottages were looking towards the scene.
“Out of the way!” Erid called again. “Move!”
He seemed more like an adult now than ever before as he came up, pulling Doelan off Neron. Doelan struggled in Erid’s hands while Neron got up and made a move towards both of them.
“Enough!” cried Erid, making the boys freeze and the young crowd silent. Despite his deceptively young age, he had a commanding presence. “Neron,” he said to the boy across from him. “What is this?”
Neron had a hard scowl on his face as he spoke. “He hit me!”
“Is this true?” Erid asked Doelan.
“He said I wasn’t a gisler,” Doelan shouted. “He said I was a freak, he...”
“That isn’t what I asked Doelan,” Erid said sternly.
Doelan didn’t answer right away, but he did, reluctantly. “Yes.”
Erid released his grip a little but Doelan didn’t run at Neron again. Instead he turned around to look at Erid, keeping his head down.
“You see,” said Neron. “He did hit me.”
“Neron,” said Erid. “Did you call him a freak?”
“But he...”
“Neron!” Erid looked the small child in the eye. Neron didn’t answer, but fidgeted.
“Neron, answer me.”
“He did call him that,” said another boy, about eleven years old. “And he started a chant with some other boys.”
Doelan didn’t recognize this boy, which meant he probably wasn’t an orphan.
“You heard him?”
“Yes.” The boy nodded his head quickly.
“Neron?”
The guilty child swallowed. “Yes sir.”
“Why?”
Neron still hesitated. “Well he...he...he keeps going on about how the grownups here don’t look grownup. It’s...he’s just weird.”
“So? I’ve heard this. It’s a little strange maybe but hardly grounds for this kind of behavior.”
Doelan wasn’t feeling any better.
“He was teasing him sir,” said the eleven year old. “He kept saying that he didn’t belong in Halhor because he was different. He said he wasn’t a gisler, and that he was a freak.”
“Ah, that explains it.” Erid put his arms on his hips like an adult and looked at both of them. “Neron, remember when those human boys teased you about being an orphan?”
“Yes.”
“Well, next time you want to tease someone, imagine them feeling the way you felt when you were teased.”
“Yes sir.”
“As for you Doelan, you should never attack someone in anger, because one of these days that anger is going to make you do something you’ll regret, like hit someone who will hit back. I don’t care what that person has done, anger never solves anything. You know what you act like when you attack in anger?”
Doelan just gave a blank stare.
“Doelan, it’s dark creatures that act like that, and we are not dark creatures. Do you understand?”
“Yes sir,” said Doelan. That was one of the ways adults talked to children, no matter what race they were. They would tell them not to act like evil dark creatures, such as ogres or slefah. It made Doelan feel worse.
“Now I don’t want either of you to fight again or there will be consequences, and I want you both to apologize to each other.”
The boys looked at each other and said reluctantly, “I’m sorry.”
“Good. Now you should all be going inside. It will soon be time for bed.” Then Erid raised his voice. “And I do mean all of you, even the ones who are not under my care.”
He walked towards the stone orphanage building as the children he was responsible for followed.
Doelan walked slowly, a little ashamed that he’d been in trouble. He was the orphan, the one who didn’t get what made a gisler a gisler, and now he was a troublemaker. He was feeling more alone than ever.
As he walked a voice sounded in his ear.
“Are you alright?” asked the eleven year old that had spoken earlier.
“I’m okay,” said Doelan gloomily. “Thanks for helping me.”
“You’re welcome.” The boy smiled. “You’re name’s Doelan right?”
“Yeah.” Doelan gave a weak smile.
“I’m Liri.”
“Hello.”
He kept walking, and wasn’t going to speak since he couldn’t think of anything to say, but Liri kept speaking.
“Hey…uh…did you know that the eagle men live in a nest?”
Doelan stopped, “What?”
“The eagle men live in a nest.” He grinned.
“But I’ve always heard they live in a palace.”
“They do…but it’s made of wicker…or something like wicker. Bits of wood woven together, so it looks like a nest. It’s even been called that on purpose. The nest palace.”
“How do you know?”
“My family goes on vacations…I’m not old enough to go yet, but they tell me everything. Did…did you know that their palace flies?”
Doelan was getting more interested by the minute. “It does?”
“Yeah, it…”
“Liri!”
They looked over to see an older boy.
“Is that your brother?” asked Doelan.
“No that’s my father.”
“Oh.”
“It’s okay. I gotta go, but would you like to hear more about the eagle men later?”
Doelan thought about it, “Yeah.”
“Great, you’d be the first. Well, bye.”
He ran off, and Doelan watched Liri leave with his father, a sight that still somehow seemed strange to Doelan. He knew he should at least be used to it by now, but it wouldn’t stop feeling strange. Still, he decided he didn’t care. As Liri looked back at Doelan, they waved Goodbye to each other, and for once Doelan didn’t feel quite so alone.
Well, that’s his beginning. Perhaps you still wonder why the Twyla queen would take such an interest in this boy. After all, he’s done nothing legendary yet, but then again, no one ever became a legend at the age of ten. Except maybe a few elves, but that’s a different story.
This tale has hardly begun, along with Doelan’s trials, for he still doesn’t know that our queen watches him, nor does he know the circumstances surrounding his parents, and how he came to the orphanage. Finally, he does not yet realize that things in his home, in Halhor, are not entirely what they seem.
But that is a story I cannot tell. One Twyla watching him is enough, but two will definitely be detected by his enemies. I will have to leave Doelan alone and attend to my duties regarding magic. My queen will look after him for now. My part in the telling of this tale is over. If you want the rest, you will have to observe him for yourself.
****

Chapter Two
His Enemies

The bonfire burned bright and hot, and it seemed every gisler in Halhor was there, sitting around it. Doelan sat crossed legged in the grass with the rest of the orphans. Despite the heat from the fire, he was still pretty cold, so he huddled up in his cloak as best he could, watching the older gislers tend to the blaze. They looked exactly like fifteen year old humans, but some were far older. Normally, this bothered Doelan, who was only eleven by then, but he wasn’t thinking about that this night. That's how special this night was. As it stood he was more interested in Halhor’s visitor, a magician from Linicai, capital city of the Ciniceros Empire. The center of the empire was ruled by humans, and this one was supposed to be fifty years old. Doelan had seen older humans, but never one this old. He was curious to see what someone who aged normally looked like after living so long.
A few of the other orphans were giggling. Doelan looked but promptly looked away when he saw Neron. Neron would probably tease Doelan later; something stupid like, “you want to look like that weird old guy that came here!” So I think adults here all look the same? So what? Doelan thought, trying to brush it off. However such talk would upset Doelan more than he wanted to admit. He was just thinking of an excuse to move away when he heard a “Psst!” off to the side.
He turned and grinned when he saw Liri at the edge of the group. Doelan made his way through the rest of the orphans and sat down. Liri was twelve, only a year older than Doelan, and always had an impatiently exited expression, as if he had something to tell you and just had to say it. As it turns out, when Doelan sat next to him, he did.
“The magician’s going to show us the storm wars, when the goblins used dark clouds to wage war on surface dwellers like us! I’m so excited!”
“Me too,” said Doelan. “I’ve never seen goblins before.”
“Well, you’re about too. This magician’s going to use magic to tell the story.”
“How?”
“I don’t know, my mother said I’d find out when we watched, but that means we’ll see what goblins look like, definitely.”
That was certainly a good thing in Doelan’s mind. He had never seen any dark creature with his own eyes. He had only heard them described, and now he was going to see them. He was expecting creatures with slanted eyebrows and sick grins.
“What do you know about goblins?” he asked.
“Well,” said Liri, “Not much. All I know is that they’re kind of like bugs. Dragonflies really, they…are you alright?”
As it was, Doelan was not alright. He looked