Board Thread:Writer's Workshop/@comment-26400293-20170206135128

Mankind’s such a unique species, isn’t it? It doesn’t matter if you’re young or old, male or female, you’ll get the same qualities and gifts that sets humanity apart from any other sentient species in the world. The gift of creation and destruction, the gift of knowledge to learn about yourselves and the world around you, but most important of all, the gift of free will. The ability to take what you’ve learned and then choose what path in life you wish to follow is what makes this species so special. Such wonderful species, humanity. Such love, compassion, hope, and determination, such hate, greed, sin, and false ambition.

I used to be like you, used to live among you, in fact. I’d tell you my full name, but it’s been so long that I can’t remember my last name. What was it again, something like Withers, Wic - oh I don’t know, something that started with a ‘W’? I do remember the nickname that I used to insist on being called, it was ‘Sally’. I remember the reason why I preferred that over my actual name, the reason being that my name was believed to be, believed to be cursed. That was years ago, now that I think about it.

I remember the village I was born in, I might not remember the exact name but I remember that it was in the middle of the woods, somewhere in the west. I remember my parents, vaguely mind you, I remember knowing that I had my parents’ brown hair and green eyes. I’m not going to go into exact detail as to what I remember, the only other thing about them I remember was that they died when I was only five years old. I-I remember the fire though, nobody exactly knew what caused it but I remember the fire, and how out of my entire family only I survived. I guess you could say that I was traumatized by it, except that I barely remember the entire thing except that it happened; one thing for certain, though, was that things would only get worse from then on.

My village - my village blamed me for the death of my parents. They said it was bad luck for my parents to give me that name, so when they died they blamed a five year old girl for their deaths. I wasn’t that far different, I was pretty much like you, but I still suffered! I suffered having to fend for myself as a street urchin, an orphan, for fifteen years, I suffered having stones thrown at me and having to be chased out of numerous houses that instead could’ve taken me in and given me a warm place to sleep. All because of my fucking name! But I pushed on and managed to survive, and like I said, that was years ago.

It was soon after I turned twenty that things turned for the worse. I honestly wasn’t even that different, I was a sane and kind soul like most of you, but when I first discovered what my ‘special ability’, if you will, was, I knew that I couldn’t show anyone. It wasn’t uncommon in my village for villagers to have a ‘special ability’ of their own, but that wasn’t the reason why I wanted to hide it; no, what I had was unnatural compared to others, something, dark, if you will. If my life was any different from what it was it wouldn’t have been something to worry about, but if I ended up revealing this ability in front of everyone, especially with how they already treated me, I would’ve been accused of being more than just bad luck. I would’ve been accused of committing what was considered a serious and horrific crime at the time. I shouldn’t even explain what that crime would be, you’ve already figured it out haven’t you?

I was right to hide this gift, I was right to be afraid; barely a week after I unlocked this gift I found myself accidentally lashing out with it against a tavern owner who was trying to get me thrown out. I couldn’t stay, I had to run, so I did. Out into the woods I went, the tavern owner and his friends not far behind; they did catch up to me eventually, they had me down on my knees surrounded by them as they decided what to do with me. R-regardless of whatever they would’ve decided I was doomed, I knew exactly what was going to happen! I was going to be executed, they were going to tie me to a pole and light a flame underneath my feet, and there was nothing I could’ve done about it because I was trapped! It was then, at that very moment, that I was saved, that They found me.

Regardless if anyone knew this already or not, I will be the one to say that we’re not alone on this world. They’re not from another world or anything, They were created barely days before mankind. They are creatures of darkness, pure darkness, and no matter who brings Them up or when, Their name is still enough to send chills down any mortal’s spine; They saved me, They brought me into Their care when those I used to live alongside abused me because of my name. You know what I’m referring to, don’t you? Even today Their presence can still be felt in this time that you call ‘peace’. Most importantly of all, this young woman named ‘Sally’, this orphaned girl abused by the people around her, she - I - had found somewhere safe, where my new friends were as much of outcasts as I was.

That was years ago..no, centuries ago; what was once my life is now just a shadow of a past that occurred near the dawn of time. After learning how much of an influence I had over Them with my gifts, They quickly accepted me as one of Their own. Overtime I became one of Their own, I rose up in Their ranks as I became more powerful overtime, until it wasn’t long before I wasn’t just one of Them. Oh, I was much more than that now. I became Their creator, the one in control of the Hive Mind, Their mother. I became Their Queen.

Like I said, I used be one of you, what you see now used to be normal, used to be...human. My snow white hair used to be brown, the deathly pale face seen in the paintings at your market used to be tanned, my eyes - my eyes, that were once kind and green, now glow a bright red with the burning hatred I feel towards humanity. I’ve become smarter, wiser, than what I could’ve been in any other life, and I’ve been hiding in the shadows ever since. I’ve heard of the so-called ‘old wive’s tales’ about Their Queen, watched and listened silently to your children as they’d recite the nursery rhymes, blissfully unaware that the one they sang about was more than just a nursery rhyme. I can still hear one in particular, one that surprisingly sounds like something I would say...how did it go again? Oh, that’s right:

“Form your armies, dream your dreams… Make your plans and plot your schemes… Send your fighters, one and all… Then in battle, watch them fall…”

Sinister for a simple nursery rhyme, isn’t it, yet children still sing along as they pretend to be Them and chase each other around. This is why mankind is such a unique species, they have their faults, but it’s the simple souls that make me remember the good in all of mankind. Anything can happen, any spark can occur, with a smaller, more honest soul. Honestly, it’s true that a simple spark can indeed ignite hope and can breathe fire into the hearts of the weary. Of all the rest, the ability to derive strength from hope is mankind’s greatest attribute. Which is why I will focus all of my power, and my children will focus all of Their power, to snuff it out... 