Lightning

Female Teifling Ardent played by Emy.

Background Story
Light has always been acutely aware of the demonic influences that flowed through her veins like self-administered poison. The same demonic influences that led so many of her kind astray, down the path of corrupting whatever came in contact.

It wasn’t that she didn’t understand why some of her kin chose the path of the defilers, vying for power in the leaderless city of Tyr particularly once the Sorcerer-King Kalak had died. The power struggle between various factions within the city was obvious. Tens of small skirmishes between supporters of various nobles, Templars, and rich merchants interrupted business on a daily, even hourly, basis, especially in these days right after Kalak's death. Her people, led by the eldest of Tieflings, had chosen to side with one of the higher-ranked Templars, supporting him with various goods and services they were capable of providing.

“All for power,” she murmured softly to herself as she lugged a woven basket of unleavened bread from the storeroom of the bakery where she worked. It was the only place she’s ever worked at ever since her mother’s strange disappearance when she was barely five. Luckily, she was living with her aunt at the time and so didn’t end up on the streets.

“Hurry up, child!” the bakery’s owner shouted through the open doorway. “I didn’t pay you to dawdle!”

‘Not that you pay me at all,’ Lightning added silently. She set the basket down and was getting ready to fill the half-empty wooden tray for the bread when the owner barked at her.

“I told you to bring the meat-filled buns too!”

“What do I look like, a ‘goliath’?” she retorted tartly as she headed back to pick up the other basket. It was obvious there was no love between Lightning and the Tiefling male who had married her aunt some ten years ago, when the girl was about to turn twelve. She never forgave her aunt for marrying the weasel of a Tiefling, even if she did understand the reasoning behind the marriage. Had the marriage not happen, Lightning doubted she would’ve been able to escape the collar of slavery.

“When will you cease your antagonizing of Sam?” a homely woman’s voice came from behind as she picked up the basket of meat-filled buns that her “uncle” had asked for. Lightning turned around to face her aunt, whose red gleaming eyes bore into her strangely human-like ones with obvious disappointment. Her dark red face was scrunched up in a deep frown, coupled with the tight bun that her brown hair was drawn into, made her look sterner than she really was.

The younger woman shrugged, unable to answer sarcastically to her beloved aunt, the only family she’s really had left. “When the day comes that I have to leave,” she remarked as she passed the older woman. “You really should stop trying to bridge the gap between Sammath and me. It’s never going to happen.”

“Oh, Light,” sighed her aunt, watching the young woman exiting into the storefront. Sam’s agitated voice echoed down the corridor to the kitchen, another sign of the divide between the much older male Tiefling and the young, brash female who turned into an enigma to the aunt. There were times when she seemed to acquiesce to the demands of Sam but within minutes, she would turn right around and antagonize the man. It was quite maddening to Aurora.

--

Light silently packed up her things, the words her mentor said to her a few months ago rang in her mind repeatedly like a drum.

“Always follow your heart.”

Angry tears blurred her vision while the knowledge that her aunt and “uncle” had kept her mother’s death from her because she was “a traitor to the Tieflings” stabbed at her heart. She wiped the tears away and swallowed the lump in her throat.

She tied the simple pack tightly—perhaps a bit too tightly in her emotional state. She grabbed the cloak that was hung over her chair and threw it across her shoulders.

“What did the elders want?” Aurora asked as Sammath returned from the council meeting of all Tiefling men.

''“Azion needs hands,” her husband replied, hanging up the cloak he had worn that night. “The elders want to send all able Tieflings to him.”''

<p class="MsoNormal">''“Able? As in Tieflings with power?” she asked with concern.''

<p class="MsoNormal">''“Psionists,” Sam answered tersely. “Light.”''

<p class="MsoNormal">''Light froze as she heard the news through the half-open threshold. She looked into the candle-lit room with trepidation. Her aunt and uncle sat around the single table in the backroom.''

<p class="MsoNormal">''“Would she even go?” frowned Aurora. “If she’s anything like her mother-”''

<p class="MsoNormal">''“Then she will die like the witch that her mother was. Trying to assassinate one of the Templars during Kalak’s reign. She brought disgrace to us all. Che. We’re lucky we’re still here today.”''

<p class="MsoNormal">''“I still can’t believe Stella did that,” her aunt muttered angrily. “My own sister! Betrayed her kin!”''

<p class="MsoNormal">“Perhaps she doesn’t have the Tiefling blood like we thought she had.”

<p class="MsoNormal">Light had heard enough.

<p class="MsoNormal">--

<p class="MsoNormal">The house was dark when she emerged from her room. Under the darkness and the silence, she made her way over to the backroom where the single weapon within the entire house was located: Sammath’s carrikal. Having lived in the same house for far too long, Light knew where everything was even without the use of her psionic powers. She removed the bone weapon from the cabinet it was kept in and quietly closed the cabinet door. Her blue eyes scanned across the dim room cautiously before she continued on towards the exit of the house.

<p class="MsoNormal">Before she stepped out into the cloudless night, she quickly drew up the hood of her brown cloak, casting her face into the shadows. She hid the bone weapon in the folds of her cloak and hurried her way out of the Tiefling district. She knew the fastest way out of the district into the other regions of Tyr, though she’s never truly explored the city-state.

<p class="MsoNormal">“Always follow your heart.”

<p class="MsoNormal">It was with those words that Light found herself taking refuge in the district loosely controlled by freed slaves. She knew she couldn’t stay there long though.

<p class="MsoNormal">For the most part, she was able to hide from the rare Tieflings that made their way to this area of Tyr, though most of them would rather do business elsewhere. But, she was never able to stay hidden from her own mentor.

<p class="MsoNormal">A few days after she left the Tiefling district, her mentor, a blind human psionist by the name of Cartham, had ventured into the freed slave district. Light didn’t know what he was doing there, but she knew that he had found her. As he walked down the main thoroughfare, he had directly faced her, hiding behind a leather stall. His blind eyes locked onto her own as though he was actually seeing her, but it was the sympathetic smile on his face that told her everything. He continued on his way without even stopping.

<p class="MsoNormal">She knew that the longer she remained in Tyr, the harder it would be to keep hiding, even if Tyr had its shares of people trying to disappear. The freed slaves didn't have much control over this territory as opposing factions disturbed the peace. It was only time before her talents were discovered and she was forced to serve a master she didn’t want.

<p class="MsoNormal">With her mind made up, she left her refuge amongst the freed slaves within a week of leaving her home and signed up to escort a caravan to the city of Alturak. She only hoped that the skills Cartham taught her would come in handy.

<p class="MsoNormal">“What’s your name?” the caravan leader asked, an Elf named Kaldras.

<p class="MsoNormal">“You can call me ‘Lightning’.”