Chapter Text
Teirin and the other children of the clan huddled behind the largest rock in the cave they could find. Somehow, he had been elected leader of their little group, being the oldest. He was only 12, (almost thirteen, almost a man, his mother would have said.) Most of the adults in the clan were off fighting the darkspawn that had raided them. They were unprepared, most of the heavy hitters being off hunting, and he knew they wouldn’t last. His mother and father had been caught off guard, and he was trying not to remember the vivid murder.
“Teirin!” his mother had shouted, “Teirin, run!”
That was when it had grabbed her, slicing her through with it’s black, almost oil slicked, claws. His father was next, reaching a hand out to his dead mother, screaming in anguish. It was then that a demon had gripped him by the neck, and Teirin had begun to run before he could see it rip his father’s head clear from his body. He heard nothing for a short while, running towards the cave.
“Teirin,” one of the children whispered. “Teirin, what are we going to do?”
They all looked at him with this, this look of intensity. He was their only hope. He was the only one who had even begun training for fighting. The rest of the children were far too young for weapons.
He heaved a shaky sigh. “We have to wait,” the child clutched herself to his leg and he rubbed her shoulders paternally. “We have to wait for the danger to be gone. We’ll check for survivors.”
He tried to say it with confidence, and when the little girl looked up at him with tears streaming down her face he couldn’t help but think that there wouldn’t be any. No one would get out of this alive, and that these children were his only family now. He shed a single tear, but quickly turned and wiped it away. He couldn’t waver, he needed to be strong. For them.
“What if there aren’t,” another child whimpered. “What if there aren’t any.. any.. “ The child started crying softly, not being able to finish his sentence.
“Then we’ll have to grab whatever we can.” The children all huddled around him now, each one seemingly trying to hug him for comfort. “And then we’ll have to move on.”
He shuddered, thinking that this was all too soon. He always wished he could go off on his own, live his own adventures, but this was too soon. He hadn’t had the chance to be, to live. He was still a child, painfully so.
They waited for hours like that, until the children fell asleep one by one. He covered the outer part of the cave with camouflage, and left one of the other older kids in charge of being a lookout. He had to go and see if it was actually all over. He took his time, tenative steps towards the camp, and started crying silently when he saw the carnage. His friends, his family, their corpses littered the ground.
That was it then. They really were all gone. The battle was over and done, and not one of them had survived. There was nothing left of his life here, and he had to take it in. He had to hold this, keep this to himself. He hurt, tremendously, but he needed to be strong for them. As he ran back towards the cave, he internalized and saved this memory for when he needed to be reminded.
He reached the cave, opening the foliage slightly to step inside.
“So?” the lookout had said.
He just solemnly shook his head. There were to be no tears, no weeping. He couldn’t.
“We need to go there, as a group.” He tried to calm the shaking in his voice. “We should go now. I’ll go gather the rest of the children.”
“I need to protect them.” he thought to himself. “I need to keep them safe and sound.”