Chapter Text
This is the story of how I died.
Don't worry, this is actually a very fun story. And the truth is, it isn't even entirely mine. This is the story of a boy, named Zel. And it starts, several decades ago.
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In a small town between the Sunset Savanna and the Shaftlands, a young man by name of Damien Gotham rose to great fame in his community. He was cunning and handsome with the ability to charm anyone with his words. Gotham could talk his way around any problem as well as into anyone’s heart. The small town fell into a rhythm that was easy for Gotham to predict and manipulate.
However, that all changed when a girl named Aranea moved into town from the Queendom of Roses. She was curious and outspoken, often finding herself challenging those that she met. Gotham found her unpredictable as well as irresistible.
Gotham couldn’t help but be drawn into the shining light of her smile, just like everyone else in the town. The way she jumped without thinking, spoke without warning, it was so different from Gotham’s own cautious nature and he relished the difference. Gotham even liked it when Aranea clashed with him, the way her brows would furrow and she would snap back at him with her quick wit. She brought excitement to his otherwise mundane life.
Gotham’s like for Aranea very quickly grew into love. He felt like a flower that had tasted the light of sun for the first time in its life. It was warm, it was real.
But it was fleeting.
Another in the small town had eyes for Aranea, a man named Richard. Richard was strong with a kind heart, willing to lend a hand to any in the community. He put his strength to work in the town’s theater, building set pieces for the many performances held there. During one of the productions, Richard happened to meet the lead actress of the show, Aranea.
The two were instantly smitten with each other. Aranea and Richard began spending more and more time with one another. Any in the small town could see that the two were a perfect match, Richard’s quiet kindness with Aranea’s loud confidence. All were happy to witness such a love bloom between two sweet souls.
As love bloomed, Gotham’s hatred blossomed. His days in the sun with Aranea were long gone. He found his time by her side growing shorter and shorter, until it was nonexistent. He found that he was no longer at the side of Aranea. He was once again alone, isolated. However, he still held a small hope in his chest that perhaps things could change. He had been able to manipulate things in his favor before, he could simply do it again.
Then, that invitation arrived in his mailbox.
An invitation to the wedding of Aranea and Richard.
Gotham felt like a flower on the forest floor that had its claim to the sun cut by a sudden fallen tree.
There was nothing he could do about the obstacle that presented itself.
If he couldn’t take out the obstacle, then he would have to adapt.
Gotham left his hometown without a word and headed to Sunset Savanna. He began to look for ways to exert his influence within this change of scenery. If he couldn’t have the prize of affection, he would instead seek the prize of power. It took him three days to come up with his plan to achieve power, power that would not leave him.
He would buy a large residence on the outskirts of the city and transform it into an orphanage. Gotham would use the children he took in to bring him wealth. He’d send the children out to steal valuables for him, then he’d sell whatever he didn’t want to keep on the black market. If the kids got caught, Gotham could feign ignorance since these were orphans that he was taking in on his own kindness. Children were easy to manipulate, especially those who sought connection. In order to be considered for adoption, Gotham would ensure only those that fulfilled his every demand were put up. Those that wouldn’t, or proved too skilled in the art of stealing, would remain in the orphanage until the age of adulthood, when they could go of their own free will.
A year quickly went by and Gotham had his plan coming to fruition. He had started to amass a grand fortune as well as some elite connections within the Sunset Savanna. Gotham’s name carried a weight to it when passed by those in the town. His life felt full of light and life. He was pleased to find himself coming out on top once again, drinking in the sunlight singing on his ambition.
Then a letter arrived in the mail.
How she got his new address, Gotham never knew. All he knew was that he felt like a rug had been ripped from beneath his feet.
They were expecting a baby.
A baby boy by the end of the month.
Aranea wanted to share the news about this new life that was lighting up her and Richard’s world.
Gotham burned the letter, but not before noting the address on the envelope.
How dare she show off how great her life was without him?
How dare she shove herself into his life when he left without a word?
How dare she show just how happy she was without him?
He had made up his mind within the hour.
Gotham poured over the papers, news sites, and social media, for the next few weeks, looking for news of the birth of the baby. Eventually, his stalking proved to be fruitful, finding the baby was born on June 21, the summer solstice, a day full of light.
How fitting.
At the beginning of the next month, Gotham personally tucked in the children at the orphanage. He bade them a good night and told them he would be staying at the orphanage tonight rather than leaving them in the care of the Sawington Sisters. Then he shut the doors and made his way down into the living room, grabbing a novel from the shelf to read while he waited for the time to put his plan into motion.
He waited until midnight before silently making his way out of the orphanage. Gotham set out in the dead of night, cloaked in a cape as dark as the sky above. He made his way to the address that was on the baby announcement letter.
Gotham had looked up the address and found that Aranea and Richard had made themselves at home in a cottage in the woods not far from the town in which they all grew up in. The cottage appeared to have two floors along with a chimney. It was small and quaint, anyone would find the home to be quite charming. Gotham; however, could never picture himself satisfied with something so little.
Arriving at the location, Gotham quietly walked around the home, noting nothing in the way of security. As the home was small, Gotham was able to easily scope out the layout from the windows on the cottage alone. He could tell that the baby’s room was on the second floor by the crib that was located right beneath the window.
Quiet as the night itself, Gotham climbed a tree that grew right beside the window to the baby’s room. Testing the window to see if it was locked, Gotham quietly lifted up on the frame, pleased to find it slide up silently under his gloved hands.
Aranea was always too trusting.
He lifts himself through the window and lands silently on the floor beside the crib. Gotham waits on the floor for a couple of moments, ensuring that the residents of the home are indeed asleep. He looks into the crib to find the sleeping child. A baby boy with wisps of blonde hair growing on his scalp. The baby is sound asleep under a purple blanket patterned with golden suns.
Gotham slips his gloved hands under the sleeping baby, cautiously lifting it into his arms. As he does, the baby’s eyes open, revealing a brilliant green.
Gotham knows from his experience in the orphanage that the baby will do one of two things in the next moment: cry or return to sleep. Quietly, Gotham rocks the baby and strokes the baby’s face with his free gloved hand. The baby continues to take in the stranger, not making a single sound. Then a smile graces its face as it lets out a quiet babble.
What a strange child.
With the crisis averted, Gotham quickly and carefully makes his way back through the window to the tree branch outside. He slides the window shut, solidifying his deed.
As he carefully makes his way from the tree to the forest floor, he lands on a branch that snaps loudly under his and the baby’s weight. The sudden noise causes the baby in Gotham’s arms to let out a loud cry. Gotham watches as the light turns on in the bedroom beside the baby’s.
Making sure his cloak was pulled snuggly over himself and the baby, Gotham stole off into the night. He returned back to the Sunset Savanna and slipped back into his normal routine.
Gotham watched with pleasure as the world around him erupted into chaos.
The news of a missing infant spread far, even into the Sunset Savanna. Police came to the orphanage thinking someone might have dropped off a baby trying to rid themselves of their crime. Gotham welcomed them and let them meet the children, not fearing their intrusion as they wouldn’t find the child he had hidden away.
The police examined the orphanage, but found no baby amongst the children. When they asked Gotham about his whereabouts on the night of the kidnapping, Gotham answered that he was at the orphanage the entire night, watching over the children. The children supported his claims, telling the officers that their father tucked them in himself.
Finding no reason to stay any longer, the police apologized for their intrusion and asked Gotham to call if anyone dropped off a baby matching the description. Gotham promised that he would and led them to the entrance.
The day after, the phone to the orphanage rang. Gotham picked it up and found the distressed voice of Aranea on the other end. She sobbed as she asked if Gotham had heard the news. Gotham replied that he had and that he was sorry for her loss. She asked if he knew of anything since he knew so many people and was so well connected. He said that he hadn’t heard anything and that no child had been dropped off at the orphanage in the last month. Aranea cried and asked how could the world be so cruel, stealing their little sundrop away. Gotham replied that the world was dark and selfish and cruel. If it found even the slightest ray of sunshine, it destroyed it.
Promising to call if he heard news about the child, Gotham hung up the phone.
Gotham never heard from Aranea again.
By the end of the month, the police called off the intensive search, assuming the worst must have happened to the child. They left posters up with descriptions of the child, requesting that the public call if they found any information about the missing infant.
All the while, Gotham continued to raise the baby in the attic of the orphanage. He had long since transformed the attic into a nursery, working on it the day after he solidified his kidnapping plot. The attic was only accessible from Gotham’s private office in the orphanage, so there was no risk of any coming across it. Gotham named the child Zel and took care of him each and every day.
He would raise the boy as his own.
A flower rooted in his own light.
A light that he would ensure never left his flower’s side.
As for the couple of Richard and Aranea, they never lost hope for their lost child. Every year on the baby’s birthday, they, along with the rest of the small town, would release hundreds of lanterns into the night sky, hoping that they might just guide their missing baby home. Year after year, they continued to light the sky with their hope.
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Now, that brings us to my story, which I’m sure you’re dying to hear.
Don’t worry, it won’t be all doom and gloom, there’s plenty of fun in between. So settle in, and prepare for an adventure that you might find yourself tangled up in.