CHAPTER 1 – Being part of Kali’s

I always thought less of myself than what my real potential was. Until that day, until that moment. What changed, I still do not know, but something did and the monster, that I am now, was born. I died that moment, not physically but mentally and I was reborn or reincarnated as I might paraphrase.

I was born and raised in mountains of Kastiff. The tribe which I belong to boasts about our history of 1500 years in the mountains of Kastiffs. The biggest tribe with the oldest history in our region, The Kali's. The name Kali originates from the nomad elder of our tribe who emigrated with some 200 warriors from the land of Tat's to the west, by pillaging villages all the way to the south of lake Kasp and establishing his own tribe in the Kastiff mountains some millennia and half ago. To tell the truth, I do not believe and I do not care about that version of the history. What I know is we were the biggest and most influential tribe in the region. Nobody would dare to mess around with us except wolves. I hate wolves. Nobody likes them. Those wild animals which would attack sheep and shepherds and kill anybody and everything. You can tame a lion or tiger but not a wolf. It just does not like to take orders. You could tame a tiger and make it jump over stools and stand on them (our tribe elder had one tiger tamed to do stuff like that for his amusement, and I have seen that) but not a wolf. Many have tried, but no successful result as of now, you would say it’s empirically tested. Moreover they are greedy. They will eat just one sheep and kill all the stock. God, I hate them.

Anyway, I am about to tell you about my past as a young shepherd and who I became after some trials and tribulations. What I am about to write down is no fiction but truth. By the way, I still do not like wolves. Even though they like me now very much. Haha…

I was a naïve kid. Too naïve and pure to understand what was happening around me all my life. It was because of my mother. She was too overprotective. So from present perspective I think that God(s) have favored me as there is no other explanation why I am who I am now. My father was an idealist but a coward. No shame in it, he was who he is. It the choices what you make that make you who you are. He had made his choice back in his time. I do not want to talk about him as I have this hatred towards him which I cannot stuff into words. A coward who had accomplished few things got married and screwed his life by becoming a heave binge drinker after giving up on life. Nobody knew about his cowardice expect me, mother and my sister. He was known all around as a well-educated man who drinks a bit more than everybody else. But I knew he was a coward. I knew because he was showing his true colors after he was coming back to home and beginning to backtalk about our close relatives and their success in trade or government posts. How he was a `great` man that had to accomplish the peace but could not because none of the close relatives supported him (his ideas). Screw him. I knew the moment I get to know myself that one day I would kill him.

In contrast, my mother was all what my father would need to become a man. She was smart.

She knew how to accumulate wealth by means of trade. She knew how to command people. Nevertheless, she was a woman. A kind woman. A naïve one nonetheless. The only thing my mother and father shared in common was their innocence in matters of worldly business. My father was a hopeless in that matter as for him money did not have value. My mother knew that without gold, silver and money you would not go around. I assume my mother knew what she lacked. That’s why she tried to nurture me and my sister to accomplish what they could not and to become what they were not. Because of their innocence they were misused by my aunts and uncles a lot. Relatives would borrow money from my parents but never give it back because they were “poor” back in those times.

On my 17th birthday King Dar died and was replaced by his son Hamil. Dar was a great warrior. He did a lot for our kingdom. Most of the Kastiff Mountains and its surrounding were conquered and ruled under our tribe. Dar was the man who became elder of our tribe when he was 30 years old. Our tribe was strong in matters of bravery and war but not so much in regards of agriculture, architecture and education. So this smart fella with big ambitions conquers all the land from west of Lake Kasp all the way to the south-west of Kastiff mountains and establishes the kingdom of Kali. Rich lands were acquired during his first 20 years of rule. He built the city of Mehm as the capital of the newfound kingdom on the shore of the lake Kasp. Protected the country’s north border from the beast men by maintaining regular border patrol army. He was a legend and was almost worshipped by everybody. By the way, yours sincerely had personally met him. King Dar made sure that the amir’s who ruled over the different regions of the newfound kingdom were from our tribe. Our tribe kind of had monopoly on political matters of kingdom, and everybody was happy with it.

I was born on the west borders of Kingdom of Kali. Our neighbor’s on the west were Elves. Never seen one. But I was told that they do not like us. Treated us as mutated living organisms who could not reach the level of Elves. I assumed they thought about us at the same level as bugs; after I met one, I was sure that they respect bugs more than humans.

I remember a conversation with my father once upon a long time ago:

[father] : you know kid.. (Pausing to drinking wine)

[me] : yes?

[father] : you know..(dumb facial expressions) the best woman …to marry would ….be an Elf with big.. (drains last bit of the wine bottle)

[me] : with big?

[father] : shut up … buy….a bottle …..wine …shop. (and smashes to floor)

As time passed by I knew why I hated him more than anybody else. Not because of his cowardice. Also it was one of the factors. It was because he did not respect himself. He would not care what he wore, what he ate or who he was. As much as he had something to drink at nights it was a good life for him. He did not deserve my mother. She was too good for him. If I was King Dar, the first thing before even establishing kingdom would be to kill my father. There was no single reason that could justify why he was alive.

King Dar’s ambitions brought way too many good things that actually corrupted our tribe. Great Kali’s tribe became one which was obsessed with politics rather than war. Tribe was in a transition state where warriors became politicians, amirs or traders. We lost our touch I think. King Hamil’s acquisition of throne was a proof of that. Until him, the tribe elder was selected by means of his or her (we had few but still we had few woman elders back in old days) wits. It was never passed from father to son. Tribe elder was always on the front lines when fighting the beast men of the north or demons of the south. The great Kali’s nickname was the Dragon Slayer not because he had a throne to sit on but because he slayed a dragon when most lost their sanity after facing it.

Anyway, a warrior is not decided by his or her height and weight. A warrior is decided when he faces the struggle face to face. Dying or killing is the end result. One side has to fade away into the darkness so that the other side reaches the glory. A warrior never backs away. Not a step (until 13 years old I took it literally as is).

Next - Chapter 02 - Wolf's Cry