2 Chapter Two: Welcome to the World of Thallia

He was walking down a hard packed earthen road, he looked down at his feet and noticed how small they seemed, he looked up he was passing between two great gnarled oak trees, beyond the trees was a vast hilly landscape. The path would eventually be leading to a small town that looked no more then a dot beneath a vast mountain range in the distance, as he continued his single minded trudge toward this town his memories began to return.

His name was Dayn, he had been travelling to the town with his family who were nomadic traders, they were stopped by the Kanarysian Inquisitors for a routine check. He began to breath heavily as the scene began to unfold in his mind, his parents slaughtered, the males of the adventuring group they hired were cut to pieces for sport while the women were chained.

Dayn fell to his knees and let out a tormented scream, he didn't know why the inquisitors had let him live, his clothes were covered in the blood and dust. He was bruised and battered as one of the men kicked him to the dirt while he was embracing his murdered mother, they laughed and mocked him.

A group of gnomes came running down the trail to find him kneeling in the road tears streaming down the side of his face, one of them moved on ahead drawing a small sword from his scabbard while the others came to his side.

"What happened lad?" asked the middle aged female, "Are ye daft" said the older one, "E's ad a run in with some nasty blokes" Dayn remained in the dirt unable to process the happenings around him.

"Get im some water ye old goat" The female scolded the older gentleman, the older fellow grumbled and fished an old leather pouch from his travel gear, "Gimme that" she said grabbing the skin before he could consider handing it to her.

Dayn looked up at the sky while she helped him drink down some of the water, the sky was blue, a brilliant blue, Dayn couldn't help wondering how something so horrible could happen on such a nice day. The world goes on, such is its nature.

The bearded gnome came running back up the road puffing red in the face, "Slaughter" he said grimly. "Woman an three men, two of em ad a mercenry look about em" he said, "Ow old were the kills?" the elderly fellow asked, "Couple hours at best" the youngest replied.

They all looked at each other concerned. "We'll be taken im to the village then" the bearded one said, "Our supply run will ave to wait" The bearded one scooped Dayn up like a sack of potatoes and slung him over his shoulder, "Poor lad, e's no older then yer Siari isn't that right Murlo" she asked. "I'd say bout a year maybe" Murlo the bearded gnome replied.

It had been a few hours when the small village came into sight again, they were passing a rustic farmhouse, a few children came running passed the wattle fence chasing a goat with sticks and laughing joyfully.

"Mertin ya little rascal, is ye're fadder ome" Murlo asked one of the children, "He's at temple" the child responded shyly, the child looked up at Dayn who's expression was void of life. "Is that a dead body?" the child asked fearfully. "No no, not yet I figger" Murlo responded, they continued down the path to the village proper.

The village was built into the side of the mountains, large men rushed about with carts full of ore while a large barrel chested dwarf shouted at them "Oi ye lazy sods, me nanna works arder then the lot of ye."

"Eh old man sprocket what brings ye to our quaint little bhaile," "Stop wit the old man nonsense ye grubby dwarf, ye're older then me" Adan Sprocket responded, "Is Fadder Archibald in todae" he asked tersely. "Suspect so," the dwarf responded, "Aven't been seein him about town at least" the dwarf eyed the child slung over Murlo's shoulder, "Ye should be tellin yer son to put that un back in the grave ye found im in, eyes tell me he won't be survivin the night."

The temple was in a state of disorder when they arrived, the father was running about getting everything back in order.

"Ye ad a mighty wind through ere?" Murlo asked, bookshelves were overturned a splintered table rested against a wall. "Inquisitors" Archibald said distastefully, "They accused us of heresy, said if we didn't pay up they'd report us to the Cardinal, then they tossed the place looking for any stashed gold."

Murlo spat at the distasteful name, "Its enough of a mess in here I don't need you spitting on my flagstones as well!" the father said mortified. One of the young priestesses approached and greeted the gnomes with a graceful bow, "I'd ask that you let the father be" she said melodically.

"What can I help you with in his place?" she asked, Murlo unpacked Dayn and set him on his feet, "This un," Murlo said "we found im wandering the roads just north of a slaughtered trade caravan" he said.

Sister Eve bent down and looked Dayn in the eyes, she couldn't help but notice the vacant lifeless stare, "Afraid its to late for him, his soul appears to be gone, we'll take him in of course but it might be kinder to have let him die."

After the gnomes had moved on the sister took Dayn about the church showing him the building, there weren't any orphans in this town but the church had some spare rooms for acolyte trainees.

"You'll be sleeping here" she said showing him a small bedroom. She cleaned him up at the well, got him some fresh clean clothes and set him in the bed when she was done, the vacant look hadn't changed.

She let out a sigh "Would have been kinder to let him perish" she said under her breath as she returned to her chores, Sister Eve wasn't wrong Dayn had lost the will to live, his soul left his body on the trail outside of town. All that was left was an empty husk going through the motions of being alive, he got out of bed around midnight and stood in the center of his room just staring blankly at the ceiling.

A luminescent light began to glow above the young boy, a beam of pale blue energy slammed into the husk throwing him to the floor.

"Ow" he exclaimed rubbing his sore rear end, He looked around the room confused, "Where am I" he asked confused, he walked over to the door where his hand barely reached the ring, he barely managed to pull the door open, he looked down at his small bare feet.

He then looked at his small hands and fingers, in shock he started feeling his face, "A mirror!" he exclaimed "I need a mirror," the sudden commotion brought Sister Eve running to the room.

The woman was shocked to find the boy moving about on his own, "What's the matter" she asked seeing the confused look on his face, "Do you have a mirror?" he questioned her. "Well yes" she responded confused handing him a small silver looking glass.

Dayn took it quickly and looked at his face, he was young, really young no older then six at most, he had scraggly brown hair and blue green eyes, his skin was light, not pale but neither was it tanned, he had been dressed in a small grey robe. He took a closer look at the woman, she was short for her age, she had silver blonde hair and green eyes, she was thin and wore a white shift with a plain leather corset, the iconography on her clothing suggested a religious background.

A voice came into Dayn's head then, "Welcome to Thallia young Dayn, as that is who you now are, worry not that child's soul had departed well before you inhabited his form." "Here is your second chance, make what you will of this life, you'll retain the knowledge you gained in your twenty seven years in your old world however the information will do you little good here." "Live out your life, grow, learn, and apply that knowledge in any way you see fit, you'll have that child's memories to navigate, what little knowledge he had attained."

The voice faded away and left Dayn standing in the small room looking up at this young priestess woman who had an expression of concern on her face, he wanted to say something all of this was sudden. He had thought the vision in his past life was delirium, a dream brought on by the side effect of his painkillers, he calmed himself and looked up at the concerned lady.

"I'm sorry madame, I had a bad dream." He handed her the mirror and then quietly climbed back into bed, "Are you sure you're alright?" she asked "Yes I'll be fine now" he replied smiling from ear to ear.