Topic: Through the black, you'll find the light...

(Lost To Time)

Date: 2008-05-23 11:56 EST
BACKGROUND ON LEIGHTON RILEY:

Leighton was born 18 years ago. Her mother, a slave of a wealthy demon, had to given birth to her in the barn behind the house, becuase the Master (Mr. Demon) didn't want to hear the screaming involved, even though he was the father. After much screaming and crying, with only a nurse to hold her hand and a doctor from the village, she gave birth to a beautiful baby girl on a pile of hay with only a small horses blanket to cover her in. Holding her baby girl to her chest, she realized that the baby wasn't crying, almost like the baby knew that she shouldn't cry. Her mother creased her daughters small soft head," Sweet little angel, you are my gift from the gods." The nurse to her right, looking at the baby girl asked, "What are you going to name her?" Smiling as only a new mother could, when covered in birth-byproducts, she softly kissed her daughter head, "Leighton, Leighton Riley sounds good." Whispering Leighton she passed her to the nurse to be cleaned up. The next week we hard on both mother and baby because the Master only gave her three nights off before he had her back in his bed. As sad as that is, the Master then beat her for two days for bleeding in his bed, letting Leighton cry in the middle of the night, and not doing her chores.

(Lost To Time)

Date: 2008-05-23 12:23 EST
By the time Leighton was 10, she knew that slavery was her life till death. Her mother was too meek to stand up to the Master and that he, her Father in the technical sense, was a cruel heartless man bent on having everyone in his house fear him and the women his sex slaves. Leighton had been working for 5 years now helping her mother with the chores. By now her mother was the Masters, in body and mind, because he would call for her at least every other night. The bed that Leighton was suppose to shared with her mom was always cold because when free from the Master, her mother had taken to drinking with the cooks till late in the night. Her mother had never had another child, because of the damage done so long ago. And Leighton now knew that her mother almost liked being with the Master, in that sense, it kept her alive.

"Hurry up with that pot, you little <censored>," a cook screamed at Leighton after lunch on day. Leighton's skinny arms were having trouble lifting the well over 50lbs pot filled with dirty water. Finally she got it up and walked out the door towards the barn, but not without a swift kick in the behind from the cook, which caused her to spill some of the water down the front of her tunic.

After dumping the pot, she figured she wasn't going to rush back to the abuse and seizing the opportunity to be alone,she sat down with her back to the rotting old barn. She didn't like being a slave, though technically she was only the child of a slave which was worse. She could feel the hate towards her father, towards the cooks, towards everyone that kept her down. This is not what life was suppose to be. She wanted love, and happiness, and all the comforts so far she had only heard in stories. She could feel it all running through her. She clinched her fists and then relaxed them. She clenched again. Throwing all her weight around she slammed her fist into the barn. Then she stood and slammed her other fist into the barn. Over and over again. Blood and splinters covered her hands. Her hands were raw when she stopped. There were two child's fists size dents in the rickety wall of the barn. She didn't care.

She washed her hands in the animal trough, picked up the pot and sauntered back inside. Another day lost.

(Lost To Time)

Date: 2008-05-23 13:00 EST
Later that night , it was rare her mother was sober. Leighton was sitting on the edge of the bed staring at her bruised and cut up hands hands. Her mother saw her looking at her hands, she asked,"Are you okay' Do your hands hurt"" Leighton looked over her mother, "No, nothing is wrong, it's just that this afternoon I was so angry and mad, I punched the barn side a few too many times it seems." Her mother went about cleaning the wounds. She gently rubbed a self healing herbal mix into the worst cuts and bruises. Then her mother wrapped her hands lightly in two cotton rags.

Taking her daughters hands, she kissed them gently and said, "Leighton I you to understand something, it is very important." Looking at her mother , who's eyes were intently staring at her, Leighton nodded her head, making her blond hair move slightly forward. "There are something that people are gifted with. Emotion is one of those gifts, but slaves are not suppose to have any gifts. We are purely workers. I may not have been the best at expressing to you what you are to me, but I do love you, as only a mother can. I do pray that the gods must have something very big planned for you. Leighton, you must never let anyone see your emotions here. If someone were to find out they might try to hurt you, use them against you, okay"" Never had Leighton heard her mother talk to her, or anyone for that matter, like that. Her mother was still very meek but Leighton knew she was being very truthful. Nodding yes, Leighton made to get into bed, while her mother walked out the door, probably to go drink.

From that day forward Leighton tried very hard never to let anyone see her emotions. Now and then she had a close call, but never let her emotions get completely out-of-control. She was simply going to work. She had no other options.

(Lost To Time)

Date: 2008-05-23 16:43 EST
A few days before her 18 birthday, Leighton was cleaning out the fireplace in the sitting room. The door to the room next to that was slightly ajar and Leighton could hear voices, two male voices to be exact. One she recognized has the Masters and the other sounded harder, with a tough edge in it. Leighton had learned long ago not to listen in to any conversation, so she just scrub and scrub at the walls of the fireplace where the ash had built up.

"Leighton is a great girl, she will serve you well." Leighton upon hearing her name, stood up, . Moving quietly to stand by the door she tired to listen to the conversation, forgetting all about the fireplace and brush in her hand. "I will pay you 1500 crowns for her, and I will be by in 3 days." Leighton now recognized the other voice. It was Mr. Vanleux ] from the village to the east. He was well know for being very horrible to his slaves. Many of the women were killed after he slept with them, or they were sent to away, never to be heard from again. A shiver ran down her spine, gasping she could feel a lump in her throat and tears welling up in her eyes. She was being sold. Sold like a common head of cattle. Sold to the slaughterhouse.

Leighton rushed back to the fireplace, sitting on her rubbery legs ,she went back to scrubbing as the two men came into the seating area and turned for the door. The Master didn't see her, but Mr. Vanleux stopped. She could feel his hungary eyes running over her body. It made her sick. He tipped his hat, the scar across his left eye catching the light from the candles in the room, and with a quickly turn, he walked away.

Once both men were out of sight, Leighton collapsed backward on the floor. Still holding the brush, she put the back of her hand up to her face to wipe away the tears, but instead she just smeared ash across her face. Paralyzed and unable to move, Leighton sat there for a few minutes. Quietly, willing her legs to stand, she picked up her cleaning stuff and walked away.

As if in a trance, Leighton had walked to her room on the second floor, and was curled up in her bed. Tears now flowing easily down her cheeks she buried her head into the flat pillow. She cried till there was nothing left. She had no more tears. With a sob they were gone.

Suddenly she sat up, an idea had popped into her head. The clean streaks had washed away the ash. Leighton knew what she had to do. There was nothing about it that she liked but part of her soul, told her that there was no other choice, she would die if she was sent away. So quietly she sank down the stairs and out the side door, only stopping to grab her shoes and to slide them on. Leighton was running away.

(Lost To Time)

Date: 2008-05-25 16:02 EST
She had walked through the night, no one had passed her, and she wasn't sure were she wanted to go. But Leighton was feeling very thirsty and very tired, when a man ridding in a cart, pulled by a beautiful brown horse, stopped and offered her a ride. "I'm on my way to Rhy'Din. Do you need a lift?" Looking up to see a old man smiling at her. She climb up into the seat next top the old man, never saying a word. She couldn't speak from her dry throat. Silently he handed her a lamb sack full of water from beside him, she took it, glupping it down, thankful to be rid of the harsh dry feeling in her throat. They rode on in silence.

" This next part is going to be a bit hazy, " he said, pulling the cart to a stop. Leighton turned to him, a quizzical look upon her face. " Rhy'Din ain't exactly nearby," answering her unspoken question. Leighton looked at him again. " We are going through the Nexus. It will bring us to a huge expanses glen outside the city. It's technically a different planet. So you won't have to worry about whatever here it is you are leaving behind." He knew her story. He patted her arm. He had taken many through the void to escape the poverty of life here. He was her Shepard of sorts.

To Leighton, the Nexus was a beautiful rainbow of colorful wisps floating there gently in a black void. Going through was nothing. One second she was stepping in, the next stepping out.

Pulling into Rhy'Din the old man asked, "Where do you need to be dropped off"" Thinking for a second," Truth is I don't have any place to go, is there an Inn around hear that I can stay at?" She didn't want he to know she had no money to afford an Inn's place. And being a stranger in this world she didn't know what to expect from life here. Smiling wide to show his very crooked teeth, the old man said," Sure, The Red Dragon Inn is a great place, I'll drop you off there, and even if you don't want to sleep there you can always hang out in the bar. Tons of people to meet." He was perceptive. He chuckled has he pulled the reigns to stop the horse. Leighton climb out of the seat,"Thank you.," she said barely above a whisper. This "thank you? he knew meant for saving her life from slavery, for letting her travel with him, for bringing her to her new beginning. The old man smiled and tipped his hat, then snapped the reigns and was off. Leighton didn't even know his name.

(Lost To Time)

Date: 2008-06-03 12:23 EST
After a few days in Rhy'Din city, she was out of money and was feeling rather down. She had turned to sleeping in the glen, in one of the many caves. She had a small system going, because a few days earlier she had found an old bucket, which she used to bring water from the lake to her cave to wash up in. Cleaning her clothes, she used rocks for scrubbing, then laid them out to dry. Because she had no other clothes, this is the time she spent way back in the cave, standing alone, naked, thinking. She went into Rhy'Din city everyday to look for a job or to beg for a few coins to get food with. She was getting pretty good.

One day Leighton was feeling a little sad, and had found a package of cigarettes, which she smoked happily because it gave her something to do. Sitting out back of the Red Dragon Inn, in the Back Alley, she smoked away a third of the pack, till a person that would change her life forever walked out the back door, turning to look at her.

He was a tall slim man. The moment his eyes distinguished her shape from the crates she sat on, he instantly knew she was homeless, but he did not turn away from her. This memory is a blur for her. Leighton can not remember his face, nor his name but she knew he had changed her. His hands were soft and his voice gentle. Leighton felt warm just standing next to him. And next to him she did, till he delivered her to traveler friends, the Gypsy family.

(Lost To Time)

Date: 2010-01-19 21:00 EST
A few years had passed. She was a women of 20 now. The torturing pain she felt for her mother had long passed. She was numb to that time in her life now.

She had also moved out of the cave, after a year or so on the road with a gypsy family she had picked up a few good skills. Fortune telling, card reading, dancing singing. Also some self defense, useful in the dark alley's she sometimes found herself. The magic sparks had never came back, not sense leaving her mother behind. Why' She never found out.

The demon side of her did come out though. If she didn't like the situation for any reason she did lash out, sometimes violently. Though those moments were few and far between.

She earned her living from a small fold up table in the marketplace where she offered tourists, and some true believing merchants, their fortunes and daily cards for a meager price. She even had a great script she loved to yell out. "Step right up! I'll Answer all your heart questions! Does she like you? Will you be rich' Come find out and more! Cards, Fortunes! The truest answers right here! Step right up!" Not the most orginal but it seemed to do the trick.

After her days in the marketplace (or the Tea shop, if she needed a change of scene) she loved to wander over to the Inn. She found it to be a great place to people watch and strike up conversations with random people. Plus she needed the social interactions once in a while.

That was her day. Cards and Bars. Not everyone's ideal schedule but something she enjoyed. She was free to do whatever she please, and go wherever she pleased. And she earned money (never much, but some is better than none).

All she was lacking in life was love. Single she was, a virgin too. Love seemed out of reach but she figured when it was meant to, it would come.

Till then...

(Lost To Time)

Date: 2012-11-15 14:27 EST
Again, more years had past. Leighton had fully become her own person. She no long acted, or rather reacted, like a slave. Or even a gypsy for that matter. The years on her own had shaped her into something better.

A gypsy brother and his wife had shown her great kindness in teaching her the art of herbalism, using the hundreds of different planets found in the hills of the glen, where she had once lived. This was a much easier job. She had worked her way up, learning as she went, till now she is a master herbalist with her own shop. She was stable. She was safe. She was happy.

Still single, but she wasn't upset now. She had made peace with her life and her past. News of her mother's passing came a few months back, releasing the last ties she had to her old world and her old self. Now she was Leighton Riley, as she was meant to be.