The Value of a Heartbeat

It's Just a Squirrel

The night enveloped the forest. Reilyn Lu Telnur heard the soft crunching of twigs and dead leaves as he paced between the trees. The farther he walked, a couple of voices could be heard. 

“Look at it run!” One voice said boisterously, another voice laughed loudly in response. Reilyn turned the corner to see what was going on. The laughter continued as Reilyn’s crimson eyes widened in horror at the sight. 

There were two men, both Human. The taller of the two had a dark brown mullet, and the other a lighter brown ponytail. The shorter one was holding the hilt of a dagger stabbed into a tree. It was stabbed into the bloody tail of a small brown squirrel. The squirrel flailed and cried in anguish, nailed to the tree. All the while, the two men laughed giddily. 

Reilyn burst out of the trees, facing towards the two men, one hand extended towards them and the other already making its way to the hilt of his sword. “What are you doing?” He shouted.

“Ha!” The man with the mullet smirked, his green eyes gleamed condescendingly down at Reilyn. “Just letting off some steam.”

“You want a turn,” The shorter one chimed in, looking Reilyn up and down, taking note of how much smaller the Dark Elf was than even himself. “Little man?” He chuckled. Reilyn rolled his eyes. 

“Crasswch’dal.” |Fucking disgusting.| Reilyn mumbled in his first language, Tay’Fat, or as the Humans called it, Othertongue. The language of the Otherworld. He glared up at the two men. 

The man with the ponytail chuckled. “It’s just a squirrel,” He grinned and shrugged. “Why do you care so much?” 

                               ---

“Brille’s mwydo ute Dyll’Anum.” |He’s just a Human.| Llyma Li Chalos stated. The words slithered out, her eyes glowed with rage and her mouth was twisted into a sadistic grin. She flicked the jagged knife she was holding, blood splattering off it and onto the floor. "Kyr faci ku'bo letrae mayn?" |Why do you care so much, darling?|

The grip on Reilyn's wrists tightened. He was being restrained, his wrists behind his back and pushed down onto his knees. The two Eyll'Una |Dark Elves| beside him kept their hold on him firm, pushing his knees more painfully against the rough floor the more he struggled. 

His face was in searing pain, blood and tears clogged his vision. He cried out as Llyma approached the man being restrained across from him.

The man's name was Ignatus Lu Flint. His disheveled wavy black hair hung over his face. He raised his gaze to meet Reilyn's eyes. Llyma was standing behind Ignatus. She dug her fingers aggressively into his hair and pulled his head up, scraping the blade of her knife against his throat. "I'm...sorry...Rei-'' Ignatus croaked, his breath staggered, tears formed in his kind, dark eyes. 

Llyma gouged the blade into Ignatus' throat, slicing his head nearly clean from his shoulders. Ignatus' blood poured down his limp body. 

                            ---

Reilyn gritted his teeth and pulled himself away from his memories. He glared up at the two men. His right hand clutching the hilt of his sword, ready to draw, his other was back at his side and started to envelope in flames. 

The man with the mullet scoffed and waved his hands dismissively at Reilyn. “What? Don’t they torture humans for sport where you’re from?” 

“Taysil’dal!” |Shut the fuck up!| Reilyn shouted. “You have no idea where I’m from!” 

Reilyn raised his left hand towards the two men. “Kygniss!” |Fire!| He cast a blast of fire magic at them. While they were distracted and trying to get out of the way of the flames Reilyn lowered his casting hand to his thigh and pulled his dagger from it’s holster. Before the taller of the two men had a chance to respond, Reilyn lunged at him, grabbing his hair and driving the dagger through the man’s mouth. The end of the dagger tore through his flesh and jabbed out at the top of the back of his neck. 

Reilyn kicked the body off the dagger, a spray of blood coming with it as the corpse hit the ground. Reilyn shook the blood off the dagger and put it back in the holster, keeping his eyes on the other man as he did so. 

“W-what the hell?” The man with the ponytail stuttered. 

He sneered, pulled his dagger from the struggling squirrel’s tail, and grabbed the squirrel with his other hand. He quickly put his dagger aside and wrapped his hand around the squirrel’s head. Giving Reilyn a dirty look he twisted the squirrel’s head until there was an audible snap. The small furry body hung limp. He threw the small dead animal at Reilyn’s feet. “I’ll fucking kill you! You freak!” 

Reilyn raised his casting hand over the dead man. “Kyortus, unu melfirmi!” |Rise, weakling!| Reilyn commanded. 

                             ---

Reilyn flipped through a massive tome in his family’s library. He glanced down at the book, and then raised his left hand. With a determined stance he took a deep breath and called out. “Kygniss!” |Fire!| But nothing happened. 

He pouted and considered lowering his hand, but then shook his head. He took another deep breath and closed his eyes. 

“Kygniss!” |Fire!| 

Reilyn felt his hand warm up. He slowly opened one eye, and then the other. His face lit up with pride as he saw the flame he created. He felt a gentle hand on his shoulder and looked up to see his mother. He turned to her with a grin. “Mataw’bo, inynt!” |Mama, look!| He motioned to the small flame. 

She smiled softly at him and kneeled to get down to her son’s eye level. Reilyn, confused, lowered his casting hand and the flame disappeared. “Kea nelus…” |My son…| She said, her expression was defeated. “Pebi mwod kymquis ku paresse haesum.” |There is someone you must meet.| Her grip on his shoulder tightened.

From behind his mother, another woman walked into the room. Llyma Li Chalos. She was notably older than his mother, dressed in an expensive white gown. She walked gracefully over to the two of them, Reilyn’s mother stood up and stepped out of the way. Llyma walked around Reilyn in a circle, glancing him up and down. She nodded approvingly. 

Reilyn looked up towards his mother. “Kyr mwod taigis bin, mataw’bo?” |What is going on, mama?| He asked, confused. 

Llyma moved in front of Reilyn. “Quont pler’bo botem faci.” |The lovely boy will do.| She placed a finger under his chin, tilting his face upwards towards her. Llyma grinned down at Reilyn wickedly. “Migo botem lladeo ruia kea glos’bo dondo brille mwod re diwte.” |I will return for my pretty flower when he is of age.|