Chapter 5: Ikaris' Past

NARRATOR

There was little known about Ikaris and truthfully, even he didn’t know anything about his past. As a child, he grew up hearing tales about how his father and mother had died in a fire the same day his entire village was burnt down.

Since then, he had lived the good part of his life in a children’s home within a large city. He grew up to be highly rebellious and stubborn so none of the parents who came to adopt children ever wanted Ikaris and he never wanted to be adopted either, so he considered it perfect.

Ikaris didn’t have any detail of his life like how he got his name, though everyone claims his father gave him the name before passing and aside from his life in the orphanage, all he could remember from his past was fire… so much fire.

So he knew the story was true – his parents were among the casualties of a terrible fire that swept an entire village.

However, Ikaris was always lively, mischievous and full of fun, never allowing the tragedy from his past disturb his future. Growing in the orphanage, he will steal away at dusk and run into the market. Using rooftops and poles, he will steal the best fruits and meals and return to the orphanage late at night, climb into bed and eat until his stomach was so full that he screamed for joy. The next day, he will repeat the cycle again and he kept doing it over and over. It was on one of these nights that he met Mowei, a monkey who became his only friend and companion. As Ikaris stole out that night, he spotted the very popular village chef spicing and frying large extremely tasty chunks of meat and piling them up. Using the rooftops, he climbed behind the laughing cook and in one swift move, he tried to pick the first on the pile but to his greatest surprise, something moved faster, grabbing the meat so fast that Ikaris nearly slipped and fell and he caught no sight of whatever came in the way.

He thought he was dreaming as he left the meat and slipped into the segment where a fat and highly mean lady roasted the fishes from the fishermen daily catch. Again, he swooped by, as swiftly as a hawk but missed the fish by inches as something came in the way and grabbed the fish before disappearing.

This time, he saw the culprit. It was a stupid monkey!

“Hey!” Someone was yelling towards the roof. Ikaris heart skipped a beat. In his distraction, someone had spotted him. He was as good as gone!

With the speed of light, he dashed up the roof and sped towards the next roof. He could see the silhouette of the running monkey in the dark and pursued it even as he dodged the continuously increasing men steadily chasing him now with torches and pitchforks, yelling in unison: “Thief!”

Ikaris was running for his life but was also running to get the monkey who ruined it. As the chase went on and on, Ikaris soon realized that the monkey he was chasing had vanished into the thin air. In pain and desperation, he realized that all that mattered now was saving his own life. He created a distraction for the men and dashed back into the orphanage.

Folding himself in the sheets of his mat, he shivered in fear. He had never been so close to getting caught and the fear of dying from jungle justice suddenly caught up with him. Again, he realized it was all because of the monkey.

“Where the hell did such monkey come from?!” Ikaris cursed in pain. He was awake for a long time that night, unable to sleep from hunger, pain, anger and despair. It was just when he was about drifting to sleep that he heard a knock on the window. Shocked, he walked slowly towards the window to find a piece of meat and fish kept on the edge. He looked around but saw nothing. Still, he knew what – or who – had kept it there. Taking it up, he ate it without remorse and in his intent hunger before going to bed. The next night, Ikaris refused to go hunting for fear of the villagers who were still on the lookout for him and so much news had been going around during the day.

However, before falling asleep that night, he heard another knock and drew close to find the piece of meat and fish again. This time, anger aside, he ate gratefully and wished he could see the monkey to thank him personally but caught no sight of him. It continued this way for several nights and Ikaris ate to his fill until one night when he called out to the monkey to show himself. The monkey immediately surfaced from the top of the window and grinned at Ikaris. Ikaris laughed in response and hugged the creature. Two thieves had finally made peace.

The next night, it was a storm! Ikaris set out with his new friend whom he named – Mowei for another stealing edition and they stole twice of what either of them would have ever stolen. They continued this way for years, eating to their fill until Ikaris began to grow older and realize they didn’t have to keep stealing to feed anymore.

They needed to be stealing for wealth!

It was then they went after gold, stealing gold over and over and selling to merchants until they once stole from the wrong kinsman who was smarter than they ever imagined. He knew they were coming, set them up and they fell right into it.

It was in the process of leading Ikaris and Mowei to the stake to be burnt that they came up with their escape plan. When they both tore free, they fled the city but the soldiers were in on them from all angles that Mowei left Ikaris to distract the soldiers at his own will.

In tears, Ikaris saw Mowei for the last time as he smiled at him and tore into the bush. He watched the soldiers close in on the only creature he considered family while he slipped away and ran into the distant mountains alone.

Since then, Ikaris became a sojourner.

“Ikaris?”

Ikaris jumped out from his thoughts now and turned to Alessa again.

“What’s wrong?” Alessa asked him.

He turned and looked out through the window again. “We are not on the road. Why should we be entering the forest?”

Alessa gasped as realization dawned on her. “Oh God!”

“They’re bandits!” Ikaris whispered. Immediately, he made his move and went to the door of the cargo. He applied a slight force and turned back to Alessa. “It’s locked!”

There was fear in the eyes of both as they realized they were indeed kidnapped.

“What do we do?”

“I’ll break the door but as soon as it comes off, we must take off! Okay?”

Alessa nodded nervously and Ikaris turned to the door again. He picked two pins from a hidden parchment around his cloth and began working the way around the lock. In no time, the door swung open.

“Now!”

They both fell out of the cargo and rolled to the ground. Standing immediately, they were about running when they paused. In front of them, stood the man that had come to check on them earlier.

“Nice timing kid. We just got to our destination.” The man said. It was then Ikaris and Alessa looked around to realize they were hundreds of rogue looking people in black with some wearing skull faces or carrying weapons made of bones. It was then they realized they were in their camp already, in the depths of the woods.

They were surrounded.