Chapter Text
“Get out of here!”
“Worthless Naga!”
“Monster!”
“It’s your fault!”
“Devil spawn!”
The 12-year old boy ran out of the town, dodging around people and items being thrown at him. In the backdrop of this scene a huge plume of smoke rose to the gray sky that shrouded the burnt part of the small town in a miserable light. The people were angry, many crying with grief and most were covered in soot and dirty clothes. That didn’t keep them from completely chasing out the orphan boy despite the fact he had also been a victim of the disaster that had befallen them all. No, in their minds the child was what had brought down this stroke of misfortune on them, just as it had brought other bad moments. The moment the child had been born with half of its face and small body covered in yellow-green scales they had known the small monster would bring bad luck. However, his mother was well-loved and respected in the town and no one wanted to throw out her newborn child, so they let her care for it and made themselves scarce around it. Now that the monster’s mother had died, nothing would protect it from what they should have done years ago.
Janus sniffled and sobbed, wiping his face with a single hand, being careful not to rub to hard at the scaled side of his face. He could barely see in front of him, his eyes to blurred with tears, and his legs seemed to be moving on their own quite miraculously since the rest of him felt like dropping to the ground and never moving again. His head pounded with each step he took, a turmoil of feelings seeming to press around his mind. By the time his mind had cleared enough so Janus could make himself stop running, the boy could no longer see his hometown. The pillar of smoke was still visible, but Janus kind of hoped it wasn’t. All it did was remind him of what had just happened.
His mother was dead. The thought sent Janus sprawling on the ground, gripping the earth with one hand as he pounded the road with his other, letting the dust drink up his tears and screams of loss.
Why? Why had that fire had to start? Why had his bad luck pulled such a horrible, horrible stunt? He had long accepted that he was a cursed Naga, bringing only misfortune instead of blessings like was expected of his kind, but why had that misfortune struck the one person in the world that he had? The only one that loved him and he loved in return? Why? WHY? It wasn’t fair… And to add to this wretch of a day, the people he had known since birth, that had watched and helped him grow, run him out of town with threats and garbage the moment they had seen him walk out of the burning building with his mother’s unnaturally cold body.
Janus could still remember how they had ripped her away from him and thrown him into the street, uncaring of the burns and ash all over him. He’d heard some women wail as they took his mother’s body and the men and other people present had glared at him with such hatred, such…such… disgust. Janus curled into himself, hugging his shaking shoulders as he tried to forget those horrible stares behind the darkness of his eyelids.
Had they always looked at him like that? Had he just been too stupid to think the people didn’t blame him for the bad things that happened? Had his mother been the only one to love him?
The rest of that afternoon and night passed over Janus in the form of biting, chilly winds. They froze his tears and caused his teeth to chatter. His shoulders shook, but whether it was still grief or just the cold Janus had no idea. He welcomed the numbing cold, however. It placed his mind in a sluggish limbo, not awake, but not asleep, just there. He was shaken out of his thoughtless stupor by the morning dew that soaked into his body as the sun rose again.
It was morning. Janus could almost convince himself that it was just another morning and his mother was still alive and the fire had never happened and he wasn’t an outcast, but he knew that behind him still rose the pillar of smoke that affirmed his situation. So Janus stood up and resolved not to look back as he continued down the road away from hi- the town. His mind and body knew what had happened, he didn’t need a reminder. The cold night had given his mind the time to get all feelings under control so they were only a painful throb in his chest.
His newly cleared head pointed out to him that he was very much alone with no food, clothing, water, money, or shelter. The town had made his expulsion quite clear. That meant Janus now had to find another way to live. Yes, he had decided during the night, or more like unconsciously resolved, to keep on living. It didn’t seem fair to just give up and die. Life had played with him and stole from him so much already. Maybe Janus just didn’t want to make it easy. Maybe he wanted to put up a fight. Did it matter? Not really, he decided as he continued walking down the road.
He would just live.