#rook origin

When you woke up, you felt as if you had been drunk and sleepwalking for hours. Your body felt too hot, your head too heavy, and your limbs felt like pins and needles had pinned you to the cold ground. You felt nauseous, and everything was fuzzy. As you gathered your bearings, you looked down and noticed that you weren’t lying on the grass anymore. No… You were propped up on a tree, the dark wood scratching against you. What happened to you? How did someone get the jump on you so quickly? 

As you tried to gather your bearings, you realized your pockets were looted. You weren’t too shocked by this given where you lived. Then you suddenly heard  a voice.

“You’re finally awake.”

 The voice was deep and full of bass, like a purring big cat who had you in its paws. As your vision returned, you saw a figure that made you jump slightly. A gray and white mask, black eyes, and a spider on the forehead with a pearly white crescent moon etched on the spider. You knew who this was. The lesser proxies feared her while the higher tiered ones, like you used to be, saw her as a nuisance. She was from that cult. Nesha Nishi led the charge, and you attacked her people. A rush of something hit you as suddenly your head was slammed back into the tree, the black eyes glaring at you.

“I remember you.” She growled hatefully. Oh no.

Your head slammed into the tree as the woman brought a clawed fist to your neck. “You were a part of it weren’t you? You killed my people.” She growled into your face, black eyes glaring at you with utter hate. She was not wrong. You did partake in the slaughtering of her people. You worked with Nesha Nishi to destroy her home. But now… Now you weren’t that Proxy anymore. You were a Drudge. Her other hand gripped your throat tighter, cutting off your air supply. 

“Do you remember that? Because I remember every day of my life.” She snarled, glaring at you. “And now Nyx brings you to me, wounded and bleeding, waiting to be put down.” She said, blades to your throat.

Your thoughts were suddenly interrupted when you heard a sound. You looked to your savior for a response, but just as quickly as they heard the sounds, they stepped away, rushing to the sound. You got to your feet, following them to the source, until you saw it. People in masks trying to fight the police as what looked to be a family stuck in the middle. Suddenly, an officer spoke up, their voice strained. 

“You! Get the family to safety quickly!” They called trying to stave off the attackers. You looked at the family. A young couple, the woman was heavily pregnant. As you looked at them, you heard another voice call out. 

 Getting up from the floor,the rats scurry away. You weren’t dead yet, but you’d be close soon. To think, once you were a top dog who pushed their weight around and now you were nothing, a Drudge. Drudges were people who were nothing, things, tools, and maybe you were a tool when you served the Operator, but at least you could protect your autonomy then. Now… There was nothing protecting you. All you had to your name was the clothes on your back, and even that luxury was stolen from you at times. And your friends? Your allies who worked with you? They turned their backs to you. You were a stain, now muck on the bottom of the pecking order. You hated it. 

But there was nothing you could do. Drudges like you weren’t allowed to have an opinion, and after you infuriated the Operator enough times, this was your punishment. Still, however. Sometimes, you wished death would come. It was easier than this joke of a life you lived now. As you walked, the chains on your limbs rattled against the ground. Every drudge wore them depending on how their ‘master’ preferred it. You had no master but a lot of takers. A lot of people who leered at you like a possession or piece of meat, a lot of people who wanted to own and degrade you for what you did to them in the past. Would this be considered karma given your past? Hopefully not. 

As you approached the stairway to the outside world, a note was taped to the concrete walls of your cell along with a box of clothes: “Beer. 5 PM.”. So, the proxies were back and wanted to drown their nonsense in crap tasting booze to numb their senses, and you had to be the little messenger for it? Perfect. This was just perfect, you know you used to be the one demanding Drudges to do things! You used to be the one calling the shots! Now you were down here serving Proxies who didn’t even deserve to breathe the same air as you before. It really stung. You gave the Operator your best years, you clawed your way to the top just to be discarded. 

You headed to your destination, but as you made your way through the forest, you suddenly paused. The forest was usually quiet, but this time, it was eerie. It wasn’t the usual sense of being followed, it wasn’t the sense of an animal watching you. It was like you were being baited to look behind you. You turned your head slightly, and suddenly, something sharp pricked your neck. It stung, then it felt sore, then it felt…. Heavy. You tried to turn and look to respond to the attack when you were knocked down, a hand gripping your wrist as it was cut open. 

“Sleep.”

You wake up to the cold stone ground, a rat watches you with beady eyes, waiting for the moment when you can’t get up anymore. How did it come to this? How did you end up here, down here, of all places? You were a somebody once, a proxy. Respected, feared, loathed… Now you are nothing. A Drudge. An object to be owned and commanded, a thing marching to their end. You were knocked down a peg, knocked off your pedestal, and now you are a slave. Not even the master, the being you once served with all of your being, looks your way now. 

You are a nothing. A failure. Meat to eat, meat to hurt, meat to fuck, but meat none the less. With no sense nor purpose. Everyone who once feared or spoke to you now looks at you like scum.