Legends of Belariath
Goraidh Cadwyn
It all happened when Raid was a mere child; when he was so innocent and young. However, unlike other children, Raid did not live his childhood normally. Raid was born with the name 'Goraidh' and his family was known as the Valentines. His family consisted of his father, Gerald Valentine, and his mother, Sasha, along with his sister, Lillia, who was two years younger than he was. Unfortunately, his family was nowhere close to being 'happy'. While their parents showed love to them during the first years of their life, everything went downhill when their parents become pressured with high debt, forcing them to give away most of their belongings. However, that was not the end to their trouble. Their parents had to work hard to pay off their debt, and they became stressed and upset. To take out their frustrations, Raid and Lillia became their usual targets - Raid, most especially. They would constantly beat on Raid, dragging him and his sister into a dark room. Even a little mistake would mean having to be beaten up, but despite all that, Raid never hated his parents. In fact, he loved them too much to do so - he was a gentle boy full of innocence.
Then, one day when he and his sister were thrown into that dark room again, Raid stumbled into a hole, to which he would make it bigger, giving them a secret passage way that would lead them outside. His sister was too scared to leave so Raid had to go out by himself, and he did - he was so curious and eager to see the outside after being locked up in the house for a long time. Once outside, he eventually met a young boy around his age, who, unlike him, was an orphan. The two shared the same life in such a way that they both felt their lives were unfair: Raid wished he never had parents, while his friend wished he did have parents. After having learned the boy's name was 'Ashton', the two would continue to meet with each other for a few more days whenever Raid got locked into his dark room. However, one day, his parents discovered that Raid was missing in the room. They beat up on Lillia, trying to force her to reveal the truth. In the end, due to fear, Lillia told their parents that Raid had been going out behind their backs - though without revealing the secret passage. Scared that Raid might be telling others of what they had been doing to him all this time, they decided to think up a plan...
One day, when Raid and Ashton were playing by the river, Raid's parents came and pushed Ashton out of the way, causing him to stumble down and falling into the river while Raid was restrained. His friend would soon drown and Raid would see him die right before his very eyes. His parents then embraced him on purpose when the other villagers came by, pretending to grief for the loss of their son's friend. Raid, on the other hand, was too traumatized to say anything so what his parents did seemingly came unnoticed. Back in the dark room, his sister was silent, not knowing what to say to her older sibling. From that day, Raid started to hate his parents - even to the point that he wanted to get revenge on them for the loss of his only friend, Ashton. The next day, Raid decided to run away for good and he invited Lillia to do the same. However, she rejected the idea and Raid had to leave by himself - though he promised that he would come back and give their parents the justice that they deserve.
And so, Raid would leave the house using the same method once more, but when he left, someone came to visit his parents: a priest, who was also an old friend of Sasha. Apparently, he was the only one other than Raid and his parents that saw what happened to Ashton that day. However, he did not turn Raid's parents in but instead came to talk to them about the consequences of their actions because he overheard one of the boys' conversation back then about how they kept beating on one of them. While the priest lectured Raid's parents, the boy continued running... until he stumbled onto a group of men. One of them noticed that Raid was in trouble and thinking that the group would help him, Raid told them the truth about his parents. The men seemed surprised by this and they promised him that they would come to 'help' him with his parents. Raid was glad to hear this and he actually decided to return to his house that day - though this time, through the front door itself.
The boy did not care if he was to be beaten up again that time knowing that his parents would get what they deserve in the end. However, as he pushed the door open, he was greeted by angry parents or angry fists and kicks. Instead, his parents came to greet him with a hug for the very first time since a very long while. Raid was greatly surprised by this, but then his parents told him how much they have regretted abusing their child all this time. They even begged their own son for forgiveness. Confused and touched at the same time, Raid returned their hug and had forgiven them. But, things didn't end that well - all actions come with consequences. The next day, their mother brought both Raid and Lillia for an outing while their father stayed behind for now. The three would spend their time bonding with each other, and Sasha almost couldn't believe how much she actually could love her children after all this time. Everything seemed to be going well and it had gone how Raid could only dream so far... Of course, life is never a fairy tale.
Upon reaching their home, they were surprised to find that the door was broken down. Hesitant, the three hurried in, only to catch the strong scent of fresh blood. Before long, they would find the father - dead. Killed and maimed in a brutal fashion, the killers would soon reveal themselves: the men Raid stumbled onto not that much long ago, who also turned out to be bandits. Without wasting time, the three ran away into the forest nearby, where their mother was caught by an arrow on her back, sending her crashing onto the ground. Their mother told them to keep running and when they did - though hesitant at first - Sasha would mutter the three words she had never gotten the chance to tell her children all this time: 'I love you'. So, with both parents dead, the two siblings continued to run for their lives, only to then stop when another one of those bandits stood in their way - the one with the scar; the one who noticed Raid was in trouble back then.
Another bandit would come from behind, slashing Raid right across his back, resulting in that huge scar most see him with in the present time. Lying on his pool of blood and slowly losing his life, he could only hear the protests of his sister, who was being grabbed. The bandits figured they did not have to kill her since they could sell her into slavery, and if not, some 'other uses'. Then, fate decided to be on these children's side for once: before they could take Lillia away, a man suddenly came rushing into the scene, fighting the bandits off by his own. Showing great swordsmanship and skill, this man killed the one who wounded Raid and scared the others away. From there, he decided to take the injured Raid and his sister, feeling rather sympathetic towards the two and what would have happened to them if he had not been passing by earlier. In the end, the man, whose name was Vann and who was also a retired swordsman, took the two in as his own children - though they didn't come to accept him as their foster father straight away...