Cast into the Swamp
Xandra Eiryklav

“And all I feel is regret…” Telora said under her breath.

She stood up and walked to the window of her office. She pressed her forearm against the glass. Her long blue hair cascaded over her shoulders and atop her long white robes.

“It was me who sent you away alone… Yet I am the one regretting it.” She said aloud as if hoping someone would hear her. She backed away from the glass, tripping over the large black woven rug that sprawled across the room. She caught herself by forcing her hands out in front of her to stop her face from meeting the floor intimately. She sighed disappointedly as if she had expected someone to catch her chivalrously. She got to her feet and dusted herself off hoping no one had seen her like this. She walked over to her large wooden desk and fur covered chair. Sitting down on the black and blue mottled fur chair she looked around her empty office. Even most of the books were now gone from the shelves leaving Telora alone and without a distraction.

“Why should I care if he lives or dies anyway?” She yelled angrily before folding her arms and resting her head on the table to hide her sobs.
Meanwhile across the vast fields of lush foliage, forests, rivers, lakes and even the ever-growing cities in a swamp on the opposite side of the continent of Andrixas he stood in the fogs that hovered over the murky water wafting between the barren trees, this man with hair and eyes as white as the purest snow. His skin pale as if the blood was drained from his flesh draped with black robes that floated atop the dark waters.
“It’s my own fault I am here.” Uumberh said to himself.

He walked deeper into the swamps in hopes to drown his guilt. Thinking to himself, how foolish he was to kill a man to save a woman, only to find out the guy he killed was the innocent one. The whole ordeal played over and over in his head. It was a normal day in the marketplace. All the regulars were out selling their goods at rickety wooden stands. He heard her shriek and like a fool he ran to her aid. Following the scream to where a pale skinned woman was curled up on the ground at the feet of a man whose muscles rippled at even the slightest movements.

The dirt soiling her noble dress as she tried to squirm away from her attacker. Her orange hair disheveled and out of the pins she had put them in, cuts all over her arms and tears streaming from her piercing green eyes. The sobs coming from those soft red lips called to Uumberh it seemed to save her. The man between Uumberh and this helpless woman’s safety was bald, his eyes onyx and his clothes were leathery animal skins. He held a sword tightly in his hand. The hilt looked as if it would break if he gripped harder.

“Tell me again how you don’t feel.” He said in a raspy voice.

He didn’t even know Uumberh was there, but the woman had noticed. She smiled at the man as Uumberh pulled a sword from the sheath on his belt.
“What are you smiling about wench?” the man said confused at why the woman would smile at a time like this.

But then it was too late. Uumberh drove his blade through the back of the man and out his chest. Blood spattered upon the woman’s face as well as her gown with the force of the stab. Blood trickled down the hilt onto Uumberh’s hands and flowing over his fingers before falling to the dirt.

The man let out a harsh howl at the pain before pulling himself off of the blade. He looked down at Uumberh as he turned around, blood pouring from his lips.

“She was sent to kill my daughters.” He said with a cough before falling to his knees.

Sheer terror of death shone in his eyes. He looked directly at Uumberh, “Tell them I love them.” He said grabbing Uumberh’s white robes. Blood having already christened the fabric Uumberh tried to back away in shock of what he had done.

“I am sorry. I … What have I done?” Uumberh said as his eyes widened.
The man’s grip on his robes loosened when the man’s body finally gave up the fight and fell forward into the dirt. Uumberh tripped with his momentum falling to the ground on his back. When he sat up the woman was gone. He had never seen anyone who looked like that woman before. Now it was on his head if that man’s family was killed. The guilt of it drove him mad.

Uumberh being a Sirenian, his body couldn’t handle guilt. Sirenians were a race evolved from merfolk, dark blues and greens were the only colors for eyes and hair among them. A pure heart was a must, never once had a single Sirenian felt guilt as they never did wrong.
Now here Uumberh was, the madness of the guilt changed him. His body couldn’t handle the stress from the guilt. His hair and eyes turned stark white. His skin grew pale at the very thought that this was entirely his fault and now that there would be the death of that man’s children on his head.

Uumberh stood up and ran towards Telora’s office. She being the woman he was arranged to marry, she was the only one he could turn to. She didn’t even look up, Sirenians never had to. Their gift with the mind was so advanced it seemed like Sirenians knew everything before it happened. Telora looked up and crossed her arms.

“What were you thinking?” She screamed at him.

“I was just trying to save...” Uumberh tried to answer before Telora interrupted.

“You saved an Ivenarian. Are you blind to the war between the Ivenarians and the Athirens? Sirenians are to have no part in any of it. You really messed up this time.” She said before she took a book from the shelf behind her and threw it at him.

She continued to barrage him with books as she yelled, “You just put our whole race in danger to save a woman you don’t even know. That man was a good man. He had a family. She was a hired murderer and you decided to save her. I will be surprised if the Athirens don’t start a war with us now.”

“Ivenarians? Athirens? What the heck are you talking about?” Uumberh asked as he failed to dodge every single book.

“Just because you never travel outside of the gates doesn’t mean they don’t exist. They have been here just as long as us.” Telora yelled as books sprang from the shelves without her even touching them.

Telekinetically she threw them at him in her rage wishing she could bury him for his mistake. “No one is going to want you here looking like that. You have proven that we are capable of horrendous actions. I never want to see you again. How could I love you? You are dirt. You are so worthless that even that Ivenarian you saved won’t want your company. Get out of my office.”

The books stopped flying at him. She turned her back to him and crossed her arms. The damage the books had done, a few bruises here and there, a busted lip. Nothing compared to the pain her words had caused.

He loved her even though they were being forced to get married. He wiped the blood from his lip and turned around before walking out the door. He went to his small house a few streets away. Comprehending that he had saved a plant woman and killed a man evolved from the noble canine, coping with what he had done was going to be a problem.

He had only heard about their worlds in stories, how the Ivenarians were these ruthless murderers, tyrants and assassins and how the Athirens were fighting the good fight so well that the gods and goddesses smiled on them daily. The walk there became unbearable with everyone glaring at him. News travels fast in Sirenia. No one wanted him here. To top it off the moment he opened the door to his home the King of Sirenia paid him a visit.

“Uumberh Arbos may I have a moment?” He said politely. Uumberh turned around and faced him after unlocking his door.

Uumberh faced this elderly man. The king stroked his beard a moment as he looked at Uumberh. His deep blue eyes looked at him in wonder.
“You are the first to commit a sin. So all who become like you shall be forced to bear your name. Uumbritians is what sinners like you shall be called.” The old man said with a nod.

Uumberh sighed as the guilt continued to dig further into him with each word the king said.

“You are banished from my kingdom into the swamps. As will be all of your children of sin.” The king said demeaning him further.

He tossed a black cloak to Uumberh and told him, “Leave all this behind. You won’t need it in a life of sin. It is Telora’s now.”

Uumberh tossed his bloodstained robes at the King’s feet. Standing there in front of everyone with nothing but pants and pair of boots. He pulled the black robes over his head and started walking toward the gates.

“Aren’t you going to bow?” The king said.

Uumberh just continued walking, he had enough of this. He felt so horrible inside. He just wanted to crawl away. He tore down the streets trying to flee the city before another person could make him feel like this. He could hear their whispers about him.

Now here he was, in the swamps he was condemned to. He saw his reflection upon the oily skin of the murky water.

“I am truly a monster now.” He said to himself as he saw his new appearance.

His boots filling with the muddied waters with each step, silt squishing between his toes. He trudged on until he found an area of land in the swamps. He climbed up on it, gripping the dirt and tree roots tightly to pull himself out of the almost waist deep waters. Covered in mud he sat down on the only piece of solid ground he had seen in hours. He pulled off his boots and poured the water and mud out of them and back into the swamps. The fog cradled him as he tried to dry off. Remembering he hadn’t eaten yet today only made things worse.

“Where will I find food out here?” He groaned to himself.

He sighed as he looked up at the sky realizing only a few hours of light were left. He put back on his boots and sunk himself back into the murky waters up to his waist. He trudged through the waters in hopes of finding something to eat. He needed to find a place to sleep as well.

Hours passed and the light from above was gone. He found himself tripping over roots under the water more frequently now as well as a constant bumping into trees. Life went on like this for three days. Random small patches of land came and went.

He took his chance to sleep when he came across one but food seemed to be scarce if at all and the water was far from drinkable with mud being the majority of it anyway. Uumberh found himself weak, dehydrated and starving to death. He pulled himself onto small mound of land barely big enough to hold him and prepared to die.

“I am sorry for what I have done.” He said softly to himself, “Ayu, my goddess please forgive me. That man… Tell him I am sorry. Do with me what you wish. My body has given up. I have given up. Yet all the suffering I have gone through is not enough for what I did. Punish me. Punish me for my sins.”

He closed his eyes and hoped for a swift death. But he felt a cool breeze fall upon him. He opened his eyes and saw a most remarkable scene. From the skies a woman with a most divine body came to him. Her ample breasts covered in plated armor, her curvy body covered in skins and jewels.

Ringlets of black hair atop her head, her skin was tan as the finest of clay. Huge black wings outstretched from her back to either side, dropping little black feathers as she glided down. Her feet finally met the dirt in front of Uumberh. He could not believe his eyes, was this a guardian coming to redeem him?

“Are you…?” Uumberh began to say as the woman put a finger to his lips to quiet him.

“Do not speak fair one.” She said in an angelic voice that made Uumberh believe these barren trees would grow leaves if she told them to, “Come with me.”

She grabbed his hand and pulled him to her and he fell forward into her arms, weak from his deprivations, his face resting on her shoulder. She flew up above the trees a bit without even a sign of difficulty. She took him to a large patch of lush land in the northern most corner of the swamps. A pure stream ran through the center of this island among the muck. She landed next to an old stone fountain. She set him down and got him something to drink in a small ceramic bowl.

“You can stay with me.” The woman said, “I live here.”

Uumberh looked kind of confused at the thought someone would actually want to live in the middle of the swamp. But he had no other choice now but to accept.

“Thank you.” He said with a nod.

The woman took his hand and helped him stand up. She let him lean a little on her to support his weight in this weakened state as she walked him over to a seemingly modest dwelling in a cave. From the outside it seemed to just be a cave in the side of a barren hill. Uumberh went along with this because it was better than sleeping in the muck of the swamps like he had been doing for days now.

To his amazement about 10 feet into this cave were two huge stone carved doors. She set Uumberh down a few feet away from the doors and began to pull them open. He could not believe his eyes that this woman from the swamps was so strong. She had to be sent by Ayu, she just had to have been.

She pulled them open with less effort than doors of that size should have taken. Howls of pain, suffering and fear came from this doorway, but to the woman they seemed like an endless melody. She walked back over to Uumberh and helped him to his feet again pulling him in close to aid in his efforts to make his way inside. He was curious now, was this woman a demon?

“Who are you? What are you? What is this place?” he asked as his eyes darted about trying to soak his surroundings in.

“I am Admari, a Daughter of Drosera. For my sins in my last life I watch over this place. This is where souls bound in guilt come to atone.” She answered.

“I am not here to atone.” He said struggling in her arms, too weak to get away.

“Never said you were. You are alive still. My work is not with you. I want to help you as I believe fate has sent you to me.” Admari said.

“Those screams are of the dead?” he said not paying any attention to everything else Admari had said.

“The damned. Those so wrought by guilt that they can not leave this place.” She said as if it were a normal conversation about a hobby.

“I want no part of this. I will stay here until I can walk again then I am gone. Understand me?” He said with a scowl.

“You need not partake in what I do. You can leave when you want. But I know you won’t.” she said with a strangely pleasant smile.
“What do you mean I won’t?” he yelled, “Are you planning to kill me so I can be another soul to punish?”

“You are destined to rule a great nation here on this very soil.” Admari said, “I saw it in your eyes when I found you. You are the one I have been waiting for.”

“Waiting for? Destiny nothing. I was forced to come here to begin with.” Uumberh said angrily still trying to push away.

“Stop struggling. You can fight destiny if you want. I don’t care either way. I am going to help you out then the rest is up to you.” Admari said dragging him down the long corridor. His boots dragged leaving shallow trenches in his wake. He looked from side to side down this never ending hall. People suffering on both sides of him in wrought iron cages. He could feel their guilt, felt it as if it were his own. The pain of his guilt began to burn even deeper into him.

Admari stopped outside a strange room for a brief moment and motioned to a girl with her free hand. Uumberh managed to get a look into the room. Inside were three fair skinned women all identical to each other. Long black hair flowing like waterfalls over their shoulders atop their black robes. They seemed to be weaving, but what he could not tell. Walking aimlessly about the room pulling strings, intertwining some, cutting others. One let go of her work and walked over to Admari.

“Yes Admari. What brings you to the room of strings today?” She asked.

“You can cancel cutting that string of the stranger starving in the swamps.” Admari said with a faint grin.

The woman looked at Uumberh and nodded “Understood.” She said before going back to her weaving.

Admari then continued her way down the hallway before kicking open a door on the left of the hall.

“What was that room? What do you mean about not cutting a string?” Uumberh asked as she continued to drag him along with her.

She tossed him on a bed of animal skins and said, “You need not worry about it. Your denial of what you are lets me know you are not ready to take something like that in stride.”

She pulled off his boots and tossed them into a barrel.
“I will have to get you some things of your own.” Admari said, “But first we need to clean you up a little.”

She walked over to a tub across the room behind a curtain. This room was quite modest considering besides the tub and the barrel where his boots were thrown; all that was in the room was the pile of skins he was seated upon. Admari ran water for his bath. She helped him disrobe as the tub filled. Uumberh felt helpless like this. His naked mildly chiseled form stood before her and she handed him something to cover himself with.

She helped him over to the tub and even helped him get in. Uumberh could not understand why anyone would want to help him. The dirt came from his body as Admari bathed him. She seemed content with the idea of helping him however Uumberh could not stand the idea of depending on her like this. But what could he do? He said nothing and just closed his eyes. But as he did Admari spoke.

“Why are you here? You said you were forced to come to the swamps. I don’t understand.” She said softly.

“I made a mistake.” Uumberh growled, “And I am paying for it.”

Admari perked an eyebrow and further tried to quiet her curiosity with questions, “What mistake?”

“I killed an innocent man and saved someone who was hired to kill his children in the process.” Uumberh answered seeing no reason not to share this information as everyone in Sirenia already knew.
“Why did you kill him?” Admari asked.

“Because I believed the woman he was attacking was an innocent. I had no idea he was just protecting his family.” Uumberh answered.

“So you wandered into the swamps to die?” Admari asked.
“No I was banished.” Uumberh answered getting a little aggravated with her questions.

“Why? How can a race simply banish someone for making a mistake?” Admari asked even though she could tell Uumberh was getting angry because of how tightly his teeth were clenched.

“Because Sirenians don’t make mistakes.” Uumberh said.
“You don’t look Sirenian to me.” Admari laughed.

“Well I did until I messed up.” Uumberh said with a sigh, “One mistake and I am a monster. Not wanted by anyone. No way to make up for what I did. Cast into these swamps feeling the guilt eat me alive. Sirenians don’t feel guilt for anything, its not allowed. But who am I kidding the king told me I am not one anymore. I am an Uumbritian. A race named after myself and every single one to make a mistake after me will have the same name and will be sent here to die alone.”

“No, they shall be sent here to live. You feel guilt do you not? That feeling among others lets you know you are alive. Living is more than following all of the rules. Mistakes are made by everyone. Your wish to pay for them proves you have more of a heart than those who cast you into my world.” Admari said with a faint smile, “You belong here. You can change the world with what you know now. You may not fit in with them anymore but you can show compassion to those who are thrown away and forgotten. You can help them redeem. Do you really think you are alone?”

Uumberh thought a moment, “Yes. I am alone.”

“Do you know I feel guilt as well?” Admari said looking away, “To never feel bad for what you do isn’t normal.”

“Well why is it some stranger can understand and accept me but the woman I love back home can not?” Uumberh said as he sunk lower into the tub trying to hide himself.

“How can someone forgive without ever having felt guilt themselves?” Admari answered.

Uumberh had been fighting this idea that he was better off here from the moment he met Admari, now this place was becoming inviting despite the screams muffled outside the door. He wanted to help these people make up for what they had done, and hoped to do the same for himself. He allowed Admari to nurse him to health and soon would help the distraught souls atone for all of the sins they felt guilt for.

Uumberh was finally realizing how his mistake would drive him to strive harder to make the world better. He even went as far as to write Telora a letter two months later telling her how he wished her well and that he was working to making up for his actions even though he knew that what he would never fully succeed. In the back of his mind he was more content helping everyone else come to terms with their guilt and move on while using his guilt as a fuel to push him to do great things in the future.

Telora got the letter and tossed it without even bothering to read it She was trying to act like she hated him as much as everyone else did. Deep down she wanted him to return but knew with what had happened he would never be welcome back and she would be banished as well if anyone knew she still had feelings for him. Somehow she knew Uumberh was slipping from her grasp with each moment he spent in the swamps and that someday his love for her would cease.

Telora hoped with all of her heart that this was all just a long drawn out nightmare and that she would wake up soon and everything would be back as it was before. Uumberh moved on and eventually stopped writing letters to Telora.

To Be Continued…

This is my new favorite story. XD <3

Heh of course it is.

Wow, that was really, really, really good.
I was addicted from start to finish. The concept of using guilt is an interesting topic to take a story on, it's an emotion that is used often in the writer's world, but I don't think I've read a story that has taken it that far.
I can't wait to read more. :3

That was really interesting. ^^ You kinda tossed the reader into that world with little explanation, but when you gave it, what you said was sufficient. But that's hardly surprising for a short story. Your story was an odd mixture of formality and informality. Sometimes there would be lapses into a more informal style that could be very jarring.

And I loved your descriptiveness. I'm not particularly good at it myself, but I enjoy it in other people's writing.

Fix: he knew that he would never fully succeed

He walked deeper into the swamps in hopes to drown his guilt. Thinking to himself, how foolish he was to kill a man to save a woman, only to find out the guy he killed was the innocent one. The whole ordeal played over and over in his head. It was a normal day in the marketplace. All the regulars were out selling their goods at rickety wooden stands. He heard her shriek and like a fool he ran to her aid. Following the scream to where a pale skinned woman was curled up on the ground at the feet of a man whose muscles rippled at even the slightest movements.

When you start the flashback/memory, break it off into a new paragraph- it’s a new setting for the reader.

I see a lot of influences. All European, so there is a theme in the peoples.

I agree with Temmon's formality comment.

I like how you framed his starting his new life with elements of his old.

I hold no sympathy for Telora

With the end stating to be continued, I doubt this to be a “short story.” Do you have plans for more, or are you at a loss as to what happens next?

I think it was very good. I like how you described the guilt he felt, it kind of let you know him a little better. Telora is horrible...if it were me, I would go with him even though I would be banished. Are you going to finish your story? It would make it sound better. :)