Tegan was born in the Northern part of The Spine most likely near the Blightlands or Ixchel Wilds. It is unclear for sure which because the tribe she was born into was nomadic and moved around a lot. Her tribe called themselves The Gen.

Her father was a hunter and warrior in the tribe and the second son of her grandfather the chieftain of the tribe. Her mother was the tribe’s healer and shaman (a witch to the wider world) who descended from a long line of former shaman (witches) of the tribe and allied tribes.

She was the eldest child of her parents and being a daughter destined to take over her mother’s role as the tribes Shaman (Witch). Her training in the ways of shamanism (Witchcraft) started at the age of three. She learned the simplest forms first and as she got older progressed onto more complicated concepts.

When she was around nine years of age her tribe was at war with another tribe, she didn’t know why or understand why. Though it was most likely over hunting grounds. Her father was gone allot during this time and her mother was busy tending to those that that wounded. Though she helped out to some degree she found herself often time just in her mother’s way.

This left her with a lot of time to herself, most of the other children in the tribe were either younger or a lot older than her. The older ones were getting trained for war or whatever skill they were learning for their tribe. In those times when she was alone, she would often wander off into the wilderness by herself to find plants or other things that might be of interest to her mother.

On one of her excursions though she was captured by the rival tribe. A shaman (Witch) was valuable either for a hostage or to put to use. The rival tribe’s shaman was old, and they would need a new one in no time. So instead of using her as hostage then forced her to learn from their elderly shaman (witch).

For four years until the age of thirteen she lived with this other tribe. The age at which in her tribe she would be anointed with the rite succession meaning she would be considered her mother’s equal and at the time of her passing would be her successor in the tribe. However, on the passing of her thirteenth birthday no such rite was given to her being a captive of a rival tribe.

Her four years in the rival tribe were not cruel the elderly shaman (witch) took good care of her and taught her much. Yet she had no real freedom she had to always have tribesmen watching her no matter what she did. If she tried to escape though she would be beaten.

Midway through her thirteenth year though she would be freed when her father finally hunted down where the rival tribe had ran too. She watched on as her father without remorse slaughtered the rival tribe even women and children. No tribesman was left standing as her father came to take back his daughter.

Even the elderly Shaman (witch) was not spared in her father’s rage even as she tried to protect the poor woman. Her father just shoved her away and behead the woman right in front of her. Covered in the blood of the now dead tribe her father carried her home not taking a moment to rest.

Upon arriving home, she noticed a lot had changed she now had a younger sibling who was maybe four at the time. Most of the faces she had known had grown older and taller. So much had changed even though everyone was elated, she was finally home again.

She felt like an outsider though still even among her parents who were so happy to have her back. Two days after returning, her grandfather the chieftain decided to proceed with her rite succession. A grand festival to both honor her and celebrate her return.

In this rite her mother would present her with the ancient secrets of the tribe in private as her face was ritually painted to be presented to the tribe born anew before them. As the secrets were revealed she had learned long ago her tribe once had no magic. Until one day Elves from the wilds came to them.

Over time the tribe and elves became close and chose to become one tribe. The tribe of Gen, Gen being what the tribe referred to the land they walked on was. They were one with it so they too were now Gen. Over time the tribe of Gen Human and Elf became one as well and Magic was born into them all. Though the females seemed more adept at it so became the shaman (witches) of the tribe. Over time the Gen split into many different tribes, some over dispute but others because they just wanted to take different paths. From Gen all other tribes in the area arose and one day they would return. It was Tegan responsibility to prepare for them all to come home.

As the ceremony ended and the celebration began, Tegan at thirteen watched on reflecting on the knowledge she had gained. Watching all the changed faces, her new sibling. She just looked at them all and, in that moment, she knew that the tribes would never reunite. That they were all waiting for a day none of them would see. She knew she could not wait for that day, that she needed to find her real place in this world.

Without saying a word, she slipped away in the night as her tribe celebrated all night long. She needed to find a place where she belonged.



She found herself just wandering at first with no real direction or destination in mind. She had no idea what was out in the wider world beyond her tribal lands. Living off the land in relative solitude only trading with hunters or traveling merchants when she felt the need. She stayed away from bigger settlements she came across.

During this time, she thought about why she had left her tribe. Reflecting often on her choice, finding out she had no strong connection to belief as they did or at least the same belief she did. They saw some ancient prophecy that mentioned the reuniting of tribes as the culmination of all her people stood for. Yet she only saw the tribes as becoming more divided and fractured, that their time of peace would never come. The tribes would further divide and each of their faiths would become more divergent from one another.

The world would move on and progress, but her people would be stuck to a belief that would never come to pass. She knew even at her youthful age that her people would one day fade away with the wind. She did not want to just fade away with them; she wanted to know what was beyond their small little world. She wanted to know what other magic was out there.

She also learned of herself that in her time of captivity she had lost compassion for people in general. As she wandered the wilds of the spine, she many times came across people who wanted help, but she just kept on walking. She felt indifferent to their plights a bitterness had settled in heart. Feeling like they deserved their unjust fates much like she had when she had been taken captive.

In her wandering the wilds of the spine she continued to practice her magic. It was the one thing she seemed to still love in this world and every new trick she picked up thrilled her. She had heard rumors from traveling merchants of great cities full of magic. She wanted to see them and learn from them. She would dream of those places she would never see as she practiced her own cruder magicks slowly becoming stronger and more competent.

She usually practiced her craft in secret away from where she knew people might watch. Yet she couldn’t for see a hunter or a wild person like herself coming across her. One day while out practicing thinking she was far away from prying eyes. A hunter came across her as she drew out a circle in the snow covered ground and began to lay out the components she had gathered for a trap spell. The trap spell something she had done many times before to help her catch dinner.

The hunter a deeply faithful and superstitious man just saw this young witch doing something he saw as unnatural. He watched for a few moments as the girl began to cast her trap spell. The hair on the back of his neck stood up and he drew his bow. He took the witch girl in his sights. As the magic leapt from her hands into the trap spell he fired his bow.

Tegan mid cast felt a sharp penetrating arrow thud deep into her right shoulder as she stumbled and fell to the ground scattering the components for the spell as she fell. She howled in pain crying tears flowing from her golden eyes. The spell itself back firing shooting through her body like jolt of lighting. Her body twitched and spasmed causing her to completely collapse into the snow.

Blood trickled from the arrow in her shoulder as she just heard the footsteps of the hunter in the snow stalking closer to her. Her breathing slow, her face cold with snow covering it the hunter reached down and pulled the arrow from her shoulder. She screamed in the pain but it only came out like a muffled squeak, her face buried in the snow and her body embolized by the backfiring spell.

She then heard the hunter pull a knife from his belt. Then he grabbed her by her blonde wild locks of hair and lifted her head from snow. Through blurry eyes she could just make out the man’s harry face. She heard him say….


The words were foreign to at the time, and she did not understand him until much later in life when reflecting back on that moment. She felt the cold metal of the knife touching her neck as she blacked out.

Even to this day she does not know what happened exactly she woke up hours later. Laying in the snow where she had fallen. The wound in her shoulder having a fresh blood scab over it. The hunter laid face up in the snow the knife still in his hand. He was dead and his eyes had been removed from his corpse.

She would later find out what had removed his eyes, but she was never sure what killed the man. She would also, a few years down the line learn that there had been consequences to the spell backfiring. She had been of about average height for a thirteen-year-old of her tribe. Yet no more would she grow taller forever her height would be stunted at four foot ten. Magick had taken its first toll on her body.

Her early experiences in the wild’s were harsh lessons in both magic and life. She would wander the wilds for three more years having both harsh reminders that life could be cruel and beautiful. She refined her craft over the years but that damn bird that had taken the hunters’ eyes was secretly watching and would take her life on a new course. At age sixteen she would finally meet the bird that saved her.


To Be continued....