Character

Kala knelt in a crumpled heap upon the floor of her home. Night shirt drenched in her own blood as it trickled from her slashed face and onto her right palm. She gazed down at her blood soaked hand in a trance like state. Her cheeks seared with pain down to her chin from the savage claw strike she experienced just moments before. The assault had stunned her into a paralyzed shock as time nearly stood still. Her father and mother lay in a heap in the far corner of the room, brutally slain by the man towered just a few feet before her. His wicked and murderous gaze stared down at her crumpled form and he chuffed in audible satisfaction.
She hardly noticed his presence for she was captivated at her blood falling in slow rhythmic drops into her outstretched palm. Her lifeblood dripped to the beat of her heart. Pain, grief, sorrow; all distant feelings as the hypnotic sensation of red warmth touched her right hand. Kala was only vaguely aware of a 'twang' sound coming from outside of her home as it made a "wooshing -thawhip" sound. The muffled thud and the slight gasping sound of agonized air escaping the lungs. The bandit's knees buckled and he forcibly caught the table for balance as he started to fall. Her gaze rose slowly upon the man who her murdered her family and then became aware of the arrow protruding from mid-back. She watched his agonized face contort with pain and rage as he swung his body around toward the still opened door to face his unseen foe. The surreal euphoric sensation left her as abruptly as the arrow striking her parents killer. Suddenly keenly aware of her surroundings, Kala became mindful she was still clutching her father's axe in her left hand. She stared down at it in disbelief and remembering she tried to defend herself the way her Uncle taught her last spring.
Holding the axe in a firm grip and grasping at the floor with her bloodied right, she glared at the murderer through crimson flushed eyes. With all the strength she could muster, she rose on unsteady limbs as the bandit sought shelter from the opened door. He peered into the darkness from the confines of the doorframe while steading himself from the nearly fatal arrow volley. With an iron will of rage and pain, Kala gripped the marauder's axe with her both her hands and shouted a gut wrenching cry as she swung the heavy iron battle-axe. The edge plunged deep into the marrows of his skull with a sickening crack. His death was instantaneous and his lifeless body toppled like a ragdoll in the doorway to the little house. She was still screaming at the top of her lungs, trying to remove the axe from the corpse. Muted voices making their approach was all she could hear as the world around her started to blacken. Kala collapsed from exhaustion as the village guards bounded up the steps into her home.
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This is the Journey of Kala Draid'r.