The Beginning of Something (Not the End)

Hey! This will probably be the beginning of either Flash of Lightning or Rising Waters, so I thought I'd write it on here. Be sure to comment and tell me what you think. It's a bit of a different style than normal Astia, so it might work, or it might not. I don't know.

The Boy Without a Name

  Some legends are true. I of all people should know that by now. After all, I am writing the story of a legend, and I believe in it entirely. Of course, I was there. I met Rea. But those alive now, some do not believe. And so I write this to them, whether they believe it or not; so they at last hear the tale.
  Some legends are not.
  Now, how many legends begin with abandoning a child on a mountaintop? The soldier who is told by a jealous monarch to kill the young prince, but doesn't have the heart, and so he leaves him to the wolves. But a wandering shepherd takes him in, and raises him as his own child, until he learns who he is and returns to claim his throne.
  Well, number one, the child wasn't a prince.
   The soldiers dragged along the dirty, ragged orphan boy. There wasn't much of a need -- he was coming along fairly quietly, but the soldiers had been given a job. Still, there was a dangerous glint in the boy's green eyes, and the armed men kept at an almost frightened distance from him.
  Number two: The orders were not from a jealous king.
  However, the orders had been to kill him. Of course, the soldiers had no intention of doing that. Not out of an overly soft heart, but a sense of self-preservation. They wanted as little to do with the boy as possible. The wolves will take care of him, they assured themselves.
  One of the men pushed him into the clearing. The morning mist shrouded the air, the dark green branches barely visible beyond. The boy got to his feet, brushing himself off with a strange level of dignity. His eyes never once left the soldiers.
  "You're making a mistake," he said softly. Both men shuddered. "You should follow orders. You should kill me." He raised both hands, as if beckoning them to stab him. They both stepped back, and ran in a moment. The boy paused, then sank to his knees.
  Number three: He was not found by a wandering shepherd.
  But here is the extraordinary fact, the fact that seems impossible, especially in the wild mountains of Astia. But it did happen.
  The boy lived.
  He was the first one of them to survive beyond the age of twelve. But he was right: the soldiers had made a mistake to leave him to the wild. The wild learned to be scared of him, and avoid him, if they wanted to live.  How he did survive, no one is quite sure. But I think the most likely reason of all is that he, unlike the rest of his kind, never lost the will to live. The boy without a name had a burning desire to do something. Perhaps it came from his parentage, I don't know. But he wanted to be part of something -- a story, maybe. Possibly he wanted to prove himself wrong; that the soldiers shouldn't have killed them, or maybe to prove himself right, that they should have. He had an impossible longing to live, no matter what he did with his life.
  Then again, there is another possibility as to why he survived. And this is it:
  He gave himself a name.
  Rather, he borrowed the name that some children had called him once. This strengthened his belief that he was worth something. He had a name, so he had an identity.
  And that is where our story begins: with the boy who called himself Drift. It is true, I assure you. I have sources, reliable sources. I began where I best could; it is maybe not the beginning, but it is the correct place to start. This tale is not about him, it is about an elf named Rea. But we'll start with Drift, I think.
   Where else would I start?
 
  There. Hope you liked it. And now, for your viewing pleasure, a picture of Connie in front of Whit's End. I know she looks just a bit weird, but it's an older picture of her. There are newer pictures of her, but this is the middle version.

And now, the promised link to: http://www.whitsend.org/radio/ Listen to the first episode on there. (Just click on any of the Listen Online links underneath the names of the episodes. They're all awesome (but some more awesome than others!). Just don't listen to the Green Ring Conspiracy numbers 11 or 12. You haven't gotten there yet.
  As James the Intern says, "Over and out. For this episode." (This isn't an episode, but, you know, same difference...)
-President Fantasy