Author Games: Dawn of Nameless Desires

CHAMPION OF MIRRYMDYR: Callahan Chalut - @gracey_liz

Name: Callahan Chalut (sha-lu)

Age: 23

Race: Human

Alignment: Neutral Good

Personality: Callahan looks like he would be an outgoing and exciting extrovert, but he's very much the opposite. Callahan is quiet; doesn't speak unless spoken to, lets others stomp all over him, and keeps his true thoughts hidden. He has a heart for others, and although he spends his days on the farm, he desires to meet people, to learn and listen to them and their stories. One trait that stands out, though, is his kindness. Or at least he's been told by the people in his small town. There is a way he smiles at others with not only a grin, but with squinty and glossy eyes that warm people's hearts. He's also been told he brings a calming presence, despite his internal anxiety, but from the outside his voice is soothing, and his presence an overall lulling grace. Callahan does not notice this about himself because his mind is always on the run with desires of all the creatures of the world, the magic, the possibilities, the lives that are not his own.

Appearance: His dark nest of hair is what people notice, either because it's admirable or a complete mess. He sports a small scruffy beard to try to make himself look older. His eyes are always wide and alert, but hold hues of browns and specks of golden blonde. The sun has painted freckles on his face over the years of farming, and his 5'11 built is fair and muscular.

Briefest Backstory: Callahan grew up in a rural area of Hiudrall on a farm, where he and his father lived and worked. Callahan's mother was never in the picture—his father claimed that she went on a "world journey" and never returned, but Callahan never stopped peeking outside before he went to sleep every night to see if she would return. She hadn't. Callahan's father was an incredibly simple and quiet man. The two became excellent with communicating in silence. They worked, and they spent their days with casual grunts and nods to one another. It had been that way since.

Weapons/Skills: Anything that does damage from afar (a bow, throwing daggers) is Callahan's forte.

Anything Interesting: He wishes he wasn't human. He wishes he could've joined his mother on her journey around the world. 

Task Zero: 

Hues of yellow leaves and bare trees surrounded the garden, the slight breeze shifting nature's belongings down gravel paths and over everyone's heads. Callahan sat on one of the wooden benches, feet dangled as he tucked his hands beneath his legs and watched the leaves dance around his feet.

While the garden was full of ripe pumpkins and greenery, Callahan's father was inside one of the sheds buying honey. He always saw identical glasses of honey stacked up in the cupboards, but every year he would collect more, and every year Callahan would join him on the trip.

Callahan's young mind was full of wonder, but he kept his hands tucked and tensed his shoulders to his ears. However, he couldn't help but let his eyes wander to the chatter and laughter that the wind carried to him.

A group of children around his age, or so they looked to be, ran through the garden; some carried pumpkins while others poked one another with sticks or vines. Either way, Callahan could hear the giggles, see the grins, feel their heartbeats that screamed with purpose. Purpose of the present, of being alive and free with no burden.

It was almost as if the breeze lifted him off his seat and guided him toward the others. He had never left that bench before, never disobeyed his father's silent order of staying put. Sweat from his small hands slapped his pants, and his heartbeat screamed with something a little different from the others. Something a little less pleasing.

However, Callahan trudged through with squeezed fists as he stopped to watch the scene before him. A small girl, a Fae, knelt on the ground, her fiery hair wrapped in a braid that trailed down her back. His shadow that blocked out the sun above her was obvious, but she did not look up as she kept her stare at one of the small pumpkins, which had brown spots and an ugly hole in it. Once the flaws transformed into a perfect pumpkin, the young girl looked up and smiled.

Callahan knelt down and eyed the now perfect pumpkin. He couldn't muster the courage to look her in the eyes, but it didn't seem like she cared. She rolled another dead pumpkin towards her and fell into concentration mode again. Without a second thought, Callahan stretched a hand towards the pumpkin as he imagined the magic pouring from his fingertips.

Oh, how Callahan wished for this. For something out of his reach, something so beyond his abilities, something so unfathomable in his mind. But for a moment, as the Fae brought the pumpkin back to life, Callahan felt like it was his doing. His healing force radiated off him, sent life into the lifeless.

The girl snatched a loose vine and ran towards the others. Callahan dropped his hand. He could pretend all he wanted, but he was human. Only human.

For a split second, though, the power was his to claim.