Liam Cheney

Liam is abrasive and not very approachable. He rarely shows emotion, giving a cold impression to others. His manner of speaking tends to be blunt and insulting, his comments are frequently coarse or otherwise inappropriate, and he is not above provoking or belittling those who oppose or irritate him. His sense of humour tends toward the vulgar and dark.
However, Liam’s obedience is strictly limited to individuals he respects, and he has no problem showing open disdain for authority from anyone outside of this circle. Although he rarely shows it, Liam does have a sense of morality and empathy.

The boy was born in a very small village, far away from the cities. Liam was just a simple farmer’s boy, with no special goals. He liked helping on the lands, together with the other farmers. But because the village was so small, and criminality was there barely, there was no authority.  One day, the people of the village heard rumors. Rumors about men, who started working in the mines, a couple mileage’s away from them. Not just normal men. Criminals, searching for hidden treasures. Every villager decided to leave them, hoping the criminals would leave without noticing them.
Except that didn’t happen. It was a cold evening. Most kids were already sleeping. Liam, 8 years old, did not. He could not explain why, but something kept him awake. And then hell started. The sound of many horses trotting came close. As if an army were about to attack them. It made him jump up and he opened the curtain. When the riders entered the village, they threw their burning torches on the thatched roofs. People started panicking. Fathers came outside, trying to extinguish the fires. Mothers wakened their kids, taking them outside. Something they shouldn’t have done. The riders came off their horses, pulling their weapons. Without mercy they killed the elders, in front of the eyes of the children. Thereafter the coldblooded men took the crying kids.
In the meantime, Liam managed to get away, together with his neighbor. The daughter of a good friend of his father. While holding her hand, he pulled her to an underground cellar. Where they hid for a very long time. But the shock of dead people, made the little girl cry hard, which betrayed them. The hatch opened, and before they even realized it, they were also taking prisoned.
All of the children had to start working in the mines. Crawling in small spaces to find gold, or other dirty jobs. Many of them died. Most of exhaustion. At day they worked. At night they were put back in their cells. Liam was one of the survivors, but could not accept the way he lived right now. Of all the kids, he was one of the rebels. Giving big mouths. Did many attempts to escape. Time after time he was being punished for his “bad” behavior. Nothing really helped. It couldn’t bring him down. It couldn’t break his spirit.
Many months passed by. A small group of them had made a plan. The Big Plan. The plan that would give them their freedom back. Together with two others, Liam would find a way outside the mines. Then they would get help, and free the others.
At one night it was time. The big plan was placed in progress. All three kids made it out of their cells. In suspense they went to the second state: passing the guards without getting noticed. How? Other kids would make a lot of noise from their cells. Hiding behind a big rock, they waited for the noise, which started pretty soon. Liam was the first of the three who was supposed to pass the guards, followed by the other two. But when the second kid came behind the rock, he fell down. Immediately the guards noticed them, taking them roughly back in.
That night changed Liam forever. He had met the general of the gold diggers. A big, evil man. A man with no mercy. A man without emotions. He did horrible things to farmers boy. Things that broke the boy’s spirit. Draining the rebellion fire from his soul. The next day he was brought back to his working place, looking like a zombie. He was not speaking. He didn’t react to any of the other children. He lifeless did his job, not even thinking of trying to escape. Afraid that that horrible night would happen again.
A year passed by. A year of pain and silence. Until they all got freed. Freed by creature’s outside. Creature’s who lived to help others. All of the growing children got saved. The criminals got killed, or taken into custody.
From that day on, the 12 year old Liam stepped into the free, wide world. He grew up very fast, constantly finding ways to survive. Till this day, Liam is still not the same as he was before. But he has improved. Travelling alone he lives on. Still not liking people. Or anything else in the world.