⋆༺𓆩Chapter Two𓆪༻
⋆༺𓆩Nazira Ansar𓆪༻⋆38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxilI0lMNMi
38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡr5V16aC7SV
38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8kLQRBLWTC
38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFMVRsLLefl
Three days before the destruction of the Aspey Mortal villages-
38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1q195Qkpb5
38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhjZmanNQZs
"Come on—" Cyra laughed across the lake, powerfully stroking through the water.
38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaWG7G9RoGI
I struggle to mimic her, my arms flailing beneath the surface, splashing water all around before I break through the surface, gasping for air. Hair clinging to my face, my hands frustratingly push the strands back behind my ear and out of my eyes, narrowed and irked as she glances over at me.
38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoAvaGAGfcC
"Oh Gods, you're hopeless."
38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡviFhK59F3s
"You're a monster," I muttered. Water is dripping down my back.
38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡe4i7VrrThD
She grins.
38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡM7FWygJDqa
I frown.
38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbzIwOKMaiZ
Valoel Lake is usually bustling with other kids for a swim or for food, but with the sun only setting now, it was barren, and besides, the people who think of coming here are often too wary of it to do so. I've never ventured beyond the village, nor has Cyra. Our maps end at the rushing stream, a boundary none of us have dared to cross.
38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKriiKfYDt2
The stories and warnings from our elders have been enough to keep us contained since childhood. Yet, whispers of what lies beyond have always sparked our curiosity.
38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4KwOxkcUh7
Some believe it's an empty wasteland; others think it's a haven... or a burning hell that is waiting before them. And despite the rather strong warning, some dare to leave. Their bones tend to wash up the stream soon after.
38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡg3yAHmKkDo
Our father was one of them.
38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcG3VFWb9HF
A late night in his study turned into weeks, and soon enough he was consumed by it. Knowledge was a dangerous thing, something he craved so very much it turned into an obsession for stories woven from lies and heretics consuming his soul until the man, once my father, was gone—living in the cursed pages he so worshiped.
38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTI91LDPcrt
So, like all great and terrible ballads go, he left and paid his debt to us with his death.
38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0jJoEEwtZT
"Go again." She said, "You can't drown this young after all; it would be quite boring being an only child so soon."
38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEWObS5SKeM
She pushes me deeper into the waters, laughing as I gasp, kicking around the cool waters…
38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7KKnME1lKI
The south stream was vital, acting as a barrier across the land; the freezing waters and high mountains only helped us more.
38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLGTBLX4AE1
Some say it's been there for centuries, some millennia; stories and myths of ancient Aspye were never documented, and the old souls who told their own stories no doubt passed on for generations, only decayed and withered with time. leaving the human need for deception to corrupt them or get rid of them altogether. Scrolls were never made, and thus neither was our history.
38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡETlnsmcdY9
Records were new, and academies were newer; however, only monarchs could study in them, and higher nobles could if they were lucky—or unlucky—enough to find their way into the palace through titles, power, bravery, or their own stupidity.
38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbM9DsQayf9
Either way, knight or commoner, queen or servant, the courts were treacherous to all who entered, which only made people all the more curious about the palace of the merciless king, murderer of King Jarrah, his brother, and killer of the queen Elara, the wife he was promised.
38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmCcoJav4AP
But word of mouth is easily corrupted. This was most likely no different.
38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPnewGEcXBe
As the sun begins its descent, painting the lake in vivid hues of orange and red, a gasp escapes me. As I push through the cool water, taking in the peace before the storm after a while...
38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡj0sGedULN8
38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjrVogj4T58
I dragged myself onto shore, my eyes narrowed. "Never—" I pant "Again."
38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnA6Bi5QBKU
She pulls me up. "Never again... Okay, maybe every fortnight until I'm certain, but—"
38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡM4yct1MXn7
"We should head back," I said, shouldering my basket laden with berries and bread. "It'll be sundown soon, and the last thing we need is to be out here after dark.
38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEsnYOu1LvB
Hunters were usually out after dark, and it wouldn't be the first time a person was mistaken for a beast worth hunting in the woods. And with the prince's coronation falling on this solstice, there was no doubt that all animals that were spotted here would be slain for a feast.
38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjD1kOSpT6Z
Our family had one court gown, decades old and probably just as worn... But if I never had any use for it, she could at least wear it.
38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfs2gaFRJCt
I owed her that much.
38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYSEpr8DsRi
I sigh, folding up the picnic blankets. "I'll make you a deal... The day you turn...17...I'll bring you"
38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ53sVqFwQVo
Her eyes lit up before a frown overtook them. "I'll be dead by then!" She complained, kicking a rock in the lake only for it to sink beneath the currents.
38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4eTzL9vZ3a
But I only laugh, picking a berry from the basket and throwing it at the back of her head; she groans, her eyes shifting back to mine before I tread down the gravel path, laughter seeming to shake the trees as she sprints after me with malice.
38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlEq6mDsJt9
"Nazira!"
38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHJXDLRTElU
And maybe—
38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7BJUlQzHS6
Things could be better for her—for us.
38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2hMMlew5dU
Just this once.
⋆༺𓆩𓆪༻⋆
Our village is hidden deep in the forest, a secret from the rest of the world. A sanctuary we’ve never left and a refuge against something we’ll never know. But surprisingly, I found peace in it. Cyra never did—and that frightened me more than I could ever admit, more than my soul would ever utter, even under the dark cover of the night I so very clung to.
As the sun set, we walked through the gravel, weaving between the tall pines; the last golden rays filtered through the branches, casting flickering patterns onto the dirt path.
By the time we reached the outskirts of Kritia, the sky was scattered with stars.
Home.
⋆༺𓆩𓆪༻⋆38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpcVvaWkmYi
38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWZOxBFzaPR
38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjd7wrXx6yY
38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgbbO5Jcomz
38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSTSlXfgH5U
38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6OCdZRzdZZ
38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFlS5G3CHNh
