⋆༺𓆩Chapter Two𓆪༻
⋆༺𓆩Nazira Ansar𓆪༻⋆163Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDn9eHrghj7
163Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEOvIpC8gOf
163Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPOMQLYeuE8
163Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡi2xtDvQ5tD
Three days before the destruction of the Aspey Mortal villages-
163Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡevrcirltLy
163Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNlkpWvPCG4
"Come on—" Cyra laughed across the lake, powerfully stroking through the water.
163Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmnZxTnViUn
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.
163Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeoPfVZi6kN
"Oh Gods, you're hopeless."
163Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2v3FkQBl2b
"You're a monster," I muttered. Water is dripping down my back.
163Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3POof2apWJ
She grins.
163Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoSRC3kL9lf
I frown.
163Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSnDoWbN5ah
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.
163Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2y8sgD9fqP
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.
163Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpgQP4zJWgP
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.
163Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKRm52w9b8a
Our father was one of them.
163Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBu6TCmX52q
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.
163Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡA7STKyA6AM
So, like all great and terrible ballads go, he left and paid his debt to us with his death.
163Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5kfdCBH5c2
"Go again." She said, "You can't drown this young after all; it would be quite boring being an only child so soon."
163Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7M0RL6A7fu
She pushes me deeper into the waters, laughing as I gasp, kicking around the cool waters…
163Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZqeMBkW4Q7
The south stream was vital, acting as a barrier across the land; the freezing waters and high mountains only helped us more.
163Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQ2j9ynqL3D
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.
163Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUWgYdAcnTp
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.
163Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4SapzqYU8O
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.
163Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡG72jzV8CUJ
But word of mouth is easily corrupted. This was most likely no different.
163Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡS1UBg0e8wA
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...
163Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaGmcbO51Me
163Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9pVIFEowuL
I dragged myself onto shore, my eyes narrowed. "Never—" I pant "Again."
163Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsqib0dAGAD
She pulls me up. "Never again... Okay, maybe every fortnight until I'm certain, but—"
163Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfoJR8IBqnS
"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.
163Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfOKwEWSxzK
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.
163Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡo9lBFTINLz
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.
163Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSbs0mi3zDd
I owed her that much.
163Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlmQyp7rOqZ
I sigh, folding up the picnic blankets. "I'll make you a deal... The day you turn...17...I'll bring you"
163Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMrR41NXRJq
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.
163Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡH36KQX5fpn
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.
163Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡb4uQJDHX6n
"Nazira!"
163Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡutR8iVG645
And maybe—
163Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgPlVHxKsp9
Things could be better for her—for us.
163Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuBnYPpUErX
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༻⋆163Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡasVImqDohw
163Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ02riVwR8uk
163Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWM8kUaGtv8
163Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKCTfuR88VJ
163Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkh1tT7jpZL
163Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4acS7h9UNw
163Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRIa3Mq3D3i
