⋆༺𓆩Chapter Two𓆪༻
⋆༺𓆩Nazira Ansar𓆪༻⋆29Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7kMvAffGaq
29Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFBP79OQ6CW
29Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡigZlORZ8KJ
29Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDXQc1707X0
Three days before the destruction of the Aspey Mortal villages-
29Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPefxqVvy9F
29Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQ3TviAO0fh
"Come on—" Cyra laughed across the lake, powerfully stroking through the water.
29Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBhmlJwNSEI
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.
29Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbSghmTL6qG
"Oh Gods, you're hopeless."
29Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbq0Xad6knF
"You're a monster," I muttered. Water is dripping down my back.
29Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5srD8vnVa9
She grins.
29Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqdbksroKhH
I frown.
29Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdJTIWPKun4
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.
29Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4OgRzWyxDQ
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.
29Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQwJjjAMRxg
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.
29Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRe1nXjtu7X
Our father was one of them.
29Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmuzFC1G52G
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.
29Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡT6lMU7DtIH
So, like all great and terrible ballads go, he left and paid his debt to us with his death.
29Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡx60UXKM5Se
"Go again." She said, "You can't drown this young after all; it would be quite boring being an only child so soon."
29Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ33s8KMywQa
She pushes me deeper into the waters, laughing as I gasp, kicking around the cool waters…
29Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxmSAgENffe
The south stream was vital, acting as a barrier across the land; the freezing waters and high mountains only helped us more.
29Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoYOfnM7fek
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.
29Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnNO77Dwk1C
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.
29Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8I0PK3a7Hr
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.
29Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqW8pA9fOeR
But word of mouth is easily corrupted. This was most likely no different.
29Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRWesvmRTGH
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...
29Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡA45aoLdZG8
29Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpMJFO7IF3v
I dragged myself onto shore, my eyes narrowed. "Never—" I pant "Again."
29Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKUs6Hq9R7h
She pulls me up. "Never again... Okay, maybe every fortnight until I'm certain, but—"
29Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5G0xAoyXs1
"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.
29Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6ewI26r812
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.
29Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCWKTVWEMkg
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.
29Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvIxg22qehA
I owed her that much.
29Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdUZXwmvp7H
I sigh, folding up the picnic blankets. "I'll make you a deal... The day you turn...17...I'll bring you"
29Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJxfhr2Wgo7
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.
29Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdGB9qpp1v6
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.
29Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwRqrIJiN6n
"Nazira!"
29Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡytw2HvrfY9
And maybe—
29Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFJoAykQdN1
Things could be better for her—for us.
29Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ72WZvJrskg
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༻⋆29Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgaV6OPNQQl
29Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxbN7O29jYj
29Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3sLmLhCnwX
29Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrfQAEZCIdI
29Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5jWK9sg8rK
29Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqwxSrlwYCH
29Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9dzh2gPXUB
