Chapter 1
1879 Words
The whirring of arrows and screaming of hunters had long nulled from my mind.
The hunting of prey and predators prolonged with me as the hunted, gasping and cutting through the thorns tearing and bleeding my skin, interrupted only by my rapid healing.
My feet left traces of blood as they bleed, running barefoot on the ground and leading the hunters on my tail.
"Get her! Get her! She went there!" Shoutings came from my back. Their hurried footsteps with the mounted beast tracking me cut through the forest, sprinting to catch my speed.
"Over there!!!"
"Run, Wyst! Run!"
Izak's voice echoed from our parting spot, filled with smoke and tendrils of lightning flashing about.
Worry shrouded my head, calling me to turn back and rescue Izak, but a wind-cutting sound cut through the air and sliced my shoulder. Sending me growling and tumbling down the uneven slopes.
My body rolled and stopped when a bone-crunching sound rang in my ears. An unbearable pain coursed through my body, ringing in my ears to the point where I wished death take me instead.
Slowly, I sucked in a hard breath that felt more painful than not breathing. My hands trembled as I ran it to my chest where a spike protruded from the front and to my back.
"G o d... s p a r e-me."
The sounds of leaves rustling reached my ears.
I crawled, holding the spike and distanced myself, but froze at the wall of torrent storming a breath away.
It stood like a tsunami, raging to devour everything in its path. Destruction and catastrophe were it screamed about - too dark and cloudy to see beyond.
Forward to your death door or backward and suffer eternally?
Like a whisper from the Grim Reaper, a dark silhouette danced across the torrent, reaching out seductively with needle-like fingers and the scythe that cut off life on its back.
"Fae..."
The wall made a soft rumbling sound as it rippled where the silhouette pushed. Again and again.
I fisted the dirt beneath and steeled my heart for the one second of mind-shattering pain, pulling the spike with an unshouted scream that sent blood gushing out.
"Gah!!!"
My body trembled, tears long left its dam, and I waited as the flesh mended itself. Despite being able to heal faster than normal humans, it didn't make me like to do so.
Hurt and bleed.
"There! She's down there!"
My senses perked up at the presence, forgetting them when the pain overcome everything.
Mad dogs howled and growled, approaching me at their top speed, parting the forest and rocking the ground with their deadly steps.
"There!"
"Beneath the tree!"
God, no. No, please save me.
I was trapped between the man-hunting greed and the man-eating creature. The sounds of my racing heartbeat deafened all logical thoughts.
Spare me this humble servant of yours, your wrath.
A few days ago,
I was still a 'normal' girl in the human village. Engrossed with books as I have no one to converse with and no one to lean on as I was left alone in the godforsaken shelter.
Well, that is my definition of 'normal'.
They said I was found in front of the church's doorstep on a stormy night. Left there in shambles with no identifications and rags wrapped around the tiny me.
I remembered nothing of it, not because I was left when I was an infant. I was found when I was a toddler, could run and go anywhere I wished.
An age to pick up all things in life.
"Fuh, all done."
Lines of books on the shelves were all neatly arranged and stacked in their place. Their arrangements were according to their genre.
Pride swelled inside every time I laid my eyes on them - my work.
"Good work, Wyst." I patted my shoulder and granted an appraisal for myself. The shelves were squeaky clean with not a speck of dirt.
Thud.
I snapped my head to where it came from. Then another thud followed a frequented pattern, irking me as I knew what was coming.
"Look here. Geography for noobs."
"Geography? What is that? A type of tea party?"
The group of girls laughed sarcastically at the books. Their hands went through the book stacks and shoved the ones unappealing to their eyes.
"I didn't see you here. Were you working, Ms Nobody?"
A pair of green eyes greener than mine and filled with mockery sneered. Ceileen's red lips curved up while stepping on the fallen books.
"Trying to be the Nerdy Bookish Princess are you?"
"Its bibliophile-"
"Shut it. I know what I am saying." Ceileen's cheeks reddened. Her crony coward at the back and hid behind another.
"Ceileen,"
The smile on her face faltered when I said her name. She fumed and drew out more books from a lower shelf, stomping and rusting her heels on the fragile old cover.
"Filthy unwanted girl. Don't you dare say my name with that dirty tongue of yours," She spat onto my face.
"Who knows what blood she came from." That sharp tongue of hers is fated to be damned.
"Let's not waste our time with the lowborn, ladies." Ceileen's shoulder brushed against mine really hard, sending me stumbling a few steps.
Ser Leen's cronies did the same, and when they were about to stomp on one particular book, I dove and grabbed hold of it.
"What the hell?!"
The crony jeered and pushed me hard until my back hit the shelf, shaking it and dropping the books.
"Eyuuuks, the freak touched me. Ceileen! Your sis... The freak laid her hand on me."
The words that almost slipped out gained Ceileen's death glare. "You. Go wash my laundry for tomorrow."
The girl paled out of colours and ran out of the archive.
"And you," Ceileen stood at the door with a growing sneer. "Good luck going to the blessing ceremony."
Their boots clicked against the marble floor, up the stairs and leaving me behind with work to be redone. Another click with giggles resounded from the closed door and made me curse.
"God, she locked me in."
Their snickers echoed along with their further steps. I tried to open the door, but it didn't budge an inch. Locked on the other side.
I will make it for the blessing ceremony, even if I have to be the last person on the altar.
One way or another - I think.
A blessing ceremony is an annual event where a priest or priestess from Gran-Seer grants us a blessing on the year we become adults. It is kind of like a coming-of-age thing the nobles did but humbler.
And less the cost.
For a nobody like me, a blessing ceremony is a once-in-a-lifetime event. A way to turn my life the way I wish to get away from here.
No more guardians.
No more restrictions.
Adults have free ways of living. Freedom.
The soft humming of the flute signalled the beginning of the ceremony. The lanterns were lit, and I could see little lights dancing from the tiny window of this room.
I need to get going.
"Window?"
To my dismay, it didn't budge an inch. The size was too small, and the metal whirring was solid.
At another exit, I scanned around for a hold on the wall, a crack or some sort nearby, but none were present. The only thing left was the...
"...fireplace."
My body froze. It was as if some teether was holding me back from climbing the chimney. The sudden fear gripping me made me hitch my breathing.
I had this strange fear of fire, and reluctance to go near them.
"Wysteria! Wysteria!"
I snapped my head back to the shut door. It clicked and clanked, and then the smells of sweet cherry burst in.
The scent fits the beholder.
Slowly, the cherry-haired lad makes his way in. His restless grey eyes landed on me as he continued cursing softly with his thin pink lips.
The foreign cursing was far fetch.
"God! Wysteria!"
"Izak?"
The disbelief at what I was seeing. I pinched my cheeks till they reddened.
"Are you okay? You are not hurt aren't you?"
Ah, his excessive worries. Even after months of not seeing each other. He was still treating me vulnerably like a little kid.
Izak's touch on my cheeks was ice cold. He tilted my head around, inspecting me, and when he was satisfied, his fingers left me.
"Look here,"
I raised my brow at the backpack Izak shoved into my face. Slowly, unzipped it, and the content got me gaping.
"What? How?"
Izak made a big grin. He showed off his nice teeth and brushed his nose in pride.
"The window was opened. So I let myself in and took action seeing you weren't there." Izak puffed his chest up. "I figured you are here most of the time.
I pulled out the dress, and what greeted us was not what we were expecting. The dress was torn apart. It was more like mere clothes clumping together.
"What?!"
"W-What?! How? I-I swore- That b***h!"
Izak stuttered and cursed. He scrambled inside the bag and found a note with a huge smile on it.
"Gah! I should have known. I should have bought you one and..." Izak stammered. "Aren't you mad? Aren't you pissed at this childish behaviour of hers?"
"You being pissed for me was enough." I genuinely said, and Izak paused his cursing.
The dress exchanged hands within seconds and it was thrown into the trash.
"I will get you a new one. Bright pink with t-tulles and whatever all ladies like."
His shaded pink cheeks were brushed off with his arms. When my lips parted to say more, a loud Gong rocked the air.
"God! You are late!"
Izak yanked my hand, and rushed us out of the building, dashing at the empty road with our boots stomping on the muddy ground, splashing them onto our attire.
The crowds were gathered at the hilltop where lights were glittering from afar.
"We won't make it..." I gasped for air when the distance between the village and the hill seemed frozen.
"We will make it! I will make sure you make it!"
"Izak! Wait..."
My shouts were ignored. Our legs had been running in the dark following the dim light for an hour now.
"Izak!"
I yanked my hand off his grip, kneeling to heal my weakened knees. We both panted for air at the stairs leading up the hill. The gong was now echoing its ninth time, signalling the final echo of the tenth not far ahead.
The tenth... the final blessing.
"Stop! We - We won't make it. Why...Why are you so persistent, Izak?"
Izak straightened his back. For the first time since I had known him, he gave me a look so different that it sent butterflies fluttering inside me.
How foolish was I not to notice this anymore? He had received his blessings two years ago, leaving me behind in this awfully damned town alone.
"N-Next year... there's still next year."
Izak knelt, meeting my eyes and the unfaltering gaze of his tingled my inside.
"Izak?"
"I want to have your hand in marriage. Marry me, Wyst."
- Writer
