Ashes of Crown end Claws

Chapter 3

Lumina rested against the gate after witnessing the whole scene. She regained strength in her legs to get up when the beast turned towards her, red painted its mouth. It snarled at Lumina then disappeared into the dark.

She turned her back and ran away immediately through the forest. She paused on seeing three different paths again.

Behind her the beast charged at her. She ran ahead and rolled down a hill. Her skin bruising against the hard floor of the forest. Her back hit a huge rock, forcing her to a stop. Pain shot through her back.

She held her back in pain, trying to get up.

She looked up, the gates were there again. Behind the gates was the village- a path she knew to the village.

She leaped towards the gates, still locked. She reached out for the bars and attempted to climb over. The beast jumped from the dark and ran fiercely towards her, she climbed faster but then, the beast jumped and shoved her off the gates with its claws.

Lumina screamed as she dashed against a tree before falling to the ground.

Unbearable pain bit through her body as she groaned helplessly on the floor.

The beastlike cat closed in on her, taking its step one after the other. Lumina could feel the earth tremble beneath the feet of the monster, she dragged backwards till she was rested on the tree.

Soon its face was one finger away from hers, Lumina ceased her breath. The creature roared loudly, the stench of blood and drool clouding Lumina as she held her face sideways.

The beast turned around with a snarl of displeasure, it ran towards the dark. Like that, it left Lumina.

Lumina let out her breath, a tear slid down from the side of her eyes as she tried to get up.

She managed to climb over the gates, through the pain and the aches. She dragged along the path towards the light till she reached the village. Darkness claimed her.

Light shone through her eyes as she opened them slowly. She took her breaths slow and steady, as she fixed her eyes on the roof.

It was a dream- she convinced herself until she moved and a stinging pain shot through her body. She hissed.

Gran Calista came in through the door and saw Lumina

“Lumina dear” she hurried over “What happened to you? You got me scared” she held Lumina close to her

“Aveline. Where is Aveline?” she attempted to get up

“Lay back down, please. And who is Aveline?” Gran Calista asked.

Imara came and threw her hands over Lumina’s neck

“Lumina” she cried “Where’s Aveline?” she asked

“I don’t know, Imara. I have no idea” her voice cracked. Calista got up and left the room. She stood on the porch getting a glimpse of what might have happened.

Lumina refused to eat while her friends stood beside her

“Who is this Aveline you’re talking about?”

“Did you see the beast? How did you survive?” she asked

“I don’t know either, Lai” Lumina shrunk under the sheets

“Get well soon” they said and left the room.

Gran Calista sat Lumina down, while she wiped her feet with a towel, she narrated to Lumina

“You’re the first to survive the beast. I don’t know how but you’re a special child”

“Gran, I’m not in for your jokes. I almost died. My friend died. I couldn’t do anything, the key was right in my hand and I couldn’t open those gate, just what am i? definitely not a special child” she said

“That's what the witch said”

“Who cares what the witch said? Where was the witch when Aveline was dying?”

Calista let her leg down, she tucked Lumina’s hair behind her

“I know you’re scared. Whoever Aveline is, I’m sorry you lost her” she held her head to her chest.

“Aveline’s real, why does nobody believe me?”.

Lumina stayed at Calista’s house while she recovered. People often gathered at her house to ask her about the beast but Lumina would not even go out to meet them.

Lumina was in the premises hanging laundry when a group of people walked in

“Lumina?” the man called.

Lumina looked behind them, she took a few steps back

“Wait, please. We have some questions”

“I don’t know anything about the forest or the beast” she said, clutching at her clothes tight

“Do you know…Aveline?” the man asked.

Lumina’s gaze softened. She looked at the face of the people then noticed their badge.

It’s the same one Aveline had on her dress when they met

“Are you Aveline’s…mates?” she asked

“Yes please” the lady behind hurried to the front “Please tell me you know where Aveline is” she fell on her knees.

The memories of the night came flashing again, Lumina’s grip tightened

“Aveline was with you, wasn’t she?” the lady looked up to her

“Yes” Lumina whispered

“You couldn’t save her?” she got up then suddenly grabbed Lumina by her clothes.

“You couldn’t save my friend and somehow you escaped? You even escaped with your little sister!” she yelled ehile dragging Lumina violently. The others holding her back

“Are you the beast or not? How could you have survived?” she cried, the others finally pulling her off Lumina on the floor “How would you feel if the monster had eaten your own sister?” she cried out as the others took her out

“We looked everywhere for Aveline but we couldn’t find her. The villagers told us about the beast but only Aveline knew about it so we thought she’d survive it, at least take caution” the man said

“I’m sorry” Lumina’s hands trembled, guilt killing her from within, guilt that she had the key but couldn’t do anything.

The team turned to leave as Lumina remained on the floor. She looked at her pale trembling hands, she held them to her face

“Aveline died…because of me”.

Days passed, Lumina decided to return to her cottage

“No” Imara held her back by her hand

“What if it comes back?” she asked

“It won’t Imara”

“I’ll follow you”, Lumina could see the bravery on Imara’s face

They arrived at the cottage soon, Imara tagging behind Lumina, closely.

As soon as she caught sight of the cottage, her heart broke.

“Is this our house?” Imara asked

“Yes, it was”. Lumina stepped through the broken woods. She lifted the fallen building aside to pick out their belongings.

She saw Aveline’s book under the fallen building. She dusted off the dirt on it before flipping through.

She packed other things and Aveline’s clothes. She grabbed a shovel then began digging behind the cottage.

“What are you doing?” Imara asked, holding dear to her doll

“Nothing much” she grunted “Just giving Aveline a new home” she said.

Lumina got out of the hole dug, she placed Aveline’s clothes in it before covering it up with sand.

Imara placed a piece of flower on it before saying their goodbye to Aveline. Lumina barely knew Aveline, but those days she spent with her, changed something about her.

The grabbed their belongings and left the cottage, their home, Aveline to Gran Calista.

Lumina fed the village’s chickens on the farm along with her other friends

“Will she ever talk to us again?” Lai asked

“Maybe, maybe not.” Aurora replied

“I can hear what you’re saying” Lumina chuckled

“you haven’t said a word since we got here”

Lumina got up and lifted the bucket “I just have a lot on my mind, I’m sorry” she said.

“Hm, I understand. After facing that beast and all, I couldn’t imagine it” Aurora smiled.

“I’m still curious about what the beast looks like though” Lai pursed her lips.

“Can you tell she doesn’t want to talk about it?” Aurora snapped

“Don’t yell at me, I’m curious”

“It’s fine!” Lumina cut between them.

There was a brief silence between them while the other two whispered

“It looked like a tiger but it was bigger” Lumina said. The other two moved towards her to gather berries.

“It was two times the size of a tiger. But I wouldn’t call it a full tiger, I can’t name it. It had scary teeth, its claws were like a dragon’s. too strong” she added.

Her friends froze for a while

“How did you even face that? I would’ve died from fear” Lai said

“Well I didn’t” Lumina grabbed the basket and walked away.

“Aveline told me her mates had a solution for the village…” she paused and looked at the palace from uphill “Since the King won’t do anything about it” she said.

“The king has lost soldiers, he lost a lot of villagers who volunteered too. Many people like Aveline’s mates have been to the village, nothing changed” Lai said “maybe it’s our fate now” she added before heading downhill with Aurora.

Lumina looked at the palace a little longer

“What if the palace is hiding something?” she asked herself

“Lumina!” they called from a distance.

Lumina sat on the porch braiding Imara’s hair while she ate berries

“Lumina?” Imara called “Are we ever going to go back home?” she asked.

“We’re home” she said

“No, I mean, home-home” she said

Lumina laughed “Don’t worry about it Imara, as long as we’re together, wherever is home”.

While Lumina prepared dinner, Imara waited inside.

“Imara! I forgot to get some spice, I’ll be back” she said and left the house. When she had walked a distance, Lumina took out Aveline’s book and walked towards another path.

She stood in front of the gates she had always seen in her dreams, her fingers brushed over the iron bars. It moved slightly with the wind.

Lumina lifted her dress and placed her feet on the bars, climbing over to the other side of the gates. She hesitated before setting foot down on the other side of the gates.

She looked down to the path where Aveline had encountered the tiger. She clutched tightly to her bag crossed over her chest as she took her steps slowly and lightly.

Dried blood, huge paw prints, clear evidence of what had happened

“If the soldiers really came here, they should have seen evidences of other deaths. But I guess the beast never really gave them the chance to tell the tale” she looked up from the blood, down the narrow path.

Lumina had lived in the cottage since she was young. She had heard about the tiger but only seen it in her dreams

“Does it live here too?” she walked ahead, down the narrow and cold path.

Lumina walked endlessly, unsure of what she was looking for but she kept going.

Bats flew by and creepy sounds echoed the deeper she went into the forest.

Lumina found a cave, she stood before it, looking around it curiously. Then-

A rustling sound came from the bush behind her. Lumina spun around, her hand slipped into her bag.

Her eyes were fixed on the bush as she took out a dagger from her bag, summoning the last bit of courage within her.

A rabbit hopped out of the bush anxiously, it hopped into Lumina’s arms.

“What is going on?” she held her dagger still as a wolf in size of a tiger walked out of the bush. Lumina stepped backwards. Two of its kind followed behind, carefully surrounding Lumina.

The one at the right charged at the rabbit in her arm, Lumina moved and it caught her shoulder instead.

Lumina screamed while it dragged her violently, the other wolf grabbing her leg as she held tightly to the baby rabbit

Lumina took the chance to raise the dagger, charging it straight into the wolf’s eyes.

It howled in pain, letting her shoulder go. Angrily, the wolf charged again at Lumina. It jumped about to pounce on her, but- it didn’t. Lumina peeped above her arms shielding her face. She heard the whimpering and howling of the wolves.

When she looked clearly, she saw it- the tiger-beast.

It held one of the wolves in its mouth, its head falling off its neck while keeping another under its weight, crushing it violently. The other ran away, injured.

The tiger-beast looked back at Lumina, the rabbit hopped into her bag fearfully.

Lumina stepped backwards as the Beast walked towards her, holding her dagger forward, keeping the little distance between them.

For a moment, she saw the eyes of the beast on her dagger.

Without warning, the beast swung the back of its massive paw. It wasn't a killing blow, but the force sent Lumina crashing through the undergrowth. Her head struck the ground, and darkness swallowed her whole.