The Rising

One hundred years ago was when I last lived.

At least that is what I think, in reality it couldn’t have been more than three days. When I had last awoken from my dreaming state the only thing I could see was beautiful rays of sun kissed light filtering through emerald leaves. It wasn’t until hundreds of minutes later that I realized I could not remember how I had found myself in the middle of a thick forest.

The last thing I recalled of reality was Carrie disappearing into darkness. I had stood then scared and as night touched the forest I resided in I walked towards the east, or at least what I assumed to be east. For days it seems that I’ve walked, and everything in my memory has begun to mist over until only a single phrase remains “Find the Shade”.

It repeats over and over, again and again. Driving me in and out of madness, but at least I have a drive, a goal. So I continue to walk in hopes that I will reach the end of the forest or find some kind soul willing to help me.

Sometimes as I walk I relive bits of my past. Today is one of those days I recall when Carrie received her first Gift.

It was a year after Snowe appeared and we were in the back of our little cottage immersed in the colourful plants that grew there, we being mother, father, Violetta, Carrie and I.
Carrie had neatly piled her skirts in a blossom around her and was sitting with a gentle grace next to Violetta. I was still a child, attempting to catch Noir (Violetta’s Familiar) it seemed was my sole purpose in life at the time.
Of course while I was attempting to catch Noir, the Bombay cat was chasing after Snowe. We must have made a spectacle of ourselves since I can still clearly recall my families peals of laughter, suddenly the world seemed to freeze and all the beautiful colours of the garden that I had grown accustomed to turned into shades of black, gray and white. Almost unconsciously I had turned towards Carrie and I had watched as she had fallen forwards before her beautiful blue eyes became a misty white. I can’t remember what Carrie’s prophecy had been about, I could only remember being very scared for both Carrie and myself. Afterwards Carrie came down with a weird disease where her mouth would spout blood.
Father had explained to me about the Gifts then. He said they were special powers granted to us that reflected the most powerful characteristics in our souls that could not stay silent or still. Carrie’s just happened to be prophecy, I think after that I asked him what Violetta’s was and he said that I was too young to understand.

I still remember fondly those moments with my parents whether they were good or bad I cherished them all the same. I snapped back to reality then and realized the first rays of dawn were swirling through the air. Tired I was so very tired and hungry and thirsty. I felt the world turn around me as I collapsed to the forest floor.

Something smelt delicious. “I think I’m in heaven” was my first thought. There was absolutely no way anything on this planet could smell so good. I slowly opened my eyes to meet an unfamiliar room.

Everything was hidden in shadows which scared me. I carefully stepped from the black bed I seemed to have been sleeping on and was thankful that I was fully clothed in the cloth I had worn during the Partner Ceremony. I exited from the room through a hole that I found after certain exploration.

After crawling through I found a hallway with a yellowish light flickering at the end. Carefully I inched my way towards the light.

Now I know what you’re thinking. “Run you (insert whatever you deem necessary) at the end of that tunnel theirs probably a man eating monster.” I can now assure you I am probably the most idiotic person in the world because I have a very large knack to be curious and in this moment I was incredibly curious on who in the world would help a random person that collapsed in the middle of the forest.Just to be safe though as I neared the door at the end of the hallway I grabbed a passing poker stick.

As I finally reached the end of the hall I shifted the stick in my hand before barging straight through it. The first thing I noticed when I entered the room was it or more particularly, him. The figure that was looming over a fire pit, that contained that beautiful smell, as I continued to run I watched entranced as he swung around and grabbed the stick that was in my hand a millimeter before it stabbed him through the chest and I stared at the most beautiful boy I had ever seen in my entire life.

His hair was the darkest, richest colour you could imagine of black, brown and blonde and his eyes, his eyes were the most intricate things I had ever encountered. They shifted from an ebony, to amber before resting on the most beautiful, bluest, violet you could ever encounter, much like the sky just before dawn touched it. I stared before I realized he had a dagger pointed at my chest.

“Who are you?” I asked he looked at me for a single moment before shifting to rest his knife against my throat. He seemed to think for a moment before speaking in a hauntingly lovely voice.
“Since this will be the last moment you live I’ll grace you with my name” his mouth quirked with a smile that would never reach his eyes,
“they call me Shade”.