• Our Story Begins

    Warm humid air blew in her open window as the moon’s pale light shone on her face. Her hair lay scattered on the soft pillow. The brown comforter lay across her body, her arms lay beside her head. The wind grew stronger and the curtain fell off the hook. The curtain fell on her bed and she opened her eyes she sat up her hair fell on her shoulders in rolling mess as if it was the ocean. She stood up and put up the curtain once again. She raked her fingers through her hair and straightened it a bit. It wasn’t exactly curly, but just a bit wavy. She sighed and leaned over the window arms crossed and head resting in them like a baby in a cradle. “Nitakiya, you can’t let it die… Not now… Not ever…” Her voice trailed across the wind and died in pain as her soul did.

    Nitakiya watched as something raced behind the tower’s peak in the distance. The shadow moved swiftly. Like a person. An acrobat. She wasn’t sure what it was but it was gone. Her clock ticked loudly behind her. TICK, TOCK, TICK, TOCK. She jumped at the sound, it had startled her dearly. She almost fell out of her window, completely to the round, but she gripped the window’s rim box. She flipped back and smacked against the bricks out side. She dangled there for a moment before she turned to the wall and pressed her feet against the bricks. She pulled her self up and into her room again. She lay on the floor for a second, trying to catch her breath.

    A shadow flew across her room. A shadow of a person. She sat up quickly. Her heart raced and thudded in her chest like a raging stampede. She held he breath and walked to the window. She gripped the plates of glass and leaned out side care fully. She looked around, first to the left, then to the right. She looked down and up. Not sure if she was safe she looked to the left. No one. Then she turned to the right. She almost fell again as a moon-light washed face stared at her. She ran to her closet and opened the large Roman-like doors. She grasped a metal trumpet that she had hid away from her cousin. She turned to the window. A boy sat on her window sill.

    She was about to race over and hit him with it when he spoke, “Do not fear me fair princess.” His voice was full of humor. Suddenly she softened. “Salvan? How did you get here? I thought our father left the kingdom on a great journey.” He shook his head. “Father is on a journey but I had Nute send me here.” Nute was the smartest of the sons. He knows much wisdom and magical spells that are hidden in the library’s shelves. He paused. “In London, I see.” He gazed out at the city.

    “It’s only for a little while. My mother and father- My human parents, took me here. My human aunt lives here.” She said softly. “How are the brothers of Kiradiar? Are they well with out their only sister? Are they well with out you?” She asked him. Her gaze flickered from him to the window sill. He had balance that was for sure. His toe rested on ledge so lightly.

    “The brother’s are miserable. They need their dear sister.” Nitakiya looked at him with a bit of a shocked expression on her face. But the shocked look faded into a glare. Salvan laughed a bit. Of course her brothers don’t care. They had no need for the worry.

    “Salvan, don’t test me. You’ll get us in trouble if you’re loud enough. You know that.” She narrowed her eyes to slits. She wasn’t a push over. Well not completely. If her brothers needed her she would have to leave the human world again. It was her nature to care for them. Even if they bugged her. Tricked her, deceived her. It didn’t matter.

    Salvan spoke again after a long silence, “Come home. Tell the humans the truth You can never hide forever. The humans will find out eventually.” He stared at her sternly. She knew that gaze very well. He had gotten it from their father, the king. Though the king was usually cheery, he would be stern with his sons, and his only daughter.

    Nitakiya glared at him. “I can’t. They would try to get to our world and they’ll never believe me.” She remembered when just a slip of the tongue she had given the secret away. But her friend Lilly thought she was making a funny joke. She had asked her friends to call her Nitakiya from now on but, they emphasized it a bit too much.

    Her brother looked at her in long silence. “The truth will come out. It will.” He gripped the edge of the window and swung out into the flashing moonlight. Then he was gone. He left the human world and went into the kingdom of Kiradiar.

    Nitakiya sat on her bed then let her body fall back into a laying position. She let her worried gaze fall onto the ceiling. Heard her door open she looked over at her mother and father.

    “Is something wrong? We heard noises and voices in here, and now you look worried. Why do you have that trumpet? Good gracious, Morgan, tell us what is wrong.” Her mother and father kept asking questions in a row before she could answer.

    “Nothing is wrong. I took out the trumpet because I heard someone at the window. It was just a kid’s prank.” She looked at them she had to tell them sooner or later. “All I need is sleep.” They nodded and looked at her fondly. Her mother kissed her head and her father closed the door behind them as they left. She listened to them leave down the hall. She curled up and fell asleep again.

    Lies Run Deep

    When she woke up she went down stairs to the dinning hall. Her family sat at the table chatting and murmuring. She sat next to her cousin Helen. The young girl’s brown eyes were wide and lively. Nitakiya turned away from the seven year old. She had a plate in front of her with loads of food. Eggs. Apple crisp. Baked fish. Bacon. Ham. Toast. She listed them one by one in her head. She picked up her fork and began to eat.

    “Here comes the best of the family!” Nitakiya choked on her bite of apple crisp as her cousin came charging into the room. She spat out the bite in her napkin and stood up. She glared at her cousin as he walked by. He was an idiot. The best? He had no idea what being the king or the best at something. Being herself was hard enough. She had to hide it from the world!

    She strode across the room to the door. She had enough of being in this confinement. She touched the door’s handle. She was just about to leave when her mother called to her. “Where are you going dear? We’re just going to talk about what we are doing today.”

    Her mother looked at her. Nitakiya looked at her human mother and said, “I’m going home!” She opened the door and slammed it behind her. She stalked around the bend and walked through the gate. She gritted her teeth when her cousin hollered for her and ran over.

    “Mor-“ Nitakiya spat at him, cutting him off. Her eyes narrowed and her heart cold. This would simply be called a mental break down but it was different.

    “Nitakiya.” She hissed at him. He narrowed his eyes. He didn’t care. No one in this pathetic little realm care! It had no meaning to them that she cared, but not for them. For something bigger. For her realm.

    “Whatever. How do you suppose you’re getting to Seattle? Train? Boat? Plane? You don’t have the money.” He said harshly. But it was true. How would she get to Seattle? Actually, the question was more like sting words that went through brittle teeth. The question should have been, why would she go to Seattle?

    Nitakiya glared at him with icy blue eyes. “I’m not going to Seattle.” She turned into a bush finding her path way. She felt cool wind coming through branches. She was going home. To Kiradiar. She felt a hand on her wrist and she was pulled on to the hard sidewalk.

    She stood up and she turned to her cousin. “Where are you going? Are you stupid?” Nitakiya felt her face flush with heat. Anger surged through her. Why was she even here? She wanted to pound this human’s face in the ground. Of course. The truth!

    He gripped her wrist and dragged her back to her human aunt’s home. He turned down the gravel path and she squirmed in his grasp. He let go of her wrist and she fell back. Her human family came to the windows and the newly opened door. Nitakiya leaped to feet and through gritted teeth she spat at him, “I’m not even suppose to be in this world you simple human!” She didn’t realize how much she sounded like the dark prince and his sister. “This stupid human realm is cursed!”

    Her grandmother called out, “She is ill! She is ill!” Her mother clicked her high heels as she walked over. “Dear, you need rest. Come inside Mor-” Nitakiya cut her human mother off.

    “I’m not meant to be here! I’m Nitakiya Salien Hanakun from the beautiful realm of Kiradiar. I have three brothers born months apart, and I’m the youngest of the four!” She stalked away not waiting, or even wanting, an answer.

    “Morgan! It must have been a dream. Come back here my daughter!” Her human mother called for her and raced after her. Nitakiya turned into the bush and bumped into something, or someone. She looked up, too flustered to think, she screamed at the person in rage. “Get out of my way! I’m going ho-” Nitakiya ended in a gasp as she realized that this person was not human. His eyes glowed and he wore black formal wear with a formal red under shirt. His skin glowed with a golden hue.

    “Nice to see you again princess. The king of the darkness will be much pleased.” His mouth was slightly turned up on one corner. His eyes glinted with a strange evil essence.

    Nitakiya held her pose then suddenly there was a tug on her long hair. “Morgan, you will be grounded for-” She trailed of as he came out. “Morgan? Who is this? Morgan, who is that?” Her human mother pulled her up by her shoulders as he came closer.


    Nitakiya shrugged her away as he spoke to them. “I’m the prince of the darkness realm. Kai. The princess of Kiradiar is standing before you.” He swiped his hand across her face. Her face lightened a bit and more color bust into her cheeks. Her eyes faded from a gray blue to a bright frost blue color. Her hair started to change color from the roots, from a light brown to a deep warm auburn. A stinging sensation flooded over her skin as it felt like blood edged its way to her pours.

    Her human mother gasped and stepped away. “You, you… Who are you?” Nitakiya looked at her human mother. She looked frightened at her own child. Her face was pale white. The many people behind her had rushed inside. Her idiotic cousin had fallen on the ground his mouth gapping open.

    “How did you get here Kai?” Nitakiya turned to him. All he said in his reply was, “From your kingdom.” She gasped as she was suddenly pulled through the bush and she disappeared in a cool wash of light that poured over warm body.

    Back Home
    At Last


    Nitakiya woke to a cool breeze of wind. The sound of mourning seemed to come off from it. She sat up with a jolt. Stepped on grass paced a few steps away from her, then the prints disappeared in a blackened singed line. Kai had left but not for long. She followed the sound of mourning. To the castle in the distance.

    She looked beyond the gate. People gathered in muddy black clothes. Her brothers stood around something. All of them were dressed in black. Nute with his glasses, Jayen with his sword clutched in his hands, and Salvan was speaking. His words rolled like water. So fluent. So smooth.

    “We gather for the death of the queen. Queen Halenay.” Nitakiya gasped. Her brother’s words were full of distress and misery. Though his words were true.

    As the brothers of Kiradiar moved apart a limp body on a pedestal came to view. The exact image of herself. Her mother. She stepped forward but the king came through and kissed the queen’s limp hand. Nitakiya watched for a moment longer as the king moved away. The queen was wearing the same colors that she was wearing now pale pastille pinks and blues. It was somewhat frightening. It made her skin itch with fear and anxiety. Nitakiya bounded forward. Tears stung her eyes. She slowed as she made her way through the murmuring crowd.

    “Nitakiya? How did you ever get here, my daughter?” The king grasped Nitakiya’s shoulders. Her face stained with the running flow of tears. The king hugged her tightly. Nitakiya could feel his hot breath and warm tears on her neck. She couldn’t move. Her eyes were fixed on her mother’s dead body. So pale. So cold. But what was worse was Salvan’s gaze. So sad. So hurt. Painful to look at, even for her. She closed her eyes and tried to wish it all away. All the pain, and death away.

    As some of the kingdom’s people left the mourning ritual, Nitakiya sat behind the pedestal. Jayen started to hum to calm her but her brother’s song floated past her as if nothing had slipped into her mind, except the death of the queen.

    Salvan looked at his brother concerned that nothing would get her out of the painful trance. Nute read quietly out of his book. His glasses balanced on his nose. He looked up his eyes glinted with nervousness. Sunlight flashed off his glasses as he moved them to fit better then he looked at his book again.

    Jayen said aloud, “We should attack that black hearted prince. The dark kingdom shall fall.” He raised his sword in a triumphant battle pose. Salvan and Nute shook their heads.

    “We mustn’t fight. Blood will fall on our lands. Death will consume the world.” Salvan looked at him harshly as he spoke. The he turned to Nitakiya. “Come dear sister. Let us take you to your long awaited room.” She hung her head. Faeren shook his head. He picked her up in his arms.

    “Ok, lets go.” Jayen said looking at the brothers. “Are you coming?” Salvan nodded quickly then walked to the bed corridors.
    Nitakiya looked down at her knees. Little pieces of grit and sand clung to her jeans. Tears streamed down her face as she remembered the little pieces of sand that clung to her mother’s hair. Her tears stopped. “How did mother die, Faeren?” She looked at him. He looked at her. “Poison. The dark prince, Jaik, poisoned her this morning.” His words struck her like a punch in the stomach.

    She knew it was different. She just knew. “That’s wrong!” She stared at him. He halted and put her on the cobblestone path way. “She died of poison. The medics checked.” Salvan said. “She was found in her bed chamber on the floor. She mostly likely drank poisoned water. Her glass was shattered not to far away from her body.”

    “You are wrong. Wrong! Check her body. There was sand in her hair!” She clenched her teeth and fists. “Check!” She yelled much louder. A maid came to them and asked what was wrong. “Everything! Everything is wrong!” She hissed at her tears streaming down her face.

    The maid was taken aback at her harsh voice. “Don’t worry, Daski. She is upset. Go back to your duties.” The woman with gray hair looked at her for a moment longer before going back into the building.

    “Go check! I don’t believe you!” Nitakiya slapped Jayen’s hand which was outstretched to her for comfort. She was furious. Nothing seemed to calm her frayed nerves. Nothing. She pushed away from them all. “Check!”

    Jayen stood there and Nute fixed the angle on his glasses. Salvan looked at his brothers then her. His eyes were full of concern.

    “You know we can’t get to the burial. The children of the dead are not suppose to be there for it requires the blood of the spouse. You know that very well.” Salvan said sternly, but his eyes were soft, caring and concerned. Nitakiya stared at him with anger blazing in my blood. Salvan pressed a hand on her shoulder. Nitakiya smacked it away. “I know you are angry but you can’t be hard on kin. We’ll wait in the hall of dinning for father and everything will be-”

    “There are bindings in some spells that I have read about that could help our problematic situation.” Nute had interrupted Salvan. He had paused while the rest of us were in silence. “Since our sister is also in the form of a human soul, she could be by in a human body. The spell could open a rift that can go anywhere. It will be hard but-” Nitakiya ran over and interrupted.

    “Fine, fine. Do it now.” Nitakiya said briskly Her fingers dug into his shoulders. “Now!” Salvan pulled her away.

    “Everyone in the kingdom would sense her near. You know that!” Salvan said. Nute only shrugged it away.

    “I think she is right.” Nute had such a simple, intelligent tone.





    Darkened Bonds

    He stared at Salvan but suddenly glanced off to the side. He flung his hand down a tear ripped down in front of him. It was bright and dark, all at the same time. In the same space. Nitakiya stared at it. It mesmerized her and she felt consumed in its light as it washed over her. Nute swiped his hand across her face and her hair became a pale, dull, brown, and her eyes became a deep hazel. Nute shoved her into the tear in space and everything that was sound, became silence. It startled her. She looked around. A clock flew by her head, a bird sat in mid air, a tree stood upside down, and white lights flashed everywhere around her. But soon she felt yanked back and her breath was caught tight in her lungs. She blinked and everything was gone. She was under a table of some sort. She crept out. Her father stood by her mother’s body. Nitakiya ran behind a pillar then another and another. How could she do this easily?

    Her father’s head jerked away from a man who was speaking to look around the room. He held his wife’s hand tightly.

    “Human? A human here?” He had irritation in his pale eyes. Nitakiya some how wished she had the sense to stay with Nute, Jayen, and Salvan. How she wanted that so.

    Nitakiya was about to step out but something held her back. A hand held her back. She turned to see nothing but a black pit. It was like the tear that was used to get her here. She felt fear wash over her. Then suddenly, with out thinking, she screeched in fear. The hand became an arm, then a shoulder, a leg, and soon a whole person emerged. Nitakiya scrambled back, trying to get away. Then a voice shattered into her fearful thoughts. “Daughter? How are you here? Why are you in that form?” Her father rushed toward her and cupped her cheek. Blood welded from his fingers and it trickled down her chin and dripped on her human clothes. The shadowy figure stepped out into the candle light. The form became paler and soon was a pale skin tone with dark formal wear. Nitakiya’s eyes grew wide and horror consumed her. Her father pressed her close. Her skin began to grow sandy, but pale, the her eyes turned to a brilliant, bright frost-like, frightened blue. Nitakiya’s hair slowly turned back to the deep auburn and her clothes changed in a flash of golden light to her dress.

    “Well met, well met. I never thought that it would be this easy to find the princess. Just as it was to find the queen in her bed chamber. She was an easy opponent. Needed to learn more fighting skills and spells. I-” Jaik glared at Nitakiya as he spoke. His voice rolled off his tongue in a fluid like style. Nitakiya felt anger swell up in her stomach. As it twisted into a knot, Nitakiya clenched her fists and let her gaze meet his devilish gold and red irises.

    The king wrapped his arms around Nitakiya tightly. To protect her, and to hold her back from tearing Jaik limb from limb. His hand was red and bloody and it dripped the red ooze on her dress.

    “I, king Darten of the Kiradiarian empire, will not let you near my family, nor my kingdom!” Nitakiya listened to her father’s voice as it boomed around her. Then her whispered in her ear, “We have to make it out side.” Nitakiya pressed against him. She needed something, anything, to soothe her frayed nerves.


    “I wouldn’t make a move if I were you.” Jaik said, a smile creped over his face too. A shadow smacked into Nitakiya and the king and knocked them over. It swirled beside Jaik and a girl appeared in a short, black and red skirt, with a black belly shirt that had only one, red sleeve that went down to her wrist. A tight, black necklace that wrapped her neck had a red crest of the dark kingdom on it. She had short black hair that was flared and had red tipped layers. Nitakiya looked at the girl in horror.

    “Now what do I do, brother?” The girl said the word brother with a slender, sleek tone. “Do I kill them? No, that would be a waste of time.” She bit her lip as if she was quiet sweeter than what she was.

    “Just let them battle in the war. Their nights will be here any moment. Ours will be here much sooner than what they want. Much, sooner.” Jaik and his sister disappeared in black fog.

    Nitakiya felt her wrist being pulled on. He father stared into her eyes and spoke sternly. “We need to get to the castle. We need to warn the kingdom.” He pulled Nitakiya to her feet. “Where are your brothers?” Just as soon as those words came out of his mouth, knights for Kiradiar came crashing through the doors with her brothers following at their heels.

    Her father gripped a knight and said something Nitakiya could not catch. Though she did have a guess of what it was about. Only a few words stuck out to her. “Human bonds” Nitakiya knew it was about her. She knew, she just knew.

    Nute came in his hand was slightly red and a red ooze glistened in the dim candle lights. Nitakiya gripped him and looked at his hand. It was hot and sticky with blood. She felt the blood’s smooth sticky texture and soon his hand was to her cheek. His hand slid down as she looked up at her eldest brother. She mouthed the word, HOW.

    Nute stared at her now, blood streaked face through his shimmering glasses. The only word that came out of his mouth was, SPELL. Nitakiya knew it was the spell that sent her, here. She knew it was the same spell that changed her human. The very same spell that attracted the dark prince and princess. Nitakiya lowered her gaze and stared at his dripping hand. That red ooze shone vividly in the dim candle light. It slithered down his fingers and dripped onto the ground making the slightest sickening splash. Her gaze flicked to her other brothers who were talking to her father.

    “I do not care who did what I want the dark lord dead, as well as his son and daughter. He will never set foot on our lands again!” Her father’s voice was hard, and cold. Nitakiya shivered slightly. The thought of those dark prince and princess, made her skin crawl over her bones as if an ice cube was dropped down her shirt. Their souls did not carry any light. They carried the shadows of the lost, dead souls that never passed on, to the other side. Her father stalked away ordering knights to round the armies at once and to surround the dark forces that are yet to scout the area.

    Nitakiya had a feeling they were not going to send scouts. That they were not going to the borders. That they were heading closer. As a spell had been cast and they were headed nearer. Closer. The heart of Kiradiar. The castle.


    Nitakiya quickly shot her gaze to Nute. She gripped his shoulders and stood up. She pulled him towards the king. She needed to speak. Now.

    “Father!” Her voice was hollowed out with fear chiming in at the end. “Father! You’re going about it all wrong. They are going to attack us in the heart of the kingdom. The castle,” Her blue eyes were wide and they mimicked little blue robin eggs that were just sitting there in her eye sockets. Her father looked at her for a moment and then his voice boomed out in the silence.

    “If what you say is true, we shall guard the castle,” Something in Nitakiya felt hollow. Empty. As if something was taken away.

    Nute clutched her arms as she collapsed to the cold, hard floor. Darkness seemed to have consumed everything. She couldn’t hear much but a shout.

    “My daughter!” It was her father’s voice cracking the silence. She didn’t know what had happened. It all slipped away.

    Darkness

    Nute felt for a pulse nothing, though breathing was steady, there wasn’t a pulse. It was silent. He pulled her eye lids. Black swirled in the blue irises. Salvan pulled back on her shoulders in a swift jerk. He shouted for her to wake, but nothing helped her silence. Her bean to lift her body.

    “No! If you move her from this area, her soul will be lost. The only way to move her is Crestral Oralae.” Nute pressed his hand on his shoulder. Blood was dry on his hand. His glasses glared and Salvan couldn’t see his eyes.

    “Alright. Alright. Make it happen.” Salvan backed off. He knew he couldn’t win this fight. Now all he could do though, was watch.

    Nute streamed his hands through the air. He ignored how the king prodded his shoulder, murmuring how he wanted his daughter back. Light streamed out of his finger tips, as Nute pressed a hand on her collar bone. The shimmering light wrapped its self in coils around her neck, arms, legs, everywhere along her body were curls of pure white light. Soon it took the form as glass. It mirrored The faces of people who had gathered around.

    “Done. Now be careful. It will feel light as a feather, but if you let go, it will fall like the burden that will weigh on your head.” Nute carefully took his glasses and placed them on his head. Salvan touched the pale glass. It felt hard, but yet it seemed like it wasn’t there at all. Many lifted the light glass, and like Nute said, it was truly light as a feather. The king let him self touch the glass. It seemed to pain him that his daughter was trapped in her own body. It seemed to pain him that the last resemblance of the queen was trapped. The queen seemed to pain him. That was Salvan’s conclusion. With out the queen, the king felt hollow, alone. Even with his children beside him.

    Now all we have to do is carry her to her bed chamber. But how long can the spell last? Salvan’s thoughts raced. He wondered if she would even wake up at all.


    The Silence

    Nitakiya gasped as suddenly she awoke to a dark forest. Nothing made noise. Everything seemed like glass. Still. Silent. Cold. It mimicked everything, and yet it still wasn’t alive. It couldn’t speak back. It was basically dead, and yet it never once lived.

    “Hello? Hello?” She couldn’t hear herself. It was like reading a book silently in the corner of the library. It was somewhat soothing, and yet it made her frantic. If there was no sound here how was she going to speak? Did she loose her voice? No. Those questions weren’t right. It wasn’t that there wasn’t any sound in this place, It was that eeriness that got rid of the sound. No. that didn’t seem right either. No matter how she thought of how it was silent here, Nothing seemed right.

    She walked around. No sound of her steps. Something struck her as she passed the trees. She had heard of this before. Nitakiya thought back. Far back. Thousands of years back.

    “Mother! Tell me another story!” Nitakiya was only a young girl then. Her hair was cut short and it curled under her chin.

    “Alright, alright. Then it’s bed time.” Her mother’s face mimicked her own now. It frightened her. It saddened her. To see her dead mother, alive.

    “What about The Silence? It doesn’t scare me anymore,” Nitakiya felt a pang of sadness as she stared into her mother’s face. She barely heard her young self speak.

    “Alright, alright. The Silence it is then.” Her mother cleared her throat. Then she began. “The land used to be mortal. We used to live at most of a sum odd one hundred years. The dark forbidden being that came from death, shrouded many with sickness. Sickness that could kill.”

    Nitakiya stared at her young self then at her mother. The features of both faces were so similar. It made Nitakiya’s heart ache. It was looking into a mirror. A mirror that held back the ones she loved. Suddenly her attention came back to her younger self. Something that was being said. Something about The Silence again. It was too late to hear. The words were lost.

    “I’ll get there soon.” Her mother said. “The darkness had no voice. Mortal humans call this being, Reaper. When you return to the mortals you’ll understand.” She cleared her throat. “The dark being came from the realm of silence. The silence is a never ending realm. It is cold and dark, with never ending silence. Nothing makes a sound. The only light that comes from anything, is in the very center of the darkness. It is so dark, everything is washed in white. It barely pierces the darkness around it though. But the light moves violently, it scars the trees around it and rips metal to shreds. Though it is the only way back, it is deadly, or fatal. Nothing can survive its whipping, burning swords of life.”

    “And no one has survived right?” The younger face piped up and chimed in her own comment. Nitakiya paused. No one has ever survived? No one? Ever? The questions raced through here head. The last thing she heard of the conversation was that her mother agreed to the naïve comment made by her younger self.

    Nitakiya was soon back to being in the darkness. She paid no attention to the blades of grass digging into her bare feet like shards of a mirror. It painful to remember her mother’s face. It was pain to look in the mirror. It was so hard not to cry. It was her problem. What was it? Who was it? How can it survive everywhere?


    She leaned against a tree. Wind whipped against her skin. Tears flowed down her wind blown cheeks. Her silvery blue silk dress was muddy, tattered, and torn. The ends of her hair were singed and split apart. Her cold, rock-hard hands pressed against her face. The bottom of her bare feet were torn and blood welded from the wounds. Grit embedded the surface of the skin. She lifted a hand from her face and fingered her bottom lip. A warm wet feeling stuck on to her finger. She looked at her hand. The red mark was still there. Blood. She clenched her teeth. The thought about this place stung her. She made a loud tongue click, much like her mother’s. She pressed a hand against the tree behind her to brace herself. She pulled herself to her feet. She looked around. The gray forest that separated her from her home. She walked towards the lighter area of the forest. It seemed to blind her. She kept moving. She had never been over to this side before. Wind stirred around her. There was wind here? There was never wind in the dark the forest. This place was a maze. A maze of torture. What was she doing here? She felt wind battered her skin. A rush of blood pounded her ears. She felt blood ooze from her shoulder as something pierced the skin. Another thing sliced up her back. She pushed against it, cuts sliced up her hands. Cuts streaked her face and her hair sliced in shreds. Blood dripped off her chin. Pain forced the breath out of her. Her heart thudded violently in her chest. She felt like screaming, but even if she did, no sound would be made. Nothing would help her. No one would help her. Nothing could help her. No one could help her. Everything was empty here. Everything. Suddenly everything was gone. Wind stirred slightly in the distance. She could hear something. Breathing. A gasp. Heart beats. Many voices echoed around her. But it seemed to fade again. But they still spoke to her.

    Awakening

    “Mother!” Nitakiya woke with a start, she flung her body upward screaming. She smashed through fragile glass that surrounded her body. Shards of glass flew through the air and disintegrated into dust. A hand came to her shoulder. Nitakiya looked at the icy blue eyes of her father and collapsed in his arms while her body sent spasms down her back along with her sobs.

    “It’s alright. We’re here now, we’re here now. Don’t worry my daughter.” Her father’s tears were hot, and yet the cooled her body from the pang of sadness. She could even feel the cuts that stung her body. It felt like hot needles pricking her skin. Blazing swords slicing against her back and arms. Nitakiya closed her eyes and sobbed. Just that slightest security from the grip of her father’s arms made her safe, but it also released her sadness.

    Three more hands touched her back gently. Her family was all around her, and yet her mother wasn’t there. But something made her sure she was watching.

    It had only been a few moments, then her father let go. Tears streaked his face. His eyes puffy. He stood up and walked out of the room just like that. Salvan gripped her shoulders tightly. He wouldn’t let go either. Nute kneeled in front of her his glasses shifted down his nose. Jayen was off to the corner now, his head turned away from her face. Nute took his hands and placed them on her knees.

    “Nitakiya, tell us what happened, tell us so we can know. You were battered on the inside. It can feel the blood rush to your legs and hands. As if you were torn apart by claws or swords. Tell us how it was, Nitakiya.” Nute’s voice was calm, cool, fluent. Something about the words that came rushing through her head scared her. Nitakiya shook before her voice exited her throat.

    “It was dark… B, bleak… E, everything was sharp l, like g, glass… I, I saw mo- I heard m, mo- I was with… m, mother.” She couldn’t get her voice out. It was hard as a rock, hard as steel. “I t, think I was in The, S, S, Silence… That’s what m, mother was s, saying… I was torn apart by light, it hurt so much. Wind and light hurt so much…” Nitakiya leaned forward. Salvan’s hands still clung to her shoulders. Nute placed his hands on her cheeks. Something in his gaze made tears pour down her cheeks and under his hands. Salvan pulled her hair back and curled it slightly. Their mother had taught her brothers how to twist Nitakiya’s hair and mess with it like the queen would. Salvan was the one to calm her the most. Every hardship they had faced, Salvan and her mother and father were the ones closest to her side. Now, it was mainly Salvan. Her brother’s were closer, but Salvan was right there every step of this broken trail. No matter how steep the terrain gets, he’ll be there. Tears stopped flowing down her cheeks. Her icy blue eyes were puffy, and swollen. Salvan’s hands tucked under her chin and pulled her face back to his. She stared into his eyes for a moment longer before they narrowed slightly with sadness. They were gazing up into the most silvery blue eyes in the world. His gaze soft and sad, yet it made her happy. Secure. He lightly kissed her forehead and pulled back her hair.

    Nitakiya felt heat arise in her cheeks. She pulled away. Her hands fumbled over each other. A nervous habit of hers. Nute lifted his glassed, his deep, dark eyes shimmered in the light that was filtering through the window. She smiled. Jayen’s reddish amber brown eyes were closed as he listened to the surroundings from the corner.