A/N: Just an explanation on last week's steamy chapter. I received questions, so I figured I should explain. What I meant by impurity and purity was that it was supposed to appear impure and tainted, but was to evolve into something pure. It was supposed to be the same way that the Greeks viewed nudity. Since it was one of the most important scenes in the book, I crafted it carefully, and if you wanted to make me cry, all you would have to do is tell me you skimmed it.
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Where are you all going?
Wait for me.
All the clouds seem to be zooming
Over my head.
I look up and run as fast as my feet
Can carry me.
I won't dare to blink an eye
So I won't lose you.
Zooming past me, I can't follow you.
Overwhelmed,
I watch those clouds zoom over the
Crystal horizons.
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I want to know.
Where are you going?
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It was nothing simpler that adorned the wooden floor. It was small, symmetrical, and dull. It was something so dry and suffocating that could bring out a river of tears.
Though it was small at first, it grew larger and larger, radiating away from the center point like a flower, with all hues churning together like the leaves of autumn. Waves of wine poured into porcelain whirlpools. Mixtures of rose in saffron treasures were surrounded by laces of fuschsian architects.
Just simple arrangements of petals gathered in a circle. It couldn't have been more than a few inches wide, but nothing could be more beautiful. Just a simple glance, it could instantly ignored and forgotten. So easily can the human eye look past the beauties below.
Stephen carefully placed the petals around the mandala, circling around until it almost touched the walls of the room. Each petal was taken from the palace garden which held all the different flowers that existed in Montegarde. Every single petal that his fingers laid down held a special meaning.
Rising to his feet, the Prince saw that a day's work was complete. Hours were spent on just a simple arrangement of petals on the wooden floor of his royal chamber. Every petal possessed its own placement and if placed in the wrong position, the entire piece was lifeless.
Turning behind him, his eyes peered out the window. It was a moonless night and the clouds cloaked her pearly face. Pausing to gaze at its beauty, Stephen wondered if those ominous clouds that hovered over the glorious streets of Montegarde were heavy of rain.
Impossible. Rain never touched Montegarde.
He walked to the window and drew the curtains over the glass, leaving the room completely dark except for the small handheld lantern on his desk.
"That's beautiful." Audrienne murmured in the doorway.
Stephen was startled, but he didn't turn to see her. He didn't know how long she stood there and neither did she herself. "You should request permission before entering."
"I didn't think I needed to."
"I never allowed you to intrude."
Audrienne didn't reply. She didn't enter in through the doorway, nor did she leave. Her figure stood ajar.
"Exactly a week before today, I declared war. Are you still angry?"
"I always have been."
"I have my back turned to you. I'm lying defenseless in front of you. If you hate me, stab me in the back."
"I wouldn't do that." Audrienne casually stepped in his room despite his protests. "If I killed you, I'd never be able to see the complete version of this masterpiece."
Audrienne stood beside him, gazing at the floral arrangement on the floor. She recognized the mandala as an instrument of prayer in which monks would seal a prayer in each petal inlaid in the arrangement. After the artwork was completed, they would gather the petals and cast them over the city as the wind would carry their prayers to the people.
"Each petal carries a prayer to save at least one life. Many will die tonight." Stephen explained. Then, he blew out the lantern.
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Humdrum Fairytales - Clouds
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Sleeping clouds. Rain drizzled only lightly now, but it was only a matter of time before the storm would arrive. The clouds were still asleep as the mist spilled over the tide. It was midnight.
"The moon is still hidden behind the clouds…" Edwardo observed, staring into the sky. He had to shield himself from the rain – he was already adapted to the perpetual Montegarde sun.
Looking ahead, he could barely make out the sandy shores of Lystra. The harbor was just over the horizon. The only thing that would separate him from the docks was the fog. There wasn't a single sound to be made that night.
Turning behind him, Edwardo faced the vast Montegarde fleet behind him. 20 armed ships, including his own, waited in stealth that night in the mist. They were waiting for the crack of dawn – the signal for attack. Edwardo counted each unit and verified their positions, confirming none were lost or misplaced. No mistakes were to be made that night.
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"The soldiers have all boarded the ships." Edwardo reported to Caracalla, "Departure is scheduled soon."
"Very well." Caracalla replied. "Evonne is still in Lystra right now. Her entire right arm is currently paralyzed."
"And what is her role in this…?"
"She will bring her to me. But you must understand that neither you or any of your soldiers must touch the girl. Anyone else can be killed except the girl."
"I didn't intend to."
"Good. Other than that, things should go just as planned."
He nodded and dismissed himself.
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Closing his eyes, if only for a brief moment, he remembered the strict directions Caracalla had given to him. "Anyone else can be killed except the girl…" he repeated.
Then silently, he waited in the fog until attack.
Damian's eyes slowly opened and the wooden roof of the inn burned into his vision. For the past week, he slept with his back on the hard wooden floor as Lillian had the bed to herself. Nevertheless – he didn't mind.
His eyes opened wider to see the light flickering over the wood. "Lillian…? Are you still awake?" He asked, concerned.
"Oh!" She exclaimed in a whisper, "I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to wake you up." Hastily, she blew out the lantern and the darkness was restored.
Damian grumbled, "Well it's too late for that now. You blew it. And you wasted a match too because you're going to relight that thing."
"Sorry…" She apologized with a smile. If one thing, he was still brutally honest.
Damian sat up as the fire flickered on, "Why don't you just go to sleep?"
"I can't sleep for some reason." She explained.
Damian had to blink several times before the images in front of him cleared themselves. Lillian's blanket was half thrown onto the floor, and her pillow seemed deflated. Now, she sat at the table with a lantern beside her, staring down at nothing at all.
"Well there's no need for you to stay awake either. You go back to sleep."
"No, no. You didn't catch it the first time. It's too late now." Standing up, he stretched out his muscles and groggily drifted to the table. "I have to stay awake with you now. I decided, and you should know that once I've decided I'll do something, I never turn back."
Lillian smiled. A few months ago, he probably would have just popped his head down and heartlessly went back to sleep. "Thanks…"
"Are you sick?" He asked, concerned.
She shook her head, "I don't think so."
"Maybe a fever… or a cold."
"Eheh, no I'm fine."
"Are you feeling lightheaded anywhere?"
"I don't think-"
"You should get some rest."
"Really now. I would if I could."
"Yeah that does make sense…" Damian paused for a second
Lillian sighed, bending over onto the table. With her arms folded out onto the surface, she rested her chin atop them. "Tonight's just a bad night for me..."
Damian turned to look out the window, "It seems like there's going to be another storm tonight. It'll be loud."
"No… it's not that." She hesitated at first to tell him.
"What is it?"
"I don't know…" She said. Her gaze was fixed on the veined patterns that ran across the wood. "I had a dream. It was both you and I… we were going somewhere. We were running atop the heavens. You were going so fast that I couldn't catch up. You held my hand and pulled me through the clouds, but still I couldn't keep up. Then finally, I couldn't follow anymore, and my hand slipped from yours… And then I fell from the clouds and down into the earth."
"Lillian…"
She didn't continue. She wanted to speak, but each time she tried she would choke on her words.
The words she spoke startled him. He couldn't decide whether it was a premonition or simply surfacing paranoiac feelings. The blood in his veins trickled through his arms and drained away, leaving him as pale as a ghost. He laughed, trying to shake away the gravity. "I think you're just paranoid." Damian teased. "If I'm going to fast, just tell me, but if I keep running, then you take that as a hint."
"Damian…" She didn't find it humorous.
"Lillian, I'm not going to let you go." He reassured in a more serious note.
She wanted to believe his words, but deep inside she couldn't help but doubt. "I guess you're right. I think I'm just nervous over absolutely nothing. That's probably why." She believed that if she confessed out loud that she truly believed it, it might come true.
"You know, I think I found a solution."
She lifted her head up. "What is it?" She looked hopeful.
"I think you're just hungry."
"No I think I'm full…" She said quite confidently.
Damian glanced at the empty bowl of chocolates. Lillian was one step ahead of him. For the past two days, the two of them were eating off of the mints they served to customers in the waiting room for their midnight snack. "Here, let me go refill that for you."
"You don't have to."
"I've made up my mind, Lillian." Stubbornly, he grabbed the empty bowl and headed out the door. Since there was probably no one awake, he could shamelessly refill his supply from the front desk.
Afterwards, Damian left as Lillian sat alone in the room. Staring at the flickering lantern, she saw the wax fall like tears.
Held tightly in her hand, she held a moist sheet of paper. She quickly folded it as Damian woke, trying to hide it from him. She was relieved that he hadn't asked her why she got out of bed in the first place, or what she was doing at the table. He was probably too sleepy to notice when she quickly blew out the light as soon as she heard him. He couldn't know what was written inside that paper.
Hastily, she folded it and hid it inside her clothes.
At the same time, Damian was worried about Lillian. Holding the wooden bowl in his hand, he wondered what she was speaking of. He tried acting relaxed in front of her so he could fool her in thinking he had everything in control. Perhaps that was part of fooling himself that he could solve everything.
Just then, as he reached the front desk, the seemingly endless supply of mints were gone. What? Someone else is stealing those mints. Damn... I have competition.
"You want these don't you…?" An old woman by the counter asked. She must have been waiting for customers who arrived late at night. Damian figured that they'd have someone working graveyard shift at least if they had the place open in general while the rest were closed. Beside her was a small, hotel cart. On top were small, midnight-dishes on a white tablecloth. Beside the cart were gloves, knives, scissors, tongs, and a large axe that was probably used for cutting meat. She had a white apron wrapped around her protruding waste which matched with the bonnet tied around her graying hair.
"No, I was just-"
"Yeah, just take it. I know what you want." The woman tossed the bag to him.
Damian sighed. He knew the management would catch on sooner or later. He took the bag, thanked the lady, and walked back to the hotel room.
Lillian didn't even glance at him as he returned. Her eyes were fixed on the dim light burning from the lantern. She was still as sleepless as she was before.
Damian never considered himself much of a conversationalist, but he gave it a few attempts to try and get Lillian's mind off of her dream. He talked about black and white subjects of the most mundane things, though they weren't successful. After a while, he figured he'd try a different approach – bore her with his rambling until she fell asleep.
Eventually, as they busied their mouths with nonsensical talk and mints, Lillian was almost able to take her mind from the gravity. Afterwards, they didn't address the subject again.
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The fog was incredibly and unusually thick and the clouds of the heavens were low upon the earth. Standing atop the fifth floor of the tower, the streets below Edgar were blurred away almost to invisibility. The tower seemed to stretch so high into the skies that it reached above the heavens. Laid out in front of him, fields of cotton threw themselves at his feet, deceiving his eyes with false homage to hide the evil below.
His eyes carefully followed the white ghosts as his heart accelerated. It was an inaudible mystery that they held inside them. They peeked at him mischievously as though they knew of a misfortunate future to dawn upon the King.
The storm will be heavy tonight… He observed. The weather was the most mysterious spirits of all.
Suddenly, a loud pound was struck against the door behind him. It sounded like an explosion. Startled, he span around as the two wooden doors burst open. Hastily, his messenger rushed towards him as if to save his life.
"Master Edgar!" He yelled, gasping for breath. He ran down the hallway to the giant, glass window that stood at the end. Standing by it, Edgar's silhouette stared directly at him with fearsome eyes.
"What is it?" Edgar asked urgently. "What could possibly be so important at this hour?"
"Earlier this evening, a terrified fisherman came to us and claimed he saw strange shadows in the mist over the horizon," the messenger reported. Pausing, he waited for a breath of air before he continued. Edgar's eyes grew angrier as each sentence passed. "After, we sent spies out into the ocean to investigate and when they returned, they claimed that they saw Montegarde ships hiding in the fog-"
"What!" Edgar was alarmed.
"They reported at least 8 of them. Their estimate is that there are about 20 of them hiding in front of our harbor, waiting for attack They're only a few miles away from our shores."
Edgar was pale. He felt the blood rush down from his face like streams. "Send the alarm throughout the city. We can't waste any more time."
"What shall we do?"
So they've decided to declare war… Looking out upon the seemingly innocent mist, he could only predict a grim future. "Send the signal, and tell the mages to cast a barrier over the city. But before you send out the signals, send me General Ian and Diana."
"Yes." Just as swiftly as he entered, the messenger left.
He looked out at the window and the same innocuous clouds hovered over the city. Faintly, his eyes traveled the main road the led straight from the tower to the harbor. To the right and left of the main road, the city slept peacefully without a thought of danger.
Both Ian and Diana were fast asleep in the tower that night before they were urgently awaken by Edgar's royal messenger. Half awake, they received the message and their request with the King. Much against their will, they were forced out of bed and rushed to meet with Edgar without time to dress themselves.
Diana asked the messenger what was so urgent, but he refused to tell them until they met with Edgar. She hoped it wasn't something grand, but as she glanced at her brother's face, she knew he was expecting a war. His face was stern – prepared for the battle.
Shortly after, the messenger returned to the hallway of the fifth floor, notifying Ian and Diana's entrance.
"What is it?" Ian asked concerned, fully alert now.
"I apologize for waking you two at this hour, but this is urgent. Montegarde fleets have been spotted only a few miles from shore."
"You can't be serious…" Both Ian and Diana's faces showed the same expression Edgar had when he first discovered the news.
"Hurry, you must gather the soldiers. You must gather the ships and try to intercept their paths. We don't have any time to waste."
Ian nodded.
"I'll give you further instructions later." Then, he turned to Diana. Her face was still white. "Diana, you must rush down to the city and find Lillian and Damian. It's unsafe here."
She already knew what to do.
"You have to take them out of here. Assist their escape out into the forests. They'll be safer there."
"What will we do from there?"
"I'll notify Master Riona. At all costs, you must return them to Galatea."
"Roger."
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The midnight dinner was somber by the gentle fire burning in the lantern. The two ate quietly in piety to the silence with a small cup of conversation to share around the table. Though it was dry, it satisfied their thirst for words.
Lillian still had a lot on her mind and she couldn't seem to ease herself of it. Bringing the broth they cooked to her lips, she felt it sizzle upon her tongue and slip down her throat. The warmth spread throughout her body in that cold midnight.
The rain was tapping loudly against the window now. The storm had begun. The thunder rumbled softly outside, though it didn't disturb the two much.
Just then, Damian froze. He paused with a blank, but perturbed look on his face.
"What is it?" Lillian asked, noticing the worry that had come over him.
Abruptly he turned around and faced the window "I thought I just heard something."
"There's nothing out the-"
"Blow out the light. I can't see," Damian interrupted. Briskly, he stood up to move closer to the window.
She did as instructed.
The walls changed from reddish yellow into a dull aqua. A shadow was cast across Lillian's face as she anxiously looked on to see out the window. As Damian stared out the window, a peculiar light was blinking from the outside. Quickly wiping away the fog with his sleeve, he carefully made out the blinking light from the tip of the tower.
A spark of electricity flashed at the tip, being the point that could be seen from anywhere in Lystra. He couldn't tell whether it was simply a spark of lightning that had struck the steeple, or some sort of signal.
"What is it…?" Lillian noticed it too. The two stared at it without a thought for several minutes.
"I don't know." He replied
Casually, trying not to attract attention, Diana walked through the shadows so she couldn't be seen. Quickly, she made her way down to the street where the inn stood. As she reached the door, she saw that it was closed, but she entered anyway.
As the door slowly opened, the bell rang, waking up the innkeeper. Confused at why someone would come by so late at night, he quickly got out of bed and walked down to the main desk with a lantern. From a distance, the front desk was still as empty as he left it in the evening.
As he entered the small, humbly-furnished lobby, he saw an attractive woman waiting at the desk. Her dark hair was tied up in a bundle with two chopsticks.
"What is it…?" He asked, a bit irritated from the rude awakening.
"Sorry to wake you." she apologized, "But as I was walking by, it seems that the fire in your furnace has gone out. Would you like me to relight it?"
Suddenly, as if his soul had been taken from him, his face grew as pale as snow. His eyes were as wide as walnuts. He didn't seem to move at all. "Since when…?" He asked in a hoarse whisper.
"Not to long ago. Probably around this evening." The two spoke in code. During the war when Lystra was invaded, a code language disguising symbols in everyday conversation was invented to pass along secrets so that the Montegarde soldiers who slept at their inns and drank at their bars wouldn't overhear their plans.
The signal was a puff of green smoke from the chimney. It came from an herb that had an awful smell, but was to ward off insects and diseases during the cold seasons. Though usually only prepared in small portions, if one was to see the vivid green smoke from a chimney, he was to light his own furnace with the herb and evacuate. Still years later, many still remembered the code.
The innkeeper slowly nodded, still as petrified as before. "I'll notify the rest."
"Please do so discreetly. Others were sent out to warn the rest of the city." The attack couldn't cause a commotion. If panic arose, the Montegarde fleet would realize that their attack had been discovered. "But first, I must visit a friend of mine. I hope you won't mind."
"Of course not. Thank you for dropping by to tell me."
"There's something outside." Lillian whispered.
Damian turned from the window and eyed the wooden door suspiciously. He heard the same noise. Putting one hand on his sword, he cautiously inched to the door.
Lillian wouldn't move a muscle.
Suddenly, there was a loud knock against the door, startling two of them. "Who is it?" Damian interrogated.
"Oh Damian, I'm glad you're awake. I was afraid that I'd have to knock harder." A familiar voice spoke.
The two of them relaxed. Relieved, Damian opened the door, "What are you doing here?" He said rudely.
"Close the door behind you would you?" Her poise was casual as she entered the room. It was still dark, though her eyes adjusted to the dim lighting.
Damian shut the door and reset the lock and chain, "What's the meaning of this?"
She turned to Damian. "We're under attack. We have to evacuate as soon as possible. We don't have much time."
"What?" Lillian exclaimed.
Diana walked to the edge of the room and pushed the bed aside. Below was a blue, knitted carpet that was placed over the wood. As if she performed the procedure many times, she pulled the rug away and threw it over the bed, revealing a trapdoor hidden underneath. It's still here, she silently observed, relieved. "During the invasion, the taxes on food and supplies greatly rose so the underground tunnels were created to transport food and water to different homes. We also used them to hide escaped prisoners and soldiers. They still exist today as means of evacuation. It was the same model that the cabin in Riona was built after." She lifted up the hatch and revealed a stairway leading down into the earth. "If we travel through here it'll be safer than traveling above ground. If Montegarde soldiers invaded the area, we'd be dead."
"We should take this since it'll be dark down there." Lillian took the lantern from the table and walked towards the opening and stared down into the darkness. Damian seemed more skeptical than she was.
"Where does it lead? What's the possibility we might get lost in there? We might never find a way out." Damian queried, having not moved from his spot since she entered.
"There are many tunnels underground, but there's one that leads into the forest. The whole reason why Edgar sent me here was to take you down there."
Damian still didn't fully trust Edgar.
"Damian, hurry." Lillian said as she carefully stepped down the stairway into the basement, "We don't have much time."
To Damian, it didn't seem very comfortable underground although he didn't have much choice. Grumbling, he followed Diana down into the darkness. The only thing that lit their way was the lantern.
As Diana closed and locked the latchet above her, the rug automatically placed itself over the trapdoor. The room appeared as if no one had been there in the first place.
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Edgar's heartbeat raced as he knelt and prayed before the statue in the Cathedral. The rain was wild and the thunder roared loudly in his ears, but he let nothing distract him. He had his sweaty palms clasped tightly together in prayer.
Though he wasn't a Lystra native, he prayed for the protection of the city. His own country betrayed him and cast him out like an atrocity. Lystra was the city that saved his life and it was a city he would die for. What he feared was that the war that had nearly devastated Lystra would reoccur again. He was sure that he wouldn't be able to withstand if history repeated itself.
As a child, he would never have imagined himself in the place where he knelt. Like many others in the lost generation, he was a child born shortly after the war started. He and his twin brother were the only ones left of his clan. From as far as he could remember, his mother sold him and his twin brother into slavery as children to save their lives. His clan was a small village east of Montegarde that possessed a fearsome power and because of it, they were exterminated by the enemies of war to prevent them from being used by the government.
For all his life, he and his twin brother were trained to be soldiers to fight for Montegarde – that was the fate of most boys who had grown up in that time. Never once did he question his purpose in the world, but simply accepted his fate as becoming a soldier. He was taught by his masters that it was an honor to fight for the glory of his country and he believed in that ideal throughout his life.
The two always stuck with each other because they knew if they lost each other, they wouldn't last. They never fought for glory, fame, or patriotism. They only fought so they could hold an importance in the military and as long as they needed them, they were fed and had a roof kept over their heads. They never put in less than what they were fully capable of - afraid they would be trashed away as they were as children.
Finally in their early youth, the general noticed their exceptional ability. They were the top in all of their ranks, training, and performance that the two were held second to the General. It was that time when they discovered their origin and the roots of their clan. Edwardo changed a lot then and the two weren't nearly as close as they were in the past, but Edgar simply blamed it on the change of weather.
The war continued, and the two fed off of the lives they stole so they could survive themselves. Like scavengers, they killed whomever they could find and each time they were praised for it. Every time the sun rose over their heads, numerous men died from their hands but they never realized the concept of death. To them, their amazingly insignificant deaths were just a number to be counted.
That winter, the war had taken a turn for the worst. After the Riona Massacre, the general was killed in battle and Edgar was to assume the position after him. Always standing behind, Edwardo always desired the position as general but as long as his brother was there, he would never receive it. His brother was always only slightly ahead of him in everything.
The night before the coronation, Edwardo had secretly tricked his twin Edgar deep into the forest where no one could see him. It was the night before they marched into Lystra and Edwardo coveted his place as being the one to be the one to lead them. Tying him to a tree with a knife staked into his hands, he left him there to die as he fabricated a lie that he had gone off in the forest and killed himself, unable to hold the responsibility of a general.
For several days, Edgar waited in the forest half dead, waiting for the shadow of death to fall over him. Nearly unconscious, a man untied him and hid him in a shelter inside the forest. His name was Christopher, a wanderer who left behind everything in Vienna.
As Edgar awoke, the man explained how he was running from Montegarde soldiers. Christopher untied him solely because he wasn't able to fight off the Montegarde soldiers by himself. With his help, he might have had a better chance at survival and vice versa.
Longing to be justified, Edgar rushed to meet with the soldiers whom Christopher spoke of, pleading to them that he was alive but they too betrayed him. Many suspected Edwardo of murdering his twin brother for the position although they served him in fear. They tried to kill Edgar in that same fear of their general, but their fate was to die by his hand.
For almost a year, the two used each other for their own survival in the forests.
Slowly as he opened his eyes, he was relieved to break away from the illusions of his mind, escaping into reality for only a brief moment. As his eyes wandered around, he found himself at the feet of the Thunder God. He didn't even notice that beads of sweat had fallen from his head and dripped down to his chin. They were almost like blood.
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Edwardo hadn't taken his eyes away from the same spot the entire night. Staring at the shadows lying ahead through the fog, he noticed something peculiar about the city that lied beneath his twin's control.
Everything was so peaceful. Too peaceful.
Knowing his brother, he would never have been so ignorant. Edwardo would have hidden deeper into the fog but he purposely made his fleet clear to him. It was unusual that the city would stay quiet. Edgar would have discovered his fleet by then.
Playing dumb are you, Edgar?
He signaled behind him for the captain without taking his eyes from the circular glass window, "The plans have been changed."
"What?" The captain replied.
"We're going to attack immediately."
"That's absurd! We haven't fully prepared. We were supposed-"
"I gave out the order. It's your job to send the message. Nothing more."
Silently protesting, he left the bridge, though he didn't dare to oppose him. Edwardo watched impassively at the passive shores of Lystra as he heard the captain announce to prepare for attack.
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With his hands clasped together, Edgar could feel the wounds in his hands throb heavily. Though that night was cold, his skin felt like it was on fire. The rain from outside the Cathedral pounded against its stone walls like fiery arrows zooming angrily from the sky.
Steadily, he rose to his feet. His robes fell to the floor like cascading waterfalls as ascended the staircase into the tower. His feet slowly moving up the steps, moving in the tide of deafening silence that rushed toward him. As his foot stepped upon the stone step, the sound ripped through the entire Cathedral.
For about a second, it felt like the entire world had stopped.
Then, before he could even turn his head, he heard a crashing explosion from the harbor. Standing alone in the chapel, he saw the walls of the tower, the symbol of glory, shake and tremble. They trembled as the pandemonium screeched in his ears. He stood as petrified as stone, completely terrified. He never felt more afraid in his life.
"Master Edgar!" A voice rang from above.
Still frozen, his messenger flew down the stairway yelling at the top of his lungs.
"We've been hit! We've been hit!" He yelled over and over again.
Without a word, Edgar rushed passed his messenger and up the staircase. Dashing as fast as his feet could carry, they pounded up the stone steps as his tremendous footsteps pounded and echoed through the walls of the tower.
As he reached the fifth level of the tower, he rushed to the window and peered out the window. The sight before his eyes was horrendous. He could feel his bones burn and shiver.
No longer were the mysterious clouds laid out before his feet, but were ebony black clouds that shifted through the wind from the harbor. The silence mocked him as his own heartbeat screamed in his ears.
Now the vibrant orange captivated his eyes in horror. The soothing tap-dance of rain was drowned away by shrills of inconceivable fear. Looking down the main road that led to the ocean, he could see ships slowly moving towards the harbor. The old fishing stores and the private canoes were all broken away and engulfed in the giant fire. It looked like a giant creature had eaten away at the earth as a big chunk was completely destroyed from the landscape
Yet what was worse, as he looked closely, the fire licked away at the secret underground tunnels. The moonlight fell upon it clearly for any eye to see. Soldiers could easily enter in through the harbor and find those taking refuge within.
The cloud of danger hovered over Lystra that night.
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A/N – Yay, it's starting.