In the midst of the raging sand dunes somewhere in the fringes of Soccora, violent gusts of wind engulfed her mother's face. Shia cried and screamed, but even those were lost in the winds. She was terrified - too terrified for words. But her mother's face was calm and reassuring as she turned to her and said her last words.
"Remember, my daughter, you are strong. Stronger than you think you can ever be..." She whispered.
And just like that, her mother’s lovely face turned into sand and faded away with the howling wind...
Shia sat down immediately as wakefulness pulled her from the grasp of her constant nightmare. Cold sweats racked her frail body, and they made her olive skin shiver against the night sky as more and more tears rushed down from her face. Her silvery flowing hair clung to her face as she subdued her sobs and fought away the tears that flowed so generously.
Despite seeing the same nightly vision for months now, the shock and fright of her family’s death still loomed so freshly upon her soul, and every day was a life of torture...
She quickly looked around to see if any of the ruffians guarding the pack saw her wake up from the dream, but thankfully none seemed to do so.
She could just imagine the beatings she would take if they found her awake from her nightmare once more. But then again, they had been beating her every night since they captured her as her nightly screaming and thrashing would cause a ruckus, so even they must be too tired to do it again that day.
All at once, she wiped her tremendous sweat with the hem of her oversized shirt and rested her head on the rock once again while she pondered in the dead of the night.
The tragedy happened three months ago, but everything was still so fresh in Shia’s memory.
After running away with her family from Tightwater as a young girl, all she had known was the life of a wanderer. She was no stranger to the perils of constant hunger, the weather changes, and the need for good hunting tools and skills.
At seven, she had become adept in the arts of medicine and hunting. She can recognize plants and treat any common ailments even when she was half asleep. Her father would jokingly say that she can live on her own at ten.
Now, it seems such a rueful thought. Even though she will be eighteen by the next full moon, she wondered how she could continue living after losing her whole family from that massacre in the sand dunes.
What else could it be if it was not a massacre? Before her whole family turned into sand and became one with the sand storm, she sensed nothing.
The sky was bright and clear, but in a minute, it turned dark and gigantic blobs of sand appeared. After that came a stench similar to a million rotting corpses. The smell was so overpowering that Shia’s body began to tremble and sweat. She felt so nauseous, and she started to vomit violently.
Surprisingly, no one – not her parents nor her younger sisters and brother seemed to be bothered by the smell. Everybody seemed surprise to see her get sick in the midst of a brewing storm.
The wind became thicker with more sand as the storm approached them. Suddenly, in the midst of the spinning dirt and stones, Shia saw a figure approaching.
Is it a man, a person? Surrounded by a purplish tinge of putrid smoke, Shia saw an entity whose face wore a glowing red stone.
As the entity approached, the red blood stone gathered more light and everybody came to look at it. At that moment, Shia saw her father, her siblings, and her mother turn into sand almost simultaneously, and they became one with the storm.
Just like that, she was left orphaned and alone.
‘What was it? What kind of imp was it?’ She thought impatiently as the night deepened. Was it a real person? Was it a cursed one just like her? It had to be, right? It had to be a cursed one too. Only a cursed one could have turned her mother, father, and the rest of her family into pillars of sand...
Several moons ago, on the day after Shia turned five, her father discovered that she can make all kinds of plants magically appear from the ground if she wills it. At that point, his father decided that the whole family must leave their village in secret and must begin to live a life in hiding.
Ever since the appointment of King Caldwell, cursed ones – people like Shia who could do unusual feats – must be immediately reported to the Imperial Palace and be killed.
An old prophesy foretold of the fall of the Kingdom of Gascone in the hands of a Demon King – a king that possesses a power so vast and a heart so ruthless that he will bring upon the destruction of all the kingdoms of the earth with his bare hands.
When some people began to miraculously gain special powers, everybody thought that the prophecy might soon be fulfilled. They started believing that cursed ones were tainted by the devil himself and that they would stand beside the Demon King in a war that would break the world.
Shia’s father used to laugh at the thought of killing cursed ones. He cannot even bring himself to call their skills as ‘curses.’ Over the years, he had witnessed how friends, neighbours, and people he had known were torn from their families and killed to prevent a silly prophecy. They spared no one – nobles or slaves, the rich or the poor.
In the Imperial Palace’s eyes, everyone who is different is tainted with evil. But how can her sweet, young girl who can grow pretty flowers become the pawn of the devil?
That was the very reason why the whole family left their small quaint village in Tightwater. Her father could not risk his child, his firstborn, to be reported to the Imperial Palace and be slain just because of a stupid prediction. Moreover, he made sure that no one would be able to harm her without risking his or her life.
From childhood, he trained Shia as well as he could in the art of fighting – sword fight, fist fight, and archery, but she fell in love with dagger throwing the most. If Shia ever finds herself dragged against her will one day for possessing a curse (or a gift, as his father sees it), his father said that she had to make sure that she would give them hell first.
Shia carried the dagger that his father had given her since they left their hometown at five years old, and it had become like an extension of her hands and body ever since.
Just to keep her alive for eighteen years, Shia’s father, her mother and four younger siblings had to go from place to place and live the life of a nomad.
All her younger siblings were born to her mother while they were travelling. They never had a normal childhood. They did not have any other friends nor were they able to stay at one place for fear of Shia getting caught. They had to conceal their identities and forget any kind of comfort just to keep her safe from the grasp of the army and the king who believed in curses.
And now, because of a cursed one like her, all of those that she had loved – her kind mother, her quick witted father, her cleaver brother Ran, her twin sisters, Alia and Noran who always asked her for pears, and her infant sister, Aram – all she had ever loved and cared for - were gone...
Becoming the lone survivor of the tragedy made it all the more painful for Shia. Why does it have to be always her? Why did she have to be the reason they suffered in life and be the one to witness all of their deaths? Why didn’t she just die with them?
In her heart, she felt she deserved all of it. Her family had long suffered because she was born. Now, they had all died and left her without anything or anyone, so it was perhaps the way of fate to make her suffer.
She hated herself more than ever, but there was one person she hated more than anything else...
Full of vengeful thoughts, Shia grabbed her fist so tight that it felt light blood would come out of them.
“I swear, whatever you are in the sand storm – person or not - I will kill you. I will kill you a thousand times over and bury you in the sand. And then, I will go for the neck of your blood thirsty king...” Shia muttered under her breath as she slipped into another uneasy slumber. Such are the thoughts that had kept her alive until now.
A sudden blunt pain came to Shia’s side as one of the guards nudged her from behind. “Get up!” he yelled. Shia immediately sat up while patting the side where the guard has nudged her with the heel of his sword. It was a glorious morning. A few birds cawed from overhead. They must be travelling somewhere around Ylann by now as the forest had gotten more luscious around these parts. One by one, Shia can see the other bandits wake up and began preparing for breakfast. The air was beginning to be filled with the smell of smoke and roasted bird meat from the hunt a night before. In this group, there were about twelve bandits – all grown men who were muscular, gruff, and dirty. Ever since the new king has been put to the throne, many low class criminals had put themselves in business by capturing cursed ones, and either holding them for ransom for their families (if they were rich) or collecting the rewards the Imperial Palac
Shia saw an opening, and immediately, she tried to attack him on his left side. The boy was swift, and he swung away from Shia, leaving a gash in his dark cape. Shia tried again, this time aiming for the boy’s face. This left him with no choice but to drop his hands from his eyes and hold Shia’s left arm to prevent the dagger from doing further damage. As he grabbed her wrist, his glowing red eye was locked into hers, but Shia did not care, and she tried to push all the weight of her body on her hands. He was too strong for her though, and he was able to resist the dagger from going further to his face. She wrestled her with all her might, but he was really strong. After a while, he began to wear a stunned look in his face when he realized that Shia was not turning into stone. “Why?...” he said in an exasperated tone. Shia was able to release herself from his grasp. This time, she tried to make an overhead attack, but he used his right gauntlet
Splashes of icy cold water enveloped Shia’s body as she took the plunge to the river down below. It felt like she has lost all her will to live as the water drove her down to its surface. Everything was drowned in an abrupt but calming silence. Suddenly, Shia remembered where she was and that she was with someone. She frantically swam upwards into the surface and scanned the scene. The surface of the water was a violent mess. The current tumbled Shia to and fro all over several times before she had spotted a plant root sticking from amongst the rocks. She reached her arms to it and used her powers. It began to magically extend itself and lifted her up to the edge of the water. As soon as she was able to climb on top of the rock where the root was seated, she scanned the water for any signs of the boy. Luckily, she was able to spot his cape bobbing from the surface of the current before coming down again. Without further ado, Shia quickl
Langrion blinked twice, but the vision of the angel did not fade away. She was still there, holding his left hand while she was fast asleep. Did he sleep with this woman? How did he end up here? Honestly, he could not remember a thing. He had never been with any other woman before, so how can he not remember if something like this did happen? The woman stirred a bit and she opened her eyes. Langrion looked back at the set of big brown eyes that he remembered so well from his dreams. They seem to be too lazy to open up, and she eventually fell back into sleep. In a few second however, reality must had sunk in to her, and the woman gasped as she let go of his hand and jumped to the far side of the cave. Langrion immediately sat up, and as he did, the blanket fell down and revealed his ripped chest. The woman – no, it was more like a girl – despite her tanned skin, blushed into a deep crimson color. Langrion felt his ears getting hotter to
Langrion’s wounds ached with every step, but he was still able to outrun the girl. It was a no-brainer – he was taller and probably better-trained than the silver-haired girl that he rescued. It was amazing though how fast and quiet she could be with each step she took. He could see that she too may have had some training in the science of run and pursuit. She was definitely way too different from Lady Edelfina who would never be able to run a race even if meant saving her life. They can hear the bandits scramble about through the forest after them. ‘We would never be able to outrun them,‘ Langrion thought, ‘they are far too many!’ Langrion immediately tried his best to scan the woods and find a place to hide. Suddenly, they heard someone scream. It seemed to be one of their pursuers. If that was the case, someone or something must have been pursuing them too... Seeing a large tree nearby, Langrion pulled the gir
It was a sight to behold - Gascone’s mighty and revered Imperial Prince seemingly caught in a scandalous act with an unknown girl in the woods! Khailis wondered how good of a fodder this scenario would have been for the tavern gossipers. If she had not witnessed it first hand, she might never believe it, but here they were: Prince Langrion (or simply Langery – no need for formalities between them, after all) with a woman in his arms, all spent up from kissing – or maybe from even more than that! Khailis could not help but laugh out loud on her silly thoughts.Irritated, Langrion sighed exasperatedly towards her, “Uh, do you mind giving me a hand?”Khailis looked over at his majesty’s arms and saw the face of a young girl, perhaps the same age as Khailis herself, with long, silvery, flowing hair and a beautiful olive-tinged skin. The girl was completely unconscious, so Khailis wondered what could have happened to her. When Chibi and K
Several hours went by after Langrion, Chibi, and Khailis rejoined the prince’s official envoy, but Khailis was still deeply troubled. No matter how much she thought about his majesty’s ‘perfect plan’ in her mind, it still sounded all wrong. She tried to reason out with Langrion on the way back earlier, but it was no use. He looked very resolute in his idea of marrying the girl in the tree trunk. “Marry her? Are you crazy?! ” she exclaimed, but Langrey was not bothered even for a bit. “Why couldn’t I?” he replied with the matter-of-factly tone he uses when he is being obnoxiously stubborn. Khailis could not believe her ears. “Seriously, your highness! Do you even know this girl?!” “Well, that’s the least of my worries for now.” “Well, does she know about this grand plan of yours? Did she agree to this?” By the looks of the intensity and amount of screaming that took place inside the tree trunk earlier, Khailis did not think that t
Shia’s sleepy, droopy eyes were greeted by so much wet, lopsided kisses all at once, but her body felt far too weak to react. In any case, the kisses didn’t seem threatening at all; it was rather warm and comforting like a big, hot towel during a cold night, and she began to relax a little bit as more and more kisses were planted on her face.In a few more moments though, there was a bit of a commotion, and Shia heard someone drag away the thing that was warming her face.“Chibi!..” Shia heard a low exasperated voice said. “You big doofus! Your highness will catch us at this rate!”After sometime, and perhaps in an attempt to dry and tidy her up, Shia felt a soft cloth brush against her cheeks, and she swiftly caught the hand that held it.The owner, instead of yelping in surprise, sighed.“Very well,” she heard the female voice spoke in a low whisper once again, “you don’t need to grip my