A Child of the Night (pt. 1)
A chilly wind blew through the trees, bristling the leaves, as Ciar strode along the rundown road which tore through the woods. Her nightgown, the skirts of which nearly six inches deep in mud, did absolutely nothing against the night’s cool breath, and she was grateful for the warm cloak over her shoulders. She neared the end of the woods, staying strictly on the path, having walked all night under the blanket of stars for a moment of peace and quiet, away from the bustling noises of her household.
Ciar was the third oldest child of seven. Her mother, a seamstress, and her father, the town’s most well-off blacksmith, had married in their youth and bore their first child, her brother Edmond, within a year of their marriage and conceived her sister Aloisia mere months after Edmond’s birth. About two years separated Ciar from Aloisia and three from her younger brother Aiden, the fourth child. Aloisia had married the baker’s son this past year, at the age of 19, but this did nothing to calm Ciar’s younger siblings. In fact Aloisia’s absence contributed to the madness of their household. A small smile formed on Ciar’s lips as she recalled the beautiful wedding that took place last summer.
Ciar broke free of the woods, and stood at the top of the hill overlooking her small town, just as dawn broke in the east. She stood there, admiring the beauty of Aurora’s painting, the goddess of dawn and dusk. It wasn’t until a bright blue light glew behind her did Ciar tear her eyes away from the sky, bathed in pinks and oranges.
Deep in the woods that blue light glowed, no- pulsed. A thrumming sounded in her chest as Ciar drew herself closer to that calming light. She didn’t even notice her feet beating against the muddy ground with a panther’s grace as she tore through the trees towards that thriving light.
Ciar arrived at a clearing in which the light shone bright and before her stood the most beautiful woman Ciar had ever seen. Bathed completely that blue light, with the phases of the moon painted on her forehead stood what could only be a goddess. Diana, if the phases of the moon meant anything. The goddess of the moon stood before Ciar, and she almost fell to her knees in awe. But her face seemed ever so familiar.
“Hello child,” Diana spoke, her voice as smooth as silk and clear as glass. Ciar could get lost in that voice. “I am here to warn you. Warn and inform you. There is a Dark Evil that is coming. Coming for you. You must leave, or else your home will be destroyed.”
“W-what?” Ciar’s voice, no more than a pained, confused whisper.
“You are not what you seem, my child.” The way she spoke was familiar for heartbreak laced her voice, and Ciar had heard plenty of heartbroken voices in her time. “Your parents did not birth you. Eighteen years ago your mother and father found a swaddled child on their doorstep with a note from the gods commanding them to take care of that child. Eighteen years ago, you were found, my dear, and taken in by your parents.” Ciar stood there in complete and utter silence, the blood draining from her face, her knees trembling as Diana continued, “A prophecy was had about your birth: life and death. That you would bathe the world in complete darkness with your birth, used for your power throughout your life, a power so strong it could control anything and everything, and that the world would be set on fire with your death.” Diana paused for a heartbeat before she continued, “It broke my heart to let you go…my one and only child.” Everything froze. Even the early morning doves had silenced their waking chirps. “But to keep you safe from harm, it was my only choice.
“Right now Dark Evil races for you, to take you and use you to burn the world and bring all souls into his Hellfire. You must stop him, hide from him, my darling Ci-” Diana froze, her head snapping to Ciar’s right. “He is coming. I don’t have any more time to explain…Take this. It will cut through anything as strong as steel and will save you more than once.” Diana handed her a moonstone dagger, and as Diana forced it into Ciar’s hand, it glowed with a shadowy ember before a sheath and belt formed out of those shadows. A series of terrifying howls sounded through the woods.
“You must go! Find the underworld, suffocate His fires with your shadows before He can burn through you.” Those howls again… “You must not go home! He will follow you and his hounds will tear through your family and your town. Run Ciar!”
The growing volume of those terrifying and inhumane howls are what sent Ciar running in the opposite direction. Her boots smacked against the ground with hard slaps as she ran for her life. There was no way she would make it. She prayed to the gods…to her mother, that she would be given the strength to outrun those terrifying howls, and whatever came with them.
A note from The Author: This is a progressing story. The next edition will be released shortly.
