HEARTBOUND // #ONC2021

CHAPTER ONE: LUNUS AZURAN

—𝐙𝐇𝐀𝐑 𝐄𝐑𝐔𝐍𝐀𝐒—

It hadn’t taken long for Zhar to notice Niv wasn’t in the town square. The moon festival was now in full swing, but it had never been difficult to spot her—she had a habit of sticking to walls and outskirts, watching people as if at any moment someone might jump at her with a knife.

Zhar had taken advantage of her absence at first, dancing with her neighbours and eating fruit cakes until she started to feel sick. But her mind kept skipping back to Niv. She was haughty, true, but she was always there. The fact that she was gone was strange, and for a few reasons. 

First, Nivaria Isen’han was a stickler for duty. She was precise to the very letter of the law, and she followed rules that Zhar hadn’t even known existed. She would rather be caught dead than in trouble, which Zhar had learned very irritatingly firsthand and occasionally even resented her for. There was no way she would have skipped the most important event of the year, even if being present meant her own life was at stake. 

Second, Lunus Azuran—festival of love, fortune, prosperity and generally all things warm and fuzzy—was Niv’s birthday. Zhar found it odd that such an uptight and rigid woman could have been born on the same night as Mitheran’s sacred blue moon, considering she seemed to eschew the notions of friends, joy, or anything fun. She’d probably never even laughed; and if she had, Zhar hadn’t been around to see it. But despite being the living contradiction to the festival’s entire moral, she was obligated to be there.

Last, and perhaps most annoyingly, Niv had personally appointed herself to monitor Zhar’s movements, quoting a supposed need to keep her out of trouble. She’d protested, obviously, but nothing could stand in Niv’s way once she set her mind on something. This had led to what Zhar had come to affectionately refer to as the Escapades. A combination of attempts to shake Niv off her tail, harmless mischief and unfortunate accidents had culminated in a reputation that did her no favours in terms of securing an apprenticeship. As of late, Niv had been a near-constant reminder of the fact that she’d failed to find someone to apprentice to, a reprimand close at hand for any prank gone wrong. 

Where could she possibly be?

Not that Zhar missed her presence, of course. It was nice not to be stifled, and Lunus Azuran was a holiday about doing the things you love. For her, that was being able to chill for one night without worrying about responsibility. Or the looming presence of her very own personal armed escort.

And speaking of that armed escort, the other denizens of Mitheran’s own temple had deigned to descend from their lofty stone caves and grace the town square with their presence. Their thick blue cloaks didn’t stand out for once, the same hue as the white and blue banners that hung all around the square. High Priestess Sumari lead her little group of the faithful, a simple stone-carved circlet resting upon her dark head and the pommel of a handaxe gleaming at her side.

It took only a few moments to confirm that Niv was not among the paladins. She was their prodigal daughter, training to join the ranks of the holy warriors who defended Mitheran against the wrath of the griffons—the awful winged beasts that would descend upon their town without warning to attack without mercy. It was their sacred duty to defend their people and repel the beasts. Zhar hadn’t seen it up close (she had been too concerned with hiding) but she’d been assured that a paladin of Mitheran duelling a griffon was a sight to behold.

“Ogling the paladins?” teased a familiar voice, a buff arm dropping around Zhar’s shoulders a moment later. Rayan, her older sibling. 

She stuck out her tongue in response. “Staying out of their way, more like. You know Sumari would have me scrubbing the temple floors for weeks if I so much as breathed wrong near her.”