Maybe In Our Next Life

The beginning of the End ~ Chapter 1

The screams were deafening, the clash of swords and the flags which rose high into the humid air were witnesses to the terror that had befallen Venemon. The bodies that laid low to survive and the bodies that laid without breathe also stood as evidence of the selfishness of the veticans that were in charge of the wellbeing of the low-lifes, as they called them. The nobles went to war for pride, they went to war when other nations didn't bend to their pride, they went to war because they had nothing to lose, but the low-lifes had everything to lose, they were at the fore front , at the receiving end, they were the  nest set by the noble to store up riches to build an empire.

" Papa, no...." a little boy screamed, he was terrified, no one had expected it, they had promised peace , they had promised unity but our eyes beheld the polar opposites, lines that didn't meet, worlds  that didn't collide. They were on the verge of losing everything, everything they had managed to store up for survival, every crumbs they had been able to gather from the empire of the noble for the last decade. In a blink it was all crashing down like a wall built with sand. Mothers kissed their sons for the last time, wives exchange dying breathes with their husbands and soulmates were only left with the promise of forever... a forever drown in despair, loneliness and terror. Yvaine Pax had watched her grandmothers forever whose guts had been  thrust into with the very sword that swore peace. Forever... that was just a fairytale, an escape for those who had become weary of reality, a lie wrapped in a gift box adorned with perfect stones... only imaginary..utter nonsense!

"Mama asked you for you over an hour ago", ahh Rosie, papa's favorite youngster. She was not a direct blood of Yvaine Pax and Francesca Garcia, Yvaine's mother,  but was loved like their very own. Rosie Pax was the only thing Mama and papa saw eye to eye on, the only thing they ever agreed and shared interest in, they fought about every other thing, disagreed with the each path each had chosen to take , a new family for papa and the old one for mother, but the love they had for Yvaine and Rosie was the only string that linked them to the borders of family. Yvaine had been born into a dysfunctional family, she only remembered the screams and yells of mama who begged and roared at dad every night when the roosters had begun to tell the villagers the tale of night. Papa was very driven, he could not control the manhood he had been blessed with, he drove it through all the brothels in the town. But maybe it was worth it, he had found his love, the one who he chose to hand the deceitful gift of forever too, the gift that once belonged to mama -  Alice, o such a nicely deceitful woman who had swore change, one too loving to be hated by mama.  Yvaine never understood why, why mama was so loving and accepting  of the very rift that had created a drift between her and papa, the very rift that had kept her from realizing the family she had so much dreamt about since her young age.

"over an hour ago?" 

"hmm" replied Rosie as she kicked through the dried leaves that had been subjected to the torture of the sun, those abandoned leaves reminded Yvaine of her Venemon, the war had made the nation just as desolate looking , yet so beautiful as beautiful looking as the dried of leaves that once told a beautiful tale. 

" and now you tell me?" Yvaine says as she stare at Rosie pale skin, oh how endearing she was "well... I was..."   

" Arne again?" Yvaine  ask as walk over to the field of leaves Rosie had proceeded to lay in, she takes a seat beside her step-sister to listen in on the excuse she would come up with

 " oh this better be good" .   Arne was Rosie's best friend, her family were considered to be part of the noble lineage and with such relation Rosie could enjoy some of the finest things Arne could command, things  Papa was unable to provide because of his status and his indiscipline 

" yes I couldn't resist ... her mama promised us red meat and ..." 

"black bread !", now Yvaine clearly understood why Rosie had forgotten, only the elites could afford such prize,  Rosie favorite 

"yeah.. she had us go to Megyn's stream for a bucket for water in return and I got carried away while we played in the streams" she said sheepishly. 

"okay, what would mama have me do, any idea ?" 

"well, I did hear that the Rowans and something along the lines of a feast...or maybe not" Rosie said she laid her weight upon Yvaine lap, Yvaine did not like the idea of going to the upper- Town and worse she wanted nothing to do with the Nobels -  what could mama want with them she thought , but there was only one way to find out. Yvaine stood up causing Rosie to lose her comfort " not...where are you going ?" 

 " I would have  to attend to mama's matter to know the details, now wouldn't I?" 

" sure sure ...but don't mention seeing me for a while, the house feels like hot water every single day and I'm getting tired of being burnt" what a way to put it, the family had no peace, mama was either to naggy or papa outright outrageous and Alice, well  her job was to play referee since she had signed up to become a mistress and sometimes it was clear that she would want any other another live but the one she was living in the moment.  The triangle papa had created were forced to dwell in one habitat, under one roof, he was after all not noble enough to afford another one, not while mama was in charge of the income in house, and papa jobless.