𝑩𝒓𝒂𝒊𝒅𝒔 𝒐𝒇 𝑮𝒐𝒍𝒅

chapter one

Emriana

I groaned, shuffling further into my blanket, feeling something on my face. The drowsiness kept pulling me back to dreamland, but the weird sensation on my cheek pulled me awake. It took me a few seconds to understand what that was.

A tongue.

And I knew just who it belonged to.

"Akira! Stop that right now! We've been through this! I hate it when you do this," I scolded, blinking open a few times to adjust to the sunlight coming down directly over my face. I left the window open last night and forgot to close the drapes. The wild birds sang their familiar melodies, and I could make out the soft sound of the wind brushing against the trees.

I turned my head and narrowed my eyes at the culprit, who tilted his head to the side, watching me. The enormous white tiger studied me with vigilance as I sat up. While standing on all four, he was almost at my eye level.

He moved toward me, his giant warm paws on my lap as he inched closer and tried to get another lick. I tried to push him away, but he growled lowly making me aware of his annoyance.

"What's up with you this morning?" His blue eyes watched me, and I could only chuckle and bring my hand behind his left ear and tickle it. I heard his soft breathing, along with the low purr. His pale whiskers tickled my chin, and I had to bite my lips to hold the laugh that was threatening to surface. I tried to shoo him away, but he weighed twice my size.

"Akira, you weigh like three hundred pounds. Get off please,"

I eventually managed to push him off me, but he reached above my stomach even then. I swear he was getting bigger every day.

Our friendship, or whatever the nature of this was, started six years ago. I found him in the forest one morning while picking berries. He was unconscious and injured on his back leg. I helped him, and he started following me around ever since. Grandma Roe was a bit wary of the wild animal at first, but after witnessing his gentle and protective behavior with me, she didn't mind.

He was the closest thing I had to a best friend. I talked to him constantly, and I knew he didn't really understand anything, but sometimes I felt like he did. He followed me everywhere to the point where I had to push him out of a room physically.

I walked over to the closet, catching sight of the miniature painting of my grandmother, a sad smile etching on my face. It had been a little over two weeks since she had passed away. I had a small ceremony for her with Akira, and just like she asked, I placed her next to Grandpa in the small clearing behind the house. The house felt empty and mostly silent without her constant singing and humming.

I hadn't talked to another human since then. She was all I had left. My parents, Angar and Clara, left me in her care when I was five years old. I had faint memories of the two, but it all felt blurry.

Soft fur rubbed against my leg, and I glanced down at Akira, who lay at my feet.

"At least I have you, Aki, hm?"

After getting ready, I left immediately for the barn, Akira hot on trails like usual. The animals were used to him after so many years, even after the "incident with the chicken" that I rather not remember.

I walked down the few steps of the wooden front porch and followed the small dirt path leading to the backyard. The wind was chilly, and I hugged the sleeves of my dress tighter as I picked up the pace.

"Well... hello to you," I smiled at a small squirrel watching me a few feet away. It ran away quickly as I walked toward it. I chuckled.

"Akira, did you see this? It's the second day in a row that we see him! Who knows, maybe he wants to join our family?" I was met with silence, but I caught him looking at me as I glanced back.

I reached the small barn and opened the small wooden gate to let the animals into the large field out back. Small chickens followed by goats, sheep, and horses ran toward the open field. I smiled at them before walking into the chicken coop and kneeling next to their nest. Gently taking the warm eggs and placing them in my basket, I hurried before any of them came back.

"Aki, do you think that's enough for today?" I showed the tiger standing behind me the basket of eggs, and he looked at it with mild interest. Releasing a sigh, I stood back up and walked out of the barn.

"I think it is, in my opinion. We could bake something, hm?"

I worked in the barn for most of the morning. I cleaned the hay and poured the animals fresh water. I brushed the horses while talking to them about different things. The sun was reaching its peak as lunch came around. Akira had laid down in the shadow of a tree and was snoring like the big pile of fur that he was.

"Akira, are you coming?" I called as I grabbed my stuff and wiped my hands on my dress. Akira jumped to his feet and trotted to join me.

"You know what Grandma Roe would say if she were here?" I walked down the same little dirt path that led to the house. The occasional herb tickled my legs.

"She would be all like–how unladylike of you to wipe your hands on your clothes!" I laughed and watched the tiger on my sidewalk slowly. Each paw seemed to be placed in a precise spot as he studied every sight with intensity.

The house was not too far, and we soon made it inside. It wasn't very spacious, but it was big enough for my grandparents and me. My grandfather built the small wooden house a while back when my grandparents had decided to leave the Kingdom of Ekudal. It consisted of two bedrooms and a small open area that was a combination of a living room, dining room, and kitchen. It was cozy. I had so many precious memories here.

"How about I make something for lunch, Akira?" I asked as if he was going to eat what I cooked. Even if he stayed with me for the most part, I never forgot that his true nature needed to hunt, even if I hated it.

I prepared the food while humming softly a melody that had been stuck in my head for the past few days. I sat down at the kitchen table, pushing away sketches and paintbrushes.

I glanced around and noticed Akira was gone. He must have gone to eat as well. I munched over the vegetable as I looked around the room. My gaze stopped on one specific painting on the wall, my favorite. It was a majestic building, a castle, the castle of Ekudal, precisely. Grandma Roe painted it when she went there a few years ago, and I loved how beautiful it looked.

As a child, I heard stories of the castle and the King and Queen who lived there. The way she would describe everything made it seem almost magical, so it didn't make sense when Grandma Roe would tell me it was a bad place. Although I listened to her, it didn't stop me from daydreaming about what kind of life people had there and how were the people. Were they nice? Did they dress the same? Did they eat the same food as me? Did they have animals with them like me?

So many questions kept coming up, but I couldn't answer a single one of them. I had never left this house since my parents brought me here. I had been living in the secluded part of the Astral Forest all my life and had never seen anyone other than my grandparents.

I felt like there was so much more out there to explore and learn about, but I wouldn't be able to do any of that if I stayed in this house all my life. I knew I would have to leave eventually.