Unholy Fall

Chapter One | Zariyah

Character art credit
Minipraw (DeviantArt)

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The calming aura of the forest buzzed through me as I treaded between the trees. My fingertips lightly scraped against the bark of a poplar tree, and I could feel the life energy from it flow up my arm, through my chest, and into my core. I smiled as my green eyes glowed with vibrancy. That poplar tree had greeted me, gifting me some of its energy out of respect. That was one of many gifts that came out of being a child of the Deity of Nature. My mother Terra had passed along many things that I would always be very grateful for.

As I wandered throughout the forest, I came across a wilting wild rose bush settled beside a towering  pine tree. The petals that would have adorned its flowers were rotting away, there were only a few shriveled up, blackened leaves clinging to its branches now. I approached it with a frown upon my freckled face. I could sense very little life energy flowing from it at this point, and with a sigh, I crouched beside it.

"You poor little thing." I murmured softly, a breeze causing a few strands of my auburn hair to drift infront of my face. Settling myself onto my knees, I positioned both of my hands on either side of the bush, closing my eyes to concentrate.

I could feel the pleasurable buzzing of my magick start to rise up from my core and pulse through my veins. It rushed down my arms and blossomed through the palms of my hands, and I willed it to project forward and encase the dying rose bush with a glowing dome of energy. I opened my eyes, watching as the branches lifted slightly with new life, and fresh new leaves rapidly sprouted with buoyancy. I smiled with joy as the flowers began to bloom, and only when the last leaf sprouted from the tip of the last branch did I let my own magick recide back into my core.

"You're welcome." I said as I stood, dusting the dirt from my knee-length skirt. With a blissful smile on my face, I turned to the direction of which I had come, and started to make my way back home.

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"Zariyah!!"

I was immediately greeted by the cheerful call of my little brother. He was a flurry of happiness and excitement as he sprang into my arms. I caught him before he could crash into me, and laughed. My little brother was only 200 years old, just out of his toddler stage. I myself was around 1,300. Just in my young adult stage. While deities were more created than born in a sense, so they didn't really age, my brother and I were only part deity, becuase our father was elfian. My mother Terra -the Deity of Nature- had fallen in love with my father and brought him here. To the Realm of the Gods. And thus, me and my little brother were born here.

"hello there, Ruhn." I chirped, ruffling his chestnut hair playfully. He clung to my skirt and peered up at me after I set him down, and my heart warmed at his wide blue eyes.

"Where'd you go..?" He followed me into the kitchen of our rather large cabin home. I took out a bowl of fruit salad and spooned it into a smaller bowl for him. He took it and scurried towards the kitchen table.

"Just for a stroll." I said while I sat beside him at the table, my own bowl of fruit salad set down before me. He took his spoon and practically attacked the fruit. I raised an eyebrow at him.

I picked up my spoon, about to dive it into the bowl when I suddenly felt a powerful pulse of energy course through me followed by a wave of pain. My spoon fell from my hand and clattered to the table as my entire body siezed up. I grit my teeth together, trying not to make any noise. But then the world tilted, and I keeled sideways off my chair.

"Zariyah!?" I heard my brothers worried cry, and my father's face appeared above me through my blurred vision. Another pulse of energy coursed through me, and I felt my body seize up once more before my mind shut down entirely.