The eyes of a certain blue-eyed soldier opened up to the shades of a tall tree. His thoughts were muddled and he couldn't seem to remember what had happened right before he went to sleep the previous night. But he knew that something important had happened. He placed a hand on his shoulder and felt a tingle on his arm, as if someone had touched him there.
His head jerked to the left when he heard a branch break. He stood up immediately when he saw the brunette standing in the centre of the field. They were surrounded by trees on all four sides. She was looking at the sky at a particular darkness that was created more than two centuries ago.
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"Ramina?" He called out, making her turn around in a hurry. It looked like she was in alert mode. She was flinching every time there was a small sound. Something was up.
"Simon...." Her voice cracked.
He stood up holding the trunk of the tree as support and then walked towards her. He looked at the closed up tenth and the burnt out fire. But he didn't see her. "What happened? Where is Adaline?"
Ramina gulped. She shook her head. "I'm sorry, Simon."
Simon stopped in his steps, his eyebrows closing in together. "No, where is she?" He remembered what she had told him. She had talked about Grisha amplifiers to him only two nights ago. She was supposed to return to them by that morning like Ramina had told him. "Where is she, Ramina?"
Ramina took a few steps back. "I couldn't stop her. It's against who I am and-"
"Stop it." His jaw set tight. "I don't want to hear this. I'm going to the Little Palace." Simon was about to turn around and gather supplies when Ramina grabbed his arm.
"I can't let you do that. Adaline....she needs to do this."
Simon shook her hand. "I've had to deal with a lot of things in the past few days but I'm not letting her go on this suicide mission."
Ramina walked right behind him, grabbed his arm and twisted it to his back. The Morana had given her only one task to do and she was going to do it no matter what happened. "I can't let you go, Si."
Simon clenched his hand and reverted back. He pushed her away and held up his index finger. "Don't try to stop me. I'm going and that's final."
A loud thunder was heard from the direction of the Fold making both of them look at the shimmering darkness in the distance above the canopy of the trees. A tectonic wave that looked like the centre of a storm was forming in the Fold where a dangerous man held the crumbled body of the one that he loved. The trees all around Simon and Ramina started to ruffle in anger, the leaves rustled like they had never before and the grass before them started to fly in the air.
The storm broke apart sending concentric circles of strong wind in all directions. It was one wave of pure strong wind that was enough to tumble down houses. It was almost white in colour and if you looked at it from the sky, you could see it explode. The gush of wind spread all across Ravka in a circle from the point of origin and when the wave hit the camp site, only Ramina fell backwards, hitting her head on the ground.
"Ramina!" Simon went to help her get up.
The wave had passed, taking the grave news all around the world where only the Creations would know what had happened. It was a day of terrible outcomes. Nobody could have accepted that they would have had to witness it.
"No no no no." Ramina's eyes started to tear up as she used her arms as support to get up. Her chest was becoming heavy with a void that she had only heard rumours about. "This can't happen. This can't be happening. They can't have....she can't have-"
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"What happened? What is this?" He held her to keep her from shivering as he wondered why the wind hadn't impacted him. He had too many thoughts running in his mind.
Ramina kept mumbling that it couldn't be happening. She gasped sharply, tears flowing down her face as she felt the energy that she always had with her increasing as well as leaving her all at once. "She's gone."
Simon gaped at her. "No, that's not possible. You just told me that-"
"She gave in to love again." She broke down. She brushed her fingers through her hair and brought the white lock of hair in front of her. It began to go brown right before their eyes.
"What...." Simon started.
Ramina continued to shake her head. "No. No no no no, I refuse to believe this. Do you hear me?" She shouted at the air. "I refuse to believe this." She punched the ground once, twice and then thrice. "I have to go find her." She stood up in a hurry and ran towards the region where her horse stood.
Simon was processing what had happened but he started to follow her. Ramina got on a horse and made her way down the valley in the way of the Fold. Once she reached the familiar thickets of the forest, she knew that she had no choice. It had already happened.
"No!" She shouted once again. It couldn't have happened.
Ramina had to save her. She shouldn't have lied to Simon. They should have stopped her before when there was time. She did not care about the branches hitting past her face because all she could think about was Adaline, but out of nowhere, she felt an energy push her backwards. She fell off her horse and landed on the ground with a thud. Her back hurt more this time, her lower back begging for rest. "No!" She stood up quickly, ignoring her bruises. She walked towards the area between the two trees but couldn't pass through.
An invisible barrier had formed all around, not letting her go to save her creator. "No no no!" She hit the wall repeatedly.
"Ramina!" She heard Simon, who had followed her despite whatever had happened. He needed to see his friend again but Ramina seemed to be stuck in her place. "Ramina." He got off his horse and ran towards her. Simon caught her hands and stopped her from hitting the barrier that did not let him go through either. "It's her, isn't it?" He asked.
Ramina was breathing hard. "Yes." She managed to breathe out. "She....she....they...." Her knees gave way and she fell to the ground, Simon holding to her the entire time. "She can't have....she...."
But the void that she was feeling was unmistakable. The Morana had died once and for all and let their life energy flow through the very earth that she had created and she made sure that her friends wouldn't come to help her. She returned home once again.
Adaline Chernoff was gone.
****** TA-DA!!!!!! How is The Second Army today? Well, I know that I'm still writing Part 1 of Darkness Unfold but guess what? I can't gatekeep this story anymore. I'm too excited! I had an idea for the prologue and I thought that I should post it. I can't handle the suspense
I'll post the cast once I finish Part 1 of the third book. I CAN keep that a secret but till then, no mourners!
