Eternal Sins

•Chapter Three•

A white serpent slithered it's way through thick pine, frosted ice sheets pelting scales.

Eva sat cross legged, head back, eyes closed. The slates plowed into her skin, lids fluttering. Water, the cold, often felt like a breath of fresh air for Eva. She was so much fire and heat all of the time. It was grounding, simple and effective.

"I know you're here," she projects her voice across the field to the tree line. The serpent halted, hearing her words. With a harsh hiss, the scales shed away revealing a man in white witch armor. He stood tall, rising from his familiar.

"You have a keen sense," the man compliments. He steps into the ice storm letting the winds slap him all the same.

His deep brown hair swirls around his jaw, clinging to his cold patched skin. Profound, dark eyes focus onto Eva seated in the field. He stalks forward, no hesitation.

"I've had my dreams interupted before," she briefly explains, opening her eyes as his steps near closer.

"I'm not interupting. I belong here."

"Hmph," Eva let's her eyes fall over him as his shadow bathes her from the mountains glow. This was her dream world, the dream space of the White Witches. Mountains could be seen for miles on miles. Yet suddenly, Eva had occasional company.
"Is there a reason you've come to bother me, Cedris?"

Eva straightens her spine, leaning back on her arms as she connects eyes.

Cedris was a tall, broading man. He held a brightness that she could not forgive to discredit, but something inside his eyes lingered in darkness. Their dream world could not hide that truth. She was just the same.

He was strong, warrior looking, far more intimidating than Eva could ever appear. Jutting cheek bones, sharp brows, statuesque. Although, she knew she could most likely defeat him in a fair fight. But that would never be necessary, they were one in the same. They were white witches, family.

Standing there in boots, crested armor and tunic, Cedris shrugs, clammoring down to sit across from her. The ice melts small specks of water into the strands of their hair, cotton candy on the tongue.

"Making sure you're okay." He eyes her with genuine concern.

Eva shakes her head, losing the fight to return his gaze. Something about his stare made her skin burn alive beneath it. "You'll get the usual response. I'm doing the best I can."

"Did my advice help? Meditating into transition? The outcome is usually far stronger, quicker build."

Eva nods, hunching forward now towards her knees. "Too well."

Cedris nods, lips screwing into a tight knot. "I see."

Cedris first began appearing in Eva's forests only a few weeks after the first decloration of war. He said he was awoken to his calling because of the brutality near his home. The white witch gene was no longer dormant, but necessary. He survived an attack because of his sudden strength, superiority.

He was relatable to Eva. Struggling to cope with the power at his hands, in his body, that brought the wrath of hell and more. Death scorched them and they raked the ground for forgiveness that would never come.

"Eva, have you thought maybe it's time to.. take a break?"

"Oh, not you too," she whispers in desperate frustration.

"No, listen. You're going to get too far behind, processing, understanding. Give your mind space while you still can, when you can. If your kingdom is so dependent on you, as you believe, they cannot afford a weapon that's not taken care of. Not one thats their difference between life and death. You deserve it, Eva."