Curse of Tolken | ONC 2022 | co-writer @sassy-weirdo

(0) Prologue

Elise

The weather had started its usual routine of shattering windows with the onslaught of a tremendous blizzard. It all started when the first crack emerged on the Great Veil all those months ago. Ever since, a new crevice had been added every week; it was almost unrecognisable now—all fractured and broken. And now, the black mass of reflective surface which had once filled every Tolkenian with pride, was going to be the cause of their destruction.

Or was it?

The question filled my mind every night. I could not believe that the beautiful obsidian was the reason behind the ear shattering screams. I could not believe it was the same obsidian that I had dreamed about protecting when I was younger, that was punishing us with such cruelty.

I clutched the pillow under my dark head, frantically. I squished my eyes shut, muttering words of prayer to the Faith. My pink lips were the only ounce of colour in the dark room. My once dusky skin was so pale that the veins in my arms stood out.

Though my face was sweaty, I shivered under the blanket. The wind howled in my ears and my breathing became even more erratic. The ice seemed to have taken place in my abdomen, making its way up, freezing me till I was paralysed. It was times like these that poisoned my mind and made me doubt everything I believed about the Veil.

'Oh, Faith! Save us from this devil that hounds our lives,' I murmured. Many said that the Faith, like its name, was only an object of worship. An object that was made during the First Dawn by the early Tolkenians. It was believed by a large number of people that Faith was only our imagination, that it was made by the priests to earn more through the gold chips people left in the temples.

'O Faith, the Harbinger of Dawn! Why watch us suffer from above? Why not help your people?' I heard a man say, desperately, over the pounding of the wind, 'We Tolkenians have believed in you, worshipped you and even defended your main shrine. Why do you make us go through this pain?'

The voice quieted down after that. It seemed that the ice had found another victim. Freezing and shivering, the man would die with no one to mourn him. A tear slipped down my cheek at the thought; after all, what could a poor fourteen year old do but feel useless in a situation like this.

At last, sleep came. But, the darkness behind my eyes was replaced with colours of all kinds and a blaring signal: GO BEYOND THE VEIL TO THE NETHERWORLD. FIND THE LOST SORCERESS. FIND ELISE.

And that was what marked the beginning of a journey filled with darkness and heartbreak. A journey that I would regret making, only days from then.

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• written by sassy-weirdo
• word count: 480
• comment and constructively criticise!
• Elise is answering the call (which some would say is dumb af of her). How do you think her journey will go?