Mortance: A Miscarriage of Hope

Aurora Ⅴ

The trees are gone, that is behind me now. This world is familiar, yet strange at the same time. Yesterday's snow decorates the hills around me. A sun sets ahead, casting long shadows over the world. Half my journey is done, but that does not make the rest any easier. It's already taken too long to get this far, I have to move faster.

Before me, is Sacreon. I do not recognize it, but somehow, I know. My destination lies far ahead, at its opposite border. I have to move faster. I have to be there before Ascenday. I have to find her. There are fields, farms, hills, rivers, lakes, even towns and cities to cross before I can hope to find her.

But she is here.

Suddenly, the world reverses around me. I am staring back at the same injured wolf I have seen before. As always, she turns into the naked girl with chocolate skin, orange eyes, midnight black hair, and burns and scars all over.

"Silver Girl," she greets me.

"Wolf Witch," I say in return.

"I am halfway to you," the girl says. "Stay where you are. I am coming."

"I know," I tell her. It is true. "You are the Wolf Witch, I am the Silver Girl. You've said this all before, but I don't even know your true name. I don't know who you are. I don't know why you're coming."

"Because I must," the Wolf Witch says. "Because you are the Silver Girl, the-"

"Savior of Ert, I know," I say, annoyed.

"This is my duty," the Wolf Witch says. "I..." she trails off. I can feel that she is holding something back. Her lower lip quivers slightly, though the rest of her face shows no emotion.

"I don't need you," I tell her.

"The prophecy-" she starts.

"I don't need your prophecy. I'm nobody's savior. It's my brother you're looking for, go to Elsinct. I don't-"

"People died," the Wolf Witch says. "They're dead. Gone. This... this is all that's left of them."

"Angus is in Elsinct," I tell her. "Leave me to my own life."

The Wolf Witch hangs her head and shakes it sadly.

The dream ends.

I awoke to the sound of rain outside. There was no Wolf Witch. There was no chocolate skinned girl with midnight black hair and orange eyes and scars and burns. She was gone. I was alone in my bedroom, on my bed. The walls were sky blue, the sheets were dark blue, and the outside world was grey and wet. There was a mirror next to the door, a guitar in one corner, and a dresser in the other. A bathtub was built into the floor in front of the wall across from me.

And still I was alone.

I'm not alone, I reminded myself. I have Vanessa. But Vanessa was somewhere else. I wanted her to be with me, but she wasn't. I would see her later, but I wanted to see her now. Why don't I dream of her? I wondered. I want to see Vanessa when I sleep, not some made up wolf girl who thinks I'm a savior.

Angus was the savior. I didn't say no to her because I'm selfish, I said no because I'm not capable. It was almost a convincing argument, but it felt wrong still. I wasn't a warrior. I wasn't a hero. I wasn't the savior of Ert that this imaginary girl thought I was. That's what Angus wants. I only want to live a life as Lady Aurora Calder who is in love with her handmaiden.

The future Lady Aurora Calder faced me in the mirror. She looked nothing like a savior. She barely even looked like the princess she was. I should have golden hair and sky blue eyes. I should be the picture everyone paints when they imagine beauty. The girl in the mirror was not that. She had dirty blonde hair that was too thick to be tamed. Her eyes were a greyish blue, closer to a rainy sky than a clear one. She was anything but a picture of beauty. Someone still loves me, though. I thought of Vanessa. She thinks I'm beautiful. I wonder why. There wasn't much beauty to the girl in the mirror.