Dawn of the Heart (An Everlark Fanfiction)

Chapter II

At first, everything seemed normal. Finnick must've been right, he thought. It was just a forest, a dangerous one, but a forest, nonetheless. The evergreen grass would rise and fall with his steps, the leaves danced with wind above him and the birds sang a beautiful tone.

"It is the closest to Paradise I've ever been", he thought.

Yet he knew there must have been something wrong; something wicked, hidden in the sea of trees and animals. These woods were feared for a reason. Everything that came from here was a sign of death and destruction.

Then why was it so quiet? Why were the oh so many shades of green, so comforting, so peaceful? It didn't matter, anyways. He was here to find Finnick, to know what happened to his friend, his brother. Or what was left of him.

Along with the tales of monsters and walking trees, the other reason why this forest was avoided were the wolves. Fast, intelligent and always in a group, the creatures bigger than dogs were in no way to be played with. Thirsty for blood, never satisfied; they will hunt you down till you fall and then there is the feast. His home, he remembered, was so close to the limits of the forest, his father wouldn't let him and his brothers play after the sun down. Sometimes even before that. The sunsets, then, became his obsession. He couldn't stay out for long, but from home he would see the sea of orange, red and pink across the skies. His dream, then, was to, one day, be able to see the sunsets in other places. How would they look like? Would they share the same tones of red and orange? And the sea! Would he ever see the sun set in the water, like his father once described for him? How would the blue of the ocean mix with the sun above?

Part of him still lingered to his childish dreams and the memories of his father and brothers. Part of him still yearned for it. But his found home, with the Black Knights, of whom he owes his gratitude and later had the honour to serve the ones that took him from the streets, from Death. Now his heart belongs here, with duty and faith in the Only God. That was his life now. To protect and serve the people against the forces of the Enemy and his blasphemies, his seek of the destruction of everything the Only God has built.

Peeta knew where to go all along. To those woods, those wicked woods. Before his disappearance, his fellow Black Knight had been quiet. Too quiet for his own good. Peeta knew he had gone there, to those woods. That was the only explanation.

The bronze-haired boy, once way too playful for his role, some would say, had now withdrawn to himself not much long after his first mission. Devilish, Finnick had said. However never shared what he had seen.

"Missions cannot be shared with fellow Knights" Finnick had said when his curiosity had taken Peeta over.

His statement held truth. Even the minimal of information was to be kept in silence, only shared between the Knight and the Father who first designated the mission. Yet, even in confidence, Finnick wouldn't let a single word out of his mouth. Hence why he was there. 

Deep within, just like with her, he knew Finnick had gone to the woods. He couldn't explain it, he just knew. Just like he knew his role as a Black Knight, his vows were sacred. Sacred like the Church's bells when chimed, signalizing a message to the common people. Sacred like the Body of the Only God placed rightfully in the middle of the Church.

Death had followed him since his childhood, invading his dreams and the waking world. Now Death took him to face his own fears. Again.

So, he set his foot once again, the leaves cracking as he walked. Making so much noise he couldn't see more birds as he continued his path, memorizing every tree, every stone. Where to?, he would ask himself. He didn't have a map.

Maybe he shouldn't have gone. Maybe if he ventured into the Sealed Session of the Library in the Academy tower, he could've planned this more carefully. But something took him there, that day the Only God took him to his path. He couldn't know where he was going to, yet he comprehended something would take him to his right path.

It had been sometime until he saw a glimpse of something in a tree to his left. Then to his right. Circling him like a vulture. It wasn't her, he knew it. It was something else, perhaps something wicked. Perhaps something else. Finnick must have seen it too and his fear spoke louder in response to the unknown event. Finnick must have been frightened.

In spite of that, Peeta wasn't. There was no fear, as though he was being guided.

To what? By what?

His train of thought stops when he notices he had now entered a meadow with a willow tree almost to the center of it. The meadow looked peaceful. If entering the forest was the closest to Paradise he had ever felt, the scene seemed like Paradise itself. The grass was tall enough to reach his knees, filled with dandelions and other types of flowers he could not identify. His eyes, attentive to the new place, memorizing every detail like a painting.

This could be the proof he was looking for. It was just a forest, nonetheless. He could show his brothers there was nothing to fear, only peace.

When he was about to take a step towards the tranquil scene, he looked to his back once again and this time he saw that the trees he had once memorized looked different, they were the same yet as though they had exchanged places just like guards in a castle, switching shifts. That's when he felt it. Everything was shifting and the meadow with a willow tree was no more. As though he was being pulled away from by a strange force around his body and then he was once again back to the same track yet his surroundings told him something was different, peculiar.

He was pulled away from Paradise, it was his first thought. He'd seen something he shouldn't have.

Or wasn't ready for...

Then a sharp pain in his calf came and he couldn't concentrate. As he fell to his knees, his vision became blurry as the pain in his calf arose to this entire leg. He couldn't move anymore; he couldn't see the roots of the woody plants walking, circling, resembling an unknown dance around his body, such like a snake enveloping its prey. He couldn't scream. Who would've helped him, anyways?

Maybe this was what Finnick was so afraid of, maybe he'd felt it too although he wasn't injured when he came back from his first mission. There was no explanation, only pain and fear. They consumed his body like the fire in his old and now forgotten home. The pain like flames licking his entire body now. And the terror. The terror was resembling the smoke, suffocating him.

This time, the last thing he saw, before he felt his mind being ready to let go due to the pain, wasn't her. Two shadows came into his vision instead, coming nearer and nearer.

That's when he let it go.