Ashes of Vile

19

CHAPTER NINETEEN
Blur of Winter

The wind rustled with such swiftness and awareness that even nature itself had curled under its bellowed touch of happiness and dreamscape. It was the month of snow and cold; the most awaited time of the year. It was the month of joy and the only time one can mostly forget of all the endurances they faced for the entire year. Love that didn't just limit to romance but friendship would wiggle around the air and burst into flames of ember.

Cassidy Idgen stared at the fireplace and wrapped the coat tightly around herself. She had looked outside and grasped the last bit of dying comfort she could entangle her existence around. Snowflakes fell down so gracefully but the outside was dark. It was dark in every sense it could, the skies were gray and the atmosphere was filled with fear and emptiness. It was a dark time for Ashgrim. And it was an even grayer experience for Cassidy.

Her first Christmas without Lilac. She still clung onto the hope that they would give her even an ounce of mercy to allow her to spend as much time as she can with her best friend on their favorite day. But the least they could possibly do is still allow her the introduction to the warm feeling of fire and staring at its beauty. She sighed and got up from the couch and out into the woods of the Ashdown's manor. Devin and Lace stood talking to each other when he had called Cassidy to approach them.

It was time again for another session of luring out her ability. Or so they call it powers. But Cassidy never felt the vigor and spirit of having powers. She thought she could feel it within her despite not even knowing how to control it or how much was in her. Or how much she could ever release. She thought she'd at least feel it in her blood. She'd feel something. But she didn't. She couldn't even feel the vibrancy inside of her feeling so alive and powerful. She couldn't even feel powerful. Even when she herself was the most powerful of all of Ashgrim.

And that's exactly what had brought her down. The feeling of being powerless. What's one's worth if she couldn't bring out the very best of her in both worlds: the world of Cassidy Idgen, and the world of Ashgrim? Because both worlds were very different. Even when collided, they were far apart in the context of barriers. There were drawn out lines; And one could never cross between the two.

"Do you feel it?" Devin looked at her with such seriousness she had thought it was some funny joke he was pulling. But seconds settled and she had realized he was dead serious. "Feel what?" She asked.

"The feeling of times changing."

They strayed forward deeper into the forests and into their usual spot. The tree with the man's mark of a red target was getting smudged and decayed. The tree was nearly about to fall after its many hits taken. Devin took out the bow from his back and took one shot at the tree. It hit the target. "We're on a streak." He scoffed.

The more Cassidy had spent time with them, the more she had begun to realize how completely wrong she was from the start. She was under undesirable circumstances. For instance, she was abducted by a killer of Ashgrim and forced under the watch and control of many others like him. Although she was unsure if the rest were killers like August and Chase, they were not good people. But she thought they were human. And just like everyone else, they had parts of their soul that weren't as corrupted as the rest of the patches. But she was completely wrong. All their souls were corrupted, tainted with such a deep dark sable ash of all the wrong doings they have committed their oneself to. She no longer looked at them as people who could be pulled out of the trance. They were bounded to that purpose in life.

Lace Creed bit into the nearly rotten apple and threw it up in the air for Devin to catch. Then she focused back on the book she had brought with her and read like she was caught up in her own mind. Devin then slowly turned around to taunt Cassidy and gave her a mischievous smile. She then knew he was up to no good which she predicted as they were all never really up to any good. There were some exceptions. She thought of Lilac and Abourne.