Chronicles of Aneariia

Prologue

I.

She watched with satisfaction as he writhed at her feet in death agony. His tyranny will finally end. He will never hurt her nor her mother ever again. The dying man at her feet clawed at his throat with his fingernails, but only made the already unbearable pain worse. His eyes, full of suffering and fear of death, silently cried out for help.

The girl's lips melted into a smile as she saw the last sparks of life drain from her so-called father. His gaze glazed over and his breathing finally stopped completely. His death was perfect. Quiet, slow, painful and almost bloodless.

"Excellent, my dear," her mother whispered, placing her hands on her daughter's shoulders.

There was pride in her voice. The daughter, who wanted to continue in her mother's footsteps, successfully completed the first task – kill.

The older woman felt her daughter's anger. Her hunger for revenge. How she smiled as she prepared the poison for her father. So young and yet full of spite and hatred, she thought, stroking the girl's hair.

"You must never show mercy. It is a weakness that the world will exploit. A weakness that could cost you your life,” she said with a cold smile.

She then turned on her heel and left, leaving her nine-year-old daughter with her husband's lifeless body.

"Don't worry mother, I won't let you down," she replied quietly, still looking at the corpse, "I will create a new, safer world for you."

II.

The call of hunting night raptors echoed through the forest. The boy staggered in fright, but ran on despite his bloodied legs.

However, it was not the sounds of sleeping mother nature, nor the darkness spread all around, that he feared. It was the fear of betrayal. He was horrified by his siblings' lust for power and the fact that they would do anything to get it, even murdering a blood relative.

He was slowly losing track of time. Maybe he ran for hours, maybe a few minutes. His tired legs wobbled until he was afraid, he would trip at any moment.

In the darkness, illuminated only by the faint light of the crescent moon, he did not notice the small pit. His leg wedged and the boy fell flat on his face. He curled up in a ball, unable to get up again due to the pain in his ankle, without an iota of will to continue.

He was close to tears, the only hope he was clinging to was, that his killers thought the burnt body he left in the ruins of the house, was his.

Then from somewhere he heard the trampling of horse hooves.
If that are the murderers, I'm can’t run away from them anyway, he thought.

He balled his hands into fists. He had no way to defend himself, no place to hide, the forest cover was too sparse for that. He couldn't do anything.

He stayed quietly where he was. The horses were approaching fast. The boy was a little surprised that two people were as noisy as if there were half a dozen or more. But it didn't matter to him, two or ten, they would kill him either way.

The lead stallion stopped barely few feet from his head. The boy heard the rider jump off his horse.

"Alive or dead," asked the man to himself and at that he kicked the boy - not too gently, but not that roughly ether - in the shoulder. The blonde lying on the ground jerked in shock.

"So, probably alive." The rider effortlessly pulled the boy to his weak feet and examined him scrutinizingly.

Through his torn clothes and bloody bare feet, he could recognized the nobleman's son. The boy's small hands were delicate, unmarked by the hard life of peasant children. However, the rider's surprise grew when he noticed a small coat of arms embroidered on his left shoulder.

At that moment he realised, what such a child was doing in the forest and his mind began to form a plan.

"If you want to live, you should come with us," the ridder smiled coldly. The boy nodded and the man put him on the horse in front of him self.

The rider and his retinue then rode off into the night. In front of him was a piece of rusted metal, now all he had to do was forge the right weapon out of it.

A/n's note:
my first English story is here :) i am about to introduce you one of my favourite heroines Ewellerei Meadows. Feel free to write in comments, what do you think.

Word count: 729
Date: 14/3/2023
State: edited