Till the End of Time

Prologue - The Billowing Shadows

Two sisters played in the green, forever wandering through those blades as they ran and cried. They laughed and sang as the birds carried on the melodious tunes they had chanted over and over. The sky, happy and bright because it was allowed to be.

One of the sisters threw a circular object while the other clumsy dodged and annoyed the other relentlessly. The other glared at the other once again attempting to slap the other with the odd circular object. Yet even though its aim should have been true the ball slowly drifted away as if it was never meant to be.

One of the sisters cried out playfully to the other, "Aithera, stop with that! It's not fair!" Aithera smiled back and then shook her head. Sticking her tongue out as she ran off to hang the sheets of cloth sitting off to the side. The cloth flew into the wind but still never as light as before what happened.

"Aithera, help with lunch set up!" A taller lady called. Aithera threw her head back and groaned. She stood there for a while; begrudgingly began to move in the slowest way possible back to the small wooden structure. The oddly coloured tiles stacked upon another, a clear thin layer lined with wood speckled with dirt and cobwebs. White and stringy that can never be reached.

The cloth wrapped around her waist began to lift, almost dragging itself across the dirt and dust. It was once beautifully a milky cream white now which varied from a more dusted white to the original color that laid further up the drab. Aithera's hands however were nowhere near her skirt though, tumbling after the other in a rhythmic motion. The sound of her breath sped up, she walked slower but she enjoyed trying her abilities.

She should have gone with the Grisha examiners, yet they had never ventured through the town in the last century. There was plenty her sister wished she could do, for now they remained simple and boring.

The metal glob that had always granted them access to that small wooden structure now rattled in Aithera's hands. Fragile but not enough to have been shaking. Aithera threw her head over her shoulder just as the tide gates burst.

The cries of fellow villagers echoed through the tall hills, bouncing between them as the tides rushed from their confinements. Though whether the black had just been conspiring against them or had just sprung forth was a mystery to be solved by the end of the journey.

"Run, don't look back at me! Alina, I'll meet you in the meadow!" Aithera cried, then she was gone. Swallowed by the ever-growing tide. The darkness settled upon them instantly, Alina's feet raced off and she couldn't bear to look back. Scared, lonely, and terrified by the screams and cries of those unfortunate souls, she ran from the demons of the night.

She cried and let her heart sing those mourning tunes for no one now is left. The darkness had taken the last of her blood and she shall never forgive it. She wished to banish the darkness yet no matter how many fires and days she waited and tried; it stood unyielding forever right in her heart.

So, she did what she could, while her heart may have echoed such crestfallen songs, there was nothing left but the sands and dust of time. Her mind screamed with terrifying shrieks and calls of what once must have resembled birds. Aithera had loved them dearly, Alina had once sung to the feathered creatures so they could copy her melody. Yet it was now their constant calls drowning her in crippling depression.

The birds never stopped their calling and Alina never slept in the dark. Whether it be just the night or a completely dark room, she never once allowed herself to venture into the realm of sleep. It terrified her of what was there.

Maybe she never wanted to sleep because what awaited her was far worse. Strands of thin cells holding on for dear life streaming down past their shoulders, crimson dripping slowly onto the floor. The demons she had escaped back, teeth gleaming with ruby. Empty and dark orbs just stared back. She had never wanted that dream to come to her, yet it always did. A mangled, ruined, and desecrated version of what once was her sister lying in the field.

In her dreams, she had died just before the meadows, she was never to come back, and Alina had convinced herself there was no one out there but her. The sole survivor, sometimes it hurt like someone had repeatedly plunged a knife into her chest. She had buried that, she laser focused her brain on what she did afterwards. Then before she knew it, weeks and days had gone by yet she could never remember such an event. Just surviving and that was all she knew because that was exactly what she was doing. Surviving.