A KINGDOM OF DEAD HEARTS [COMPLETED]

CHAPTER 25: HE WAS A MISTAKE

Airin planted her feet on the ground, she was not going to walk away.

Nydda now stood in front of her. Beautiful and cold like the snow.

"Behave yourself here. I hope you understand why you have to be brought here to Halgard," Nydda was expressionless, her chin cocked up slightly, and her eyes stabbed Airin.

"I would have taken an oath of secrecy, to keep elegarii a secret from the people in my universe! I would have done it! Gladly! I do not want to be here, Nydda!" she quivered, from the cold and the anger that bubbled within her. She had been kidnapped from her own universe, and now Nydda hoped that she would understand.

"Can you be trusted to keep the secret?" Nydda was unmoved, still expressionless.

"Yes, Nydda! Yes."

Nydda tilted her head in an almost mechanical manner, straightened it again, and shook her head. "Trust, and you will be disappointed. I know that for a fact ..." Nydda turned her gaze at Elisthia and sighed before saying, "Look at her! War broke her, broke all her trust in all that is good."

"War would break anyone with a heart!" Airin realized she howled, but she did not care anymore.

Nydda stood still, her eyes wandered for a moment at the grey sky, before looking at Airin again with widened eyes, unblinked, then walked away with an obvious disdainful huff.

Airin stood as she tried hard not to cry, and snow started falling again. Snowflakes flew about her, floated, danced, and fell wherever they wanted. Airin had always loved snowfall. They were quiet. Rain was always so noisy, but snow was different, snow was quiet. Quiet, but soon you could see the impact of its falling. All turned white. They were gentle, seemingly insignificant, but still changed something.

She remembered her dream of Mom and the sequoia seed. She shook her head and decided that was truly just a dream. She missed Mom. That was the message of the dream.

Airin realized whatever she did, Nydda would never help her return to her world. Though deep in her heart, she still refused to accept her fate that she was stuck here. She wanted to go home, to her students. They must have missed her a lot.

She continued walking, heavy from the snow that burdened her shoes, and when she saw Elisthia, she could not help but changed her direction, now to Elisthia.

Something pulled her to the girl in black. A kind of sadness, brokenness, that seemed to resonate with her.

When she was in front of her, she kneeled.

Elisthia was just blankly staring at the falling snow. Her black cape was now white from snowflakes that settled on it. From where she kneeled, Airin could see strands of long, curly, red hair peeking out from the black hood of the cape. Elisthia was a red-haired girl with dark blue eyes, reddish freckles on her pale cheek, and thin lips. Her face used to be rounder because now it looked like some of the plumpness had been sucked away and she looked thin and brittle. Airin would guess Elisthia was about the same age as her.

"Elisthia?" Airin gently called the name.

Elisthia did not respond.

"I'm Airin. I come from the elegarii. I can't go home to my own universe," Airin was not sure if it was a good idea, but she went ahead and cupped both her palms on Elisthia's hands.

The warmth from her palms transferred to Elisthia's cold hands. "They said you were broken after the war. You are alone in your shell. Elisthia, I am also alone here in Halgard," she whispered. In a strange way, she felt she could talk with Elisthia. "Elisthia? Can you hear me? It's cold. Would you like to go back to your room? I can take you," she whispered again. Elisthia did not respond.