Shimmer & Guild

Chapter 1

As my near frostbitten fingers fidgeted with the end of my hair, the shaking of my hands almost unbearable to stop, I remembered what my father said before he vanished. It's not the air, or the cold that'll get you. Exposure is the deadliest vulnerability.

Sarian should be here soon. He said to meet at 9, even if my sister was nagging me for a late-night talk, yet no sign of life anywhere around me. Unless you could count the distant howling of coyotes searching for prey.

The forest trees, bare and lifeless in the snow, shook with the sharp wind. I've seen the seasons ruminate this forest, during spring full of huge green leaves and honey-colored bark. Now the trunks were cracked and almost black in color, the moonlight being the only light provided through these trees. My thick boots and layers of jackets didn't feel as though they were succeeding in providing warmth, possibly because I've worn down these items for the last 5 years while hunting.

Through the eyes of myself as a child, I couldn't have been forced to hurt a mouse, no matter how small or insignificant. Life mattered, no matter the size of it. Things have changed now, after everything.

As I waited against a tree, I had done what I always had when I was young. I couldn't help but think of the worst. Sarian got stopped by officials. Sarian's brother got worse and was in hours of death. Sarian vanished. I pinched my wrist, trying to distract myself from the near-constant turmoil in my head. He was fine. He is fine, just reminding me of his poor time management skills as usual.

When my father died when I was 13, he took with him more than his physical self. He snatched the life within our home, my comfort, and unfortunately, all of our income. It seemed as if my mother turned off, powered down as if she were a machine. She took a couple of months to grieve, as it's all anyone knows to do when a loved one or friend dies or vanishes, but afterward she become a hollow hole of a mother. The only life in the house came from my sister, Willow, who seems to relish in hard times and travesties.

Some townspeople are puzzled by our relation to each other.

The only way others know that we are sisters is because of our similar looks. The amber-brown hair, hazel eyes, and tall frames somehow seemed to fit better on her. Willow was beautiful and was treated as so by every boy within a five-mile radius. Even though a year younger than me, she seemed to fit into her face better. Her smile is infectious, and it seems as though she knows the power of her unbound beauty radiating and the effect on others, as she smiles all the time.

I was pretty too, but Willow told me my hard demeanor and tendency to challenge men around me caused for social isolation. The only one who ever made me feel seen and sane was Sarian.

And right now, I felt pretty goddamn forgotten-

" Come here often ?" Sarian whispered close to my ear to scare me. I jumped, startled to hear any other voice besides the rambling in my head. He chuckled, satisfied.

"You're late asshole." I spat.

"I know, and I'm sorry Auora, but John's fever got higher since this morning. His face was practically burning from the inside out. I raced here once my mom got home from work. Sprinted actually, for you" he smirked. "Let's go before the deer decide to awaken."

As we hiked, I couldn't help but notice the limp in his step, the exhaustion that overtook his shoulders. His dark short hair was filled with twine and snow. Looking back, he waited a step or two for me to catch up.

"I thought you might have vanished." I said quietly.

He looked at me, guilt ridden in his eyes. "You know I wouldn't let that happen Jade."

"It's not like anyone has much choice." I kicked over some snow, clearing a path under the bridge.

"I don't know. Some part of me feels like there are ways to avoid it. There's no direct pattern as to who it happens to."

He was right. Kind of.

There was no specific day as to when the vanishings happened, and it took a while before anyone realized this was a worldwide occurrence, not just a town's thing. Nobody could figure out why some people were disappearing from thin air, leaving no trace. It still doesn't make much sense to anyone, but everyone knows somebody who's been affected by it. It's pretty consistent throughout the year, though certain times in the year, winter for instance, has a higher frequency of vanishings. It's common to see people working less, spending more time with families during this time. Most everyone lives their life in some sort of fear or waiting, hoping it doesn't claim their child or husband. I had near-constant anxiety as a child, so scared of the worst happening. I no longer fear much, after my father died. The sporadic disappearances almost never touch a family twice, but I always have a small pit in my stomach when I'm reminded of it, having the dreaded feeling that these "vanishings" don't necessarily adhere to a moral code or law.

Sarian hadn't been touched by the vanishings, unless you would count his suicidal second cousin, which nobody really knows if he vanished at all.

We finally made it to the frozen field, which used to flourish with wheat and lavender buds. Deer and coyotes usually rest here, with the dark night providing a blanket over them.

I hunted often, not that I needed to for my mother and sister. It was mostly to help provide for Sarian's family. And it gave me something to do.

Instantly, Sarian and I spotted two deer, resting within the high wheat. Unfortunately unaware, blissfully asleep. While analyzing the deer, the best way to go for the kill, a larger dark figure crept into sight.

A wolf.

I could hear both of our breaths hitched in our throats. The wolf was dark in color, almost blending into the field if not for the glowing eyes. Sarian had killed a wolf before, but seeing their huge figure was always intense. Sarian grabbed his bow and arrow, lining up the shot. He winced, the movement in his arms causing some sort of pain. The physical labor at whatever job he was doing that day had affected him the whole hike. I held a hand up in front of his hands, inferring that I could shoot the wolf.

A hint of embarrassment across his eyes. "I can do it." He argued.

"I know," I said back, and started to grab the bow. Sarian knew I had a sensitivity to wolves, never being my prey of choice. My father had always called me his lone wolf, and Aoura a doe, and even though a small gesture from him, I couldn't help but see some form of myself and my dad in every wolf I came across. But Sarian was pained and exhausted, and I knew I could do this for him.

My hands shook from the cold, I think, as I aimed the arrow and unleashed the weapon through the heart of the wolf.