Fool's God

1. A Dead Crow

A dead crow.

A young girl kneeling in front of the animal and praying silently.

A tear.

A subtle movement she didn't notice, her eyes closed.

The swift cold wind caressing her rosy cheeks, it was but a small prayer. A few small drops of blood next to the bird made her feel uncomfortable, it was clear that someone had killed it on purpose and without a good reason either.

The woman's hands were trembling, she had been in the snow for way too long. When she opened her eyes something felt wrong. The bird was now on its legs and it was looking at her with its black eyes, studying her pale skin and ginger hair.

The two of them looked at each other, the girl was speechless as the animal bowed in front of her as a way to thank her. The bird then opened its wings and flew away leaving the girl on her knees with a shocked expression on her face.

She was sure it was dead, the dry blood that contrasted with the pure white of the snow was proof of that. But then how could it possibly get up and fly? The girl could not come up with an explanation, her knees were so deep into the cold yet she was still lost in her mind.

How could that be?

It did not make sense and even if she tried to think of a reasonable answer, nothing came to mind if not a sensation of confusion and disbelief. She could not tell a soul about what she had witnessed since she already knew that most people wouldn't have believed her. No one but one person.

With that thought in mind, she got up. Her legs wet from the snow and now also covered in mud, the heavy fur that was the only thing protecting her from the low temperature seemed like a big weight on her body as she started to run toward her village.

The Latakia village was named after the big forest around it and it was so small that it was easy to get lost while trying to find it, most people there were hunters or lumberjacks that made sure to look after their community. So when the ginger-haired girl came running, no one batted an eye as everyone knew her ever since she was a toddler.

Her house was a very old building just one trail away from the city's market, her grandparents had been working there forever and made sure to sell all their homemade products to get the money to raise their granddaughters.

The door opened suddenly and the cold wind entered the house making the red-haired girl snort under her breath as she turned to see her sister standing there with her eyes wide open. "Could you shut the door? I didn't cut all that timber and made the fire only for it to go to waste." Her words were harsh but with an accent of sarcasm. She was sitting on a chair, feet on the table as she was working with her knife to carve another of her many timber small sculptures.

"You won't believe what I've witnessed!" The older sister immediately joined her, grabbed a chair, and sat next to her. Her crystal eyes shining with the low light of the fire and her hands trembling because of all the time spent outside. "It was a miracle! One of those you only read in books or fairytales!" She kept repeating with her gentle yet enthusiastic voice.

The youngest didn't bother looking at her as she was focused on her manual work, a distraction could've caused her serious harm and she had no intention of getting scolded by her grandparents again. "What are you talking about?"

"You wouldn't believe it, I barely believe it myself!" She kept gesturing in the air. "You must listen to me, this is such a rare event, a few have probably seen something like this before!" She grabbed her sister's arm and tried to shake it only to fail because she had no more strength remaining from her run.