Novel Promos || Prologues/Teasers

Fading Stars of Aniomuria || Promo

Prologue

Medea

It was terrifying. It was all terrifying. I knew I shouldn't be scared, that I wasn't supposed to be, but I was. A warden of death, that's what they called me. A saint who knew no peace. But it was hard to know peace, impossible even, when you've never tasted it.

I took a deep breath in as I forced myself to scope out the area. Heavy fog filled the area and trees obscured my vision. All I could smell was blood and the thick forest air. I willed myself not to look down because I knew what I'd find. Bodies. So many Bodies. I could mourn and empty my stomach later, but now isn't the time. There is no time for weakness in war.

I needed to get out of here, out of the forest and the burnt-down tents of our camp, I had to warn them, I had to warn them all. There was a traitor amongst our camp and he had sold us out to Saluum. My men were dead, my people, those I was sworn to protect. More will be soon. So I had to move, I had to, for the children who had remained in that camp with their mothers and the parents who had given their own lives to try and save them.

I ignored the crunching beneath my feet as I moved. Hearing their bodies crunching as if they were nothing but stepping stones for me to travel upon was sickening. This wasn't right. None of this was right. I heard the squelches beneath my boots, the soft moans of those too far gone to save but not yet dead, I heard it all. I tried to ignore it. Ignore it all. This would be the final battle, whether we won or lost. I could not turn my back now.

We needed to win this. We could not fail. I could not fail. This was my lifes worth. This was what I had been raised to do. If I failed this, I failed everything, and I could not fail. I would not let myself fail. If I failed, we very well may all fail. If I fail, my people no longer have a guiding beacon, be that beacon as dim as I was at the moment. With no beacon, there would be no light. It was my only pride left amongst my piles of shame, serving my people was my only ambition in this life.

So, I tried to convince myself that this was right. This was the will of the gods. It was their will and I had no right to question it, for I was a mere mortal. They knew what needed to be done. Then I looked down.

I hadn't meant to. I didn't want to. But I did. I felt myself lurch as I heaved. Broken beneath my feet was a young girl no older than six. No older than six yet she was burnt and torn apart like a pig for slaughter beneath my feet. It was impossible to stop the vile rising in my throat. I tried to tear my eyes away, but now everywhere I tried to look was littered with the fallen. My fallen. The people I was sworn to protect. This was my fault. This was all my fault.

I clenched my eyes shut as I kept forward, no longer able to contain my disgust whenever I felt the crack of bones or heard the sound of slushing organs. Milaya, if you can hear me I plead please let this be my final trial. I knew there wouldn't be a response. She never responded to my prayers.

I froze as I heard a sharp crack near me, and slowly turned my head to look towards its direction. Nothing. There was nothing. But I knew it was something. Something or someone was still alive in these woods. Something besides me. I did not dare to call out to it. It could be an enemy soldier or worse. Oh, there was far worse in these woods. When the fey are the monarchs of the land, you learn quickly that there is far more to fear in the darkness of the woods than your fellow man.

Perhaps the mist was a blessing from the goddess, after all, a symbol of her will. Milaya I think to myself surely you won't let me die in a place like this. But I knew she would if it fit her grand scheme, so I just had to pray that it didn't.