Dawn Of Twilight

Chapter 12 : Ordinary Nights (Part 2)

Dawn sat cross-legged on her bed, the faint glow of her phone illuminating her thoughtful expression. After Erevin left, her father had come home, almost as if he'd been waiting for Erevin's departure. She'd expected him to bombard her with questions about the date during dinner, but to her surprise, he hardly asked anything.

Even though he didn't press for details, she'd given him a quick summary of the evening-the most boring, generic version she could muster. She didn't want to tell him how nervous she'd been, how happy Erevin's compliments made her, or how awkwardly she'd tried to share a moment with him in her room. Her father had nodded along with a small smile.

Now, in her room, the quiet of the night settled around her. She swiped through the photos she and Erevin had taken at the park. There was the one of them sitting by the fountain, her smile wide and carefree. Another showed Erevin mid-laugh, his normally serious face softened in a way that made her chest tighten.

She lingered on one picture-a candid shot Erevin had taken of her when she wasn't looking. Her hair was slightly tousled, the streetlight highlighting her face. It was beautiful, even if she couldn't quite admit it aloud.

Then her thumb hesitated as she scrolled past an image int the background, almost invisible, was the statue. The woman's face... It was uncanny.

Dawn sat up straighter, zooming in on the picture. The statue's features were strikingly similar to hers. The same delicate nose, the same curve of the lips, even the same shape of the eyes. It wasn't a perfect match-statues never were-but the resemblance was enough to send a chill down her spine.

"Who was she?" Dawn thought, biting her lip. She replayed the memory of the inscription in her mind, the words etched into her thoughts as if carved there alongside the statue itself:

"In memory of Lord Azarath, the Dweller of Twilight, and Goddess Zaraya, the Provider of Rebirth and Salvation. The tree grew here at the point where Zaraya rejected her heavenly life and descended to the mortal realm to unite with the Lord of her life."

The words gnawed at her curiosity, refusing to be dismissed. The resemblance between her and the statue's face was strange enough, but this? The Goddess Zaraya descending to the mortal realm for love? It felt almost... personal.

Why can't I stop thinking about this?

Pulling up Poogle, she typed: Riverview Park statue Azarath Zaraya.

Her fingers hovered over the screen, half expecting nothing to come up. And for the most part, that was true. There were only a few mentions, most of them irrelevant. Riverview wasn't exactly a tourist destination, and the statue seemed to go unnoticed by most visitors.

But on the second page of results, a peculiar website caught her eye. It looked amateurish, almost like it had been designed by a child. Its title read: "Tour the Five Shrines of Riverview!"

Clicking on it, she was greeted with a cluttered, outdated webpage featuring bright, mismatched fonts and badly compressed images of various locations. But as she scrolled down, her breath hitched.

There it was-a section dedicated to Lord Azarath and Goddess Zaraya.

The page claimed Riverview had five shrines dedicated to their story, each marking a significant event in their tale.

The one in the park is not shrine but a momento of Zaraya's descent to Earth. Dawn skimmed the brief descriptions, trying to find something concrete, but the details were vague and almost mythological in tone.

The call connected, and a small, sleepy voice answered, "Yes, this is the Devoe Residence. Who's calling at midnight?"

Dawn hesitated at the unexpected child-like tone but quickly explained, "I saw your website about the Riverview shrines. I wanted to know more about them."