II - Sigh of Smoke

Chapter 50 - United We Will Be

TheAleksDemon:

Chaper 50!! WE MADE IT. I can't believe I've kept this going for so long xD I want to finish this book before school starts up again for me. Soon, fellow readers. Soon...

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-Atlanta-

Her mind was in a blur, doubt and unwanted thoughts dancing around her, taunting her. Needless worries filled her head like water filling her lungs, drowning her as she thought dangerous hesitations, making it hard to breathe. Pace quickening, she allowed herself to walk blindly, not considering where to go, while simply letting her feet lead her. 

What was she to do? What exactly did she plan to do? In her mind she whispered to herself, you'll do exactly what you know you have to. Yet what was that exactly? Was it what she had been trained to do, what she had vowed to do since she had sworn herself to her King? Was she going to discard the quest like dust off her shoulder, and defend the man she had wanted all this time to be her father?

Or was she going to side with the people she had seen everyday for the past few months, who had practically grown on her, who all looked to her with concern and pity?

It isn't pity, she heard a whisper in the back of her head, a whisper that dared to use her voice. You know it isn't pity, Atlanta. They care.

She gritted her teeth and broke into a run, passing by nonchalant Zarkarian guards who did not give her a second thought. Their brown, blue, green, and hazel eyes just passed over her like she was irrelevant to their duties. They saw her silvery hair and her fair skin, and they saw the Pale Sword who had rusted and cracked. They saw that she was no longer her reputation as King Cragon's assassin, but merely a child. They saw that she was no longer his at all.

Atlanta thought she had already convinced herself that she was fine not being under his rule any longer, but the thought of being free of him unnerved her. She would not voice it. She would not allow her doubt to be born in her words. Not yet. 

The stone corridors and wengewood doors hazed in her vision as she ran, her muscles aching and burning as she hushed the world around her with a pleading breath. The sky she loved was vast and dark, oblivious to her struggles on the earth below, unknowing about how she felt, unknowing about what made her feel completely hopeless. Even the stars stared at her from above, curiously and mockingly, seeing that in her eyes, her world was crumbling, and even though she adored them, they offered her no comfort. Her bare feet scuffed on the stone floors, and her skin was ablaze, and her sight was almost failing her as her headache made her more and more dizzy. 

King Cragon's words echoed in her mind, "never forget who you must be, but never lose sight of who you really are."

A growl surfaced from Atlanta's throat as frustration grew inside her. Who was she then, at this very moment? Who was she to be from now on? 

Where am I to go from here?

Silencing her thoughts, her steps slowed to a complete halt. Slightly surprised, she found herself standing in front of the armoury she had visited earlier with Lucan, beads of sweat rolling down her back and tickling her flesh. Chills danced on her skin as she heaved with shallow breaths, tempted to keel over because of the sick stir in her gut. Her light hair was sticking to her cheeks, and her fingers were twitching at her sides, painfully empty.

She wanted to feel a weapon in her hands, to know she was armed, to know she was safe. She imagined the corded handle, and the ruby gems, and determined, she threw open the door and strode inside with more confidence than she expected.