𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐑𝐃𝐀𝐖𝐍 || 𝐖𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐚𝐦 𝐕𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞 | 𝐁𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐤 𝐂𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫

Chapter LIV: Roots in Mist

Bonds of Dawn Pt. 1

ONCE UPON A TIME, there was a tale that was passed on unto the villagers of the Arandom Village. A couple living in the deepest parts of the Mistwood Forest, who said to have incredible magic and tremendous amount of mana that their bodies did not permit them to age. This couple, they said, was the embodiment of eternal youth. Others said that they were the guardians of the forest, tending to the magical beasts and the strange enchantment among the trees. Where their home was located they couldn’t fathom, so the people treated it merely as a myth. For they had never seen the couple ever, except for the people who were brave enough to enter the Mist-filled forest.

Solene had heard of it from Theron, who was hunting in the forest before he retired, but to his dismay never found the said house. This intrigued the young huntress, taking on the mission of finding her way to the couple’s home to see if the tale was true.

And after several months of trying and hunting, she found a clearing where the mist was the thickest. And what lay beyond that mist was a serene view of a haven, a real life painting before her eyes. Behold, there was a humble cottage at the center of the clearing where wildflowers bloomed on the ground, surrounding it with different vivid hues of the rainbow. There was also a flowing stream in front, its flow gentle and almost steady.

Although she had never met the famous couple, for the cottage had been abandoned. The only remainder of what they had was the signage on top of its doorpost, carved in oakwood. The Sunrise Sanctuary.

She had lived in the cottage for a long time until she came of age, treating it as her second home. She had taken care of it as if she was protecting what was the only proof of the tale she had heard; a tale that seemed like a myth to others. But to her, it was real. It was true.

And now that very sanctuary had been damaged. The aftermath between the clash of flames and space tore the walls, splintered the beams, and shattered the furniture.

Seeing this was like wounding herself, and so she instantly rushed to mend the damage by getting the toolbox from the storage room upstairs and going back to the kitchen, not minding even a single thought of the boy who she just clashed with. He stood there, as if dumbfounded, watching her try to put the walls back to its place. Only the wood parts of the walls were damaged; Solene’s chest lightened a bit at this, but recalling the reason it got destroyed in the first place made her tongue bitter and her blood burning.

“You can’t repair that all by yourself, you know,” the boy said, looking down at her, who was crouched to the ground, thinking about how to put the wall back into place.

“Well if your magic didn’t just—I don’t know, destroy everything it touches—maybe there wouldn’t be any repairing in the first place,” Solene retorted, her annoyance with him not even trying to hide itself.

“I’ll help you,” he said, opening his grimoire and flipping through the pages for a suitable spell.

“Thanks. You can help me by leaving the ground I’m stepping on before I burn everything—including you.”

The boy acted as if he was taken aback, as if he was scared. Solene glared at him. This guy wasn’t treating her seriously at all!

“Wow! Quite the violent one, huh? You don’t seem to fit the description of the villagers who told me when I first went here. ‘A ray of sunshine’ they said?”

Solene opened her mouth to say a rebuttal but chose to stop at the last second, averting her eyes off him. “That woman was gone a long time ago.” She put a plank back to the wall, trying to re-align it to its original place as she hammered against it with a nail. “And what about you? I think you haven’t changed one bit even though the members say you exiled yourself from the Golden Dawn to work on yourself.”