The Fall of Eden

Chapter 13

"You're a really good fighter... even faster than Areli," Femi said as she wrapped a piece of cloth around the Shade's waist. She was trying to break the silence that infested the air around them. They had found cover beneath an a slab of rock protruding from side of the mountain. The Shade never answered her. "What's your name?" Femi tried again.

"Bray," She replied softly. "My name is Bray."

"Where are you from?" Femi asked.

"She's a Southerner," Aiden burst out. He was sitting away from the group with his back resting against the wall of the mountain. Bray and Aiden locked eyes.

"Aiden!" Femi shouted.

"No," Damien spoke up. "She is a Shade, and the only remaining population of Shades resides in Agon, a southern kingdom." Femi was silent.

Aiden walked up to Bray and looked down at her. "The attack came from the South. What is a Shade doing so far North?" Aiden's voice quickly turned into a shout.

"Enough." Areli silenced him. "She doesn't know anything about that."

"How do you know?"

"Who exiled you?" Areli asked Bray.

"Exile?" Aiden voiced his confusion.

"That is a mark of shame across your eyes. Is it not? An ancient mark used by the Ar'i to cast out those who broke oath or law. It is a warning to anyone who encounters them to turn away and not help." Areli now looked puzzled. "But you are no Ar'i, and that is only used by Natives now."

"It is a symbol of impurity." Bray looked down at her feet. "I was exiled from Stormthrone by the Council. I was treated like a dog, because I am not of Ar'i descent. I am not like them... so I do not deserve to be one of them." Bray quivered as she fought back the tears, and her breath began to hic-up. "I helped a young Native who had this mark... He was just a boy.... Barely old enough to know his own misfortune. But I felt him... his loneliness. No home... no friends... no family. All of it... stripped away because he was different. And I..." She looked at her hands, still stained red. "I felt him die in my arms. And no one gave a damn!" The group was silent around her. She looked up at them with tears streaming down her cheeks. "So I wear this mark... Because I don't want to be like the rest of the world. I don't need anyone else to tell me who I can and cannot be. I am me... because that is exactly who I was born to be. And I - I am strong... real strong. And I don't need any title, or crown, or name to give me courage. My name is Brayden Alana Astra, and I am an outcast."

The group sat in silence around Bray. Her words could not have reached a more suitable crowd of ears. Femi was the only one who couldn't sit still. She wrapped her arms around Bray and squeezed her tight. She only said one thing. "You are not alone."

"Femi's right." Areli sat down beside Bray. "You're with us now. We've all lost something. But not everything. All of us are searching for one thing. Home. And if you are with us, that makes you family."

Bray smiled at Areli. It had been so long since anyone had treated her with kindness. But she knew the truth. "So it's true." Bray wiped her tears. "You are from Eden. I saw the smoke coming from that direction." Bray looked up at her new family. All of them had the same look in their eyes, an emptiness.

"We were attacked." Areli stared blankly into the fire in front of him. "They came from the southern coast. We were completely off guard. They brought a force bred for destruction. They spared no one." Areli's eyes were blazing. "I watched innocent people... women... children... families... slaughtered like pigs. I tried to fight them off, but I wasn't strong enough." A single tear fell from his cheek. "All of the people I had gotten to know and love... My home... My mentor... ashes. The last thing he told me to do was to survive. So I ran... "