A civil war rages in Talestor. A boy from a forest chases after his friend, leaving the safety of the trees and thrusting himself into a world he can barely comprehend, happening upon a weary sword whose only wish is for peace. A group of slaves are...
Celestar woke up much warmer than he'd expected to be. The world was chilly in the days when autumn blended into winter, fire-red leaves falling from the trees to bury the dead earth in brown. Harsh winds would soon rip through the wood; if they had any leaves left, they would be torn from their branches. But the hardy pines stood tall and unmoved against the fierce winter gales, their needles as strong as any unbending twig. Celestar could bear the cold.
But this morning, he was warm, which was strange, because he'd gone to sleep without any coverings but his too-thin cloak.
He opened his eyes and looked at his sword. It was still there, in the exact same position he'd laid it down in, just as beautiful as when he'd first laid eyes on it.
"Know any warmth spells?" He asked it. The sword twinkled back at him like laughter.
That's when he sat up, and noticed the second cloak on his body.
It was made of something soft and smooth, but it was heavier than Celestar thought it had any right to be. It was white embroidered with black lines, twisting across the fabric in curves and knots. Celestar knew what the material was, but he just couldn't remember what it was called...
"Silk," he realized. "This is silk." He looked at his sword.
"This belongs to you, doesn't it?"
The sword flashed in confirmation.
"Thank you," Celestar told it, and it glowed happily.
He banked the fire and crammed some waybread down his throat, tough chewy bread wrapped around syrupy fruit preserves or corned meat. He washed it down with a swig of water and wondered if his sword needed to eat.
"Maybe I'm crazy," said Celestar. "Maybe I'm just imagining my sword talking to me." He looked at the blade, then looked at the cut on his finger to make sure it was real. Then he began to nod.
"Even if it is just all in my head," he said, "It is a good illusion."
The sword glowed again. It seemed happy.
Celestar destroyed the fire, scattering the ashes and the stones. He carefully erased every sign that he had ever been in the clearing so that the local wildlife wouldn't be afraid of the area.
"Time to move on," he said, shouldering his pack and picking up his sword. Instead of keeping its cloak around his own shoulders, Celestar wrapped up the blade with the silk and knotted it under the hilt. The sword pulsed at him questioningly.
"Don't want to damage you," said Celestar. The sword flashed and hummed, accepting this.
Resting his saber on his shoulder, he walked on for quite a ways, until the trees really were gone around him, and a vast plain stretched on before him. Dimly he could see a faint column of smoke rising from a faraway village. He checked his map.
Lallune was the name of the village Rogan had pointed him to, and according to the map, that was the village he saw.
"Well, I guess there's no help for it anymore," he said to his sword. "I've come this far. Gotta keep going, yeah?"
Steeling himself, Celestar drew in a deep breath and put a foot forward, taking the first step outside the forest he'd ever taken in his life.
It felt strange, like he'd split himself in two. Part of him was buzzing with the forest and a feeling like he was home, and the other part was raw and afraid, like he'd just come out of a bramble patch and a goblin was chasing him. Celestar didn't like it. Either be safe, or be afraid, he grumbled in his mind.
"I've gotta do it," he told himself and his sword (but mainly the words were for himself). "I've gotta be afraid. And once I know more, I won't have to be. I'll be brave instead."
Gathering his courage, he picked up his other foot and planted it in the strange grassy soil beside the first one. The feeling of home washed away, and he suddenly felt very small, just a little boy all alone out in the wide world.
And tall, too, he thought jokingly to himself, looking up at the sky. It made him laugh a little, which made him feel better, like it wasn't so hopeless after all.
"I wonder if Nalifrom felt like this the first time he left," said Celestar. "I bet he's gotten over it. If he can, so can I," and with that, he resumed walking, like he hadn't just left behind everything he knew.
The grass was springy beneath his feet, and the earth was crunchy. Nothing else he'd ever walked on was quite the same.
Forgetting his fear, Celestar began moving in little skips, wondering if he was actually getting any higher up in the air than before. It certainly felt like it. Behind him, flattened grass sprung up in his wake, tips waving in the air.
Delighted laughter pushed its way out of his soul, despite lingering anxiety over the unfamiliar environment. "I'm dancing," he whispered, "dancing over the world." He smiled, head bold, heart soaring.
"I can do this! I know I can," the exultant words tumbled out of his mouth. Courage flared within him, and suddenly he felt a great impatience to get this over with. He broke out into a full-on sprint, flying over the grass like a wild wolf.
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Author's Note: Welcome back to Aer'denna, everybody! Again, my name is Quincy Jones, and I work slavishly over a computer as much as I can in an attempt to produce something you guys will enjoy. Any feedback you have for me, be it a vote or a comment, is appreciated beyond what you could ever believe. If you liked this, please drop a vote or a comment!
Also on the agenda is the updating schedule. The first 50 or so chapters of this book were written pre-Wattpad, and so I just came in and put a lot of stuff up in a short amount of time. It's nowhere even near complete right now. Rest assured, I will NEVER abandon this project. It is my heart and my soul, and I could never stop writing it if I tried. Which I will not, because this is precisely what I want to do with my life. Got kind of off-topic there- Anyways, updating schedule: I will always publish at least one new chapter a week. Sometimes there will be multiples, sometimes there won't. Depends on the homework load. Updates will always happen on either Mondays, Wednesdays, or Fridays.
That's all for this author's note! If you have any questions, or just want to chill with me, don't hesitate to contact me! My profile is always open to messages. I might not immediately reply, because high school (ugh), but I promise you I will get to you ASAP. This, my story, my readers... You guys are sort of a priority in my life, even though I should probably focus more on my homework. Cheers!
