Thea was running. She didn't really understand why. A couple seconds earlier she'd been walking home from her employer's house without a worry in her mind. In an instant, a twisted mess of fear, an imaginary attacker of monstrous proportions, manifested in her conscious, sending her into a frenzied run. Maybe being alone at night had gotten to her. Maybe she was predisposed to fear after what happened to that old merchant a few weeks earlier. Maybe she was going insane. All she knew is that she had to run, and that she was, the fastest she could.
She must've ran directionless for a long time. When she calmed down a bit and managed to look around, she found herself quite a ways from town, on one of the less used roads. Thankfully, she could still see the mild glow of the gas streetlamps that lined the streets of Brenin. She was too wound up to start making her way back there, and figured that, even though she was in an ostensibly more dangerous place than she was before, she could not protect herself if she didn't rest a bit. So with heavy legs and between panting breaths she sat down on a grassy patch, hoping that any bandits would be fast asleep and any vicious animals would find her too skinny to eat.
Catching her breath, she looked around in the dark. She was on one of those old roads, the sort that see so little traffic that nobody has bothered replacing the rough cobblestone making it so bumpy that even the best carriage wheels would be reduced to useless wood after a long enough ride. And, Thea realized, it was likely the very road where that old merchant's body had been found. This realization made her jump up, whipping her skirt loose of blades of grass and looking around frantically. Nothing stirred in the night around her. But one thing did catch her eye: a soft glow emanating from the ground just a couple feet from where she'd sat.
She searched the grass looking for the glow's source. After a few seconds, her fingers found something cold as winter snow. She yanked her hand back instinctively, but seeing no damage and overrun with curiosity, she reached for the icy object. In her hand, she held a small stone that intermittently shed lovely teal light on her palm.
As she moved the stone closer to her face to inspect it, she started to see a faint image within the iciness of the stone. In that instant, she felt grabbed by an enormous, invisible hand. She felt the hand's grip tighten around her and quickly lost consciousness, falling onto the grass with a dull thud.
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(Hi! This is my first story here and I won't leave many Author's notes throughout this novel, but I'd like to take a second to encourage you to give me your thoughts on this! I happily welcome all criticism and I hope you're enjoying the story. And of course, I'd love it if you vote for it. Thanks a Bunch!
--Oniriste)
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CAIRN
FantasyThea would forever regret finding the first stone. She would forever regret not chucking it into the sea when she had the chance. But most of all, she'd forever regret finding the second stone. --- A young woman finds herself deep into the affairs...
