The Hidden Orphan (The Chronicles of Mistar - Book 2)

Three · · · Dusk

The Wood, Between Blood Valley and Offland, Opa

DARKNESS ENCOMPASSED OPA. Its everlasting shell coated in clouds of black, unable to let in even a sliver of light. It was home to people with the same dark hearts that Dusk only thought they knew evil, and so did he. At least, that was until he knew better.

Dusk didn't exactly know how he knew what Opa was doing was bad, he just knew it. It was a feeling that settled in the dark, deep pit of his stomach that made him feel sick. They were killing people. His government was killing people. Opa's citizens were killing people. His family was killing people. Dusk couldn't stand for it.

He sat on the bank of a river, a spot where his friends and himself liked to hang out during the Solstice months. In the morning, Dusk liked to come alone when it was still dark so he could listen to the animals that still dared to walk through the woods and listen to the roar of the river. Ashes in a burnt out campfire reminded Dusk of one of his closest friends, Ashen Moeheaton, or Ash as her friends liked to call her.

Ash quietly came up behind Dusk and wrapped her arms around his torso. Her touch was comfortable, soothing. Something that was familiar to hold on to. Dusk grabbed her hands and squeezed gently. Any minute, the rest of the friends would come and they could no longer be alone, so Dusk closed his eyes took in a breath, savoring the moments spent together. Her finger curled around his, her nose pushing into his collar bone.

When Dusk opened his eyes, he took in his surroundings. The river flowing only a few zas away was a deep navy blue and dark like ice painted in black ink. The air around Dusk was infested with mist, tiny droplets of water that kept Dusk's skin forever moist. It smelled of petrichor every single day of his life. In the sky, constant gray clouds hung letting the mist fall, ever so often letting it rain if need be. The clouds hid the sun and the blue sky, letting an everlasting darkness cloud the surface of Opa. Every once in a while, the clouds would break letting a little bit of light slip by, but that was far and few between. Dark trees, their bark gray and black like the Deadwoods of Gazar, littered the forest floor. The tree's leaves were a rich, dark green or an ugly olive that somehow looked lovely on the pines. Weeds grew around the log Dusk had been sitting on and so did a rare white flower with a yellow pollinated middle. Dusk wanted to pick the flower and drop it in the slow-moving river, but he knew that if he did it the flower would never grow back. Flowers were rare on Opa's soiled surface. From a young age, Dusk learned not to waste them.

Footsteps and laughter sounded in the distance, cuing Ash to let go of Dusk. He watched her shuffle away silently to her own log to sit on. Her features were delicate, letting her loose hair fall across her face. Its natural color was pitch black, like most Opans, but had most of it dyed to a subtle gray. At her roots, Dusk could still its natural color. Like her hair, her skin tone was naturally black, like the sky at night. Since Opans were able to change the color of their skin with a thought, Ash kept her smooth, flawless skin at a dark gray that almost made her look like a ghost.

Her eyes were anything but delicate. Like her twin brother, her ability was controlling for no matter how hot. This caused her eyes to be a fierce red with flickers of orange so her irises looked like a burning flame. They unsettled most people, but Dusk knew Ash and her brother for long that they didn't scare him anymore. He knew the gentle spirits behind their raging fires.

Another spark of red caught Dusk's eye when he noticed that Smolder, or Moe as Dusk liked to call him, walked to his respective log in between Ash and Dusk. The red was only Moe's eyes. Like his sister's, Moe had burning eyes as they were a campfire themselves in the blackest of night.

In the morning, he was too lazy to change the color of his skin so he was pitch black, his lips, nose, and hairline invisible. Dusk could only see the spark of Moe's eyes and the white of his teeth when he smiled. Like Ash, Moe's natural hair color was pitch black and dyed his hair gray too, even if it was only the tips. Even though they were different genders, without a doubt, Dusk knew that they would be twins if he had just met them that day.