The rain fell onto the keep, the clouds themselves crying at the loss of life that had befallen under them. Their tears mixed with the blood seeping through the rough gravel, leading it back the earth. The city was hauntingly quiet, pale rigid forms staring off into the distance. The body of Tamora was draped across her small cart that she had so proudly bought the previous week. She had fallen on top of her small goods, delicate and expensive in form. Her eyes faced into the heaven, slightly covered by her headband that had fallen off her hair in the force. Hauntingly beautiful, even in her frail form, the clouds mourned her loss, pouring their tears down upon her.
Boots stormed through the gatehouse into the bailey, breaking the silence of the city with the uniformed sound of chainmail hitting gravel. Sounds of horror broke through the lips of those in those boots, as they gazed upon the scene befalling them. But they passed without stopping, continuing their path into the city, and the bailey fell silent once again.
It wasn't long before the silence was interrupted again, as quick, light footsteps could be heard on the edge of the stone keep's walls, almost tiptoeing past the silent corpses. Then a muffled sob could be heard as the footsteps rushed into the middle of the bailey. Tamora's cart suddenly found itself on its side, slamming onto the ground and spilling the contents. Tamora's body found itself on the soft grass on its side, still rigid and cold. A collection of fabrics was suddenly stuffed into the side-turned cart, and the footsteps left the courtyard.
The boots marched again through the bailey, at a quicker pace than before, followed by much sudden yelling. However, they did not see the spirits bursting from their bodies, standing around in shock, watching the soldiers run past. Then silence of the courtyard would be eternally broken as the citizen's of the keep screamed in horror, seeing their bodies on the ground below them.
Tamora's white hot tears fell into the ground as she observed her body, her upturned cart and all the pieces she had spent so much time perfecting just discarded like trash upon the ground. She tried in vain to pick up her jewellery pieces, screaming in anguish as her hand went straight through them.
Her screams echoed around the courtyard, mingling with the sounds of all the other spirits wailing and crying. However, their voices were not what broke Tamora's pitiful display. A loud noise, unlike those of the spirits screams turned Tamora's attention to her upturned cart.
As Tamora went to investigate her cart, another chaotic event was occurring outside the keep's walls. A young girl was running, with no shoes covering her feet and her body wrapped in bandages, clutching fabric to her chest. She was running away from the kingdom, horror-stricken on her face as she looked back to see men in armour sprinting towards her.
She went sprawling over a root as she headed into the dense forest. She cried out in anguish as the bundle of fabric flew away from her. She grabbed the fabric quickly again, pulling herself up out of the soft mud before sprinting further into the forest. The rain bore down upon her, soaking her to the bone. The men behind her grew increasingly close as she put all her last energy into each foot pushing against the ground.
The trees grew closer and closer as she wormed her way around them, cutting herself against the rough bark. The scent of pine needles filled her noise as the rain grew increasingly stronger. Thunder rumbled above, giving her more incentive to push even harder. Birds flew out in fear above, sensing the oncoming doom.
Crashes of metal came from behind her, as the heavily armoured men attempted to navigate the forest with little ease. Loud swears and yelling of orders filled the forest, causing any wildlife that was still alive too scarper. Finally, light could be seen breaking through the trees ahead. The girl let herself fill with hope too soon.
A heavy hand came crashing down on her shoulder, sending her sprawling down to the ground. The girl cried out in fear, turning onto her back quickly to see one of the soldiers reaching towards the bundle of fabric. Before she could even think about thinking, she reached her hand out, the now familiar tingling sensation rushing through her hand into her fingertips. A dark cloud exploded from her fingertips, surrounding the solider.
The soldier's eyes grew wide with fear as the girl screamed even louder this time. He dropped to the ground, clutching at his throat. The girl scrambled up on her feet and turned and ran before she could see the inevitable side effects. As she leaped other another root, the light ever growing increasingly closer, she heard the clang of metal as the solider fell completely to rest. She felt tears welling up in her eyes, and she let them go free.
She broke out from the other side of the dense forest, feet landing on the soft grass. The ocean swelled up, crashing down on the side of the cliff in front of her. The storm was growing increasingly closer, thunder rolling across the sky again. But it was too far to help her now.
As the metal of the soldiers behind her left the forest, she stopped at the edge of the cliff-face, looking down into the grey frothing waters below. She felt her tears drip off the side of her face as she hugged the fabric to her chest, vaguely sniffing it. The wind pulled them off her face, swirling around her in the last line of defiance. She felt a dry chickle escape her lips.
"There is nowhere to go now Ondrea. Now hand yourself and the baby over." She heard his voice call out from behind. Disgust and pain twisted in her stomach. She stayed silent, continuing to watch the water. She heard him sigh, taking a step towards her.
"You know they won't be able to help in time Ondrea. I'm the only one who can save our child now." His voice sounded caring, but Ondrea knew the truth. She knew the monster that lay behind the words. She kept silent, staring down at the now mud-covered fabric, letting out a quiet sob. The monster behind her took another step towards her.
"Don't you see why I had to do it Ondrea? Don't you see now, the pain and chaos they cause? Do you really want our child to be a monster?" his voice was carried to her ears by the wind. She scoffed, turning her head over her shoulder, meeting his green eyes for just a second.
"I guess not." She answered, no emotion crossing her voice. He let out a deep sigh, before walking towards her.
"I want her to be a angel." The girl said breathily, looking down at the fabric with all the love only a mother could hold. And she took a single step forward.
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And we are back. This story, I wrote the beginning couple of paragraphs a while back as a thought experiment, and then about a week ago really got my teeth into it. Looking at it now, I actually did do quite a bit. Although, this book will probably have slower updates as well, but we will see.
As always, there is music in the banner of each chapter that I think matches the tone and feel of the chapter personally. This is mostly proabably going to be mostly kpop as it's the genre I know best. I was going to use a different song, but I've realised that will fit more into another chapter. I love this song though, such an amazing track. It fits in well with the chapter.
Anyway, I'll post the first chapter now, so I'll see you there. Remember to vote if you liked what you read, and post your thoughts in the comments. Keep your soul close, but your heart closer.
- Owlie
YOU ARE READING
Stolen Spirit
FantasíaPheonix has only known her life within the afterlife. All the dead from the keep aren't exactly sure how they died, or why they came back as spirits, but the biggest mystery is why Pheonix can be touched by them but also be able to touch other thing...
