*MADE IT TO THE FINALS OF ONC's SHORT LIST*
One makes, one nurtures and one extinguishes - thus, a balance is maintained on Tellus.
But what happens when the scales topple?
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
Ati had made two mistakes on seeing the reflection. One was when she had screamed following the second error that could prove to be fatal for her when she had started to run waywardly.
Both the actions made the people stop to take her in. They started whispering among each other. Then, like zombies limping after the brain of people, began to shuffle in her direction. The terror doubled. They were closing in on her. She screamed time and again.
"Someone save me, please," her voice turning hoarse, she continued to run, but the dress was making it a nearly impossible feat. As the people had formed a ring around her, besieging her on all sides, she stood in place. Relentless, she inhaled deeply. On letting the breath out, something shimmered to her left. It poked her, demanding her to look at it.
A sword.
She inspected it, wielding it with her right hand. She traced the ornate symbols made on the pommel and the hilt of it, spreading out towards the center where it met the metal embossed with swirls twisting towards the pointed end. She hefted it, testing the weight as Ryker had taught her to.
How-so-ever the sword had chanced upon her for aid, she cared little for that.
As soon as one of the people came at her, she swung the sword, slicing through the man's chest. A spray of blood covered her and seeped into the engraved symbols on the blade. Unexpectedly, a mulberry-colored mist left the sword, winding around the men and women as they started to morph into shapeless beings.
─── ･｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───
Arkah felt himself falling down an endless white chasm. Landing with an oomph he noticed that on all sides, they were now surrounded by windows overlooking a different land, and time.
"What's the purpose of fitting a door in a ceiling?" Ryker had a dubious expression on his face as he tilted his head upward to take in the details of the room.
"That's a mystery only Ati can unravel," he replied, and when Ryker questioned him about how he was sure whether they were in Ati's 'crown' or not, Arkah pointed to one of the windows he was standing closest to.
A little girl, around the age of twelve, was roaming around a wooden house. It didn't take any of the two more than a few seconds to comprehend who the girl was. There was an old woman too, running after little Ati with a glass full of milk while she ran away from her. It then shifted to them sitting in the bed as the old woman told her about her parents.
Arkah then moved on to the second window, unable to stop himself from getting to know more about the girl he had started to feel things about. Although he knew he didn't belong in this world and he had a bigger purpose, he couldn't help but want intimate knowledge about her. Ryker, instead of following him, went to the one opposite.
