Rise of the Goddess

Chapter Nine - Zariah

Zariah couldn't fall asleep that night. She lay awake under the fluffy covers of the bed. Part of it was how weird it felt to be sharing a bed with Raeden, Esen had only fixed up one double bed for the two of them and at that point neither of them wanted to complain to her. Raeden fell asleep quickly, laying like a rock at the furthest edge on the bed. Laying wide awake in the early hours of the morning, Zariah envied him.

The main reason she couldn't fall asleep was that laying there, staring into the wooden ceiling, moonlight pouring in through the windows, she couldn't help but feel like something had gone terribly wrong. To be honest, nothing about that moment seemed wrong, it was just a gut feeling, or maybe it was the Goddess's power telling her that there was some sort of imbalance in the world.

Whatever the reason was, Zariah hadn't gotten a bit of sleep all night, and by the time the sun shone through the window, Zariah still lay watching.

The ride home was one of the calmest rides she'd ever had. She left that morning as soon as possible, after Esen continued to pamper them with eggs and fresh clothes and supplies and such. There was absolutely nothing in between Tarrey Town and Hyrule Castle, the Woodland Stable and the fire was completely under control, the weather seemed perfect. That uneasy feeling never left her, even though everything seemed to suggest that there was nothing to be worried about.

She slept late the next night, camping along the edge of the river, probably making up for lack of sleep. By the next afternoon, they made it back to Hyrule Castle and made their way steadily towards the inner halls of the castle, leaving their horses at the Castle Town Stables. The closer she got to home, the more excited she felt to tell her mother about everything that had happened. Her mother would know what she needed to do, she always did. Not only was she excited to get her mother's council but she'd figured out how to save her. She had the power to cure her disease, in a few moments everything would be better.

As she walked in, she was met almost immediately by her father dressed in black.

She immediately feared the worst, "Dad? What is it?"

"You should probably come with me,"

She looked at her father's grizzled face, seeing tears in his eyes. He nodded as she understood.

She choked back a sob, tears rushed into her eyes. She steeled herself again, "Show me,"

She followed him, both of them rushing through the halls, stopping finally at her mother's room. Her father froze at the doorway, but she shoved the door open.

The room looked the same as always, daylight poured in through the massive windows, grey curtains flowing in, the candles extinguished. The old covers on the bed were gone, replaced with nothing but a white sheet, one that covered the still figure of her mother's body.

She collapsed against the frame of the door, tears coming freely to her eyes.

"No..." she whimpered, "No, it's not—"

She felt a hand on her shoulder and turned to see the blurry face of her father. She burrowed herself into a hug, awkwardly returned by her dad.

"It happened the night before while you were gone," he said, his voice breaking, "Th- the funeral will be two days from now,"

She hugged him tighter. Despair began to hit her hard. She'd been so close, so close to saving her mother, if she'd just been a little faster she could've saved her, even if she'd been to the Spring of Wisdom years ago as per tradition, maybe she could've ended this before it all started. But instead she was too slow, she'd tried running away from her fate and she paid dearly for it.