If a tree falls, does it make a sound?
If a mind breaks, can anyone tell?
If a soul leaves, does anyone notice?
She could feel the heat of the flames lick up her arms, dancing playfully along her skin with a searing kiss. Loud snaps, cracks, and pops filled her ears as she surveyed the carnage in front of her. Trees, centuries-old, kneeling before the destructive power of the fire, keeling over with no fight left at all. Her bones shook and vibrated as she felt the great thuds of the massive giants tumbling down all around her. Despite the chaos of the fire blazing around her she was calm, in the eye of the storm. She was the picture of righteous fury focused, Kali incarnated. And in the center of the flames, the heart of the destruction, there he stood.
Trees fell, and she listened.
Her mind broke, no one could tell.
His soul left, and the whole world took notice.
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A rewrite of a 10 year old story, formerly known as Abducted. Updated daily during my period of social distancing :)
BOOK ONE OF THE EVERLASTING EVENTS
When a murder shakes her tiny village, Alera will discover a horrifying link between the scars on her arms and the werewolves and vampires that stalk her home.
*****
Nineteen-year-old Alera has grown up in the village of Adaymos, listening to stories about the monsters that live in the forest that surround her home. Labelled an outcast because of the scars on her arm, she's an easy scapegoat after one of the villagers is found murdered, but when newcomer Will is framed instead she's forced to question everything she knows about the mysterious outsider. Could he really be the killer? Or is he hiding more about the werewolves and vampires that live in the forest -- and the truth behind Alera's scars -- than he lets on?
[[word count: 100,000-150,000 words]]