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Eternal

The Fallen (Rise)

Unremarkable.

Yes, I am unremarkable. In a village of fifty inhabitants, I am nothing special. There isn’t anything I could do to make myself more noticed. To my core, I will always be a Merida, a stable hand, an archer, a village girl. There’s about ten other girls in my village vying for the hand of our local lord’s son. Simply speaking, there was nothing much to this blonde haired, blue eyed girl who was named after a curse.

So what about me was so special to that man?

Today, yet another slow and uneventful morning, was another day unseen in the eyes of greater beings. Brisk gusts blew through opened windows and taunted the fire burning in our stone fireplace. Our one roomed house wasn’t much, but it was home.

Winking away thoughts of sleep that fluttered lazily through my mind, I swung my legs off the bed side and touched the rough floor. The blonde haired girl was tangled in a snarl of sheets and arms. My mother lay beside her.

She must’ve had a nightmare and crawled to our parent’s side.

With a silent chuckle, I put an iron pan over the hungry flames and tossed vegetables in there. It wasn’t much for our food, but it was what we lived on every day. The deal with one of the farmers was that we would pick his horses’ shoes if he gave us a week’s worth of food. It was a hefty deal, but he did have a number of beasts to work with.

Not that I minded.

As soon as the food sent up delicious smells like beacons to our noses, I woke up my sister and my mom. Both grumbled, but made their way to the table.

“Sparrow, dear, don’t forget to brush out Bruma.” My mother smiled weakly. Sparrow, the little girl of ten summers bounced in her seat. Our barn where we stabled horses and sold the creatures was the daily chores. It brought us a fair share of money, enough to keep us until the next winter where we had to store food.

“Yes, mama.” Sparrow’s voice chirped back. I gave each of them a generous chunk of bread and warmed potatoes roasted in left over spices. It was a delicious meal for such a small family.

“Jynx, I need you to pick up some wax from Toltek this afternoon.” My mother winked. A sly grin spread to my own features. It was like Sparrow’s happiness had invaded my own emotions.

“Of course. Do you think I could go to Three Shots tonight?” I asked anxiously. Three Shots was our local bar and of course, it served all ages. I mean, who needed age restrictions?

A squeak of the chair warned us that Sparrow was trying to escape early to the barn. She was probably the only kid in our village who LOVED to go do chores. Then again, Sparrow loved the horses like they were family.

“Hey, don’t forget your cloak.” I reminded her. Scrambling around the table, Sparrow snatched a white cloak from the hook and booked it out of the door. It slammed shut behind her, letting in more cold air.

“Hmm….I’ll give you two coins and get yourself a small glass. Don’t get drunk.” She warned me. Growing more excited, I took my own black cloak and grabbed a small brown leather purse from the counter. It held just the amount of coins I would need to pay Toltek to get my wax for the bridles.

“Thanks, mama. I’ll check in before I go to the Three Shots.” I kissed her cheek lightly and gladly skipped out the door. Bolting the steel lock shut behind me. Just behind our house, I heard the giddy whinnies of horses begging to be let out into pasture.

Cold winds bit at my cheeks and I grasped the fabric of my black covering around me tighter. The blue shirt I had one didn’t help block out the cold as much as it should’ve. My numb fingers played at the silver latch around my throat.

“Toltek!” I called to my best friend in the village. While I was just a nobody to others, Toltek had been there for me when I was passed over. The Brightstar boy was rambunctious, energetic, and had the dream of becoming a Witcher.

“Hey, curse!” He laughed. Appearing from behind an anvil in front of his father’s blacksmith, he swooped me up in a bear hug. He had brown hair that fell into my face and eyes like the jeweled green Ghost Sea just outside our village. As he let me go, his hands reached into the dirt smudged apron and produced a jar of wax that I had requested. In exchange, I tossed the brown purse at him. The nimble fingers caught it and stored the bag away.

“It’s Jynx, thank you very much!” Chuckled, I perched myself up on the blacksmith’s bench.

“Same difference!” His rough voice held traces of teasing in it. The sun warmed the bright road that hugged the front of our houses. The blacksmith’s shop was right in the middle of the shopping plaza.

“So how have your Witcher quests gone so far?” I asked him. With a heavy sigh, he went back to fixing a few arrow feathers. My fingers stroked the pile of soft downy material.

“Well, they’ve been okay. Witchers have been elusive as ever. I guess that’s what you get when you want to fight dark magic but don’t have a single evil being in the middle of nowhere.” Toltek grumbled back to me.

Toltek, ever since hearing about the Witchers, had wanted to join them. The elusive order was dedicated to destroying all practitioners of dark magic. It was hard to join find a member, and even more difficult to join! Basically, all they did was snoop around and destroy vampires, witches, necromancers, and demons.

You know, I guess they did a pretty good job considering I’d never seen a vampire before.

That, or we just lived in the middle of freezing cold nowhere, just south of isolation.

“Well, you’ll find a member eventually! They’d be foolish not to have you.” I patted his shoulder and hopped off the bench.

“Yeah, well you’ve always been the optimistic one.” Toltek whacked my side with and arrow and I stuck my tongue out.

“New cloak?” He asked. I nodded. We had gotten it from a trader just west of our town.

“Good luck with the arrows!” I called and spun towards the barn.

My feet carried me over the broken stone and dirt that made up our little road. I took the south way, back towards our abode. A few flakes of snow started to drift down, but melted as soon as they touched the earth. Winter was coming early this year. We had to be prepared.

“Calm down, Bruma!” My little sister’s voice wailed out. A horse stamped its foot in fear. Pushing open one of the doors, I heaved my way inside. In the dim light that shone through the large windows, I saw my sister stand by a large dappled horse that had fear melted into its wide eyes.

“Hey, what’s scared her?” I asked. Sparrow shrugged, trying to rub down the horse’s side. The dapple pranced and snickered uneasily. Sparrow backed away as I soothed the creature. Her ears flickered back up and she stopped flicking her tail back and forth, as if swatting invisible flies.

“When’s the buyer going to be here, Jynx?” Sparrow’s timid voice rose to me. Bruma nudged my hand, begging for carrots that I didn’t have with me.

“Soon. Go see mama, okay? I’ll calm her down. Tell mom the horse is ready.” I instructed my sibling to do so. Without another word, I watched her fair hair disappear around the door.

In total, we had another five horses that were boarded with us. It was good pay, even though they were here with us for only a day. There were two others that were for sale, but none had come to buy. Only a trader needed a new horse for his team after one died of a wolf attack.

“Shh….it’ll be okay.” I whispered to the mare after her ears went flat against her back. Grabbing her halter, I held her head close. Bruma always like it when I held her head against my chest. The brown orbs rolled to the back of her head out of fright.

“What a beautiful beast.” A soft voice murmured behind me. Whirling around, I faced a tall man who loomed in the shadows. It was like they were being radiated from his skin. No, even his fair pallor was swallowed into voids of darkness.

“Oh, I’m sorry. I didn’t see you come in.” I murmured shyly. The man grinned and moved towards me. Bruma shied back, leaning against my weight. The man’s golden eyes widened. They were the color of darkened sap. It was almost…cat-like and hungry.

“A beautiful creature to match her dazzling owner.” The man smiled down to me. His frame was wrapped in a cloak, similar to mine, but with red trim on the edges. His arms must’ve hung loosely at his side because they were obscured by the fabric of his coverings.

“Why, thanks…” I mumbled at the compliment. Nobody ever said this to me….

“Do you mind?” His thin pupils focused on me before flickering to the horse. I nodded and held Bruma’s halter. As the man neared her, she shied back further, scared as hell.

“Come on, Bruma.” I grunted and gave her a sharp yank on the halter. Although she stopped fighting, it was obvious that this man had scared her.

But why?

This stranger’s hand outstretched to meet the warm coat of the animal. I bit back a gasp at what I saw on his arm.

It was ink, much like that of the barbarian tribes. The colors wove pictures, told stories, and made me stare.

Catching myself stare at his pale skin and unusual tattoos, I ripped my gaze away. He stepped back swiftly, letting the cloak drift back to the original position.

“I know she’ll go to a great owner.” He murmured, eyes still on the horse. My breath caught at this man. So tall, lanky, and thin.

“It’s been a pleasure seeing you, Jynx.” His smile was just as haunting as his inked arms, demeanor, and quiet presence.

As his frame slid out of the door and back into the afternoon light, I stepped away from the scared horse. She whinnied, but didn’t pull against her lead.

And that’s when it occurred to me. That last little sentence had one thing that had caught my attention. It was so quick, almost unnoticeable. The word was hidden in an envelope of softness and mystery.

How did he know my name?

Notes

Hello everyone! It's author Chaos'sWolf here!

So I write mostly for the OM&M fanfiction site and it's my first story doing it on all the others as well! If you'd like to know more about me or read more of my stories, just follow my profile there!

Anyways, I hope you enjoyed this first chapter of my next big project, Eternal! This chapter is a bit of a big box of secrets, isn't it? I think we have a few big unanswered questions regarding this mysterious man....

Please leave me a comment, subscribe, and rate! I love to hear from each of you and always respond! Feel free to ask questions, send compliments, or random thoughts! I enjoy all. :)

Welcome to the pack, wolves! Stay beautiful!!!

Sincerely,
Chaos'sWolf

Comments

I really need this story to update I love it so much!

@VixenMotionless
Aw thank you very much! I hope you enjoy the next few chapters! :)

I can't wait to read the rest of this. I don't think a fanfic has ever captured my attention as much as this one has! :D

-Vixen Motionless

@Broken Dancer
You're welcome :)

@Chaos'sWolf
Yay that makes me super happy :) thank you!