Guess I'll give it a go before I start binge writing my novel for the night... Probably get me deep in the mood.
EDIT: So this wound up being, like, three pages long and sparked a whole new idea for me... I'll just hide it so it doesn't take up hella room on the post... Sorry. :l
They told me I wasn't born. I was found. That my eye wasn't missing. It just didn't exist.
I was created to hold the second eye of the Nonexistent King. And as a child I struggled with the knowledge that my entire existence was going to be lived as the host of an eye that didn't belong to me.
I pulled my palm away from the eye and stared at the cracked ceiling. Water trickled down to the slow-moving pool beside Nekra's corpse. The regret that brought me to sleep within an abandon building settled again in my gut. I should've left him with his owner back in the upper reaches of Kinlek. But they'd insisted that I take him. Said his nose would track Veira with ease.
And now he was dead beside me. The creature Veira and I had known since childhood. Drowned from a single night in the Callim Wastes. And here I was, finding myself in a dilapidated building, hoping to every King and god in existence that Vei wasn't in danger.
I pet Nekra's fur and yawned. "Goodbye," I said. My voice was coated with the wisp of loss, and my breath tasted like the tinge of morning. I shut my eyes and exhaled. My face held the stick of the tears I'd cried before sleep had stolen my mind and anguish. I knew leaving would be dangerous. But Nekra reminded me how harsh the world was without sentience playing against me.
I pulled my shirt from my empty socket and I sighed. I stood and wrapped the Lordstrip over my head to hide away the gaping hollow within my left socket.
The glow of the strip crossed my vision as I put it on. And the glow pulled at sweet memories. I shared my first kiss with Veira when she gave me the Lordstrip, and every time I wrapped my socket from view, I remembered the taste of her lips and the sound of her voice when she promised the Lordstrip held an innate power of the Lords. Or at least the one that owned it.
With a final prayer for Nekra I wandered from the ruins, exiting through the cave entrance we'd stumbled through the night before.
Even the light trickle of rain that the clouds summoned accentuated the wastes with the marsh pools and Rainhills that came during with the Fall.
It wasn't the season for the Callis Wetlands to overtake the Wastes. But it wasn't unheard of. The flash floods of En'tide hadn't given us a loop of four springs without wetlands for a century. And he definitely wouldn't let up with the current monarch of Kinlek in charge.
I trudged against the mud and muck, my boots sinking with every step. I made for the shallows beyond a growing pond, where the mud wasn't deep. I'd dressed in a halved shirt and shorts, expecting the dry to keep the lands, but now I regretted packing light without the spare clothing suited for the tides. The wastes were hostile with the sun. But when they flooded, new dangers emerged from the sands and stalked the waters, and the magic in the air took to forming life within the rain that pushed away wanderers. Everyone told stories to their children that En'tide's castle was buried beneath the sands. Castle Callim'kalis. That's what the wetlands and wastes were named after. And the forms that emerged in the rain were said to guard his kingdom.
I plodded atop a solid hill and scoped the area. Rivers and pools were growing and the rain was picking up once more. A few cliffs and mountains jutted from the mud and water ahead, leading to the Lenlak Cliffs in the distance, and I knew I was heading in the right direction.
The rains poured around me, and creatures formed at the base of my perch. The castle was the legend of the Wastes. But the ghost that haunted it had always been real to us in the stories. I gripped the sword at my hip and planted myself, ready to hold my ground, but a loud crack descended as the sky collapsed beside me.
I shook my head. The blast of lightning had thrown me away from the hill. And my wraps were missing.
I made to cover my eye, but the black cloud that erupted from it stung my hand. I yelped and pulled away. A dark spot evaporated from my palm like a wisp of smoke, eroding into the sky. The cloud my socket produced battled against the rain, ascending like a beacon against the blotted atmosphere above.
I had to find the Lordstrip. I sifted through the sand and stomped across a few hills until a gleam sparked within my view. I ran t the Lordstrip and cuffed it within my hands. But it was too late.
The cloud that rose from my socket stole light and color from the world and singed my face. I grasped at my head, the depths of my mind escaping through the void in my skull.
They came, predators finally able to feast upon their pray. Those who hailed from the nonexistent plain. Abhorrent monsters that were never meant to exist.
They stood at different heights, numerous amounts of limbs extending from each creature. Their patchwork jaws gaped and moaned for release from life. Damned to eternity without truly existing, they couldn't die. The sword Veira's father had given me could banish them. But they would always come back for me. And running gave me no grounds for escape.
The circle closed in. Talons tore at my exposed skin. Moans and distant screams whispered against my ears. Teeth nipped at my shoulders, and tongues slid against my forearm. Pitch black eyes rent through my gaze, and in the darkness I could see a wide array of teeth grinning at me.
He wanted his eye.
The 11th Lord wanted my eye. The one he was born without.
The creatures disappeared, erupting into a purple splash. The feeling of mud and water on my exposed back brought me to the wetlands once more. A man walked toward me, his hand falling to his side with a cloak following to cover it. His curly locks descended around his face and he stepped beside me, a shoe stamping against the ground. He was wearing shoes instead of boots in the wastes?
The Lordstrip ripped from my grasp and floated away, wrapping around the man's arm. He looked down to me and patted my head. "You found an old tattered piece of Lord's clothing?" He chuckled and rubbed my hair. "A girl your age wandering the wastes alone makes a poor end for a potential story. I'll accompany you. In exchange for some conversation, I'll return this shred of King's garb. Who knows, maybe it holds some magic in it yet."
"Who are you?" I asked. The man wore tattered garb in many layers that still managed to leave skin exposed to a breeze that whipped his clothing about him violently. He almost looked homeless, but the hulking sword on his back that stood taller than him told me he was fine on his own.
"The First King," he replied. He walked over a hill as I gawked at his answer. I stood my ground. I couldn't decide if I was confused by the man or worried for him. But, despite his ragged appearance, he didn't seem to be lying. He floated into the air, laying above the hills. "I'm not gonna carry your ass the whole way through. You looked ready to take the journey on your own. So step up and get going." He yawned. "What's your name?"
"The city calls me Null," I replied. "But Veira gave me the name Mirri'ei."
"Then Mirri'ei it is. Let's go. You look like you've lost something. I'll help you find it." He cracked his neck and stretched as he landed. "Hellvyre's off and busy and Tobu and Split are working on a new project. I need a way to pass some time."
I smiled and stepped forward. A King was willing to help me find Vei. And not just any King, but the very Lord that she believed once owned the Lordstrip.
Vei and I would make it to another kiss. And this time, I'd steal it from her lips.
Sorry this was so long. It's a bit different than the style of my current work, so I went off on it. xD But I've been working on my novel so much, this was a great break! Now I'm actually in the mood to get back to writing my novel again! I think I just needed a break for writing something else. xD This post works as a warm-up exercise!
