Knights of Goldenrod and White Valley patrolled every corner of the Ashendel, switching their shifts day and night. Despite changing their shifts around for a rest, the dark veil remained hovered on their faces. Eyes dazed off as they walked around aimlessly. Imprisoned in their own homes in roses, they were birds without their wings. Nowhere to go when the curse followed their path. As they clung to their hopes, the flightless birds flocked around the two luminaries, begging for a crumb of salvation to help ease their suffering. Both of their names sung to the heaven. From their short gathering on the street, Ethel learned their names. Cael, the Luminary of Justice; Guardian of Ashendel. He locked most of his time inside his cocoon. A tower overwhelmed with the curse from its captives. The dark circles beneath his azure eyes darkened. Unkempt sandy brown hair, who knows since when he last washed. He won’t stay longer than half an hour outside. Cael wasn’t much of different from the other knights and residents. He too was a broken dove himself. But the young justice wasn’t the only one losing its light.
“The bell luminary has been going around with no direction,” stated the scarlet butterfly.
The blessed eyes of Heaven’s gift lose its shine. Ethel watched the captain trying to purge the accursed red roses from spreading. When another of his attempt turned out a futile one, he returned with shoulders slumped. Yet, the mortal’s stubbornness kept him trying again, regardless of the failures.
“His name is Luther. Are you going to keep calling him that silly name?“ Ethel asked. The name rolled out foreign to her. It was rare for her to learned the mortal names. She often only called them by mortal; children of light; luminary.
He’ll die from exhaustion. Though it’ll make my job easier when those two luminaries can’t hold themselves in a battle.
Ethel turned to the tower where she suspected the sword might be. Ashendel was a former shell of Lamifel. The ember sword burst Lamifel into flames, forming an enormous crater. Since the sword was immovable for the mortals, they rebuild the town from ashes around the sword. The safest way was to build its own prison right in the middle of Ashendel. She found the idea was ignorant of the risk for any rational living being to survive. But these were the mortals — stubborn.
“Would you help them avoid the war?” The butterfly flew to her face, blocking her sight of her goal.
Ethel waved it away. “I wished I could stop the war or at least delay them. But I don’t possess the knowledge of Ophelia’s sixth abyssal. Leave everything to their gods. Miracle will grace them from this curse.” The scarlet butterfly flopped its wings down in disappointment. “The war will come, eventually. We should have accepted that kind of fate. However, I can end it quick before the war succumbs more innocents.”
Suddenly, the knights shouted for help and gathered around the luminary. Their last light fell down unconscious on his feet. Locals of Ashendel watched the light from a distance before turning away and closing their hearts. Ethel wanted to reach out a hand to them. Yet, her own hand tainted in blood and death would only bring more ill fate than salvation.
* * * * * *
Night fall over Ashendel. People locked inside their homes. Knights ran around the town whenever a scream hurled out. While they were busy tending to the needs of their people, her shadow slipped through the caged window of the tower. Darkness was the first to welcome her inside. Red fireflies caged together with its prisoners behind iron bars.
“That man over there. Isn’t that the mortal who is always with the bell luminary?”
Ethel turned in her butterfly’s direction. The face was familiar. She knew something was wrong when one mortal was absent by the luminary’s side for quite some time. The knight shivered alone in his cage, scratching the annoying curse roses slithering on his skin. The crimson candle burned out, leaving his cell to succumb to darkness. She wanted turned blind eyes but the sobs coming from him pulled her back.
Her hand reached out to the dead candle. She snapped her finger and its crimson flame flickered back to life. The young man gasped at the sight. He crawled closer to the candlelight.
“Who?” He turned to her. The mortal pushed himself away, startled at her crimson eyes illuminating in the dark. Ethel pulled the hood over her head. As she was about to leave without giving an answer, the knight grabbed the bars. “Are you here for your ember sword?”
Ethel halted.
“A—Are you going to destroy Ash—Ashendel once you get your sword back?” The knight’s words stumbled through his chattering teeth.
Ethel shook her head.
“Please find my captain. He has something to tell you about the future where war lies await for everyone. I begged of you to find him.” He bowed. Despite the floor crawled with dead corpses of rats and birds devoured by the roses, the knight threw away his pride as a knight before the sinner. For a moment, she saw herself doing the same thing once.
Did I look this desperate when I begged them for mercy? Ethel planted her face to the earth for the sake of her kins. To her, dignity was a disposable thing. What did they feel watching her being hopeless beneath their feet?
She beckoned to her shadow. A hand raised from the ground with the red ribbon. The knight’s eyes widened, recognizing the ribbon.
“Your people often preached to accept no gifts from the hands of tainted. But you took the fire from my sword as your comfort from the curse. Never talk or listen to the evil. Yet, here you are right now, bowing before me instead of to your gods.” Ethel gripped on the ribbon. She met his quavering eyes.
Ah, did I look that the devastated in the past?
“I once sent a letter wrapped in red letter to your ancestor. Asking for a chance to hold a peaceful talk. But nobody wanted to listen to a word coming from the mouth of a sinner. Using the same method I used for a chance to create peace is nothing but an insult.” Ethel snickered. The crumbling look on the knight’s face gave her a little satisfaction from the same nightmare she had been through.
“Please, just hear him out.” Vincent coughed out.
Ethel turned away from the knight. Prisoners cowered away from the bars. An apple rolled over to her feet. It belonged to a child, staring at her. She approached the child with the apple.
Something is wrong with them.
She gazed deep into the child’s eyes. Behind the sweet hazel eyes, another being dwelled inside her soul. It wasn’t Ophelia’s curse. A flickering red ember tucked itself into the warmth of a mortal’s soul. Ethel kneeled before the girl and returned the apple.
“Thank you.“ A weak smile lifted the child’s face.
“Don’t thank me. I did nothing.” Ethel shook her head. “I’m sorry that my flame can never give you the warmth you wanted.”
* * * * * *
Knights from the day slept wherever their bodies fell down to. It doesn’t matter if the stone floor was freezing cold or the nasty bugs nestled on the stable straws. Exhaustion took over them without having her knocking them.
Nobody is guarding this area. Ethel turned to her sides. She placed a hand on the door. “Not even sealed or locked? A little too careless keeping my sword inside.”
Keep your guard, Ethel. The butterflies circled around her. Someone is inside.
“I’m aware.“ She stared at the door. A single light waited behind the door, as if expecting her arrival. Her shadow raised into two imitations of herself and pushed opened the door. “Let’s make it quick. Knock the target—“ Crimson eyes connected at the azure blue eyes. Life sparked in his gifted eyes.
“Damn it!“ She cursed, taking a stance to defend any incoming attack from the luminary. However, Cael remained motionless.
Sleepwalking?
“Yeah, sure he is.“ Ethel sarcastically replied her butterfly. Though the light inside him was weak, she couldn’t afford to let her guard down.
Cael placed a hand on the doorknob behind him. “Follow me. I’ll guide you.”
To the gallow, of course.
“I merely following a part of my promise.” The seal on the door shattered with his own hands. When he turned back to her, Ethel drew a stake of from shadow to his eyes. Cael didn’t flinch, instead stare back at the stake.
“Your offer is enticing. But I can get my sword back with my own two feet and two arms attached.”
“The sword is yours to take. However, I’m returning another thing for you.” Cael grabbed the stake with his bare hand. The heat sizzled his mortal flesh. She withdrew the stake back to her shadow.
Did the curse take over his mind?
“As the luminary of justice, I’m fulfilling unfinished responsibility from the time of the Lamifel. Judgment to the burning souls and returning what was yours.”
Ethel gnashed her teeth. She knew who were these burning souls. “Those souls can never return. They are there to stay for their own sins. I only came for my sword.”
“You’re not here for the beloved one?” Cael asked.
“What beloved?”
“Ella.”
Scarlet light swept to the luminary’s back. Red streak stakes emerged from the stone floor, trapping the light inside a cage. The butterfly rested on his chest where his heart beats.
“You dare speak the name of that sinner!” Ethel seethed. “What happened to your rules to not meddle in the affairs of abyss?”
Ease your rage. One of the butterfly fluttered around her sight.
“Forgive me. I wished no ill to you and your kin now.” He raised both of his hands.
Let me just kill him now. Cael winced as the flame of its wing seeped through his uniform.
No, Ethel, stop now!
She pierced her fingers into her arms. She held her breath to stop the fire building up inside her. Once the rage died down, Ethel took a deep breath. “Take me to my sword before I snuffed out your soul into smithereens.”
AUTHOR'S NOTE
Thank you to those who have patiently been waiting. Sorry for not updating for a while. I’ve been busy to get myself adapt to a new job. New faces, new environment, etc. I’m an introverted person. Thus, these challenges are like mountain for me to climb over.
Besides that, I also can’t help wanting to edit the previous chapters. There were scenes I thought I could do more or better. Structures of those world-building and magic need some polish. Those urges held me back from finishing the next chapters. But I decided to just rolled over with the first draft and put the editing on side. I don’t want to get a burnout before finishing this story. I’m not abandoning this story. Even if it’s only a fun project. Ethel, my protagonist, is like my baby. I’m not leaving her without an ending.
