Chapter One
The air felt thick as he felt the trees closing in on him. He felt his fear increase. He looked around frantically slowly walking through the unfamiliar woods.
“ MUM!!! “, he called out multiple times hoping she would appear or answer him but she didn’t. All he could hear was the sound of the forest creatures. He was filled with fear, fear of being left alone. Suddenly he felt a dark mist suffocating him.
“ No “, he shouted as he sat up on his bed letting out heavy breaths. The handle of the door bent as it gently opened, a young girl with dark brown hair at shoulder level and bright green eyes poked her head into the room.
“ Are you alright “, she asked before she opened the door fully and walked in with a cup of milk in hand.
“ Did you have that same dream again “, she asked again.
“ yeah but don’t worry, it’s fine “.
“ Breakfast is almost ready, come down and eat “, She said as she gave him the cup of milk she came in with.
“ Thanks, i will be there shortly “. she gave him a small smile before she walked out the door and closed it. He looked out the window, the sun still rising. He then took a deep breath looking down at his cup again and drank the milk once. He dropped the cup on the table , got up and went to freshen up before going downstairs.
Downstairs, Aunt Melia was serving their breakfast. After some time he was coming down the stairs and walking to them.
“ Good morning, my shining, Celia told me you had that dream again “ she said sitting beside him.
“ It’s nothing to worry about, “ he told her.
“ But have you ever considered looking for her, it could have been a misunderstanding “ she asked.
“ No, it wasn’t, I don’t want to think about it “ he said tightening his grip on his spoon “
“ Okay then “ she said “ but always have it in mind we will always be there to support and help you, ok ?
“ Thanks alot, without you i don’t know what would have happened to me “ He said smiling and she returned the smile.
Celia finally came and sat beside him after finishing from the kitchen.
“ Are you going to the market today? We would buy some items for the kitchen. “ The market was located at the center of the village. Karna thought for a while
“ Ok but when it’s almost noon “
“ No problem, I will go with you “ she told him
“ If you want “
“ Okay now, less talking finish your foods “ aunty Melia cautioned them. The rest of the meal was quiet. After the meal, Celia cleared the table. She went inside grabbed a bag to carry the things that they would buy and they both headed out. The market wasn’t as busy as other days. Few people were walking from store to store while children were playing and walking around. Their village wasn’t very big but it wasn’t small either. It also had a very big river at a not too popular part of the village near the woods. Walking to one of the stores, Celia started buying the things needed for the kitchen and not too long after she gave him the full bag to carry. They started walking out of the market when suddenly they heard from behind
“Look who it is, If it isn’t fish boy”
Karna just stood there backing the owner of the voice. Celia turned around and told him angrily
“Back off Melek, what’s your problem”. Melek was tall, handsome and arrogant and was also stubborn and a trouble maker. Melek smirked walking towards them. As he walked closer he said
“I am just stating the facts, aren’t you a fish boy or whatever you call yourself”. Celia shouted at him
“Stop messing around and mind your own business”
But Melek kept on walking closer and he said” seeing you are the only one of your kind and no one has seen any other one, we should know that you are cursed. Celia kept shouting at him
“ Shut up”,
But he only grinned and walked closer to Karna’s back. Karna was angry but he kept his calm for he was one known to have anger issues.
But Melek ignored her and continued talking;
“No wonder your mother abandoned you, she didn’t want a cursed child” he laughed mockingly as Karna felt his blood boil in anger. Suddenly, with the speed and agility that didn’t give Melek a chance to comprehend what was going on, grabbed Melek by the neck, raising him high up in the air. Melek’s eyes opened wide as he tried to loosen Karna’s grip on his neck but he couldn’t. Celia, finally snapping back to reality, rushed to Karna’s side and said worriedly,
“Karna let him go“ hastily grabbing his hand, at first he refused but after some time he let go. Melek fell on his knees gasping and breathing heavily. He looked up but instead of seeing Karna’s usual brown eyes, Karna’s eyes were deep blue shining brightly. Melek felt like he was drowning in the deep ocean looking into Karna’s eyes. He looked away, stood up and walked away hurriedly.
Celia turned to look at Karna but was speechless, she then asked him, “what”s wrong with your eyes”
He blinked a few times and they returned to their usual brown colour.
“Nothing”, he said. “Let’s go”, he said again as he picked up the bag he had dropped earlier and started walking away, she looked at him in thought then followed him.
A figure in a long dark cloak saw everything that happened from the roof top where he was standing and a wicked grin appeared on it’s face as it disappeared.
They both arrived with gloomy faces. Aunt Melia noticing this asked worriedly
“Did anything happen at the market” before celia could say anything, Karna just replied
“No”, and walked upstairs straight to his room and shut the door. Aunt Melia turned to celia with a questioning look.
In the Room:
Karna sat on his bed still thinking, he remembered what melek said earlier.
(“No wonder your mother abandoned you, she didn’t want a cursed child”). They the memory of that night flashed backninto his mind.
A young beautiful lady with long silver hair at waist length held a young boy as they walked into a forest / woods. She stopped, squatted in front of him and wore a necklace around his neck. It had beautiful shades of blue and silver colours. Then she said
“Wait here, i will come and find you”.
Then she walked into the forest and he never saw her again.
He remembered her saying something as she was leaving but he couldn’t remember it at all. Karna reached out to the table beside his bed and opened the drawer, bringing out the necklace. He stared at it for a while but didn’t want to think about the fact that he was abandoned so he pushed that thought away deciding that he needed fresh air to clear his mind. He kept the necklace back, stood up, went downstairs and went outside. Celia had just finished narrating what had happened in the market when they saw him walk downstairs and went outside. Aunt melia called out to him but he did not answer. He walked around the town for an hour and it was already dark and by this time he has already reached the outskirts of their vilage without thinking he walked towards a shop it was the only shop open at that time every shopkeeper had already started closing for the day. Karna stood in front of the shop looking at all the strange items, most of them where jewelries and fabrics. The shop owner was sitting with his eyes closed facing up. His expression showed that he did not care about anyone buying his stuffs,looking around karna saw a bracelet on a nail hammered into the wall beside the elderly man and said “ i want the one beside you “
It looked quite old but it caught his attention so he wanted to buy it. The old man immediately opened his eyes and turned to the nail on the wall beside him, looking at the bracelet he then turned to look at Karna studying his face with shock, happiness and hope and then said “ AEl’ thoras “ and immediately fell to the ground dead. Karna was shocked, he entered the store and shook the man to understand what was going on, after some time without response, he stood up, took the bracelet and walked out of the store. As he walked home, the words the elderly said kept repeating in his mind “ AEl’ thoras, AEl’ thoras “. He could not confirm what language it was after all he had never heard it before. As he was still trying to figure out the meaning of the word he felt a presence behind him, he immediately turned back but there was no one there he then turned and was about to continue walking when he saw a black cloaked figure standing 3 feet away from him before karna could react the figure hit him with its palm on Karna’s chest blowing him 20 feet away. He couldn’t move from the spot he fell to, he tried to stand up but he fell on one of his knees to the ground, the pain was too much he felt like he was just hit by a large truck. Raising his head, he saw the figure walking slowly towards him. It had silver eyes that were glowing very brightly, the only thing Karna could see was the black cloak that covered his whole body and head . The expression the silver blue eyes gave showed that it was smirking. “Hmm,I wonder what my master sees in you that he has been looking for , you are very disappointing, just like Yelena.” the cloaked figure said now standing in front of Karna.
“ Who are you? ” Karna asked with a croaked voice. The croaked figure grinned and said
“ It doesn’t matter who I am, what matters is what i am and what i want”
Chapter Two
Karna was very confused.
“ Looks like your sister came looking for you, we will meet again ” saying that the figure disappeared. Karna turned to the side and saw Celia running to him with a worried expression before everything turned black and he fell.
“ What happened, are you alright? ” He could hear Celia’s voice before he blacked out.
In the room
“ His internal injury was severe, normally it is meant to take at least 2 weeks to recover, but it has just been two days and the injury is almost completely healed. He has a surprisingly fast recovery ”
Karna could hear the faint voice of a man he assumed to be the doctor. Opening his eyes gently, he turned his head to where the voices were coming from, aunt Melia was talking to the doctor while Celia was sitting on the chair with her head held low.
“Is he ok”
Aunt Melia asked the doctor.
“According to the rate of his recovery, he should be fine by tomorrow”.
The doctor assured her.
“I will take my leave”.
“Thank you doctor” aunt Melia said as she locked the door after the doctor left and released a breath of relief. Karna tried to sit up but his head was throbbing so badly.celia noticing movement she lifted her head and saw karna trying to sit up she rushed to his side with Aunty melia ‘Are you alright,how are you feeling’ she asked as she helped him to sit up.
‘Am fine now, just a little headache” he assured her
“Who was that person with you?” Celia asked.
“ That was real?, I thought it was a dream”
Karna asked, really surprised.
“Nope, that was very real,” Celia said.
“Do you remember how he looks like” aunt Melia asked
“He was wearing a long black cloak that covered his head and it was already night so i couldn’t see his face, but his eyes were silver and they were glowing”.
Aunt Melia thought for a while and then asked
“What did he say to you?” she asked
“Well she said something about being disappointing and ……. He mentioned a name ” Karna said
“What was the name” aunt Melia asked curiously
Karna searched his memories for the name for some time then he remembered it
“ Yelena, that was the name he mentioned ”
“ it’s him ” Aunty Melia said with her eyes open in panic and shock
“ who ” Karna and Celia asked her, confused. Aunt Melia’s expression returned to normal and she said
“ No one, forget about him ” Karna wanted to say something but she cut him off
“ you must be hungry, you were unconscious for 3 days, freshen up and eat ” she said with a little smile as she patted his shoulder and left the room. They both stared at her as she locked the door behind her.
“ something is off, don’t you think ” Celia asked
“ Definitely, but don’t worry about it, we would ask her later” He replied
“ ok then, glad you are alright, don’t make us worry like that again, ok ?” “ ok” he told her and she left the room.
Hours later
“Ahh” Karna heard Celia screaming as she flung his door open and dashed into the room. He immediately jumped on to the bed in alert “what,what happened?” He asked hurriedly.
“Guess what?” Celia asked excitedly
“What” Karna asked with a lazy voice as he sat down on the bed
“It is the Day” Celia replied
“What day?”
“ The Moonveil Festival ”,we were so occupied with what happened to you we completely forgot”
“So?” he asked lazily.
“Sooo, everybody would be anonymous wearing a mask, sharing gift, playing fun games and celebrating and meeting new people, i’ve been waiting for this all year, ” she replied happily.
“I am not in the mood for this”, he said lying back down’
“You have to come along, by the way the doctor said you need to
“Move around and enlighten yourself have fun she said
“He didn’t say so”
“He did, you didn’t hear him come on “she said, dragging him off the bed.
Downstairs
Karna and Celia walk towards the door dressed for the festival. Celia wore a beautiful glittering light blue flare gown at below knee length with cross neck handle while Karna was wearing a white hoodie and black trousers.
“ Be careful and have fun ” Aunt Melia shouted behind them as they left. The whole place was full of people and beautiful lights, it was very lively. Celia had just finished wearing her mask, the she turned to Karna noticing he wasn’t wearing his,
“ You didn’t wear yours, why? ” she asked
“ I don’t want to, why are there more people than usual ” he asked
“ Didn’t you hear? Chief Theron, the leader of our neighboring village, arrived at the festival with his twin children. Naturally, many people came hoping to catch a glimpse of them—or even earn their friendship for the opportunities it might bring.” Celia replied
“Oh!” he exclaimed in surprise.
As they were still talking a young girl with long blue hair around their age walked up to them.
“ Hi, I am Lyra ” she said as she removed her mask, she had golden eyes with an adorable face.
“ You are chief Theron’s daughter right, you are so beautiful ” Celia exclaimed with a broad smile.
“ thanks, i hear that a lot ” she replied, turning to Karna she said
“ I have heard about you”.
Celia patted him on the shoulder and said
“ I am going to check out the games, have fun ” then she left before he could say anything. Turning to Lyra he asked “ what did you hear about me ” as he started walking.
“ A guy said some things about you and fish tail ” she replied laughing as she followed him.
“ so you have met Melek ” he asked
“ Yeah, he mentioned that was his name, he kept following me around, bragging about himself, I had to blend into the crowd and run when he wasn’t looking ” she replied with a sigh.
“ You know I have read a lot of mythological books that even my brother thinks it’s lame and …………….” Lyra kept talking and talking, Karna got tired of listening but she kept following him. He suddenly felt an eye on him and he turned around but he did not see anyone so he continued walking. Lyra asked if everything was OK and he said yes.After some time Lyra saw a stall selling some snacks and dragged him to the stall excitedly she choose some snacks and told the seller to give her two Karna suddenly felt eyes on him again and he looked around among the crowd he saw a person in mask and cloak looking at him after maintaining eye contact for 10 seconds the person turned and started running, Karna left the stall and started running after the person while Lyra quickly paid for the snacks and started calling him and running after him
“ Karna, wait where are you going”.