1 Orphan

I

The smell of salt-laden air filled the breeze, conveying the whispers of the sea that lay beyond. The waves roared through the sand, smashing the beach, wrapping the shells in a haze of darkness and despair. Tired feet paced towards the depths of the sea, inch by inch her body sank. She stared at the waves, death beckoning just moments before her. She was tired and desperate for food, days of walking mile after mile had taken a huge toll on her body. Nobody was coming for her, she was left alone, left to die on this miserable place. She looked back at the land again, it was foolish for her to hope, foolish for her to yearn for someone to pull her out of this madness.

A child of war. That was who she was, and that was all she was ever going to be.

Lightning donned the lands in a streak of white and blue, its command reaching to the sea, ceasing its waves, letting her legs have a footing below, and the abundance of the sea stretching once more. Silence met with her, an empty feeling it was, to be alone with nothing but silence to shelter you against the darkness. And maybe it was the eerie voices of the sky above her, murmuring prayers of hope to the gods, or the ruthless waves rolling towards her, hard and unrelenting, but there she knew—she realized.

She may be alone in this realm, in this god forsaken place, but she was not weak---no, she had a reason to stay alive, a purpose that kept her running for miles and miles. Through the crusting sands of the mortal lands, the screeches of vermin and drought to which she escaped, the harrowing journey from dusk till dawn—she knew the risks, the consequences and trials she would face. Her steps halted, her eyes finally beholding the landscape that stretched before her grief-stricken eyes. A resolution.

This was not to be the end of her.

She smiled as lightning once again colored the sky, darkness taking shelter as white light began its journey to cover the whole expanse of the skies. Curving her head upward as she trudged towards shore, she gazed in amazement, two sides fighting for dominance, a dance it seemed, but in the end, it was obvious who the victor would be. As one, brightness began to dim its core, slowly losing its grip upon the lands, retreating to the heavens, leaving darkness to engulf the world with its black hands of grief and desolation. It was darkness himself who kept her company, darkness himself who kept her sane and darkness himself to claim her in her final moments.

Once darkness undoubtedly took over, the girl began to saunter back ashore, her eyes filled with utter determination and optimism for the days ahead, for the life that waited before her eyes, the life that she fought for, the life that she deserved.

She trudged through the ice cold waters, willing her legs to press on one after the other, yet as she steadily neared the sandy beach her limbs seemed to have abruptly halted, her body merely stood just meters away from the shoreline and her feet were glued to the ocean floor, unyielding to the continuous force of movement she wanted. Cold hands caressed her ankle, slowly making its way to her calves. The girl glanced down at her lower torso, her eyes widened as dark hands attached themselves to her body, steadily marking her body with wraith-like marks.

Death. Darkness. They were coming for her. It was time.

She willed her body to move once more. One step, just one step was all she could hope for.

Just one.

She could feel the hands travel upward, towards her belly, seizing her forearms in one icy grip. All her eyes could see was the shore, its sand shifting as waves covered them again and again. A few steps was all it took, a few simple steps.

The girl sobbed as darkness claimed her once again. Pulling her down and down below the abyss of the sea. Panic gushed her entire body, arms flaying on both sides, resisting the other worldly pull, fighting until her last breath finally escaped her body. Eyes instilled overhead, past the labyrinth of darkness, she saw nothing. Nothing but obscurity and gloom.

It was darkness from the beginning and darkness till the end.

It was as if she were darkness herself.

Her eyes began to give up on her, not a single ray of light dared to look back upon her pitiful state of being. Abandoned once again and left with no one to remember her existence, and no one to reminisce in her final moments, a certain emotion surged through her.

Hate.

Hate for her parents, hate for her sisters and hate for the world. She would give anything to see the light again, to hear the illustrious melodies of the world, to feel the grass caressing her feet and to demand justice-for her scars, for everything.

She would give anything to see them drop to the ground and regret everything they did.

Anything.

Cold and taunting claws began to knock the veils of her skull."Anything, my child?" The voice was hoarse and deep, almost serpentine-like, scratching against her mind and begging to be heard. Her eyes scanned the surroundings once more, looking for a being, a figure, a shape. But all that welcomed her was the vast stretch of the ocean, dark and cruel.

The voice purred. "Fear not my child, I mean you no harm." Scrambling, the girl struggled once more, praying for her useless body to move. Not a twitch nor a sound, her body remained like stone, unmoving and almost nearing its end. Her thoughts erupted everywhere inside her mind, memories juggling themselves out from the pits of her brain. This was not the end, she recited to herself.

This was not the end-a prayer.

They will pay.

The voice snickered, its silhouette slowly taking form before her eyes. Fear shook her body for the first time in a long while. Her eyes met the being once again. Alabaster skin shone in contrast against the darkness, silk hair draped its slender body, face carved by the gods, silver-ringed gray eyes met with hers, and lips as pink as the flowers she once plucked from the gardens of her family's estate. The source of the voice smiled. The girl's body began to move.

Pain did not welcome her, instead, warmth wrapped her frail body---her old wounds seemed to have healed, but some scars remained. Finally, the girl spoke, "It can't be…", she shut her mouth indefinitely, but the figure merely stared at her, amused.

"What bothers you my child?" The figure was entertained yet again by her obliviousness as it stretched its long slender fingers along its face, smirking at the girl. Waiting.

Both of them stood only a feet away from one another. The girl steadied herself and without hesitation, cut the space between them with one step, facing the silhouette head-on. Her frail body tensed for a moment as she surveyed the figure once more. She was right, her fear was not misplaced and the figure now smirked in joyous consideration for what she had realized.

The girl glanced at her own arms, at her own skin-her alabaster skin. She tossed her head in the air and chuckled, her hands clasping the ends of her hair, trailing downwards to her neck and laughed again, her head sloped to its usual position, facing the being once more with vengeful eyes.

The voice was her, she was the creature. It was of no wonder she felt a sort of pull with the being, they were the same, cut from the same cloth. Alike. Both their features were the same, from its smile to her hair, and her skin, as pale as paper, the only thing that distinguished both of them from one another was the girl's scars, decorating her body like accessories, a giant scar stretching from the bottom of her belly to her calves, marring the girl forever. The being grinned, baring its sharp teeth to her---a greeting.

She was darkness.

Her other self stretched her palm to her, beckoning her to follow. "Never forget, always remember my child." Ice cold fingers met the girl's cheeks, stroking her face, tracing her eyes, seizing her hair and pulling her near. She could feel its breath toddle on the back of her neck. The being purred, "Make them regret, make them pay." The girl knew what it meant. With one hasty push, the shadow released her hair, rose-gold strands fluttering underneath its palm. It sneered once more, sending shivers down her spine. Memories started flashing; ragged whips enclosed in blood, figures grabbing her by the arm, scarlet clouds marred the skies, releasing burning drops of acid, and the screams of people she never met, corpses piled on top of one another like bricks, rotting underneath the scorching sun, awaiting for the next shipment of cement to conceal the bodies inside a wall.

Never again. The smell of the bodies never left her, not even once. Nightmares haunting her day and night. The rutty hands of strangers shoving her from one point to another, a defenseless child with no family, alone and left to fend for herself.

The girl grabbed the shadow's palm, linking her damaged fingers with smooth alabaster skin.

A deal.

Hands clasped with one another in a uniformed embrace, pulling the girl forward. Darkness exploded as the two bodies converged to one. Swirls of black and scarlet bounded together conceding the power that formed. No one, not a single creature approached them. They were infinite, a force to be reckoned with; gods above rumbled in acknowledgement, sending thunderous booms of light onto the heavens, enclosing the world in a ray of white and blue once again.