1 One Story At A Time

Nord-

"The emptiness loomed over every corner of the space, reaching as far as the eye could see. Alone in the sea of the void were 3 Isle, one the home of the Goddess of Life, one the home of the God of Death and the last the home of the creatures which sat in-between. The third was the largest of the three, positioned in the centre and housed everything from critters which scurried the floors to the large beasts which soared the sky. It was also home to the weakest entities accommodating the 3 isles, so it was rumoured. The large space, which appeared to be wasted territory, was the third and most powerful. He whom had no body, no physical vessel or home of his own, created life and death itself, along with the magic which ran through every rock and leaf. His name, Vacuo, was feared amongst the very gods he created. He gave his children, Asteria and Ghorah, the power to create and destroy and entrusted them with the barren landscape in the centre of them both. Asteria gifted the land with life, giving birth to forests, mountains and creatures, Ghorah cursed them with monsters and natural disasters in order to balance the two magics. Vacuo gave them but one rule 'never ever look upon the land you have created or you too will succumb to the deadliest of the mortal emotions. End of story for today!"

With that, mother shut the book and rose from the end of the bed. I gave her a look of dissatisfaction and covered my face with the blanket, the sheepskin tickled my reddened nose. The house was cold as the of fire was put out hours ago, "but mum!", I whined. She simply patted my head and gave me a gentle kiss on my cheek."Your sister is asleep, you should follow suit, Nord", she whispered gently, her small smile seemed to warm up the room. I glanced over at Nuraura and she was right, she looked like she was dosed with nightbloom; knocked out and snoring like a boar. I sighed laying my head down of the straw pillow."Mum, I have a question", I looked at her radiating a curious aura. She merely nodded and ran her fingers through my brown hair. "Was that really how our world was created?" My voice trailed off. She smiled again."Yes dear, that is why we have magic and our forests run green and we have huge dragons flying our skies". I grinned at her optimism and wanted to know more.

"Okay then, so what will happen if they look at what we are doing? Will Vacuo be mad? An-", she sharply cut me off noticing I was going on a childish blunder of asking questions. A common theme with me, I must admit.

"We don't know, dear, and many people don't want to know the answer to those questions either, we will talk more in the morning, okay?" She watched me let out a sigh of disappointment once more and waited for my approval before turning her back. I nodded, her footsteps could be heard against the cobbled floor as she exited out of our room. "Goodnight, sleep well", she closed the door leaving with a quiet creek.

Morning came rather quickly and the story Mother read to me was still dwindling in my mind. I had so many questions but I planned on waiting until tonight to ask them, at the moment food was the only thing I was wanting, the answers could wait. I ran out of the to be greeted by dad sat at the old table along with Nuraura, I gave them a toothy grin, I could hear my Mum cooking up what smelt like eggs. I peered my head around the door frame to see her stained apron trailing on the floor as she rushed from cabinet to box looking for ingredients, it was almost like she was dancing to the sizzling of the pan. "Good morning", I said prancing into the kitchen, Dad gave a subtle nod and Nuraura replied with a tired 'good morrow'. Mum, however, didn't reply as she was still pretty busy. I sat down at the table to be faced with a basket full of bread and a cup of water to my left.

Minutes passed and breakfast soon arrived as a plate of eggs was placed in front of me, "here you go sweetie", I gave my thanks and chowed down on the meal.

"Mum, how do you do magic?" I inquired, egg spilling out of my mouth, she rolled her eyes but none the less was quite willing to explain it. She realised that my question had raised the attention of my sister, she has always been a book worm, when we'd go to the city its the first place we'd have to go. Dad didn't know that it was a subject she was interested in when she was 7, it was a good idea that we tried to keep it that way. We'd often escape from the hut and play witches and wizards in the woods with branches we found, I was only 4 at the time but by far they were my favourite memories. She always knew all the names of those damn spells, which made it a very one sided imaginary fight.

Mum reluctantly replied, "well first you need an a magical item, an orb, a magic staff or even a sword sometimes can work, then you will-" Dad cleared his throat and in one swift, aggressive, motion he grabbed mum by the shoulder.

"That's enough magic talk, we don't want that talk corrupting the kids, Soyra", he grumbled with a face full of food, "that shit is wicked sorcery and it doesn't need to be concerning the likes of children" he glared at us after putting emphisis on his last words. Mother simply brushed off his hand.

"Of course, I apologise but neither does that language", me and Nuraura sneered at eachother as we saw Dad's face light up like berry. It was rare Mother spoke up for herself but when she did it would always take Dad by surprise, he may be strong but he is far from intelligent. It would've been wise for us to lothe in those moments a little longer...