Prologue - The Dream

" "

" ...?..."

" Come on...

" Come on, Wake Up"

Wake up? Too bothersome...

" If You don't wake up then we'll miss the party! And I'm definitely not making excuses for you this time."

I could hear a voice calling me....keeping me from sleep's loving embrace....how I yearned to fall into her loving arms and never wake up.

But the voice wouldn't let me, not once nor twice, but even more so than I could count with my fingers. The voice of a girl...it was, in fact, like a lullaby to everyone who heard it, including me if it weren't for the anger mixed in her words.

But wait! She said late, late for what? If anything it would be to watch the sunrise but we weren't doing that today.

"Wait !?" I felt like I had to scratch my head, the feeling of forgetting something at which you felt you had to scratch your head.

"Ah!" I finally remembered.

"Wait up Zere'ne, I'm coming, I'm coming" I replied to the girl who was walking out the door with puffing cheeks.

I definitely couldn't miss the party, after all, with all the free food and drinks, it would be a waste to not preserve them inside my stomach now, wouldn't it?

And that was not all, it was Father Koft's party, with no one else to take care of us, Father Koft had been taking care of us since we could remember.

Ah! Yes...I'm sure Father Koft would be really happy about it. After all weren't parties full of joy and laughter with people having fun with each other? And this was an even more special one, it was a

'Farewell Party'

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I could hear the soft wails of a girl crying on the path etched with rocks and tiles, the snow covering it made it look even older.

"Why? Why do you have to leave!? Aren't there other people who could go? Why does it have to be you!?

She cried and cried and wouldn't stop, she was crouching on the ground as he embraced her but it looked more like how a coat would cover a pebble

"Now, now, sweetheart. Don't you remember what I taught you? We all have responsibilities, and this is mine."He spoke with a low voice that made him seem old.

"Father Koft, we must make haste or else we'd catch the Missus' ire. Aye! Now that would be a bitter fate." The sound of what might be a burly man's voice came from a carriage that was further down the walkway.

"Okay, Edwind." He replied. "Now dear, I have to go, I promise I'll send letters regularly from as soon as we arrive. You're a big girl now so you have to be strong; after all, you're the only one who can actually take care of the house."

Was he implying me? I'd like to have him know that I can practically do every chore out there that he could, and even better.....but I was too lazy, so, yes, he was right, I couldn't, at least to him.

"I have to go now, take care you two. Especially you Ashwaal, don't go pissing off other people anymore, else you'll be hearing it from me when I get back."

Piss other people off? Me? Hah! They were the ones asking for it, acting so high and mighty, they were already lucky that I left them off so easily.

"Farewell you two, take care of yourselves. And Ashwaal, make sure you don't eat too much, if you grow higher than me, then I would have lost a shrimp and I really have only a few."

Now is this what a decent man says?

And with that Father Koft's big figure disappeared to the carriage, and then with a whip, the horses pulled it along the pathway, going faster and faster, till they were gone, no shadow of them left on the horizon.

But the wails of the crying girl did not stop. Her tears were still wetting the ground, if this kept up she would get a cold and I would have even more trouble with taking care of her added to the daily chores. Not to mention Father Koft's share would have to be done by me.

I bent down to grab her shoulder and tell her this.

'But wait! How come I feel nothing? No sadness nor joy, nor loss nor confusion. The Father Koft who raised us up, now gone and I couldn't even shed a tear, let alone actually 'miss' him. And as far as emotions went, he said he had met a lot of people in his life, and no doubt he did. But he still said that I was the most sentimental. Being strong was something I was born with, especially regarding emotions and people.

But now, this happened and yet I felt no pain in my chest nor moisture in my eyes, no weakness in my legs nor thoughts of him. The only thing that would explain this would be if this 'scenario' happened before. Then this would be my strong suit.

But this was clearly the first time, wasn't it?

Unless...Ah! Yes.....That was probably it.

No, not probably, definitely.

It was definitely that...

That...

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"This is a Dream"

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