Cinders

Even the smallest of children within Avar know that not every fairy tale comes true.

I was only six when my mother was taken from us. Not by vampires, or werewolves, or any other paranormal creature; but by human driven disease.

I often think of my mother, once known as one of the most angelic creatures in all the Kingdom. Many knew her for her kindness, her hospitality, and the light she brought to others. She was my father’s light in the dark world that Avar became under the rule of the Vampiric Regime. But then at last, that light had been snuffed out from us before our very eyes.

“Papa?”

“Josiah…”

What is a father supposed to say to their child when their mother is passing on? There are no fairy tales to pass that on. There are no fairy tales to assure the child that things will be alright. There are no fairy tales that magically heal the sick or wounded.

It hurt to see her lose the life from her eyes. The fleeting moments of her holding me and swearing to me that she would never leave me seem more like a distant memory now.

I cried most of my tears that night. Swearing to myself that I would never shed another tear—but of course the world wasn’t ever so kind. It was not even ten years later that my father married Lady Cora. Where she was from has been lost to me now.

What Cora brought into the marriage to my father was the rest of her money from a previous marriage and her two sons, Mattias and Cyrus. They were older than me by two years and used that as almost every excuse to get whatever they pleased from my father.

Despite the passive aggressive tension that was placed over my head from my stepmother and her sons, the household was at a relative state of peace. My father would go out on his journeys and return with stories and treasures, but I was simply thankful that he was safe.

I always feared the worst whenever father would go off on his travels, taking longer and longer to return. Each time seemed like the last, which made my relief stronger each time he would return home. Until my hope for him to come home wasn’t enough.

On the night of my eighteenth birthday, one of the members of the merchant guild that father worked with showed up to the estate with a singular chest of gold and a wrapped up will. I didn’t want the words to leave the merchant’s lips, but he said them anyway.

“Your father is gone…”

The words rang in ears like a buzz you couldn’t get out of your head. I didn’t want to take the chest. I knew if I took the chest, it meant that my father was truly gone. However, I knew that if I didn’t take it, Cora would step in and take whatever memories I had of my father away. Memories of the life and family I had before, all gone in what seemed to be a single night.

I stepped forward and took the chest and the will, taking and hiding them in my room before Cora or her sons could find them.

This was almost three years ago. Since then, Cora made it her mission to mistreat me in all sense short of physical abuse. The only thing that made it bearable at the very least was that I had the chest and the will. The will gave me hope that the house would be returned to me in due time.

They weren’t able to find my father’s body for weeks. It got to the point where I thought I wouldn’t be able to bury him properly. When my father’s body was finally found, he was almost unrecognizable. However, I was able to make the proper arrangements and bury him next to my mother.

Now, one would think that losing my father would’ve sent the house into a financial downward spiral; however, thanks to the gold I received, I was able to exchange it and continue to pay for a few of the staff. This allowed for the house chores to get done properly while I was off tending to her ladyship and her sons.

“Josiah!”

I turned my head from standing in front of the baker’s stall. I smiled softly as Levi Mclaughlin came running down the cobblestone. He huffed softly when he finally reached me. I heard the sound of the shore from where we stood, being a few feet away from the harbor. The smell of bread, cookies, and cakes drifted out into the street; for a moment I was amused that the local children hadn’t rushed up to get a better look at the goods or to steal said cookies yet. Seeing Levi stumble closer, almost falling on his face, catches my attention.

“You didn’t have to run,” I chuckled softly, raising an eyebrow at him. I watched as Levi took a moment to collect himself.

“S-Sorry,” he panted, a wide stupid grin on his face. “I just saw you over here and got excited.” He straightened himself up and put his hand on his hips. “So, wicked step-mother let you out this time?”

I couldn’t help but laugh.

“As if anyone else is capable of getting what her Ladyship needs,” I crossed my arms slightly, pulling the basket on my arm in front of me, “You know as well as I that Cora doesn’t allow anyone else to handle her food or textiles.”

I turned to the vendor and paid for the food I picked out before Levi pulled me away down the road, his wide grin unchanging. “Levi!” I chuckled softly.

“I have too much to talk to you about!” he said as he pulled me along. I held onto his arm and laughed softly at him.

“Like what?”

“Haven’t you heard? There’s talk of a diplomatic meeting at the castle in a few days,” he answered, squeezing my hand as we walked. I shoved him playfully. Levi and I had been friends for as long as I could remember.

He was the son of a merchant who used to be respected ‘till Levi’s father abandoned him and his mother for another woman. Levi’s mother was the daughter of a well to do aristocrat; and after being abandoned by his father, Levi and his mother moved back in with Levi’s grandparents, though they never truly gave him the time of day.

The two of us met by accident. I had been out with my parents when Levi ran into me after trying to escape from his mother and grandfather. He ran into me so hard that we both fell back onto the pavement. I had cuts on my elbows from the fall for weeks. From that moment on, I ran into Levi almost every time my family and I would go out to the market; and our friendship grew from there.

Most days, I wasn’t sure where I’d be without Levi around to keep me sane.

I turned as a caravan of nobles started parading through the streets, obviously on the way to the palace. The insignia of one of the numerous vampiric clans in the world shined gold against the sun. I couldn’t help but roll my eyes as the carriage went past.

For as long as I had known, the Vampiric Regime of King Sias Amann ruled Avar. Any and all traces of the previous monarchy had been burned, destroyed, or lost to time. Within Avar there were three main races, corresponding to the three main cities: Avar, Colkest, and Tenneset.

From the best of my historical knowledge, the overbranching lands of Avar were caught in a devastating war. The War of Blood Hollows, as it came to be called, was between the three strongest Vampire clans who fought tooth and claw with the Dragon-borne tribes, sustaining casualties on both sides. This bloody war lasted for almost ten years, ending only when the Dragon-borne surrendered the land to the Vampire clans.

This caused the Dragon tribes to seek asylum in Tenneset, most of them never to be seen again. Tenneset was rumored to be a land of nothing but woodland. Rumors of werewolves, demons and fae were used to keep children from wandering too far. Little was known to this day who truly lived beyond the dense foliage of oak and pine. The most believed rumor was that witches used Tenneset as their refuge since humans never chased them past the trees. Over the years, a minority of Dragon-borne came from Tenneset to settle in Colkest and Avar; but since they were the minority, they were overpowered, and most were taken into slavery by the Vampiric Kings.

Most humans that settled within the kingdom settled in Colkest and Avar. Colkest was a bridge between Avar, and the sea. The sailors that came in from the outside were always rich with trade goods, and always had interesting stories to tell. These sailors came in from trading countries and filled many market vendors with different goods depending on the season; spices, and citrus in the summer, fresh textiles in the fall, livestock, and seafood in the winter, and fresh fruits and vegetables in the spring.

Humans always claimed a hierarchy for themselves within the greater hierarchy of the races. The nobler humans stayed closer to the castle while the ones of a less than noble standing lived in the market area or in the countryside. I had no doubt in my mind that all the nobles coming from out of the cities were coming to aid their own power. It wasn’t an irrational idea; adding to one’s own strength was usually how these ‘exciting’ discussions worked out. H*ll, it was how my father got most of his more profitable partners.

He was never wrong when he told me: ‘Money chases money, Josiah; no matter who has it.’ It was one of the many things I took from his teachings.

“What do you think they’re gonna be talking about this time?” Levi asked, pulling me out of my internal monologue. I shrugged, turning towards a vendor selling cheese as we reached their stall, “Most likely nothing that concerns us, Lev.”

“But aren’t you excited for all the lords and ladies coming through? Think of the excitement!”

I wasn’t sure if his innocence to the sudden events was from him being childish or him being stupid. I grabbed and paid for a nearby apple, using it to hit Levi on the head.

“Ow!”

“Get ahold of yourself, Lev,” I rolled my eyes at him, “One thing’s for sure from all this, nothing will change within the Kingdom.”

I wasn’t sure who I was trying to convince, Levi or myself. Change in Avar? Now that was just a rumor. Any sort of change in a land that has been the same for so long was hard to believe. Change was a controversial topic among all races; why would anything change if the status quo worked just fine?