Chapter 1

In a dimly lit room, a young beautiful girl who looks about the age of sixteen is sitting on a wooden stool holding a portrait of a painted picture with two people drawn in it, the candlelight on top of a small table by the side of the room wavers as the night breeze collides with it from the window.

The young girl stares at the picture with teary eyes, she kept on touching the portrait like she wanted the people drawn in it to feel her touches.

The sound of footsteps and a walking stick jolted her up, and quickly she dropped the portrait on the small wooden table that is beside her bed, and she jumped onto her wooden bed and pretended to sleep.

A 'creak' sound was made as the door to her room opened.

An elderly woman walked in, she stares at the young girl on the bed for a few seconds before walking to the window.

"Why did you keep the window open? Do you want to become sick?".

The elderly woman asked as she closed the window.

The young girl did not reply as she continued pretending.

"Get up, I know you are awake, I am not a fool".

The young girl opened her eyes but didn't turn to answer her grandmother.

The grandmother picked up the portrait on the table, looking at the picture she also had a sad face.

"You are still doing this?".

The grandmother asked.

"You have to get used to this life, Joan...".

"Why should I?".

The young girl said with a shakey voice.

The grandmother heaved a tired sigh.

"You can't cry forever, Joan, nothing you do will bring them back, you just have to get used to it, I know losing your parents at this age is tough on you but it's been a year now".

The grandmother said sitting on the wooden bed and patting her granddaughter's shoulders.

"I wasn't crying...".

"Then you were sleeping?". The grandmother asked sarcastically.

Joan didn't answer but instead stood up from the bed.

"Where are you going this night, Joan?".

"I will be back soon, mama".

Joan replied instead of answering.

She wore her slippers and left the room.

The grandmother sighed deeply as she turned to the picture she had dropped on the bed.

Looking at it, she smiled sadly.

She touched the image of her son and then the face of a woman beside him that had a smiling face.

"Joan is fine".

The grandmother muttered to the picture like she is communicating with the people in the image.

Joan walked out of her grandmother's shabby old house.

She walked through the still-busy streets of Venzia at nighttime, she wanted to have some alone time for herself but her grandmother made her mood worse than it was. She decided to leave the old house and go for a short walk to clear her mind of the thought of her dead parents.

Although it's been one year already since their death, Joan can't just get 'used to it' like her grandmother is always suggesting.

The death of her parents has made her into the most introverted, sad person who wants nothing but to always be alone and cry.

As she walks through the streets of Venzia kingdom, the icy cold air keeps on kissing her smooth-looking brown skin making her feel cold.

Joan is wearing a worn out, long, sleeveless, brown colored gown, ignoring the effect of the cold on her body she kept on walking, people were passing by but she didn't look or even paid any attention to them, she just wanted to walk till she feels like going back home.

Two men riding on black horses hopped past her dragging her attention, by the way they were dressed, they looked like the armies of the Shunai empire.

Joan turn back to look at the men, even the people who were passing by also stared at them.

It was getting really cold for Joan, she decided to go back home, she had strolled a bit far from home and decided she was tired, she needs to go home before midnight.

It's been a long time since she came out to walk around the streets since the deaths of her parents, she has always been inside or on the farm in the backyard with her grandmother. She prefers strolling at nighttime because she wouldn't be disturbed and only be noticed by a few people.

Before the deaths of her parents, Joan used to be a jovial girl, who likes playing and strolling out with other of her peers in the daytime but after their death, she became the complete opposite of what she used to be.

Her parents were killed in an attack on their former home.

The village of Kezthang was being invaded by the Shunais, one of the biggest empire in the country both in land mass and population.

Her mother, who is a native of Kezthang, and her dad a foreigner in the land, were both killed in the invasion, although her dad was a foreigner, he was still recruited to fight alongside the native men of Kezthang to have enough army to defend their land.

She was sent to stay in her grandmother's house here in Venzia, her dad's birthplace.

The reason was to keep her safe until the war was over and they go back to their normal lives but unfortunately, her parents died on the same day at the hand of the Shunais.

When the news of their death reached Joan's ears, that day was the worst day ever and the only thing that mattered to her was the portrait her mother sent her off with.

Joan refused to eat for days until she got sick, the only thing she was able to do was stare at the portrait of her parents.

She sometimes told her grandmother that her mother talks to her through the portrait.

Her grandmother will shun her, and say it's because she is still grieving, and that hearing voices or communicating with the portrait is a sign of craziness.

Joan ignored her grandmother and continued 'communicating' with the portrait every night, it got to an extent that she got used to it, that she couldn't sleep without doing it.

Joan returned to her grandmother's house, she opened the door and locked it behind her.

She walked straight into her room, her grandmother had already left the room with the portrait but there was no sign of her in the house.

"Mama?".

Joan called, but there was no response