Prologue: Part 2

Part 2

For hours, she walked. Her feet, although bare, never hurt. Her hand, burnt as it may be, no longer bothered her as she followed the strange call further into the Danish wilderness. Each time that the darkness seemed to be closing in and the path seemed unclear, the voice came again, more powerful than before yet just as comforting.

“I will protect you, I promise.”

It was these phrases which kept her walking, the full moon lighting her path and guiding her feet.

Cresting a hill of berry bushes, Ellesef suddenly stopped. Down on the other side of the hill, was a small clearing in the continued woods. This clear was, in appearance, no different from any that she had passed before. But, the longer she stared, it became apparent that this was where her journey would end.

Stumbling through the berry bushes, her clothes and skin being torn asunder by their thorns, she finally stood in the small clearing. Her clothing was ripped and her skin was pricked but she was there nonetheless. 

The moonlight echoed back her sighs as she fell onto the ground, exhausted. Nothing seemed real yet everything was true. 

Before her eyes, there stood a woman, her face matching the voice which she had heard yet the woman was also so much more. Appearing to be a young woman, Ellesef knew she was ancient. Older than anyone she had ever known, perhaps even older than the Earth itself.

Breath heavy, she asked the woman her name and somehow she already knew the answer. 

“My name? Oh, child. My name is older than time itself. However, you shall call me Ashallalah. Does this suit you?”

Ellesef nodded and Ashallalah knelt down before the child. “Fear me not. You are safe now. I will protect you. I promise.”

She took Ellesef’s hand. The skin was human-like but so much warmer than any other hand she had felt. 

“Your name is Ellesef. I know this, for I have watched you for a very long time. What is your favorite flower, Ellesef?”

Ashallalah took a seat next to the child and held her burnt hand, warm fingers gently caressing the charred skin. Ellesef sat back and marvelled at the stars. “I like… Poppies. Especially the red ones. What is yours?”

Ashallalah smiled and continued to massage the girl’s hand, her skin slowly becoming anew in her clutch. “I am the creator of flowers, they are all my favorites. However, red poppies are a very good choice. Those are now my favorite as well. Tell me, Ellesef, do you like the moon?”

Ellesef laughed. “Why? Are you the creator of that too?”

Ashallalah smirked and released the healed hand. “No. For, you see, I am the moon and the protector of everything which its light falls upon. This includes you, Ellesef.”

Ellesef looked at the woman. Where she had appeared ethereally beautiful, she now was more human. More real. Her face held a couple of imperfections but this made her even more appealing than the perfection had. The woman looked back and her features took on a more serious edge.

“You do not have a mother, do you?”

Ellesef shook her head and looked away. “No, I don’t.”

Ashallalah took the girl’s wrist and produced a silver bracelet from her cloak, the blue gems on the outside dazzling in the moonlight. Gently, she slipped the bracelet onto Ellesef’s wrist. The fit was perfect. 

“Take this. When you see it, offer up a small prayer. Your mother will answer. I will answer. Never fear the darkness again.” 

Ellesef looked upon the strange bracelet, its glimmer clouding her vision. When she looked up, the woman was gone. It was as if she were never there.

A tall figure, one which was but a shadow even in the night, stalked through the rumbling village, his feet burning the very stones upon which he stepped. He stopped near the well, his hand resting on its stones. In a soft voice, he seemed to address both the entire village and yet no one at all.

“So, this is where it shall begin. The girl has been chosen. You have served your purpose. Amen.”

Raising his arms, massive chains fell from his wrists to the ground, sprawling out like vines from a tree. With a swift, deliberate motion, he dropped his hands and the ground began to crumble. A still moment later, the very earth cracked and opened to swallow the village whole. When the buildings fell, the dark figure had become one with the ash and dust. 

The lake that formed in the crater made it seem as if the village had never been there. But Ellesef knew. She could never forget so long as she lived.