Chapter 414 Lumiara
Chapter 414 Lumiara
AUDREY
Her face seemed so radiant, beautiful and unreal at the same time. “I was trying to help you help my son forgive himself.” An ancient pain crossed her features. “You were the only one that could rescue him from the darkness I had brought upon him. His curse, the ruination of the empire, it was all because of my own folly you see.”
“What do you mean?”
“Let me take you back in time.”
I had been so captivated by her that I forgot she was still holding my hand. She gently tugged me forward to walk with her. I could not tell where we were going, everywhere was a blinding white colour. We walked for a while and then she stopped, staring ahead. She raised a hand, waved it in the air and a large scene opened up.
She inclined her head towards the screen. “Shall we?”
I frowned. “What?”
She stepped into the screen, as if entering through some sort of door. Our joined hands stayed between the scene and where I was left in the white place. I inhaled a shaky breath and stepped into the scene as well.
I looked around to see what looked like a forest, tall trees, numerous shrubs and flowers decorated the greenery. I turned to look up at her, confused. My lips parted but before I could say anything a pack of at least fifty large wolves walked into the clearing, sniffing about the air.
“The werewolves were once just wolves, with high intelligence and extreme loyalty towards their alpha, the black wolf at the front of the pack,” her voice came.
I looked at the wolf with the black fur, his eyes a dark onyx shade. He was their leader, his head held high.
“I had watched the werewolf and humans live separate lives. The village of humans was not too far from here. The wolves were not feared by the humans, but they stayed separately, respecting that the forest was the dwelling place of these intelligent, dangerous creatures. After a millennia of watching over them, I got tired of seeing them apart. I had a thought, it was spontaneous, poorly thought out and born of my loneliness. I turned myself into a maiden and came down to the village. I roamed about, watching the humans live their lives up close. They had always worshipped me, sent burnt offerings, but it was never enough to soothe me.” Her voice dulled.
She looked ahead. The next scene playing before us was a young, human, more physical version of her, walking about the village, passing by houses and people. Heads turned, looking after her.
“I remained in the village for months, before wandering into the forest. The friends I had made warned me never to step foot into the forest, for wolves lived there. Nobody knew who I truly was. Walking into their space, I could feel a shift in the air.”
The next scene showed her, walking through the forest when the wolf with the dark fur jumped in front of her. The wolf had dropped so suddenly that Audrey flinched, scared. The goddess however did not even move backwards.
She stood still as the wolf walked around her, its size the same as hers. The wolf sniffed her, coming closer slowly.
A smile stretched her lips.
“That was the day I met him, and I gave him a human form, so we could talk to each other.”
The next thing, she waved her hand around him and in the next second a puff of silver mist surrounded the wolf.
When the mist settled, a naked man was crouched down on the floor. Audrey’s eyes widened. The goddess looked at him with curiosity, watching him raise his head, look around him before he finally gazed down at himself.
He shouted, falling down on his butt. He tried to run on all fours but he fell into a patch of mud, dirtying his face.
“He did not know how to function with this new form. I had not considered it, my only concern was that my wishes were coming true.”
“I could not leave him there, nor could he return to his pack. He did not know how to walk, or talk and so I brought him back to the village with me, to stay with the old woman that was raising me.”
The scene shifted to a small hut, where the man stood straight for the first time, trying on clothes. The old woman called the goddess by a name, Lumiara.
“Lumiara, where did you find this naked man!?” The old woman questioned her, her voice sharp with worry.
“He was wandering the forest, alone and cold,” Lumiara lied. “I could not just leave him there.”
“You know better than to be out there!”
The old woman could not argue. She knew Lumiara was no ordinary girl, she was special. The old woman swallowed her anger and helped the man into her late husband’s old, worn clothes. The old woman had lost her daughter to the plague, she had no one left so she agreed to take Lumiara in, despite knowing she was not ordinary. She did not question where Lumiara was from, she just believed she was a gift from the goddess, a second chance.
“And so with the help of this sweet old woman, we taught him how to talk, walk and dress himself. After learning for two years, he chose a name for himself, Azriel. During those two years, we would go to the forest together, walk about, lay on the grass at night just watching the stars, stars that I had put there.”
The forest was cold around Lumiara and Azriel, causing Lumiara to shiver. Azriel placed a hand over her and pulled her closer to his chest, trying to bring her warmth. Lumiara blinked, not knowing what to do. After a moment of her freezing up, she settled, allowing herself to relax into his chest.