The pleasant air and tolerable humidity of fall began to fade, replaced by moderately uncomfortable cold air; this was a sign that winter had arrived.
This day was no ordinary winter day for Luke, however, as his mother, father, and brother were all together. The family had gathered outside a tall building in the upper southeast ring of Lumina. The building towered over its neighbors, and every hour on the hour a bell would ring. It was the angry school bell, but a majestic thud that Luke found inviting.
Inside the building were vibrant white walls and vivid red carpet. The aroma whirling from within the building was pungent, but not putrid. Luke found it a bit overbearing, but it wasn’t enough to make him sick. This initial room was only a small compartment of a grandiose hall which was comprised of several benches with wood legs and velvety seats.
The aura of the place Luke found to be far less interesting than the colors. Every man was dressed in a fluffy top and pants of black, brown, tan, or some other shade of sand. The girls all wore silky dresses of one color. The men had to wear the same terrible shoes as Luke, shoes which he resented for how slippery they were; he envied the women whose heels looked to have some traction.
“What is this place?” Luke asked to no one in particular.
“It’s the church of Lumina.” Matt had answered half informatively, half amused at his brother’s curiosity.
“The city?”
“No, silly, the Goddess.”
“Oh! Like in the story.”
“Exactly. They named the city after the Goddess, and every Sunday and Wednesday, her devout followers will come to places like these to pray for her blessing. If you look up there” Matthew pointed to several windows near the top of dizzyingly high walls, “you can see the stained-glass windows tell a short version of the story.”
From the left most window, Luke saw the image of a city. In the next window, the city was in ruins, then there were people standing in front of a woman shedding light. On the back wall, the two windows had the woman leading the people through a forest and stopping at a clearing. On the right, the people built a new city, and then a church.
“Luke”
The boy snapped out of his trance upon hearing his brother’s voice, joining his family on a bench. It was surreal for him to sit between his mother and brother, this being the first time he’d ever been around the woman for more than an hour. He had the opportunity to see her whenever he visited the castle, but the adults never seemed to like his presence in the throne room, leering at him when he entered and clearing their throats whenever he would stick around. It didn’t take him long to understand what they wanted.
The stranger to his left had long, black hair. The shade of black wasn’t as dark as Julia’s, and inspecting the woman’s face up close revealed the dark line under eyes, among other impurities that decorated her cheeks. None of that was quite as interesting as the scar that had ran down her neck; the color let the scar blend in almost seamlessly from afar, and even up-close Luke had originally glanced over it.
Before he could ask where she had gotten the scar, the crowd of people inside the church were suddenly in an uproar. As the four stood up, Luke was aggravated when all he could see were the fronts of men and women.
“What’s going on?!” Luke whispered as loud as he could to his brother.
“The princess!” A random person had shouted.
As suddenly as the explosion noise began, it was swiftly silenced, everyone returning to their seats. Luke kept his eyes on the monarchy, the queen sporting a dress almost indistinguishable from the one she wore around the castle. Elizabeth was wearing what looked like a smaller version of the queen’s outfit.
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The women had stood up front, alongside an older man who was there even before Luke’s family arrived.
“Everyone who has come here, I would like to thank your personally.” Despite the grey hair and many wrinkles, the man’s voice sounded cleared and more energetic then any adult Luke ever met.
“We have all come here as children of Lumina, to praise her, to follow her law, to live under her. Before we begin our daily verses, please lend your ears to our shining beacon Vanilla and her daughter Elizabeth.”
Luke had raised his arm to wave at Elizabeth, but just as he began to wave, he felt a sharp object jab into his side. Lower his arm and looking left, he could see his mother’s elbow wedged into him.
“Don’t make a scene!”
The boy could see hell in his mother’s eyes as she yelled at him through gritted teeth. Not wishing to bring undue attention to himself nor aggravate his mother any more than he had, Luke rubbed his side.
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Luke yawned uncontrollably, drifting to and from the waking world constantly as the sermon droned on. Even after the queen and princess had done their part, the man carried on for what felt like eternity. It was only when Matthew shook the boy did he know the talking was over and he was free to leave.
“Mom,” Luke grabbed his mother’s arm, “can I see the princess now?”
“No.” Her voice was cold and stern.
No sooner had the boy turned away and leave had he been attacked by an unknown assailant. For a moment, he had no idea what was happening or why, but after hearing his name, he stopped fighting when he realized it was his friend.
“Julia? What are you doing here?”
“My aunt and uncle wanted me to see the queen and princess.”
“I just came here because my parents wanted me to. I’ll catch up with you later!”
Luke left the girl, making his way through the hordes of people as best he could. When he got outside, he could see only his mother, his brother and father nowhere in sight.
“Where were you? You weren’t actually talking the princess, right?”
“No. Why?”
“Don’t talk to the princess or the queen while you’re in public. Don’t look at them, don’t let on that you know them. If anyone finds out that you have any connection to the princess, you’ll be out in the wild, understand?”
“Yes. But, don’t people come through the castle sometimes?”
“Those people mind their own business. They are not to interact with the princess nor speak publicly of what they’ve witnessed in the castle.”
“Okay. Well, I just wanted to see my friend Julia.”
“Fine. I’ll be making lunch in an hour. If the food is cold, that’s your problem.”
With a huff, the woman left her son outside of the church.
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“Hey Julia, how did you like the sermon thing?”
“It was boring, and I don’t believe in this stuff anyways. Luke, I wanted to show you something.”
The boy tilted his head in curiosity, watching as the girl stepped backward before kicking off her shoes. Lifting her dress and exposing her feet, the girl lifted her right foot, holding it out in place. Before Luke could ask what she was doing, flames burst out from her sole.
“Woah, you can make fire from your feet?!”
“Yeah, and I can have it move all around my body. When I showed my aunt and uncle, they said I should learn how to dance. What do you think?”
“Sounds good to me!”
“Well, why don’t I show you how to dance?”
Julia threw out her hands, inviting Luke to take hold. As soon as the boy secured his grip, his partner immediately swung him to the side, his momentum causing him to lose his grip and forcing him to land on his bottom.
“I don’t know if I’m good at dancing.”
“You just need more practice” the girl giggled.
Picking himself back up, the boy’s eyes caught a glimpse of someone that caused him to double take. The princess was standing outside the church, staring at him.
“Uh, Julia, why don’t we practice somewhere else?”
Luke couldn’t hide his nervousness, but to his surprise the girl agreed. Wasting no time, he took her hand and ran off.
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As Luke returned home, he was greeted with a bowl of hot chili and his brother leaning on the table.
“Mom said to let the food get cold if you didn’t get back in time, but I wasn’t going to let that happen.”
“Thanks Matt.” Without wasting a second, Luke scarfed down his lunch.
“So, Christmas is coming soon; you have any ideas on what you want?”
Luke stopped for a moment to shake his head, then resumed eating like a starved animal.
“Hmm, I’d like a spear to replace the one somebody lost a few months ago.”
“I said I was sorry!”
“Sorry doesn’t bring back my spear~” The older brother sung, brushing the younger brother’s hair. “Don’t worry about it though, I just made that spear for you, I don’t really use them myself.”
As Luke finished his meal and put up his plate, his brother invited him outside.
“Where are we going Matt?”
“My friends are doing other things, I thought I’d spend time with my brother.”