Two brothers lie on the ground, gazing up at the night sky.
"I'm sorry for what I was about to do. I even got you involved in it."
"It's nothing; I understand how you felt better than you can imagine."
"-but because of what I did, they got our manor, where Father and Mother remain."
"I know,... Don’t worry, one day we’ll get the Manor back. " Reaching his hand into the sky, Arte declared, "One day we will make them pay."
Hearing the words uttered by his elder brother, Uriel looked at Arte, who was lying on the grassy ground of this place in the middle of nowhere.
"One day, Uriel, one day," Arte promised, "but for the time being, we can't."
Uriel nodded in silence, and went back to his composition of the starry sky.
Things unfolded so quickly.
One day, two months prior, they were presented with their father's lifeless body, after he had been on behalf of the church for almost half a year.
And today, they were on the run from the person they had come to refer to as the "witch" over the years.
"So we are homeless now?"
"I guess we are… Erm…"
"What?"
"Maybe we won’t be homeless for long. A month ago, I received a letter from our cousin. "
The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
"Cousin? You mean the son of Aunt Luna and Uncle Phillip? "
"Yes, in his letter, he invited us to stay at his place, or a place he found, in the Holy City, if we were interested in joining the Academia."
"The Holy City... You want us to go there? "
"Yes, Uriel, the Holy City. You’re already fifteen. There we will be able to join the Aurora Academia. I don’t think, even after what we did, they would dare to lay a finger on us there. Don’t you think? "
A brief silence took place before Uriel declared, "I suppose our next destination is the Holy City then."
----------------------------------------
There is an unwritten rule among Gods and dragons of all realms: one shall not trespass upon a land inhabited by the remnants of a greater being than oneself.
One day, several millennia ago, a wandering goddess stumbled upon a world where she came to witness the curious phenomenon that was the birth of a strange and little being, she came to nickname the Little One.
Despite being aware of the transgressive nature of her action, the Wandering Goddess was smitten by the curiousity she held toward that Little One, for a long while, observed the Little One from the shadows without interacting, until one day, as the Little one, wandered into the woods on his own.
The Wandering Goddess approached the little one that day, believing it was her only chance to get close.
While doing so, expecting to be, as always, unnoticed, yet that day, the Goddess was, to her greatest surprise, called out by the Little One,
"Who is here?" The little one is called. "I know you are here. Show yourself."
Her mere presence being an afront to the goddess whose this world belonged to, revealing herself as well as interacting with beings of this world was a line The Wandering Goddess promised herself to never cross. However, that day, upon being called out, in her desire to be seen, to have her presence finally noticed, the Wandering Goddess broke the promise she made to herself.
She revealed herself, not in true form, but in a form that would matched that of the Little One's.
The wandering Godess revealed herself under the appearance of a little girl in nothing but white.
Though the little one was slightly taken aback by the Goddess's sudden appearance, his curiosity soon got the best of him. "Who are you?" he asked.
A strange feeling flooding her heart, "Mana," the Goddess introduced herself, and, despite already knowing the answer, asked nonetheless, "And you?"
"An, my name is An." The little One smiled.