Xiphos

Chapter One: In the Beginning

The end is just a new beginning for those willing to embrace the darkness.

- Author Unknown, circa 250 r.e.

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Diana sat at The Edge of the World looking out at the abyss, her legs casually swinging back and forth, her eyes trained on the darkness gazing back at her. It wouldn't take much to fall. One simple push, barely any energy, and she would go tumbling down into her nightmares.

But no matter how much the impending doom seemed unavoidable, and how easy it would be to decide to slip away instead, she valued her life too much. Just not enough to not tempt death.

Her fingers grasped the edge and dug into the dirt and roots. There were plants hanging over the side like flowers lining a mass grave and oddly enough, it was beautiful. This was her favorite thinking place for just that reason. The battle between life and death was never more visible than it was at The Edge, and that's what made it so dangerously tempting and continuously warned against. Diana had to walk past several warning signs and climb an already crumbling wall to reach the abyss.

It seemed endless from here but really, the "Edge of the World" ended a few miles out and there was presumably land on the other side.

No one in Esadorn had been to the other side, at least no one currently alive. But Diana wanted to be the first. She wanted desperately to explore and get out of the little bubble the country had trapped them all in.

That would never happen.

As soon as the sun set she was due to report to the Oracle immediately and begin her work as the new apprentice. Most envied her, of course. They romanticized the Oracle and her work. Diana didn't see the glamor in it.

The sun was still high in the sky, the possibilities all but endless. The time remaining, that ever fleeting time, was still hers.

Oh Athar, why have you cursed me so?

If this were any other situation she would pray for good fortune, but praying was useless. The gods chose the next Oracle and they'd made their final decision.

Diana laid back with her legs still hanging over the edge, just staring up at the sky. The sun threatened to blind her but it she couldn't care less. She closed her eyes, if only for just a moment, and soon found herself drifting off.

There was the Hall of the Gods, thought to be so out of reach, so far away. Yet here it was an arm's length away. She could reach out and touch it but she didn't dare. Diana stood in awe, staring up at the larger than life room. Then, someone came up behind her and wrapped an arm around her.

"Beautiful, isn't it?" the figure said.

She jumped in shock, looking back only to find there was no one there. In fact, there was nothing there, just only light. Beneath her was darkness. It was then she began to fall.

Diana was shaken awake by the sense of falling only to find after a moment of looking around that her physical body was also free falling down into the darkness. She looked up at the sky, her arms and legs flailing about for something to grasp. Her eyes fell on a figure at the side of the cliff, barely seen from that far down.

Is that a person?

A sudden scream escaped her but was lost to the air rushing by.

The bright afternoon sunlight soon faded into the all consuming darkness. Diana reached her fingertips up to feel the last moments of light but instead brushed against the side of the cliff face, causing rocks and dirt to fall along side her. She felt as though she had been descending for ages, and she wondered if she would ever hit the bottom at all.

With a lack of light also came a lack of warmth. She clenched her jaw tightly as if trying to break her teeth that threatened to chatter. Just as she began to think she would freeze to death before hitting the bottom, she crashed into the river below. The icy water stung her, every nerve suddenly awakening to the freezing sensation

The water pulled her along downstream. At first she tried to fight against it, looking to grab anything she could to prevent the current from taking over, but the smooth surface of the rocks gave nothing to hold onto, and she soon abandoned any hope of control. The water pulled her in every direction, threatening to tear her apart. It pushed and pulled and several times her head went under water only to resurface moments later, right before she was sure to drown. Water filled her lungs then escaped in a constant battle.

Then, there was sudden light and she was thrown out of the abyss and into a wide ocean, where the water was warmer, though not by much. The sun was quickly descending, the moon eagerly rising to take its place as the sky lit up with a thousand twinkling stars. She looked up, wondering where she was until she noticed a particular constellation. It was the Accalia constellation, a wolf, it's figure formed by fourteen brilliant stars.

As a young child Diana had gone stargazing frequently, believing her future to be held somewhere in the depths of space, in the outer reaches of the unknown. Her mother always told her that those born under the constellation Accalia would be highly independent.

Well, I'm definitely independent. So independent I'm here alone in the middle of an ocean, she thought.

She turned, looking for some kind of shore only to be met with a choice between the horizon and the nearby landmass that seemed to rise right out of the waters with no indication of any entry way.

The sun took its final bow of the day, the orange-red glimmer on the surface of the water departing with it.

Now, if she remembered her geography right, the peninsula of Esadorn did slope down considerably at the other end. It was miles away, but there were no other options she knew of. This was her chance. If she could survive that far and keep from starving, or even going insane then --

That's when something pulled on her foot.