Purest Corruption - The Darkling [General Kirigan]

• Chapter 1 •

I snapped back to reality as my ride rolled to a stop and when it was my turn to get out, I marveled at the sight before me. A wall of black smoke that extended as far as the eye could see was less than a mile away from where I stood. The chill in my bones was back again, and this time I couldn't cover the shiver that went throughout my body.

"We are never going to see it go away. This abomination is here forever." The boy I had been sitting next to on the way here walked up to me as he spoke.

He's probably right.

A girl then came back at him "You don't go to church. A Saint who can summon the sun will destroy it."

I had read about the Grisha that would rise up and destroy the fold, but I couldn't help thinking that it was a myth. The entire time the fold has been here and not a single sun summoner had been born? In my eyes it was just a story told so that people could still have hope that one day maybe we would be one Ravka again.

If you keep waiting for this Saint you'll be waiting forever.

Another boy spoke, breaking me away from my thoughts.

"I'd like to see one person who isn't scared of that."

There was one person who ran through my mind at that moment.

"I bet I know someone. Mal. He isn't afraid of anything" It was the same girl who had spoken about the sun saint who had taken the words right out of my mouth.

I smiled to myself then and chuckled lightly.

"You'd be surprised." I said quietly.

I had met Mal after I had been in the orphanage for a while, and being someone who had no friends, I was ecstatic when I saw him enter. We became friends quickly, and best friends even quicker. I remember one time when he brought a rabbit in from outside and I'd had to stand up for Mal to a boy who always bullied us. I had threatened to cut him that day, and I probably would have if Ana Kuya hadn't walked in and asked what was going on.

It's safe to say that we weren't very popular with the other children. It didn't matter to us though, because we had each other.

I was walking through the camp, trying to find my place, and also Mal, when I began to feel worried. I hope he wasn't fighting again. I hated when he did that. It was like he felt he had to prove to everyone that he wasn't afraid of anything because he didn't want to be the little boy from the orphanage who always hid.

I understood why he did it, but that didn't mean I had to approve. It was then that Mal ran up behind me and shouted my name. I turned around and felt a smile creep up my cheeks. He certainly looked like he had been fighting, but I could talk to him about that later.

Right now I just wanted to hug my best friend.

He began jogging towards me.

"When did you get in?" I asked while I stood where I was.

"Yesterday. Everyone's getting their assignments." He said with a smile as he got closer to me.

I felt the familiar sensation of butterflies in my stomach and the beating of my heart increase. I don't know when I had begun to feel this way towards him, but I knew it wasn't going away anytime soon.

He looks really good.

"Suppose cartography's going back south." I said with a small laugh as he finally got to me and threw his arm around my shoulders.

I felt my cheeks heat up a bit as we started walking together like that.

"Yeah, I found out 'cause they're putting my unit with yours again." He said with a smile, and I couldn't help but have a smile of my own when I heard that.