The Shadows of Starlight

Prologue

The love of her life intended to kill her.

The girl with stars in her eyes was going to die.

She fought, of course. She kicked and screamed and clawed at the stone beneath her. She hung on to the edge of the cliff and begged her lover to spare her, please spare her, save her. Because, although she was dying, she didn't want to die yet. And certainly not at the hands of the boy she had spent the entirety of her life loving.

She didn't understand what he was doing. She could hardly comprehend it. When she saw him pull out the knife, her first instinct was to flee. But she had nearly fled off of the cliff, and now she dangled off the edge, watching with terrified yet disbelieving eyes as her lover slowly made his way towards her. His face was illuminated by the rising sun, which hung over the Southern Sea like molten gold. It seemed to distort everything, because why else would he look so beautiful? Why else would his dark eyes glow and his sable hair shimmer?

He kept saying her name, telling the girl that he loved her, that he was sorry, but she had to let go, it would all be worth it in the end, he promised.

The girl thought that he had gone insane. He loved her but he wanted her dead? She was already dying! The sickness that had spread across the lands had crawled into her lungs and was slowly killing her. She would be dead in weeks, if not days.

Yet here her lover was, holding a knife. Here he was with inexplicable tears gleaming in his eyes as he took that final step towards her.

The girl tried to hold on, but when the boy's foot came down on her shaking hand, she was powerless. She screamed, one final time, as the crunch of her own bones echoed in her ears.

Then she fell, and the waves of the raging sea below swallowed her whole.