Everybody Hurts ━ shadow & bone [1] ✔

𝑃𝑟𝑜𝑙𝑜𝑔𝑢𝑒

PROLOGUE
That's Just The Way Of The World

The world was full of opposites. Night and day, colours, peace and violence, dark and light, and of course, truth and lie. Balance was needed in order to live, but it was not needed to survive. You could survive the night, fight with violence, and lie in order to protect your life. There was hate, but there was love. But in a cruel world like this, love seemed more likely as a myth than reality, and hate could easily be caused by misunderstandings and broken loyalty or trust.

Shadows took place underneath light. Some believed in sinners and saints, some believed in the good, some only saw the worst, and then there were the ones who didn't believe. It didn't matter if a sinner or saint walked the line, both carry a burden on their shoulders. A saint: peaceful, pure, brought down by expectations... A sinner: trouble, hurt, couldn't trust a soul because no one shall place faith in the hands of a sinner.

Most were not born sinners, they simply were forged into a circumstance of hell, tearing them into pieces, faltering to ash, bone, and blood. If one said the honest truth, they get ridiculed for saying what is right. If one lied, they become a cruel being, manipulating the information told to another. But of course, a truth could melt into a lie. That was a cruel, familiar thing to Marissa.

Everyone knew the story of the Black Heretic, but only the one in the books. Some had theories that it was General Kirigan, the Darkling. It all fell on the side of the Black Heretic creating the Fold. And yet no one knew the difference between the Black Heretic and The Shadow Heretic. The Shadow Heretic was deemed 'heretic' for her power could create the shadows. The Shadow Heretic was a troubled but kind one, and not the Black Heretic. She was not Aleksander Morozova, she was just a girl trying to survive the cruel world by lying ever so often.

A powerful being, roaming the streets of Ketterdam, doing her best not to be found in the grasp of her older brother.

The rain soaked the long strands of hair that were not covered by the black hood she wore. Just as she went to open the door to the Crow Club, she turned to see him, her brother, and then the next second, he was gone. A vision, really. A simple trick in all honesty. Something was going to happen, a divide much larger than the last, she knew it.

"Ah! Marissa, lovely for you to return." Jesper greeted, his usual grin plastered on his face.

"Well, a sailor decided it was good enough when I showed him the money. Reminded me of a fox." She told him, sitting down at the bar. She downed the shot of whiskey.

Even if there were a sun summoner, the war would be far from over. That was the only thing that Marissa Morozova could know as true.

Marissa is clearly fine-

That may or may not be a lie.

Okay, bye!