AURORA (Original Novel)

Chapter 38. Shining creature

"Aurora, don't go far from home." – Mom warned, stirring stew in a pot over the fireplace, she looked tired. The hut into which a family expelled from their native village had recently moved was built by their father; he was chopping wood on the street. The girl stammered.

"Okay mom. I'm near." She ran out into the street, putting on a heavy fur coat made of rabbit fur and skins. It was early winter and the north wind was already blowing, a large and old forest was located around the house, the trees greeted the young special soul with their whispers. Aurora ran up to the spreading ancient oak tree and hugged it.

"Hello, my friend." - She said.

"Something is coming." - The branches from which the leaves had already fallen sang. The child pressed her cheek against the rough bark and did not pay attention to the warning. A father nearby began stacking firewood in a woodpile and looked kindly at his strange daughter. The idyll was interrupted by the mother's scream. Aurora turned towards the noise and saw her mother standing in the doorway with a basket of washed clothes, an arrow sticking out of her chest. She dropped her burden and began to slowly sink to the ground, gasping for air.

"Mother!!!" – The girl, who did not understand anything, squealed.

"Heretics!" – It was heard from the direction of the forest and several men ran out to the hut. The child recognized them, they were all from her village and apparently tracked them down. The father, growling, grabbed an ax and rushed at the enemies, the girl covered her eyes with her palms out of fear and screamed shrilly. She didn't see what was happening, she only heard the noise of the battle, someone's wheezing and swearing, then her dad's scream reached her ears. Overcoming herself, five-year-old Aurora removed her hands from her face and saw how one of the attackers plunged a pitchfork into her father's back, and he fell to his knees, dropping the bloody ax. Two more scoundrels lay motionless on the ground with their heads pierced. The others surrounded the man who was trying to protect his family.

"No!!! Dad!!!" – Aurora shouted, but no one paid attention to her.

"In the name of God our savior!" – The one who pierced Browulf's back barked. Suddenly, all the men standing on their feet screamed, they were bent in half, and they began to fall to the ground, blood oozing from the people's eyes, from their ears and noses too. From the side of the river that flowed nearby, a guy was walking, leaning on a staff; his eyes, like a blind man's, were bandaged with gray cloth, but he moved confidently, as if he saw everything around him. The man whispered something in an incomprehensible language and soon the fanatics from the village stopped writhing, lied still like broken dolls on the ground. The girl's father also died. She felt it and, not paying attention to the stranger who stopped at a distance, ran up to dad's body and tried to pull out the pitchfork stuck between the ribs, but she didn't have enough strength, she began to wail, sobbing.

"Dad!!! Dad!!!" Realizing that she couldn't pull out the garden tool, she rushed, stumbling towards her mother; she was still able to get the arrow and, placing her hands on the woman's chest, tried to resurrect her. The palms became warm, and the skin on the hands began to glow. The guy with a blindfold stood motionless and seemed to be listening, leaning his shoulder on the frame of the hut.

"Mommy, I will cure you!" – Aurora babbled, swallowing tears, but nothing worked, her soul left her body. The wound in the chest healed, but the woman did not resurrect.

"I still found you." – The blind man said unexpectedly. Aurora finally turned her attention to him, sobbing. The man did not frighten her, she saw that warm power was emanating from him, and that it was she who killed the attackers, the remnants of this energy still glowed on the corpses.