Forbidden

Chapter 1: The Waiting Game

"Where are you?" Aurora screamed at the fog rolling in; it was slowly getting harder to see. The day was cloudy and gloomy as if everything had lost just a touch of colour, and it was raining hard enough to make her blink wildly. Hell, she thought, she must have looked insane with her drenched, dirty dress and wet hair sticking to her face, but she didn't care at that moment. Instead, it was the hurt and betrayal that flooded her veins that she truly cared about.

She was at the edge of a densely packed forest of evergreen trees that stretched as far as the eyes could see on both her left and right. The fog flooding in from the forest made it seem like the trees were bleeding.

"Why must you do this to us? To me?" This time she whispered more to herself than anyone in particular. She knew he was in there because the forest was where he found solitude and comfort. She had seen the way he interacted with the woods--as if the trees were an extension of his lean limbs. He was the forest, and the forest was him.

But at that moment, it was eerily quiet, much quieter than a forest ought to be, quieter than she had ever known him to be. Aurora strained her ears for any sound that would give away his position like he had taught her so many months ago, but there was nothing, not even the sound of woodland animals that roams the forest.

All of a sudden, she heard it. It was faint at first but soon came out of the forest in a thunderous roar.

Hooded figures stepped out from the thick woods and stood just at the cusp where the tree roots kissed the ground. There were no 100s of them, some hidden by the safety of the shadowy pine trees. All of them were clad in their ritual robes, arm braces, boots and weapons. They looked outright dangerous--their hoods so low, it obscured their faces into nothingness. As they came to a halt, the world plunged back into silence.

"Where is he?" she demanded, scanning the crowd for the sign of the man she knew, eyes filled to the brim with unshed tears that she refused to let fall. Then he finally chose to appear. He walked perfectly in the middle of his already well-distributed men. He was larger than all of them, standing at 6 foot 4 inches. However, while his cloak was much like the rest with the robe and hood, the only difference was that the other her men's outfit was a deep shade of brown; his was midnight black like darkness itself with barely perceptible, intricately crafted patterns.

Aurora watched him warily as he walked towards her and stopped about a foot away. His face was always covered by that damn hood, and she wanted nothing more than to rip it off. He didn't wear his hood often, but she knew the real reason behind his sudden anonymity; he didn't want her reading his emotions.

They stood there for an eternity, just staring at each other, waiting for the other to break the silence first. She felt that he owed her at least an explanation for just leaving, but when it looked like he wasn't going to speak, she spoke up instead.

"Well? Care to explain what you think you're doing?" she questioned, searching his body language for any clue-anything. He remained quiet and still with no remorse whatsoever. He was breaking every promise he ever made to her.

A moment later, he turned away and signalled for his men to fade back into the woods. Aurora's heart lurched, and she sank to the ground, clutching her chest. The tears she had guarded so delicately poured down her face. Why couldn't he just let her decide what she wanted for herself? Instead, he made decisions like she was some petulant child who didn't know better.

All of a sudden, she couldn't breathe. she couldn't focus on anything except for the hand curled around her throat in a vice grip. My nails instantly scratched at the fingers that denied her air.