Could you tell me a story?
Which story, my child?
The one you used to tell me so long ago
I'm sure you could tell that story
better than I by now
Could you tell it to me just once more
As you wish my child.
Long ago, in the ancient times...
~Holy Texts of Amaryllis
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"Dawn had always been her favorite time of day."
So, like mornings she awoke when the sky was still a pale blue and the moon had yet to be swallowed by the horizon. She felt warm, despite only having a single, thin sheet protecting her from the bitter chill of the early winter air, due to the body sleeping soundly next to her.
Her brother, only a meager two years younger than her, was snuggled next to her, his chest rising and falling like the ocean waves, despite the wild howling of the wind outside, beating against the firm wooden walls of the small, yet never crowded, home that she and her younger brother lived in.
She got up slowly, not wanting to leave the warmth of her bed behind just yet. Her body was stiff from the long, cold night she had spent sleeping on the hard mattress next to her brother. She finally managed the strength to sit up and push the thin sheet from her body, placing her bare feet on the stone floor.
A shudder crawled up her spine as her feet kissed the frozen floor of the small bedroom that she shared with her brother as she got out of bed that early morning. It was cold enough inside of the house for her to guess that the first frosts of the season must've formed during the night.
She moved slowly, each footstep seeming to take a year, as she crossed the room on soft and delicate feet like the first flakes of snow that had yet to fall, careful not to wake her brother, as she made her way across the room, stripping off her night clothing in trade for a faded red dress, that reached just above her ankles and was tattered and torn at the bottom.
Her father had offered to buy her a new one, but she'd refused. This one was comfortable, familiar. They didn't need to waste any of their meager savings to buy her a stiff, new dress. Besides, this dress was one of her mother's old ones. It would feel wrong if it went to waste.
She ran out of her small home just as the sun began to rise, painting the once simple, pale blue sky, into a thousand glowing colors. Her feet were bare of shoes as she sprinted down the familiar cobblestone path that wove every house in the village together, like a great tapestry, her warm breaths visible before her dark eyes as she ran down rows of colorful houses.
One could practically get anywhere in the village on these paths, that was if they knew how. The paths had a strange way of twisting around and confusing even those most familiar with them.
However, the paths never seemed to trick her as her feet raced down them guided by only her memories. A familiar memory echoed through her skull as she raced down the paths, salty gusts of wind slapping her in the face. Her cheeks were a rosy red, kissed by the sun from being under its burning rays for many of days.
It was her mother who had taught her this path and they used to walk it together, her mother always humming the same sweet melody that seemed to echo in the wind. A melody that she was never able to imitate no matter how hard she tried.
Finally, she reached her destination. Sand clung to her bare feet, its golden grains sticking between her toes as she made her way to the water's edge, where the sun was just beginning to peak over the horizon, like the head of some great beast, staining both sea and sky a brilliant array of colors.
It truly was beautiful, something one could stand and stare at for hours on end, just trying to grasp all the beautiful colors of the sky. Yet it wasn't the colors that made dawn her favorite time of day.
It was the fact that dawn was the only time that both the sun and the moon lived in a beautiful harmony in the sky, which was stained a vibrant array of colors from the joy of seeing one another's faces after the long night.
Or, that was what her mother used to say.
She stared at the sky, her face filled with an unreadable emotion as the gentle winds blew her long hair behind her. Wild waves, much like the ones of the ocean, ran down her back, rivers the same shade golden shade as honey. And it was for these honey-colored waves she had been given her name. Honey.
Honey stood upon the shore, reaching into the depths of her mind, in a desperate attempt to recall all the times her mother had taken her out as just a child, to watch the sun rise over the ocean that was simply called the Eastern Sea.
It was her mother who had forged her love for the time of day, with all of their early morning adventures to the seaside, back when the world was perfect. That was about all that Honey could recall of her mother, as the woman had gotten sick, and died when Honey was a mere six years old. That was just over eleven years ago, now.
As the sun began to creep up the sky, letting its soft rays, like fingers curling around the village and wrapping it in its bright grasp, all the while pushing the moon from the sky, Honey found herself staring out across the ocean's waves for longer than she usually did.
By now, her small village where she had spent her entire life wandering through, that went by the name of Astrakane, would be humming with laughter and life. A small part of Honey wanted to go back and join in with that laughter and life, but her feet remained fixed on the sandy shore.
It was when Honey felt a hand on her shoulder did she tear her gaze from the sunrise, to see the face of her younger brother. His thick, dark brown, almost black, hair lay in messy curls atop his head and it looked as if he hadn't bothered to comb it before coming out, much like his sister.
His skin was darkened from being outside for many summer days, like most of the others in the village, his eyes the same shade of dark blue as the sea before a great storm came crashing against the shore.
"Happy birthday, Aldwin," Honey said, wrapping her arms around the boy beside her, her smile rivaling the sun in brightness.
A smile she had to force, and both sister and brother knew it. Aldwin didn't say or do anything, just let his sister hug him, tightly, as if she feared that he might disappear before her.
"I can't believe you're already fifteen," she said, shaking her head in astonishment, her forced smile ebbing away as she saw the darkness and despair that hung over her brother's head like the dark clouds that hid the sun before the same storm that darkened his blue eyes.
"Thanks, Honey," the boy said, breaking free of his sister's tight grasp, a scowl frozen upon his lips as Honey's smile finally faded away.
"Aren't you happy about turning fifteen?" Honey asked, although she already knew the answer. No boy in the entire kingdom of Amaryllis, the kingdom in which Honey and Aldwin called home, was happy about turning fifteen.
"Yeah, yeah," Aldwin said his voice almost as cold as the air around them. "Now they can ship me off to fight in the war like all the other boys," he spat, his words made of poison.
For, in Amaryllis, the laws stated that once a boy reached the age of fifteen, they would be forced to join the army and protect the kingdom from the ever-growing threat that was the Wild Woods and the dark creatures that lurked within its trees. This was a death sentence to most, and every citizen of Amaryllis knew it.
Yet, these sacrifices were necessary, unless they all wanted to die.
A U T H O R ' S N O T E
Hello and welcome, the three dear people who made it through the entire first part of the first chapter! Sorry if it's bad, but you know what: I tried.
Anyways thanks for reading, and I'm going to try and keep these short, but I tend to ramble so sorry in advance!
So umm... please to vote and comment and stuff?
*Nailed it*