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The Glass Nymph (the new version) |
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Chapter One
A young girl was once trapped in a garden as big as a city.
A young man with no heart claimed to own everything inside his garden.
He cared for nothing other than the Kio, and the fish within the lake. The only plants he took care of were the four cherry trees. All the other plants, animals and things inside fed and fended with the beautiful young girl, whose name no one knows. Her family was the last nymphs of the world; yet she had no powers like all her sisters and mothers and all the nymphs had. She was alone, with only animals at her heed.
'The trees are bare, but still cover the sky with their life!'
'Oh, and the wolves, the white ones lurking behind there shadows and the black ones; hiding in their shadows. The flowers are very beautiful with the dried petals. Winter seems to be a glance at frozen time. Such beauty we must compete against.'
She starts to climb a tree, then stops and wonders towards the back of the garden. Softly calling all the animals found in this massive place. They all start fallowing her into a large clearing. In the middle of the clearing is a stone circle with silver grass and silver flowers pushing themselves into the air.
The snow slowly calls them to the ground, and the hard snow melts with each soft snowflake. The snow soon parts the way for the girl’s feet as she moves with the animals. Nary is a footprint made. She sits down on the rock and the animals join her.
'How lovely, that we have all met.' She says to them.
The wolves silently went padding to her, with heads bowed to show respect to their leader.
'Mistress,’ an old wolf whispers, 'what worries you so to meet us 'here'?'
‘When did we meet last? You act as if I can never meet you here.’ She smiled kindly down at them.
All of the animals bowed their heads in embarrassment. ‘We are sorry.’ Every animal said in unison.
‘Don’t smile like that when you know you are hurting.’ A little rabbit looked at the girl with great concern. ‘If I don’t smile I will surely cry. Now there is nothing to get worked up about, I just wished to see your faces.’
With that all the animals filed off, all except the little bunny that had looked in her eyes. Everyone thought that was a great offense, but the girl had thought it a brave thoughtful and act. 'Bunny, what worries you so?' She picked up the baby and cradled the bundle in her arms. ‘Why do you hide things from us?’ She looked down at the scared eyes, and her warm brown eyes looked into the other brown eyes. Her light white hair fell into her lap.' Little one, my secrets would be too dangerous in your hands.' With that, she set the sad rabbit down, and got up herself.
She directed her feet towards the edge of the forest, he would be waiting. She needed to speak her mind. She used her perfect staff to poke away holes and bumps. Her staff was barely taller than she, and it had frozen cherry blossoms and leaves, intertwined with a medium sized metal circle. On the circle hung one glass bell and two metal ones that rang as she moved. The circled was edged and sharpened, also tied to the very top of the staff was a toy cow, and a glass leaf.
When she walked out of the woods she saw a rocky hill that held part of the winding river. She saw the river following its path to a very wide part, where a round island held a cherry tree. One rock broke the water; it was ground level and flat. Also on the island was a young man who was about eighteen, holding one apple and eating another.
The girl jumped to the rock mid-way to the island, the water flowed silently around the island. She landed on the rock and jumped again. She landed on the isle, and leaned against the tree and slid down, next to the young man named John. 'Still as graceful as a deer, I see.' When the girl said nothing he continued, 'You do know, that if you do not leave, I will get the law after you.' 'You do not have the right to say you own what you do not take care of.' He flipped the other apple into her lap and replied 'You have no right to live on someone else’s land.’
‘Whose land is it?’ He looked at her as she looked the apple over then took a small bite. ‘You know fair and well that this land is mine.’
She was quiet. 'We must find a home for you, so I need to know your name.'
She shook her head and looked down at the apple in her hand. 'I have no name.' He looked at her with a wide smirk, ‘Then I will give you one. How about Diane? Or Martha?’His smirk grew wider. She waved off the thought with her hand. 'Only you can give you yourself a name.' She twisted the apple around.
'I will have a name by tomorrow, but that doesn’t mean I will leave.' The expression was one to laugh at on John's face, he got red, and his lip was being bit, his eyes looked cross, and he clinched both fists. His eyebrows grew together and his nose wrinkled.
As the girl jumped away, his face softened.
'Maybe having her around isn't that bad. She would defiantly be a great money maker. '
She walked into the forest. Snow again started to fall. The animals kept their distaste. She was heading for a place they knew she would want to be alone. She walked past the opening she had been in earlier; she walked on past her house. She walked for hours, to a very far place, a place that was close to the very end of the garden. In a clearing, so big, but so hidden; in the middle of that clearing, was three engraved rocks, all in a line.
The girl looked at the rocks. She walked over and fell at her knees. Her tattered shorts and shirt shook, the shorts were brown, like a fawns flank. Her shirt was white as the snow. She pulled of her hat, it was a silly hat; it was made up of soft down tightly woven together. With black downy eyes and white down as teeth, her hat was pulled far down her head. She also held a Buddhist staff with a wooden cow tied to it. As she knelt, she felt over the engravings with her fingers, the graves of her family.
The three graves were of her mother: Sable, and her two sisters: Leaf, and Flower. A tear rolled down her face the girl's twin. Flower was overwhelmed and when both girls reached the age of 5 and Flower was ten.
They ran as fast as they could. Flower lagged behind, pulling trees up in the men’s path to slow them down, she had power. All her energy was put into running and pulling up those trees. Leaf helped and pulled up ferns. The girl we know had no power at all. She helped all she could pulling Leaf with her. At the back of the garden, they burst from the woods into the opening, as they got to their mother’s grave 5 men ran out into the clearing in front of them. They all stepped back. Three more men appeared on each of their sides. They pointed their bows at them.
In a loud moment, wind had blown across and the dusty ground flew up. Our girl ducked behind the grave, 11 arrows shot off. Two bodies fell, two feet ran, wind kept blowing.
It pushed her along, she started to cough, she looked around, and she was so tired. An old tree with a hole in its roots was nearby. She dived into it.
Still coughing.
After five long minuets, she had stopped coughing and a couple of men ran by her. They didn't even look at that tree.
She crawled out and curled up. She said softly to herself 'Did Leaf and Flower die?'
She got up and headed where she thought the open land was. As she felt the light on her face, she saw it. Leaf and Flower were dead on the ground. As she rushed over to them, she saw that both of them had many wounds. Leaf had five, and Flower had four.
She fell over on her sisters' bleeding bodies. Crying the tears of utter pain, snow and wind blew through the land, and animals appeared out of the forest. They all were trapped; half of them had families over the wall. They had lost friends. They all surrounded her. 'Flower kept saying that she would tell me my name when I got my powers. She said my mother had whispered the name out.' The wolves stayed. The animals brought grass linen. They all helped her clean out their wounds, and bury them.
The animals helped her find the rocks, drag them here, and engrave them.
The girl spent many days right there, engraving their stones. She used bright colors and perfect ingredients, to paint their faces onto the rock. She then drew a tear on the back of each grave, just to show how much she had cried. Her tears had brought the loveliest of flowers to grow by the rocks.
They were frozen and but not dried; they still held the color of the original bloom, tainted blue.
Now, sitting there in front of those graves.
The girl asked the stone what her name was.
She waited. Soon her voice swelled inside her and she screamed at the rock. She had never been so mad in her life. She had held it for eight years.
She screamed.
She fell over.
She cut her face on a sharp piece of glass that lay next to Flower’s grave. Just the bottom on the left was cut, but it hurt much. She felt blood on her face. She picked up the glass and saw the shape of leaf. She felt tears rush faster to her eyes.
'LEAF, WHAT DO I DO?! FLOWER WHERE ARE YOU?!' Blood kept coming tears mixed with blood, staining her shirt, she threw of her hat and threw her jingling staff.
She started screaming.
The wolves dashed out of their dark hiding place and tried to call to her. They bit her shirt she started to pull her arms around trying to knock the wolves off. Her hand was bleeding, for she had it clenched in her palm. Suddenly, she just couldn't move. She was tired. She fell over, and curled up, the wolves still holding her, the snow still is falling, wind ever blowing.
The girl still breathing, let go and fell asleep.
The wolves took her to the clearing and they stopped the bleeding. Everyone couldn't believe there calm leader had gotten so mad. They all stared as the animals covered her wounds. They couldn’t get mad at her, her whole family was gone and she was left with nothing.
She woke right at four. The sun was almost about to set in the winter sky. She sat up. She was in the first clearing. She got up, she ran to the forest edge and she ran to the pond. Her hand throbbed and her face was still stained and dirty. She couldn't make the jump, so she grabbed her staff tied her toy cow to it, and jumped into the water, the fish jumped and swam away. As she pulled herself through the water, she grasped the edge of the isle and tried to pull herself up. She just couldn't, she laid there, the water getting colder and colder around her.
Then two arms pulled her over the edge and onto the island.
'Looks like the deer is losing its strength.' It was John. 'I have my name,' John looked at her. 'It's Glass.' John started to laugh. 'Glass? Glass?! That is a ridicules name!' Glass looked at him and said. 'My sister was named Leaf and the other was Flower. And YOU killed them!' John stopped. He didn't remember what had happened that day.
'Leaf told me my name. This is my forest, I was born here.' A look of dismay came over him, then a smirk. 'I was born in a house, and they made me leave.' She looked up at him. Almost utter anger in her eyes. ‘You do not own me. I will not work as some girl in your home.'
For the fact he was going to do was make her serve tables in his home. He is now 20 years old, his dad gave him the land when he was 11, but that's when he started to make the wall. By the time he was twelve, he started to clear out the girls.
'Ah, so you know more than I thought. What do you suppose the animals would do if they saw you talking to me, telling me your name before them?'
Glass's face was white, it smeared into her hair and her eyes disappeared, she looked behind herself.
There behind her were wolves, deer, rabbits, mice, birds, and every other animal ever found in the forest. All with the same thought in her mind. "Have we been betrayed? Or is this what she is supposed to do?" A sad expression carved on her face. The glass leaf had been pried from hands last night, and she wanted to hurl it at herself. She felt it in her pocket and held it. ‘My dear animals.’
They all looked down now ashamed.
Her face grew mortified.
Glass grabbed her staff and quickly jumped into the river. The Kio once again parted for her. She held the toy cow above her head, and once again she ran.
She ran.
She ran and the water was cold.
Her skin started to turn a pasty white color.
She ran.
She ran with the spirits of her sisters.
The river meandered around to the lake, where she rolled out, in the middle, on another isle, with a flat beach. Her skin was a pasty white color, speckled about, tired looking.
She looked at her cow. A single cherry blossom fell onto the silly looking cow.
'Strange. That crazy cow, made of wood jointed, straw haired thing is my only and favorite toy, and that cherry blossom. So early into winter, the leaves are already damp and ugly.' She looked at the staff. She untied her toy, and looked at her staff, its bells jingled.
'This was supposed to be a lonely staff. I was selfish, and wouldn't let my sister take it. I kind of wish I had let her have it. I wish my wind hadn't raised that dirt. I wish I hadn't run away.' She tossed the cow from hand to hand. She put her hand against her eye.
She tried to stop the tears from falling. 'I used to be so calm, but that was eight hours ago.' As the sun slipped under the rim of the world, she played with the cow the same way she had played with it when she was a kid. She made it move without bending its knees.
Chapter two
Glass laughed, as a child would.
She started asking the air if she would like to play with her cow. She could feel the tears running down her face, but she laughed and started to talk nonsense. 'Leaf, Leaf, bring your snake over here and we will play! Flower, bring your wolf over here and we will all play!' She started to act as she did when she was four.
She made her cow moo, and then she took her staff and hit with the soft leaves against the tree.’ Leaf, why don't you play with me?' She was tired. She was trying to get her spirit sisters to play with her. 'Ma, look at my toy, look, he's dancing!' She started to laugh, the tears still flooding out her face. 'Why, Ma, why won't you look
at my toy?' She lay on the ground, and started to sleep. She rested there.
The wind woke her up. It was the middle of night, and she could not believe that she was awake at that time. Once again, Glass tied the cow to her staff and slid into the water. She held the staff above her, and swam to the edge. Not a cricket or a bird, no frog.
Nothing.
She picked up a single blade of grass, and that sounded like a hammer on rock.
She sighed. Her hand still felt rough, but her face was full and healed. She found her way to her house. To see the door locked and guarded by two wolves. The wind got furious. It blew hard. Glass hardly noticed. But the wolves started too slid away. The light snow blew up. The wolves slid into a tree, and then just vanished. 'That was Kain, and Bless. Have they turned on me?' The wind died down and the snow settled. She messed her hair, then fingered her hat. 'I still can't get into my house.'
She stepped from behind the tree and saw the wood lock. 'Maybe I can break it with my staff.' She brought her staff back, holding it at the very bottom, the opposite side of the metal, and struck the wood lock. The metal circle sunk into the wood, but didn't go all the way through.
She tried to pull the staff away, yet it held its bondage. She heard a twig snap, Glass pulled with all her strength, and the lock fell, in two pieces at her feet. She softly pulled the door open, and walked into the real darkness. Glass closed the door behind her, and then she felt her way to the cellar trap door. She pushed hard on her desk it creaked and moved a little.
Still, half of the cellar door was covered. She pushed again, she gave a tremendous surge. The desk moved over the trap door and gave a clunk when it hit the ground. That noise echoed throughout her hard wood home.
'I've never been down here. Yet, I know it will be just like Flower described.' She whispered to herself as she lifted the cellar. She looked down into the darkness. The wind circled her, and then dived down into the oblivion. Without looking back, Glass jumped into the darkness and pulled the latch with her.
When she landed, she tumbled. It was a hard stone floor. She looked around. 'Flower told me never to come in here; she said she would take me here in time.' "But I feel my wind is pushing her here, so I can find out. If I was named right, or not..." She stepped around, and she found a lantern. It still had oil, and was hanging. She nearly bumped her head into it.
She felt for the knob, and turned it. It was very faint yet it helped. She looked around. A door was a few feet from her. 'This isn't a very big room.' She clutched her staff, the bells jingled. She heard the door open. She looked and saw that the cellar was still unnoticed. Heavy feet walked across the floor. Glass ran to the door and pulled it open. It screeched.
She saw that there was a small flight of stairs that ended at nothing. The dark hallway was giving Glass an uneasy feeling. The wind pushed her in farther, and brought the door shut. 'No!' The wind made a horrible 'nails on a chalkboard' noise and in Glass's hands were two glass figures. One was a fire emblem, and the other was the same leaf.
Instead of banging on the door, Glass walked down to the wall, where she felt her hand over. She felt until she felt two indents in the middle of the wall, one was the shape of a leaf, the other was fire. She noticed that there was a flower and a snowflake as well. She stuck them in. Not knowing at all what would happen. Her wind circled her.
The wind was strong, for being underground.
Glass found herself not in her cellar anymore, but in a place with life, instead of here winter land with the silver plants and silver trees. She was now standing in tall green grass. She saw a butterfly drift by, the sun was sitting silently and proudly in the sky, the heat was a comfortable one, but not for Glass who longed for the cold hold of her winter.
'Ah, when the sun dries itself in the sky, the children laugh.' She looked around. She saw a tree very far away. It was a tall tree, where the leaves billowed out like a mushroom on top. Around it was little kids running and laughing. There were four. One was a tall and slender boy with white hair, around him was a girl with shimmering yellow hair and beside her was another girl with deep green hair. They were chasing a beautiful girl with long auburn hair,
Whatever they did they could not catch her, as soon as they would get close to her, she would cartwheel away, or handspring away. She had the brightest smile when all the sudden she fell over and all of the other kids jumped on her.
‘Ontou, what are you doing just sitting here? Play with us!’ Glass noticed that a short boy with sandy hair was underneath the high spirited girl. Everyone got off them and she helped Ontou up. ‘I would always lose Vaneita.’ The girl, whose name seemed to be Vaneita, giggled after that. Glass stepped closer but the heat started overtaking her. Her mind fuzzed and she slipped to the ground.
Almost immediately, the room faded and Glass saw that she was sitting inside of a dusky room, lit by hundreds of candles and a ledge jutting out of a dark brown wall. Suddenly the wooziness of the heated meadow was gone. She stood up and walked to the center of the candles. Three toys sat idle with one empty place next to them.
One was a rat, the next was a lion, and the last was a bear. None matched, but Glass looked at her own toy and saw that it was much like the others and she set it next to them on the empty area. When nothing happened she picked her toy back up and retied it to her staff.
She walked to the very center of the room.
She sat down and crossed her legs, and put her staff across her legs. Suddenly when she opened her eyes, the deep brown room was gone, now she was in the steely, cold stairwell. John was two feet in front of her. He pulled on her arms, yet Glass didn't move. She stayed plated to the ground. 'You are required to move. You can't live here!' She looked up at him, and her gaze made him let go and take a step back. 'I lived here first.' He backed into the wall. 'You didn't ask me to move, you didn't ask me if you could build here.' He glared at her. 'It has been my father's land for 10 years!' 'Do you think I am 9 years old? I am 13; I have lived her before half the animals. My sister had lived here even before me. You planed to get the land by wiping our names off the land, making us slaves to you. Your father had no right to kill my sisters, and then claim you can still take me away from them.' He looked at her, with his cold gray eyes, and then looked away. The everlasting glaze of Glass was overpowering.
He looked away and let her get up. She leaned on her staff then walked up the cold stairs.
As she walked up those last steps she got a strong urge to run, and have her wind chase after her. She lightly stepped up to the door opened it and walked up. She stepped out of that room, and then used her staff to push the door open. She stuck the metal into the hinge part when it was fully up.
It looked like a jump pole. Glass griped it with her hands, and swung her legs up and latched them on the floor above. She even then swung her body up, instead of letting go; she held her body straight above the trap door.
She pushed on her staff and pulled it out as she landed on her desk.
Her staff was upside-down at the moment. She jumped off her desk. While twisting around her staff, she marched to her door, and there smiled Kain and Bless. She took one look; the shimmer in her eye gave a radiant answer: 'It's time to have the wind chase us.' They looked at her, took three steps back, and gave a long and joyful howl.
Wolves came running happily from everywhere, rabbits with their young came bounding. All the little creatures of the ground came running. Deer bounced next to Glass. She went running.
She dodged the trees, with the image of a tall beautiful girl dancing and running. The silver sky was smiling as Glass ran out of the forest onto the large prairie, with wolves, rabbits, and all the mice, deer and all the creatures of the forest even the birds, come trailing behind her.
Chapter Three
The wolves were having trouble catching up to her, when a huge wolf, the size of a bike wove it's way in between the wild animals and came sprinting up to Glass who put her hand on him, and she spoke: 'May I?' 'Of Corse' For a fraction of a second, both stopped. She put her hand on his throat, and got on him, like a rider to a horse. But that second was short; she leaned down and put her head next to his ear. She whispered,’ We are a demonic duo in this race.' He laughed and ran faster.
The others were just about to fall over when they saw Glass, she was riding on the wolf leader, and she had let go of his fur. She was riding hands free. The lake was ahead, the wind had stopped completely. It had given up. She shook her staff, the bells ringing broadly. She had given everyone new hope. Kain gave a loud bark, he pushed his hardest against the air and burst in a mad furry of fur only yards away from Glass and her helper, Shame, and then Bless, gave a joyful bark and ran to ketch up with his brother.
Then, a loud jerk, and a sudden skid from Shame knocked Glass of his back and she slid on her side. She kicked up dust and she dropped her staff. Shame dashed up to her, on his way picked up her staff, but halfway to her he stopped, along with all the other animals.
The loud jerk had come from a boat that had let down a bridge for soldiers with they’re bows and arrows. They all pointed them at Glass who looked up, then looked down at her ripped shirt. A large man came up to her and grabbed her shoulder and pulled her roughly up.
The wolves howled. The deer jumped nervously. The rabbits were dead silent. 'You Miss will have to leave here immediately.' Glass stood up straight and ripped herself from him. He held the shoulder of her white shirt. 'What right do you have, to take me off my land?' The men started to string their arrows. 'Who are you?' Glass stood up straighter and said 'I am Glass, protector of winter. Who are YOU?' He stood back, and then replied 'I am an officer hired by John Watts.' He looked her over, examining her face then smiled. Surprised she took a step back. ‘I know who you are, in a way.’ Glass took another step back when John’s voice came from the boat. ‘Don’t tell her, her spirit may come and kill us all.’ Glass glared at John, and took another step back. She reached Shame and took her staff.
John smiled down at Glass then said with a smirk, ‘You wish to fight?’ Glass held her staff and jingled the bells that rang out happily. The officers slung their bows on their backs and took out swords. ‘Leave animals, now!’ John smile was happy as could be now. The sky started letting go of thousands of snowflakes, the animals all backed up. Shame barked loudly and charged the men. Glass ran with him, she jumped into the air and knocked down the man who had grabbed her. Shame charged past the men, and onto the boat where John jumped back and ran away. The men charged Glass who crouched and used her staff to trip most of them. ‘Shame, it’s time to go!’ The large wolf had just cornered John when Glass said that.
He growled and dashed away, jumped over the men and they disappeared into the now heavily falling snow. ‘Remind me to never fight humans again.’ Shame looked up at Glass and replied ‘Same here.’
Shame walked into the wide clearing, where all of the animals rested and talked franticly. They all looked up as Glass walked to the center to the stone circling, suddenly she saw the stone circling, not as loosely laid stones, but a fancy well. Around it was shining flowers.
Glass sat down and looked around, the flowers were silver and frozen again, and the stones loosely lay. ‘Glass, what’s wrong?’ Glass looked up at the falling snow. ‘We must prepare for hunts; I think I have endangered you all. Maybe we should all move deeper into the woods, farther away from his castle.’ The animals neither nodded nor shook their heads. ‘We won’t run.’ Glass nodded numbly and walked towards her home.
When she walked into her house she fell onto her bed and fell asleep. When she awoke it was dawn and the sky was a pale silent blue, without any clouds. She sat next to a tree, and turned it silver with her touch. She rested in the snow when Kain and Bless dashed over to her. ‘Glass four wolves, nine deer, twenty squirrels and rabbits, fifteen birds, they were all either killed or captured, their bodies are gone!’ Glass held her head, ‘It’s only dawn, are you sure they just didn’t go out in the night?’ The brothers nodded, and they told how they had grazed and hunted at night to protect themselves, and some had gotten away, and told others. ‘Oh no, how can this stop?’ Kain and Bless both sat next to her, one on each side, slumped and with lost hope. ‘I know what I will do.’ Glass stood and walked away jingling her staff and making the glass bell sing.
She walked out of the forest and found a winding path that led to John’s castle. She walked her glass bell ringing. She walked right up to his town, and walked past the gates, meandered around the town, the people gasping as she walked by. She walked into the castle courtyard and into the throne room. John was sitting idle on his throne, when he heard the bell ringing he looked up at Glass. ‘Stop hunting my animals. You have plenty of animals in other forests.’
John smiled and looked down at Glass. She was unsightly; her long white hair fell gracelessly down her white ripped shirt and soft brown shorts, she leaned on her staff as if exhausted. ‘I’ll have to ask my advisor.’ John walked out the door. ‘What should I do?’ he leaned his ear down next to an old man. ‘She has brown element eyes, no?’ John nodded, ‘Let her stay, as if a princess, who knows how powerful she is.’ John looked at the old advisor with question, ‘She will not willingly stay.’ The old man nodded then looked at John with a sly gleam in his crooked old gray eyes. ‘She will, if you keep hunting her friends.’
The advisor smiled and John went back to Glass. ‘Of course I will send my hunters to other forests, but after you join me in my castle.’ Glass looked up at John then thought of her animals. ‘Never.’ John looked surprised for a moment, then as Glass turned away he called to her, ‘Oh well, your animals probably don’t need to breath. Glass stopped short. ‘Fine, you win, just don’t hurt them anymore.’ Glass bent down and held her hands up for imprisonment. John smiled.
One year went by, then another, in the 15th year of Glass' life, she stopped.
She was sitting in her room, in a beautiful dress with pink flowers in her hair. Her hair was tied up in a loose bun. Every window in her room was open and Glass longed to jingle her bells and tell her animals that she was fine. Every morning she would be forced into dresses, and her hair done.
This morning, it had started to snow inside Glass’s room when she woke up; there was a sparrow on the foot of her bed. This sparrow was larger than even the talking sparrows; it stared at her then spoke. ‘Maybe I should’ve come sooner?’ Glass stared at it, then sat up and looked it over. ‘Is there a reason you are here?’ The sparrow looked surprised, then replied ‘Why I have come to protect you dear.’ Glass nodded and walked over to her window seat. It was white velvet and the windows let in perfect snowflakes into her hair.
She stared at a cherry tree.
Blooming away.
“Maybe you should have.” Glass stared at the sky next, but all she saw was her hair. All of the sudden, ladies in waiting were in her room and the windows were shut.
Then one screamed.
‘Who let that filthy bird in here?’ the others looked toward the sparrow. ‘Why, it’s because Marie always leaves her windows open!’ The ladies bickered among themselves while they tried to dress Glass. Glass sighed and motioned for the sparrow to jump onto her shoulder. ‘I have told you time and again that my name is Glass, not Marie.’
Once again the ladies looked at her. ‘This sparrow is yours?’ Glass nodded, and then motioned them away. ‘I do not feel like being dressed today.’ They looked strained then formed a circle around her. ‘Lord John has requested that you sit at his right at the banquette tonight.’ Glass sighed then repeated herself, ‘I do not feel like being dressed today.’ The ladies looked stressfully at each other, and then left.
‘I have come with news from your, should I say, kingdom. There is a “war” between deserters, and Believers. One believes you will come back, and the others believe you are trying to destroy them.’ Glass sat down on her window seat and opened the windows again. ‘I don’t think I would of any help to that “war”. By the way, I would appreciate a name for you.’ The sparrow bobbed saying, ‘Feather if you please.’
Glass smiled ‘Feather,’ she paused and looked toward a trunk ‘pleased to meet you Feather. Now tell me more about my kingdom I risked to save.’
Feather bobbed up and down going on about how they waited, also how many of the wolves Glass had been so kind and helped while she was still there, had left her. Shame, Bless, and Kain still loved her and waited for her in her house. Shame was as skinny and small as Bless. ‘Someone waits for you.’
‘Who?’
‘Someone who is lost.’
Glass looked into her scarred hands and a tear fall down her face. ‘That person must be me.’
Glass knew down in her heart that she wasn’t completely lost, at least not enough to not be able to lead someone. Feather was sitting on the trunk, and then hopped over to her staff that leaned onto Glass’s bed; the glass bell sang.
She stood.
Her steps lead her.
Her arms opened the trunk.
On top lay her soft cat hat, she lifted it to her head. Under that was her torn white shirt, it had been large and baggy back then, now as she slid it on, it fit perfectly. She saw her soft brown pants that also fit well now. A white cloak was under that, it was perfect. Made by the best seamstress in this village, it was sewn with soft gold snowflakes. It bundled on her shoulders and with a gold snowflake clasp. Under that was a pure white bag. It was slid over her shoulder and had white feathers hanging on it.
‘You look ready to go.’
So she did.
She was ready
She wasn't alone.
Glass had grown up.
She took her staff and jingled the bells. Glass pulled the pink flowers out of her hair, the very last thing in the trunk, was an old wooden toy. She picked it up, more tears ran down her face, she started to put it in the trunk again, but Feather lighted down on it. ‘Don’t give it up. It’s here for a reason, just like me.’ Glass stopped, then tied it to her staff.
A ferocious knocking came then the door hit the wall, the angry twisted face looked surprised then got angry again. ‘You are supposed to follow my orders!’ Glass looked at him, her eyes had almost lost hope; falling into a bleak hole of fear. ‘I don’t want to.’ She slipped by him Feather on her shoulder, she didn’t form a smile, or a frown, and she just walked away.
Servants scurried past, then ran away for fear of John coming. ‘Marie come back, right now!’ Glass kept walking she felt her bare feet on the cold hall stones. One foot then the next then repeated. She walked out the castle, out of the village, out of her mindless world. ‘Sudden should I say?’ Feather whispered, Glass nodded but kept walking. ‘If I stayed any longer, I would be nothing more than a body. Dead, should I say?’ Feather looked up, his beak formed in a bird smile. Then a voice from behind her made her feet stop in the snow.
‘Stop now!’ Glass turned to see John standing near her. ‘I have stopped, but it’s my time to start again.’ John stopped then.
She was nearing the forest, thinking and was lost in thoughts of her mother and sister, then a little face stained in tears came into her mind, a face so sad and alone, that it made Glass want to see it again, alone. Still fiery mad, but as Glass slowly disappeared into the now snowing sky, he looked away, he hadn't changed at all. In all the years, she had sat next to him and ate. Poked and prodded every moment she was there. The most absorbent person he had ever met was leaving, and he learned nothing.
Glass walked silently through the forest, when she walked into the stone clearing. Many animals were there, when one saw Glass they all saw Glass, they bombarded her with questions. She quieted them and started her own questions, questions about all the wovles, and all the little animals, until Glass knew well enough where they were.
A large clearing, with three large stones jutting out. Animals surrounded it, and on top of the stone was a rather small wolve preaching to all the animals.
'She forgot us!'
All the animals cheered.
‘And she’s never coming back!'
The animals cheered louder.
'Now is the time for a brand new leader, she was a fairy tale, we need someone reliable!'
Tears welled up in Glass' eyes as she saw the animals cheering, as if that was the greatest thing ever. She held her staff, out infront of her; the bells jingled quietly, not loud enough for the cheering crowd of animals.
'Let us tear down these ugly tombstones, and rise a new era, the new age of happiness!'
Glass held onto her staff and the bells rang out loudly. 'Stop.' She said loud enough for the whole crowd, it seemed only a small portion of her group was there, but even so. They all stopped and looked at her, with white tears coming out of her eyes, and she standing there, galantly and strong, but also calm.
'Glass, no, she isn't real! She is different!' But the wolf was alone now. All the animals were stopped and looked down with disrespect for themselves. Glass softened her gaze and asked, 'Where is Shame, Kain, or Bless?'
Then a joyful cry ran out, as a fully grown rabbit ran out towards Glass. 'I knew you would come back, you will never be domestic!' She knelt down and reached out her hands for the rabbit, she may not have known the name, but she knew who the rabbit was. 'As well did I know you would never lead over to the "Age of happiness".' The rabbit looked embaressed, and then started to answer her first question, 'Shame hasn't left the side of Kain and Bless in two years, they seemed to just, stop when you left that one day and never came back.’ Glass wiped her eyes and asked 'Are they at my house?' The rabbit nodded, and as Glass walked on, the rabbit kept at pace with her, he could tell she had endured alot, she didn't carry herself like a deer anymore, though he could also tell, she was so angry at herself that she couldn't lead her people or animals in this case.
As they walked through the lonely trees, flashbacks hit Glass like a bullet, she saw trees that had become like knarled over time, and she remembered seeing her 10 year old sister pulling them up, only the thought they were to block the path, but now she saw that they left a trail, and she remembered her twin sister pulling up bushes, and as the flashback ended, she felt sad that she had been selfish and how her birth with her sister had killed their mother, that she was the only one left.
As they arrived at the glasses house, she saw her door was open and at the sounds of mourning and saddness.'Shame? What are you doing?' The wolf once was big.
Once had happiness.
Once was alive.
But now.
Now.
The wolf was skinny, you could see many of his ribs, and his fur was matted and filthy. His walking made him slur in the door, and then slur out again. 'Glass, is that you?' Glass nodded and she stumbled to him hugging his large neck, he was still a very tall dog, but he had lost the life she had given him. 'Glass, I'm so sorry, it's my entire fault.' Glass leaned back, looking at Shame and knew the reason he was named shame, he cared, he felt guilty for everything.
Glass smiled a big smile, one she hadn't worn for years now, a real smile. 'Shame, if I were to kill you, you would apologize to me, about it, like it was your fault.' he looked slightly guilty, then he got close to her and licked her face. 'You're right, I probley would.' His dog smile was just as bright as hers. Yet it did not last long, Shame looked guilty again, and he threw his head at her house, and she heard a moan, and a low growl. 'Kain and Bless?' he nodded again. GLass stood up and walked slowly into her houses, her staff ringing. 'I can tell the truth, that I am afraid.'
Chapter Four
Her eyes were already used to damp light, but her house was as dark as could be, it was easy to locate Bless, his white fur shining in the darkness, Kain was lying next to him, all bunched up, his dark fur looking overwhelmingly like a bloody shadow. 'Are...They... dead?' Shame was behind her, looking rather bold with his gray fur. 'No, they are well alive, and are resting, they hardly talk and both had to have a bullet removed, the night you left.'
Glass felt a wave of guilt wash over her. She kneeled next to Kain and nudged him, he stirred leaving no remorse of his sleep he shook his head instantly, and stood up.
Astonished, Glass wraped her hands together in her lap, and looked at Kain, and his dark fur. 'Glass, is that you?' Glass was stunned and Kain was surprised. 'No, you are a look alike, Glass never hurt herself.' Kain looked at Shame who was astonished, and at the rabbit that was saddness welling in their eyes like tears. 'I have spent too much time, away. Maybe, I should just go away for good.'
Shame looked bewildered, the rabbit just stared as Glass walked out the door, and Kain, one of Glass's best friends, looked, and he knew that she was who she was, and that he had to stop her, a cow lay next Bless. 'Wake Bless, Glass can't run away walking.' He picked up the toy cow, and he felt the cracking of twigs and the whistle of the wind. A question everyone asked themselves now was if she had any powers at all, and he knew that the power she had wasn't nymphic powers, maybe her power had dwindeled, and her sister had it now, but one thing for sure, she was Glass, a good friend of his, and he was determined to get her.
He wobbled slowly out the wooden door, and the sunlight was beautiful, he felt like a snowflake in summer, but this wasn't summer, nor fall, not even spring, it was Glass' favorite time of the year, and she was running from it, walking away from everything, to a wall that never should have trapped her, a wall she knew as well as everyone else was something she would never want. If she never wants to see the wall again, what is she doing?
Kain was slow at walking, his soft pads crackling along in the snow, the sky was blowing in white clouds, which seemed to hide the world, and its troubles and say that today is the best tomarrow ever. Kain was a snowflake, he saw Glass limping ahead, weaving between the trees, she stopped, and she was barely in front of Kain.
Glass looked back, she put her hand on the tree, and it left the tree sliver, and covered in frost, "I know this tree."
'Glass! We have to hurry! Leaf we have to run!'
Glass pressed her hand to her heart as she remered some of the last memories of her sisters. The sky was oddly gray, and she could hear the clouds moving around, shifting in a semingly awkward motion. 'I am so sorry.' Glass moved on, her body did not welcom beginings. Peace is the middle, and beginings are the end. She walked on striding at a steady and content pace, the trees went on for many miles, but Glass had never seen the wall, she heard, she felt and she knew the wall "In some shameful, way I am like the wall, content with being cold, and content with nothing changing," Glass couldn't help but feel that one thing, the one barrier in her life she could never even touch, was the only thing she could compare herself too.
The end of the trees came too soon and behind her she had left frosted trees and a large ball of white was lumbering towards her and she saw the cow in its mouth.
Kain stopped in front of Glass, as she took the cow and craddled it in her hands.
‘I missed you, Kain and Bless both.’
He looked at Glass, and nodded. 'Glass, it's not your fault, if anything, we brought this apon ourselves. We didn't realize that, which John would come after you. Why did you go to him instead?' His why was more than, a simple reason, it wasn't for being caught, it was for Glass, and why she was leader. 'It's because I led you like a wall, I couldn't be reached, and I was strong, every wall falls.'
A snowflake.
A single breeze.
Lifted up the dead.
The animals were dead. Not in the dead dead, but the dead that makes people wonder why you are still alive. This dead sits and its mind wonders off endlessly into nothing, with no mind of its own. Several people over time have called them zombies, and others have learned to use the mindless ones, and make them more mindless by feeding them those lies.
Glass looked behind her, toward the wall, the lake, the grass, then back in front of her, where from behind tress was all the animals, and those animals all bowed deeply infront of her. 'I must tell you something. I'm weak, and I am a human, I lie, and get scared, and I'm tired of running, lets walk a little.' Hundreds of animals rose up, and started walking with Glass.
The snow.
It fell for hours, Glass walking one with life, life surrounded her, and snow, her favorite thing was falling around her, on wolves, and on deer, enemies walking together, and for moments the world of Glass was perfect.
But everything changes.
Even glass.
Not long after her walk, Feather flew up to her, she was sitting upon a silver tree, her white hair trailing in the wind. 'I wish I never must tell you this. I truely do.' She leaned down, relaxing on the tree. 'What?' Feather told her to come down and sit next to him. 'Reasons are hard, and usually I am not allowed to tell you this.' Glass got up slowly and slid down the tree. 'It is about your mother, and it is about you.' She looked at the tree, and wondered why it was silver, for the trees around her were all brown and lightly covered in snow, but this one was silver.
'Why you are who you are, why your family is dead, and why you have a strange ability, and why I am here...'
His voice was quiet.
But it screamed to Glass.
'She, your mother, was special, a nymph she was, but... She was also something else. She was... an element. That's why she died while you were an infant.'
She sat.
Or she fell.
Who is to say what she felt.
'She was the element of, the sun and the moon, and I know who you are.'
Tears feel down her face. She had once heard of elements, they were lost long ago a war killed them.
They were like snowflakes on her face, white and silent.
'You were ment to be Ember, but you that would never fit that name, and your mother... Vaneita knew that. You know, if your family was here, they would be so proud.'
'I-I don't understand.'
Feather sat next to Glass. 'I don’t as well, all I know, is that you are, the element of Winter, daughter of Vaneita, and grandaughter of Cresant. And I? Well, I probley don't have much longer to stay, for I am your spirit and I come around when you are in trouble, and I must go, maybe your ready, I don't know, at least not yet.'
Glass moved her hands, and the snow and wind moved with her. 'So that's why I'm different, why people watch me, because they all knew what I didn't? Because I enheireted something that made them want me to be like them? Is that why John so badly wanted me to be docile? Is that why everyone follows me and dares not look into my eyes?'
She moved her hands again, pulling her hands onward then twiling the snow around her.
One landed on the tip of her finger, it refused to melt and she examined it.
'I'll be back.'
Glass got up.
And started to walk.
She walked with the knowledge that she would fall in the snow.
When she did fall in the snow she wanted to be alone. 'Mother, why? Why was I choosen!?' She lay in the snow. Moving it around her, as if it were a blanket, 'The snow, the cold wind, both at my will, I could make it always winter.'
'And be a witch?'
'Go away, you're not welcom here, how long did you know?'
'Ha. I'm not stupid, I know brown elements when I see them.'
John was walking towards Glass who sat in the snow now, confused.
'Yeah, and I guess you are just taking a stroll. If you knew, why did you force me out of here? If you knew it was mine.' 'Hey slow down, I never said any of that, but you are right, I did know. Why? Well, I guess it's just jelousy, because... I come from royalty, basically, but you come from a low nymphetic woman, why were you choosen?'
'It wills to never concern you. Go away.'
They both got up and looked at each other, and walked away. 'You know, you can come back, from this harsh world.'
'And join yours? Not as long as the wind blows.'
'Your choice.'
Glass kept walking; the snow twirled from the sky, endless white, the sky was just falling. It fell over everything, as the light that would if it were not gone for the endless snow. Soon the world of brown trees fell away, to a world or white trees, mixed into the forever snow. She collasped again, this time she fell into a sleep as deep as the snow she was in.
Chapter Five
When she awoke, the sun was right above her, and she had no idea where she was. Beside her lay a book. It was old, dark green, and a small book. It was wrapped loosly by a green cord. She undid the cord, and opened to the first page.
Beware; this story goes on beyond the covers of its pages. Read on and you will be part of it.
Startled, she thought of closing the book, but then she felt so weak that she could hardly move and she was lost, alone in a forest of white. Then she pulled the next page over, and started into the book.
Long ago and far away there were people who looked like us, but were not like us. These people were elements. The elements were givin one element and one spirit, the spirit would help them lead their land, no on knows how the elements got here, or what happened to them, but we do know that their was only 25 total.
At least then…
The words were small and written only in the middle, Glass started to flip through the pages, "Everyone is covered in drawings, and each one was of people who were controlling something, there were many of guys pulling water, and a younge woman pulling the earth. Another controlling the sun, and then moon. Pulling them together. "This is, so... perculliar..."
The 23 first ones were givin a country and would place a statue of themselves somewhere in their country, even underwater.
BUt, that is not important now; we are here to learn about Storm and Creasant.
Along the next pages, were of two countries, one was called Cail, and the otehr Dien, a map to the statues were shown on the maps.
Storm governed lazy people strickned to darkness and whispers, from his ever risings storms, for he was the element of weather.
Creasnt ruled Dien with a crule darkness, where creatures hung in the night air and they never saw the sun. Creasant was the element of darkness.
Cail and Dien borded each other, and both Storm and Cresant merged their lands to become Sordiena Cail, meaning merged Dien and Cail. They ruled together, and begged the element of elements to let them marry, when he said yes, they married, and Cresant became pregnant.
They expected a peaceful boy, but when the time came for Cresant to give birth, she gave birth to two quarreling girls.
The older was named Harmony, and the younger named Vaneita.
Glass threw the book, which made getting it away easier, she curlled up confused and hungry. The wind slowly came, bringing snow with it, sliding along the ground, lifting it back into the air, until the wind couldn't hold itself anymore, and all the snow fell on Glass. She spread herself out and looked at the sun, all this time and it hadn't moved. Glass tried to use her power and moved and ice cloud in front of the sun, but it quickly fell, pelting Glass with ice, but she remained fine.
'This could've stopped. I could've ended it all.' She was still staring up at the sky trying to move the sun out of view. She talked to herself because the voice in her head sounded so alone and condenced. But deep down inside herself she knew that something was there, that had made her push on. "You were born with the power." For some reason, those words ran accrose her mind but those words together had never been said to her.
She sat up.
'Do I dare read on? Do I dare break something?'
The snow slid around on cold silver wind. She crawled over to the book every inch of her body trembling. The book was lying in a perfect patch of grass, dry and unharmed. "Odd, but who am I to judge?" she reopened the book to the last page she was on.
They instantly crossed the borders of element laws. Unlike all the other elements, each little girl had two elements. The older was the sky and the earth. The younger was the sun and the moon. Growing up caused chaos, being two inches near each other made them angry. Horrible earthquakes and darkness lurked after their fights. Teen years brought horrible fights that led to years of endless darkness and trembling earth. They soon led to the deaths of their parents, but not without a curse on the both of them, for they were cursed to live until they could fix their war, endless killing others for their own lives.
Death will never come easily for an element. Their ashes still hold their spirit, and anyone who touches the ashes of an element will surely lose their life and the spirit and looks of the element whoms ashes they touched will fill their body and kill them.
'How awful!' The sun still sat in the sky right above Glass. Glass almost felt the weight of it, and she could not hold her body high any longer and she collapsed, into the cold, cold snow, surround by forever whiteness. 'So... Cold... So tired.' She flipped through the book until the very last pages where there were ten pages of no words, she went to the last page, then flipped the page. A short letter was written on the page.
Dear Vaneita,
You tried to run, but your destiny is written on diamonds. You are the one to end the pain. If you ever thought that no one could see the fear and pain behind your smile, you never really looked at anyone. You always smiled and tried to look brave, but everyone knew you were terrified.
I don't really blame you. Maybe you will live to see twenty-five some day, but until then, try to find a way to fix this, without killing yourself. Even Harmony worries that you will die trying to save us, it is true, you have seen more things than all of the elements, dying with two infant children, twins no less, to a five year old, in the snow. Maybe you could listen to someone, who knows, every element after your birth has the same curse as you, so maybe I will meet you, or your daughters again.
With Concern,
Ontou (The Element of Sand)
The letter ended with a scraggly drawing, similar to the ones lining almost every page. Glass tried to stand, holding onto a nearby tree, turning it the color of a snowflake; even whiter than it was before. 'I'm lost, so tired.' She looked at the ground hoping to find hope in returning to the land she once knew. She lumbered from tree to tree, until everything ended, the trees ended, the ground ended, and a large gray wall rose in front of her. 'It's ugly.'
She walked along it, leaning against it she felt along it, until she felt a tower; she sidled along that, until she came to a heavy door. Glass opened it and felt slight warmth, in front of her was a ladder, she climbed it, and opened the hatch at the end.
'Amazing, this isn't a garden, this is a Village wall.' Glass climbed out, and looked over the edge of the wall, which had a very nice walkway on top. 'Looks awful outside the walls.' She put her hand on the very edge lining, and she remembered words she had said, just earlier this day: "I was just like the wall, cold and unreachable." She realized now that she was like someone else, her mother, the element of Sun and Moon.
Chapter six
Glass walked on the wall, she had placed the book in her white bag, and she looked up at her staff, and saw the cow hanging with the ringing bells. She walked on, her cloak hanging on her shoulders, almost as tired as Glass. Walking gave her time to wonder where she was. Glass noticed how outside the wall, the ground was not covered in complete snow. She started to think about the deer, they seemed to never get hungry, but Glass had never seen any grass. They must have gone far just for food, and still followed her back home.
The plants, needed much sun, but Glass needed much snow. Her thoughts wondered on, she found that ever since the death of her sisters, she has always wanted nothing more than to do whatever she could to help others. She had given herself up to helping others, but she thought that maybe, maybe she never really did help. “It will never become spring if I’m here.”
After walking for ten minutes, she saw a tall tower. She climbed the tower, and saw that a man was sitting in the tower, he was just sitting down. Glass started to walk by, when he reached his hand out and grabbed her ankle. ‘Sit up here all day and see you walk past. Why’d you keep me waiting my princess?’ Glass looked down at him, her eyes tired, her legs gave out, and she sat down across from him. ‘I am here my whole life and never see the wall? I should be ashamed.’ Glass looked to the falling snow and smiled.
The man looked at her sitting there, and started thinking. ‘Why are you, wanted?’ Glass kept looking at the sky; she pulled off her cap and slipped it into her bag. ‘Why indeed. I have done nothing to threaten him.’ He looked at her longer, and then spoke again.
‘Tell me your history. Tell me what happened. I want to know.’ She looked at him with puzzle. She had only been sitting here a few moments and he wasn’t arresting her. ‘I picture you have been wondering about this place for awhile now?’ He nodded. ‘Well, here is the story my older sister heard, she told me when I was five, so I’m a little sketchy.’
Let’s see, it was 11 years ago, now that there was no wall. I was four, my oldest sister was 9, she and my other sister were nymphs, and I wasn’t. They guarded the animals, and made food for all the animals, there is animals that can talk, and others that can’t, the non talking animals are smaller than the talking ones. Everything changed when John came in and tried to clear us out.
Details? I don’t know the “details”, but I do know about how one day we were bathing where the Kio pound is now, and we saw a larger version of John yelling at us. He chased us away, and we didn’t see them for a long time after that.
But sadly, we did see them again. We had to bathe again, and we went right back to the pond. They were waiting when we got there, they chased us for hours. All the way to our mother’s grave, this was probably the last large clearing until the wall. Our mother, well she was half nymph, half… me. Her grave was just a stone in the middle of the clearing. Well, they surrounded us there, I hid behind the grave. The wind made the snow rise up around us, and my sisters, died, and I ran away.
They tried to chase me, but I gave them the slip in a tree. Over the next years, they built the wall, I was nine when they completely finished the wall, then they built the town and the “castle”. It took another four years for them to realize that I was still there, then John being; maybe five years older came and found me.
Tried to talk to me whenever he could, and tried to name me; he wasn’t exactly the best friend I wanted. After that I named myself, and then John started attacking animals that didn’t need to be attacked. Now I’m here, two years later.
The man was sitting there confused. ‘I’m tired.’ Glass looked behind her over to outside the wall. ‘What is over the wall? Why does there need to be a wall?’ He looked at her even more confused, ‘There was a war, and everything outside the wall was destroyed. There’s nothing but monsters and demons out there. Maybe some dead bodies as well.’ ‘Monsters and demons, how far do you think that goes on?’ He sat and thought to himself and looked back at her, ‘Maybe 100 miles.’
Glass got up smiled at him, and went down the tower, and walked again, this time for twenty minutes, until she found another tower. As she walked to it, she started to think, “Maybe, maybe I’m not wanted here anymore. All I bring is coldness.”
She climbed this tower, and saw a man there about to fall asleep. She grabbed his shoulders and shook him. ‘Hey, don’t fall asleep. That won’t help you.’ He looked at her surprised, and then sat up, ‘What, are you doing here?’ Glass slid back into the side of the tower. The snow fell gently onto Glass’s face. ‘Do you know how long it has been winter?’ she sighed into the wind and closed her eyes. ‘John says it hasn’t been anything but winter for nine or ten years. Before that, it was never winter, he says also.’ He eyed her wearily. ‘Ten years.’
Glass looked up and saw a bird that looked similar to Feather, but was slightly smaller and the feathers were darker tinted. Glass looked around and saw that the new man was gone, but this bird was there. ‘Ten years of winter. I thought you were supposed to be helping these animals, seems you can only hurt them.’
She held her hands to her ears. ‘Be quiet.’ But it was no use, the bird kept talking ‘Weren’t you the reason all those animals died? You’re probably the reason for every death!’ Glass pressed her hands harder to her ears, tears started streaming down her face, ‘Stop, stop it now!’
‘Can’t take the truth o’ frozen one? Maybe you should pay more attention to what goes on.’ Glass stood up and shook her head, ‘Stop… Stop…’
The bird looked at her, and then flew away. Glass looked around, and jumped over the edge of the wall, leading out into nowhere.
The wind started billowing around her and her feet touched lightly to the ground. ‘What’re you doing? You’ll die out there; there isn’t another soul out there for 100 miles!’ Glass looked up to see the man looking over the wall calling after her. She pulled her cloak around her, and started walking. The wind started swirling around her filled with white snow, the man watched her disappear into the nothing that was now where she walked.
She kept walking; she wasn’t sure how long she could walk, or if she would live. But she knew that the farther she walked the better off for the animals. White and silver tears fell down her face as she thought of Shame, Kain, and Bless. ‘I’m so sorry, but you will be so much better without me.’
After walking for one hour, she saw a tree.
This tree was tall.
The grass was tall.
The branches of the tree billowed out like a mushroom.
Glass heard children laughing; suddenly the wind started to swirl around the tree, and made a wall to the snow, the meadow was green and leaves braced themselves to a blue sky. The leaves shook from the force of the wind. That’s what the world looked like. Or at least, that is what it looked like in Glass’s head. She took one step forward and everything fell back to what it really looked like.
Everything here was dead, except for Glass.
She walked to the tree and touched it; her icy hands made it turn silver. The wind was still blowing hard as ever, she sat down, and leaned against it. She started thinking of Kain and Bless, tears fell from her face. ‘They were always there.’ The rabbit, ‘You always knew.’ Tears fell harder when she thought of Shame, this would never help him.
Her glass bell started ringing. It sang louder than the storm, until Feather was on Glass’s knees looking at her. ‘Glass, why are you out here?’ Glass tried to push the bird away, but her hands made the bird into dust that blew away. She looked around herself.
Everything…
Was, dead…
Except for Glass…
Her tears were now blowing away in the wind. Her hair mixed into the snow, and she started to shiver. Glass looked to the sky and could not see anything but snow swirling down. She looked ahead of herself and this time, she saw Shame sitting in front of her. He was large once again, and covered in his thick dark fur, which made him stick out in the endless white storm.
‘Why did you leave us? We needed you.’
Glass looked away, ‘No you didn’t. I am the reason, for the troubles. The pain, the endless winter, the endless cold, it was my entire fault.’ He looked at her with a sad look. ‘You were also the reason we were happy and content.’ Glass watched Shame for the little moment he had left, and then his persona blew away with the wind. Glass started crying harder. She looked towards her hair, which seemed to be a part of the wind and snow. She lifted her hand; it was white, and seemed to blend into the clouds that that touched the ground. ‘The world has spoken; I’m fading into the wind and snow.’
Chapter Seven
Kain sat next to Bless; both were sitting in front of Glass’s house. ‘Why’d she leave?’ Bless whispered. ‘Maybe she didn’t leave, maybe she just, got lost. Maybe she was sent back to John.’ Kain whispered back. Shame walked up to them, after seeing Glass, he had started taking better care of himself, but he was still ragged. ‘Let’s follow her.’ The brothers looked at him, ‘How? Her footprints are long gone, as well as her smell.’
‘I don’t know why, but I hear her bells ringing.’
He started walking away, and the brothers got up to follow him. ‘Shame, she’s gone, why would she go this way?’ Shame kept walking; he saw a ring of silver trees. ‘Because this is the closet path to the wall.’ Kain and Bless walked along with him. The trees with brown bark started to fade, and white trees now surrounded them.
The air around them was warm. Snow was melting, and mud was sticking to their paws. Occasionally they would see large patches of grass. Then before the trio knew it, the wall rose ahead of them. Then a large sparrow flew up to Shame and landed in front of him. ‘She’s o
 Jayy Bird · Sat Jun 14, 2008 @ 04:34am · 15 Comments |
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