The girl had run from the temple. She was meant to sacrifice to the Goddess of the Night, becoming the avatar of the goddess. But she did not want that. She was a slave, but she was a maiden in love.
She had fallen in love with her grandfather's student, he was clumsily, and was easily angered. But he was talented. She was running to the shake on the hill. She enters and falls to her knees.
All she saw was her lover hanging. A letter was on the chair. She slowly walked to it and opened it.
"If any one is writing this, I, Merknes's student, ······. I have taken my own life so I can follow my first love. I was a coward that could never confess. Goodbye, my love, ······."
Tears fell on her cheeks. They both were in love with each other. Hearing footsteps coming, she picks up his tool and stabs her heart, killing herself.
In the dark void her soul fell, no shadow touched her existence. Her soul had avoided death, but not Night. Touched by the night. She felt something guiding her forward.
She woke up to her walking with her grandfather. She was confused, how and why were her thoughts. But she felt the wind on her and the voice behind her. Looking back she saw her love once again.
He was not tall, His black heir glizening in the day sun. But something was different, in his gray eyes it was like he was someone else. Not the one she loves. His eyes were unfocused and slowly they were focusing on her. Her heart hit a bit and froze. As to break the air he tripped on nothing, falling on his face. And she laughed
"Hahahah… Old man, look, he fell over nothing."
Her kind and passionate grandfather looked at her and spoke.
"Now, now. It is not nice to laugh at others misfortune."
Her laughter had stopped. Now looking at him closely. It was new, she remembered that day perfectly. He had not tripped that day. He had walked tired and timed to the shake.
"Ahhh… Fine"
She saw him standing up slowly and followed them to the shake, he said nothing. She saw him and knew that he was not her love one. He walked differently to the shake.
The shake was old, only having four rooms. Two were for sleeping, one was the workshop and the other was the living room. The person that had taken the appearance of her love, was unfocused on learning from her grandfather. She did not love it, so she joked and annoyed him, under her grandfather's teachings. Slowly day had passed and so she was taken back to the temple.
There she was forced to work. She remembered everything about how they would treat her in the future. Slowly the days went, and her grandfather died. Her tears were hidden behind the dark veil. The veils were something women of the village had on them from birth to death. The different colors were to show what status one had, and black was for slaves.
She would run to the shake and joke on him from the shadow, not letting the one who had taken the form of her love to see her. He was different, but the same. He got annoyed by her, sometimes he was angry with her instead, but he never hit or told her to leave. He was like her love one. He had the same skill with carving, but he was slow.
Slowly he had shown more similarities with her love, over the time she stayed with him.
One day she ran from the temple again to see a moving statue lying on his bed. She was shocked, so she began to joke at him for taking a statue for a lover. But he ignored her.
Every day after, she saw him working on a replica of that statue. His first statue was ugly and weak. So she tried to comfort him, but it failed.
"Look at that, how is this your best? The old man would roll in his grave if he saw this."
She had not realised what she had said to him, but it did make him angry. Not on her, but on himself. The next statue was beautiful, it felt like she was in the temple and looking at the statue of goddess, it made her pain feel less painful. She had been hit by a priest from the temple because she had broken a vase. Her hand was broken and she was brushed on her back. Her voice was quieter than usual, when she spoke to him from the shadows.
"At least you made some progress, but it is still nothing to that statue!"
He destroyed it, because it was still weak or from her taunting. She did not know.
Some days later, it was the day she was meant to be sacrificed to the goddess and become her avatar. So she ran. Again. Her breath was heavy, from all the pain she was in. Running from the temple had not been easy. But she did succeed at escaping. Running to the shake, her dark veil had fallen off. She stood outside, taking her breath. She hesitated before she opened it, she remembered the last time she did. Hanging from the roof was her love, dead, his latter. shaking her head. She was afraid, but a sound of something falling and breaking broke her out of it. She opened the door and saw him walking to the living statue.
He turned to her, the light from the door shining at him, his gray eyes reflecting her, and showed her his anger. He had a mallet in hand. She spoke.
"Good, you are still alive."
She looked at him, and he was already upon her with the mallet. She did not move. Maybe it was fate that she would die here. Falling on the floor looking up at him. His face was painful and broken. She did not know when, but she did form a feeling of love for him. Both of them had formed her feelings of love. She spoke, her voice drowning in her pain. And three words were spoken.
"I love you."
She died, and he moved forward. Darkness was everywhere, she was not a shadow of her life or a shadow to be.
"."
".."
"..."
The darkness was still, and in darkness her feeling was still growing. She felt no pain, but only sadness grew, and slowly it formed into regret. 'If only I could be with them both, more'. She wanted to be with them, the one that was kind and hardworking, and the other she watched grow better than they were before. And slowly she had fallen for him too.
'If only.'
A voice spoke in the endless darkness, it sounded like hers and at the same time didn't, it had a hit of authority coming from it.
"Thou want to be with them more, huh."
She was surprised who was talking to her. She was dead so how did she hear them?
'Huh, who is speaking?'
"Me, you call me Night, but thee may know me as Goddess of the Night."
'Huh! Why would you speak with me?'
"Because I am an echo of my former self, formed by Weaver's little spell. So we are the same, both dead, but still have some means to affect the world."
'I don't understand?'
"Thou was my avatar, but never was one at the same time, so I saw everything thine did. I don't have much power to bring myself back, but I can do thee."
'Huh!'
"But not as thee are now, I will guide thy soul to have the power to follow him back with the Spell. Not as a mortal, but a soul to guide him. Will thee accept this deal?"
In the endless darkness, one word was spoken.
"Yes!"
Her voice felt like it realised something that pushed the darkness away. She felt a small chuckle coming from the goddess. And her mind slowly falling asleep. A smile appeared by the goddess, then they dissipated.
Her soul changed to strings, golden strings, a miracle from the gods was mad. The string was slowly turning into a robe, and her shadow were made to dancing to on it ends.
…
…
…
Her mind awoke, and saw him. He was different, short and cute. He was standing in front of three others. A red head, an Oracle and a blondy. But she only looked at him. His face was more female than hers, his heir gray. But it was his gray eyes that called to her. It was him that she had answered the goddess for. And she now was his guide.
***
She was watching the girl screaming her soul out, and saw Lesser falling to the floor hounding his head in pain, as the world shifted. Now standing in front of him was the real piece of Avenli. They spoke. But it was not that she was surprised about, it was that Avenli had noticed her. and had turned to look at her at that. Avenli looked at her, and spoke to her.
"So do you want to talk too?"
"..."
She was quiet, then spoke. She was his guide, and she would not fail this time.
"Yes."