Aaloria Elyantide - lie to myself.

[Blazingshadowz]

The sky had darkened after a long day, a summer night on the sword coast, at the farm.
"Lori, come on! I need your help!" A voice shouted in the distance.
"Okay, give me a second!" Aaloria tended to her horse. Having just ridden it back home with her brother, she was tying it to the barn.
"It'll be fine, just come here!" shouted the voice again.
"Fine!" Aaloria neglected finishing tying the horse up. Figuring that nothing would happen.

She jogged up towards the barn, where the voice was coming from. Entering the barn, Aaloria's half brother stood there smiling, and beside a black steed. He was gently patting its side.
He grinned, and bobbed his head towards this horse.

"What'd you think?" He asked, still grinning ear to ear.
"Wha- .. When did that get here?!" She was astonished, and slowly moved towards the steed to inspect it and pat its flowing black mane.
"Remember when mom was trying to teach you to cook?" Speaking amusedly, he chuckled soon after, as Aaloria gained a dull expression.
"Well.. we decided that it was time you got your own horse. So you can stop riding mine around!" He teased her, and motioned her to follow him as he lead the horse out of the barn.

They both had walked outside. The sky was a lovely shade of red, pink and orange, but not for long, as the sun was beginning to set. Everything seemed eerily quiet. The neighbouring farms could be seen in the distance, aswell as the bell tower.

"Want to give him a go? I'm sure you could go for a quick ride before we head inside." He moved to help Aaloria up on the steed.. this was difficult, as the steed was not used to being ridden, aswell as having no saddle on it at the time.

As Aaloria mounted the young horse, she had patted it, as if to comfort and soothe it. Taming the beast would be rather simple, as it seemed to not put up much of a hassle. Aaloria's head shot back as the warning bell had begun to ring. It was slow, but incredibly loud, despite the distance of it. The steed she was on stirred, though before bucking off Aaloria, she managed to somewhat calm it down.

"What's happening?!" She called down to her brother-- A large figure in the distance was approaching fast, a panic broke over the two.

The large figure sped past. It was her brother's steed she had neglected to fully tie up, no doubt the bell startled the beast. In the passing of the horse, it startled the younger one Aaloria was atop. This time bucking off Aaloria, and into a pile of hay. A brief yelp was heard, and she pulled herself up after a moment to recover. Realizing that both of the steeds were now long gone. She glanced about to see her brother haunched over in pain, she moved over to close the distance between them, the warning bell still blaring loudly.

"C'mon, we need to get to the house!" Aaloria tried to help up her brother, but he was hardly budging, it looks like he had the wind knocked out of him, as he writhed on the ground.

To be continued...

[Blazingshadowz]

The sun had finally set over the hills. leaving the sky a darkening blackish blue as if to add onto the haze becoming of Aaloria's mind. After tugging on her brother's arm with no success, and instead attempting to drag him over to the house, it would be a long way there. With a glance around, she realized the immediate danger about her. A hunting arrow lying meters away from her feet.

Aaloria had let go of her brother, a selfish fleety response taking over her, abandoning him to leave for her own safety. She took off into the darkness towards the farmhouse in the distance. A sudden yelling in the distance grew loud, but seemed to pass by her and towards the barn, where she had left her brother.

The farmhouse in sight, suddenly something pulled at her wrist, stopping her in her tracks, and quickly whipping her head around to see what had a grasp of her.

A hooded man had stood there, wearing leathers as dark as the night itself a twisted smile on his face, she had instinctively yelped, and kicked at him, yelling shortly after, as her kicking hadn't loosened his grip.

"LET GO OF ME!" She had fumbled for her freedom, resorting to biting his hand as he tried to silence her.

This seemed to work, and gave her a chance to make a break for it, practically out of breath, she ran as fast as she possibly could towards the farmhouse, a beacon of safety in her eyes. The shadey man behind her had cussed, and drew a dagger, chasing after her. He sprinted closely behind her, and quickly caught up as she arrived at the door, and fumbled with the handle. Half opening the door before being pulled back again, a sharp pain arising from her shoulder.

A feeling a weakness and nausia waved over her, as grubby arms curled around her, to shove her aside. Her sudden drowzyness left her stunned, and the farmhouse door fully opened.. yelling and screaming could be heard, and then a sudden crashing sound. Her eyes had slowly closed, the pain overbearing and too much to handle, she slipped away into a state of darkness. Feeling like but moments later, she opened her eyes, covered in blankets and sunlight. She was in her bedroom, and the morning had come, but her pain and groggyness had certainly not.

She slowly pulled herself up, and glanced around. Feeling at her shoulder to find that her wound was bandaged, but indeed real.

To be continued. . .

[Blazingshadowz]

Sitting in her bed, a hand on her shoulder, she had a face that was free of expression. The memories of last eve hit her like a bolt of lightning. Sudden and swift, she quickly recalled abandoning her brother Naethaniel, for her own safety, and the guilt from her decision begun to settle in her mind. Whipping the blankets off of her, and getting up to her feet, straining herself as a jolt of pain reminded her of the injury over her shoulder.

Changing into some clothes, she raced down the wooden stairs to see if perhaps Naethaniel made it back to the house. Greeted by knocked over furnature, shattered plates, and a sobbing woman, Alora took in a deep breath, her heart sinking and her tone low, as she begun to speak.

". . .Mom?" She had called out, to the sobbing woman. Gaining no responce, she slowly moved over to place a hand on the woman's back. Her own eyes watering a bit as the woman revealed her bruised face.
"Oh . . .Lori. . you should be resting. ." The woman began to hold back her tears, and she forced a smile on her red and purple face. Her eyes and cheeks soaked with her own tears.
"I'm alright. . .uh. . have. . . you seen Naeth?. . what happened? . . That man, wasn't it. .?" Rather hesitant, she asked, though knowing the awnser. Wiping at her eyes to banish the tears starting to form.
She slowly nodded, and calmed herself. "Yeah. . thank the gods, Sirellen was here. He left to look for Naeth not too long ago . . I haven't seen him since yesterday."

Aaloria's mind shot to think about Sirellen. Her mother had an affair with the man, he was a ranger of the nearby woods that liked to visit the small settlement of farmfolk quite often. He was a warm and kind man, who showed great care for their family. Infact more so than her own father, who was always away on his own adventures, only to come back and visit to brag and share stories of his travels. She wasn't suprised that Sirellen was about, and started to grow quite fond of him. But a deep feeling of guilt started to grow, and she could practically foresee the disappointment she would be shown if he had known Aaloria abandoned Naethaniel.

Suddenly her mother spoke, breaking Aaloria's train of thought. "Have you seen him at all? . . . did he not come with you?"
"Uh. . . .no. . . I haven't. . we were both at the barn. . . and he said he'd be right behind me. . ." Beginning to dig a hole for herself, she weaved a lie to appease and soothe her own mind, as if to make her feel less guilty.

She walked away slightly awkwardly, and moved to fetch a broom, idly sweeping some shattered plates and glasses into a pile which then she would catch with a pan. She bit her lip, as she glanced back a moment, to look over at her mother again. Her mother had turned silent, and achieved an almost brooding look. Feeling uncomfortable that her mother might question her lie, paranoia set in, and she spoke up.

"I'm going to go see if the neighbours are alright. . . maybe they know what happened. ." Leaving little time for her mother to respond, she dumped the pile of broken glass and ceramics into a garbage, then quickly set out the back door, away from her mother. The two way door swung back and forth as she pushed passed it, slowly stopping and losing momentum.

To be continued ...