“Monsters are coming for you and your family.”
“Souls they will steal. Never stare at one directly unless you dare become a slave~”
Nadiya skipped through the marketplace. Normally she would love to linger around and listen to the tales coming from strangers, but since the Yaeli had started turning up on their shores with these horrible rumors she had found herself skirting away from the busier areas. Perhaps my parents are right, they have way too much free time. She had made a mistake once of listening in the other day and ever since the girl had found shadows deeper and much darker than before. Monsters…are they coming for us, truly?
She didn’t even know how to fight or defend. All she knew was how to do housework or to play music on her flute, “Perhaps I could play a lullaby?” Nadiya giggled lightly at the thought. Wouldn’t that be a sight? I’m sure a monster would rather chomp down on my arm before enjoying any song. The girl sighed. It could just be rumors still. The Yaeli were supposedly a very superstitious people so it wasn’t farfetched that they could come up with some crazy tale.
“I suppose they even beat me out as well.” She tapped a finger against her lip thoughtfully, “Could I come up with some strange story to beat that?” Once she had told her younger siblings stories of monsters lurking beneath the waves of the great waters, but even then those hadn’t been as detailed or drastic as the Yaeli monsters. Didn’t they say some of the most intriguing stories were based on reality? Truly, she hoped not.
What if the extremists had discovered something to make them more powerful so that they could return? Nadiya had heard about the great battle and how it had stirred all of Tendaji. What if they were still determined to this day? They could have traded their spirits away in the darkness for powers and in revenge were coming to take the souls and children of the rest of Tendaji. Then they would convert the rest of their sisters and dominate over all of the races….
“Oh.” Nadiya blinked, “I suppose I got carried away again.” She had been staring at a tree now for a good five minutes while her imagination got the best of her. There is no way that such things are possible. Plus, if the Yaeli had such creatures on their lands why wait until just now to let them know? Surely the monsters hadn’t just been sleeping there and decided to just pop out of the ground now. Unless…the presence of the extremists had stirred up trouble? What could the sisters have done to disturb the island so? The Yaeli had been living there long before last year after all. Ugh, this was making her mind hurt!
“Perhaps we are too close for comfort.” As she walked away from the markets and towards her beloved cliffs the girl noticed the ocean. Just past those waters would be Yael with its rumored monsters waiting. If Yael fell what would stop them from coming towards Matori? We were just freed only to wait for monsters to come to our shores? Nadiya sighed. This truly would be a tragedy then.
She was just hopeful that the rumors were just that, rumors. Nothing more, nothing less. She doubted the Yaeli were setting up a trap for the rest of Tendaji and she also doubted that soul sucking creatures would be coming for them soon. Yet, her stomach continued to twist and knot as she stared over at those looming waves. Even her beautiful sunset seemed sinister tonight. Please, no. Nadiya had to wrestle with her imagination, “Stop thinking about it!”
Before she had wanted to go to Yael in hopes of finding adventure and even possibly love. Now she wanted nothing more than a warm patch of sunlight to lay in safety. Days full of sun with no shadows to strike fear. If only the moon and the sun didn’t have to fight each other then there could be eternal light with no nights to create such monsters. Nadiya laughed quietly, “You’re doing it again, Diya.” Her older brother would have flicked her on the head by now for daydreaming so.
She just couldn’t help it. For some reason these rumors would not leave her mind. Scary stories of monsters made her want to hold even her most annoying siblings close at night. So many families here would be defenseless, unprepared to fight. Myself included. But to prepare for a war would mean that they would acknowledge the rumors. It would mean that the monsters were real. Nadiya shook her head sharply, “I refuse to believe that.” Raising her flute to her lips the girl forced herself to play a happy tune, a hopeful tune that the world she knew would be okay.
(81 cool
