The relic was cold as it was placed on her head, and Enid flinched as it touched her sweaty skin. The silver circlet she was wearing, that she could see her reflection wearing in the mirror did not look anything special- just another ornament made of silver- and bones- but nothing magical.
She looked warily at herself sitting in the chair in the large mirror, as the many many council members surrounded her in the dark corners of teh cavernous room.
She spied a few of the Elders with their long cloads, and hooded faces, before she went back to her reflection. Silent, waiting...
And then it happened.
Before Enid could ask what was happening, the world fractured, and she felt as if her head would split open from the pressure of the circlet.
She didn't even have time to scream before it ended, and she opened her eyes.
She was standing on a grey road, in a narrow alley between two houses. From the dull grey Sun above her head, she could tell that it was still day, but there was no one around.
She stepped forward, trepidation lining her brow.
The houses looked abandoned, clothes still left to dry on the line, a broken wooden horse lay on its side, but not a movement of life. Even the trees- the few withered there were- didn't move.
There were no animals, no people, nothing here in this world but her.
That was strange.
Her eyes pinched together as she roamed around. It would have been a scene from any normal village- even from her own- were it not for the lack of, well, anything.
"Hello...?" She ventured, but no one answered.
Enid continued walking, alone, on the strange road, in the strange town, with the Sun that never seemed to move and everything grey-washed.
It felt like hours as she walked, weaving through streets, looking inside houses.
Alone, with her own thoughts.
No wind, no insects, nothing but her own thoughts to keep her company...Enid almost preferred the pain when she entered this place to...this.
Nothingness.
It was bright, blindingly so, as she breathed in harshly. Her boots clicked faintly on the cobblestones, but the sound died instantly.
There was no echo, no life.
But she took a deep breath and kept walking...hoping to reach somewhere.
But that didnt happen.
The streets stretched on endlessly, lined with houses that leaned on each other, as if a single push would make them all crumble. The windows were all open, but again, no curtains moved.
"Thorien?" she tried. Her voice fell flat, like the air refused to carry it.
No answer.
She swallowed and walked. The town didn't change- same houses, same doors, same unmoving sunlight. Every street looked identical. Every turn led her back to the same square, where a door stood, darker grey than the rest of the house, the planks breaking down.
The silence pressed down like a weight on her chest. Her mind rebelled as something pushed down on it, her ears ringing at the unnatural silence.
She looked up- the sun hung directly overhead, too bright, too still. It didn't move. It didn't warm her. It only watched.
She tried to remember Kaelith's voice, Thorien's smirk, the touch of someone's hand gripping hers when the ritual failed-
But the memory slipped away, like trying to hold water.
She frowned, pausing. Why was she here again?
Something about… a mark?
She touched the back of her neck. The skin was cool. Smooth.
She couldn't feel it anymore.
All she knew... was that she walked
And so it continued, and continued. She walked on...until all she knew was to put one foot in front of the other. The wooden horse, the curtain, the gate.
And it went on, and on, and on...
She had no concept of time. Maybe it had only been hours? Was it more? Days?
She never got tired, never felt different...soon she didn't feel anything at all.
Where was she anyway? A faint question would echo somewhere in the recesses of her mind...until that too stopped.
Her mind numbed, as she soon stopped taking in whatever was happening around her. She knew just one thing- she knew that for some reason she was walking. Her feet stepped in front of the other- so that's what she did.
She had no idea why. She never thought about it.
Why would she.
She kept drifting listlessly through the ghost town, a single silent shadow that haunted the place.
Then she heard it. Footsteps. Behind her.
She turned, heart leaping-
A familiar face stood there, smiling that familiar half-smile. "You should've stayed where you belonged."
Her mind, which had by now become devoid of thoughts, rebelled at the sudden influx of emotions she felt. Something other than the numbness...something like...
Her lips parted, parched from not having had anyone to speak to for so long. Her voice cracked, "Kaelith..." She stopped, surprised at herself. How did she know him?
He tilted his head, eyes glinting gold. "Do you really think the Moon chose you? You're just another lost thing wearing its mark."
What was he talking about? Chose who? For what?
But against her knowledge, her stomach twisted. "That's not true." She found herself saying. Another unpleasant emotion joined in on the numbness she had felt previously. Despair. She found her stomach twisting against her wishes.
New emotions took place of the emptiness she had felt for what she was sure was eternity. She had never known anything beyond that anyway...
...And they overwhelmed her. What was he doing here? Why was he here, disturbing the quiet?
But he was already gone, fading into sunlight like smoke before she could think further.
She breathed in a sigh of relief, resuming her walk around the town.
Another voice appeared, mocking her.
Then another voice came from behind her. "A mistake can't be destiny, Aria."
She spun- he was there, hands behind his back, hazel eyes colder than ice. Thorien.
"Stop," she whispered.
He stepped forward, expression unreadable. "Or maybe the mark found you because it knew no one else would want you."
Something cracked inside her.
When she blinked, he too had vanished. The only thing that signified anything had happened had been her heart, as it still hurt in her chest.
The silence returned- louder this time. It filled her ears, her lungs, her veins. She started running, but the streets kept looping, circling her back to the same door, the same grey sun.
Her breath hitched. She pressed her palms to her temples. "Stop. Please stop."
But the world didn't listen.
The mark on her neck began to burn, a low, pulsing ache that crawled down her spine. The sunlight grew harsher, bleaching her vision until the edges of everything blurred.
Her knees gave out. She fell beside the door, dust rising like ghosts.
Her fingers trembled as she traced the cracked stone. "I just want..." What did she want anyway?
No one answered.
The sunlight glared down, merciless and cold.
Her vision dimmed. Her throat felt dry, hollow. The silence pressed closer, whispering that there was no way out- that she didn't deserve one.
A single tear rolled down her cheek, catching the endless sunlight before it fell to the grey earth.
The tear shone for a heartbeat- then vanished.
And Enid lay still, swallowed by a town that never slept, beneath a sun that never set.