The Lore of Lazuli

Chapter 2 - A Town named Finity

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The sun, a gentle elegant sun hung over the land, bringing in its warmth to those who it surrounded. Through the window of a little wooden room, the rays woke the young maiden dressed in white. She had been resting on a brittle, and rough bed. It barely supported the girl. At any moment it would snap and the bed would fall to the floor. The surrounding walls were just as similar to the rotting bed. Made of wooden planks, possibly cedar but the girl did not know, nor care. She had wondered where she was, but she kept resting her head on the woolen mattress. Similar to the wooden surface holding her up, it was worn and had lived its life. What kept her in place was the sound of two men bickering down below. Even if she wanted to sleep, she didn't think she would be able to.

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"Eren, what should we do?" Asher was sitting on a rustic chair, next to a table of wooden texture. All around were the similar poorly built wooden plank walls.

"I have not received word from our Lord on his arrival." Facing away, Eren was gazing out the window. Looking at nothing in particular.

"Exactly. We have not received word from our Lord for days. What will you do."

"I do not know."

"The village may soon question where the Lord has gone, it could start a panic."

"They deserve to know the truth," he stated.

"The truth? The truth is our Lord has abandoned us, and we will suffer from famine since trade negotiations with the neighboring villages ended poorly."

"Well, we do what we can in the meantime, Asher." Eren turned to Asher. "It is my burden to bear, not yours."

"We are brothers, not by blood, but we still face this together," he sighed knowing that the conversation was over. "And about the girl."

"What about her?" Eren twisted to look at him. "She is resting."

"She'd been sleeping a while." In a hushed tone, he whispered. "She could be conjuring spells."

"Why must you insist she is a witch?" Eren shook his head.

"She is beautiful... Too beautiful." Asher pondered. "Maybe, maybe she is faking being asleep!"

"Asher," Eren groaned. Before Asher could continue his thought, there was a loud crash upstairs and both of the guards looked up. "It's the witch! Her potions, she is mixing potions. I knew something was up"

"Go check on her."

"What, why me? I might cast a spell on me! Or worse, she might splash a love potion so I fall for her, then she will bring me to her little coven and-"

"You are a noble guard, it is your duty to protect the people from evil, from Sin, is it not," Eren spoke again, direct, and firm.

"Yes, but-"

"No excuses, go now."Reluctantly Asher traveled up the creaking wooden stairs, he glanced back at Eren, hoping he would change his mind, knowing he wouldn't. He continued on and as far as he could he knocked on the door.

"Uh, Miss Wit- M'lady! Are you awake?" Asher knocked once again, but he heard no response.

"M'lady are you, ey!" Almost instantly the door flew open, and the girl pushed back Asher. In his right-side pocket.

"What is this place?." In his right-side pocket, she grabbed his dagger and held it to his neck. Her tone was not firm, nor gentle. She stuttered between the words, as if pronouncing them was difficult, and it came out raspy. Asher squeezed his eyes shut. "Speak now!"

"You are in the town of Finity M'lady. Please, let my squire go, we mean no harm." Eren placed his sword on the ground and kicked it far. "Please." Asher didn't dare to look, but he had gripped down his jaw, in anger.

"I..." she paused and moved the dagger away from his face but continued to grasp it firmly by her side.

"My name is Eren, may I know yours?"

"Don't tell this thing our names." Asher glared at Eren but then quickly closed his eyes, looking at the woman in front of him. "She is still holding my dagger," he said in a small voice.

"Uh- S-Sorry," his tone has shifted, and she is no longer scared but instead apologetic towards the man in front of her. She took the dagger and handed it back to him, without even the slightest hesitation or fear.

"Thanks," he whispered, insincere and instead hurt; disgusted in fact, but only towards himself.

"M'lady, your name?" Eren reiterated once again.

"My- My name is..." In just an instant the woman's memory blurred. Her eyes were dilated and small if she had been focused for too long and staring intently towards the wall. In her thoughts, she was someone so familiar, but she could not name. She was turned away from her, so all the woman could see was a white satin cloak, which hid her body. The woman's hair was hidden away, and her hands were not visible. All around was a whiteness, that of a cloud. A world full of clouds, the floor was airy just like a cloud as well. In front of this woman cloaked in white was a large clock. It did not move, it did not tick, it did not even have two little hands that pointed, but it remained, larger than a tower, and facing them. A useless clock, but pleasing to the eyes, and familiar. This whole place was familiar to the woman, but the cloaked woman had an aura to her that was ever so recognizable.

"Alina," the one in the cloak spoke. Instantly Alina recognized that that was her name: Alina. Alina was stumped on how she had forgotten the most simple, and familiar thing: herself. Everything shook and soon cracked but the cloaked woman spoke once again. "Alina Lazuli." Now she saw both herself and the maiden from the distance as if in a glass dome which shattered and she had been brought back to the world, the exact spot she had been standing. The guard was still downstairs, and everything had stayed the same as it was before.

"Alina..." Alina nodded to herself, as if reassuring herself. "Alina Lazuli."

"Well, M'lady Alina, are you hungry?" Eren spoke.

"Hunger?" Her stomach growled loudly and she wrapped her hands around herself as if it was a fierce tiger and she did not want to let it lose. "Yes, very, very hungry." This caused Eren to laugh which seemed to surprise Asher, and suddenly a woman barged into the farmhouse.

"Ah! She is awake! Oh my- she is... she is indecent! Eren, Asher get out here this instant, how could allow her to roam around in her undergarments!" Eren quicked turned to look at the angry woman and Asher ran down the stairs.

"Sage, no! This is how we found her! She was wearing this dress- thing!"

"Get!" Sage yelled to them. "I wanna speak to her!" 

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I hope you enjoyed the second chapter of "The Lore of Lazuli." Don't forget to leave a little VOTE  <3
(Word Count: 1181)
(Total Words: 2397)