This is the current working prologue to my epic fantasy: "The Aspera Chronicles". Any feedback is greatly appreciated, though not necessary.
If humans want the freedom and responsibility to carve their own fates, so be it. But know that you must embrace the darkness with the light.
-Dying words of Braehmin, the last god
The Dragon King was dead. The sun filtered down through the dark, looming clouds, shifting somberly upon the distant ocean. Gulls screeched as distant thunder rumbled, the air heavy. The ocean roared louder than ever, dashing itself against the rocks below so hard that it could be heard almost from the palace. It was as if life itself had come to bear witness, lamenting the monarch’s unjust and untimely demise. Or at least that’s how Alana felt. Alana Jadu proceeded behind the pyre with the rest of her family and others who were yet to be infected. It was only a short walk down the grassy hill that led to the cliff where her father’s body would be burned, yet the time it took to get there seemed to inch by. Alana was dressed in jade, her house’s color, while everyone not from her family was dressed in the customary funeral white — to welcome the dead into eternal light — and the Sisters, of course, were wearing their usual simple emerald-and-white dresses.
The weight of the kingdom now fell to her brother, Derek, making him the new Dragon King, the title given even though the dragons had long since disappeared. Alana glanced at the tall, blonde-haired young man next to her, recently shaven as mother had desired. Derek had all but fallen apart with the passing of their father. Alana knew that was in part due to how close they were. But more than that, Derek had no desire to rule a kingdom, much less one plagued. It was etched on his face — the deep furrows and distant stare — an anguish greater than she had ever seen.
She set her gaze forward, reaching up and grasping the red amulet that hung around her neck, its thin chain pressing gently into her skin; the procession was nearing its end. The Jade Warriors lowered the pyre to the ground and took their positions a good number of feet away from the body, unblinking, calm, just as they were trained.
As all the people finished gathering to pay their respects, making sure to keep their distance from the body, a lit torch was passed to Alana’s mother. The head sister, face stern and strong, yet eyes tormented as deeply as they were blue, threw the torch onto the pyre. Slowly, it caught. Flames crept until the entire pyre was ablaze, dancing like small demons that tortured Alana’s heart. Her vision blurred, tears rolling down her cheek, but she brushed them away. How could he leave the southern lands, right when they all needed him most? More importantly, how could he leave her?
She looked once more to Derek, who had kept his pained gaze fixed on the ground. It ate at her to see him this way.
“You should look,” she said after drawing nearer, voice low so as to contain herself. He ignored her, visibly clenching his jaw and breathing heavily through his nose. He balled his fists, then released, then balled them again, over and over. Soon, blood marred his fingertips. “If you don’t look now you’ll regret it.” She tried to touch his arm, but he violently pulled away, turning and making his way back toward the palace. “Derek!”
Alana felt a hand on her own arm. She turned to see her mother looking directly at her, a stormy look in her eyes that mirrored the coming storm on the horizon. “Let him go,” she said. “We all have our ways of dealing with these things.” A fount of emotion gushed forth from Alana. She embraced her mother, holding her tight as tears flowed beyond her control, raging like that of the waves below the cliffs. Her mother held her close, one hand on her head, chest heaving with stifled sobs. Soon it would be time to pick up the pieces — but for now, in that tortuous moment, Alana simply wanted the world to stop, wanted her mother to keep holding her, and wished above all that her father were still alive.
Cross-posted on Medium (https://medium.com/@gostudent7676/prologue-aspera-chronicles-book-1-8ac875ae2ead)
