Page 1 of The Chains You Defy

From the archives of the Mystic Library of Amalach

Recorded by Starai Ais Saineolai—received through a series of dreams between summer solstice and Samhain in the twentieth winter during the era of the blood rain

Author unknown

No interpretation available

Diary of a Downfall

Preface

I promised myself never to let anyone in, because doing so would be the beginning of the end. The warnings had been clear. Someone like me wasn’t meant for tenderness or any kind of connection. So, I did everything in my power not to mingle or, gods beware, to fall—and I didn’t.

Instead, I crashed.

Nine hundred days before the end

Spring had sprung when I’d met her for the first time.

She was sitting, head in her hands, on a rock next to a carriage with a broken wheel and no coachman or horse in sight. Her ruby locks cascaded around her heart-shaped face, and despite her obvious discomfort, she had an air surrounding her that instantly roused my interest.

Usually, I stayed far away from people. Ever since I’d left my childhood home, it had been like that. On the eve of my departure, Auntie had warned me not to show my face to anyone. Not to make contact with intelligent liferoaming the worlds alongside me. And since ignoring her advice was a bad idea, I hadn’t, for millennia. Even if my obedience condemned me to a life of a loner, always hidden in the shadows. But such was my burden and my duty, and also the reason for my survival when others had long perished.

Still, something tugged at my heartstrings, and I pondered if I should offer my help despite what I’d been told so many winters ago. Could approaching a desperate female really have negative consequences for me?

For now, I settled on watching over her from my hiding spot. If something threatened her, I’d intervene.

During the next hours, I observed her eating some bread with cheese, walking in circles close to her coach, and searching the horizon. Once, a Cracroi approached on its hunt for easy prey and found its end by my hand before she could notice the beast.

I took my self-imposed protector’s duty seriously.

My gaze swept back to the ruby-haired female. She was a fascinating creature.

How would befriending someone like her be? What would having a friend feel like?

I was curious.

Yet I remained hidden.

Whenever I was about to approach her, Auntie’s words rang in my head. Sighing, I felt the weight of the worlds on my shoulders like never before. Loneliness was my constant companion, but I’d never experienced my isolation as something so devastatingly agonizing.

After a few hours, the beating of hooves on packed earth alerted me, and I straightened.

The ruby female heard the noises only seconds later and jumped up, clutching a small knife in her shaking hand. That she wasn’t used to wielding a weapon was painfully obvious.

I’d teach her if she were my friend.

Friends—in my head, we were already close.

The hoofbeats came closer, and I made a decision.

If she were in danger, I’d show myself. Auntie wouldn’t want me to stand back if a defenseless female got hurt as a result.

Even though my friend might be scared of me at first.

Hmm, I wish I knew her name.

My eyes stilled on her hair once more, and out of impulse, I called her Tine—fire, because of her red locks blazing in the light of the early evening sun. And also—she reminded me of my younger sister.