Because she was looking down, it didn't take her long to know what had impaled her chest. A sharp, primitive weapon made out of bones, the carving was crude, but it didn't matter; whoever threw it had strength so great that the bone head's speed made up for its material.
Ellie rushed to take the weapon out of her body. But she couldn't, as she was immediately yanked backward; there was a string attached to the bone head. Like a caveman after having speared a fish, the owner of the primitive weapon lunged her out of the wind. But they weren't the only ones who wanted Ellie. Gravity, too, wanted to punish her for defying it. The two opposite forces caused her body to tumble before crashing into the wall of the ravine.
Upon impact, Ellie's spine was immediately shattered, and her entire body was paralyzed. But she was still alive despite being unable to move her body or feel anything. Slowly, she was dragged up. It wasn't long until she met the culprit. It was one of the cannibals that met his end at the multi-eyed beast. He had been revived inside of her Promise and made whole. No, it was more than that. Like what the description on the screen had told her, the starving man was different from their first encounter. In fact, he was like nothing from then on.
He had bulging muscles that, with every slight movement, flexed and rippled. Blood vessels ran along his entire body, looking as if they could pop at any moment. Ellie thought that a paper cut caused him to bleed out and die?
He picked her up with one hand, her feet dangling over the edge. All she could do was give him bullet eyes as his other hand moved toward her face, the large palm fitted her entire head. She heard a loud, crushing sound before everything turned dark.
Then, pain slowly coursed through her body, eating away at her senses. Every time the sharp pain touched her, she could no longer feel those body parts.
'B.... A.... S.... T.... A... R... D... E... A... T... M... E...'
Ellie cursed out in fragmented thoughts, but she couldn't do anything, stuck somewhere between life and death, like she was in a constant state of sleep paralysis. Life and death were using her to play tug of war, and death was winning. With each sharp pain snaring away at her body, she was one more step closer to being embraced by the latter.
***
Ellie jolted, waking up like someone surfacing from the bottom of a lake. An unbearable headache followed her back from the nightmare, causing her to hold her head tight. She gritted her teeth, swallowing the scream back down her throat.
It took her a few moments to shake off the shock before she could finally try to understand what had happened.
'I died.'
Ellie knew for a fact that it wasn't just a nightmare. No, what she experienced was death. Plain and simple. Like slipping into another skin, her soul entered a body that was prepared, perhaps by her Aspects, or perhaps by the Promise itself, but either way, it was built with her image in mind.
And her way out? Dying. At least, that's what she believes for now.
Ellie's blood started to boil as anger took its course. Somewhere inside of her, Promise was a body that loved exactly like hers, being devoured by that fucker.
'Motherfucker lives rent-free inside of my Promise and dared not just to kill me but also ate my doppelganger.'
But Alea's sudden movement, her whole body turned sharply, making Ellie flinch.
'Maybe I should take this somewhere else.' Ellie thought. She took off her sleeping bag before heading out of the tent, quietly tiptoeing to not wake up her mother.
The cold air washed her face once she exited the tent, sweeping away the drowsiness that was still clinging to her. The sky was still dark, but not completely; from the far corners, hints of blue could be seen slowly approaching.
It was almost the end of autumn so the twins sun came out earlier, signaling the coming spring, when many flowers bloomed and fruited, blessing everyone's tongue with their sweetness, and bathing the wind with refreshing aromas which it then carry across the continent, and into houses, caves, telling all to prepare for a bountiful harvest.
But that wasn't all, the appearance of spring also meant that winter wasn't coming. The dreadful season only came when there were no challengers for the throne, which was rare but not impossible.
'There was once a prince who decided that his House should reign supreme over the others. He sabotaged the challengers from the other Houses until he was the only one left with the right to challenge for the throne for the next fifty years.
And as part of his brilliant plan, he let winter come. During the defense against the winter beasts beyond the frozen sea, he made sure that his House didn't expend as many resources as the others while trying to lure the enemies toward the other Houses' weak points.
The other Houses knew that the prince had schemes of his own, but they couldn't allow a civil war to happen while they were still busy fighting off an invasion. And so they endured until the first of dawn. Thus, begin the war of the first dawn.'
Or at least that's how she was taught the story went. But having been transported into the past, Ellie started to wonder about everything she was taught in history classes. What is stopping the Royal Houses from changing what happened throughout the course of history, when even their founding stories, their core beliefs, were modified?
The truth was like a giant boulder, solid and unmoving; it stood tall against the passage of time. Even when it was slowly chipped away by corrosion, the giant boulder was still so big that you could never see the whole of it if you just stood in place. You could press your face against its side and call it the whole world, but until you walked the curve of its body, step by step, you'd never grasp its shape.
But still, some would walk the whole length of it, trace every crevice, only to wrinkle their noses, and scoff—They declared the truth to be too jagged, too crude, calling it misshapen, ugly, simply because it doesn't fit the sculpture they had in mind. With their chisels and hammers, they slowly turned the truth into something else.
The process was long and tedious, but it also meant that no one would notice the change, and by the time the boulder had lost its shape, its jagged edges sanded into smooth curves while its size shrank to fit the eyes of onlookers; no one would remember how it looked in the first place. Instead, they would all say praises, prayers even, to the magnificent statue.
'But what can I do about it?' Ellie grumbled a low, dissatisfied sound. She came out to find a way to release her anger, but the thought that everything she knew could have very well been fabricated to serve someone else had made her even angrier.
'Calm down. Breathe, you can do this. Your emotion is getting out of hand.'
Periola's words rang out in her ears, filling her with a desire to prove them wrong. 'I am not an impulsive person. I can be calm. That's right. All I have to do is run.'
Ellie got in position, planting her left leg behind while positing her right arm forward. But just before she started running, a voice ran out from above, causing her to pause mid-motion.
"Why did you wake up so early?"
Ellie threw her head toward where the sound was coming from. High above, sitting on the tree branches was none other than Periola. From there, she would have a clear view of the entire parameter. Since she was the current de facto leader of this expedition as well as being the only one able to climb a tree so quickly, she had taken it upon herself to stay guard for the others to sleep.
"Well... I wanna go for a run?" Ellie answered awkwardly.
"You were right but also wrong about me." She paused to straighten up before speaking loudly. "Yes, right now, to you, I'm an impulsive, perhaps, slightly unstable person, and for that reason, you don't like me." Her voice suddenly shifted its tone, becoming lower in volume, her head still held high, but her eyes searched for the ground. "I completely understand. Even I don't like the current me."
Ellie must have realized how her body had betrayed her, subconsciously showing her vulnerability to Periola. So, she raised her voice once more, trying to convince Periola that she wasn't weak. "But that's because I wasn't always like this. I hate how much I have changed for the worse, and I want to fix that. That's why I want to go for a run. I heard running can help calm the mind."
"Is that so..." Periola said, her four eyes darting around as if she were checking for something. "Next time, do not run off on your own. We are not holding you captive. You and your mother are important guests of our Clan Head. We will try our best to accommodate your needs if you just ask."
"But you can't just do whatever you want, especially without informing anyone. What if something were to happen?" Periola's eyes came to a halt as they locked with Ellie's. "I don't see signs of any dangerous creature in a 1-kilometer radius; however, I advise you to stay close so I can hear you screaming for help in case of trouble. Constantly looking everywhere at the same time is exhausting. My brain would be fried into a hot potato."
"Ummm, Thanks."
"I'm just doing as I'm told. No need for courtesy." Periola turned.
She was about to disappear into the tree's shadow when suddenly, she spoke.
"Stensa told me you want her to become your training partner."
'What a snitch!' Ellie thought angrily.
"I won't allow you to spar with Stensa. That girl is unsuitable to be your training partner. She had only recently molded and is still unfamiliar with her strength. We don't have a healer in our group. Doread had some medical knowledge, but he is far from what you consider a full-fledged doctor."
'Great. How am I supposed to get better at fighting now?'
Ellie's mind was about to spiral when Periola said something that caught her by surprise.
"If you want a training partner, then it would have to be me."
It took her a few seconds to process what was said.
"Are you really?" she asked.
"Do I look like someone who would go against my words?"
"No. It's just... not what I expected this conversation to go."
Ellie bowed her head, knuckles by the side of her knees as she yelled.
"I'm still a newbie fighter. Please take care of me."
Since her face was facing the ground, she couldn't see what Periola was thinking at the moment.
'No, even if I tried my best, I still couldn't make out what under that assassin's poker face.'
The silence stretched long between them, awkwardly waiting for someone to cut it. But Ellie knew not to; she didn't want to appear needy or weak, and waited patiently for the other to end the silence. Eventually, Periola spoke up.
"Like I said, no need for courtesy. I'm going to sleep now." Periola's words slowly disappeared into the cover of the leaves along with her. "Remember, do not go too far off, and scream when something happens."
Ellie immediately lifted her head up once Periola exited the scene. She almost badmouthed the latter, but then remembered how good her hearing was.
'I had better things to do.' Ellie thought as she began to resume her starting position. She kicked her feet and started to run.