Notice:[1]
As winter drew near, the fog grew thick within the mountains of Kabylia.
The silence grew loud as the clouds were covering every inch of the place.
Just like the animals that they sheltered, retreating from the world's noise, the mountains seemed drawn by the comfort of the clouds' silence.
All that was missing ; was a little bit of snow and a darker gray sky that would command peace and quiet upon the horizons.
Upon every sheltered creature of those mountains.
Just like Eva, hiding within the covers of her bed.
The sky was gray that day, as gray as her faint shadows beneath her eyes.
At eleven a.m the alarm of her phone rang and with one click on "Stop" her body responded.
She then went back to burying herself again within the warm covers of her bed.
Still, now that her eyes are awake, now that day light had met her sight, she instinctively turned around and stared at the gray cloudy sky from her bed, through her balcony's window.
Snow used to fall heavily at that time of year when she was seven.
Warmth used to linger every corner of their small appartment, thanks to that old strong heater who used to rumble until dawn.
Her father would wake her up to see the first fall of snow from the living room's window.
The beauty of a cold quiet nature never reached her skin it only kept her eyes amazed.
Everything seemed so quiet, so calm. Every single worry faded away with that special kind of warmth that she used to meet whenever she needed it.
The silence of this view tugged her in, as she was reaching for this warmth again, gently huuging her, but also made her feel protected by the covers from it is cold. That warmth and sensation of peace made her slowly but surely fall into the depth of her counsiousness.
And in that quiet descent, after seven long years of dreamless nights, a blond-haired woman with green-blue eyes chose to meet her once more.
As she opened her eyes again, the black headed young lady, woke up immeditaly from her bed after noticing the darkness of the night sky, annoyed about the amount of sleep she had, she decided to get up from her bed and leave her room, weirdly she saw that the door was open, but she didn't think anything of it, she just left her room before noticing a woman's silhouette within the empty room of her brother. Without any fear she came in before being stunned by what she just encountered.
Right there in the middle of the room, a woman with long blond hair was cutting long strips of a green silky fabric, where smoke would come off.
Unexplainably, Eva went to her and began to cry uncontrollably, saying, "I don't want to forget about her," as she fell into the woman's arms.
"You will never forget about her" she reassured her as she was whipping her tears.
In the middle of her cries the young woman heard a southing singing voice that came from the garden, as she followed the sound, she found herself on the green side of her grandparent's garden, fresh herbs dancing by the rhythm of the wind that came from that one white silky headed woman that wasn't even touching the ground. Mesmerized, she stood still, not even noticing the fall of the first snow.
A sudden ache rose in her chest, words slipping out before she could stop them."You should have never been the one to leave," the twenty-three-year-old murmured.
As those words faded, the warmth of the dream dissolved into cold silence.
That same day, with that same gray sky, in another world, a kingdom was grieving.
"A princess is dead" A dark headed man, with narrow eyes yet delicately shaped announced as he came into his colleagues' studies.
"I had a feeling that she did" a silver headed man replied as he was starring from his window, contemplating the fall of the first snow of the year.
"My condolences", Rayane offered.
[1] For a better and more immersive experience, when you get to the dream part of the chapter, listen to this ausio compilation from Yuki Kajiura : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oHndSpVFvFo&list=RDoHndSpVFvFo&start_radio=1