Hello everyone,
This is my novel Anemone, named after the main character, who is called, well, Anemone. The name is derived from three places: one, a sea anemone; two, a plant that is of the Buttercup Family that is particularly bright and colorful; and the third place is the Greek word anemos, which means 'windflower', 'daughter of the wind', and 'wind.'
The main character, Anemone, begins as a young woman who solely relies on her elder friend, Father Hatheway, and though she will remain this way for a while, eventually she will adapt to her surroundings, losses, and grow.
The story takes place during the medieval era, based on a fantasy world where monsters, elves, dwarves, dragons, and many other species exist. Where magic thrives and empires rule. The world may seem small at first, but as the story progresses, it will seem very wide.
The current schedule is one chapter per week, every Saturday morning, around 5 AM est.
Prologue
The broken, crimson-painted pillars filled her escape path as she ran out of the ruins of the first Fire Savant. The darkness of the night painted a beautiful picture in the sky, but caused all obstacles on the ground to become invisible to the naked eye, forcing one to rely just on instinct as Anemone crashed onto shattered stone and ash lying upon the ground. Above her, the sky was fast, filled with beautiful stars that cast a very dim light over the ground, which was of no use as she entered the dense forest, which had no light injected into it as the dense canopy of leaves blocked all light.
She could sense the overwhelming presence following behind in a constant pursuit, which caused her hair to stand up on its end, even causing her to doubt she would escape.
'I can't flee him.' She thought to herself.
But she continued, hoping for a miracle, something to cause the man to lag behind, someone to save her, but who would intervene, knowing it would be a useless effort that could result in their own death.
She entered deep into the forest, and only the sounds of owls, crickets, and crunching leaves could be heard; the presence of the man was completely erased. This caused Anemone to let her guard down, which turned out to be a fatal mistake. An arrow pierced her ear, causing blood to drip down her shoulder and flow down like a stream. She was about to step when the arrow landed right in front of her foot.
She kept running from the pursuing presence, which soon turned into many entities. A small group of around ten to twenty people chased her. If she hadn't increased her speed of retreat, she would not have lived. She cast a gust of wind towards her back, propelling her forward with a much greater speed, to the point where she was getting away. A gap began to form, no arrows falling towards her, not a presence to be felt. Not even the sound of the snapping twigs from the group could make it to her. She was free, finally.
Anemone then hastily climbed up a tree, sitting with her back to the main trunk of the tree, her legs lying along the branch, ensuring nothing was hanging off.
Thirty seconds, one minute, ten minutes, twenty minutes, thirty minutes passed. Each second was like an eternity. The surrounding wildlife seemed to come to a crawl. She heard every ribbit, every growl, every hiss, every hoot, every chirp, the flutter of wings, the snapping of twigs, the rustling of leaves, every sound—peaceful and charming, eerie and frightening. She focused on them all, absorbing every single one. It was the development of sensory magic.
But the situation didn't allow her to take pride in her development. The presence, the beast, the man entered her senses, one hundred meters, then eighty, then sixty, forty. The distance was closing quickly, too quickly. The main entered her view after a short time, which caused Anemone to quiet her breathing and calm her heartbeat as it could be heard ricocheting off the surrounding wildlife. She completely relaxed onto the branch of the tree, getting rid of all tension in her body. She looked down at the man, trusting he would not see her. As she looked down, she saw the man looking around for any signs of life.
'My footsteps—he's looking for them.'
His gaze then slowly climbed up from the bottom of the tree she was in, until it rested upon the branch she was lying on. She quickly ensured nothing was hanging off and could be seen.
"Get down," the man said in a calm but deep voice.
The rest of the group of men then caught up, finally, with a mixture of warriors, mages, and archers. It was the development of a small army chasing a lonesome woman, all because she investigated ruins.
Suddenly, a group of knights stood close together, swords in hand, looking upon the resting spot of Anemone.
"On your knees. Beg for the mercy of the holy Earth Savant, Myrrik!"
The word Savant noticeably sparked a raging sense of fear deep inside her heart that could never go away.
'I can't fight him. I need help. Someone, please…'
She began to pray earnestly to someone who may not even be listening.
She knew she must run; she needed to escape someone, and in the end, decided it was best to trick them, to obey, and make them lower their guard. She fell from the tree, dropping onto one knee in front of the group of men. Myrrik stood in the front with his long, grey beard that ended at his chest, which was tied into three separate braids, each held in place with a gold ring with runic writing.
Five minutes passed as they lowered their guards, the group of three men who unisouly told Anemone to get down here began to smother her face into the ground, causing her elegant blonde hair to soon become brown. And when the men stepped off, she found an opportunity, one that would not come again. She used this opening to stand up and dash off, using magic to propel her forward into the darkness.
She ran as the orange, blood-stained leaves crunched beneath her. Then suddenly an arrow pierced her like a skewer; it went straight through her arm, the tail end hanging out one side as the sharp point hung out the other. She soon ripped it out while gritting her teeth in pain, tossing it aside as darkness began to creep into her vision.
"Poison," she laughed, "it's always poison!"
She then looked to her right to see a raging ball of fire flying straight at her head. She tried to dodge, but instead, she collapsed onto the ground and began to pass out as a gruff voice yelled in the distance.
"If you kneel over and die now, never expect to be hel-"
'I wish I were stronger. I made a bad decision coming here.'
She collapsed, peering into the sky to see a meteor enveloped in flames coming down on her, the most dangerous and powerful earth spell known to man.