Flickering Flames - Prologue

Candle light flickered off the stone walls of her room, casting shadows and light over a young lady's figure. The dark of night meant sleep for many, but the Silver One found herself restless with a pounding headache and her stomach filled with anxious, unknown urgency. She lay in her small bed, a scroll unraveled on her lap. The ink stains were familiar to her; she had studied and studied the scripture for hours. It was never a chore for her. Such familiarity was a comfort. She thumbed the torn corner of the scroll, and stared upwards. The letters danced on the ceiling.

"Before Lejos and Gangur," the Silver One murmured to herself. "Before the Unmoving Sky and the Unyielding  Earth. Before anything, there were the Deities." She sighed, eyes closing, aching head comforted on the fluffy pillow. "My Ninen Moi'Rai and nyr love, Ninen Kre'Za."

The names echoed through the room, and the Silver One breathed them in. She knew these stories by heart. "My Ninen Moi'Rai tired of the unending darkness, tired of the nothingness that existed outside of nyr and nyr love. And so ni created the World. Ni filled it with nyr good-will, and it prospered. Ni created the Unmoving Sky and the Unyielding Earth." With a slight smile, she held her arms out. As if she spoke to an awed crowd instead of the moth that flitted about her candle's flame. "Ni created us. And ni loves us as ni loved the Nienen Kre'Za."

The moth flew too close to the flame, singed itself and retreated. "But Nienen Kre'Za grew jealous of Ninen Moi'Rais' devotion to us mortals. How could ni spare such emotion for beings who dwell so shortly in a world when Ninen Moi'Rai had nim?" The candle's flame sputtered as a gentle breeze drifted through the Silver One's open window. "Kre'Za came to us. Ni disguised nimself in strange shapes and lies. Nir will was of deceit. Nir heart was a void." The moth hesitated, and rode the breeze to the light. "Nir pranks were not harmless. Nir victims were many."

The breeze died and the flame flared to life. The Silver One moved, then, hand between it and the hapless moth. "But my Ninen Moi'Rai intervened. Ni did not allow nyr love for Ninen Kre'ze to cloud nyr mind. What Ninen Kre'Za did was wrong. And so ni saved us." The Silver One rose from bed, scroll falling from her lap and onto the floor. In her hand was the moth. Its small body pushed against her fingers. Hands outside the window, she released the creature, and watched as it flew away.

It was a chilly night. So close to the mountains meant winter's cold bullied its way into earlier months. In her nightdress, she shivered, and gulped down several breaths of air. It favored her throbbing head, numbing the pain. The Sanctum was quiet. Fayview at the base of the mountain was quiet. The Silver One fancied herself the only one awake. Time to put the stories away and join them in blissful sleep.

Closing the window, she picked up the scroll, crawled back into bed. "And so ni saved us," the Silver One repeated as she rolled it up, "and banished nim." She blew out the candle, and pulled the blankets around her. The last she saw was the moonlight, red bright and shining, through her window and pouring onto the ground like spilt blood.