Always check your back. Safety is your first priority.
✾
The first thing I notice is that from afar, the houses I see on the horizon looked like tiny rocks.
I don’t know how far I am from the village, or how I could get there by just walking. I’m not sure what they injected me with but it might have a small dose of suppressant. I don’t feel the voice that I did last night. The supposed wolf inside me as what Silas had mentioned. I don’t feel anything but numbness. Everything feels like a dream.
I look at the letter on my hand again and place it inside the rucksack. Sighing, I clenched my teeth and started walking. Taking not
One can easily tell a water's worth when a well is dried out.✾The night was cold as it was harsh.I’ve read in one of my books that since the sun is gone, the heat with it leaves too. The sand and gravel that is around this whole landscape acts like a mirror for the sky. I find myself shivering and hugging myself for warmth. Even the small lamp didn’t offer any sort of comfort. Kofi seemed like he was alright, though, although he was shivering, it wasn’t as much as I was.I’ve set the straw mat on the farthest side of the hut and I was currently sitting on it. While Kofi was looking through the tool box, he’s been at it for a few minutes now. Speaking at me every now and then, forgetting that we didn’t speak the
The eyes are the windows to the soul. Stare hard and clearly see what one wants to say from within.✾Judith giggles like a school girl beside me.I turn my head sideways to look at her and much like a school girl, she was blushing too. She looked younger than she did when she was nagging me back at the well. “He just couldn’t stay away from that little boy. Always gotta keep coming back.”‘Han’ was crouching down now, no longer looking at me, he was ruffling Kofi’s hair, talking to him. Even with my senses, I couldn’t quite hear him. And that’s an odd thing to happen. Consor
There is a thing in life that is somewhat like water. We drown in it, fall in it, and can't live without it. That little thing we call love.✾ A week has passed and the only thing I made that was remarkable was finding a source of water for the town. Kofi was helping me teach the others on how to do it. Still though, even with the knowledge of finding water from mud, the well will still dry out. Especially now when it seems like it rarely rains. That’s why my mission for today is to find a place where we can get water. I’m pretty sure where the water is, the plants and animals are too.
Sleep is the poor man's dinner.✾ Yohan and I decided to go back tomorrow to investigate. It was turning dark and cold real fast. Once we reached the village, Yohan left us by the hut and he went back towards the caves and woods. Probably for the fire. Kofi was shaking once we reach the hut. I immediately light a fire and grab some of the extra clothes I had. I wrap them around him and make sure he was warm. He stops shaking almost instantly and releases a sigh. He was probably really tired, he fell asleep almost instantly.
If you want to walk fast, walk alone. If you want to walk far, walk together.✾ “No!” Kofi clings on one of my legs and shakes his head again. Sighing, I try to pull him off but to no avail, he still clings onto me. Judith looks at the both of us, rather conflicted if she should just pull him off or wait until he stops his tantrum. Yohan was still inside the hut, looking for some things we might need for our expedition today. We don’t really know how long we will take, and it’s going to be a waste of time if we keep coming back here every time it gets dark. 
To run is to be free.✾ Yohan and I reach the dried up lake in a few hours, with the sun high up, it was a miracle I even had the energy to stand. My clothes felt sticky, and I had a ring of sweat forming on my back. Yohan didn’t look any better. He looked tired, but of course, as the world is unfair, instead of looking like a cat thrown into water, he looked like a model ready for a photoshoot. And that’s even with sweat glistening on his forehead and arms. Sometimes, I really hate men. Especially werewolf men.
Action speaks, when words cannot.✾ We reach the vicinity of the town just as the sky turns dark. It would probably take us just a few more hours before we reach the area. Yohan had shifted back into his human form, with me turning my back to respect his privacy, and told me that it would be wiser to make our presence known in the morning. “Not a lot of wolves are welcoming of fresh meat during the night,” He says, while arranging the rocks and wood so that we could start a fire. “You’re lucky you ended up at the Torrids, people there are way too tired to be angry.”
Happiness is not to be expected; be delighted when it does.✾When morning came, so did our arrival to the broken down village.“I didn’t notice before,” Yohan says, his sight locked on one of the houses near the trees. “This area’s called the Savanna. I didn’t know this was close to the Torrids.”I did. I just didn’t know this was the Savanna. In my books back at the palace, the pictures had images of wide open areas of grass, where animals can graze. There were trees that served shade for townsfolk, bearing a wide variety of fruits.The place I’m currently at is nothing like that.
Here's to alcohol, the rose-colored glasses of life.✾The place behind the counter looked very much like it really belongs to Verdant.There were various shelves full of jars that had different colored liquids inside. Some had roots, leaves, as well as some things that I didn’t bother identifying. For some reason, my wolf had told me it was better that I didn’t know. There were barrels on either side of the counter, their spigot dripping a sticky brown liquid whose stench made me crinkle my nose. Furrowing my brows, I tried leaning over the counter, checking if there was something that I could at least give Auster, maybe even some water.
There are two questions a man must ask himself: The first is 'Where am I going?' and the second is 'Who will go with me?'✾The second thing I noticed when we reached Verdant was that everyone had a huge smile on their face.Unlike Azure, almost all the villagers had various colored clothing. Although it is quite apparent that most had pipes with them. Even from a distance, I could hear their laughter, as well as notice how there were some random villagers dancing and running about. It had been a long since I’ve seen an actual place in Cinco where there were wolves laughing and having fun.It smelled like fresh dew and the mist was still pretty thick. Much like the old man who was steering our gondola towards one of the docks, they also had glossy eyes. I’m guessing it probably was because of the
And live like it's heaven on earth.✾The first thing I noticed once we reached Verdant was that it was inexplicably green.Verdant was a district that was abundantly covered by mist. The trees and mountains seemed to be covered by moss and various plants and leaves. And everywhere I went, the only thing I could smell was fresh dew. The kind of thing one might smell at the start of the morning as dawn breaks. Once we have reached the vicinity of Verdant, the sound of one of the largest waterfalls I have ever seen echoed throughout the thick forest.The trees surrounding the whole district seemed as tall as the sky and seemed to disappear within the clouds. I had no choice but to look up. I couldn’t even help but awe loudly.“Woah,” I mut
A boy needs a father to show him how to be in the world. He needs to be given swagger, taught how to read a map so that he can recognize the roads that lead to life and the paths that lead to death, how to know what love requires, and where to find steel in the heart when life makes demands on us that are greater than we think we can endure.✾I closed my mouth and listened.Yohan was quiet right next to me and it was thanks to him that I haven’t jumped Eleanor yet. My mate had just gone through something horrible and almost died back in the underground fighting ring and she wants to put him in the spotlight again? Gritting my teeth, I continued looking down on my lap, my hands clenched.“Amara, I don’t like this idea any more than you do,” Eleanor says. Without meaning to, I scoff. I hear her sighing, and I find myself lifting my head a bit to look at her. She was staring daggers at the map, her jaw clenched.
It is a long-cherished tradition among a certain type of military thinker that huge casualties are the main thing.✾It had been a few days since I had breakfast with Eleanor.Like how I imagined it would be it was a bit awkward. Especially with how every few seconds, she would stare at me and tears would leak out of her eyes. I teased her about it, hoping that she would stop, and her pride would get the best of her. However, when I did tease her, not only did it make her more emotional, but it also made her talk about how we used to be in the past.When I had teased her about her tears, she took me seriously. I had assumed that she would just scoff at me or ignore my teasing, but it seemed like the past few months actually changed her. Instead of just rolling her eyes at me, she took it way too seriously. S
No person is your friend who demands your silence, or denies your right to grow.✾The first time I ate something that Eleanor had cooked, I instantly regretted it.She was a Sem native, they were great in things like mining and exploring forests but that was it. They were horrible cooks. As much as possible, one would be safer with a Sem native as a guard instead of having them as one of the kitchen staff. Even though they were given a recipe book, or a list of instructions, seeing as they were from Sem, they would end up with a burnt and wasted food. Those from Sem were known for being so full of pride that they rather eat what they had burnt instead of asking for help.Eleanor was one of them. The good thing was that at least she was willing to accept that there were things that she needed to correct. See
Human nature is like water. It takes the shape of its container.✾It was Yohan.Clutching my heart, I narrow my eyes at him, “I didn’t even sense that you were.”“Sorry,” He yawned, stretching his arms up in the air. “Force of habit.”“Habit?”Eleanor coughed behind me. When I turned around though, I realized it wasn’t exactly a cough. From the way her eyes were glittering as she looked at Yohan, I knew it was something different entirely. Her look has been meaningful as if I wasn’t curious enough already. Eleanor was great at lying, which I learned the hard way. With how she was acting, it was like she knew something and desperately wa
Indifference and neglect often do much more damage than outright dislike.✾“I don’t know if I showed it enough,” Eleanor pulled her knees to her chest, leaning her cheek right by her knees. She wasn’t looking at me, her eyes following the flow of the river. The wind had turned chillier than it had been moments ago. I didn’t know if the goosebumps running up my arm were due to the cold or because we were talking now. “But I’ve always thought of you as my sister.”I wanted to tell her that I know that. That’s why her betrayal hurt so much. But I don’t. I’m not even sure it was a question that she wanted an answer to. It was just a statement she wanted to start with.Eleanor started fiddling with her thumbs, “I know that the things I&rsquo
The truth is, unless you let go, unless you forgive yourself, unless you forgive the situation, unless you realize that the situation is over, you cannot move forward.✾The cool wind kiss my cheeks and I hug myself, shivering lightly.The nights had gone colder, which meant it really had been long since I’ve gone out of the gates. We were nearing the mountains, nearing the snow-covered lands that I’ve once read in my books. Breathing out through my mouth, I see white smoke right in front of me, as my warm breath mix and mingles with the cool night air.My eye falls on all the campers here. They had been battling the cold far longer than I did. How had they managed to survive? The tents didn’t offer any type of blankets. Had they adapted?