Aline

Chapter 6

Aline sat her back against the wall for she didn't know how long. She could've been sitting there for days or months. Aline sat there not moving a hair never willing to get up. She held the purple sword that had changed her life limply in her hand. The tip of the sword rested quietly against the ground.

The sword had stopped trying to communicate with Aline a long time ago. It gave up knowing that its new master was devastated by the loss of her best friend. And the sword too became like a hollow shell locked in time with its master until something breaks the inertia and changes the life of Aline.

A great time has passed through the seasons of cold hale and snow. The burning sun as it lays waste to the ground. Aline sat there now covered in a shell-like stone, unaged.

From the day that Aline took up the sword, she still looked the same. James must've died if he had not disappeared and never returned to find her.

He was the only one who could take out Aline from her incessant sleep.

The sword still sat limp in Aline's hand covered and twindled in vines and dead leaves just as Aline herself. No one would be able to tell it was the shape of a human holding their sword unless they looked closely upon it.

People have passed her body that has been frozen in stone. But rarely did they ever glance toward where she sat. Most of them just speculated the disastered facility to be the leftovers of an abandoned building crumbled into ruins of time.

The wind grew colder as the winter season was coming to its apex, the time of the year that is the coldest. In the coldest part of the year hail and ice-cold snowfall from the sky. Locals would rarely venture outside for the next two months only going out to get necessities like food and take care of their livestock which was kept fairly close to wherever they lived so that they could take care of the fire that kept everyone warm.

The snow was on the horizon though it was not so cold that you would have to barricade yourself inside the house to keep warm. Parents would send the oldest child that lived in their house with them to get food for them and their livestock so that they would know what to do once they go off and live on their own.

In the Neckerburg family, the leaders of a town called Lanica, Dirik who was now the oldest in the family after his older brothers and sisters left to move out and get married or travel the world. In actuality, he was the youngest of all his five siblings so it was just him and his parents left at home in there was now mostly empty.

Dirik had been sent down to the village to stock up on some dry goods and prepare for the winter that was to come. Even though there were signs that it would be warmer than in past years no one was prepared to risk anything.

The market was less lively than usual though that was probably due to the light snow that the other older kids like him would try to keep their younger siblings out of the snow and get their clothes all wet.
He felt lucky that he was the youngest and would hopefully not have to deal with that. Dirik was not the best at taking care of younger kids personally he didn't really understand how to play with toys and all the games he ever played had strict rules on how to play the game.

There were little kids maybe five or six, playing and dancing around in the snow as it fell slowly and softly to the ground. It made Dirik chuckle a bit, but he turned his head back to his task he had to pick baking and cooking ingredients for his mother.

When he got to where he would buy flour from one of the families who processed flour from one of the local farmers. The kid who sold it was only a couple of years younger than him.

"Hey lord Dirik," the flour boy jumped up when he entered the cold little shop that didn't even have a furnace due to safety reasons. Though there were windows that filled half the walls which let the beams of the sun in, warming the flour shop enough so that only light winter clothing was needed. "Do you want the usual, young lord?"

"Yeah, thanks."

Though Dirik's family was that of a count. The commoners would always be friendly with them as his family would with them. The Neckerburg family didn't have as much money as some counts or other nobles. But they still had a growing economy though it was still small it was still positive which was incredible since most territories that were as far north as Lancia weren't able to do the same.

After getting the flour he was off to get the other ingredients. The rest of the ingredients were also sold at a small bakery that had imported goods like sugar, honey, and oil. Though the oil and honey were expensive and only bought in small portions as it was on the border of being considered a luxury good since it was made in a neighboring country but they sold it for cheap, it was just expensive to transport.

Dirik opened the metal door to the bakery. The old man who had been there ever since he could remember simply pointed to a few sacks and a crate. "Your usual order is an over there young lord."
The baker had always been a blunt and straightforward-to-the-point type of person. But Dirik overlooked that and was just simply amazed that he would always have what he needed to when his visits didn't have a pattern to them at all.

He loaded all the goods into the back of the cart. Sitting atop the seat he shook the horses' reigns he rode off to their small chateau atop a giant hill surrounded by trees.