Banished || An Original Story || By - TheLostWriters

Prologue

After what felt like hours of running through the forest, Asra slowed to a stop.

She pulled out her map and studied it for a moment. Guessing from the landmarks around her, she was approaching Lake Alonia. Thank the gods—it was always hailed as a safe place to rest for all weary travelers.

And she was right—a sprawling lake soon presented itself to her. One that you could walk beside for hours before it even started to whittle down into itself. It definitely lived up to its name, you couldn't look anywhere without spotting a patch of the flowers.

She settled down on a flat, rocky outcropping away from the trees and nature, not wanting to cause a forest fire. She gently maneuvered a sleepy albino monkey off her back who quickly brushed off any brain fog.

"Chandler, I'll start a fire, and you can get the food out of my bag." She commanded softly while placing her sturdy leather bag next to him. She eyed him, cautious of him hurting himself on something sharp in the bag—he always somehow managed to do that. The sun was already well behind the tree line by the time the fire was started, and it had sunk even further by the time her sausages were done cooking.

She knew that it had taken far too long for comfort to start the flame, having lost her fire striker in her panicked attempt to flee her kingdom. The materials around her were undesirable for keeping her flame alive, Asra noticed. All were far too wet to burn, even the drier things caused a considerable amount of smoke.

Asra tossed a sausage at Chandler who stopped picking at the ground to catch it in his mouth.

She had also split a piece of bread with the monkey, which he had gobbled up before it could even leave her hand. Gross.

She ended up checking her bag for her journal. She had to write down the events of the day, note how far away she is from home, and how many more days she will have to travel to finally reach the military's camp. Asra was sure that at least a few guards were still loyal to her, but that's something she'd just have to wait and see for.

As she opened it up, a small, slightly tattered portrait fell onto the ground below her. Asra's heart caught in her throat when she saw it. It was the only picture she managed to get of her young daughter. She traced her fingers across the creases of the canvas paper longingly, wishing with all her heart that she could be with her little Mick. She blinked away tears and gently placed the photo back in her bag.

Maybe accounting for everything could wait until morning.

Afterward, all she had left to do with the minimal sunlight was to go to sleep. Asra gathered some big leaves—larger than her head— and fashioned it into a makeshift bed, neglecting to make one for Chandler, who scampered up a small tree instead.

As she was about to fall into the confines of rest, she was jolted awake by crunching leaves. Not the swift quadrupedal steps of a fox or a deer, but slow, careful footsteps only a human could produce.

Written by Karl and Daisy
Word count: 501