(Not) a clichéd fairy tale

Chapter 5

Liarya

But before I could even open the door fully, the sickening smell of blood hit my nose. Of blood and death.

"What the-?" was all I could say, because in front of me lay a sea of blood and corpses, all members of the family. I knew some of them and-

"Oh my God! Ophelia!" I ran to her in despair, but the body had long since gone cold. Everyone was. The head was sitting on a chair, slumped over with a sword in her chest.

Who would do such a thing? And above all, why? Of course, I had already realised that everyone else in the village didn't really like this family, but in my opinion, not a single villager was strong enough to do something like this.

Neither swordsmanship nor magic were particularly relevant here, as they specialised mainly in agriculture and forestry, for which they didn't need magic. So who was that? Before I could think about it any further, I shouted in the direction of the nursery. Not even a cold-blooded murderer would be so cruel as to kill innocent little children, would they? Keeping my hopes up, I ran as fast as I could through the pitch-black corridors.

This time I didn't hesitate for a second, but pushed the door open immediately.

My legs gave way and I felt sick at the sight that presented itself to me. Who would do something like that? They were children! But I gradually realised that it had happened and there was nothing I could do about it.

I also slowly realised what I had just seen and what had happened last night.

The whole clan was murdered, adults and children, and because I wasn't allowed to attend the meeting, I was still alive.

But the others weren't.

Ophelia, all the other children I had come to know and love through my job as a teacher. They were all simply dead.

Tears streamed down my face and for a few minutes, which felt like an eternity, I just sat there and cried.

What was I supposed to do now? The hopelessness and despair gnawed at me and pulled me into a deep black hole.

What should I do now? Did my brother know about this? Did the people in the village know? Should I report it to the village elder? What do I do now?

There was no way I could go back to the castle, otherwise I would have to marry this disrespectful prince, but I had nowhere else to go.

I cried until i had no tears left to do so and after what felt like an eternity of just sitting there on the cold, dark wooden floor and starring straight ahead, I managed to pull myself together and stagger back to my room.

I was probably still in a daze from what had happened, but I just couldn't and wouldn't give up! Neither my brother, nor Elora, nor Ophelia, nor the children would want me to. So, when I got to my room, I grabbed a piece of paper and started to write:

"Dear brother,

Due to an incident that occurred last night at the Phoenix family estate, I am unable to stay here any longer. I have decided to leave the kingdom of Nularis and travel to the neighbouring kingdom of Aqarin. I will go into hiding there and stay for a while. Nevertheless, I ask you and Elora to keep in touch with me.

Kind regards, Liarya"

After I had completed the letter, I used the whistle to send the letter to Anakin and Elora with the help of the bird. Then I packed Ophelia's necklace that she had once given me, the clothes that had been sewn for me here and the feather with the paper and bird whistle into a travelling bag.