Ad Astra

SNEAK PEEK: Per Aspera Chapter 1

Hi all! Thank you very much for your patience as I work on the sequel to Ad Astra - Per Aspera!  I unfortunately hit some writers' block this time around, which is why it's been taking longer to plan out/write than I expected, but I am thrilled to announce that I have a date for when I will begin publishing weekly chapters.

Please look forward to the first two chapters of Per Aspera on August 9, 2024! I'm sorry to ask you to wait a little longer for regular chapters, but just know it's for a good cause ;) I really want to put out the best sequel I can, and I need a little time to do so!

In the meantime, here's the first chapter of Per Aspera in its entirety. 

I hope you'll look forward to the sequel in the summer!

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CHAPTER 1

The crashing of the waves along the shore is peaceful. I watch the tides ripple as the waves cascade back and forth, ebbing and flowing as seamlessly as time itself. The air is slightly chilled, normal for this time of year, but the rays of the setting sun and the damp sand make me feel warm and comforted. I hold my knees close and dig my toes into the sand as I stare out into this foreign horizon, so similar yet so far removed from my hometown of Tetoa.

"Taika," I say slowly. My voice quivers already as it leaves my mouth. I catch my breath, unable to get any other words to form on my tongue at the risk of sobbing. I want to rise and wade in the surf, feel the warm ocean water swirling around my calves and the seaweed tangling around my feet, but I should not be out here as it is already, and the ocean scares me now. I am afraid that one day, I am going to walk out into the waves with no intention of returning.

I take a few more deep breaths and stare back behind me at the looming Landiani Jungle. The snap of a twig makes me stiffen. My fingers grasp around the knife at my side, its sheen dulled with the blood of the maid my mother murdered two months prior. A spotted bird flies from a tree branch, and my heart rate calms. The risk of Magnuvians finding me along this secluded shoreline is low, but not impossible.

I stare back out into the waters of the Tautanoan Ocean. For weeks now I have come down to the shore, oftentimes twice a day, to honor the memory of the man who I viewed with the same, if not more importance, than my own father. However, there is no ceremony I can perform in his honor. My mother and sister have no desire to participate in one, and we own none of Taika's belongings. His spirit lives on in the ocean, far out of reach from me.

Though my voice still quivers, I find the courage to speak once more.

"If I ever return to Tetoa, I will give you a proper farewell," I promise. "Although, I imagine you would not like to see what Tetoa has become. At this rate, the Magnuvians will destroy it completely."

I rub my ankle and stretch it. It still twinges in pain slightly, but it has healed considerably in the two months that I have been here. My wrist fares better, only making a popping sound from time to time. I had hoped, at the very least, as I traversed through that summer storm that night with my mother and sister that I could collapse back into the sheets of my bed in Tetoa and savor in the feeling of being home again. However, we had barely made it back into Landiani before Tetoa was ravaged by Magnuvian forces, angered at the death of their king.

"Perhaps it is better this way," I say again to the ocean. "If you had lived, Taika, I know you would have gone back home. You cared too much about your people, and you cared too greatly for me. I am a coward. I was more content hiding instead." I trace my fingers gently into the sand, creating concentric circles. The fixed rings remind me too much of my own life, how trapped I feel at the moment, and how I feel I will never escape my new reality.