Hello everyone and welcome to Broken Wings, a work of fiction loosely based on very real events that occurred in the Middle Ages.
𝕊𝕦𝕞𝕞𝕒𝕣𝕪
Aster has been living in Sacred Heights for the past thirteen years of his life. He knows nothing but the four walls and what little he can remember from outside the Aphenia Institution.
As an apathya, he is shunned from the outside world, but when his little sister's condition worsens, and mysterious fires erupt throughout Sacred Heights, Aster realises he has to do something to save not only his own life, but his sister's too.
𝕋𝕖𝕒𝕤𝕖𝕣 / 𝔻𝕖𝕤𝕔𝕣𝕚𝕡𝕥𝕚𝕠𝕟
My eyes flash open in the dark, and I look around frantically for the thing that touched me. Something grazed on my knee.
"Sorry," a tiny voice beside me whispers. I look to my left to see bright blue eyes glinting from soft moonlight. I reach out a hand and brush over Jay's hair lightly. She pushes her head into my chest and wraps her thin, bony arms arounds me, coughing uncontrollably for a moment.
"You alright, Jay?" I ask, looking over her for any sign of Stage Three. She hums and looks up at me.
"Yeah, I just had a nightmare," she murmurs. I reach down and pull the covers up over her shoulders. Her eyes flutter shut and she sighs.
"That's okay," I whisper, "You can sleep here with me."
I need to protect her. I'd never let anything hurt her.
ℂ𝕠𝕟𝕥𝕖𝕟𝕥𝕤 / 𝕋𝕣𝕚𝕘𝕘𝕖𝕣 𝕎𝕒𝕣𝕟𝕚𝕟𝕘𝕤
Violence, gore, graphic descriptions of mutilation/disfigurement from diseases, social isolation, discrimination based on health, mild religious discussion, references to cult-like behaviour, manipulation, dissociation, physical harm of someone under the age of 18, psychological torment of all persons regardless of age.
𝔸𝕦𝕥𝕙𝕠𝕣'𝕤 ℕ𝕠𝕥𝕖
In the Middle Ages (a period of time from roughly 500 CE to 1500 CE), a strong social stigma of a disease formerly called leprosy (now Hansen's Disease) was widespread and still has its effects in the modern day. People with this disease were not treated, but rather trapped in specially-made institutions called "leper colonies" - leper being an offensive term for someone infected with Hansen's Disease. Severe mistreatment and even torture at some points was inflicted on these individuals.
This disease is not dirty, nor severely infectious, and did not deserve the torment given to those with it. Those who suffered from facial and/or extremity deformities from Hansen's Disease were discriminated against for it, and forever marked as unclean.
Leprosy is very real, and a very harmful stigma. Please be kind.
- Autumn
YOU ARE READING
Broken Wings
FantasyAster has been living in Sacred Heights for the past thirteen years of his life. He knows nothing but the four walls and what little he can remember from outside the Aphenia Institution. As an apathya, he is shunned from the outside world, but when...
