Of Wind and Ash

Chapter 2: A ride to Glorico

*Dedicated to ElleEow, a person whose pick up lines are so on point they literally kill you.

The flames shall rise,

And ash remains,

The wind will blow,

But will it stain?

Destiny will repeat,

Moulding the future.

A great grief,

Brings hope to the future, a future in pain.

Jolyn hears this but somehow she doesn't notice who is saying this. It's all really blurry in her mind in her current state. Her surrounding is in the state of darkness and a slight shade of purple. It all feels weird to her, her emotions are very distinct and her movements are staggered.

A normal person would be wondering where was she right now but she just wants to know how long can she stay.

Jolyn turns around trying to search for the person proclaiming just now. She spins 360 degrees and finds something shining in the distance. A bright glowing object smaller than her palm is blinking as of calling for her attention. Without thinking, her legs move while her mind wonders why her legs are working on their own. But with another step the shining objects seems to take two steps away from her. Her pacing increases in speed but she is still unsuccessful. If only she could do something to attract the object to her.

*****

"Jolyn! Jolyn! How many times do I have to wake you in a day?" her father whispers rather sarcastically to her as if being kind to an angry tiger.

"We're there already? I was just having a wild dream," she murmurs, feeling quite unbalanced from the weird inputs of sleep to her normal system.

"Almost, we're already on the outskirts of Gloria," Lucius answers.

"Then wake me when we reach," she says as she tries to slouch back into her sleeping position but is instantly stopped by her father.

" You've already had enough sleep, sometimes more sleep makes you more tired, and grumpy," her father tells her with an accent like a teacher.

    Feeling grumpy and bored she observes the fields outside her carriage since she has really nothing to do. In the hurried morning preparations, she had forgotten to bring some books. Her life was really defined by books. She loved them like it was her only precious item. Although somehow she managed to forget them today. That's a first.

    She's been on many trips with her father especially to Glorico. Most of the trips were about guild businesses and assemblies with the high council of Arborea. Jolyn had always tried to persuade her father to tell her about the meetings but her father wouldn't budge a bit. Mr Lucius would alway say that the information was confidential and should not be easily told to anyone even if it was a family member which in this case would be Jolyn. She can understand why you should not tell the important information to anyone as there were many dangerous and evil organisations in Arborea that threaten the safety of the land. That she understood. But why couldn't she know? She wasn't even associated with any dangerous organisation! If she was, she would be instantly caught by her detective father. It looks felt painful. Painful because coming to Glorico had nothing to do with her but all to do with her father.