𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗛𝗮𝗽𝗹𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝗥𝗼𝘀𝗲 || 𝗝𝗝𝗕𝗔 𝗦𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘆

A Final Gift

This chapter contains many time skips, so pay attention.

A shrill went down young Ajna's spine as she quickly opened her eyes in a sweat. Her breathing was hard and she quickly sat up out of bed, red eyes filled with fear glowed in the dark. Her shoulder length, smooth, purple, swayed gently on her shoulders as she held her arms close to her getting out of bed. Darkness surrounded her as she cautiously headed towards the warm colors that danced on the wall in the hall way in front of her. It must have been the fireplace causing the show on the wall.

Ajna heard muffled talking between voices as she tiptoed to peek around the corner of the large room the voices came from. Kars, Wamuu, and Esidisi were all sitting cross legged on the floor discussing the Red Stone of Aja and where it might be located. Kars' back was turned to the fire a few feet away from it, Esidisi was on his right and Wamuu was on his left. Both of the, we're listening intently to Kars. Ajna didn't know much about the stone, only that her father needed it so that the four of them could soar like birds and rule over life. It was a big concept for her to process, so she didn't think about it too much.

The room was lit by only the large fireplace that crackled and popped with heat. The walls looked firm and had a warm look to them. The floor had deep mahogany panels of wood slayed across it nicely. It was midnight and the darkness from outside creeped in through the window but was valiantly fought off by the light of the fire. It was like a war between light and darkness was occurring to see which one would overpower the other.

A small creak in the wood was Ajna's error. The sound which had interrupted them had caused the three to quickly turn their heads to Ajna's face that was peaking out from behind the corner. The room was filled with silence causing fear to deep into Ajna's chest. She messed up, Kars was going to get really mad at her now! 

"Ajna, what woke you?" Kars asked with a very plain tone.

"I-uhm...I had a bad dream..." Ajna winced at the memory of what had happened in her nightmare. It was so vivid, so real, and so utterly terrifying. Why did nightmares have to haunt her every once and a while?

"Come here." Kars ordered. Ajna slowly walked to him and couldn't help but plop herself into the gap his crisscrossed legs had formed. She closed her eyes and cuddled close to him for a moment before reopening them. She was just glad he was okay.

Kars put an arm around her and looked down at his daughter. She wouldn't be able to sleep until comforted, so it was best to comfort her if he wanted to discuss the stone some more with his companions. His daughter would grow up to be great if she learned a few things. It was time to teach her.

"What was your dream about, young one?" Kars asked, the other two watching.

"W-well, I-I was watching from a distance, but I saw Master Esidisi pulsing with h-hamon a-and he exploded. H-he was clinging onto life, but could barley hold on..." Ajna gave quick look at Esidisi who kept a cool look but inside, he was disturbed. "T-then Master Wamuu exploded and became nothing but a head...a-and then he turned to dust..." Wamuu wasn't scared from this dream, for nothing would make him afraid, especially not some child's nightmare. Ajna looked up into her father's eyes, tears were forming in her own as the worst of it was brought back to her. "I can't exactly r-remember the rest of it, but I do know that y-your fate was much worse then Master Wamuu and Esidisi's...yours was an eternal t-torture." A singular tear spilled from her eye as she buried her face into her father's chest trying to find comfort from his warmth.

The three watched as she tried to not show her tears to them. She needed to show them that she  could be strong like them. She needed to show them that she was worthy to travel with them...but so far, she wasn't doing too well at hiding it.