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The Empire of Beasts is a cursed nation where beasts live.
But Elynn is only aware of the latter part, and yet not quite.
As Elynn discovers a solution to save her younger sister from the annual offering to the...
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THE SUMMER SOLSTICE. The sole day in a year when the sun illuminated the grounds the longest. This day, all spirits could roam around the earth until the next day, early in the morning, they were back to their graves. This day, people mourned their youngest children while others watched them getting swallowed by the portal leading them to the unknown.
I'd witnessed every detail of the offering. I knew what to expect. But this year differed from the previous ones. Because today I wouldn't be one of the witnesses. Today I would be one of the offered.
Gen was getting ready. Mum was combing her hair while Gen was sitting cross-legged on the floor before the mirror, staring blankly at her reflection. Every now and then, Mum glanced at me while I was brushing my own hair.
Yesterday, I had steeled myself for telling her my plan. As foreseen, Mum hadn't looked as if she was about to throw a party, but I hadn't given her any choice other than to respect my decision and help me achieve it.
Gen was clueless about everything, confident today was the end of her life. She hadn't peeped a single word since yesterday—evidently lost in her head. Tired and hopeless, as if she'd already given up. I fought the urge to get ahead of myself and spill the beans to spare her from her misery, but then I would jeopardise my well-thought plan.
Kris was in the living room. He would go along. I hadn't primed him either, but I was positive he wouldn't object since he always accepted the change faster than the rest of us.
"Did you know gold kills morphs?" I broke the gloomy silence, unable to bear it any longer.
"I've heard something about it," Mum replied.
When I'd been scheming my plan, I'd contemplated the idea of taking a gold knife from Chase's armoury. However, once I remembered how terrible I'd felt at the sight of his Goldy and shuddered just at the thought of it, I hadn't bothered creeping into his manor to steal one.
"Perhaps every townie should have a gold weapon in case morphs attack us one day," I mused.
Morphs could strike any day, after all. So far, they hadn't, but it would be foolish to disregard such a possibility. Who knew what was lurking in their beastly minds.
"Enchanters can be killed by iron," I added.
I assumed sharing information about everything I had learnt from Chase about morphs and enchanters with my family was a must. It might be handy if other species attacked one day, and I wasn't here to share my knowledge, they'd be prepared for it. Gods forbid, of course.
But no one had spotted any single creature, despite ordinary animals in the forest for a long time. Sometimes I doubted if morphs even existed and if we hadn't been told tales for our entire lives. In any case, I would be the one to find that out soon.
When I was done taming my waves into a plait and sharing everything I knew about the unfamiliar world, I glanced at the jewellery on my right hand, debating if I should keep them.
