Shattered Destiny

What was Left

Optional: music to go along with this chapter is above.

Lorelei

I lift myself off the ground and realize it had been some kind of nightmare. Looking around, everything was gone: the ship, the enemy, and the compass.

How long had I been laying here? I had no clues what so ever.

I stumble up the shore in search of people-anyone-who was in sight, but there was no one. Not a single soul. My foot gets caught up on something and I land straight down on the beach, barely catching myself with my hands. I was incredibly weak and wore down, my vision hazy and my whole body still covered in the wet, soggy sand.

An urge to vomit sinks low in my stomach as I realize what I'd tripped on; and unfortunately, there were plenty more of them: skeletons. Decaying, rotten flesh and bodies washed all up the top of the shore. Dozens of them. My face turns pale and washes over with panic as I witness the scene in front of me. They weren't freshly dead bodies which would meant I had been here for way longer than anticipated.

I get up once again and start to come to reality with this crisis, checking them for their identities or items they left behind. None of them represented anyone I knew or knew of.

A bird flew down to one of them and starts to peck off what little flesh was left. I walk over and shoo it from the body. There looks to be some kind of metal bow in the hand of the person and a letter tied around one of the arrows. I pick it up and read:

     Uncle,
     They have attacked.
     By midnight all of us will be dead.
     I overheard one of them; they are off to the Jura
     Islands next... find them, and kill them for what
     They have done to us.
     Your nephew,
      Norf.

Dropping the note, it wasn't hard to realize these people had died when the enemy came and attacked. They were our island's best army and soldiers; although, it must have been a terrible fight considering many of these people were unarmed, or the weapons had been taken by the rebels and carried on a ship to the location of Jura Island-according to the note.

Unmistakably, it had to have been close to a few months since I last woke up on my island. At this point, I needed to find survivors or people in general who were alive and get answers from them; but in order to do that, I had to look slightly presentable.

I run off into the waves and shed myself clean from the collected dirt, seaweed, and sand on my bare body. What little of my undergarments were on were torn leading me to have to find some sort of covering for myself.

Collecting a few large leaves that had fallen from palm trees lining the coast, I take and decorate myself in them as a temporary attempt at clothing as well as a few soft rags left behind from the World War. A few things such as gunpowder, ink, and ropes had been laid out, so I grab what I can and head off in search of what was left on our island.

First stop: back at my home.

---

When I'm there, I turn the nob and walk inside. Of course it was vacant. They had probably taken my family's life too, or if they were lucky, they were alive and captured waiting for me to find them. I stuck with that option, hoping was all I had left.

"Just who do we got here?" an old, gray-haired man asked, not too far outside the door. He walks up to me and I feel a new comfort for the first time--he was alive like me.

"If you're looking for a nice place to tour, I would suggest checking other islands; this one isn't to-" he stops as I run over to him and wrap my arms around him in a desperate hug, a few tears of joy sliding out of my eyes.

This old mad was alive-no matter who he was didn't matter to me after all I had been through. One night, I was out with the compass and jumping over to save an enemy, the next, I'm waking up from months in a nightmare and everyone is dead.

I smile into his shoulder, "I'm so sorry, I'm just so happy to see you. You see, I thought everyone was dead here and-" my happiness fades to grey and I feel something is off with the man. His heartbeat was...fainting.

He gets suddenly heavier in mere seconds and his body slams down on the pavement with a boom.

He was dead. How? What did I do?

Horror flashes at me and I scream, tears leaking from my face and blood on my hands; a dead man before me. I killed him.

A voice echos in my head and takes over, "Lorelei, have you realized it yet? Have you come to the conclusion that it wasn't a nightmare. This is your power which will find my wife Persephone. This is the price you must pay to live." It was Hades.
•
•
•
Thoughts?
Vote if you enjoyed!
To be continued...