The Overseer and the Undertaker Ch. 1 // Book 1

Instructions

Chapter 1 Aridiss It was a night like any other for Aridiss—Aris—guiding lost souls toward their rest and carrying the wounded to a place where they could die in peace. This night was like any other. Dark and peaceful, the grey moon was just a sliver, the same color as her eyes. The towering pine trees cast long shadows on the fir-filled ground. Her cloak stirred in the breeze as a family of owls softly hooted to each other. She noticed everything. All except one thing. The clouds were darkening the tree-shrouded horizon. Thunder rumbled distantly. “Well, too late to return,” she thought. She was already very, very deep into the forest. Her arm pushed back a very stubborn bramble, and she stumbled into a clearing. A raindrop plopped on the top of her head. Then a few more. Then it was a complete downpour. Frantically, she pulled the hood of her cloak over her head as thunder rumbled across the starless sky. Even though bucketfuls of water were pouring onto her, she calmly walked the path to the abandoned catacomb. (She memorized this path a few weeks ago.) Just as she stepped over a twisted root, her foot caught on something soft, too soft to be the forest floor. She stumbled, catching herself on one knee. A small body, curled and still. It was a child. Normally, the average person would scream, take a few steps back, or bolt out of there and never stop running, or all of the above. Aris didn’t scream, or take a few steps back, or bolt off running. She studied the child carefully. He was about eight or nine years old. Small. Quite skinny and dirty. One side of his face was covered in scrapes. His clothes were threadbare. She stared down at the child, mind numb, eyes downcast. “Are you alive?” Aris asked, even though she didn’t expect an answer. “Yes,” the child breathed, his voice barely above a whisper. “Can you stand?” “No.” “Then I’ll escort you, your vital signs are indicative of weakness and-” “I can’t die yet, I-I have to find my dad.” “Your… father?” She asked, a hint of confusion in her voice. “I think …I remember his smile, his laughter when I was a baby,” he said. The rain became a bit more oppressive. “And I just wanted to know,” he pressed his hands to his face, and Aris swore she heard a sob coming from him. “Why did he leave me?” He pressed a folded-up piece of paper into her hand. “This is all I know about him.” Aris didn’t open it right away. Her fingers closed around it. As she placed it into her cloak sleeve, she felt a hollow ache slowly blossom inside her chest. She picked him up and carried him through the storm. The sky rumbled, but softer this time. … The catacomb was sparsely covered in dust. A fire blazed warmly in the lantern at the corner. The child had fallen asleep, or was unconscious, she didn’t know. A rug lay on the side, used to wrap the dead, but instead, she was using it as a makeshift bed. She gently set the child on the rug, careful not to wake him up. Her hand reached out to the letter tucked away safely in the sleeve of her cloak. She opened it. Kirone, My life is a mess I want yours to be better So don’t try to find me I don’t want to disappoint you But if your life turns out to be a mess too, I want you to know that you’re not alone, if you still need me. I’ll hold your hand from afar until you can live freely by your own again, ‘Till the day I say my last goodbye I love you, Signed, Your Father Aris read the note again, twice, three times. Her fingers shook as she folded the note and placed it back in Kirone's pocket. He stirred and opened his eyes; they were the color of the sun shining through tree sap. “Will you leave?” He whispered. “No,” she answered. He closed his eyes. “Maybe, just this time, I shall assist him,” she thought as she blew the lantern out. She slept. And in sleep, came memories she didn’t ask for. . . . Cold stone. Darkness. A silk glove that reeked of lavender. She hated lavender, or maybe was that dream logic? A mansion-house, too small to be a mansion, too big to be a house. A scarf, dark blue. The forest. Running. Sprinting.