THE WORLD OF AVERANDI
(The roleplay was based off of a book I was planning to write. And now, wihtout furthut ado... The World of Averandi!)
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PROLOGUE (177 years ago)
Princess Dawn smiled. After all, who wouldn’t be smiling on the day that they become queen? But she was smiling for a much different reason. As the priest announced her “Queen of Averandi”, She fingered a glass bottle in her hidden pocket. In it, was an acidic green potion that was said to slow aging. When drank every month, her aging would become 0.000000001 percent of its normal speed. The only downside to making it was that she needed the heart of a darkling. The darkling’s powers did extraordinary things, and that darkling had been Dawn’s first murder. She bowed as the priest had trained her to do, and waited until all the guests had left her coronation. She leaped up the stairs into her room, and guzzled down the potion. She wanted to look twenty forever.
The previous queen, her mother, had died after Dawn had ‘convinced’ a servant to ‘accidentally’ put a poison in her meal. And because her father was the blood heir to the throne, she realised if she wanted power, she would have to marry her father. Her father saw no problem with it, and Dawn said she was just following what her royal advisors had told her. The laws that had been made never said she couldn’t marry her own father, only that she could marry exclusively a sunling. Even so, now it was up to Queen Dawn to make the rules.
CHAPTER 1 (Present setting)
Ciara groaned as she opened her eyes to a stream of sunlight coming through the gap in her curtains. She tumbled out of her creaky wooden bed and pulled the curtains shut, blocking out all the light. She pulled herself up using the window sill and sighed as she remembered that she had no food in her cottage. She began dressing, trading out her nightgown for a pair of black leggings and a black t-shirt. She wasn’t bothering to hide the fact that she was a darkling, hated by all of the other races. She slipped on her boots and a brown jacket, and stepped outside to the blistering cold.
Snowflakes dropped from the sky, attacking her with white flakes. Ciara bolted to an alleyway near her house as an enormous carriage rolled past her. She peeked from behind the wall, seeing the royal crest painted immaculately on the side of the vehicle. She shivered, both from the cold, and the thought of the queen finding her. She had multiple dreamwatchers looking for her after that last fiasco. She had attempted to steal a melon from a vendor on the streets, and the lady had made a big deal about it, ordering for Ciara’s hands to be chopped off and her to be executed. She giggled slightly at remembering her high pitched squeaky voice ordering death to the darklings. Shut up, Ciara. You’re being racist to yourself, she thought, covering her mouth and hoping no one had heard her. She tiptoed out of the alley, cringing as the sun hit her pale skin.
After a few minutes of brisk walking, Ciara had arrived at a jewelry store. She was planning to steal once again. She didn’t want to steal anything too expensive, just something that would buy her some food. The shopkeeper glanced at Ciara suspiciously but didn’t say anything. She could feel his eyes following her as she moved around the shop. She wandered near a sparkling necklace and looked up.
The shopkeeper stared straight at her and said, “are you going to purchase, or do I have to babysit you all day? Where’s your mother, girl?”
“Dead,” she replied bitterly. She had sworn everyone in the kingdom of Averandi knew. Her mother was executed by the queen for making direct eye contact with her and not bowing.
“Well, your father should keep an eye on you,” the shopkeeper said with equal venom, obviously not caring about Ciara’s dead mother. Ciara didn’t have the heart to tell him that bother of her parents were dead. Her father was picking up supplies for his shop when a carriage ran him over, causing a bloody mess in the street. Her eyes burned and she walked out of the shop, not saying anything. Her fingers quickly reached for a bracelet hanging on a shelf. She pushed it into her pocket, and heard a gasp from the shopkeeper. Ciara cursed and broke into a cold sweat as the shopkeeper chased after her. She ran at a full sprint through the stone street, the shopkeeper falling behind. He shouted out to a dreamwatcher that she had stolen from his shop, and the dreamwatcher stuck out their hand, causing a bright light to blind her, and she fell flat on her face, hearing a crunch and intense pain on and in her nose. The dreamwatcher, who was obviously a sunling, grabbed her by her long brown braid and pulled her head pack. Ciara saw a pool of blood on the ground, made by her broken nose.
“Don’t move, I’m taking you to the queen,” the dreamwatcher said, their voice distinctly female. As the dreamwatcher pulled Ciara up, she could see that the dreamwatcher had blond hair and amber eyes. Ciara laughed harshly and said,
“What’s a sunling like you doing as a dreamwatcher? You’re rich aren’t you, and snooty? Why, you’d make a good lady of the court.”
“I am a lady of the court, and I wouldn’t call myself snooty,” she replied. “Now shut up so you can go and die already.” Ciara snorted, wincing as pain shot through her nose.
“Not snooty, huh? Well listen up, lady-” Ciara began to say. The dreamwatcher interrupted, saying,
“Don’t ever call me lady. You will call me Dreamwatcher Alina.” Ciara rolled her eyes, and laughed internally at the shocked villagers looking their way. The people suddenly began to cheer saying, “Alin-a! Alin-a!” and even, “Death to the darklings!”
“Dreamwatcher Alina” Ciara said tauntingly, “It’s not like you’d understand why I steal.”
Alina looked at Ciara and replied, “Sure I do. You’re greedy and you’re a typical darkling. Nothing new here.”
“No, sunling. I steal because at night I have no food to eat. I go to bed hungry because a dreamwatcher like you was on my tail. And I can’t get a job because no one hires Darklings. I mean, the only reason my father was able to start a business is because he lied and said he was a cloakling. Put on his winter cloak and convinced everyone. And no, you can arrest him. He’s already freaking dead! Can’t arrest my mother for an accomplice either, because she’s dead too. Killed by your beloved queen. So sorry if I have to steal to get my food, and sorry that darklings get hunger too, not just sunlings. But it’s not like you ever get hungry, is it? You get twelve meals a day!” Ciara said, panting from talking. Her voice was nasally, her broken nose interfering with her speech.
“Not twelve, three,” Alina replied, quietly.
Ciara took a sharp breath and said, “twelve meals. One of your meals is four times the size of one of mine. At least I’ll be more comfortable in death than I am right now. After all you can’t have a broken nose in He-”
“Shut up and let me think for a second!” Alina shouted. By now they were way out of the town. They were in the woods, about halfway to the castle. Alina’s hands shook, and she ran them through her hair quickly. She said quietly,
“Let’s run away.”
“Excuse me?” Ciara asked, not sure if she had heard the dreamwatcher correctly.
“Let’s run away,” Alina said, much louder, her voice echoing through the dense forest. “Go west, to the Deadlands. You- you had a right to food. Our kingdom was… is too corrupt for that to happen. And you’re going to die if you go back. Let’s run away.”
Ciara looked at the other girl, frowning. “But… you’re a dreamwatcher. Why would you help me? Okay fine, ha. You got me. Better start dragging me again, before I run away. Seriously, let’s keep going.” She was genuinely scared, thinking that Alina was going insane.
“No, idiot. Let’s go west,” Alina decided, nodding.
“The Deadlands are in the west. And in the Deadlands are the mountains. In the mountains are the Alpha Shadows. Did you forget? The terrorist group that assassinated the other queen?” Ciara tilted her head, still thinking about why Alina would help her. After a long awkward silence she asked, “Why are you helping me?”
“Because. I told you, our kingdom is corrupt. I am supposed to be keeping peace, balance, and equality as a dreamwatcher. But I’m only making things worse,” she whispered. She looked down at Ciara, her shoulder-length wavy blond hair falling onto her face. “And I can’t lead you to your death. I just can’t. This is the first time I’ve actually caught someone, and it’s not… what it seems.” Alina offered her hand to Ciara, helping her stand up. “And I am sorry about your nose,” she added. Ciara didn’t say anything, only followed the sunling deeper into the forest, listening to the happy whistling of the birds.
“‘Our kingdom is corrupt,’” Ciara repeated quietly, hearing the words resound inside her head.
CHAPTER 2
The sun had finally set, leaving the two girls laying next to each other in the dark. Alina constantly radiated heat, causing Ciara to awkwardly curl up next to her. The snow around them had melted, leaving them laying on the frozen, rocky soil.
“Alina,” Ciara said suddenly. Alina’s head turned to look at Ciara’s. Their breath combined and floated upward, dissipating.
“Yeah,” Alina replied, her pupils large in the dark. Ciara suddenly found it awkward to be so close to her.
Looking away, Ciara replied, “I hardly know anything about you, and yet we are here. Together, and you betrayed your kingdom for me.” Alina squeezed her eyes shut and bit her lip. A cool breeze rushed over them, causing Ciara to shiver, but Alina seemed unaffected. “You know, it’s kind of your fault we’re here, in the freezing cold,” Ciara replied. “You could have just not done anything in the first place, and let me get away.”
“Excuse me?” Alina said, eyes flashing. “I saved your life! Are you really that self-centered? You would have died if I hadn’t saved your sorry butt!”
“Yeah, but,” Ciara started. She now knew that she had said the wrong thing to Alina.
“No, just… be quiet. How was I supposed to know why you were stealing? And stealing is the wrong thing to do anyway! You would have done better begging! But no, miss high and mighty decides to steal because that seems like a much better option,” Alina said, her voice now extremely loud.
“Do I look like some poor girl that would get tons of money begging? No, I look like an assassin who had a warthog for a father and a badger for a mother! No one would give me money, especially if they knew I was a darkling,” Ciara retorted, scooting away from Alina.
Alina took a deep breath and said quietly, “you’re right. It’s my fault.”
“Seriously? Do you expect me to feel sorry for you because you said that? Do you give up that easily?” Ciara said. She despised those who wanted sympathy, after all, both of her parents had died and she wasn’t crying about it.
“What do you want me to say! You said it was my fault! You were right, okay? Is that what you were looking for? Just leave me alone,” Alina said, tears streaming down her face. Alina turned to her side, facing away from Ciara. Ciara glanced at Alina, feeling sorry.
“It wasn’t just your fault. Sorry. It was my fault too, but it wasn’t just my fault. That was what I was trying to say,” Ciara said awkwardly.
Alina turned and glared at Ciara, “you really don’t like to admit that you’re wrong, do you? Why can’t you just apologize and say that you shouldn’t have said that instead of trying to justify what you said” Ciara frowned, and said nothing. For a few minutes, they were both silent.
"Sorry. I shouldn’t have said that,” Ciara said, trying really hard not to sound sarcastic. Alina just looked at Ciara, and then turned away again. Ciara sighed, and when Alina didn’t say anything, put her head back onto the ground. She looked up at the stars, and suddenly wished she could fly. She could make wings out of darkness, and because it was night, she would be able to fly. But as soon as she took off, someone would spot her. They were far away from Averandi, but the kingdom was on a hill, and the forest lay below it. Anything above the treeline would be instantly seen. Ciara closed her eyes and drifted into sleep.
Ciara was rudely shaken awake by Alina. Ciara was about to exclaim something when Alina put her finger over her mouth, shushing her. She pointed to an animal just within sight. Ciara leaned forward, squinting when she realized it was a doe. Her eyes widened, and her stomach hurt at the sight of potential food. Alina quietly crept closer to the animal and grabbed a stick that had been fashioned into a spear. She reached her hand out, ready to blind it and stab it. She suddenly dropped the stick and ran back to Ciara.
“I can’t do it,” Alina said desperately.
“Do what, Ciara whispered back, “kill it?”
“Yes! I just… can’t.”
“Why not?” Ciara said, looking at Alina’s pained face.
“I just can’t. Can you do it?” Alina asked, her eyes wide is hope. Ciara rolled her eyes and grabbed the spear. Her magic was weak, so she couldn’t freeze it, but she made the air around the animal turn a smoky black. The doe freezed, and Ciara lurched forward, stabbing the deer. She curled her lip in disgust as she saw her blood-spattered shirt. Well, at least now my clothes completely match my personality, she joked. She turned to see Alina with her hands covering her eyes.
“It’s dead,” Ciara said sharply.
“I know. I don’t want to look at it until it doesn’t look like an animal anymore,” Alina said, her voice trembling. Ciara looked at Alina with exasperation before realizing Alina couldn't see her. She took a stick and sharpened its edges until it crudely resembled a knife. She began to skin the doe, her back aching from the strain of leaning over the animal with her legs far away. She didn’t find this any less disgusting than Alina, just less sad. She had seen plenty of things die before, so it didn't affect her anymore. She then created a campfire, rubbing the sticks together. It didn’t work at first, so she guided Alina away from the deer and had her shine light on a small part of the stick until it got hot and burst into flames. Ciara quickly rushed the stick over and dropped it into the campfire.
“That smoke will attract people. We can’t stay long,” Alina said, her voice crackling from not speaking.
“Yeah, we’ll leave after I cook it,” Ciara replied. She hadn’t thought of the smoke attracting people, so it was a good thing Alina had told her. She tied big sticks together with small bendy ones to make a makeshift spit. “It’s not cooking fast enough,” Ciara said, beginning to panic. The smoke would be seen any second now if it hadn't already.
“Well, take it off the spit and carry it, then,” Alina suggested, still covering her eyes.
“It’s a deer, Alina. It’s heavy, big, and hot. We can’t carry it,” Ciara said in a condescending tone.
“Well, what do you want me to do about it? Figure something out,” Alina retorted, peeking through her fingers to see Ciara’s expression. They both heard a few sets of footsteps crunching on the snow. Ciara cursed and grabbed Alina’s arm, pulling her into the dense trees, away from the sound. A strong hand grabbed Ciara’s pulling her back. She yelped, and her mouth was covered by a hand. Panicking, Ciara, kicked and squirmed, trying to scream. She glanced over to see that Alina was in a similar situation, but she was hanging limp and was tossed over the person’s shoulder. Suddenly, a sickly sweet smelling cloth was pulled over her nose. Ciara felt light headed and went limp, her eyes closing involuntarily. Whoever these people were, they were not working for the queen.
CHAPTER 3
Ciara’s eyes struggled to open. She lay still, attempting to gather enough strength to do the simple action. Her eyelids trembled as she forced her eyes open, and she turned her attention to a person walking towards her. They grabbed her arm and pulled her up roughly, dragging her to the other side of the room. During all of this, Ciara didn’t move, too tired to put up a fight. Besides, if I tried to do anything, they would obviously overwhelm me. It’s better to wait until I feel less nauseous, she thought sleepily. The person nudged Ciara with their foot. Ciara murmured incoherently, and the person kicked Ciara, jolting her awake. She looked around frantically, eyes settling on the person in front of her. The person was about thirty-five, with straight red hair and cold, soulless brown eyes.
“Wake up, before Alpha Shonen kills you. It was my idea, so if you’re weak, the blame goes to me,” she said in a flat voice.
“What was your idea? And who’s Shonen? Nevermind… where am I and who are you?” Ciara said, her heart pounding.
“It was my idea to bring you here. Any elaboration on that will be done later, by Alpha Shonen. And Alpha Shonen is our leader, our alpha. I’m Adrianne, and our location is none of your concern currently, because we have more important matters to discuss.,” she continued, waving her hand flippantly.
“So… Queen Dawn didn’t send you?” Ciara said, her head aching. Her arms felt heavy, and bringing them up to clutch her head took an enormous amount of effort. Adrianne laughed loudly, a sharp, concise laugh. It rang through the room, leaving echoes of the outburst to nest in her brain.
“No, anything but that. You may know us by the name ‘Alpha Shadows’, but that is not what we call ourselves. We prefer to say ‘Dark Revolutionaries’, for that is what we are. We are terrorists. We like that word, for we strike terror into the hearts of our enemies Our kingdom is corrupt, and there are limited ways to fix it,” Adrianne replied. Ciara frowned, something the woman had said resonated through her mind
. ‘Our kingdom is corrupt, that’s exactly what Alina said. What a coincidence… Ciara thought, filing away the information for later. She really didn’t want to think of the possibilities this discovery came with. A tall, thin man came in, looking at her perpetually. Ciara looked away, suddenly noticing the room. It was boxy and concrete, but it felt very damp. She guessed she was either underground or in a cave in the mountains. Ciara frowned and searched the room for Alina, but the sunling was nowhere to be seen.
“Looking for your friend?” the man asked, his voice smooth and cold. He was lithe and tall, with dark brown hair and chilling blue eyes. He gave off an air of being older, perhaps maybe older thirties or younger forties, but his face was smooth, like a frozen piece of stone.
“Um,” Ciara said, unsure of what she should respond with. The man circled Ciara, who was still on the ground, before he gestured for Adrianne to get some chairs. She set two of them across from each other, and the man sat in one. He motioned for Ciara to sit as well, and Adrianne helped her into the chair.
“Sorry for the crude transportation, but we couldn’t reveal out location. Alpha Alina did well in distracting you,” he continued, examining his fingernails. He smiled slightly, knowing what Ciara’s response would be.
“Wait, excuse me? Did you call her Alpha Alina? So she’s…” Ciara gaped, her suspicions coming true. Ciara suddenly felt light-headed again, and breathed heavily. “So all this time… she as part of the Alpha Shadows?”
“Dark Revolutionary, yes. I, Alpha Shonen, asked her to bring you here. As far as I know, you’re the only Darkling in Averandi to have a criminal record and still be alive. I assumed you would want to join… especially after I tell you why the queen wants to exterminate the darklings,” Shonen smiled, his shoulders slightly shaking with laughter. He shook his head, grinning and looked at Ciara, “Alina is my alpha female, Ciara.” The darkling girl stared at Shonen. Ciara felt as if a part inside of her had just died, though she was unsure why.
“Alina’s… so young. She’s what, seventeen?” Ciara said, prepared to argue with the leader of the darkling terrorist group. She thought of Alina’s bright hair, eyes and personality. She was so sweet and fierce… and Ciara found it wrong that she would be paired up with Shonen.
“And you’re like seventy. It’s not right.”
“And the queen says that homosexuality is not right, and do you believe her? The age gap makes no difference. And Alina’s eighteen, not seventeen. I’m forty, not eighty,” Shonen replied, looking at Ciara seriously. His heart soared as he thought of Alina and her thin, frail body. He only liked her because he felt as if he was her protector, and that was something Shonen had always wanted to be. A protector of the good, and to him… Alina was more true and good than anything he had ever known, “Alina is the sun to my moon, the sunling to the darkling. We compliment each other. My experience with her childlike wonder makes a perfect pair.” Ciara felt like arguing that Alina was also the sun to her moon, but that meant admitting something that she wasn’t sure was true.
“The point is,” Shonen continued, “is that I want to recruit you as a beta in the Dark Pack. You would help us on our terrorist missions, assassinate a few important people, burn down a castle or two, nothing too drastic.” Ciara frowned and shook her head.
“No. I won’t kill innocent people,” she answered. Even if the only kind person I’d ever met is killing people too. I can’t do it.
“They’re not innocent, Ciara. They’ve done more crimes than you know. Do you want to know why the king and queen have lived for hundreds of years? Do you want to know why the queen wants to get her hands on all of the darklings? Do you want to know why only those of the same race are admitted to have a relationship?” Shonen asked, breathing heavily, sitting on the sedge of his chair. Ciara’s hands trembled, her face pale.
“The main ingredient in an anti-aging potion is the heart of a purebred darkling. The queen wants all darklings to be purebred, so that she can kill them and use their organs in various potions to increase her power and keep her young. Now have I convinced you?” Shonen’s eyes were dark with hate, his hand clenching by his sides.
“Yes,” Ciara whispered quietly. She was horrified by what she had just heard. She tried to take it all in, all of this had happened so fast. More than anything, she wondered how Alina could betray her.
Don't be stupid, Ciara. You haven’t even known her for a day, and you expect there to be some sort of bond? Get over it. She had no loyalty to you, and had every right to betray you. She has a job, and you’re not her friend, Ciara told herself harshly. But she couldn't shake the nervous feeling that showed up whenever Alina was near her. Or how she loved the warmth that came from Alina’s skin, or how she just wanted to reach out and stroke her wavy blonde hair. Ciara loved her stunning amber eyes that lured her in like a bear to honey.
I’m the freaking bear. Stumbling blindly through the forest, looking for anything to satisfy my hunger. Everyone wants her, the honey. But she’s protected by the hive, with a swarm of bees constantly surrounding her. Ciara pinched herself and looked up at Shonen.
“I’m in.”
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The World of Averandi {Official Story}
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