And who are you, wounded soldier?
I wish I knew.
“I am not a wounded soldier.” - I say. “Being wounded would suggest that I heal.” - but I know I won’t. Cuts will mend and bruises will disappear (in time), but I am not wounded. I am damaged, as - is. What has been done to me, cannot be undone. All I can be is destroyed - possibly rebuilt. I thought Delumine would really be a step in the right direction, to distract myself from Oldewood, my father's Compound, and all of the forced conditioning and training.
It did nothing for me, it has only stoked old fires.
“I am Emersyn.” I can’t take my eyes off of her -- what is this sort of beauty? This enchantress? Is Lucinda even real or do I just desperately want her to be?
To answer that question: The thunder cracks and lightning races along the eternal, living waterscape of her - she’s incredible. “I’m from ..” -- -- “ .. up north.” Lucinda is very real once the illuminations are gone. Is it possible? Oh - All I can think of are Tempests, Pirates, and Sirens! They were in almost all of the provocative stories I learned down in Denocte. Could it be ..
No, I absolutely have no idea what it means.
But I must know.
My heart skips a beat and my wonder is very real - I can’t stop myself from asking, “Lucinda, how did you find me?”
What the hell does that even mean? I don’t know what else to say. I so rarely allow myself to be caught off guard that this is a first for me. Lightning slashes through the dimming evening, I see her poison cyanide eyes looking at me. They are focused like a predator’s eye. Dilated and deep. Hungry. Consuming. She has me pinned like a butterfly caught, holding me in place. Time ceases to exist in moments like these.
" -- or are you hunting me?"
The storm is relentless. The wind rages and shrieks in my ears. The water is so cold as it shocks my stomach - how did it get so deep? The tide is surging in now. It greedily consumes the shore. It is clawing through the sand and stone, making stardust out of sand beds as the sea takes back the land. Did the sea happen to wash up Lucinda as well?
@Lucinda Thank you for waiting!
