29. Chapter 29
THEN
The day of the Black Shroud began like any other day.
The morning air was crisp, a little more than it should have been that time of year, but it was welcome, as it was the harvest season and most of the residents of Sorrel found themselves outside, gleaning the crop for the winter to come.
It was an abundant year, almost overwhelmingly so, to the point where fruits were ripening faster than they could be picked, their bodies dropping from trees daily.
As I worked with the village to prepare for winter, Malik was busy preparing to step into his father's shoes, for only days stood between our wedding and coronation to become Sorrel's rulers. Every day the pressure grew, but we continued to find peace at each other's side.
Little did we know what would come next. I still can't quite make sense of it to this day.
We were at the temple when it happened, me inside and Malik waiting for me by the doors as I conducted a purifying ceremony in the temple.
I knelt before the Astaros tree, desperate to find some semblance of peace as the pressures of our impending wedding increased.
There was much to be done, much to be discussed and dealt with, but all in due time.
I would never forget how quickly it happened—everything normal one moment, only to be at the whim of what I first thought was the Mother the next.
First came the quiet, like someone or something sucked all sound out of the temple, not even the sound of my own breaths could be heard.
The silence only lasted for a moment, then the winds picked up, the Astaros tree whipping along with it, its branches threatening to fall as I sat underneath it.
Then came the cold, so sudden that it was a shock to my system.
The cool autumn day was suddenly one more aligned with the dead of winter, frost forming on the ground and heading for the Astaros.
Yet, I did not have even a moment to panic about such a demise, for not long after that, everything went dark as the deepest caves in the mountains. Everything from the birds in the sky to my hand in front of my face blinked out of sight, rendering me blind.
I'll never forget the feeling of terror that overtook me as the sun faded and the silent screams of the wind filtered through the temple. I could feel the collective horror of the village weighing down on me from every angle, could taste the smell of decay hanging in the air.
I still do not know how long the world sat in darkness. All I knew was that for a time, I was stuck in place, frozen by fear and shock and something else I could not quite put my finger on.
I sat there in that darkness, anchored to the ground as I felt the world beneath me rile.
That was the first time I felt the rot. It hung heavy in the ground beneath me, weighing the earth down. Everything seemed to slow, then completely still, and I was not sure if anything would ever move again, including me. I felt frozen to the ground, rooted to the spot.
It wasn't until the ground beneath me cracked, the earth rumbling loud enough to shake the walls of the temple, that I staggered to my feet, blindly clutching onto the Astaros tree for balance.
I had to get to Malik, had to make sure he was okay.
He did not have the protection of the temple like I did, could not feel Yllsora like I could.
I stumbled through the darkness towards the temple doors, my body convulsing with the cold. The wind was now shrieking in my ear, making it impossible to hear my own voice as I screamed.
"Malik!" I yelled over the harsh gusts of wind, desperate to reach him despite the chaos.
The earth rumbled once more, knocking me to my knees, the ground so cold I could feel it splitting my bones. I sobbed as my whole body began to shudder, the chill sinking into my very being, freezing my muscles and closing up the back of my throat.
I could hear the screams of the others outside of the temple, could hear the panic and fear in their voices, the confusion. I could hear my name being called, my people looking to me for answers, for help. But I was just as helpless as them, just as lost and confused.
The wind whipped once more, before it turned into a soft sigh, from whom, at the time, I did not know.
And then, it was over just as fast as it began, the sun lighting the sky once again. Warmth spread across the ground, seeping into every part of my being, restoring the feeling in my limbs.
I looked up, squinting against the assault of the bright light after such darkness.
I had no idea how far I stumbled in the dark, if I was anywhere near the entrance of the temple.
I blinked the sight back into my eyes and found Malik panting, slumped against the wall of the temple, surrounded by the fallen limbs of the Astaros tree, his face screwed up in an expression I had never seen from him before. One of pain, one of terror.
I reached my hand out to him, desperate to comfort him, when I noticed the thousands of tiny scratches that covered his entire body from the limbs of the tree that had fallen, the smallest dribbles of blood escaping them, the longest one over his lip, blood dripping into his mouth.
"Malik," I sobbed, taking the final few steps towards him, my hands reaching out to grasp him, only for him to recoil back.
"Don't," he croaked, his voice tense and sharp.
I pulled my hand back quickly, confusion writing itself all over my body. Never had Malik acted like this before, never had he not wanted me near him, never had he rejected me so clearly.
I watched as he pushed himself up to his knees, his whole body shaking with effort.
I hated seeing him hurt and struggling with something as simple as sitting up.
But what worried me the most was that he still had not looked at me, his gaze far off, as if he was watching something in the distance, as if he was in a trance.
I wanted to go and comfort him but I kept my distance, giving him the space he wanted, watching his eyes become void of all emotion, the scars and laceration down his lip continuing to bleed.
Moments passed and still he did not look at me, his eyes trained on something far away.
"Malik," I whispered, desperate to pull him out of the trance that had gripped him. "Look at me."
He glanced up at me then, taking me in for the first time since the Shroud, despair all over his face. "I'm sorry," he choked out.
"What just happened?" My voice shook with the question, unsure if I wanted to know the answer.
He shook his head, looking away from me. Convulsions still racked his body, and I reached out tentatively, putting my hand on top of his. He froze for just a fraction of a second, his eyes trained on our hands before finally lacing his trembling fingers with mine.
We sat like that for a moment, waiting for his shuddering to come to an end. Finally, it did, and he looked at me once again, his eyes now clear.
"I'm so sorry, Lyra," he said, his voice tremulous with fear.
"You have no reason to apologize," I said as I sat up, scanning him over. "I just wanted to make sure you were okay."
"I'm okay," he breathed. "We're both okay."
He pulled me towards him then, wrapping me in his arms and holding me tight against his chest. I felt the beating of his heart through his tunic, the thump of it as fast as an animal that had just narrowly escaped death.
We sat like that for a moment, wrapped in one another's arms, anguished as we searched for peace within one another while surrounded by destruction.
There were too many thoughts swirling in my head to make sense of them in that moment, but still I knew that nothing would ever be the same.
Even then, I could feel that permanent chill had spread across the land, could almost feel below the surface to the network of roots, sensing how slowly they moved as the chill set in, almost fully devoid of all movement.
Shivers ran up my body at this new reality, and I felt Malik pull back to look at me, his eyes desperate as they ran over my face, almost fearful as he observed me.
I did not know what to make of it in that moment, but did not think anything of it, for we both were so shaken, so shocked by what we had just experienced.
We eventually pulled ourselves up from the temple floor and made our way into the village, walking in silence as we noted the damage and the work that would need to be done to rebuild our home.
A long road lay ahead of us, but I knew that together, Malik and I could restore our home to what it once was.
It would be one of our first acts as rulers of Sorrel, and as a married couple, a new beginning in the face of strife.
Yet we would never get the chance to do that. Because the next morning, Malik was gone.