Archer Of Time by Beau Van Dalen

Author:Beau Van Dalen [Van Dalen, Beau]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Beau Van Dalen
Published: 2023-09-21T16:00:00+00:00

4

Sacrifice—Shall I Stay?

329 days before the festival.

My parents disown me, once the curse gets to be too much for them to handle alone at home.

I don’t blame them. I was expecting it. But I am lucky in my despair, as Esther offers to take me in, with the permission of the elderly woman she’s working under.

Esther’s boss is quite nice to me. I assume it may have something to do with the fact that she’s blind, and unable to physically see that I bear the curse everyone fears. Esther has yet to mention my predicament to her, I’m honestly uncertain that she ever will. But I’m grateful, for their help. If it hadn’t been for Esther and her boss’s hospitality, I would have been sent to live alone at the temple.

Although the healers over there always treat me with kindness, I can tell they only do it out of obligation. I would hate to burden them.

I sigh. My head hangs low as I crane my neck downward, to stare at what remains of myself. Gone are the days where I traveled to the markets by my family’s side. Now, my mornings consist of rising with the sun, cooking breakfast for my landlords as thanks for letting me stay here, and biding my time until the festival comes. What was the point? I always wonder whenever I am alone.

What was the point in living, if it was always going to end like this?

I crack an egg over a pan and watch the yolk spill out onto darkness. Esther insisted there was no need for me to do this. Rest. I can take care of everything for you, I don’t mind, she’d said. But I want to do what I can for her while I am still here, able to help. Esther does the same for me, after all. “I…”

I appreciate her a lot.

When my curse advanced last month and finally made it too difficult for me to move around alone, I mentioned in passing that I missed my daily escapades, the days I’d spend exploring the area; Esther returned home two weeks later with a wooden wheelchair she’d saved up to buy from Redpine’s local carpenter. She declared we should go out on the daily to make my last days worthwhile. Besides, she’d chuckled and smiled at me whilst speaking the word, it’s getting pretty lonely, going out alone like this.

Esther is like a temporary sun to the shadows that have engulfed my future. I don’t know how I could ever repay her.

However, what I do know is that I need to sit down, because I can feel my foot starting to tingle. And that’s usually bad news.

I quickly slip the egg I’d been cooking into a plate before I waddle towards the closest surface I can find. As expected, once I’ve taken a seat on a nearby chair, I glance to where my slippers are meant to be: one of them has faded alongside my foot, it’ll likely be returned later without the shoe.

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