Chapter 1: Lost
Do you know that feeling of perfect sleep? Everything is weightless—there are no dreams, no sensations, just the peaceful embrace of nothingness. That’s how Ashlynn felt in this moment. The freezing cold of the water surrounding her had already shocked her senses. Her limbs were heavy and unmoving, her awareness dulled—except for the guttural screams breaking through the water overhead.
Ashlynn gasped. Her body frozen, with heavy limbs still numb from the icy embrace of lake Star Maiden. She cracked her eyes just a fraction, the darkness of the night replaced by a dull..sunrise..? She had guessed but that didnt matter. What did however was the heavy weight in her chest and the fog filling her mind.
Aside from the overall numbness was rough scratchy sensation of the rocks beneath her back. She was on the shore. The shore...
How had she evaded the promise of death? One moment she was heading toward a white ethereal glow she could only hope was the Moon Goddess, gentle whispers she could not make out now and the next..
Ashlynn’s eyes stared to sky its soft orange glow muted in the dawn, her mind trying to grab onto why she was in the lake to begin with, or why the name of lake Star Maiden was the only thing she could grasp onto beside her own name.
Without notice, her chest heaved. Rushing to her side, water gushed from her mouth. Her eyes watered as she struggled to gasp for air between violent retches. Her limbs ached, her muscles screamed, and the fog in her mind deepened, sending a throbbing pain behind her eyes.
The heaving lasted for what seemed like forever. It was intense, so intense she has not noticed someones hand wrapped around her dark hair, pulling it back gently as she lurched water and bile onto the shore. The foamy mix slipping bewteen the cracks of the dark stone and sand of the lakes bank.
When the worst was over, a deep sigh—more of a groan—escaped as she inhaled a large gulp of air. Tears pricked her eyes from the pain. Her body felt as if she had been hit by a semi; her lungs screamed, her head throbbed. But the worst, and most confusing, was an emotional pain—one she couldn’t push past the fog to pinpoint. A raw, gnawing ache that felt more like a part of her being than a physical wound.
“What the hell happened..?” Ashlynn murmured to herself, her voice raw..soft--too soft.
Her hand flew to her throat, a pain erupted, that of which was from pressing on a bruise too harshly. The frown that marred her face deepened.
“That’s what I would like to know.”
A deep masculine voice sounded from behind her. Her body tensed. She was suddenly aware not only of the hand woven tenderly in her hair, but of the giant warm body pressed firmly against her.
Ash’s breathing quickened as adrenaline started seep in. Her heart hammered against her already aching chest. “Who ar-” was all she could get out before her vision started to spot with little black blobs, all her effort now going to not passing out in this strange mans hold.
*Shhhh* “Its oka..-” was all she heard before her hearing too started to go muffled.
Ashlynn could only pray to goddess above for help, consciousness slipping further.
she thought right before everything going black-but she swore she heard something back.
