How Faith Shall Lie✨

How Faith Shall Lie- Short Story

It has long been said that air is the reservoir of life. This is not, in fact, the case, and I model these words to express how I came to understand the true origin of life and, as a result, the means that life will one day end. There are things we don’t want to happen but have to accept, messages that we don’t want to receive, and sights we don’t desire to see. I placed my arms behind my head, as I hesitated to think. My mind went blank, thought of nothing, nothing except the haunting of the past, and I was going to hunt it down, whether it was one, or it was many a dozen. My head jolted upwards, as I aurally perceived a shuffle from behind. I stood cautiously and raised my blade to my side. Desperation victualed at my insides, wanting to call out to my surroundings, what or whoever it was.

“Who goes there?” another crunch echoed through the empty forest before the impact forced me to the ground. A cold object pressed against my throat, and I scoffed through my teeth and closed eyes.

“It’s not that easy,” I spoke, my eyes still shut.

“Why is that? I’m the one who has the knife.” I sensed the slight tension in the boy’s voice, as he tried to regain his calm voice. Without hesitation, I flipped us over and holding my balancing my weight above his with one hand. I tossed the knife from his grip, catching it in my opposing palm. We locked vision as he endeavored to cross me out of the hold. I quickly maneuvered the knife to his trachea.

“Nice try.”

“Please, don’t kill me...” I could feel the fear strain through his veins. I reminisced to myself, and after many moments of thought, I sighed and removed the weapon away. This wasn’t me. I promised myself I would stop doing this. This expedition was changing me. No matter what the quest was, it should never require or result in hurting people along the way. I stood up, withdrawing my knife from my side and sliding it back into my belt.

“Who are you?” I asked, guardedly scanning his every move.

“The name’s Asher... Woods.” he rose to his feet, brushing off his black stockings. I gave him a look, signaling for him to proceed.

“I am looking for clues to who or what took my dog. He was stolen from my house when I was quite young. I thought since you were in the middle of,” he looked around. “well, nowhere that you would have some clues.”

“He was stolen?” I squinted my eyes and he nodded.

“My house was broken into when I was about 9, and he was taken with a few of my other possessions.”

“W-where did you live?” I stunned myself from my stutter. I have never done that since that day.

“Quinton, Aberlecke.” my mouth went dry.

“I lost my family when I was 7 years old in a robber,” my voice ran low. “in Quinton, Aberlecke.”

“I’m sorry. I have a little sister back home, I can’t imagine how horrible I’d feel if I’d lost her.” He looked at me with a look,

a look I have recieved a thousand times,

a look I wouldn’t dare take to heart,

a look that didn’t faze me anymore.

I took a deep breath and started walking in the direction of my house, wiping my thoughts of the sorrowing past off.

“Do you think it may have been the same thing?” he hesitantly followed me through the brush.

“Maybe,” sticks broke under our numerous footsteps. “can’t be sure.” As we came to a clearing, the small mushroom-shaped out came into sight.

“Is this yours?” a robin skidded across the rocky path, and I nodded.

“It’s nice. It reminds me of my old home.” I smiled slightly, opening the wooden door.

“I have to grab something, hold on.” I walked inside before immediately exiting the home again with a burlap sack.

“What’s that for?” Asher questioned jarringly. I pet the head of my barn owl, Xaxo, before closing the door, locking with a click of the key. I slid it under it back under my doormat, facing him again.

“We’re going hunting.”

“Hunting?” the look of confusion was explicit on Asher’s expression.

“Yes,” I plunged my feet forward, walking quickly through the woods.

“Wait,” he called, running up in front of me. “hunting what exactly?”

“The thing that snatched your dog and murdered my family.”

“First of all, his name is Dakota, second, how can you be so sure? We haven’t even researched this thing.”

“Eleven years.”

“What?”

“I’ve been researching for eleven years,” I stopped and stared right at him. “I think I’m ready.”

“Well, let’s not rush into this thinking we’re ready. We need to know we are, plus I’m not just going to rush into war with someone I just met. I need to trust you first.” Despite my thoughts, I knew what he said was true. We couldn’t just go into this battle without complete trust and accuracy. We needed a plan and we definitely needed more reassurance from each other.

“You’re right.”

“Asher, I don’t know if I can do this?” I breathed heavily, roundhouse-kicking another slab of timber.

“Yes you can,” our glance locked and he earnestly gave me a reassuring glimpse. “we’ve been training for years for this. If old age hasn’t killed them yet, we sure will. We will win this fight.” We had come to the conclusion that it wasn’t just one accomplice. All the evidence and information we had studied had shown it. Everywhere we turned, no matter how hard they tried to hide it, multiple tracks, multiple methods, multiple everything. We had an idea what it was as well, and we used that to our advantage. Shapeshifters have their weaknesses. I took another breath and continued training and taking turns, guiding him next.

“Remember, they can disguise themselves as whoever they want. They can get into your mind, Leianna. Push them out and DON’T let them deceive you. Keep your mind wide open.” Sweat beaded at both of our hair-lines as we smiled at each other, giving each other a high-five. Exchanging compliments, we both emerged into our bunks of the wooden home in the woods.

I pulled my hat over my ponytail, and we both exchanged encouraging smiles.

“We can do this, Leianna. These four years haven’t gone to waste.” I smiled, throwing my backpack over my shoulders, as he did the same.

“We can do this.”

The cold mixture whipped over us. I pulled my hat down more to cover my ears. Keeping my hands over my hat, I forced myself through the cold blizzard. With a push of wind, my hat flew up and behind us. I turned from impact and shock, towards our trail, which had practically disappeared.

“Leianna, take mine. We need to keep going.” I debated on whether to give it back, but we trailed along. After a while of walking, we had reached a large wall.

“This is it.” my breath hitched in my throat, and I stared blankly at the wall.

“We need to-” faint shouts and cocking of weapons echoed the large area of land.

“Asher,” I started to panic and he shook his head.

“They aren’t here yet, we can get over this wall, Leianna. Let’s go!” we continued hiking towards the large area of land, but the echo appeared again, this time, it was within the field.

“Over there!” I heard a husky voice yell.

I turned around and saw a large mob sprinting towards us. My eyes widened as we both ran towards the wall. Asher helped me up to the top, and I lowered my arms down to him. He reached his hands up to me, but they didn’t quite reach. I saw the look of debate and sadness wash over him, and I could quickly read his emotions.

“Asher, no!” I screamed, but it was barely audible over the cold winds. I could feel the tears well up in my eyes.

“Do it for the both of us.” he looked at me one last time before plunging himself into the mob. I forced myself to turn away, and I pushed the tears away. Wearily, I jumped down and sprinted towards the opening. I heard a faint scream of agony collapse from the opposite side, but I had to keep going. No matter how much agony was going through my body, my legs wouldn’t stop moving. I had to do this for us.

Tears fell down my rounded face, shooting arrows and throwing kicks. All the rage that had been locked up in me for the past 15 years had advanced, and I couldn’t suspend my movements. I quickly wrote down the location of the building and I whistled for Xaxo. As he approached, I quickly placed the note in his talons. I whispered him the location to which the recipient was and he flew away. I shot another arrow through two more angry looking shapeshifters following me until I heard a voice that made my eyes water.

“Leianna, stop....” I kept my back away from the voice and tears started falling even harder. I tried my hardest to keep my glance away, but I shifted around and saw him. It took all my strength not to sprint towards him.

“You’re not real....”

“Of course, I am. You don’t need to do this. We can go back and find your family.” Tears fell down my cheeks and he approached me. I stood motionless as he grabbed my hand. I tried to pull away, but my body was still. I turned my back and everyone I loved flashed through my memory. I clasped the wooden stake in my right hand and took a deep breath. I felt a pair of arms extend around my waist, tears falling onto my coat.

“You’re not Asher, and you never will be.”

“What, what are you-”

“My family is dead...and Asher knew that. Asher is d-dead... and I know that.” I took a deep breath and plunged the stake through my abdomen and through the last shifter. I screamed in pain and twisted the stake more. I heard his last groan of anguish before he fell limp on the stake. I cried and fell into the cold snow.

I’d done it. Soon Asher’s family would be here to retrieve Dakota and they would live to tell how brave their son had been. How he had sacrificed himself to save others. I loved my story. Sure it was messy, but it’s what got me here. Grief, I have learned, is really just love. I’ve learned that it’s all the love that gathers in the corner of your eyes, the lump in your throat, and the pit in your stomach. I have exceeded my limit, and I had done what I had come here to do. One last tear fell into the snow before everything went quiet. I guess this is what love is, sacrificing yourself for each other; to do whatever you have to do to fulfill your promise and destiny.

“We had done it. We won.”

This was originally my short story for my Art 1 class, but I felt like I should share it with you all. I feel like it has a moral to the story.

My friend recommended me this website so this is my first story on Inkitt!

I hope you liked it!