No. Not at her arms, but at the child cradled in them. She soothed the child and caressed it, careful not to agitate it any further.
Slowly, the crying died down, and the woman smiled. Her smile only enhanced her beauty, for her looks alone would charm any man. But she was not trying to charm anyone, she was simply happy.
Her lips parted, and a soft voice came out, matching her young appearance. She looked no more than twenty. Not mature enough to look after herself, let alone a child. Yet she had a child, and it was her child that she spoke to.
“My beautiful daughter,” she said, stroking the child’s head, “there’s no need to cry.”
Slowly, so as to not disturb her daughter, the woman leaned over and kissed her on the forehead.
The child shifted slightly upon contact, and her eyes gradually opened up, revealing the same set of piercing silver-colored eyes of her mother. And as their gaze met, the woman felt her emotions well up inside of her. Fear, sorrow, and anger, all gathered together deep in her heart. But one emotion triumphed above it all. One that filled her with determination, strength, and hope.
Love.
Her love for her daughter washed away all the negative feelings she felt at that moment. The woman knew that all that mattered now was the child in her arms. That her daughter was safe. So when the woman spoke again, her voice was resolute.
“Do not cry my daughter, I am here for you. Even if they come for you, you will always be safe. You are my life now and forever. I will always love and protect you, Melas.”
Upon hearing the woman’s words, the child gently closed her eyes again. For a moment, she looked calm and at peace, almost as if she understood the woman’s words and trusted it with all her heart. Almost as if she believed that she would always be protected by her mother, no matter what happened.
Of course, that was not the case.
Did she say MELAS?! As in Salem? Like the Witch trials? Oh my God, and my mother is a Witch. I am SO going to be burned at the stake.
And then the baby cried.
Part One: Paradise Paradise
Chapter 2: Magic
"—and using the gifts of the Goddess, the Great Hero Xander slayed the Demon Lord, saving the world from his darkness."
Mr Walden finished the story, only to be greeted by half a dozen yawns. A brown haired boy piped up, raising his hand.
"This story is boring. Don’t you got another one?"
I glanced past the small gathering of village kids, all huddled around in front of the middle aged man sitting on his stool, straight at the boy who spoke. His name was Adrian. And he was not the only kid here with a bored look on their face. The message was pretty clear: they all wanted to be literally anywhere else but here.
I partially agreed with that sentiment. Not because I wanted to hear another, more interesting story from Mr Walden; it was because we had all heard this same story more times than most of the kids here could count. Not me, though— I was not a kid.
...am I really comparing myself with literal ten year olds?!
Technically, I was the same age as most of them; my physical body made me appear like I was no older than these kids— which was true if you only considered the time I spent in this world. However, I was mentally almost two decades older than every single one of the kids gathered here right now.
However, almost as if he was ignorant of the level of intellect or wisdom a kid possessed, Mr Walden began lecturing us on the importance of his tale.
"There are many stories I could indeed tell you, many of which I heard during my time in the Capital. However, I don’t believe those stories would be for your best interests. They may be interesting. They may even be full of excitement and wonder, which I am sure you children would love. But, those stories would not do anything for you. They would only serve to entertain you, something which you children already do for yourself. There are no lessons to be learned, and no morals to be taught."
"What can we learn, Mr Walden?" this time, I was the one to raise my hand and speak. "From the story. What morals or lessons does it teach us?"
"Ah, Melas, there are a great many things for you to learn. But I can not tell you what they are. It’s something that you must learn yourself, else its meaning will be lost on you."
I fought the urge to groan at his ‘sagely advice’, though the same could not be said for most of the kids. Mr Walden sighed.
"If you need to know, I will tell you one thing, and one thing only, before you leave for today."
Mr Walden paused, hoping to gather all of our attention before he started. Once he realized that I was the only one even paying any semblance of attention to him, he took a deep breath and reluctantly began.
"Never sully the Goddess’ gifts," the middle aged man spoke in a solemn voice. He cast his gaze throughout the group of bored kids, before stopping at me. We locked eyes, and as if he was addressing only me, he continued. "The world we live in, the mana it produces, it has all been given to us by the Goddess. But if you were to defile it, you would be no different from the Demons we have fought to destroy."
With that, Mr Walden got up from his seat and slowly walked away;
