Destiny by Jinxrox (red white and royal blue hardcover txt) 📕

Prologue


Smoke was all she could taste. It filled her empty body and replaced oxygen as her foremost vapor. The shouts of triumph from the mob assembled increased as the carrot colored flames lept closer to her ghostly defeated figure. The controlling ropes felt like steel as they held her to a long totem of wood. She coughed. Tears of pain cascaded down her fragile face. Why me? She thought. What have I done wrong? As if to answer her thought, cries of 'WITCH' now fought against the pain as the thought most prominent in her young mind. I'm not a witch! She tried to say, but the flames scalded even more her branded tongue. She had lost complete feeling in her now almost black legs.


Let it end, please gods, let me die, let me rejoin my family. She remembered her mother, light blond hair, green eyes, always present in her last five years of life. She begged herself to not look at the carcass next to her, that used to be her loving wonderful mother. What did we ever do wrong? What in fact, her young mind did not understand, was that the towns folk were scared of her and her mother. Her mother, Diana, held great authority in their small town. She was the only doctor, and greatly skilled at the art. They were afraid, especially the men, that she had too much influence in the town. That women should not be in charge and that she would set an example to their wives and turn them against their husbands. So, she had to go, and her daughter being much like her, she needed to follow suit. Accusing her or witchcraft, they took them away this morning, and watched with pleasure as her daughter screamed at the sight of her dying mother. But they would soon regret this.


A bright white light bathed her form; she knew the end was here. Sighing in contentment, she lifted her face to embrace death. White overcame her vision, and she felt no more. The townsfolk felt pride when her small shapeceased to tremble. That was until they saw the light. Cries ofdisbelievement and wonder soon turned into howls of fear and pain and the object got closer. It embraced the child, setting her free, and as it turned to the villagers, spoke.


'You have committed great treason and crime, and I, as a great sorceress, curse you . Your children, and any children that will be born, will die the same death as this one, at age fifteen.'

They gasped, clutching their young ones close. Fear overcame any other emotion, except regret.

'This curse will continue to transpire until destiny has forgiven you for your terrible deed.'


Some didn't believe this great enchantress, but one year later, when young Mary burned slowly in a forest fire, they knew what would come.

And so it was, for the next ten years, young children suffered the same fate. But this is not the end of their tale, no, it is only the beginning.
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Chapter 1


10 years later......


The birds chirped a good morning to her as she quietly made her way through the forest. Sunshine felt wonderful on her pale face, and Destiny knew there was nothing more beautiful. Even if she couldn't see it. She was blind.Ever since she could remember she couldn't see. Her completely white unseeing eyes unnerved most people outside the forest. So, she never left. Her whole life was spent in the three thousand, four hundred square miles of Etoile Forest. Waterfalls and stunningly tall trees took control of the landscape. Many varieties of animals, from the rare unicorn, to the two-tailed brown squirrel, thrived in this landscape. Birds in abundance lived in the high canopies of the hundreds of thousands different types of trees. It was a beautiful sight, especially the sunset over the clear waters of Crystal Lake. Destiny sighed, for the umpteenth time she wished she could see it. She shook her head, no use dwelling on that. She heard a low growl and smiled.

'Sasha, come here'. A large black, green eyed panther emerged from the lush undergrowth. She came and stood by Destiny.


'Hi sweetheart, how are you?,'

Destiny asked, scratching Sasha behind her ears. A resounding purr answered her. Sasha tore her head away, and gestured to the barley visible path into the trees. 'OK girl, I'm coming' Destiny held out her hand and Sasha placed her silky tail in it. Destiny knew most all of the forest bye heart, but it had rained last night, and mudslides are common. When the dirt is gone, more rocks and tree roots are visible, making it harder for Destiny to find her way around. Small animals scampered through the foliage as Destiny and Sasha made their way to the Home Tree. All of the population in the forest lived here, except for a few solitary nomads. All and all, the population reached around five or six thousand. But Destiny spent her time mostly away from the Tree. Mostly everyone was nice, but she didn't like the stares or whispers pointed at her. She knew she didn't fit in, and spent her time near the edge of the forest, or behind the waterfall in a secret cave she found several years ago.*

The immense tree came into Sasha's sight. Destiny heard the thousands of voices, and knew they were here. The Home Tree was positioned on the side of a giant lake smack dab in the middle of the Etoile Forest. One mile across and five high, it was a monstrous natural structure. And the best part, it was naturally hollow.

'Destiny, welcome back!' She heard Mr. Splanskey call to her. She inwardly groaned and turned her head to general direction of his voice.

'Hello' her wind chimed voice responded. Hearing the short conversation and the mention of Destiny's name, several people turned to her direction. She hid her face behind her sheet of silvery white hair. They silently made way to the docks.

'Here, Destiny, let me take you across' Mr. Splanskey said and helped her into the small vessel. Sasha growled a goodbye to Destiny.

'Thank you Sasha she replied. Before they left, Destiny sensed another presence coming onto the rowboat. She knew who it was immediately.

'Hello Leo' He smiled, he knew that she recognized him even after her three months of solitude. Hisluminescent blue eyes fixed on her own. He could never understand why people would say that she was handicapped. Her completely white colored eyes felt like they stared into his very soul.

'Stop staring at me Leo, you know i hate that' Destiny stated.

'Sorry D, you look so.....different' Leo answered. Destiny rose her light blond eyebrow.

'Is that a good thing?'

'Yea, definatly' he stuttered. She chuckled, amused at his shyness. The wind blew his chocolate hair around his sculpted face and Destiny heard him trying to blow it away, much like a girl. The boat touched the soil of the ground near the Home Tree. Leo helped her out.

'DESTINY!!' A high-pitched voice yelled, and she could almost imagine Melina's red frizzy hair andprominently freckled face run towards her. Destiny held open her arms, and embraced Melina's slightly plump body, smelling her earthy scent.

'Destiny, you look so good!' her overly excited voice exclaimed. Destiny grinned, Melina was always positive. The bustle of market day overwhelmed Destiny's four highly attuned senses. She smelled the spices from the coast of the Idila sea, she heard the crackle of the wrappers on the candies from the mountains of Attolia, but her favorite was the hand braided pegasi feathered bracelets from the city of Skya in the neighboring country of Aerthia. She ran her delicate fingers over the soft bracelets.

'D? Did you hear me?' Leo asked.

'Hmm? Oh, sorry what?' Leo rolled his eyes, used to Destiny's day dreamy state.

'He SAID, What did the Elder want to talk to you about this time?' Melina responded. Destiny sighed, 'I don't know, something about discovering my past and helping me to see with my ears, or something'

'Well, won't that help you, you know, with your -' Melina started.

'DISABILITY?' Yes, I do hope it will, freak' a girl my age with long black hair and Asian looks imitated stumbling around.

'Oh wait, you couldn't SEE that, could you?' She snickered, and a mini look-alike copied her. Honestly it still hurt Destiny, but she was used to it, but she knew Melina had her back.

'WHAT did you say?'Melina advanced closer to the girl, using her « oh you better be scared now » tone. 'Destiny does NOT have a disability. Maybe she can't see with her eyes, but that doesn't mean she can't see. Her ears are highly attuned to everything, and her sense of smell is beyond any ones. I bet she could even tell you what color clothes you have on, Chelsea'. Chelsea took a step back, but replied her usual sneer.

'We'll SEE about that' her friend chuckled at her rude joke.'See you later, freak'.

Destiny felt the air around her swish as Chelsea left. A burning pain throbbed somewhere beneath her many layers of skin, right in her heart. Melina nodded, to Leo, and motioned to a distressedDestiny, her light brown long sleeve tunic with a simply adorned belt rustled as she moved. Leo returned her nod, and made his way over to Destiny in his forest green tunic and dark brown boots and trousers. Hr touched her light green fabric covered arm in sympathy.

'Don't listen to what she says. It doesn't matter that you cant see, what matters is how your character really is, and i see a strong, astounding young woman ready for anything' Destiny smiled, she felt much better,'Thanks Leo, you always sound wiser than your fifteen years of age, and usually that's not a good thing, but today it is' Leo playfully smacked her arm, and all three of them laughed. Melina, always the one to talk, said,' Well its time to get you inside.'



Destiny hadn't been inside the Home Tree for three months; a painful experience with another villager shunned her from the rest. She eventually made her way back to civilisation. She forgot just how big it was. When Destiny entered the tree, the space felt enormous. The air felt big, and the echos of so many people talking bounced of the walls, making her head hurt. What she didn't know was the change in lighting. Outside, a bright day was beginning, but inside the shadowy trunk of the Home Tree, the trunk sapped up the light from the few lamps. Before, when they first started living in the tree, this proved as a problem. Then they discovered another special quality about this tree. It glows. The tree saves up the solar energy on the outside, and transports it on the inside to save it for nighttime. Fortunately for the villagers, they live on the inside, so the light the tree has saved is always shining in the walls made of bark in magnificent swirly patterns that move and change. You could spend hours watching them and never get tired. When night falls, the tree simply lets out thelight that it stored during the day on the inside, to the outside; making the tree glow at night to guide travelers home. By this time, the villagers had also found