Kingdom of Arzialla by Marilyn Arias (story reading txt) 📕

confused I wasn’t sure how to react.
“She’s our savior! Our Goddess!” she said.
I shrugged. “I’m sorry… My family was never very religious so...”
“Oh, my boy, it’s not a religion. It’s the truth!” she said. She started taking the sand and started sprinkling it on my nail. I couldn’t help but notice how it was shimmery with green and purple grains. Like the footprints I followed to find Arzialla… “It is said that Syveria is a spirit but walks in this world like an actual person. Myth has it that every step she takes in this world, the dirt underneath grass and rocks turn into mystical sand in which can heal practically any wound. Of course, no one has confirmed that it’s her that makes this sand, but many say that they’ve seen a woman with red hair hiding and running away.”
That’s when I remembered the woman that saved me from the river.
“What did she look like?” I asked.
Mila pointed up at a painting of a woman leaning against a tree. Her ruby red hair went down to her butt and flowed with the wind. She was pale with a blue hue to her skin and her eyes were golden. Her dress was sexy and the ends faded off like fog.
“Not many people have seen her but the few that have met her has described her as such,” she said as she bandaged my finger.
“I think I’ve met her…”

Mila suggested I take a break from fixing the chair until my nail healed. We went off to the market and the clothes store wasn’t too far from Mila’s house so we basically walked there. We passed by the academy that I attend now and I stared at the building where future soldiers study to be part of the army. I was inspired by them so I tried to transfer into it. The only way anyone can transfer into it was through a test that'd take place in the pracice session that they have. You must prove that you're fit, capable of handling tight situations, and able to show your fighting skills and common sense. I wasn’t fit but I wasn’t scrawny either. I was reasonably good with a wooden sword, even though I was hit by it a few too many. And I had great common sense but, according to them, I had slow reflexes even though the robots were insanely quick. The robots were supposed to be Gavrils, so it was hard for me to believe that I am supposed to pretend that they’re the ugly, dumb beasts they are supposed to be. I mean, I personally watched how Gavrils hunt not too long ago and I learned the only thing they know best is, as long as they travel in a group, they can easily corner you. Other than that, you can throw a boulder at ones head while he chases a squirrel to eat and he’ll think it was a bird dropping poop on him. They barely ever stray far from each other. I felt like telling the Sergeant that that wasn’t right of how he tests people like me but I left the building without a complaint.
Mila found a few pants and shirts for a pretty good price and a pair of nice looking shoes. She paid for it all and just on our way back home, I noticed a shop that I didn’t realize before.
“Mila, is it okay if we take a look in here?” I asked her.
She glanced at the shop and then glanced at me with an unsure smile. “You like this kind of stuff?”
“Well…”
“I don’t see why not. Let’s go,” she said.
We entered the shop and we found various swords, daggers, axes, bows and arrows, crossbows, clubs, etc. displayed nicely in every wall. A man comes into the room as he wipes his sweat off his forehead with a handkerchief. “Hello, how may I help you?”
“Oh, nothing. We are just looking,” I told him.
“Okay then,” he replied. He found a stool at the corner of the room and sat there.
At the corner of my eye, I saw a sword that shone like no other. It glistened against the sun’s rays that entered through the windows.
“Ah! You like that? That was once going to be for the son of the king,” the man told me.
“What happened? He didn’t like it?” I asked.
The man had a hint of sadness in his eyes. “No. He died with his mother in her womb.”
I felt a sudden sense of grief for them. Especially the king.
“The king asked me to make this especially for the prince of Arzialla but the unfortunate miscarriage and deaths were too unbearable for him that he asked me to keep it here as a display and memory of the long lost prince,” he continued.
“So I’m guessing it’s not for sale, huh?” I asked with a side smile.
“I’m sorry, lad,” he chuckled.
I began to glance around and noticed that he has a sword, a military armor, an ear cuff of honor, and some badges displayed in a glass case.
“Who’s is this?” I asked.
“That’s mine,” he smiled.
“You’re a soldier?”
“I used to be,” he sighed.
“Did you quit?”
“No. I got into an accident that made me have to resign,” he told me. I glanced up and down at him and found him perfectly fine. He noticed how I was trying to figure out what the mess up was and said, “I lost sight in my right eye. I got a blind spot.”
“How did that happen?” I questioned with interest.
“War,” was all he said.
I glanced at the case and stared at the sword. “You know how to sword fight?”
He chuckled. “You bet. Why?” I'll Think About It- Anna

I’VE GIVEN MY FAREWELLS TO Coach Peters since I’ve now moved on to high school. I’ve been a freshman for about two months now. Archery tryouts are coming up soon and I’m ready. I don’t feel as nervous or as unconfident of myself as I used to be. I’m pumped and always ready for a challenge. People have acted odd around me for a while now, however. Like they’d whisper and stare at me all the time. I’d tell this to Dad and he’d always say the same thing.
“It’s because you’re beautiful and they can’t handle it.”
He doesn’t get that they don’t stare at me with awe or anything of the such though. They gawk at me more of in a disgusted or disturbed manner. Whatever. I don’t let it bother me. Well… not every time…
Luckily, I have my goofy cousin Caitlin to keep me company and to keep my chin up. And to keep their attention away from me with her unpredictably weird character. Jenny is right now a junior so she has different classes from us and never has the time to catch up to us and make sure we are alright in school like Uncle Steve and my parents expect her to do.
“Hey!” Caitlin shouted as she jumped on me and giggled.
“Jesus, Caitlin! How many times have I told you to not do that?” I asked her the millionth time. She finds it amusing to scare me like that.
“Not enough,” she smiles.
“You’re impossible,” I let out a grin and shook my head at her silliness.
We headed to the cafeteria and dropped our bags at the round table that we sit outside. Caitlin wouldn’t stop babbling about how cute this one guy is and how she thinks he likes her and all. She has to pay lunch so she doesn’t eat but since I'd like to have my lunch she comes with me in line to keep me company. We go up to the chalk board that announces what’s for lunch. In lovely handwriting, “Teriyaki Chicken with Rice and a choice of Tossed Salad or Hashbrown or Milk” was written on it.

“Ew… Teriyaki chicken again?” I complained as I took a tray.
“What? You don’t like teriyaki chicken?” Caitlin asked in surprise.
“It’s disgusting! At least here at school it is.”
She nods in understanding. “Well, can I have it then?”
“Only if I keep the rice and milk,” I said as I grabbed a small carton of low fat chocolate milk.
“Ugh,” she groaned. “Fine.”
I giggled at her as I grabbed the two small styrofoam containers full of rice and teriyaki chicken. I faced the lunch lady behind the register and punched in my school ID number.
“Name?” she asked.
“Anastasia Yetzer,” I told her.
She nodded in confirmation and I walked away. We walked through the entire cafeteria and out the main doors that’ll lead us to the tables outside. We find our childhood friends sitting in our table and we sit down with them.
“Anna!” Megen was the first to see me and she gets up and rushes to me to give me a hug. She embraces me, almost knocking down my tray. Caitlin takes the tray from me and sits down.
“Hey!” I shout at her. She just giggles at me and starts chowing down on the gross Asian food.
Megen lets go of me and looks at me. “Please tell me you’ve done the math homework?”
I rolled my eyes and, with a smiling sigh, I grabbed my old custom-made book bag--yes, I still use it. I’m not like these kids that waste their money on a new bag every year--and fished out a notebook. I flipped it open to a page full of solved math equations and handed it to her.
“Oh, thank you! Thank you! Thank you!” she says with glee. It’s not new that she’s forgotten to do her math homework. I honestly don’t care if anybody copies my work as long as the teacher doesn’t care either and as long as I get it back in time. She sits down, takes out a random, crumpled up sheet of paper out of her messy bag and starts scribbling down the homework.
“Calm down, Caitlin! You’re going to die from eating like that,” Chris suddenly tells her. I glance at my cousin and finds her wolfing down my rice.
“Hey! That’s mine!” I tell her and I start trying to take it away from her.
She takes it away from my reach. “But I’m hungry!”
“You already ate half of my lunch. Give me whatever’s left of the rice, at least,” I told her as I took it from her hands. I look into the container and find that there’s still about two-thirds of rice left. I take a random unopened spork from the table, rip the plastic wrapping off of it and start eating the rice. It was plain and bland…
I motion the container that I held to Caitlin. “I’m not that hungry.”
“Yes!” she says under her breath, emphasizing the S like a snake. She snatches it from my hand and continues gobbling it all down.
“So how’s you’re day, Chris?”
“Meh… Alright, I guess,” he said with a bored expression. “I’m going to head to the music room in a minute. You