Shanti by Katherine Van Orden (best e book reader for android txt) 📕

his ear to keep the sound from entering his ear drums. The stranger didn’t seem to notice the noise because he kept his head lowered. A whirling sound instantly took place of the shrieking noise. Darren looked up and saw a small stone falling from the sky, instinctively; Darren threw his hands over his head. The stone missed his head by an inch and landed in his lap. The wind from the stone lifted the bottom of his shirt and covered the stone’s features. Darren unfolded the cloth and grasped the stone. Darren slowly picked up the rock to inspect it thoroughly. The stone was a vibrate green with a tough looking shell but the stone held fragile features. Darren’s heart jumped. It’s the stone from my dream!
Chapter 4
Darren looked up from the stone slowly and looked at the man.

“Explain, now.” Darren said firmly, looking the stranger in the eye. Darren wouldn’t have spoken to anyone so harshly but with all the strange happenings, nothing is the same.

The man looked at Darren with eyes and said, “What you will learn may help your curiosity but will bring a great burden on you. Do you wish to learn this knowledge?”

“Yes. Also, I would like if you would stop talking like a prophet.”

The stranger ignored the request and started his story.

“I was very young when I fell in love. She was beautiful. She had raven black hair which was tightly coiled and always covered her ears. Her eyes were a deep green which seemed always in deep thought. We both fell in love at first sight.” The man sighed, “She was betrothed to a proud, man who was the son of my families’ adversary. Her parents didn’t commit her to the marriage but the parents of the son did. Ella said she doesn’t have any parents. She lived alone in a cottage. Her fiancé kept the cottage watched until a certain time when there was a guard change.
Ella and I would meet secretly together at night, I would make a sound of an owl and she would slip out of the house. It was a secret we kept with our lives until her betrothed, Karan, found us in the night.
We heard rustling in the bushes where we had our hiding place. His eyes fell upon Ella then he angrily turned toward me. He pulled out his blade with fire in his eyes. Before I could react, he rushed toward me and held his sword at my throat which made blood slide down my neck and onto his filthy blade. He drew back his blade ready to stab his sword into my throat until he heard a screeching noise that filled the air. The noise came closer and closer, the sound stopped. A huge stone fell out of the sky and hit him on the head. He yelled in pain and started to run the opposite direction toward Ella. He threw his sword straight at Ella’s stomach. The sword penetrated Ella’s flesh and flew Ella backward. I heard Ella’s gasp. She tried to cover the blood, but I noticed the blood seeping through her fingers and onto the floor. I rushed toward Ella and cradled her; ignoring the immense stone that was next to me. Ella’s breathing became shallow and that told me that she was not going to live much longer. She looked straight at me and said that she has been keeping a secret from me. She told me that she wasn’t human but an elf that was sent from her home to watch for wickedness in the land. Ella told me that Karan had blood of a demon, which you don’t inherit from parents but inherit from your soul. She said Karan will soon learn of his powers and will seek revenge on me. She continues and said that I have power that will keep me safe and the world from Karan’s wickedness. She said I will soon find out and that it was my destiny. Ella laid her head on my chest and took her last breath. I pushed her hair behind her ear and noticed the ears were sharply pointed at the top. The sight drew my breath away. I’ve heard of elves, but I’ve never seen one in person. I pushed her hair back and sobbed.” The man looked down from Darren’s eyes and choked back a sob. He wiped his sleeve against his eye preventing any tears from streaming down his face. He regained composure and continued his story keeping his head lowered.
“I laid Ella down on the grassy floor. The stone next to me was vibrant green and seemed to have jumped into my lap. I was afraid,” the stranger paused, waiting for Darren to interrupt but Darren didn’t. The man continued.
“I studied the stone and noticed it had egg like features,” the stranger saw the Darren was looking down at the stone.
“The stone weighed the same weight of a rock but since my friend’s father was associated with stones, I made up my mind to bring it to him.”
“I pondered Ella’s last words. I couldn’t make my mind understand that my destiny was to kill some wicked thing that haunted her and the elves. I started to walk home, picking up the stone as I head out of the forest. I brought it home, setting it on my father’s old worktable and became hitting it with things that he used to estimate the value. The stone was thick on the inside edges but was hollow deep in the inside. I try everything that my father had but nothing was working. I threw my father’s tools to the ground, making a clattering noise. That didn’t soothe my frustration or my pain; I grabbed a hold of the stone and threw it at the floor, everything seemed to go slow. Down, down, down went the stone. Before it reached the floor a loud, high pitched sound filled the room. The stone broke into a thousand pieces, a light brighter then the sun pierced the night. I shielded my eyes from the light, but the light penetrated my eyes. At last, the light and the noise stopped. I looked down and there it was a griffin. I heard of these beasts, flying over the land, killing anything in its sight. I couldn’t see anything evil or dangerous in the animal, so I raised it.”
The stranger became silent.

“That’s it?! That’s all you’re going to tell me? What about your destiny, your griffin, the evil demon?! And you didn’t even tell me your name!”

“That’s enough!” The man replied harshly. Darren became quiet, feeling embarrassed from his outburst.

There was an uncomfortable silence between the two travelers. “My name is Kor.”

“Kor…? What kind of name is that?” Darren let the name roll off his tongue.

“I was named after a warrior that saved our land from tyrants. I think the warrior was a dwarf…I vaguely remember my parents saying something about a dwarf warrior…”

“I would like to explain to you that this is the 1950’s.”

“So?”

“In the 1950’s, there are no dwarfs, elves, griffins, and…and…evil demon people!”

“What is your point?” Kor replied calmly.

“Oh my gosh! I don’t think you’re understanding a word I’m saying!” Darren cried, “You are crazy!” Darren said, exaggerating the word “crazy.”

Kor chuckled softly. “What? What’s so funny?!” Darren asked in utter confusion.

“You…you are funny.” Kor replied between laughs.

“No, you are funny in the head, dwarf!” Darren replied angrily standing up, the stone dropping from his lap.

Everything seemed to go in slow motion. Kor stopped laughing, his happy face turned into fear.

“NO!!!” Kor yelled.

Right before the stone hit the grass, it exploded. Light streamed everywhere, blinding Darren who was the closest to it. Waves of heat hit both Darren and Kor, burning their skin. A sharp noise filled the air, forcing their hands to their ears. Darren crouched into a ball hugging his knees, face to the grass. Suddenly, it became quiet.

Chapter 5
Imprint

Publication Date: 08-01-2010

All Rights Reserved

Dedication:
To Kristen For always being my annoying sister. I love you.