Season of Sacrifice (Blood of Azure Book 1) by Jonathan Michael (best ebook for manga txt) 📕

Cerise as if Susy showers the world in blood. And I can only wonder why. A Lahyf, a Healer, living in a world saturated with death. What did I do to Susy to deserve this?

Curiosity is on the forefront - the driving force. Fear, a close second. The ugliness that is becoming of these side effects. Men are mutilating their own bodies as they attempt to gain more power over one another.

5 Elder

Eight seasons earlier…

“S

tone! Stone, look what I found! Look what I found!” I caught one. Dozens of species of toads live in the Great Oak Forest, but the fire-bellied toad is the most elusive of the bunch, and I’ve finally snagged one. Stone is going to be so jealous. Stalking this thing has consumed nearly all our free time this summer, and we’ve had a lot of near misses. Until now. “Stone, look what I have!”

The pond is encompassed by a meadow populated with the white flowers and black fruits of yao grass. Its inviting aroma doesn’t quite overpower the stench of the water hole, where the bank is saturated with thick mud and stagnant puddles. I sprint to the side of the pond where Stone has been stalking. He has several traps set around the bank, including a few mini-snares and a couple baited cages. The snares are floating on the surface of the water and tethered to a weight at the bottom of the shallow waters. They work fairly well, but we catch more common toads with them than anything. The cages are hidden among the reeds on the bank of the pond. They’re so well camouflaged in the tall swamp grass that I’ve been fooled by them myself. It’s quite painful to have one of those spring-loaded doors slam down on your forearm.

I continue running around the thick muddy bank. My feet are resistant to escape the mud with each step.  Stone is in sight. Almost there.

“Oh no…” My foot fails to break away from the mud this time, but the rest of my body continues forward, hurling toward the embankment. I clench the fire-bellied toad with both hands, holding it against my chest to prevent it from escaping. Consequently, I allow my face to break my fall with a soggy landing in the mud.

Stone erupts with laughter. “You sure do belong in Farrow with all those little piggies you raise. You’ll never live this one down, Elder. Forty seasons from now and I’ll still be telling this tale. Maybe even singing it alongside the bards.” He continues laughing.

I pop my face out, leaving a defined print in the bank of the pond. It fades as it slowly fills with water. With a heave of my elbows, I lift my body to take a peek. “Thank goodness!” I exhale. The toad remains intact.

“Stone, this is no time for japing—look what I’ve caught!” With much struggle and no help from Stone, I climb to my feet. I’m dripping wet with the murky, foul waters of the pond along with mud caked all over my body. My tan-colored attire is now a darker shade of brown, and my sandy-blond hair has brunette highlights.  But I ignore my newly acquired chocolate icing and open my hands just enough to let Stone get a peek. “It’s a fire-bellied toad. Isn’t this amazing? We… I mean, I caught one.”

“Yeah, a dead one. That thing isn’t moving,” Stone replies. “Are you sure you caught it and didn’t pick up some other predator’s leavings?”

“What?” I unfold my hands, and there it is, lifeless and limp, stretched across my palm. My head sinks as the disappointment floods over me. “I promise, I really did catch one. It wasn’t dead when my snare snagged it. It swam to the shore and hopped around frantically trying to get free. I think I broke its leg, but you could’ve mended that. I swear it wasn’t dead. You believe me, right?”

“Sure, Elder. I believe you.” He replies genuinely… I think.

“You do? Thanks, Stone.” I don’t know for sure if he’s mocking me or truly being sincere, but I’ll accept the latter. “So upsetting. All summer long…and, yet again, it still finds a way to escape me. Well, I better go bury it so it can give its blood back to the moon.”

“What are you talking about, Elder? Give its blood back to the moon? Azure doesn’t take back blood. It’s just going to rot, decompose, and fertilize the land.”

“I know it doesn’t take back blood. It’s just a saying. It’s the life inside the blood Azure absorbs. It keeps the seasons circulating.”

“Once again, what are you talking about, Elder? Susy is the creator and controller of the seasons. Everyone knows that.”

“My grandma says all living organisms replenish Azure’s wellbeing when they die. She says it continues the circulation of the seasons and all life on the moon. Our deaths are a vital part to life on Azure.”

“Yeah, all dead things will fertilize the plants and feed some scavengers, but the moon doesn’t absorb it. Your grandma is weird. She’s just feeding you stories.”

“No, it’s true, it’s true. Everyone in Farrow knows this. It’s common knowledge in our town.”

“Whatever, Elder. That’s not how the teachings of Susy tell the story.”

“Yeah, maybe. Who really knows what’s true or false anyways? Maybe somebody does. Do you think so, Stone?”

“Think what?”

“Do you think there is somebody that knows what is true or false? Somebody that knows everything?”

“Yeah, and his name is the library,” Stone replies mockingly, this time for sure.

I dredge out a grave in the embankment when an idea occurs to me. “Stone! I just had a brilliant idea.”

“Oh no. What is it?” he moans.

“Being that it was just alive moments ago, maybe we can bring it back to life. Uh, I mean, maybe you can bring