Silver Cathedral Saga
Silver Cathedral Saga
Book 1
M. Riddle
Table of Contents
Silver Cathedral: Part One
177
th
Swan: Part
Two
Deep Shadows: Part Three
On
Astora: A world where land only existed and floated in the sky.
Where its ground was a sea with a curious magickal promise grown
ups only knew the truth about.
Now this,
this was called home to many, many people.
Yet what
you are about to read is a tale about how two particular children
started a new life together—that affected their entire lands, and
the lack of them. One which neither imagined, exactly, in all their
gods driven days—to happen as it did.
Part
One
The
clouds were almost non-existent, much like the wind and sound
around them.
“Did you
hear about Swansie today?” asked Eleanor.
“How could
I of not,” replied Christian. “They haven’t shut up about it all
week.”
“I know,”
said Eleanor. She paused for a minute, looking at the blue and
white twinkling stars cutting through the night sky. “The Silver
Cathedral. Can you believe they’re looking for new guards there.
That’s my dream.” She looked
mesmerized
in
her own thoughts. “Becoming a Spell-caster, defending the king. Not
to mention living in the most luxurious place to ever exist . .
.”
“Hold on
there, gal, I have a shot too,” said Christian.
“Ha. I’ve
seen you play sword fights with your sister. Talk about
embarrassing. I think the stick might of actually went red for you
at one point. One point,” she chuckled after saying the last two
words.
“This is
coming from Mrs. I want to get married to royalty. Get real. The
best shot you have with Prince Etch, is being next to him—for a
second. With that small portrait you have of him.” Christian went
over to the well near them, and looked down. It looked so deep that
the bucket was out of sight; all that could be seen was the
unbelievably long rope that faded into the darkness below. Astora’s
floor of sea looked like a black road beneath them, still, calm.
“And what kind of a name is Etch anyway? The king and queen were
obviously on illegal dust when they picked that out.”
Keep
calm. Don’t slap him in the face again like last week,
thought Eleanor.
Although it was funny
seeing his reaction. No, don’t do it.
She
went quiet for a few moments before continuing.
“Come on, I
don’t wanna fight. It didn’t end well last time,” said Eleanor.
Christian
sighed. “True. It would be the grown up thing to do.”
Eleanor
moved her head, agreeing.
They went
quiet for several moments, then looked at each other again . .
.
Suddenly, a
loud burst of laughter filled the night. The two of them simply
couldn’t keep a straight face after what they said.
“What would
we do without each other?” said Eleanor, barely able to say the
words from laughing so hard.
“Never
laugh comes to mind,” replied her friend, “I don’t think anybody
can laugh at themselves as much as we do.”
The
night drifted on, and their laughter fell silent, eventually.
Though the time soon came when they both had to return to their
land of dreams.
This
next day was a hot one, although dark clouds were starting to form
around the sun.
Eleanor and
her mother were farming vegetation.
It was a
dull activity, but things that people do so much that they don’t
love, are. It goes without questioning how important a task this
was for this family either way.
There was
several small fields of food the two females needed to harvest that
was their own, some was to be sold. Almost everybody in the village
was a farmer. It was the primary surviving job there.
These
people among themselves sold and bought each others resources of
food and materials. Some even traded, but there were few who did,
as this was a, ‘if you produce it you use it’ village.
Eleanor’s
mother was just about to finish the last carrot, which she noticed
did not grow very well. She then placed her right hand above it in
the soil, and it began to grow, rapidly, right in front of her
eyes; she took away her hand and pulled the carrot out of the
ground when Christian and his family walked by. The vegetable was
unusually large now compared to the rest when it landed in the
basket.
“Luna,”
said Christian’s mum.
Eleanor’s
mother tilted her head to see who it was, and got up. “Keeping busy
as always, I see,” said Christian’s mum again.
Christian’s
sister said a warm “hello” to Eleanor and Luna, then smiled.
Both
replied with a wave and “hello Miyah”. They grinned at her before
shifting their attention back to Christian’s mum.
“You know
me, Mia. How’s it all going with you anyway?”
Eleanor got
closer to Christian and started talking to him behind the wooden
small fence that divided the pathway and their fields.
“We meeting
at the well again today?” said Christian.
Eleanor
nodded. “As always. Not that they’ll be anything worth doing
there.”
“The weeks
seem to get worse as we grow older, don’t they?” said
Christian.
“More than
I can bare sometimes,” replied Eleanor. “I’m sure we’ll find
something to entertain us . . . one day.”
“Perhaps,”
said Christian. “But until then, we’ll just have to get on with
this boring lifestyle of ours.”
“Come on
then,” said Mia to her own family. “Nice talking to you again.”
“You too.
Remember, be round here at five. We’ll have another chat, and with
some much needed mead to go along with it.”
“Don’t
worry, I’ll be here. And no doubt this one,” said Mia gesturing
towards Christian, “will be hanging about with your Eleanor tonight
at the same time too.”
They all
said “bye” cheerily; knowing they were all meeting up again very
soon.
Luna stared
at where Mia’s family was for a good while before her daughter
interrupted:
“Mum,
what’s wrong?”
“Oh,
nothing,” she said with a little smile curl from one side of her
mouth. “It’s just the little things . . .”
“Little
things?” questioned Eleanor somewhat worried at what would come
next.
“Yes, the
little things. The little things in life that make it . . .
bearable.” She looked at her child. “Except you.” She lifted her
daughter up into the air; her hands shook a little, straining to
carry the weight. Rays from the sun now came out and shone on her
face, making it hard for Luna to see her properly. “You are my big
thing in life—never forget it.”
Eleanor’s
mother embraced her; the daughter wrapped her legs around Luna in
an awkward manner, looking like she was about to fall, hugging what
was left of her family.
It came
to night, the longest part of the day.
Luna and
Mia were inside Eleanor’s home whilst their children where outside
with each other, as usual; they were near the well at the back of
their village.
Hiva Aura,
being as dull as it was, give few reasons to worry mothers about
the safety of their children. Most of the kids played at night, in
the dark. But then, the night was as much a part of the day to them
as the light, at least the earlier parts.
Especially
with the help of their star bracelets.
An hour
passed since the two families gathered when a yelp cut through the
air. Miyah was with her mother and Luna inside.
In the
early hours of night—a disturbing yelp echoed through the air, like
something gave a potent pain, and what was even more worrying was
how quick the sound died into nothingness. Miyah was with her
mother Mia inside, and also Luna.
All three
of them left the house from a simple curiosity taunting them in
their minds, especially the mothers
’
, and
when they did, there was a lot of other Astorians looking to see
what was happening at the same time as them.
More and
more started to come out of their homes made of mud and straw with
each passing second. And there it was.
Numbers,
only a few to begin with, but black numbers; like shadows roaming
through the night. Roaming with the night.
Then, there
was even more Astorians coming out of their homes, until the whole
village must have been looking in the direction of this one sound
being turned into two, then three, then four. Then lots more, and
no, they never did die, not for as long as they looked.
The first
scream that darted through the air sank on all those who heard it;
and many hearts sank with it too, knowing a terrible burden—had
come to them. Yet they all had to see this first before letting it
take hold of their lives.
The
Astorians scrunched up their faces from the growing screeches of
pain. Noises began to suffocate the air, their ears and minds.
Like a
flock in danger, they all moved to run from these sounds, including
Luna, Mia and Miyah.
All three
went to the back of the village; to see if Eleanor and Christian
were okay, and to hopefully take them to safety.
They all
ran with fear, pounding the muddy trodden path many boots had
stomped against before them, hoping to outrun the threat and catch
their children.
They
were now nearing the small hill the well sat on, and could see
nothing of Eleanor or Christian, their daughter and son. One
belonging to each. The three still pursued to go to the top, as
they had a better chance of seeing them then, and if the enemy was
coming for them already.