Story of a warrior

To find more information, I did. But my luck in finding any? None. It was 2 years that I looked and found nothing. I kept on fighting the minions, but I hadn’t seen Adin at all. He was 17 when I left so he might be 19 or 20 now. I was now 16 and pretty strong and tall. Even during my time of finding information, I also looked for Adin. I missed him and I wanted to see him again, which I did eventually. But rather… absurdly.

In the summer the king had invited all assassins, warriors, hunters and the rest of the vibe to a ball. Surprisingly, I was invited to come. I figured the king had forgotten about what happened 2 years ago, but I wasn’t going to let that stop me from being cautious. One thing that didn’t surprise me though was the fact that I had nothing to wear. And just as I feared, I had to go to the nearest village and find a dressmaker.

I disliked going into villages or towns unless I had to, but this time, I HAD to. Fortunately for me, the first town I came upon had a dressmaker right at the front. I got off Czar and tied his reigns to a post and went inside. The minute I opened the door, a young blonde woman called out to me in a cheerful voice.

“Hello there, darling. How may I help you?” she asked. I pulled down my hood and mask to seem less intimidating and smiled.

“I’d like a ball gown dress, please.” The young woman stared at me for a second before gasping.

“Annaliese, is that you?” I looked at her confused.

“How do you know my name?” I questioned.

“It’s me, Sasha.” My eyes widen.

“Sasha from the orphanage?” she nodded and smiled enthusiastically.

“Yes, Sasha from the orphanage. So much has happened very since you and Adin left,” she started.

“Tell me, please.”

Sasha regaled me about everything. After I and Adin left, all of the chores that we both did go around to the other older kids. Jacinta and Hans got married and had 3 little boys and one girl. According to Sasha, they named one of the boys Adin and the girl Annaliese. All of the older kids when they turned 18 left the orphanage and most of them got married. Since Sasha was 7 years older than me, she left the orphanage 3 years after I and Adin left and got into fashion and designing. She taught herself and sent clothes to the orphans at the orphanage.

“So how about you and Adin? What happened to you both?” she asked.

“Well, we got taken in by some warriors. I nearly died from influenza, and Adin confessed his love to me. I ran away again and fought for some minions. Saw the king. Met Adin again and for these 2 years, I’ve been running around trying to find information about the king. I haven’t seen or heard from Adin ever since and now I’m invited to a ball.” Sasha nodded.

“Seems interesting. What kind of dress do you want?”

“I had not thought about that…” I replied sheepishly. Sasha smiled.

“I think I have just the dress for you. Wait here.” She went into the back and came back with a dress. It was a beautiful colour of purple and had a lace covering at the top and lace sleeves. The dress skirt and bodice were made of satin and some thick, not-see-through material. The lace part at the chest had satin underneath and was closed around the back and floor length. It had a matching purple coat with a hood with some wool inside.

“It’s perfect. Thank you!” I exclaimed. I hugged Sasha and she hugged me back and gave me the dress.

“It’s yours to keep. Have fun at the ball,” she called as I ran out the door. I was ready.

*****

I fixed the collar of my shirt and examined it in the mirror. Shawn had been kind enough to give me a suit for Williams’ party. I sprayed some perfume and looked at the picture frame on my table. It was a drawing Jacinta had done of me and Annaliese sitting on a hill together. I hadn’t seen her in 2 years. Was she alive? What is she doing now? Does she think of me? Does she remember me? All of these thoughts and questions raced through my mind until a loud knock on the door brought me plummeting back to Earth.

“Open,” I called. The door opened and Shawn’s head popped inside.

“Can I come inside?” he asked. I shook my head.

“You already are inside, silly.”

“Oh yeah. Right,” Shawn said as he came inside and closed the door behind him. I must have still been a little dazed because he examined me intently.

“You, okay?”

“I- yeah. I’m fine,” I stammered. Shawn didn’t seem convinced.

“Were you thinking about Annaliese?” I didn’t respond. Instead, I looked at him and nodded. Shawn smiled at me gently.

“You do know she will be here tonight, right?” I looked at him confused.

“She is?” Shawn scoffed.

“Uh, yeah dummy. Annalise is one of the youngest renowned warriors. She’s going to come.” I smiled embarrassed and rubbed the back of my neck.

“Yeah. I didn’t think about that. Do you think she’ll remember me?”

“Well, even though you are 19 now and a little tall, you haven’t changed a bit.”

“Obviously,” I said smiling. Shawn smiled back.

“Come on. Everyone is here, nearly.”

Shawn walked out of my room, and I had no choice but to do the same. I ran a hand through my hair and walked out, closing the door behind me. I walked the short distance down the hallway to the ballroom and entered. Shawn was right. There were quite a few people. As I looked to find Shawn, I grabbed a cup of champagne and winked at the young woman.

“Still gorgeous as always, Leah,” I complimented her. Leah smiled.

“Thank you, Mr Adin. You better be glad that I won’t kill you by the number of times you’ve flirted with me.” I shrugged and walked away.

“Try me.” I walked off and found Shawn standing talking to a beautiful woman. She had a purple floor-length dress and a purple cloak on top. She had long brown hair nicely curled and done up in a bun with a few strands hanging loose to give a nice effect. She had an amazing pair of magenta-coloured eyes. Shawn looked up at me and motioned for me to come.

“Adin, this is a wonderful girl named, Annaliese. Come meet her.” I looked at her and our eyes met. She looked so… familiar. Like I saw her before. Just as I was going to talk to her, the trumpets resounded, and the doors opened. William stepped out in his trademark black and dark blue colour. He grabbed a glass of champagne from the servant next to him and looked at us all.

“Ladies and gentlemen, you have all been gathered today at this ball as a means to thank all of the warriors, assassins, soldiers, archers and the rest for joining us all here today for thanking you for protecting this humble kingdom…” I looked over at Shawn and Annaliese and noticed the anger on her face. Did she know something that we all didn’t? Shawn noticed me starting at Annaliese and hit me gently. I looked at him and he leaned closer to my ear and whispered to me.

“Do you think this is the Annaliese that you used to know?” I shrugged. We turned our attention to William just as he finished his speech.

“… a toast to all those who protect us!” he ended as he raised his glass high. Everyone did the same and repeated what William said. As well all took a sip from our champagne, I noticed Annaliese was gone.

*****

As the king was doing the toast, I immediately went and found a corner to hide. What was the king trying to achieve? Was he trying to get the favour of everyone so that when the minions destroy the kingdom, he won’t get blamed? And that was Adin. I knew it was. And boy he grew tall. But now he was staying with Shawn? As I was pondering these thoughts, I decided to go talk with Adin, but as soon as I left my hiding spot, I noticed a small girl standing in the middle of the crowd staring at me. It was like she seemed invisible to everyone else. I blinked and when I did, she was gone. Weird. I went on my way and bumped into someone.

“Oh, I am so sorry. I wasn’t paying attention,” I apologized to the stranger. They slowly turned around and looked me in the eye. I gasped. It was the king, but he didn’t seem to recognize me.

“Are you, Annaliese?” he asked. I nodded.

“Yes sir. I am.” William stared at me and smiled.

“I’m so glad that you could make it. I had thought that you wouldn’t come considering how busy you are protecting the kingdom.” I looked at him and smiled nervously.

“Yeah. I thought that as well, but I guess it can wait for one night.” He nodded and turned his attention to another guest. I sighed and walked off until I noticed Adin dancing with another girl. He looked so happy and smiled and laughed. My heart broke in two. He moved on and forgot about me. With tears in my eyes, I turned and walked away passing Shawn. He noticed my face and grabbed my hand.

“Annaliese are you okay?” he questioned. I looked at him and shook my head and got out of his grip and walked off. I didn’t want to talk to anyone. At least not now.

*****

As I was dancing with Katrina, another beautiful woman who liked me, Shawn came up to me and tapped my shoulder. I turned to look at him.

“Hey, Shawn. What’s up?”

“Annalise, that’s what.” I stopped dancing and told Katrina I had to go solve something. I then looked at Shawn.

“Where’s Annaliese?” Shawn shrugged.

“I think outside. But you should go talk to her,” he stated matter-of-factly.

I ran outside and when I did, I saw Annaliese running into the gardens. I followed her and stopped her.

“Annalise. Wait!” I called after her. Annaliese stopped running and turned to look at me. Her eyes were red and full of tears, and she looked hurt and angry.

“How could you, Adin! How could you forget me?!” she yelled at me. More tears started falling down her face as I stood there feeling dumb.

“I’m sorry, Annaliese…” I started, but she cut me off.

“Sorry doesn’t fix anything, Adin. Sorry, can’t mend a broken heart. Sorry, doesn’t change what happened. Sorry, doesn’t take my pain away. Sorry, doesn’t help. The damage has been done. I thought you cared about me. I thought you loved me!” she shouted. I didn’t know what to do, but to tell her the truth.

“Look, Annalise. I do care for you. I do love you. I know sorry can’t mend a broken heart. I didn’t forget you. I’ve been thinking about you every day for the past two years. I’ve been trying to find you. I’ve been longing every day to look you in the eye and tell you that I never want to let you leave ever again. To tell you that I love you. To tell you that I care for you. To tell you everything. I didn’t forget you, Annaliese. I never can and never will.”

Annaliese looked at me. Her anger turned into hurt and then into sadness. Her skin looked so delicate. I just wanted to touch her face and hold her close and tell her everything I said again. But I can’t. she was hurt by me, and I deserve to be ignored by her for my foolish actions. I hurt the person most close to me. Annaliese turned away from me.

“I want to be left alone.” I nodded, respecting her decision and went back inside. Shawn saw the look of disappointment and sadness and let me be. Now I wanted to be alone and contemplate what I had done wrong.

*****

Once Adin left, I found the nearest bench in the garden and sat down crying. I once again felt like I had no purpose in life. Like no one cared about me. I looked up at the night sky and sighed. Such a peaceful night, yet such a painful one as well. When I looked back down, I saw the same girl inside. She wore a white shirt covered in glad, as well as her hands. She had blonde, brown or red hair and had a maniacal smile. I was staring at her and she was staring back at me. My blood ran cold and in the blink of an eye, she was gone again. After that, I heard a high-pitched scream, and someone called for help. I froze. I didn’t know what do to. Just then a hand clasped over my mouth and pulled me into the bushes. I screamed and yelled until the person scowled at me.

“Be quiet or we will both get caught.” I had a knife in my cloak which I brought and cut the person’s hand. They let go of me and I turned around, with my knife pointing in the direction of the person until I realized who it was.

“Felix?”