Copyright © 2016 by Ali Shaheen
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Prologue
It was a cold midwinter's eve, with pearly white snowflakes slowly falling from the sky. Thinking back, I never would have imagined that my life would completely change within a year, and in such a tragic way. Never had I thought that I would be taking the life of someone who meant the world to me.
In my left hand, I held the limp body of a woman, which was quickly becoming rigid and cold. In my right hand, I held the sword responsible for killing her, which was still protruding through the woman's chest and out of her back. The sword's tip faced the eerie crescent-shaped moon in the sky, causing the burgundy colored blood to flow down onto the sword's golden handle. The air was heavily laced with a strangely familiar scent of metallic blood, which dripped down onto my hand.
I pulled the sword from the woman's chest before releasing her body, letting her fall onto the grass which is blanketed by snow. As I stood up, a pool of blood began to amass where the woman lay. Without looking back, I began to walk forward, leaving behind the body of the woman. The body slowly began to be covered by snow as the wind picked up, marking the beginning of a blizzard. The sword, whose tip was now facing down, dripped a steady trail of blood onto the snow as I headed towards the archaic castle.