Author's Note: So, just keep in mind, not all of these will end the same. Sometimes more then one chapter will be dedicated to a single Yeul. Don't worry, eventually her special boys will appear! :D Please enjoy! Let me know what you think!
Disclaimer: I own nothing but the OCs.
Warnings: Death and dark thoughts.
Word Count: 3,095
Status: Incomplete
After the death dissapearence of Yeul, many feared that Paddra would fall into ruin. But before the entirety of the Paddrin people and it's government could collapse beneath complete anarchy a little baby girl was born. This girl was born with dark gray hair and big dark green eyes. An exact replica of Yeul. Grasping at straws, the ruler announced that Etro had re-granted life to the formally deceased, Seeress Yeul.
And thus, Yeul was reborn.
Little did they know at the time, that while they were saying that this little girl was the Goddess Etro's Seeress, they had no solid proof to show that this little girl would still have the abilities of the Seeress. Until the little girl, unnamed and only five, was asked by one of the many handmaidens over and over "Who are you?"
For the longest time the little girl would babble or look on blankly. But one time, they got a reaction.
"I am..." the young girl rubs her face. A somber look crossing her features. "I am... Yeul."
That was proof enough for the Ruler. She was the Seeress reborn. But even that wasn't true. She was the Seeress.
"So it's you, Seeress! You have been reborn," the handmaiden says softly, eyes wide and hopeful.
The little girl shakes her head slowly. "I am... not the Yeul that you once knew." Her voice a complete match to that of the Yeul before hers.
Confused, the handmaiden asks, "What do you mean?"
"I am not the Yeul that you once knew. I am a new Yeul born after the death of an old Yeul," she says softly, eyes down cast. Eleven extra years added to the eyes of a five year old girl. There was wisdom there, and much sadness. "I hold the memory of the Yeul before me, but I assure you, I am not her."
The handmaiden shook her head, long dark hair falling around her shoulders. "I do not understand, Seeress. You are Yeul? But you are not?"
Yeul nods. "I hold her memory... but not her love for the sky. Specifically, her love for the night sky."
That was the truth, but no many understood it. She told it to all that knew the Yeul before her but eventually she stopped, because they couldn't understand. At night, Yeul would wake the house with her screams, recalling her previous life's death over and over and over again. But the visions appeared. She was still the Seeress and was still blessed, or cursed, by Etro.
Yeul didn't leave at night. What she told the handmaiden was true, she had no desire to leave the house at night. She didn't care about the stars in the sky. In fact, most would say she strayed from the dark. She kept candles burning throughout the night to help her with her nightmares-which it didn't really do, but she was persistent. No matter how old she got, she always wanted to be surrounded by people and away from the dark.
By no means was Yeul any sort of social butterfly. She kept to herself and watched as the world went on around her. More often then not she would go weeks without saying anything, other then relaying what she sees in her visions or her screams at night. No matter how many times people ask her what happened to her, and by her they mean the old Yeul. The young girl would be pulled back to her final moments, passing by agonizingly slow in comparison to her vision. The fear, the horror. She couldn't control it.
Yeul is depressed all the time, she keeps to herself all the time. She doesn't get up in the morning as early as the old Yeul did. She would sleep a lot more and not go outside much. She would perform services as the old Yeul did, but she wouldn't be able to smile softly at the crowd or do as many. Needless to say there was many guards put around Yeul at all times. They may not truly know what happened to her, but at least they know enough not to let her be alone again.
"Seeress," one of the many guards at Yeul's door peaks in at the young girl. Yeul lays quietly on her bed, eyes half lidded, staring off into space. She's 13 years old and is seeing the future more then the last Yeul and something has occurred to her. Every time she has a vision, it gets harder and harder for her to come back. To find herself again. It's getting impossibly hard for her to gather up the tiny threads of her sanity after every vision.
"Yes...?" Yeul says softly, trying to lift her head but she just doesn't have the energy anymore.
"You have been requested to the king's court, Seeress."
It takes more energy then it needed to for Yeul to pull herself to her feet. She runs her fingers through her hair a few times trying to smooth out the wild locks. Once she's got it somewhat under control, she pins it up and hides behind her vale. She runs her hands up and down her arms, trying to calm her goose flesh. Yeul just can't seem to shake this feeling of lethargy.
"Are you ready, Seeress?" One of the other guards asks, opening the door.
Yeul drops her hands and nods, walking slowly, but purposefully, to the door. She still has to show people that she is capable of performing her every day duties. A point to make face, so people don't worry. Mostly only her guards, handmaidens and the ruler know of the stark difference between the two Yeuls. Two guards follow Yeul down the hall at her flanks.
The ruler was a man in his late twenties, early thirties. His family has ruled over Paddra for as long as time can remember. The Yeul before her often thought that he was a bit of a snotty brat. He had much power, even at a young age. He wasn't a whole lot older then the previous Yeul. But now, he stands an adult before this Yeul, staring her down with dark narrow eyes and lips pulled tight into a closed mouth smile.
"Welcome, Seeress. It has been a long time since you left your chambers."
Yeul stares blankly at the observation, not all that sure if she should comment on it or not. She opts for not. What good would it do to possibly rile the ruler and bring upon his childish rage to the innocent people of Paddra. No matter how she feels about the rest of the world-which is virtually nothing- she cares deeply about Paddra and prays every day that this selfish ruler doesn't lead it to ruin.
"How are you doing?" The ruler, Conilis, asks smoothly, eyes half lidded.
"Fine," Yeul says softly.
There is a moment of silence, both waiting for the other to speak but neither do. The guards in the room shift slightly in the tensing atmosphere. He gives her a look like he doesn't want to offer up the information, but wishes to be asked.
Finally, Yeul asks, "Is there something you needed from me?"
"Yes," the ruler says, pleased that Yeul asked. Yeul suspects that this is some form of dominance. Like if he offered up the information, it would mean the Yeul had some kind of imaginary advantage over him. She didn't really understand, but she was too tired to fight his wacked out logic.
"May I know what it is?" Yeul asks, struggling to keep her posture straight.
"Yes," Conilis purrs, standing from his throne and waltzing around, hand waving around as he spoke. "I want you to go on a trip."
This news shocks Yeul. "Where to?"
Conilis smiles at Yeul, looking down at her condescendingly from his perch. "Not far, just around to the other towns around Paddra. Show them the power of the Seeress. Bring a bit of faith into their lives. Give them a bit of incentive."
He was trying to hint at something but Yeul didn't understand. "For what?"
The condescending look sharpens slightly, aggravation peaking over the corners of his false face. "To unite with Paddra."
Yeul murmurs the words under her breath, trying to understand them. "Unite Paddra for what?"
Now Conilis looks completely annoyed, like he was dealing with an imbecile. "Seeress, we want to... encourage the other cities to swear allegiance to Paddra, and eventually to create a large and bustling city." His arms swoosh out wide, eyes far away as if he could see it now. His voice growing more and more passionate. "The towns will then bow between one Goddess, Etro, and her last descending human bloodline!"
Yeul stares, eyes wide. A million thoughts ran through her head. He just wants to have more power. It was plain and simple like that. A true ruler should want to expand to benefit the people, not themselves. Anger twisted in her gut like a cobra. Between gritted teeth, she asks, "Is this the will of Paddra?"
Conilis pauses, as if shocked by her words. He turns to her with steely eyes. "Yes."
Yeul nods, bowing stiffly, before turning away. "Then I shall obey."
The young Seeress obediently prepared her things, unsure of what this adventure would bring about, but sure that Conilis is the only one that is going to get the better side of all of this. It's not that he was a bad ruler. Yeul knew that he was a smart one, and the people of Paddra have had lots of good come from him being ruler, but just because he's a smart ruler doesn't mean he's a good one.
And Yeul distinctly remembers in her past life being unable to really leave Paddra to go the handful of yards away to see anything that the other little towns had to offer. The ruler didn't want her to get her mind filled of places that weren't Paddra. That didn't stop her from having random visions of places that she has never seen before.
The first town she visited was deemed Chijeet. The opposite side of the cluster of towns then that boy from Yeul's pasted life. Tobias. Yeul showed up before nightfall, which suited her fine. She was tired anyway. Her and her ten guards. She thinks that it was a bit overkill to sent so many initially, but then her mind traveled back to the men that ended her first life. "Band of thugs," Tobias had called them. It didn't matter though, they wouldn't be able to get her this time. She was safe with these guards.
Outside the window of the inn that Yeul and her guards were staying the night, Yeul can see the rock her past self used to frequently visit. The huge boulder casting a black shadow over the field lit by the full moon. What her past self saw as the most beautiful thing in the world, or at least a way to see it clearly, this Yeul sees it as a terrible reminder of what disobedience will lead to. What naïveté will do to the weak. Even in her last moments, the past Yeul did not regret seeing that ball of light in the sky. In her mind's eye, that was the last thing she saw before her heart was carved from her chest.
Yeul cringes, a pain in her chest. It happens sometimes. She accidently immerses herself in her past life and she begins to feel everything that her past life did in those moments. And her past life's final moments weren't something she wanted to live through.
The tiny smile from the past Yeul's affection for the boulder now twists into a nasty frown. Why should she be happy? How could she be happy? That Yeul is dead and she leaves her last horrible moments on this Yeul's soul like spiders crawling across her body. It's always there, a constant itch that she can't seem to get. It keeps her up at night and scares her to not end. Like it's crawling beneath her skin, no one can help her get it either.
She can hear her guards rustling behind her. Sardonically, she thinks to herself that they can try and protect her from human or monster, whichever should attempt to threaten her life, but they can't stop the thing that is truly killing her. The memories of the past Yeul.
"Seeress," one of the guards calls her attention, coming to stand next to her. "Is there something out there?"
Yeul closes her eyes for a long moment, trying to quench these dark thoughts. She can feel them drenching her soul with their taint and it leaves her feeling uneasy. She feels the shadow of the past Yeul hanging precariously overhead. She can see the previous Yeul's death again and again behind her eyelids, pulsating along with her heart, straining the powerful muscles that keep it beating, until it tires and grows weak and slows. Slows more and more.
"Seeress?" The guard asks.
Bugs chirp and sing outside loudly, drawing Yeul back more than the guard's hesitant voice.
She opens her eyes. "Yes, there is."
He tenses. "What is it?" The shuffling behind him as ceased. The guards are preparing for a fight if they must. The sentiment alone cleans away a bit of the darkness around Yeul's heart.
Longingly, and if possible, a little brokenly, Yeul says, "the memories of a dead girl."
Each day Yeul would go and preach before the people of the Goddess Etro and how her divine will is cast upon the people. She refused to follow the ruler's order and say that she merely smiled upon Paddra. That wasn't true. There was more that Etro loved besides Paddra. She could see before her eyes the people be enchanted by her. It's one thing to hear of her, but another to actually see her and talk to her in person.
Even though Yeul was only yards away at most times from Paddra, she still missed it dearly. This is the first time in this lifetime that she has ever been away from Paddra. She can't sleep at night in the unfamiliar beds and the strange sounds of the town. She wants to stare longingly at Paddra from one of the many inns that she stays at, but the rock is always the first thing she notices. It taunts her in the darkness, a constant reminder of what happened to the past Yeul. Forcing Yeul to turn away from Paddra and the haunting rock.
After each of Yeul's services, an advisor under the orders of the ruler, would tell of a wonderful life being one with Paddra and the people couldn't agree more. Yeul was quite the spectacle. People would show up hours earlier to her sermons just to have good seats. More and more, news of the lands considering forging alliances with Paddra would appear in conversation and eventually, it was all people could talk about.
"The will of the Goddess Etro is not spared for just those that believe in her, but to all of the people in the world," Yeul says robotically. "We are all Etro's children and are all loved by her equally." These words are like words on parchment. Stiff and straight forward. There is no emotion that can be plucked from these words. Before Yeul can continue to give her overly rehearsed speech-one that she has had to give ten or eleven times now to other towns- she felt the muscles in her neck relax and her head tilt back.
Etro was giving Yeul yet another vision.
People smiling, laughing. Children running around in the streets. Buildings being constructed. Paddra expanding. People flocking to the House of the Seeress. Singing praises. The ruler standing at his throne, people cheer and wave. A girl stands before them. The Seeress. People cheer louder. People bow, cast looks at an older Conilis. They aren't impressed by him. They are by her.
Yeul jolts out of the vision, warmth and happiness flooding her chest. People are deadly silent, all staring at the collapsed Seeress. The advisor holds Yeul in his arms, waiting patiently for her to leave the vision. He has had years of practice. He takes it in stride. At least this time, Yeul isn't alone.
The corners of Yeul's eyes are being overcome with darkness. Her vision tunneling. Yeul can feel the corners of her mouth turned up slightly. For once, she wasn't just tired and lethargic, she was peaceful. This is the first time in a long time that Yeul has been in a long time. Her heart pulsates loudly in her ears and it takes her too long to notice that it's slowing down.
Unknowing of Yeul's predicament, the advisor asks, "What did your vision show you, Seeress?"
A content smile crosses Yeul's lips. She looks unseeing at the nearing night sky, wondering vaguely if this was just a coincidence, or the will of Etro. To die at night like the Yeul before her did. But she was happy. Paddra would be at peace. Even if Conilis' plan wasn't entirely pure, ultimately it would lead to a powerful and prosperous unity between all of the towns under a Paddran banner.
"Seeress?" the advisor asks again, softer this time, as if afraid that if he spoke too loudly Yeul would break.
"The unity of Paddra and the people of the other... towns... the people are..." Yeul smiles breathlessly, eyes drooping closed as her heart slows down, "happy." Yeul's body goes limp in the older man's arms. It took a minute or two before the advisor realized that the girl in his arms was no longer alive, but before he could start to panic-or even react at all in that case- her body turned into billions of tiny colorful orbs of light. Her body disappearing into nothing, with a look of peace and a gentle smile etched onto her face.