Drulissa's Domain

The warm morning light across my breasts created a valley of shadow between them, mirroring the darkness in my heart. It lay like a heavy stone there, and I was chained to its place by the insupportable memory of him who had left me alone beneath that bitter winter sky . Yet my heart longed for his touch and presence. His warmth filled my soul with an inextinguishable fire, while he, so far away, existed only as one out of many vague remembrances of all those whom I had ever known — a cluster of old fancies garnered from this world's storehouse and brought forth again into life — not fresh, but frost-bitten and changeful. Fancies which I remember the best times of my life with, of which I cling to like a handful of dried and withered flowers. As some frail relics we prize because they have been dear to us in our youth, though now worthless, so do I cling to these remembrances of my earlier days, as if their beauty were unspent and might blossom again under happier skies. ...

 She walked across the desert for hours, away from the battle. The sun fell below the horizon, and she saw the stars above her in the clear sky, reminding her that the stars would always shine bright in the night sky. And she would always be beneath them. It was dark when she finally saw the outline of a mountain ahead of her in the distance. Above the mountain hung the moon in all its glory . "I've seen many things," she whispered into the night. She felt the sand beneath her feet. " I should have been a better person and have many regrets." The stars above her and the moon shining down on her. "But I cannot lie to you, Fayla. I have never loved anyone as I love you. You are the most beautiful woman in the world. I would have asked you to marry me if you hadn't been killed today." She looked up at the moon again and felt the tears welling up in her eyes. She kept climbing the mountain. "You were my soulmate. And you will alw...