Elara

Two doors. One black and one white.

Black and White.

Light and dark.

Both carved with such beautiful old symbols.

Maybe if I studied them, I’d figure out which one I should go through. Which one would lead me on the right path. Back home to my little village, my house and my parents that I left behind.

But I didn’t have time. I could hear the steps of my chaser and their sound was only louder in the silent woods behind. The hunter was near, he was ready to catch his prey at last and he was running out of patience each second.

And yet, I was just standing in front of the two doors.

“Which door is the right one?” I whispered to no one.

No answer came back. Instead, I heard the sound of a heart beating. My hunter was almost here. I could almost feel his breath on the back of my neck.

I had to go through one of the doors. Immediately.

I remembered my mother saying one should always choose the light, for the light is the only right path in life. But ever since I was a child, I was drawn to the dark. Maybe mother was wrong, maybe for some, for me, the dark was the right path. I’ve always chosen the dark and I didn’t regret a minute of the life I led.

So, in only a heartbeat, mine and my chaser’s heartbeats which were now one, my hand rose and touched the black door. The door flung backwards and I went through it.

Darkness surrounded me. I could see the tall walls around, it seemed like I was in some sort of a tunnel. Going through the door was like a one-way ticket. I took a step forward, then another one and one more. No crack in the walls, no crossroads, just the path under my boots. So I followed it.

I walked for miles wondering if the path led somewhere, where if so? But I had no other choice. I had to follow the path and hope that I’d see something different from the grey walls sometime soon.

And so, I did. I walked and walked in the beguiling darkness without any sign of my hunter. At least I was rid of him. Why didn’t he follow me? Did he know something about the doors that I didn’t? Could he actually see the doors? The questions were racing in my mind, but none of the answers seemed to matter when, after what I thought was hours of walking, I was blinded by a white light.

I closed my eyes and put my arm in front of them for extra protection, but the light started getting dim and when I opened my eyes again, I only saw darkness. Once more, I was walking in darkness.

My hope that I finally reached an exit was gone and all I could do was continue the journey I started. The questions returned to me and this time I really wanted to know the answers. I was just enjoying a glass of wine in the tavern when the hunter first attacked. I didn’t know why, but I knew he was dangerous and I knew I had to run. People around the tavern gave me pitiful looks when he showed up.

“Run for your life,” an old lady told me. “Don’t look back and don’t ask any questions!”

But now that I was alone in this strange tunnel, the questions had to rise. Ever since that moment, I was on the run and he was always behind me. He followed me through towns, villages, mountains and valleys. Never saying a word, never even lowering his hood to reveal his face. I didn’t even know how I managed to avoid him slicing my throat so far.

As I walked, pondering over my mysterious hunter, a light started forming once again. This time it wasn’t a bright light dimming to darkness, it was the other way around.

There was only little light at first and then it started to get brighter and brighter, until I stopped in my tracks, almost crushing to a woman standing in front of me.

“Hello daughter,” she said spreading her hands in welcome. She was just as mysterious as the chaser, in a long flowing black dress, a black veil behind her was attached to her long curly hair.

She was the darkness, but she wasn’t scary or evil. She was tender and poignant, there was something gentle and motherly in her gaze.

“How was your journey?” she asked me.

“Long and full of questions” I replied honestly. “Who are you?”

I hoped I didn’t offend her somehow by asking that. She just smiled.

“I’m the darkness. The night and the moon in the sky, the colour black, the ground beneath your feet and I am death.”

“Am I dead?” I asked her anxiously. “Is that what the black door meant? Did I choose death?”

The air was caught in my throat, my heart was beating faster, I even felt slight shivers down my spine.

“Calm down daughter” she gave me an assuring look. “You’re perfectly alive.”

Her words did calm me a bit, but I had so many questions, so many thoughts. I wanted to know how and why my life wasn’t my own anymore. 

“I will explain if it’ll calm you down. I will show you everything.”

“Show me?”

“I prefer showing, it’s more accurate than just telling you everything, don’t you agree?”

“I guess I do” I answered still confused. If she had all the answers, I would follow her anywhere.

“Very well then. Let’s begin at the beginning!”

She spread her arms once more and there was light again. I was afraid she’d be gone when I opened my eyes, but it wasn’t her that was gone. It was the tunnel. We were both standing in a small house illuminated by a few candles on the mantelpiece. I didn’t recognize the house, but strangely it felt like home.

On the bed in the middle of the room sat a woman with a baby in her arms. The baby was a girl, a newborn. The woman who held it was undoubtedly the mother and a man was standing next to her, looking down at the baby.

“Where are we?” I asked my companion.

“Patience. You will understand soon.”

The people didn’t notice us. For them, we weren’t there at all. They sat in warm silence for a few minutes and then the man spoke:

“Our daughter, born on the 13^th day of the year of the moon. I hope the ancient prophecy mother went on about isn’t about her.”

“Of course it isn’t,” the mother said. “The prophecy says the girl grows up far from home and our daughter’s home is safe with us.”

She gave him a smile and he smiled back.

“Come daughter, we must go” the woman, the darkness said to me.

“13^th of the year of the moon, that’s my birthday too,” I said.

“I know” she replied.

There was the light again and this time, when I opened my eyes, I was at home.

“Home” I whispered. I haven’t been home for years.

“I have to explain what happens during the years between your birth and now” my companion looked at me. “The girl was you, Elara. They were your true parents, but unfortunately, they died shortly after your birth.”

Confusion was spreading through my mind. All the explanations I had seemed weak, her words were true, I felt them in my heart.

“We are now in your home so you can understand why these people you called your parents took you in.”

My mom and dad walked into the room we were standing. They were younger and the child that ran into the room after them was me.

“Tell me a story mom” young me said to my mother.

“Come here, Elara. Sit here and mom can tell you the story about the moon.” My father said to the little girl.

My mother looked at him uncertainly but started the story nonetheless.

“Once there was this girl named Luna. She was born to a family far away from here, but when she was just a baby, her parents died and she was taken in by two people who called her their daughter. The girl grew up with them and was happy, but one day she had to go away. She travelled for so long, but she knew that she was following her destiny. She met a woman who showed her who she truly was and Luna found out things she didn’t know, but accepted them and went on to become the moon like it was foretold centuries before. So every time you look at the moon, remember that she is just a girl too and she’s just like you.”

I was crying. Tears rolled down my cheeks as I listened to the story. My parents knew. They even told me, but I was too young to understand.

“So, I am the girl from their story?” I asked.

“Yes, daughter. The hunter and the doors were the last tests you had to pass before I was sure, but I am now. The prophecy is about you.”

“The girl born on the 13^th of the year of the moon.

Brought up far from home, but not far from the darkness.

The one who escapes the hunter by choosing the dark.

She’s the one who will follow in the steps of Death.”

“I told you death is one of my many names, so is the moon. I have lived for so long now, ruling over everything dark and beautiful, but I am weak now. My time is passing and you, Elara, are the one that will take my place soon”

Everything just made sense in my head. My love for the dark, the hunter and the doors, the woman standing with me.

I was the darkness too.

I was the moon.

I was Death.

The darkness was really the right path for me. It led me to my destiny. My whole life I searched for my place in this world.

And now I finally found it.