Crystal Shade Episodes 01

she had done before when she wasn’t satisfied with the result.
    These scroll pamphlets were her most valuable treasures, which let her tell stories, and moments when they were filled with her sketches. She got her first pamphlet scroll when she was four and contained her first attempts, mostly little stick figures. Her personal favourite was also in that pamphlet; the very first self-portrait where she imagined herself with wings. While her first sketches were not masterpieces, they represented the first steps in the world of art. The second pamphlet contained better drawings and sketches; most of them were of family, mother, father and sister. Her parents treasured both of her scrolls; her drawings that gave life to the stories and made the simple papyrus speak to everyone who looked at them.
    She stopped for a moment and studied her drawing.
    “The Crystal Shade. The beginning and the ending,” she recalled the first line of the legend and the teachings that she learned over the cycles. In Eecrys Aredia, the Crystal Shade was the holiest, the most feared entity and belief for both human and Aserian; and foremost it was the greatest mystery of all. Ancient scrolls told many legends of the forgotten era, which brought joy and freedom, but also death and suffering to the people of Eecrys Aredia. Everyone feared that the era of the Crystal Shade would return one day and the Aserians prepared to bravely fight it. But it has never come.
    The arven pencil in her hand had quickly stroked the paper further on the drawing of this legend; the legend which fascinated her. Grace believed her guardian; her conscience also helped her keep her faith regarding the Crystal Shade even if she’d never gotten a direct answer to any of her questions in this matter. Her guardian wanted her to learn everything by herself, to explore the unknown and enjoy a taste of individual victory before Grace made the final step to understand the great revelation… someday.
    The lines slowly shaped the faultless crystal, the mother, and father of all on the paper. In the belief of the people, the Crystal Mother was the only one who could create and destroy. She watched over and cared for everyone. No one ever confirmed her existence, but also no one ever found proof to deny it. No one knew what the sacred Crystal Mother looked like, but everyone had a picture in his or her mind about it. And in her mind she looked like what she saw in her dream.
    She softly stroked in the last lines to complete her drawing, then as she finished, she looked up to the sky; Sachylia curiously watched the little girl who sat in the small wooden pavilion, which floated on a small island in the middle of the large pool in the backyard of the garden. Two saplings grew on either side of a small bridge that connected the small island with the mainland. Grace still remembered the last Slumberous when she had planted the left tree while little Aurora planted the other with mother’s help. Now she watched smiling as the young trees had lived through their very first Deciduous and dropped their first-born leaves one by one.
    Her father built the island for his daughters, hoping that they would love the place. And her father was right. Grace spent most of Prosperous there when she had time to read and draw. It was so peaceful. And now her new masterpiece was born at this time, in this place.
    The little girl looked at her sketch; her eyes stared at the Sacred Crystal. It enchanted her, pulled her deeper and deeper. That faultless shining crystal, the beacon in the darkness that called to her; a crystal so beautiful and perfect, she had never seen anything like that. And that music - the purest sound, the most beautiful tone to ever caress her ears. It tickled her ears, just like in the dream. To her ears, the music was so beautiful; it called her.
    “What are you drawing, little angel?” a motherly kind voice drew her out of the trance. Grace looked to the left where her mother sat down beside her.
    “Just what I saw in my dream,” she studied the picture with a critical eye. “What I remember of it.”
    “May I see?” asked Margey. Grace showed her the drawing. Her mother studied it for a moment, and then smiled fondly. “It is beautiful,” her voice tinged with awe. “Do you believe the creator is this beautiful?”
    “I’m not just believing, I know it. I believe she is much more beautiful than my drawing,” she said with a giggle, and then she turned a bit