She belongs to the moon (second part of chapter 1)

As Conolyn stood there mesmerised , with her eyes and heart numb, she heard something strange and rare. It was a cheerful laughter. Sincere and effortless. Unanticipatedly Conolyn became alerted. She swiftly turned her back on the view and looked around at the masses. A boy's figure caught her eye. Once she noticed him, he stoped laughing and looked directly at her in contentment. She captured his eyes even from a distance.

She could see them clearly as if he was standing right in front of her. They were remarkable. Conolyn couldn't quite explain it. However a lot of things couldn't be explained in this place.

His eyes had a rare shine in them, a kind of suppressed beauty that only someone as wicked as her could comprehend. A beauty deliberately hidden from the world. A beauty that could not be seen or touched. A beauty that could only be felt from those that had it as well. A beauty that was anything but pure.

At that instant that their eyes met, Conolyn was certain that no one could ever behold the greatness in them as hard as they looked. No one but her.

The young man looked back at her as if she was the most exiting adventure. He observed her patiently and distantly without any desire to conquer her, with great respect to her personal freedom. As if it was enough for him to have her in the same room at an eye's reach. He watched her and amazed he waited.

Suddenly Conolyn could only see him, and everything else slowly became distant and blur. Never in her life had she seen a man that looked so resistant to pain. It was as if all the pain and hatred in the world would not suffice to bend his spirit. This wasn't only respectable but also peculiar, because of his fragile looks.

He was tall and pale thinner than normal, almost skinny. But still, in this fragile like face, in this finely figured boy, she saw with a glimpse of an eye the bravery of a hundred men.

She saw all that and many more. She saw in him what she saw in each and everyone of her fellow men. The perfect soul to collect at any cost, the most dedicated and bright. The purest of the Wicked.

Conolyn had felt this way once before. It was seven years ago, when she had met a stranger much like this one. A stranger that looked at her like this boy did. Like he knew her. Lke he knew her better than she knew herself.

For a momment that made her hopeful. For a momment she felt like she had found precious traces of reason in this crazy world. For only a momment she felt gratified.

“Are you Conolyn?” she heard a man's voice and reality kicked in. The scenery around the boy stopped being blur. It became clear as water and loud like a cry. It became more evident than ever before. She took her eyes away from the boy.

“Yes.” Conolyn said and offered her arm to the man in front of her. He grabbed the inside of her elbow right in the vein and she grabbed his. They greeted each other with all formalities. “We expected you a bit earlier.” Conolyn nodded in agreement.

“I had to walk here.” The man nodded. He was older than most of them. He was certainly over 25.

“I am happy you made it.” he said. “We need someone to lead.” She nodded.

“Do you have a name?” she asked.

“Ofcourse where are my manners. I am Ekkon” he said and shook her hand. His palms were sweaty, he was nervous. But Conolyn didn't have time for small talk.

“Okay Ekkon, thank you for waiting for me. Give me my key and go get some rest. It is late. You can fill me up in the morning” she said and stretched her palm towards him waiting for the key. Ekkon frose for a minute. Like he had forgotten something of great importance. Conolyn noticed his dark skin turning pale and his eyes widdened in nervousness.

“Where did you serve?” He said in a sudden suspicion. “ Don't take me wrong, I am sure they sent you because you are more than capable to lead but..”

“Collector C-O-N 23712 I served on the ship” he looked at her in surprise.

“The... the sh- ship? I am sorry ma'am I had no idea” he said and quickly handed her the key. “Would you like me to give you a ride and show you your room?” Ekkon asked.

“No thank you. I ve been here before.”

“Ofcourse.” he said and bowed his head in respect. Conolyn rolled her eyes.

“I am no royalty Ekkon, and I am possibly younger than you. You don't have to bow” she said and giggled in amusement. He looked at her a bit embarassed and nodded. Conolyn shook his hand once more.

As soon as Ekkon left she turned her eyes on the boy again, who was now looking at her direction full of curiosity. He wasn't one of them. Not yet at least. Conolyn thought greviously. Whatever beautiful this boy had in him, would be soon deprived by this place.

He would be collected too, sooner or later. The wicked would wait for life to get to him first, and at the right moment, they would break him.In that cruicial momment that he would foolishly abandon everything, out of rage and fear and realization as all of them did.

Eventually Conolyn would be forced to watch the shine in his eyes fade away, as she did for many others, brave men and women. This war could not be won by man, war alone was defeat. The times in which they lived in were foredoomed and deceitful.

After all these years she felt like it was all so obvious to the naked eye. She had forgotten that once she was as ignorant and hopeful as any child is.

Conolyn finished her ciggarete, tossed it on the ground and headed at her old home, without looking back. Her eyes did not turn on the boy's side as she walked away. She took the path behind the hammocks that few knew and even fewer attempted. Even a boy with eyes like that wouldn't dare to follow her in the dark.

She took the shortcut from the woods, walking in the dark without hesitating or stumbling. She knew it all by heart, her vision was not important. Blindly, she found her way, avoiding the street lights and the people.

It took her less than an hour to arrive at the old rusty gate. Standing there, in front of it, Conolyn felt exitedly worried and at the same time safe, like when she was a child. It was a moonless night and the stars were blur behind the clouds. It was darker than closing your eyes. But Conolyn could see so clearly as if it was daylight.

She could see the lemon and olive trees around her from their strong scent dancing in her nostrils and could see the rocky ground from the feeling under her boots. The flowers stood tall and wild in the dark, deprived of their wonderful colors. She felt them around her as she walked, their leafs and thorns. Breathing in the sweet scent of nature's remains, Conolyn was touched.

In what used to be her little home town, she found again for that momment, what along the way she had lost. Her place in this world. Any other place would forever be strange and unhospitable compared to this one.

The gate was broken and abandoned.It had been this way for almost a century but no one ever bothered with it, like it wasn't of any importance. These days people treated everything old that way , material or living.

As she walked from the gate to the house the path became clearer and the darkness slowly subdued as she approached the house's dim lights. Her eyes were adapted to the dark and she stumbled on something strange as she walked towards the lights.

It was soft and it got caught on her feet. Conolyn picked it and peered at it. It was a pillow. That wasn't supposed to be here. Conolyn thought but as she walked towards the house through the field, to her surprise she found numerous tents with people sleeping in them. There were also equipment and food scatterred all around the house with no order.

The house was the same. It was old and big with ivy growing all over it. Last time she was here the situation wasn't that bad. The lawn was choped off and all that remained was dirt. More than a hundred people were sleeping on the ground, both under the tends and under the sky. Some of them were sleeping under the pine trees further ahead.

In her early youth she had never suspected that she will wittness poverty so strongly in her hometown. Europe was supposed to be a safe place from the horror. But it wasn't safe anymore, nowhere was safe and nothing was certain.

She examined the tends as she passed them by, walking steadily and silently among them to reach the main door. She noticed kids sleeping around on blanckets, small kids, too young to bare a burden like that. Baby cries could be heard from a distance. The wicked had never taken in kids so young before. 

Conolyn was passed surprised now. She was shocked. All her life she was preparing for a war yet to come and now as she was standing among these weathered tends, near the people who had lost their homes and their ability to sustain themselves, their right to dignity and freedom, she felt like it was only the beginning.

She looked at them as they slept on the ground. All of them looked like simple and peaceful people with their eyes shut like that. But Conolyn knew the nightmares behind them. The kind of nightmares only fair people could have. For in this world only the fair were challenged, all the misfortune fell on their shoulders when the ignorant shook it off of their hallucive world, down to the pit of truth.

Looking at the disgrace of her land and her people, Conolyn knew that this earth could be nothing but hell. It was crystal clear that this world was ruled by inequity. Opportunities were given by chance and not by value, every virtue such as intelligence, morality  and fortitude would only lead to suffering. Having any virtue at all had became a curse burdened with duty.