The night was cold. The moon was full and bright, casting a silvery light on the land below. The trees were tall and towering and cast in shadow; they were clawing at the sky with their bare branches, grasping for the last bit of light from the moon as a heavy cloud drifted across.
The land went from silver to black.
Everything was silent, save for the soft wind as it passed through the trees’ empty branches, making a deathly crackle… almost like that of snapping bones.
A powerful gust of wind blew through the forest, sending the trees into chaos as they battered their branches against each other. The wind’s hollow wailing only added to her hammering heart.
Slowly the moon returned, yet there were no more trees. The forest was gone. Replaced with rippling waves crashing into a cliff of death below, the waters were silvery and bright, consumed with the moon’s light; the cliff and the stone teeth breaking the water were dark as pitch. Rifts in the soft silver waves.
She looked up at the moon one last time again, and jumped.

Her eyes snapped open and a shiver ran down her spine.
The dream had been haunting her for years; sometimes there wasn’t a moon, sometimes it was complete darkness, just sounds, other times it was in the middle of the day, but it always started with her in a forest and ended with her falling into the ocean.
She swallowed and stared at the ceiling.
Tomorrow, she was to join her father and brothers for a family celebration, one that only allowed the blood of the first sons of Kletchar to be a part of.
Kletchar was the first god, the father of the north, it was said that the Kletchar families were descendants of the god, that the god had gifted three mortal women with sons who would inherit his power. They turned into the Kletchar’Crah, Kletchar’Rek, and Kletchar’Tsen families,
gifted by the celestial wife of Kletchar, Altaya, to only have sons for the rest of time.
She was the first daughter born into the Kletchar’Tsen family.
She was the first daughter born to any of the Kletchar families.
Her father said it was the gods gift, to allow him to have the first daughter born in Kletchar’s line, he said it was an honor that he could have a strong and powerful daughter like the goddess Altaya. Her brothers didn’t agree.
At least two of them didn’t. Asgar was the second oldest, twenty-four, and along with Kilian, the third oldest, both were nightmares. They’d spent a lot of time with their uncle, a Kletchar’Tsen man who wasn’t overly fond of women, especially his niece, when she was born into a family meant only for men, he’d stormed out of the village. The first time they saw him again was two years later. Kilian and Asgar were nicer than her uncle, but didn’t agree with father. They said that she was a curse and that the Kletchar’Tsen family had angered the gods and were thus cursed to only have daughters. It was utter nonsense, but it still got to her. What could her family have done to anger the gods?
Her brother’s snore pulled her out of her thoughts and she looked over.
Lysias and her were twins, and he looked almost identical to her, they both had hazel eyes, a light spotting of freckles and rich chocolate brown hair. When they were younger, they liked to pretend to be the other to mess with others in the village, even their voices had been the same then. Now Lysias was taller and his hair has always cut short, unlike hers, which easily went past her shoulder blades, and that’s when it was still dry and wavy.
Sighing she turned over and looked out the window.
It was mid spring, the grass was fresh and green, colorful flowers were blooming everywhere, and even some fruit trees were blossoming. The sun was just rising, making the rivers behind her village almost glow in the warm light.
Though the land was bright and green, it was still bitter cold. Even the summer was cold, at least at night.
Remnants of the snow from two days past was still piled up beneath large trees and shaded areas, though they already seemed to be melting in the morning sun.
“Jaro, Sias, its time for breakfast” her mother was met with a tired moan from her brother, who rolled over buried his face in the pillow.
Their room wasn’t small, but it felt bigger than it was, thanks to the open ceiling. They both split the room, she got the side with the window -after begging for three days- and he got the side closest to the door. Kilian was in the room to their left, Asgar to the left. Their parents and oldest brother lived on the lower floor with the kitchen and dining hall.
“Up!” her mother stormed into the room and tore off Lysias’s blanket before rushing to her own bed and doing the same.
The cold crisp air hit her like a wave and she curled up, shivering, “Dear, honestly. It’s not that cold.” Her mother sighed.
“I want you both dressed and in the kitchen in five minutes” and with that their mother was out of their room.
She and Lysias took after their mother in everything except freckles, every child of her father had inherited his freckles, though where she and her twin were like their mother, Asgar and Kilian took after father, tall and burly with red hair and amber eyes.
After rubbing her arms for a little warmth she pushed herself out of bed and quickly put on her clothes.
Unlike her mother, who had terrible luck with any type of clothing other than dresses, she looked good, or good enough, in almost anything, though she usually just wore simple brown trousers and a sleeveless tunic with a cotton undershirt underneath. She would put more on when she went outside, a fur cloak, boots, fur lined cuffs for her arms, but for now socks, trousers and a tunic were enough; mother almost always had a fire going on the first level, so she wouldn’t be too cold.