Jelly Life chapter 1

Chapter 1

Death at the enemy's hands

Sua woke up to a beautiful sunny day in Valiento, her hometown. She leapt out of bed with excitement. Tomorrow would be her birthday, so today she would help with preparations. She opened her closet and grabbed a nice sundress to wear.

Once dressed, she skipped downstairs, happy to see her family.

“Sua, you’re up early!” her mother smiled as she set the table for breakfast.

“yay! pwancakes!” her little brother was as loud and speech-impaired as usual. The pancakes were exciting though, and she ate them with relish.  Her father stumbled out of his room, tired and grumpy.

“good morning, dear.”

“uff.” he grunted grumpily and stabbed pancakes with a fork. After breakfast, he regained his decency, albeit with some syrup on his face. Her mother was busy with her little brother, Miho.

“stay still Miho!”

“NO WAN CWEAN!”

“MIHO!”

Her father turned to her with a request when it was mostly quiet.

“sua, could you go and get some sugar from the bakery while we get Miho under control?”

“yeah, I can do that.”

She skipped outside, and greeted her busy town. The market was not very far from her house, so it only took her a few minutes to reach the bakery.

“hey Sua! how’s it goin’?”

“good!”

She was pretty good friends with the baker’s son, so often times she got things from him that weren’t supposed to be for sale.

“I need some sugar.”

“ah, a cake?”

“probably.” she shrugged. “I don’t know.”

“eh, I’m sure it’ll be good anyway.” he turned and walked towards the back of the store. “wait here.”

It only took a few minutes for her friend to get the bag of sugar, and before long she had arrived at her house again. Even outside, she could faintly hear Miho and his annoying crying.

Inside, it was cleaner than before but still incredibly loud. If anything, Miho had quite the lungs for screaming. Her mother told her to take it slow today, no chores. She retreated happily upstairs to read for a while.

Mostly, her room was filled with books about monsters and magic, and the ocean. Her town was carved out of the woodlands though, which meant that there was no ocean for miles. It was a long-running dream of hers to finally see it and its mysteries.

Unfortunately until she could get a chance at combat training, there was no way her family would let her travel. This world was filled with dangerous beasts, ranging from gigantic dragons to tiny magic ants. Almost everything could kill a novice warrior.

Her thoughts were interrupted by the sounds of the town bell, and a crash. Her father rushed up the stairs with a fearful look, and his sword in his hands.

“The closet. SUA, NOW!”

She fell backwards into the closet and her father pushed the door closed. Her stomach turned.

The town bell sounded in times of danger, or death. If her father was using his sword, she knew they all were in trouble. He wasn’t a master swordsman, but he could defend his family well. He also had battlefield experience, so she followed what he said for fear of her own life.

Outside, she began to hear the sound of people in heavy armor, marching in a steady monotonous tone. Sua could her Miho’s muffled crying and crossed her fingers that it would not alert the soldiers to her family.

Unfortunately, her hopes were dashed quickly. The front door opened, and she heard the clash of blades, followed by a sickening squelching noise. Miho’s crying stopped suddenly, and she heard the soldier’s footsteps approaching her room.

Sua huddled in her closet, afraid to make any noise at all. She held her breath as the screams of agony and fear seeped through the closet door. Heavy footsteps approached, accompanied by the clanking of armor.

Her small border town was first on the docket for destruction, and so all she could do was hide from the enemy soldiers as they decimated everyone. Sua huddled deeper in her closet as she heard the soldier start opening the doors and trashing her family’s home. Through the cracks in the door, she could see him.

The soldier’s polished white armor was stained with blood, almost all the way up to his helmet. His breath came in heavy gasps, seemingly from effort. His sword shone with scarlet blood in the dim light from the window. She held her mouth closed as hot tears began to flow.

It felt almost as if he had stabbed her heart along with her family, as she gasped from the pain and grief. Her long black hair draped over her face as she curled up on herself, barely controlling her painful mourning. Unfortunately, that single gasp was enough.

The soldier’s heavy breathing and clanking armor slowly and deliberately approached her hiding place. With the deafening creak of wood, he opened the closet.

Sua looked up to face her death, and saw that he had pulled his visor up. His face had a long scar down one side, and his eyes were marbled with some kind of liquid gold. He wore a maniacal grin on his face, like he was just on edge of laughter.

“found you!” his cheerfulness made her sick, but she wouldn’t have to suffer any longer.

With one quick movement, he shoved his sword through her stomach. She screamed in pain and hugged her sticky wound, tears running down her face and dripping on her lap. He laughed, a crazed, sickening sound. She coughed and choked on her own blood, watching herself bleed out and tearfully thinking of her final moments with her family.

Slowly, her vision faded to nothing, and her mind dissolved into inky blackness…