This is a little something I wrote off of this picture prompt. I hope you enjoy it.
[image found at pixabay--here]
Lil's grief overwhelmed her once again.
She had cried a million tears over the course of the months since her
realm had been invaded—her family assassinated, her people
slaughtered, her castle and towns burned to the ground. Nothing was
spared the raving madness of the revenants driven into her kingdom by
the vindictive king in the neighboring realm. Or the magic that
destroyed everything else once the revenants were sent back to the
ground. Nothing, except her.
How had he raised such a devastating
army of the dead? How had he controlled them to do his bidding? How
could anyone be so evil, destroying everything to punish one woman
who had refused his advances? Tears soaked her clothing as the
questions she had no answers for rolled over and over in her mind,
ceaseless in their assault on her sanity.
He had left her enough food to survive
months of wandering through the lands she had once ruled, allowing
her only the gown and cloak she wore before he closed her within the
shell of her once prosperous lands—left to die alone, bereft, a
shadow of her former self. She was near the end now and still the
tears flowed. She lowered her face into her hand, grasping the shreds
of her filthy garment close about her with her other hand to lessen
the chill from the wind, and prayed to the gods of her youth for
mercy.
A stillness soon fell over the area and
peace infused Lil's frail body. She couldn't move from the spot she
was in, couldn't change her position by a fraction, but instinctively
she knew something good was happening. There was no fear in her as
she felt her skin harden, felt the tendrils grow from her feet
through the rocks and into the soil underneath. Soon she was firmly
rooted to the spot and she felt the water and nutrients flowing into
her from the ground below. She was no longer hungry, no longer cold,
no longer afraid. She found she could hear the slightest whisper of
sound from the trees around her. They were not dead as she had
thought they were, only resting until they could once again rise in
their glory. She knew the moment the first green sprout timidly
peeked out from a branch. Inwardly, she smiled in victory. Her lands
would live again. The gods had answered her prayers.
She was no longer alone.
