Total pages in book: 151
Estimated words: 147649 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 738(@200wpm)___ 591(@250wpm)___ 492(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 147649 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 738(@200wpm)___ 591(@250wpm)___ 492(@300wpm)
There is a world out there beyond our gates, just like there always was.
I already made Pie’s ring. And I still have it. I found it in the smithy a few days after Pie came back to me. I didn’t even need to write an inscription, either. Because one was already on there.
A story of a monster’s curse.
A Book of Debt and a spelling verse.
Blood, and horns, and doors, and trees.
Pie and Pell, forever free.
I never wrote it down because… happenings. But I did write this vow. And it’s like the God of Happy Endings knew it was perfect and inscribed it onto the ring for me.
Like a gift.
Pie made me a ring too. I showed her how to use the forge. She wanted to make it very fancy, so it’s gold mixed with a tiny bit of copper and silver. And then she spent days heating it up just enough to carve tiny hearts along the inside with her own inscription.
It says:
I make a promise with this ring,
You are my love, you are my king.
Forever we will be together
You are my life, you are my treasure.
This morning I get up early and walk the woods and the fields. It’s summer again, and this makes life feel like the old days. The hot sun on my bare shoulders. The green grass under my feet. I don’t usually go as far as the front gate. I prefer to stay away from the road just in case someone looks in our direction as they pass by in a car.
But today, there is a piece of paper trash flapping on the outside of the iron bars, so I go over there to release it and throw it away.
It is the front page of a newspaper and the headline makes me hold my breath. Because it says, MONSTERS ARE REAL! And the subtitle reads, An entire town of magical monsters has been discovered in central Pennsylvania. World goes crazy!
And there he is in all his glory.
A black and white photograph of beautiful Eros standing on top of a building with black wings outstretched, and holding a sign that says, Come fall in love with us.
I crumple the paper up in my hand. Not angry, just… not interested.
The outside world can wait.
No god or monster can make us leave
Our time is now I do believe
Forget the sins, forget the past
The happy ending is ours at last.