Twisted Fates
Alina stood outside the small village north of London, watching the sun rise over the foothills. She hadn’t planned on living in this village long, but something about its quiet serenity kept her from moving on. Up until this village, she had had a system. Stay in one place for no more than five years, then move on, moving far enough away as to not draw suspicion or get recognized.
It had been this way for two hundred years. For reasons unknown to her, Alina had stopped aging on her twenty-first birthday. She watched as her family and friends grew older and eventually died. Yet, time stood still for her. After realizing that she would not undergo the passage of time as the rest of the world did, she came up with this system, so as not to get recognized and put to death as a witch or demon.
For years, Alina traveled the countryside, moving from city to city. Born mere years before the Roman Empire was founded, she followed the conquests of Caesar and his heirs, aiding in the founding of new cities along the way. Eventually, she settled in and around London, the beauty of the surrounding island keeping her close.
This morning, she sat in the stillness of the small pond a few hundred yards outside of her village. She had brought out her sewing, but couldn’t seem to bring herself to do anything but watch as the sun painted the sky in magnificent shades of red and orange.
