Hello, how is everyone?
I've been thinking about my journey up until now, honestly the easiest thing would be to try to explain it to you. When I write, I don't have a text or a story in my head, I have an image, and so far I've been trying to explain to you what I see in that image. But little by little, I've been changing. Instead of telling you what's in the image, I describe the image, so maybe you can have an image similar to the one I had in my mind, even if it's never exactly the same.
What do you think about the writing itself? Has it been improving? And how do I express the story in English?
While I was at work, a story came to my mind, and in just one day I wrote it on my phone. It wasn't perfect, but it might be my best work so far.
I grew up watching Hayao Miyazaki's works when I was a kid. I always loved how he doesn't tell the story directly to you, he lets the world he created tell the story.
The little story I wrote was just going to be posted in my language, but it was something I couldn't do, so I decided to translate it so that you could also have access to it. It was a difficult translation because, unlike a straightforward story, I couldn't just translate this one; I practically had to write it from scratch so that the meaning and intention would be the same in English.
What do I mean? Easy, imagine that you write a sentence in your language, the direct translation of that sentence might not make sense to someone who speaks English as their main language. So I had to do it over and over until I reached a satisfactory conclusion. Due to my limited time, I did this translation little by little. The story itself took me a single day to write, but translating it took almost two weeks.
This short story is "The Girl in the Painting" If you like it, take a look and leave a comment on the main page, but don't feel forced to read it. There's no action, and the pacing is much slower. It's a story more focused on the human side.
It is already available on Webnovel, with all 10 chapters released at once.
Thank you for your support and help. This week there will be more chapters.
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-"Should I even know who you are?" Kael's voice was cold, almost stripped of hope as he stared at the figure before him.
The stranger made no effort to answer. He simply held Kael's gaze, the corners of his lips curling into a faint smile that never reached the calmness in his eyes.
-"Tell me, Kael..." the figure said at last, his voice barely more than a whisper cutting through the stillness of the night. "What is it that's weighing on your mind? You look like a castaway stranded on solid ground. Are you lost?"
Kael looked away, his eyes settling on the restless dance of the campfire. The orange glow bathed the clearing, and for a fleeting moment he imagined the warmth radiating from the flames, desperately trying to feel the comfort that should have been there.
But to him, warmth was nothing more than a visual illusion.
The cold, the one buried deep within his bones and soul, remained untouched.
-"I think I've always been lost," Kael replied, his voice low, almost dragging the words out like a confession. "Even when I thought I'd found my way... it always felt as though the path crumbled beneath my feet."
The figure let out a quiet sigh before turning his attention from the fire to the endless night above. The sky stretched like a velvet canvas dusted with countless stars, while the moon hung alone in silence, casting its pale light over the sleeping world.
-"You know," he began, his voice carrying the quiet weight of old sorrow, "the moon has no light of its own. It is merely a mirror, reflecting the sun's brilliance even in its absence. That's why it matters during the night, because it reminds us that light never truly disappears. It simply changes its form."
He fell silent, allowing his words to linger between the soft crackling of burning wood.
When his eyes returned to Kael, there was something unsettling behind them.
-"...And yet."
His gaze lifted toward the moon before settling once more on Kael.
-"When you look at the moon... you never think about the sun."
He leaned forward ever so slightly.
-"Funny, isn't it? We spend our entire lives believing we can separate two things that were never separate to begin with."
Kael held the stranger's gaze, an unfamiliar unease stirring inside him.
-"You still haven't told me who you are," he said cautiously, suspicion creeping into his voice. "You know my name. You know everything I've been through, as if you've walked every mile beside me. And yet... I know absolutely nothing about you."
The figure remained unshaken.
With slow, deliberate movements, he fed another piece of wood into the fire. The flames flared to life, sending sparks dancing into the darkness before they vanished into the night.
-"My name isn't nearly as important as you think," he replied, his voice carrying the weariness of something ancient. "Or perhaps... after all this time, it no longer matters at all. But if you need something to call me..."
A faint smile crossed his lips.
-"You may call me Bel."
Kael studied him in silence, searching that unfamiliar face for something that felt strangely familiar.
"Bel?" Doubt lingered in his voice. "That's not the name I would've expected."
Bel let out a tired smile.
-"I could say the same about you." he said.
Kael's voice cracked beneath the weight of desperation.
-"What do you want from me?"
Bel didn't answer immediately.
His gaze drifted down to the dying embers, as though somewhere within them he could still see the reflection of a past that refused to fade.
-"Hatred..." he murmured. "It consumes us until there's nothing left."
He paused.
-"For years, I carried an unbearable hatred for my brother. I convinced myself that if he suffered, my own pain would finally disappear, that somehow the balance would be restored."
His expression darkened.
-"But when I finally watched him fall... I discovered the cruelest truth of all."
Another silence.
-"My pain had merely found a new home."
His eyes remained fixed on the fire.
-"I watched him become everything I despised..."
His voice barely rose above a whisper.
-"I watched the monster I had helped create."
Kael felt the blood freeze in his veins.
A familiar rage clawed at the walls of his mind.
-"You're talking about that shadow..." he spat. "The one that's been hunting me."
His jaw tightened.
-"You're talking about Cain."
Bel lowered his head.
The weight of countless centuries seemed to rest upon his shoulders as he released a long, weary breath.
-"You feel lost, Kael," he said softly. "But tell me... all the people you've met. All the lives you've touched. All those you've saved..."
His eyes met Kael's once more.
-"Don't you think... in some way... they've become a part of you?"
-"Don't talk to me about salvation!" Kael snapped, his fists clenching until his knuckles turned white.
-"There's something inside me!"
His breathing grew heavier.
-"Something dark... something endless. I can feel it trying to consume every part of who I am... trying to tear away whatever humanity I have left!"
Bel slowly raised his head again.
Calmly, he pointed toward the pale glow of the moon.
-"The monster within you isn't chasing you, Kael." Bel said quietly.
Silence settled between them.
Neither of them spoke.
Only the fire crackled softly beneath the endless night.
After a long while, Bel finally broke the silence.
-"It simply refuses to be forgotten."