A Shepherd Promise

I. The Boy from the Mountains

High in the emerald folds of the Azurian Mountains, where eagles soared and wildflowers whispered to the wind, lived a boy named Aurel. He was just twenty, with sun-golden skin, unruly black curls, and eyes the color of storm clouds—eyes that had seen the dance of wolves and the cry of hawks, but never the velvet hush of courtly halls.

By day, he herded goats and played his reed flute. By night, he gazed at the shimmering castle below—Castle Alveria, a marble fortress nestled in a valley of wealth and wonder. He knew he didn’t belong to that world, yet something inside him pulled him toward it.

One day, fate answered.

II. Her First Glance

It was during the Summer Bloom Festival, when villagers and nobles gathered in the valley market. Aurel had come down to sell goat cheese, his first time so close to the castle gates. The sun was warm, and music filled the air.

And then he saw her.

She was not just beautiful—she was unreal. Dressed in pale blue silk, her hair like a river of gold, and laughter light as wind chimes. Her name was Lady Seraphine, daughter of Lord Alric, the Duke of Alveria.

For a moment, time stopped.

Their eyes met.

And then she smiled.

That single smile, sweet and fleeting, rooted itself in his heart like a sacred vow.

III. A Heart That Wandered

In the days that followed, Aurel returned to the valley, pretending to sell cheese or collect herbs, just for a chance to glimpse her.

Sometimes he’d see her near the castle gardens, or riding a white mare. Once, she dropped a silver ribbon near the stream, and he picked it up like it was a piece of heaven.

One day, he mustered courage and left a wildflower crown at the castle gate. The next morning, he found a note tied to a stone, hidden beneath it:

“You play your flute in the hills, don’t you? I hear it sometimes. It’s beautiful. So are your eyes.”– S.

Hope bloomed. And love, like spring after frost, awakened in both their hearts.

IV. Forbidden Blossoms

Their secret grew.

They began exchanging letters, hidden in tree hollows and old stone walls. Aurel learned she loved poetry, hated her father’s strict rules, and dreamed of running away. She learned he carved animals from wood, had never tasted wine, and once risked his life to save a trapped wolf cub.

Then, one moonlit night, she slipped out beyond the gates.

They met.

For hours, they talked. Laughed. He touched her hand, trembling like a boy who’d just met the sun. She leaned in, pressed a kiss to his lips—and it was the kind of kiss that rewrites lifetimes.

But the world does not wait kindly for impossible love.

V. Shadows in the Garden

It didn’t take long for her father’s guards to grow suspicious.

One evening, as Aurel climbed the garden wall to leave another wooden carving—a swan this time—he was caught. Three armed men beat him to the ground. His blood stained the marble path.

Lord Alric stood over him, cold and cruel.

“A shepherd dares trespass my garden?” he spat. “Know your place, boy. She is not for you.”

Aurel was thrown into the castle dungeon for three nights. Seraphine was forbidden to leave her room.

But he never stopped loving her. Even from the darkness, he whispered her name like a prayer.

VI. Hope’s Last Light

After his release, Aurel was broken—but not defeated.

He wrote Seraphine one last letter:

“Run away with me. To the hills. To the sky. To a world with no titles and no walls. If you come, I’ll wait for you by the Moon Tree on the mountain ridge, where the stars kiss the earth. Tomorrow night. After that... I’ll never return.”

He tied the letter to a falcon’s leg—the same bird they had once fed together—and watched it soar toward the castle.

Then he climbed to the Moon Tree, heart pounding with each step.

He waited.

And waited.

The stars came out. The moon rose full.

But she never came.

VII. The End That Wasn’t

Days passed. Aurel didn’t return to the village. No one saw him again.

Some say he vanished into the mountains. Others claimed he threw himself into the River Esra, heartbroken.

Years turned like leaves.

Then one winter, a servant girl from the castle—long dismissed—spoke in whispers to a traveler in a tavern. She said Lady Seraphine had tried to run. That she packed a bag, wore a cloak, and escaped her room... but was caught by her brother at the gate.

That night, her room was locked, her windows barred. She screamed for hours.

She was soon married off to a foreign count. The marriage lasted only a year—she died of fever, they said.

But when the Moon Tree was struck by lightning decades later, its hollow cracked open.

Inside, villagers found a bundle wrapped in silk: old letters, a wooden swan, a silver ribbon, and a carved name—

"Seraphine. Forever."

And beside it, a final letter in Aurel’s hand:

“I will not curse the stars, for they showed me your face.

I will not curse the wind, for it carried your scent.

I will not curse fate, for loving you was worth every wound.

But I will go now, where class and coin cannot follow—

and wait where souls are equal, and hearts are free.”

VIII. The Mountain Legend

Now, travelers say that if you climb the Azurian peaks on a moonlit night, you may still hear the soft notes of a flute in the wind.

And if you follow the music, you'll find the Moon Tree—scarred, but standing.

And perhaps, if you sit beneath it, you might feel what they felt:

A love that bloomed where it was not allowed.

A heart that broke for a dream too big for the world.

And if you close your eyes...

You’ll see a shepherd boy, barefoot and proud, with eyes full of storm light.

And beside him, a golden-haired girl who ran too late.

Together—at last—in the place where dreams and mountains meet.

Written By: Kippler