The Sky and the Sea, the Sea and the Sky

11

"KALANI!"

Tink...  Tink  ...  Tink...

"KALANI!!"

Shhhhh...Shhhh...

"NOOO!" I  screeched, jolting up off Ray.

My chest violently puffed in and out, struggling to compensate for air.

I quickly shifted my eyes around, looking for signs of danger.

The rain poured violently.

Tink...  Tink...  Tink...

I followed my ears to the top of the cave, only to see drops of heavy water falling desperately into an endless grey puddle.

How long had I been out?

Someone had called my name.  

"Kalani!"

There it was again. It had to be real. I wasn't imagining it. The voice was unfamiliar. Before I had time to think, a Skyden glided into the cave.  Jumping back into the firm cave wall, I scanned the man who had entered so abruptly. "Princess Kalani of the Skyden Royalty, under the king's order, the guard and I have been ordered to take you back to your kingdom immediately."

"I don't need protection, I can fend for myself." The Guard looked at me, puzzled. His eyes looked down at the rocky floor, then back up to my eyes.

I was no longer drowned in my depression for Raiden, but vengeful towards the war at hand. "The chaotic spirit that has formed between the Sky and the Sea is not what my mother would have wanted," I remarked. Whatever has happened between the time of my mother and now has been a mistake. Why was our first reaction to blame Damaris?!"

"Kalani, despite your view on the divide, your father is worried sick about you. He cares about your safety."

"No, you see, he cares about the war. He wants me to be safe, but all he ever thinks about is seeking revenge on the people who did nothing wrong. That's not what she would have wanted."

A few more guards soared into the cave. One, in particular, landed briskly a few feet away from me, then darted over to me. "Princess Kalani, are you injured? Anything? Cuts, scrapes, wounds?" She was only inches away from my face. The deep look of concern was nothing new. I had seen it many times before by various guards my father had sent after me. For the first time in a while, I stood up to my feet. Clenching my fists tightly, I outspread my wings. They were still in mild pain from flying to the mountain and around in the skies. "I'm not okay, I said confidently." "He's gone."

Noticing him for the first time, the woman snapped around towards the Skyden men. "What are you thinking?! Kalani is in no state to see someone like this. Take him away, now."She wrapped her arms around me, and her white wings formed a curtain around my face. I looked down. that's all I could think to do. "I want to go home. I want to go home with him. He's not dead, he can't be. We were supposed to save the people. I need to go home," I cried. "I know, Kalani, we are taking you home. "Cora, are you ready for her to come?", a guard asked. The woman lowered her wings. "Affirmative," she briskly replied. "Come, Kalani, we must remain strong and unmoved. For her." 

I nodded and walked slowly trailed after the Guard to a slim wood platform, in which I stepped on lowered myself to lay down on my back. I looked up at the clouds as the wood panel in which I lay ascended higher and higher, carried by the men in which I had met minutes before. I gazed up at the clouds. They were a sorrowful faded grey with shades of black interfering. "Have they stopped fighting?", I asked, hoping for someone to answer." "No," Cora whispered from behind me. Just a few feet away, two guards carried Ray's lifeless body. They were going to show my Father. Maybe after all the lives lost from our kind he will finally be able to see what I see.