Evil & Love

Song of the Wind

Her hair billowed around her. She didn’t know where she was, nor did she care. She was finally free and that’s all that mattered. The trees shook in the wind. The grass scratched her legs. Flowers were blossoming everywhere. The sky had light fluffy clouds and a beautiful shining sun.  None of it made sense, nothing was reasonable. No one knew who she was and she was okay with that. Everything was fine. She was fine and for once fine was good enough. The magic in the air tickled her. Called her name. Whispering, begging her to call upon it. 

She didn’t understand it but she knew what it wanted. A song began playing on the wind. The magic was so beautiful and if she just reached out, it would respond to her touch. It would react and make something more beautiful than itself. 

“Okay Em, you want to do this? Show me what to do,” she whispered. The magic suddenly appeared and encircled her arm. She directed it and it swirled and spun. The strands enveloping everything human about her. “Take me home,” again she whispered, not wanting to disturb the natural beauty of the unnatural. The swirling began to move faster and suddenly she was no longer in the field with the trees. She was standing on the rough path that led up to the cottage she called home. She walked steadily up the path still feeling the adrenaline the magic gave her. 

“Thank you,” her voice seemed not to want to reach past a whisper.

While there may have been light floating on the wind, the shadows still threatened to pull it away from her and that all too familiar coldness was the last thing she wanted to feel. 

She walked quietly into the cottage. The silence was so easily disturbed. It needn’t be disturbed.

She busied herself with preparing the animals dinner. Her favorite, a little kitten called Echo, would always greet her at this time of day. Echo, too, knew not to disturb the silence that she enjoyed.  

“Okay,” she startled. Her voice was melodic but it had a power she was not expecting to hear. “Creatures of  the  Wood, come collect your food!” she called out into the  dense trees. Birds and animals of all shapes and sizes came for their food.

The last of the creatures to come was new to the Wood and she could tell as she had never seen it, not, at least, in her memorable past. “Why hello little one,” she said to the creature. It had big floppy ears but the build of a fox, its tail was bushy like a wolf’s, and it had magnificent gold eyes. Without caring what the new creature was called, she fed it. 

After all of the creatures had been fed, she too sat down to eat. The song still danced on the wind . She began to hum along and spin herself around. Her pure gold hair spun with her. She had a natural beauty unknown to the forest. Many, if they knew she was there, would try to take her away and sell her to gain a profit. Although she didn’t know there were other humans that resided in the Woods and it would stay that way for many years. At least until she returned from her travels. 

Suddenly, the wind stopped singing and she turned to see a man standing behind her.

“Who are you?” she questioned, a violent edge gaining on her voice.

“Who I am does not matter, but who you are matters more than the air that I breathe. I was brought here because of someone with an ability to hear the Song. Is that you?” he asked, calmness and serenity clear in his tone.

“You mean the song the wind sings to me?”

His eyes lit up and green flashed across them, “Yes, child, that’s the one,” he paused, “Do you have a name?”

“What is a name?” she had never heard of this thing before.

“A name is what someone else, typically a being with a voice that can produce words, calls you. Do you have one?”

“No, I don’t think I do. Can you give me one?”

“A name is something that gives power. I cannot bestow that power on you. You must discover it on your own.”

“Okay,” she whispered.

The wind began to play its song again. She listened closely. For she had a secret understanding that the wind knew her name and had been trying to tell her all this time. 

“My name is— I don’t know.”

He frowned, “Well for now I will just call you Oriti. Now, your power needs to be honed and I can tell, since this forest isn’t destroyed, that you have a fairly decent control over this gift, but like many others you need to be trained. Come with me to my tower and I can train you to be the best Exilae.”

She nodded.  

“Give me your hand. You may feel a bit of discomfort. Don’t worry it’s completely natural. Just relax and it will all be over soon enough.”

The man began chanting in a language she did not recognize. Although, she never had a need to speak. When she needed to speak to her peers, she had a feeling those that she would meet wouldn’t be able to understand her all that well. In her ears, she had no accent. Only when she sang, did she not, however. The man once he had first heard her speak believed her accent to be beautiful. It was melodic with a touch of melancholy covered thickly in syrup. The man had what she believed to be a normal accent; the kind you expect to hear from people who live in villages. From people who actually need and want to speak.  She never needed or wanted to speak, the wind did all that for her. What was the point when the words could be so perfect, so organized, so beautiful? All she had to do was let the wind speak for her. Yes it had a mind of its own but her connection to it allowed her to understand that it knew the words the deepest part of her wished to say. The part of her that she had buried so deep the words never seemed to reach the surface. 

The man finished his chanting and suddenly she was no longer in the forest. Panic overtook her. All she could see was darkness. All there was, as far as she could see, was this void. A voice told her it would all be over soon but she began wishing for the darkness to all be over. And suddenly it was.

“Child, how did you do that? No one has ever stopped my magic like that, not even the strongest—” he stopped himself. 

She opened her mouth to speak, but he put his hand over her mouth. 

Suddenly a creature walked past them, but didn’t even seem to notice their presence. It turned and smelled the air. She only now could tell how ugly the beast was. It had a deer skull for a face and the largest rack of antlers she had ever seen. Its skin seemed to be coated in tar and it smelled of the most rancid thing she had ever smelled. It had long fingers and the nails were twice the length of its fingers. She could hear a faint humming noise, as if it were calling her to show it where she hid. But she didn’t. She stayed hidden. The creature stalked away and only briefly looked back. She didn’t know if the creature could smile but if it could, it looked directly at her and grinned. A shiver ran down her spine and it took every muscle inside her body not to scream. 

The man looked at her. Worry filled his eyes. “It knew you were here. Even through my cloak spell. Do you know why?”

She shook her head. That thing was unsettling and clearly evil. Carefully she asked, “What was that thing?”

“That was a … A creature created by the pure evil that our people are fighting.”

“Our people?” The man looked nothing like her. She had fair skin while he had warm skin. He had black hair while she had pure woven gold hair. They couldn’t come from the same people.

“Yes, our people. Those who have a connection to magic. The wind for you is a string for me. There are different types of magic but we are all one people.”

He looked away. She admired this man. He was clearly powerful. He could be her mentor. The darkness that crept into her mind now had something to fear.