MythoMorph☆

13

We were in there for a while until Cobalt and Sapphire got back. I noticed Cobalt kept moving closer to her on the walk over here. I wondered if something bad had happened while I was gone.

     As soon as Luna noticed he was back, she got into a normal sitting position- probably so Cobalt wouldn't kill me.

    They got in and took their seats. Sapphire on my left, Luna on my right and Cobalt beside her. They took us to a building to get back to our normal clothes. The ride back was silent. When we got back to our cage, however, it was a different story.

   “Ok Shadow Queen, start talking.” Sapphire immediately said, as soon as the people escorting us were gone. She had her hands on her hips and leaned slightly forward. Her pupils dilated slightly, showing she was agitated and wouldn't hesitate to use her song to get answers.

  “I don't know what everyone saw, but I do know that something happened that scared everyone. I also heard a rifle and something a little larger, then you hit the ground.”

  “She turned into that shadow monster again!” Sapphire yelled

  “What do you mean again?” Cobalt asked his tongue to flicker out for a second.

  “She turned into it in the arena.” Luna explained to him.

  “And she needs to explain what's going on.” Sapphire spat.

   “Leave her alone! She can open up when she feels comfortable sharing! We shouldnt force her to do anything! You haven't told us everything.” Luna exclaimed.

   “I'm also not the one turning into giant shadow monsters!” Sapphire yelled, glaring at Luna, her pupils ever so slightly dilated.

   “I told Luna while you guys were at the gathering. We were able to figure out that the monster is really a soul using my body as a vessel. It has a mission it wants to complete. I don't know very much. If I make any large breakthroughs I'll tell you guys.” I said stepping between the two, knowing Sapphire was close to snapping. 

   Cobalt reached a hand out to touch Sapphire's shoulder, but she pulled away and went to the pond, diving under the water. 

    Cobalt and Luna went to talk while I went to the cave, partly to get my own thoughts together and partially to talk with Raven. I sat down on a rock, my back against the cold stone wall.

  “I’m ready to talk.” I said out loud. The dark smoke didn't come.

It was odd, he usually showed up immediately. Maybe he was mad at me. I tried to reach out to the dream space he inhabited.

    

Eventually I opened my eyes to the dark area. A familiar being was crouched in the water not far away. Raven’s form was making a strange sad sound. 

Crying… he's crying. I slowly approached him.

    As I got within a few feet of him strange images flashed in my head. 

Dark wings. 

The woman from before. 

An angry gorgon that looked a lot like medusa from Luna's memory. 

A family of harpies. 

The ocean, fire, and a storm.

    I reached out and touched his shoulder. He turned toward me and I was thrown into a memory.

   A harpy with messy black hair and large black wings sat on the ground. Their large gray cloak held together by a brooch in the shape of a wing. His pupils were white and sceleria were black. 

  No doubt about it. This was Raven. A woman came to him from the trees. the woman from before. Judging from the fact she seemed to materialize from the woods I assumed she was a nymph. She sat down next to him. Her large eyes looked up at him. They contained no pupils so they looked huge. 

   “I made something for us.” She spoke to Raven.

   “and what is it?” Raven said, wrapping a wing around this woman. He smiled softly at her.

   She held up two earrings decorated with a blue bead, a black feather and a leaf similar to the ones growing from the nymph. She gently clipped an earring onto Raven's ear and the other onto herself.

    I was thrown out of the memory, their laughs vibrating in my ears. 

Raven's shadow form stared up at me. His large white eyes blinked, the glowing white tears fell from his form and mixed with the water below.

   “How much did you see…” He whispered.

   “I saw a lot of things but… When I touched your shoulder, there was a woman. I think she was a nymph… are you ok..”? I never thought that he might have had people waiting for him. 

  He took a deep breath. “I'm not going to explain much. But I will tell you this. The nymph you saw was my wife.. Before I died. She's probably moved on now.” The shadow looked sad and his normally stern or playful stare was now low, sad and empty.

   “I'm sure she didn't. After all, you two seemed to be perfect for each other.”

  

 “Nymphs and harpies were both creations of Aphrodite. She offered a set of wings to her first love from the time she spent in the sea. He refused to leave his home. She left without him. The wings were given to her son instead. He was a harpy. The nymphs were made to match her beauty and live alongside her.they had their own realm even.

  However, The nymphs eventually moved on from Aphrodite; they joined Artemis instead. They took the oath to swear to never love men. So while they still hung out with Aphrodite, She could no longer relate to them.” 

   “Ok thank you for the history lesson I guess.” 

   “In order to understand how my wife must have moved on you need to know this. But basically for years the nymphs stole souls of wandering men. Men who followed them no matter their intentions were never seen again. When we met she was forced not to kill me. I was grateful. We ended up doing a lot of things together. Eventually I became smitten with her. Aphrodite gave her beauty and Artemis gave her wit and strength.” He smiled

   “So you fell for a nymph. That isn’t that bad.” I stated.

   “ …It’s not falling for the nymph that's bad. It is when the nymph falls for you. She was eventually charmed by me and finally agreed to my advances. Unfortunately the other nymphs heard of this and were not pleased. They banished her from the fey realm. Now that I'm gone she must have gone back. She would probably be in a relationship with one of the many different types of fey there.” 

   “No way. She knew what would happen when she decided to date you. Besides banishment is usually life long.”  I said, hoping to make Raven feel slightly better.

   “Even with me living in you for so long you still have a human mindset. Fae are only punished for as long as it takes for the crime to be solved. I’m dead, meaning my soul is no longer at risk of entering their realm. So her crime is over.”

  “Even so there's no way she would just forget about you.” I said, resting a hand on his shoulder. This cheered him up slightly and he hugged me. I was shocked at first but I hugged him back.

  He smiled but then a loud sound rang out. Both of us turned to the sound. We were both thrown out of the mindspace and back into the actual world. I heard yelling and it sounded like Sapphire.