Rivynn couldn't understand why she and her brother, Rain, were kept chained away from everyone else. They were told it was to keep them safe from the shadows... But what if that was a lie?
~~~~~~
Rain hadn't told her... but the shadows were real...
Rivynn gripped Liam's soft hand tightly as the two of them stepped past the armed guards on either side of the massive doors. The men bowed respectfully, but Liam paid them no heed.
"Welcome to your new home, Rivynn," he smiled kindly down at her, his warm umber eyes betraying his weariness. She sensed it had taken much of his strength to help contain her power.
She glanced back. Raiden stood just outside the compound, with his father and the priests. Their eyes met again for a moment but just as quickly, Liam gently turned her head away and she heard the thick gold-plated doors shut behind them.
"This is The Lucent Palace," Liam said and her eyes grew wide in awe as she took in her new surroundings. Even after all the new things she had seen in so short a time, nothing compared to this.
And for a moment, all her cares seemed to fall away as she let go of Liam's hand and cautiously stepped into the courtyard lit by hundreds of softly glowing candles.
The cool stone path guided her feet through lavish gardens encircling glistening pools of water. Bubbling fountains splashed her face as she peered at the fish darting among the water lilies.
Breathing in the sweet scent of thousands of blooming flowers, she noticed there were many other Lucents... like Liam... like her... They smiled at her as they, too, strolled through the courtyard in their flowing robes, their wings shimmering with the breeze.
Her tail twitched excitedly and she slowly let her wings spread. The candlelight glistened across their feathers like some kind of magic and sparkled in her eyes and for the first time since she started on her journey, she felt a strange lightness.
She glanced at Liam who still stood where she'd left him at the edge of the courtyard. He gave her a knowing nod.
Then, as if dancing in rhythm to the excitement in her heart, her wings fluttered, pulling her feet gently from off the earth.
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"I'm flying..." she whispered and a smile crept across her lips, something she never believed she'd be able to do again.
"I can fly!" she squealed and left the ground behind.
The cool night air rushed past her face as she flitted from one end of the courtyard to the other, gaining speed and precision with every beat of her wings.
But her heart still needed to soar and turning her face to the sky she drank in the star-spangled night. Higher and higher she rose above the palace, then the city, then the sleeping countryside, until the cold air nipped her skin and she panted from exertion and the thinness of the air. For a moment she hoovered, utterly free and alone in the silence of the night sky.
Her bliss was fleeting as a thought gripped her chest as she realized the one person she wished she could share this new found freedom with was not with her. And even worse, he was no longer anywhere in the vast world stretching around her.
'What about Star?' His words came to her mind and she peered up at the millions of twinkling lights. Maybe he was no longer down here, but watching her from above, a little light in a world that had become so dark...
