The Appointed Few

The Sirens of the Lake

        Off the Grove train station is a path guided by trees that lead to a lake. Every night the King goes out to His Gazibo by the lake and does His work. He plans festivals and plans stratgies for the war at hand. This lake has another purpose though. At night it tests all the King's children. The boys, mostly.

    A sharp scream and then a loud moan was heard from a distance. Rogan woke striaght up and slowly got up from his bed to look out his window. The scream came again. "What is that?" He asked himself once when he was younger. At this age though, Rogan knew exactly what this was. It was the Sirens of the lake. Every night they would scream and moan calling to the King's kids testing to see if they would join them in the water for a swim. Of course this was dangerous. The swim was refreshing, but if you let the Siren pull you in too deep you could easily drown and not be aware.

          Rogan knew this too well. He studied his reactions to these horrible sirens when years ago he almost drowned himself. He sat down at his desk and looked down at his paper and pen, then out his window hearing the Sirens. Rogan took his pen and started to write, "Why must they call to us? Couldn't the King call them off? Surely He is powerful enough to do so. The only explaination is that it must be a test. Why would my Father test me?" He sighed and looked out the window again and then back at his paper. "I wish they wouldn't call to us. Hopefully I will escape their misserable trap tonight." He sat down his paper and went to his window. He stared intently at the boys that entered the lake. All of them entranced and enchanted by the many Sirens that roamed the lake and pulled them down. Even those who tried to escape them by only splashing their feet in the water.

          "All too dangerous." Rogan said to himself about the risk taking children and he turned his head away from them, but  then he looked back at his window and dreamed of what the cool refreshing water would feel like. The mucky weather weighing on him, "Nothing is wrong with a splash in the water at night. Especially in the heat of the night like it usually is here." He tried to remind himself of the consequences, and began a new process of escaping the Sirens. Worrying about them. He worried too much if they would drag him in, then on another thought be wondering what it felt like to be back in that water. If he worried about what the King would say if He knew that he came to the trap willingly then Rogan could manage to see the consequeses clearer. "It shouldn't hurt, its hot outside anyway," were thoughts that often came to his head anyway.

            The reminder of the Sirens become so small if you focused on the relief of the fresh water instead of the tempting sirens that lay waiting to drag their next prey down with them. Finally he slowly turned away from the window and went back to bed. As for the boys at the lake, some were taken far down deep, enough to where the murky still water above the mud at the bottom of the lake stuck to your body. When boys get this deep and still go back up for air they make themselfes believe that they can survive the Sirens. This is not so. The muck sticks to them unless they otherwise clean and wash up before going back to bed.

           The King, who is unable to stop them from making the decision, yells to them by the lake everynight. That is part of what He considers His job. Taking care of His children. After He founded this kingdom evil grew from it in the lake and part of His torture was that He could not stop his children from the Sirens. They grow louder when the King callings his children. 

          The King, in His nature, cannot touch the waters of the lake, He can only call to them. If some are even somewhat able to hear his voice they can defeat the Siren's call and He can guide them to His Gazibo near the lake where they will be safe from the calls in His presence. 

        One night when Rogan was awaken by the Sirens call and rose to look out his window at the ever growing amount of children entering He was surprised to see the same girl that was his assisstance in his course a few months back. He had taken assisstance again, but she rarely came to his lane anymore. She did not act entranced as the others. She knew what was going on and looked at the King. She then looked back at the water and walked in ankle deep. She was happy for the refreshing coolness of the water, but immediatly jumped out back to the dirt before a male Siren tried to catch her foot.

             Rogan knew even this was too close a call, but could tell she knew that too. She ran into the trees and curled up near one to cry. She didn't cry too long until the King came to her and brought her to her feet and walked her to His Gazebo. He then sat her down and put his arm around her as she cried to Him. When Rogan was younger he would probably ask why she was crying, honestly anyone would ask why she was crying, other than those who know the truth about the Sirens. The Sirens are terrifying, but tempting to the eye. They make you see blindly. If someone reached for the Siren knowing it could drag you in, one would feel miserably guilty. The King told all His children not to go into this water.

             Knowing that Rogan was aware of their manipulation and power he too knew that if one was aware of their power and that it was a test, one would feel shameful to evenstill walk in ankle deep. He knew those days too well. The next morning Rogan woke up and headed to his training course. He was determined to talk to her. "But about what?" he asked himself, still unsure. "What was her name again? Nienna, I believe. How can someone come up to someone and say, 'Hey I know how it feels to fall into that horrible shameful trap, too.' You can't, really." Rogan got to his position in his lane and did not even wait for the voice to ask if he wanted assisstance, this time he pressed the screen requesting for her to help him. He had been doing this recently so she was not surprised to see him again. She came in with a different look on her face today. The one of red puffy eyes and sore back from being craddled all night crying in shame. She looked at him politely smiled and then pressed "Begin." BOOM! They were off again, running the track  pushing through every obstacle toghether with determinatio and weariness. This time he was the assisstant. She fell from weakness in her arms on the hanging bars and landed on a blunt rock. Her side was hurt and she laying there. She wasn't harmed too much, Rogan found out as he pulled her up and she opened her eyes again, almost as if she was trying to take the opportunity to sleep. She re-awoke and was back on her feet on her knees to help him over a even higher wall then before. Once they were both over the wall, the vines were next. This time the vines had no gripes and the water of enchanted Sirens laay below them. They both observed the obstacle and looked at each other in fear. This was their weakness. Only Rogan was worried, for he knew that he was weak and from what he saw last night she might be too. Her face quickly changed into determination to cross and hurried to the vines calling to him. Rogan ran to the vines and pushed her further allowing her to move two mire vines. He and her were half way to finishing when he began to worry about what was actually below him. It was the Sirens, screaming and moaning. Still loud, but not as loud as night when all other noises sleep. During the day they are just apart of all the noise. He looked at them and felt himself begin to slip. He was weak with tiredness, wishing he could just give up and fall into the cool water. By this time he was two fingers away from achieving this. Nienna was already on her way back to help him once he stopped to look at them and caught him right before he fell. She pulled him up as much as she could, but he got a hold of himself and pulled himself up and across quickly. That was their finishing obstacle, so once they landed they fell to the ground and lay panting. "You know, it's not..." Rogan caught his breath, "...always easy to ... get past them." Nienna, panting just as much nodded and pushed out, "You just got to focus... on the goal."