Blessed with a Curse

Part 2: Light to Dark

The next morning, Darius awoken to the sound of birds but their calls were shrill. He focused in on the cry of a Blue Jay. Its falcon-like cry sounded different. Now with his improved hearing, it no longer sounded like a Blue jay. He realized to his joy that as a human he had missed out on several instruments to its song. Instead of just hearing the shrieking cry, he heard an overtone of a lulling breeze-like whistle. He also heard a light strumming like that of a harp lining its chorus upon the end part of its cry.

Altogether, it sounded like a falcon singing alongside a harp being carried by a sweet zephyr. Darius could then hear the echoes of the wavelengths of the Blue Jay's song being whisked away by the air. He could then hear the very molecules of the atmosphere moving aside as the soundwaves forced a path through them. How sad that many would never hear its song in its entirety.

Darius returned to his camp. He had run away for a reason. He remembered wanting to be alone. At the age of 20, he was expected to be married. Then he recalled his father and mother saying that today was the day he would meet his wife. He already had loved another. Her name was Tamara, but because of her low status, his parents never took her to be a serious candidate. To prevent a scandal or the birth of any royal bastards, Darius' parents had made arrangements for their son's marriage to the Princess of Ayonica. That didn't sit too well with Darius and he left the camp in an attempt to get away in the hopes his parents would have mercy and recant this arrangement.

Darius stopped by a river to wash his shoulder-length black hair. He looked into the water. It sang with a twinkling whisper- the many cries of fish underlying it.

As Darius stepped unto the camp he felt a tiredness... a burning overcome him. He felt as if he couldn't take another step. Coming out from the shade and stepping into the sunlight, Darius heard a roar belt out from the depths of his chest that he never knew he had in him. He instinctively recoiled into the safety of the shadows. He looked up at the sun in disbelief. How could the very thing that nursed the trees and gave the leaves their glory become his predator... his enemy? He tried again gingerly by easing his foot forward to tip his boot into the sun. A little burning but not much. He put his finger in the light slowly. A hissing burn torched his skin and he drew it back with a yelp. He had no idea what had happened to him.

He figured that something so beautiful had to have a drawback and this was it. Whatever happened to him that night had blessed him with a curse. He wanted now more than ever to see his family. He was a royal son. Many would be awaiting his return.

"Where is he?" he heard an older male ask.

"No one has seen him since two days ago", answered a female.

Yet, there was no one in sight. He could tell the people were close but not close enough that he should be able to hear the nature of their conversation.

He crept alongside the embankment of light keeping just within the shadows, making sure to steer clear of where the sun rested its rays.

Finally, he reached the inner parts of the camp. He looked at his people through the trees, his green eyes glistening in the dark like that of a wolf's. He could hear every heartbeat of every man- feel the heat from all the blood rushing through their bodies. Somehow, that overpowered every other sensation he had. Darius felt a weakness fall over him. He faltered and his eyes fluttered in an attempt to remain in control. He felt his blood become hot and hungry- though that made no sense to him. His senses were on fire and his arousal for the preparation of a hunt ignited within him. He shook his head vigorously and took a deep breath. Refocusing, he looked onto camp once more in search of his family. He found them just outside the general's tent.

He wanted to hold his mother. She stood side by side with his sister. His father was pacing and giving orders to the general and some soldiers on horses to find him. Darius could hear the horses' heartbeats- much louder than that of the humans'. They were ready for action. One of the stallions sniffed the air and reared in panic. Darius stepped back in an attempt to hide himself better.

The soldier tried in vain to calm the horse. Darius kept backing away. Eventually the soldier had to rein in another horse.

"Put that one down!" the general yelled angrily. "A horse like that will kill his rider in battle. We won't have cowards of any specie in the king's army", he continued.

Darius hung his head in dismay. He would have to wait till dark to approach his family. He knelt and prayed to God to give him strength and guidance. He still didn't understand what had happened to him.

He lay still and went into a type of sleep until the night came to greet him.

***

Darius opened his eyes and rose slowly. His stomach felt swollen. He wasn't where he had been initially. He was now in the center of his camp. He hoped no one had seen him. The place was deathly quiet.

On his feet, he walked towards his father's tent. No one was in there. He heard the sound of exhalations being made from the ground in the distance. This noise reminded him of the trees releasing their oxygen. However, this sound had more of a finality to its tune. He ran with such a speed that it scared him. In a matter of seconds he covered a mile. He looked back unable to believe he had just traveled through time and space. He shook his head waiting for reality to kick in.

He stepped forward into the meadow. The moon above seemed to push away the clouds to shed light on the grassy meadow. Darius looked down and wondered why the ground was so uneven. Then he saw why. The ground was covered in men... his father's soldiers. The sound of breath escaping was their life force leaving them. Darius gasped. He searched for his father, mother, and sister. They weren't in this ocean of bodies. He heard a woman's cries in the distance.

Like lightning he was there; over the hill from whence he heard the sounds. His sister in her white dress sat on the grass holding her mother to her bosom, rocking slowly back and forth.

"Lidia?" Darius said with sadness in his voice.

His sister jumped and spun around to face him.

Darius saw now that his mother's throat had been torn. His father was beside her, his head severed.

"No...No", he cried. Lidia just stared at him as she was observing him from afar.

"Who-what could have done this?!!!" he cried. His stomach stretched as if a fist was tearing through its walls.

Lidia held down her head and cried into her mom's brown hair.

"Y-you did."

Darius looked at her, tears flooding his face.

"What?" he asked barely audible.

"You... did Darr. You did this."

Darius' face wore confusion, but as he backed away from her slowly in a sitting position, he felt the pain of his stomach become unbearable. Turning over onto his hands and knees he released the contents of his stomach with the violence of a thousand angry waves. As some of the heavy liquid forced its way up and out of his nose, he smelled its iron-like scent. It was blood. It was the blood of the soldiers. Even in the large puddle of blood he upchucked from his stomach, he could identify the blood cells of his parents.

Lidia cried in anguish, not really knowing how to deal with this. Darius sat back on his knees, surveying the carnage he had brought upon his people. He threw his head back before letting out a grief stricken cry.

The stars in the distance sang sweetly. The wind passing through the forest leaves played them like an instrument the finest musician could never wield. A spider sucked the juices out of its last meal for the day. The clouds shielded the moon once more.

THE END