The Tale of the Syrens -- Book one-- With the Light Comes the Darke

Rylka - The Darke

I stare out at the sky and sigh happily. My thin, lavender nightgown whipped around me. I felt the marble of the balcony under my bare feet. Such a peaceful night in Spiro. A shooting star begins its journey across the sky. Wait a second... That's not a star at all! It's a person! Reyna? A-and she's coming straight toward me! Reyna, shrouded in fire, with a weird black blob on her back is heading for me! WHAT IS HAPPENING?!?!?! She crashes into the balcony, right behind me. She stands up quickly and spreads the two, slightly sticky, black things behind her. They're... wings? Wait... she has WINGS?!

"We... we need help! Please!" She falls to her knees and stretches one hand out. The... wings are beginning to stick together. I gently pick her up and place her in a lavender-scented bubble bath I had drawn for myself. Her eyes began to close.

"C-come on. You should probably wash off." I feel weirdly warm being so close to Reyna. I touch her wing and she sits up immediately. She struggles to her feet and hops out of the bath, her clothes soaked. Reyna spreads her wings and grabs my arm.

"No time! Come on, come with me!" She drags me toward the balcony. Just as I get my bearings, she leaps off, her wings creating a  mini tornado around her body.  I feel her swing me up and hold me against her chest. My face goes red as I realize that I'm facing her...

"UUURAAARGHA!" Reyna screamed. "We can't fly any higher..." Just as I realize that we've just been bobbing in place, Reyna flips over and flies through the halls, holding me on her belly. We almost make it out when Reyna seems to realize she missed something. She turns around and flies into the ballroom. Reyna places me on one end and backflips so that she's across from me.

"Sing. Rylka, your singing voice is the difference between life and death, so sing." She starts walking toward me. I hesitate - I've only ever sung for Mom - but seeing the determined glint in her eyes, I opened my mouth and began to sing. All at once, I felt happier and panicked. As I draw close to the end of the song, I feel like a needed weight settled on my shoulders. Reyna steps forward and speaks.

"Welcome, Sister Cassia Rylka, Syren of Healing." I smile and see that I now have gigantic wings made out of shards of crystal.

Also, Reyna grabs me again and we dash outside.

"Flap your wings... until you can... uhpm... you know what, I got it!" She grabs my wrist and begins to carry me over the balcony. Reyna swings me around into a more secure position. We finally stop flying. Reyna begins to explain.

"Skylar and Dorian are on the other side of this Darke barrier. They need help... Now. I'll break the barrier, you start to sing." At my confused look, she began to elaborate. "It's the way to unlock your magic. Sing and we'll try and heal..." Reyna chokes up, but I nod at her. She nods back and punches through the filmy, gray barrier. A huge hole forms, smoking as it enlarges. Once again, Reyna hooks her arm around my waist and drags me through the growing hole. But as soon as we pass the barrier, all four of our wings begin to fail and we start plummeting to our deaths.

Just as we're about to hit the ground and meet our maker, Reyna forces her wings to work again and she turns to grab me. She pulls me toward her and used her back as a shield for me. We crash. I feel the impact ripple through her body. Reyna tosses me over toward Skylar and Dorian, who are beginning to turn into stone. Skylar's pixie wings are almost completely fossilized as I stand up and begin to scramble over to them. Dorian's silver wings were only stone at the tip.

I hear whispers echo in my mind. I only catch four words - ^Rylka is my sister^. I ignore it and sing the first song that I can think of, a half-forgotten lullaby that I didn't know the words to. I close my eyes, imagining the orchestra accompanying my song. 

When I open my eyes, I see that Skylar's wings, as well as Dorian's are now mostly normal. However, Skylar's wings tear as the stone leaves them. Dorian stands up and grabs Skylar. Reyna, dropping a shard of the barrier, takes Skylar from Dorian with a glare. But then her face softens and she outstretches her hand and sings a song to create a fireball in her hand. After a pause, Dorian takes it, and Reyna motions for me to pick him up. I do it, seeing as Reyna is carrying a now unconscious Skylar. Another fireball is laying perfectly on Skylar's chest.

"Skylar needs the most care right now, so until we get back to the palace, I'll be the only one carrying her."

"Ok..." Dorian and I nod. I concentrated on forcing my wings to flap and carry me into the air. Slowly, I drift after Reyna toward the palace. We enter through the window into a red room. Dorian gets out of my arms and limps over to a plush armchair near the bed. He collapses in it as Reyna places Skylar in the bed. As she turns around, I see that Reyna is actually really hurt.

"R-reyna? Um, I was wondering if I could heal you before I start healing Skylar?" Her eyes widen.

"NO! I mean, no thank you, Rylka. Skylar's life is in danger - she's in need of healing." I nod and walk over to Skylar's motionless form, singing a lullaby. My hands light up and Skylar's wings begin to heal a little bit. However, after a minute, I feel a barrier saying "you cannot heal this person anymore" in my mind. While I take my hands back and look at Skylar, I gasp.

"Her wings..." Dorian nods. The beautiful, golden pixie wings have become torn to shreds. I can barely see the original color between the pillow color.

"Yeah. I thought this might happen. I give her... nine more days. Until she wakes up." I can see Reyna as she struggles to get up.

"Nine days?! But..." My heart aches and I help her sit back down.

"Yes... I..." We all began to cry. Our sobs fill the room where laughter once reined free. Dorian is the first one to stop crying. He passed out without Reyna or I noticing. Reyna stopped next, and when my tears slowed to silence, I noticed that she was talking.

"-lar needs us to stay strong." I look up and nod.

"Yeah. Besides, I can tell she'll live." Reyna smiles at me and I back off her. After turning around, I feel the mood go way down. Sighing, I summon some bandages and wrap them around Skylar's wings. I turn around quickly. Reyna is slouching, her head in her hands.

Something tells me this will be a long, long nine days.

1200 words

hi guys, Smuluv here! My editor, Kittenlady, has been updating for me these past few days, using my account b/c we know each other IRL. Yes, cliffhangers are to be expected here on out, because my editor has a flair for the dramatic (total drama queen!). I would like to mention one of our readers, Eeveeluv42, for being the first to read and comment on all of our chapters. I speak for us both when I say you rock! From here on out, I will be putting the total word count up as well. ILYG bye!

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