In a land, far far away from today's time, in a land called Kruvills,  a land of  legend. Named after a forest as old as the land itself. No one knows where it came from or when it will come to be, but every child and man knows it. And fears it.

When Moon and Sun are found

In Mysterious Rivers sound,

An ancient foe will arise,

To bring the land’s demise.

Only on Moons warmth and Suns cold,

Can keep the foe at bay.

With help from Wolf and Sky,

Shall our foe's demise begin.

Be warned,  for if Moon, Sun, Wolf, orSky

Shall veer,

The lands ground shall break.

Only in Moon slight the foe shall be vanquished. b

With Sun's fury and Wolfs fang

In Sky's rain, Moon shall come

To send the foe packing.

Only them peace will reign.

 

2: Dedication/other

I dedicate this book to all my friends and family who helped to support and encouraged me to make this.

I’d also like to make a special thanks to my best friends who always helped me when I was down or sad

 

 

 

 

 

There are things we will never know for sure about our world.

It’s our job, as humans, not to be frightened of new things,

but to learn about them and let them be. Do not hunt down what we are afraid of.

We have to learn how to embrace the world and not destroy it

Or we are all doomed

 

3: Chapter 1

Trees rustled, birds tweeted their songs, and life went on their daily routine in the Mysterious River Woods.
In a meadow, by the Klyw river, a small cat stalked a brown mouse. Its rusty colored tail swished with anticipation as it slowly crept forward. Suddenly, there was a loud shriek that cut the tension in the air. Both the cat and mouse ran at the sound.
"Romelia!! How great to see you!" A blue haired nymph hugged a silver haired girl, who was around the age of 18.
The nymph, who was hugging the life out of the girl, was Romelia's best friend was Tanisha. 
Tanisha had deep blue hair compared to Romelia's light blue in her silver hair.While the nymph's eyes were dark brown, Romelia's were emerald green that always reminded people of a trees tops.
"Tanisha! I can't breathe!"
"Sorry," she said, letting her go, but kept her at arms length. "You know I don't get to see you that often."
Romelia chuckled. "I went to go get a drink, Tanisha. I wasn't gone that long."
"It was still too long, Romelia," Tanisha sighed, "You do need to come more often, though. It gets lonely here with out you. Do you know the kind of things fish want to talk about? It's revolting! I mean, who cares about..."
Romelia listened as Tanisha went on her usual rant. She could go on for hours at a time. Yesterday, it was mountains and sea. Today it was fish talk and trees. Tomorrow, who knows what she'll rant about. It could be butterflies and deer. You never knew with Tanisha.
"... And well anyway, I'm never talking to Winfred again. So you'll shouldn't either."
Romelia couldn't help but smile. Winfred was a tree nymph who was friends with Tanisha and occasionally not. Romelia suspected that Winfred liked Tanisha from the few times they talked. But he did like to tease her a lot, which made Tanisha mad.
"Mhm. Sure."
"What?! Why?! He's a jerk!"
This time, when Tanisha started to ramble, Romelia didn't listen. Her stomach was twisting in knots.
Tanisha tipped her head when she saw Romelia place a hand on her stomach, "Is it that feeling again?"
Romelia nodded. She had been feeling odd from time to time the past few days . She didn't know why she was feeling it or what it meant. Romelia hoped it stop soon. Ryna was starting to get worried.
"Well," Tanisha said standing up, "lets get you home so you can rest." She helped Romelia up saying, "Rest is always the best medicine. Especially if you're getting sick."
Surprisingly, as Tanisha escorted her home, the water nymph stayed quiet. The twisting in her stomach grew as they walked. She wondered why she was having these feelings ever the last few days. Maybe Tanisha was right. Maybe she was getting sick.
"Hey Romelia! Earth to Romelia!"
Romelia stopped walking when she realized that Tanisha had called her name a few times. "Sorry Tanisha." She turned to face her friend. 
She was surprised to find that she had veered off her usual path. There was a feeling, other than the twisting of her stomach, that told her to go that way.
Tanisha tapped her foot with her arms crossed, waiting for her to come. But Romelia stayed put, staring at a spot in the forest.
"What are you waiting for?" Tanisha asked impatiently, "Come on! Lets go!"
"Lets go this way..." Romelia continued to walk in the direction she had been walking.
Tanisha frowned, but followed her. "Why? This is the long way! And I thought that you weren't feeling well."
She shrugged and smiled at her friend, "I just have a feeling."
"A feeling?" Tanisha scoffed. "We all have feelings, Romelia. That doesn't mean anything! I mean, there are certain feelings that do mean something, but I don't think yours means anything."
Romelia laughed, shaking her head slightly. She never took any offence to what her friend said. She knew the nymph really couldn't control what she said most of the time.
After a few minutes of Tanisha's rambling, something caught Romelia's eye. She could have sworn it was the sun. Even though it was in the middle of the day. 
"What is it?" Tanisha said with her arms crossed again when she noticed Romelia was walking off again. "Another 'feeling'?"
Romelia didn't answer her, but continued towards the strange ground sun. A few feet away from it, she realized it wasn't a sun. Just really blonde hair. The suns light was reflecting off of it, making it look like a sun. When she saw what it was, Romelia stopped in surprise.
It was boy, around her age, with the blonde hair she had mistaken at first for the sun. He wore an odd type of clothing she hadn't seen before and he was face down in the dirt. She also noticed that he was bleeding through a gash in his back. 
"Tanish."
She continued to ramble about feelings.
"Tanisha." Romelia raised her voice a bit, but still, the nymph didn't hear her. So she raised her voice to a shout. "Tanisha!"
"What?" Tanisha finally heard her.
She pointed at the ground to the boy while saying, "Look. Someone's injured."
Tanisha didn't believe her until she saw him. "My lord, Romelia!"
"I didn't do it! Why would I?"
"Well," Tanisha sighed, "looks like he's a goner. Too bad. He's pretty cute too."
"What? We have to help him!"
Tanisha shrugged. "You know we can't, Romelia. You should know the forest rules better than anyone."
She did. Her father was the one who made the forest rules. But still, she couldn't leave someone to die. Rules or not, she wouldn't leave him to die.
Romelia crossed her arms. "I won't leave him."
"It's against the rules!"
"I'm not leaving him, Tanisha. We have to help him."
After a few moments, the water nymph groaned. "Fine. But your dad's not going to like this."
"Thank you, Tanisha," she said as Tanisha picked him up.
"Yeah, yeah," Tanisha said. "I just have one thing to say."
Romelia tipped her head. "What's that?"
"I call dibs on him." She started to laugh at her joke.
But Romelia only tipped her head more, confused. "Dibs on what?"
Tanisha hesitated. "Uh... Don't worry about it... And don't tell your dad. He'll get mad."

4: Chapter 2

Twigs snapped and leaves crushed under the sole of Cyri's boots.

His only thought was to run, to get away as far as possible. To get away from them. From her.

There was no light to guide his footsteps. The tree's leaves blocked out the moon's light. But he didn't need light to navigate in the dark. Cyri had learned how to move in the dark without hitting anything when he was much younger. Even in pitch black darkness, he wouldn't hit anything.

Suddenly, he tripped on a fallen branch and went flying, into something soft and warm. He realized with a sickening feeling that it wasn't a something as much as a someone.

Cyri stepped back. Partly from fear, partly from shock at seeing her.

Her purple eyes stared into him with a certain malice. "Why hello Cyri."

He tried to speak, but found he couldn't get a sound out. "You know," she said with a sickly sweet tone, "you have caused me a lot of trouble. Maybe I should do to you, what you did to me." When she pulled out a knife, Cyri found that he could run.

Before he got more than a step away, he felt something bury into his back.

The knife!

She had stabbed him.

 

 

Cyri jerked awake as soon as he hit the ground in his nightmare. White hot pain raced up his back when he moved. Holding back a scream of pain, he flopped back down onto the bed.

He frowned. Wait... A bed? Wasn't he in a forest?

Light humming filled his ears, causing Cyri to open his eyes so he could look around.

He was in a small hut with wooden walls and a tall leaf ceiling. Everything seemed to be made out of wood: the chairs, table, everything. There was even a wooden sink with a girl at it, washing something that looked like food.

Cyri blinked when he saw the girl. She must have been around his age, but seemed to have be more silly from the way she was acting. The girl wore a short -sleeved plain white dress that ended just a little after her knees. She hummed some kind of tune that he didn't recognize and it made him want to dance, except he couldn't with his back. But what really caught his attention, was her hair.

It was silver, pure silver, with light blue high-lights. He had never seen anything like it before... It was strange...

She turned around after she was done washing the food and started to cut it up. Cyri couldn't help but watch her. Probably because the only thing to watch was her.

Still, he had to complement how well she could cut. She never wavered in her job, just continued to chop the food and humming along.

When the girl turned around, Cyri saw she had emerald eyes.

"Oh, You're awake?" Her voice was like a mothers voice: Kind and gentle, worried and concerned, yet firm at the same time.

He nodded though. Cyri didn't want to speak just yet. Not until he knew if she was a friend or foe.

She smiled. "Good. Your wound had a slight infection, but it shouldn't be there anymore." She walked over to the pot with the food.

As she started to stir, Cyri realized he probably would have died if she hadn't helped him. And that he was in her debt.

"Here." The girl was holding out a bowl to him. It was filled a rabbit stew that smelled like heaven. Cyri would have eaten it him-self, but he couldn't really without hurting his back.

She seemed to have noticed it and chuckled. "Oh, right." She pulled out a wooden spoon and walked over to him.

She then started to feed him, careful not to spill any on him. Cyri almost grinned with delight. The stew was as good as it smelled.

The girl grinned when she was that he liked it. "You like it?"

Cyri thought for a moment before deciding that she was a friend. He nodded. "It's very good. What is it?"

"Just rabbit stew with a few vegetables," she said. "Nothing fancy."

As she washed his bowl, Cyri decided that she was definitely a friend and not foe. "By the way, my name's Cyri."

The girl turned to him, smiling. "Hello Cyri. My name's Romelia."

He smiled back at her. "That name seems to fit. It means moon child in Vorithian."

Romelia tipped her head, obviously confused.

"Nevermind," he said with a sigh.

"Okay."

When he yawned, Romelia tipped her head again. "Are you tired, Ciry?"

"It's Cyri and a bit. Why?"

Romelia smiled warmly again. "Just hold on a second." With that Romelia walked out.

Cyri wondered what she was going to do or get. She walked in again, causing Cyri to blink when he saw what she was carrying.

The young teen was holding a large light blue quilt outlined with black on the edge. He could have sworn it was made by an expert, not some teen in the woods. Cyri was going to ask why she was living in the woods when she spread the quilt over him.

He couldn't help but yawn as Romelia tucked him in, almost motherly. He would have asked again, but the quilt was too warm and soft, It almost put him to sleep immediately. But he managed to sneak a peek at Romela, who was eating by the window.

He couldn't help but notice how her hair reflected the moon's light. It made her look like a moon.

 

5: Chapter 3

"Hey! Romelia!" Tanisha hugged Romelia then quickly released her. "So, how's the kid?"

Romelia shrugged. "Cyri was up for a bit, yesterday, but-"

"Who? Who's Cyri?"

"That's him name, Cyri," Romelia said. "He was up for a bit yesterday, but he hasn't woken up today."

Tanisha hugged her again, surprising Romelia. She usually only hugged her when she was greeting her, excited... or scared for her.

"Tanisha..." Romelia warned, trying to pull back but found she couldn't. "What's wrong?"

The Water Nymph bit her bottom lip gently. "Well... Your dad wants to see you. He heard about the b- Cyri."

"Who told him?" Romelia asked. The only people who knew about Cyri was Tanisha and me... Wait...

She looked at her best friend. She wasn't looking Romelia in the eyes, but as the trees behind her.

"Tanisha, did you-"

"I'm so sorry!" she blurted out. "H-he asked how you were doing and you know how he is! His gaze is so stern and scary, and it just spilled out!"

"It's okay," Romelia said. "And don't worry. I can convince him to let Cyri stay until he is well enough to travel again."

As she walked away, she said to Tanisha, "Can you make sure that Cyri has food and water?"

"Of course!" Tanisha said. "and while I'm at it, maybe I can give him some of my medicine."

Romelia tipped her head to the side, confused by what her friend said. Tanisha realized what she had said and panicked. "Uh... Don't tell your dad I said that... And don't repeat that to anyone else. You'll get in trouble."

 

 

 

 

"Romelia! Romelia!"

Said girl turned around as a group of fawns ran up to her. A light brown doe was in the lead. She had white spots all over her back and belly. Her name was Valentina.

When she was a younger fawn in the winter, Valentina had gotten very sick. Her mother had died from the cold earlier that winter and she wasn't able to get any nutrients from of the other deer's milk. After Ryna, Romelia's mother, told her about this, the young girl had dedicated her entire time to nursing the young fawn to health. Ever since then, Valentina had been especially attached to Romelia.

Romelia chuckled and scratched her between the ears. "Hi Valentina. How's your day?"

"Better now that you're here!" She jumped back a bit, crouched low playfully. "You wanna play?"

"I would love to Valentina, but I have to go talk to my father." She patted Valentina's head affectionately.

The fawn nuzzled her hand. "Please be careful Romelia."

She chuckled again. "Don't worry, Valentina. I know for a fact father won't hurt me. He loves me too much."

 

 

 

 

Romelia stepped into a very large clearing, large enough for an entire herds of deer to rest and there still would have been more than enough room.

The grass was bright green and soft to the touch. Butterflies delicately fluttered above the clear, bubbling stream that  cut through the middle, creating a small island with a tree in the middle. The giant tree in the middle of the island was covered by moss and seemed to go up for miles and miles.

Romelia crossed the small, red oak bridge that connected the small island to the rest of the meadow. She could see everything that swam along the stream. One of the Rainbow trout paused his swimming to wave a tiny fin at her. Romelia waved back as he swam away and continued along her way to the small island where a white deer waited.

The deer stood in front of the tree, his pure white fur sparkling in the days light, causing the green moss patch on his back stood out. His antlers were large enough for a flock of birds to rest on and were tinted with a slight brownish color. His eyes were deep amber that seemed to look into a person's very heart and soul.

Romelia grinned, running up to the deer. She wrapped her arms around the deer's neck in a hug while yelling happily, "Papa!" All though he was a bit awkward, the deer put his head on the girls back and hummed happily.

"Romelia," he said after awhile, "You need to let go of me."

"Oh." She let him go and took a step back. "Sorry Father- er, I mean Ordello."

Ordello sighed. "You can call me Father... For now." He looked at Romelia sternly. "Tanisha told me that you've taken a human boy into her home. Why did you do that? You know the rules. No humans are allowed in this place of heaven."

"I do," she said, "but-"

"Silence Romelia," he said gently. The silver haired teen closed her mouth and waited for her father to continued. "You know the rules are in place for a reason. The rules protect us from danger. They protect us from the outside world, from the Durr Xurkolks. You know this Romelia."

She nodded again. "Yes, I do."

"Then why did you bring him in?"

"He was injured very badly and unconscious, father," Romelia stated. "I couldn't bare to just leave him there to die. Tanisha tried to make me leave him, but I refused to be reasoned with. Afterwards, his wound became infected and it took days for it to leave his body. He would have died if we left him there and it still could. The infection only left a few days ago. It could come back. He has to stay until he is well enough to travel without any worries of infection." She grew silent, knowing there was nothing more to say, knowing that Cyri's fate was in her father's hands.

The silence that enveloped the two was filled with the sounds of birds singing their songs. both Romelia and Ordello could understand the words they sang. Many were going on at the same time, but they soon changed to one song.

Romelia couldn't help but smile wide. It was one of her favorite songs that the birds sang.

It was a song filled with grief, but had a happy tone to it. The words spoke of a maiden who lost everything dear to her, but gained much more from it. It told of how she found a new family in grief and how she found happiness with them and moved on. Romelia always felt like it called out to her, but she could never figure out why it did.

For several moments the song continued until it ended and the silence enveloped the forest. The birds then started another song.

Ordello looked at Romelia and knew that he couldn't refuse her. She had to much of a grip on him. Even if she didn't know that she did.

He placed his head gently on top of hers. "Very well, daughter. He may stay."

She grinned wide. "Really?! Oh, thank you papa!"

When Romelia hugged Ordello, he looked away, embarrassed. "I-it's only until he gets better! As soon as he's well enough to travel, I want him out of here." He looked her in the eyes. "And no funny business, Romelia."

She chuckled, "Of course not papa! I would never think otherwise!"

 

6: Chapter 4

Cyri's peaceful dreaming was interrupted when he heard someone climbing up the ladder.

His eyes snapped open at the sound. At first, he was worried that Dominque had found him. She had always found him, no matter what she always did. Cyri was on the alert because his nightmare yesterday had made him a bit paranoid.

It was much to his wonder when a blue-haired girl appeared from the trap-door. Saying that she was a girl wasn't the best way to describe her.

Her skin was light blue while her hair was dark blue. Whenever she moved, her skin rippled, almost like it was made of water. Her hair did the same thing, but was less visible compared to her skin.

She's a nymph, He realized. A water nymph...

The nymph smiled when she turned around and saw him awake. "Oh, hello Cyri! Good to see you're up!"

Cyri blinked, confused on how she knew her name. "How-"

"Romelia told me!" she said, "And by the way, I'm Tanisha! Romelia's best friend!"

Cyri nodded. That (kind of) made sense to him. "So where-"

"You hungry? Romelia says that I make the best beef stew! Well, unless you don't eat meat... In that case then, I guess I could make a radish stew. But it would take awhile to get all the ingredients. I wonder..."

Cyri let Tanisha's voice fade away as his back started to hurt again. Tanisha must have seen it because smiled at him with nothing but sympathy.

"You're back hurt, huh?" All he could do was nod. "I've got just the thing to help!"

Rummaging through the wooden chest at the foot of the bed, she pulled out a small wooden cup. It looked like it was made out of old oak with a mug and had a small green leaf on the top to keep whatever was inside from spilling out.

She pulled it out with a happy hum and turned to him with a smile. She pulled off the leaf, grabbing a wooden spoon from the counter. "My chicken noodle soup! Made with a type of herb that helps with pain!" Tanisha sat by Cyri's head.

"Open up," she said, scooping up some of the liquid. Cyri did as he was told and opened his mouth.

Tanisha slowly poured the soup in so he wouldn't choke. As it flowed over his tongue, he could taste the chicken clearly. It was tangy, with a hint of mint, and was flavored with different seasonings that he couldn't identify. he did however, taste rosemary and thyme.

The pain in his back slowly faded away as she continued to feed him the soup. He had to admit, it was pretty good. Probably the best chicken noodle soup he ever had.

Once he was full- and the pain was gone- the nymph put the wooden bowl away after putting the lid on it.

"All better?"

Cyri nodded. "Yes. Thank you Tanisha."

As he sat up, the blonde decided to ask her something. "Where did Romelia go by the way? I haven't seen her at all today."

"Oh," she said. "Romelia went to go visit her father. So she should be back soon."

Cyri blinked again in surprise. "Father?"

"Yeah, he's the king of this forest, so I guess that would make Romelia a princess. Romelia never says anything about it though. I wonder if she hates the idea of being one... Or maybe she just doesn't-"

"Woah, woah, whoa," he said interrupting the nymph from rambling more, "Romelia's father is king of the forest?!"

"Duh! I just said that! Man, you really don't listen do you? Well anyway-"

"That doesn't make any sense though! I thought only white deer were-"

"Romelia's technically adopted, Cyri. Now will you stop yelling? It will attract unwanted attention, and it's already hard enough to mask the smell of your blood."

Cyri blinked. "Wait, what are you talking about?"

"Well, you were bleeding badly and there's carnivores around. So I had to use a spell that-"

"That's not what I'm talking about!" Cyri snapped. "Why is Romelia adopted? Where are her parents?"

Tanisha sighed, "I actually don't know. Me and Ryna found her stuffed into an owl-knot hole. And before you ask, Ryna is Romelia's mother and Ordello's partner. Now will you please not shout anymore?"

Cyri blinked, sitting back down. He was wondering when he stood up- especially with his back. "Uh, yeah. Sorry Tanisha."

"Oh, it's okay, Cyri! Now, I'm sure Romelia will be back soon, and you'll need more rest, so why don't you go back to sleep? I'm sure that you're tired enough. Especially since you stood up when you shouldn't have."

Cyri nodded in agreement. He felt like he could fall asleep at any moment! Soon enough, Tanisha's soft voice lulled Cyri onto a blissful sleep.

7: Chapter 5

Romelia walked back towards her tree-top home, letting her thoughts wander as she did.

She had noticed that her father, and all the animals of the forest, had been starting to act strangely. The birds sang less often than they would any other day, burrowing animals stayed in their dens, even the predators were more defensive of their territory. Ordello had even asked her to stay in her home at night, a thing which he had never asked of her before.

"Hey! Romelia!"

The silver haired teen looked up from her thoughts to see Tanisha walking towards her. She had more than likely just come back from her house.

A large smile appeared on the young teens face as she hugged her friend. "Hey Tanisha! I thought you were with Cyri! What are you doing here?"

"Oh, I was," she answered with a smile, "but after I gave him that soup for pain, he fell asleep! So I decided to get home before it gets dark."

Romelia nodded. "Okay then. I'll get to my home too."

She stepped to the side to continue on her way home, but Tanisha stepped in front of her. This confused the girl, so she tried to move past her friend again. Like the other time, Tanisha stepped in front of her. Only this time, she grabbed her arm to stop her from walking away.

"Romelia."

Tanisha's happy tone had disappeared, replaced with a tone that she hadn't heard from the nymph before. This new tone was full of warning with a bit of fear in it. The new tone sent chills down Romelia's spine when she heard it.

"Yes?" Her voice came out small, as if it didn't quite belong to her.

Tanisha looked at her from the corner of her eyes. Romelia nearly fainted from fright. Her friends eyes normally large, happy eyes were now narrowed, making her look dangerous.

Sending more chills down her spin, Tanisha spoke in the same tone as before. "Be careful. Even here, the wood's are not entirely safe at night."

The water nymph's tone scared Romelia down to the center of her core. So she quickly agreed to hurry to her home as quickly as she could and as safe as she could. Tanisha let her arm go and walked off, while Romelia continued along the forest path that lead to her home.

Her mind wandered again as she fast walked.

Tanisha's mood and warning confirmed the teens suspicions about the forest animals acting odd. To Romelia, there was nothing sensible to fear in the forest. It was a heaven for all animals: Predator or prey. Life had always been peaceful here, with nothing bizarre ever happening. So why would the animals be so scared or fearful? What was there to be afraid of?

Romelia was still lost in her thoughts by the time she made it to her home. The sun was gone and the moon had started to rise as well. Remembering her friends request, she hurried up her ladder and closed the trap-door behind her.

Once the trap door was locked for the night, she lit one of her candles so she would be able to see.

The small light lit up most of the room in a warm gentle glow. Cyri was still asleep, sprawled out on the bed. Her quilt covered him up to the middle of his chest. One of his arms was laid at his side while the other was laid out across his forehead, making his hair sprawl across the arm on his head.

Romelia smiled softly to herself at the scene before her. Setting the candle down gently, she began to prepare for bed. Just as she was laying out her blankets, a strange sound could be heard from over the woods.

It started low, almost too low to hear. Then, slowly, the sound started to grow.

The silver haired teen thought it was one of the woods main predator, in the moor where they liked to roam, but it didn't sound like any of the wolves she knew. The sound was filled with remorse, gut-wrenching guilt, and sadness deeper than the river that tugged at the young girl's heart-strings. Soon enough, Romelia could hear the words that were being sung.

"Come one and all,

One the same,

Find us all in the dark,

Where lay the spirits of above!

Long ago, older than day,

Wolf pups were born

To a happy mother of three.

Their pack was happy,

the skies sung their joyous words,

and peace came to the Valley!

Come one and all,

One the same,

Find us all in the dark,

Where lay the spirits of above!

One late day, as the pups were playing,

The father's heart began to wander!

He wanted to roam, he wanted to sing,

To howl to the moon his song of joy!

He left the pups in their clearing,

wanting to sing his heart out, but when he got back,

his heart did crack at the sight in the meadow!

Come one and all,

One the same,

Find us all in the dark,

Where lay the spirits of above!

The howling drew quieter and the words were drawn out.

The pack was dead, all slain by tooth and claw.

The father cried his heart out over his fallen family.

Until one morning, over the sun's warm light,

He came to a sudden realization.

Come one come all,

One the same,

Find us in the dark,

Where lay the spirits of above.

What would he do?

He was alone,

no one to comfort him

during his time of grief,

no one to curl with

during the winter nights,

no one to talk to

during the long spring treks,

And then, as the moon came up,

the father found his purpose

Come one and all,

One the same,

Find us all in the dark,

Where lay the spirits of above.

To find the sinners was his goal,

to avenge his friends, his pack, his fallen family.

In the middle of the verse, it started to pick up again.

They would pay and rue the day,

they ever set foot on his land!

The father ran,

ran from his home,

ran from his friends,

ran from his memories,

But he held onto his rage,

his sweet bitter rage, to avenge his fallen friends

Come! Come!

Come on and all!

To play in the Light!

One! One!

One and the same!

Where we go to the hills of green!

Find us!

Find us in the dark!

Where lay the spirits of above!

And we all go back to the Great Mother's warm, warm fur

By the time the song had faded out, Romelia was crying. It was just so sad... Her tears fell from her face and fell onto her hand. She sniffled a bit as a new song started up. This one with a much more familiar voice. This song was now from the wolves in the forest.

"Happy child, happy mother

Going as one happy family,

to the Great Mother's warmth,

in the great starry sky!

Starry child, starry dear!

Your time has come,

but do not fret,

For the Great Mothers warmth shall lead the way!

Happy child, happy mother!

Going as one happy family,

to the Great Mother's warmth

in the great starry sky!

Starry mother, starry dear!

Follow your child through the sky!

Lift her spirit to the sky,

and bring her to the the Great Mother's warmth!

Happy child, happy mother!

Going as one happy family,

to great mother's warmth

in the great starry sky!"

Romelia gave a small smile when the song ended. "Thanks guys," she muttered quietly as her tears dried up. She used the heel of her hand to wipe away the remaining tears. Strangely, Cyri had slept through both the songs without waking up in the slightest way.

She smiled a bit more as she looked at Cyri's sleeping form. Before retiring to her makeshift bed on the foor, the silver haired teen walked over to Cyri's bedside. Gently moving his arm to his side, Romelia kissed his forehead in a motherly way.

"Goodnight Cyri," she whispered quietly. His only reply was a loud snore to which Romelia giggled at.

8: Chapter 6

"Get in there," the guard said, roughly shoving the boy into the cold dark room.

The boy stumbled a bit before continuing his slow walk along the tattered and worn rug, towards the large wooden throne at the very edge of the room.

The throne was made out of a thick, heavy wood. It's sides were carved into shapes and symbols, unknown to all but a few people still alive today. A long, elegant black silk cloth was draped across the arms of it, making a rather comfy cushion. Most of the throne was covered in a shadow that also covered the person who sat upon it.

Although most of the person was covered by the shadow from the overhead beam, the boy could make out the silver scaled armor that glittered darkly as the person shifted ever so slightly in the chair. The person wore a long red silk skirt, with a cut down the right side, that reached down to her ankles. Their right leg was brought over their left leg, making it so you could see the person's ankles.

As the boy approached, the person began to tap their fingers nails rhythmically on the arms of the throne. Every soft, but firm, Click! that echoed in the room, sent chills down the young boys spine. The person stopped tapping their fingers when the boy knelt to the ground, keeping his head bowed low.

"Well?" The person's voice was rough and held much authority in it. The boy had to suppress the shivers that threatened to come free.

Trying to keep his voice from breaking, he spoke for the first time since he had been pushed into the room. "We haven't had much luck in tracking him down, Sir. I-It's like he vanished without a trace."

Giving a quiet 'Hmm', the person began to tap their fingers again. The boy kneeling as their feet shuddered inwardly at the sound, fearing the person's uncontrollable wrath. Rumor had it that the person who at upon the throne held no mercy, sympathy, or empathy whatsoever. Only anger. Anger and joy from harming others.

Suddenly, the person jammed their nails down harshly onto the wooden arm of the chair, creating a loud, harsh, Click! The boy almost jumped at the sudden sound.

The person leaned forward, now resting their chin on the heel of their hand. The shadows still covered their face.

"Now, now," they said, "you know that we have to find him. And, as Captain of the Guard, I would think you would be able to do something as simple as find one little person, Captain."

The Captain flinched slightly at the cold tone that came from the person. He knew he would have to be careful on how he proceed, or they would kill him on the spot.

"Well... He is a master of disappearing Sir," Captain said, with as much respect as he could muster. "And I'm sure that he doesn't want to be found-"

"Ridiculous!!" The person slammed her fist down onto the throne's arm. The whole throne shuddered at the impact as the dust that was settled, flew into the air. Captain flinched at the anger and harshness in the person's voice. Practically snarling, they continued. "With that stab wound I gave him, he shouldn't have been able to get away! That Traidor shouldn't be alive, but he is! Now you go find that murderous traitor before I rip your throat out! Do it at any costs!"

The person head came out of the shadows as they leaned forward, to reveal a very cruel looking teen girl.

Her eyes were dark purple while her long hair was black as the darkest nights. Her lips were curled up in a snarl to show her sharp teeth. Her eyes glittered dangerously with malice and something darker behind her eyes. Her eyes also gave away that she was on the verge of insanity.

Captain grew tense as soon as she emerged from the shadows. He grew even more fearful as she spoke.

"Do I make myself clear, Captain?"

He nodded. "Then get out of my sight," she snarled.

The Captain stood up, bowing at his waist, both scared out of his wits and relieved beyond measure.

"Yes, Dominque."

9: Chapter 7

The day after the howling, Romelia emerged from her home to see familiar brown furred forms near her tree. Most of them were large, adult sized, while there were three small forms jumping around each other. The girl called down to them with a smile.

“Adolpha! Adal!”

“Romelia!”  the largest female wolf, Adolpha, barked back. “Come down here for a few minutes please!”

“Okay! I’ll be there in a second!” Romelia started to go down the ladder when she remembered about Cyri. “Oh! I almost forgot!” She raced back into the main room to find Cyri awake.

“Hey…” He said sleepily.

“Good morning Cyri!” Romelia said happily. As she opened the small wooden chest at the foot of her bed, she continued to speak. “I may be gone for a bit, not long hopefully. If you need anything though, I’ll be in the clearing outside. Okay?” She set down a bowl of porridge and a glass of water on the nightstand before hurrying down the ladder.

Botolf’s tail wagged as Romelia ran over to them. The pack all greeted the girl kindly, sniffing her hands and licking her palms, a tradition of greeting in their forest. Romelia laughed, scratching behind their ears in return. When she wasn’t with her friends, Romelia could be found babysitting the pups while the rest of the pack hunted. Romelia never minded it, in fact she enjoyed spending time with the little Xarxok and they always had fun with her.

Cana had large, green eyes, a trait she inherited from her mother, Adolpha, and puffy tail. Cana had the habit of always asking why, questioning everything around her. It infuriated her parents to no end, but Romelia encouraged it.

Cana’s younger sibling, Fridolf, was the only male of the siblings. He had light brown fur and amber eyes. Unlike his two sisters, he didn’t particularly enjoy fighting. Instead, he loved to hunt down bugs.

The oldest of the trio was the other female, Kiyiya. Her fur was lighter than either of her siblings, unlike the others, one of her eyes was a light blue while the other was a dark brown. This one loved to listen to howling. She even occasionally tried to howl, but everyone always ended up laughing.

“Do you want me to watch the children again?” Romelia asked after everyone was done with greetings.

Adal nodded. “Yes, if that would be okay with you, of course.”

“Of course I will!” Romelia clapped her hands together. “I love spending time with them!”

Sköll smiled at her. “Thank you Adalwolfa. You are a true dlaork.”

Romelia blushed a little at the wolves words. While they had know each other for a long time, the teen still had the tendency to blush at the simplest of things. “Thank you Sköll. So are you.”

“We should get going,” Adolpha pointed out to Adal.

The large wolf nodded his snout. “Right. Thank you Adolpha.” He turned to Romelia. “Think you can handle the little ones for a few hours until we get back?”

Romelia chuckled, “I already agreed, Adal.”

“Oh.”

“See you later Romelia!” Dotol yipped happily as they padded away.

I waved at their receding forms with a smile. “Bye Dotol! Bye Adal! Bye everyone! Be safe!”

“We will!” Adolpha called back.

When all of them were gone, the pups started running around Romelia happily yipping. “So what do you want to do today, Romelia?” Fridolf asked as they ran.

“Oh! I know!” Kiyiya stopped running to crouch low. “Lets play Rabbit Hunt!”

“I’m really good at that!” Cana barked.

“That’s because you always ask questions,” Fridolf teased.

Cana growled playfully and jumped the small male. Fridolf didn’t see it coming. They both rolled around in the dirt at the base of the tree. Romelia laughed at their behavior when she felt a tugging on her skirt. Kikiya was looking up at her while one of her small paws tugged at the hem of her tunic. Romelia crouched down next to her.

“What is is, Kikiya?” Kikiya shuffled her feet nervously.

“Did you hear anything… weird last night?” she asked.

Romelia tipped her head. “Weird? What do you mean by that?”

“I mean, did you hear any kind of weird howling last night,” she replied. Romelia then remembered the lone wolf howling she had heard the night before. Kikiya must have stayed up late last night to hear the nightly howling. Before Romelia could respond to the young pup, Cana jumped up from her roughhousing with Fridolf.

“Oh! I know something better!” She ran over to Romelia. “Could you tell us a story, Romelia? Please!”

“Oh yes!” Fridolf said. “Tell us a story!”

“Please?” Kikiya asked, forgetting what she was talking about with Romelia.

Romelia smiled. “Okay.” All three wolf kik jumped around her with excited yips. Romelia chuckled. “Okay guys, calm down and get comfortable.” They all sat down in a semi circle around the teen. As she knelt down, Romelia continued. “So what story do you want to hear?”

“Uh... “ Cana was the one to pipe up first.

“Tell us the one about how the world was created!”

“No!” Kikiya said. “Tell us the one about Wolf and Sun!”

“I actually wouldn’t mind hearing the one about the world again,” Fridolf said quietly.

Romelia smiled. “Okay. And then I’ll tell the one about Wolf and Sun,” she added, seeing Kikiya’s disappointed face. It immediately disappeared as she cheered. Kikiya was then shushed when her two siblings jumped on her. Romelia smiled and started to speak.

“When the world was first created, before Naragari had created Wolf, or Deer, or Earth, the only thing was light. A light that never ended, but never began either. Without any company or pack members, Naragari soon became very, very lonely with this endless void of light. So Naragari took some of this light into her paws and held them to her chest. As she did this, the light shone brighter than it ever had before and went into her heart.”

“Why?” Cana asked. Everyone giggled and shushed her.

“Wait until the story is over, Cana, then you can ask as many questions as you want,” Romelia said gently. “Now, as I was saying. When the light went into her heart, the never ending light faded to reveal the world we live in. However, there were no animals. Still lonely, Naragari felt something in her heart stir. When she tried to suppress it, it only got worse. Finally giving in, she raised her head and howled. No one knows how, but from this howl sprung many things; butterflies, fish, deer, all of the animals of the world. The thing that caught Naragari’s attention was the big, black shape.

“It stood on two paws, unlike most of the other animals. It’s eyes were bright red with wonder as it looked around its new home. It’s fur was as black as the blackest nights when the moon doesn’t shine and when your eyes have stopped seeing. This was Volos.

“Naragari walked up to the wolf and said, ‘Volos, why do you walk on two legs when your pack walks on four?’ In a sweet voice, he replied to the white deer, ‘Because I can see your beauty better from up high than from below.’ Naragari flushed at this, not use to receiving such words. She said to the strange wolf, ‘You flatter me so.’ After this, they became very close. At least, Naragari thought.”

What Romelia didn’t know that Cyri was listening to her story.

 

 

 

Cyri had woken up at the sound of yipping. He had fallen asleep after Romelia had placed the food on the nightstand. There was more than one animal from what he could tell. It also sounded like wolves. When he heard Romelia’s voice coming from down stairs, he panicked a bit before he heard what they were saying.

“Come on Romelia!”

“Keep going!”

Romelia’s laugh came to him. “Okay, okay. Just hold on a moment.”

“Okay!”

After a moment, she started to speak in a different tone. She seemed to be in the middle of a story. “After a few days after the world was born, Naragari confronted Volos. She had heard from the birds that Volos was spreading rumors about the deer through black ink. When she questioned him about it, he openly said that he did start them. Angered, she lashed out at him, only for her attacks to go through him.

“She watched in shock as a dark liquid started to surround him. Volos spoke in a dark voice, much different from what he used when she first met him.”

A male voice joined in, trying to imitate a deep voice, but failing miserably. “ ‘You are a fool,’ he snarled. ‘You could have recognized the darkness I was emanating, but you were distracted by sweet words to see the truth.’ ”

There was giggling as Romelia spoke again, trying not to giggle along. “Let me talk, Fridolf.”

“But we want to act it out!”

“Yeah!”

Romelia laughed. “Okay, okay. I’ll help if you need it.”

“Yay!”

“ ‘You’re the reason animals are being corrupted?’ Naragari asked. ‘You are the reason that evil has started to spread?’ ”

“ ‘Of course I am! You’re too dumb to even realize it!’ ”

“And with that remark, Volos lunged at Naragari,” Romelia said through her laughter. “She was scared didn’t look where she was aiming. Naragari stuck Volos in the neck, killing him almost instantly.” There was even more laughter from below. It was some time before Romelia continued speaking. “Only, he didn’t die. Instead, his body turned into the black liquid that we now call Nightmare Liquid. A deep voice that Naragari recognized as Volos came from it.”

“ ‘You are even more of a fool,’ he laughed. ‘All you’ve done is made me more powerful than before!’ ”

“And with that, Volos disappeared into the black liquid and the black ink was gone in a blink of an eye. Naragari stood in shock, unable to contemplate what had just occurred. When she finally did, Naragari knew she had a large fight on her hooves, possibly a war. But that, is a story for another day.”

“Great story Romelia!”

“Oh! Can you tell the one about Moon and Wolf??”

“Sorry,” Romelia said. “But your parent are back and you should head to your home.”

“Romelia is right Kikiya,” a motherly voice said. “We should be heading home.”

“Aww!” Three voices said at the same time.

“Can you tell us the story another time?”

“Of course Cana. Now go catch up with your pack.”

“Okay. Bye Romelia!”

“Bye Cana!”

Cyri didn’t hear much after that and he assumed that Romelia had gone somewhere. He tried to eat the soup that Romelia left for him, but he was too tired. Eventually, he just gave up and decided to sleep.

 

10: Chapter 8

“Hey! Cyri!”

Cyri woke up with a jolt and hit his head on the branch above him. With a small, painful yelp, he sat back down as he rubbed his head. He looked up when he heard a girls giggling.

Romelia stood a few feet away, her hand to her mouth as she tried to stop her giggling. It didn’t help much though and small sounds of laughter still got out. She couldn’t help her giggling when she saw Cyri asleep at the base of the tree and when he yelped.

Romelia had helped Cyri down from her tree house to let him get some fresh air. She also wanted to work in her garden, to see if there was anything worth picking. If there was, she would more than likely use the food in some kind of stew. Luckily, there were some radishes that were ripe enough to cook up.

“What?” he asked, looking away.

“Does some radish soup sound good tonight?” She held up the radishes she had picked earlier.

He shrugged. “Sure. Why not?” He flinched a bit as the hard tree bark scraped against his back painfully. Romelia immediately noticed when he flinched.

She tipped her head to the side as she asked with a worried tone, “Does your back still hurt?”

“No,” Cyri shook his head, “It hasn’t for awhile now.”

Romelia nodded. It had almost been two weeks since Cyri had first woke up in Romelia’s home and his nightmare. He had been recovering well thanks to the girls help. He could almost walk, but he still needed help and only for a small amount of time. Romelia was often with the teen boy, making sure he wasn’t thirsty or too cold or too tired. Occasionally, she would disappear for a few times. During that time, Tanisha would often take over her job. It wasn’t that bad, she was as good as Romelia, but he just preferred Romelia doing it because he wasn’t as comfortable around nymphs. Especially water nymphs.

“That’s good,” she said, “But we need to get your stamina up. You haven’t been able to stand upright for more than a minute.”

He looked down at the ground in thought. “Well that’s true…” Cyri looked up at her again. “What do you suggest we do about it?”

Romelia grinned wide. She had already come up with an idea before she said anything about it during the night. “We’ll play Hide and Tag!”

“What?”

“It’s a game where you hide, while trying to get to base. If you don’t get to the base before the other person, you’re ‘tagged’. Okay?”

Cyri nodded. “Okay. Where’s the base?”

“How about the old stump not far from here,” she pointed at where it would be. “Sound good? I’ll even give you a head start!”

Cyri was silent for a bit as he thought about it. After a few moments, he grinned as wide as Romelia. “Then I’d better get going.”

 

11: Chapter 9

Come on, come on! Cyri thought as his legs wobbled, threatening to give out from beneath him. I’m almost there!

“Hi!”

The sudden sound of a sudden girl’s voice made him yelp. The golden haired teen also lost his concentration, making him fall into the pile of leaves below him. After he spit the leaves out of his mouth, Cyri lifted his head to see that he was almost 20 feet away from the stump where he was heading for before the voice made him fall.

“Dang it!” Cyri punched the ground in frustration.

Sitting on the stump, kicking her legs happily, Romelia leaned her hand on the heel of her hand while tipping her head to the side. She regarded him in a curious manner.

“You don’t seem to be very good at this game,” she observed with a shy smile.

Cyri sat up right, leaning his back on a tree trunk. “No,” he said, “I guess I’m not. You seem to be pretty good though, way better than me.”

“Well, that’s only because I’ve played it a lot more,” she said nodding slightly, “But I’m not as good as Tanisha. I’ve only won against her a few times when we played.”

“Really?” She nodded again. “Do you play often?”

She nodded once more. “Once or twice between every moon cycles.”

“Huh?” Cyri tipped his head, confused on what she meant by Moon cycles.

“You know,” she said, “how the moon changes shapes every night and every full cycle, it disappears.”

“Oh! You mean a month!”

This time, Romelia was the one who tipped her head. “A month? What’s that?”

“A month is basically a full moon cycle divided up into weeks and days.”

“Oh, I get it.”

A silence enveloped the two that Cyri occupied by rubbing his sore legs while Romelia just looked up at the sky. A flock of large, white birds had just flown over the meadow when Romelia finally spoke again.

“Hey… Cyri?”

Cyri looked up from where he sat. “Yeah Romelia? What is it? Is there something you need?”

“A little,” she admitted. “But I was just wondering… If… If in your old life… Before you came here… D… Did you ever see… Something called an ocean?”

“Yeah… Of course I have…” He looked at her with a befuddled look. “Why do you ask?”

“I-It’s embarrassing…” she said, twiddling with her thumbs nervously.

“You can tell me Romelia,” he said, “We are friends.”

“Well,” Romelia moved a piece of hair from her face, “I’ve never seen anything other than the forest. Tanisha said something about an ocean once, but she didn’t say much. Ever since she talked about it, I’ve been wanting to see one.” She sighed heavily. “Father never wants me to leave the forest. Occasionally though, I do climb to the top of my tree and look out onto the lands, imagining what they’re like.”

Cyri blinked, surprised by what she said. He had never heard her say anything like that in the short time he knew her. He didn’t know that she felt that way.

The teen let his head lean back in the trunk as he spoke. “Large blue waves as far as the eye can see.”

“Huh?” Romelia had her head tipped even more as she asked him.

“Oceans,” he answered with a soft smile. “That’s what they’re like. They’re wide- as far as the eye could see, and probably larger than anyone could ever see at once- and they’re deeper than any valley I’ve ever seen. It was dark blue mixed with sky blue patches that were scattered about at random. The scent of salt almost overpowered every other sent…”

As he continued to talk, Romelia sat next to him, hanging on every word he said. It was like she wanted to soak up as much as she could before she could forget it or he stopped talking. Cyri began to wonder why he was doing this, telling her about the ocean, when he felt the way he did about water. He hated water, there was a reason to this, but he did not want to remember why, and his greatest fear was death by water, there was a reason for this as well, but again, he he did not want to remember why. Describing it to Romelia though… it made him feel happy almost. Even if it was in a small way, he wanted to make it up to her for all the things she had done out of the kindness of her heart.

By the time he finished, the sky was starting to turn orange and red from the sun setting. Romelia was looking at the sky, as if she was imagining what he had just spent hours describing. Cyri even began to get lost in thought before she sighed.

“That sounds lovely,” she said with a wistful tone, “I wish I could go there someday…”

“Why can’t you?” He turned to her with a questioning look.

“Because my father believes it’s safer for me to stay in the forest,” she answered as she leaned back. “And I don’t want to hurt him by breaking his rule. Father usually lets us do what we want. As long as we don’t break the major rules. Even if we do, it’s just a slap on the wrist most of the time. You were the only exception and that was only because I wanted to help you.”

An idea came to Cyri’s mind after a few moments of wondering what he could do to help her. “So?” He sat up a little bit so he could look her in the face. “Can’t you be rebellious for once? Be a little bold? Be-be-be awesome! A-a-a badass!” By this time, he had grabbed her hands so she’d look him in the eyes. “If you did, you could see the ocean! You could have fun while you could!”

She was still looking away, looking at the ground. “I can’t Cyri. My father has always known what’s best for me. He’s always been kind, even when he was scolding. He’s always loved me and the herd without any conditions. He once told me when I was asleep that he’d fight off countless armies to protect me. To leave…” She shook her head. “It’d break his and my heart. I’d be lost without his guidance.”

“Then why not ask him to leave?”

“I know he wouldn’t let me,” she answered looking back at the sky, “and I don’t want to leave him quite yet. I already told you that.”

Cyri looked at her, feeling a soft smile make its way to his face again. He knew how she felt and he was sure, that if his life had been just a little different, he would have felt the same way about his parents. Soon enough, he came up with another idea to make her feel better.

He released her hands with a smile and spoke, “Tell you what, I’ll take you to the ocean one day. When you’re ready and Ordello will let you.”

Romelia beamed at him with hope and happiness. “Really Cyri? You mean that?”

“Yeah,” he said while widening his smile.

“Oh thank you!” She glomped to him in a tight hug. “Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you Cyri!”

He chuckled, patting her back affectionately. “It’s no problem Romelia. It’s the least I could do after all you did for me.”

She hugged him a moment more before letting him go. The silver hair teen was practically bursting from happiness. Cyri grinned as Romelia began to go on about what she was going to do once she got to the ocean.

Meanwhile, Cyri made himself a promise. I will take her to the ocean. She deserves that much at least.

 

12: Chapter 10

A few days later after Cyri made his promise to himself, Ordello stopped by Romelia’s tree home to visit her and check on the blonde teen’s condition. He arrived as Romelia was tending to her garden near the small pond while Cyri walked around doing his exercises. The teen looked up at the sound of her father’s familiar huff. She grinned wide before running to him.

Ordello rested his head on Romelia’s back as she hugged him tight. “Papa!”

“Hello Romelia,” he said humming happily. The silver haired teen let out a small, carefree giggle, as the vibrations ran down her back, tickling her.

After a few, blissful filled moments for the two of them, Romelia finally pulled back.

“What brings you here, father?” she asked with a delightful tone.

“What? I can’t just visit my own daughter without a reason?” He nipped at her hair lightly.

She giggled again. “Of course not!” she said, “It’s just you haven’t been around in awhile and Tanisha’s been busy this last week. so it’s just been a bit lonely with just Cyri here.”

Ordello became serious at the mention of her friend’s name. “That human,” he said, “should be going soon. If he can walk then he should be going.”

Romelia’s smile dropped. She had forgotten about the promise she made to her father. “Father, he isn’t well enough to travel safely,” she said. “His can walk, but his legs give out after awhile. Just a few more days and-”

“Romelia. You know the rules of forest.” Ordello gently said, “The Tallwalker has to go.”

“But-”

“Hey! Romelia!” Cyri’s voice interrupted the both of them. Father and daughter turned in time to see him fall down, face first, into a small puddle of water. Romelia covered her mouth in an attempt to stop herself from giggling. Ordello, however, scoffed in disgust at the sight.

Brushing himself off, Cyri stood back up. The new clothes that Romelia had made for him were now covered in muddy water. His blonde hair had dark mud stains on it, turning him into a dirty blonde. When he stood up, his legs shuddered every once in awhile from the effort to support his weight and keep him upright.

“You know,” he finally said, “why you have me do these exercises. They seem pointless to me.”

Romelia put her hand on her hip. “These exercises are not pointless, Cyri. They help your legs get stronger. I’ve told you this before.”

“I know, I know,” he said. Cyri blinked in surprise when he finally saw Ordello standing next to her. “It’s a deer!”

Ordello scoffed. “I,” he said in a harsh tone, “am not just a deer.”

Cyri let out a startled cry as he stepped backwards. He fell backwards when he tripped. He then scrambled backwards with round eyes filled with fear. He pointed a finger at Ordello accusingly when he was a few feet back. “Y-you just spoke!!”

The large, white furred deer rolled his amber eyes in annoyance. “Of course I spoke, human,” he answered coldly. “I am a white deer. I can speak all languages.”

Cyri’s hand slowly lowered as he blinked again. “That… Makes a lot of sense…”

Once again, the deer rolled his eyes while Romelia chuckled quietly to herself.

“Cyri, this is Ordello,” she introduced. “Father, this is Cyri.”

Cyri held out his hand politely. “Hello sir.”

Giving an annoyed huff, Ordello lifted his hoof and shook Cyri’s hand. “Human.” Romelia looked at him with a pleading look. “Fine,” he mumbled his ears folding back in annoyment, “Hello Cyri…”

As they put their hands down, Ordello spoke again. “I see you’re able to walk, human.”

Cyri nodded politely. “Yes sir. But it’s only for a few minutes. Then they give away. But with Romelia’s exercises they’re getting better.”

Ordello sniffed. “Hmmm…” He moved his head so he could look into Cyri’s eyes with one of his. Romelia stiffened, realizing what her father was doing. As a white deer and king of the forest, he was able to look into the others minds through their eyes to see if they meant harm.

After a few moments of staring, Ordello snorted and took a few steps back. Cyri relaxed, as well as Romelia, when he did. Turning to Romelia, he placed his head back on her head.

“I will most likely be back tomorrow,” he said gently, “We can go riding then.”

Romelia smiled and hugged him. “Thank you papa!”

“No problem.” He nipped lightly at her hair. “Stay well Kikkol.”

“You too, Dudhol.” She released Ordello from her hug. He nipped at her hair again, making her giggle, before disappearing into the tall oak trees.

Noticing it was starting to get dark, Romelia started to walk towards her home. She just got to the base of the ladder before she realized that Cyri was not following her. Instead, he was standing where he was when Ordello walked into the forest.

“Cyri?” She called quietly. “Are you coming?”

He didn’t turn around to face her when he answered. “You go ahead, Romelia. I’ll be there soon. I just need to do something first.” Before she could ask what he was doing, the teen walked off into the forest.

Shrugging off Cyri’s strange attitude, Romelia started up the ladder to her tree-top home, wanting to get some sleep.

 

13: Chapter 11

Cyri walked a fast pace through the forest while making a mental note of the path he took. He was also following the path Ordello had taken. He had something to ask the White deer before he went back to Romelia. Soon enough, the blonde teen could see Ordello’s white fur, sticking  out in the dark.

“Ordello!” he called out. “Wait up for a moment!”

The deer paused for a second to look back at him. “What do you want human?”

Cyri stopped for a few feet away from him, slightly out of breath. Cyri stood up straight but made sure not to look at him directly in the eyes. “Sir, I know I haven’t been here long-”

“A few months,” he grumbled angrily.

“-but I’d like to stay here,” he finished, ignoring Ordello’s comment.

The white deer looked at him before scoffing. “Why do you think I’d let you?”

His mouth felt dry. “Because it would be a good experience for Rome-”

Ordello’s head whipped around to fix Cyri in a dark glare, cutting off what the teen was about to say. Out of his mouth came an unnatural growl that sounded like a wolf. “Don’t,” he warned in a dark tone, “bring Romelia into this.”

Cyri nodded, gulping his sudden fear down. "I-I was just trying to say-"

"You don't think I know what you are?" He took a step closer while looking Cyri in the eyes. The young teen stood, frozen in fear and could not get his brain to take a step back. Ordello continued to speak though. "I looked into your mind, human. I know all your secrets: All your darkest desires; your hopeless dreams; your deepest, darkest, most kept secrets. I know everything. I know how despicable you are, what you did, what you want to do."

With each sentence, the deer took another step forward, bringing him all that closer to the pyrolyzed teen. "I've seen your heart, Cyri. And I've seen how black it is."

By this time,Ordello was right in front of Cyri. The deer was only mere inches from his face. He huffed angrily in his face, tussling his golden hair.

Cyri had enough sense left in him to realize the state of danger he was in. Even if he tried to run, Ordello would certainly run him down within a few moments. So he did the only thing he could do. Cyri closed his eyes and waited for Ordello to end his life. I deserve it...

"However..."

Ordello's new tone made him open his eyes. The deer's face had softened to almost a sympathetic expression. He had also backed up a few steps to give him some space.

"I have also seen your past- and how painful it is," he continued. "I've seen the good you've done, the lives you've saved, and I've seen how hard you tried tried to make up for all you've done. I have seen how the darkness is starting to recced, being replaced with goodness. Lately, it has seem to hasten." With that, he turned around and started to walk away.

Cyri, now able to move, called out after him. "W-wait!" Ordello turned around to face him. "You never answered my question," he said, "May I stay here, with your permission?"

Ordello tipped his head with a thoughtful expression. It was a few minutes before he spoke again. "I am not the one to answer that. You must know yourself before you know the answer to your question."

He turned and walked away again. After a few steps, he turned his head back to him. "You should hurry back. These woods are not safe after dark."

Then he left, leaving Cyri to wonder why the white deer had said that.

 

14: Chapter 12

As Cyri walked back to Romelia's tree, he thought about Ordello's message. It was dark enough that the moon cast an eerie glow

"You must know yourself before you know the answer to your question."

Cyri didn't know what he meant by that or why he would say that. He already knew himself. Didn't he? Before the teen could think more about himself, a shrill screech sounded in the night air.

The sound was high-pitched, so high-pitched that Cyri wanted to cover his ears in fear of damage to them. It sounded like an animal but then again not. It also had a dark tone underlining it. The mere sound of it made the hairs on Cyri's back stand while fear raced through his system with lightning speed. It disappeared as fast as it came though.

Just as Cyri was about to run, a beam of moonlight penetrated the leafy canopy and lit the ground behind him a few meters away. It lit up something he did not expect to see again.

Cyri held his breath and whispered, "Nightmare Horse..."

The moonlight lit up a tall figure that was coming over the hill. It looked like a black horse with red eyes. It's mane tossed around in an invisible wind only it could feel and parts of it dripped to the ground, only to sizzle in the moon's light. Its red eyed gaze floated around the forest until it rested on Cyri. The teen froze in fear as soon as it did. The horse snorted and reared up high on its back legs. It opened its mouth, but instead of a neigh, the shriek he heard earlier came out of its mouth.

The shriek snapped Cyri out of his trance. Run! He turned and ran as the Nightmare started running after him. Cyri only ran faster when he heard the thundering of the hooves behind him.

What is that doing here? he thought to himself as he ran. Why was it even here? Did something happen? Is Romelia-

Before he could finish his thought, something tripped Cyri and he fell into a tree trunk. While he wasn’t physically hurt, the impact still left him sore. Before he could regain his footing, the Nightmare Horse appeared in front of him. The black horse seemed almost amused at the boy’s attempt to flee. Cyri could even hear a cold chuckling sound that came from it.

The black mammal opened its mouth to reveal razor-sharp teeth. He knew that there wasn’t much they wouldn’t be able to cut through. It was more than likely that this horse wanted something that he wanted to keep- his flesh. Cyri closed his eyes, waiting for the pain to start.

Only, it didn’t. Instead, the growling stopped. Curious, Cyri opened his eyes to see that the Nightmare horse had disappeared. Slowly, Cyri stood up, still confused.

Was that… Was that a hallucination?

 

15: Chapter 13

“Romelia!” Tanisha wrapped Romelia in a bear hug, once again squeezing the life out of her. “Oh, I’ve missed you so much!”

The silver haired girl chuckled at her friend’s childish behavior as Tanisha slowly rocked side to side. “I was here yesterday, Tanisha.” Romelia pointed out.

“Well… Yeah… But I don’t get much company besides Winfred and he’s a jerk!” She whined.

“That’s because you always jump to the conclusion he’s out to get you when he’s just trying to be friendly.” Tanisha gave her a funny look that was of confusion.

“What do you mean?” she asked. “Isn’t he?”

“No, Winfred is not-”

“You called, Princess?”

Tanisha inhaled sharply as Romelia looked to the side. There, beside the two the friends, was a man as tall as Tanisha, with dark skin that had the look of tree bark. His hair was dark green, like the leaves at the top of a canopy of trees. Some of is was clumped together, forming long, think, green strands. his eyes were like Tanisha’s but a bit lighter. This was Winfred, a tree nymph, who called Romelia Princess due to her relationship with Ordello.

Tanisha turned on him sharply. “What do you want Winfred?” she asked angrily.

“What did I do this time?” he asks, surprised that Tanisha is already angry at him.

“You showed up!” she snapped. “You shouldn’t BE here!”

Winfred gave her a confused look. “Er, I live here, Tanisha.”

“You live in the trees!!”

As they started to argue, Romelia walked to Cyri was sitting. Cyri was sitting a few feet away on a tree trunk that fallen not to long ago. She sat down next to him with a small smile.

Cyri watched the nymphs argue, mainly Tanisha. “Do they always fight like this?” he asked with a hint of amusement in his voice.

She nodded, resting her chin on the heel of her hand. “More or less.”

“Why? Is there a specific reason they fight so much?” he added, seeing Romelia’s confusion.

“Oh,” she said softly, “I think it’s because Tanisha likes him but doesn’t quite realize it yet. Winfred knows he does, he’s actually talked to me about it, but he doesn’t want her to know.”

“Why doesn’t he want to tell her?”

“He wants to get on her good side first.”

“Ah.”

Romelia kept going though. “It seems really stupid if you ask me. If they like each other, they should just say it. It’s pointless to just cause more pain from not speaking the truth.”

Cyri chuckled. “You sound much older than you are.”

“I guess so.” she said. Romelia smiled at Cyri, who seemed surprised before smiling back. “Well I-” She was cut off by a sudden coughing fit. It was a rather violent coughing fit, causing her whole body to shake with the force of her coughs. She held her hands in front of her mouth as she coughed. A few minutes later, when her coughing fit passed, she looked up to see Cyri looking at her with a worried expression.

“Are you alright, Romelia?”

She nodded. “I-I think so…” She coughed again. This time wasn’t as violent though.

“Maybe you should rest, Romelia.” Cyri suggested. “You might be getting sick.”

Romelia nodded. “G… good idea, Cyri,” she said weakly. “L-let's go home…”

The two got up and walked back towards the house, leaving Tanisha and Winfred to argue. Cyri kept trying to help her walk, but Romelia insisted that she was just fine walking on her own. After a while, Cyri gave into Romelia’s persisting and eventually walked a little bit ahead of her to help clear her path to the house. Unbeknownst to him, Romelia began to sweat.

Feeling uncomfortably warm, she whipped the sweat from her forehead as she panted slightly. She looked at her arm only to become shocked. Her arm was almost entirely drenched in sweat. Romelia put a hand to her forehead to feel her temperature, worried that she was in fact getting sick at an alarming rate. Her forehead practically burned her hand.

Then, she started cough, much more violently than before. Romelia stopped, putting her hand to her mouth, in an attempt to stop her coughs. As she coughed harder, she felt her legs give out from beneath her. All she could hear was the sound of her own coughing and the slightest sound of Cyri calling out for her.

 

16: Chapter 14

Cyri walked a few steps ahead of Romelia, lost in thought as he kicked at the things in his way. He wanted to make sure the kind-hearted girl wouldn’t be hurt by tripping over something.

He had also already been at the forest for about four months by his math. So, hopefully, Dominque had called off the search for him. Cyri didn’t want Romelia to be hurt because of him. The girl had been nothing but good to him and he didn’t want to repay her by getting her hurt.

The sound of Romelia’s coughing broke him out of his thoughts. She seemed to be coughing harder than before, which caused him to worry.

Cyri paused, slightly turning his head around so he could hear her better. “Romelia?” There was a soft thud! behind him, like someone had fallen. He turned turned his whole body around, his hair hitting his face from the force of his turn. “Romelia!”

Said girl was curled on the ground, her whole body jerking from the force of her coughing. Her eyes were shut tight, whether from pain or her coughing, he didn’t know. One hand was covered over her mouth, trying to stop anything from coming out. Her other hand was wrapped tightly around her stomach, trying to subdue her jerking body.

Cyri ran over to her, calling her name again. He knelt next to her while placing a hand on her forehead. He jerked his hand back as soon as his palm made contact with her skin. It felt like she was on fire.

Then he heard a sound like wildfire. Wildfire crackling as it burnt down the forest. Cyri jerked his head up at the sound in shock. Fire was eating away at the forest in front of him. Smoke billowed from the stacks of fire, blocking out the sun and casting a dark cast over the forest. Even though he couldn’t feel the heat, Cyri knew that if he stayed any longer it would be a different situation.

He quickly slipping his arms under Romelia; one under her neck and shoulder area, the other under her knees. Cyri stood up with the silver haired girl in his arms in time to hear a large Crack! sound the air. He didn’t look up, he would waste too much time, he just moved.

He darted forward, where there was no fire. There was the sound of something hitting the forest ground. Cyri looked over his shoulder to see a burning branch in the same spot he was at with Romelia a few moments ago. He had to get somewhere safe with Romelia or they would be killed. So he ran through the safest parts, the parts with little or no fire, towards the edge of the forest.

Romelia coughed weakly as he ran. He was troubled by how feeble she sounded. While she didn’t breath in any smoke, she still coughed like she did. He had to get out before she could breath any in. Smoke could kill a person if they inhaled too much.  

The fire nipped at Cyri’s heels as he ran. Any other person would have panicked at the intense heat, forgetting about their surroundings, but not him. The teen’s head was clear as he ran faster. Even though he was focused on what was in front of him, he kept glancing up towards the fire that was slowly gaining on him.

A great crashing sound came from in front of him and Cyri looked to the side in time to see a Redwood tree fall down. It was twice as tall as him and completely engulfed in flames. He managed to stop in time, the flames searing his nose with the intensity of the heat.

He jumped back with a startled yelp. While the teen may have jumped across wider chasms, he had never been able to jump up that far. He had just never been able to jump up high, no matter how hard he tried. This time though, he wasn’t doing it for fun- Romelia’s life hung in the balance. If he failed, not only would he die, but the girl who had been nothing but kind to him. If he failed, Romelia would die. And he wasn’t about to let that happen. Not as long as he could do something about it.

Cyri took some steps back in order to give him more running room. Sizing up the tree, he mentally prepared himself for the jump. Just before he started running, he shifted Romelia onto his back, that way it’d be easier to jump high.  She was limp with strained, quick breathing. Letting out a shaky breath, he ran.

He took large steps to gain momentum and speed. Once he was a few feet away from the flaming log, Cyri planted his feet together. He leaned forward and pushed off with all his might, trying to get as high as he could. As Cyri looked at the log, he realized with a sickening feeling that he had jumped a bit short of his target. He realized that he would hit the top of the log.

Cyri closed his eyes tight, tightening his grip on Romelia’s limp form. He still wanted to protect her, to repay her for all she had done for him, without wanting anything in return. Even though he would more than likely die, he still wanted her to live, to live her life to the fullest.

Just as he felt the flames, something grabbed ahold of his collar.

Cyri yelped in surprise as the mysterious person brought him up and over the log. The same person then yanked him to the side. He then found himself on a familiar white furry hide when he actually opened his eyes.

“Ordello!”

The white deer merely grunted in acknowledgment as he ran through the forest, dodging every tree, rock, and blaze that was in his way with ease. Ordello’s ear twitched as he spoke. “You are still awake,” he said with a slight grunt. “Good.”

Cyri was bursting with questions on why the white deer was here and how he had found them. Ordello must have known what he was going to ask because he said, “I was coming by Romelia’s house when I smelled fire. It was easy to track your scent from there. You were lucky I appeared when I did human. Otherwise, you would have been engulfed in flames in a matter of seconds.”

Cyri gulped. He knew what Ordello said was true. The teen was grateful for what he had done for him and Romelia. He also knew that the only reason he saved him was because of Romelia.

“You might want to hold on,” Ordello warned. Cyri nodded, using one had to grab onto Ordello’s thick fur and the other to hold onto Romelia’s limp body. The white deer jumped over another rock while simultaneously twisting to the side to avoid a small, flaming branch.

His hooves thudded against the ground like thunder as he ran. Cryi lost track of all the turns, twists, and jumps that Ordello made as he gently maneuvered Romelia so he could lay her on the deer's back. He wanted to see if she was alright and check to see if he could see why she had passed out.

Cyri placed his hand on the girl’s forehead again. Much to his relief, she wasn’t as warm was before. His hand still pretty warm, but it wasn’t burned. Cyri tried to wake her up by slapping her cheeks gently. Romelia didn’t make a sound though.

Cyri’s face fell more. He was hoping she’d wake. He then decided to see if she had any physical wounds. Which might explain why she wasn’t waking up. When he pulled back her right sleeve to check her arms, Cyri noticed something on her wrist.

It wasn’t any kind of wound, in fact, it looked like a birthmark. It was lighter than most of her skin. It looked like a small flower. A lily, to be exact. It was very intricate with all sorts of intertwining vines and petals with a pointed tops. There was also some kind of ribbon wrapped around the lily. He only caught the ribbon when he looked over her arm the second time because it was so light. The mark itself seemed familiar to Cyri, but he couldn’t place why was. By the time he pulled her sleeve back down, Ordello had made it through the forest.

Along the edge of the forest were many, many people, all different colors, shapes, and sizes. Some had flowers or vines on their skin. He even saw a few with sticks sticking out from their head. As Ordello ran towards them, Cyri realized that they were all nymphs.

“Ordello!” A familiar blue nymph ran to them. “Is Cyri and Romelia-”

“We’re fine,” he said jumping down with Romelia, “But Romelia passed out and won’t wake up.”

“Set her down over there,” Tanisha said pointing at a clump of moss a few feet away, “so I can look her over.”

Nodding, Cyri walked over to it and gently set the unconscious girl down. Romelia gave a slight cough as he did. She still sounded pretty weak though. Cyri stepped back to let Tanisha kneel by her. When he did, something tugged at his shirt. He looked down to see Romelia’s hand holding onto his sleeve, keeping him kneeling by her. Her hand was trembling slightly from exhaustion, but she didn’t let go.

Her eyes still closed, Romelia said quietly. “Don’t go… Don’t leave me…”

Cyri softened a bit as she spoke. He grabbed her hand that was holding onto his sleeve, giving it a comforting squeeze. “I won’t Romelia,” Cyri said gently. He used his free hand to brush some of her hair out of her face. “I won’t go.” When her grip on his hand relaxed, he continued. “I’m going to let Tanisha look at you. Okay? I’ll still be here, but you won’t feel me.” She didn’t answer him, but he saw her head nod a little. He gave her hand one last squeeze before letting her hand go.

Romelia’s hand fell limp as Tanisha took his place next to her. She didn’t say anything more. In fact, it looked like she had fallen asleep again. Tanisha checked Romelia as the other nymphs put out the giant fire. Cyri sat patiently a few feet away on a log. Ordello was there as well, only he was pacing nervously. By the time the fire was put out, Cyri had begun to bounce his leg nervously.

Winfred came up and started talking to Ordello about the condition of the forest. The white deer seemed distracted, only nodding politely at the tree nymph. It wasn’t until he saw Ordello glance at Romelia that he saw how worried he was about his daughter. Even though they weren’t related by blood, he still seemed deathly worried about her.

Tanisha soon rose from Romelia’s side and walked over to Ordello. Cyri was over with them in a second.

“How is Romelia?” Ordello said as he did.

Tanisha wait for Cyri to walk over before she answered him. “Physically, Romelia is fine. There isn’t a scratch on her or any other wounds.” Ordello sighed with relief, but the water nymph continued. “But she doesn’t seem to be waking up. Her subconscious just refuses to answer to me.”

Ordello’s ears perked up at her last sentence. He looked at her in disbelief. “What?”

“Romelia isn’t waking up,” she repeated. “But there is no reason she shouldn’t be conscious. There’s no wounds, bumps on the head, nothing to show signs of a concussion.”

“Then why-”

“I don’t know,” she interrupted Winfred. There was a tone of worry that showed how worried she was about her friend. “She isn’t responding to any of my koak.”

“Your what?” Cyri asked, looking at her confused.

“Koak,” she repeated. “Spells, human. I was trying to use spells to get her to wake up, but she isn’t responding to anything.” He took a step back at her tone. She was practically snarling at him.

“Tanisha!” Ordello barked angrily at her. “Don’t talk to Cyri like that. He got Romelia out faster than I could.” Ordello gave him a grateful look. “He probably saved her life.” There was nothing but sincerity and praise in his tone as he spoke. Cyri straightened his back as Ordello placed his head on top of Cyri’s. “Thank-”

Angry yelling interrupted Ordello before he could finish his sentence. Something hard slammed into Cyri, both knocking the wind out of him and sweeping him off his feet. He landed a few feet away, his breath still out of him. Before Cyri could regain his footing, something hard jumped on his chest making it harder to breath. Suddenly, something hard and cold was pressed against his throat, harshly cutting off any chance of breathing. He could barely hear Ordello and Tanisha’s yelling over the sound of his pounding blood. Just before he thought he was going to die, the weight was removed.

Cyri gasped for breath, trying to regain the missing air from his lungs. He rolled onto his hands and knees as he gasped. He had no idea what had just happened or what attacked him. Once he regained his breath, he looked up towards the shouting voices.

Ordello and Tanisha were standing by him, in front of a dark brown doe. She had a white underside and long, slender legs. She looked really, really fast. Which explained why she was able to jump him without him noticing her.

After a few minutes of watching, the doe turned to Cyri. She didn’t seem as agitated as before, although he was still worried. Mainly because she just tried to choke him.

“I may like humans,” she growled, “but if you ever hurt my girl, I will personally rip out your eyes, shove them down your throat, just in time to see me gorge out your stomach!”

Cyri gasped a bit in surprise. Not because she just spoke, but because of her words. He didn’t think an animal could say such a thing as she just did. He took a few steps back to gain some space between them.

“Now, now, Ryna,” Ordello said as he stepped between them. “I don’t think you should treat Cyri that way. He did just save Romelia after all.”

The fur along Ryna’s spine fell as her expression softened. “That is true…” She looked at Ordello. “I’m going to go check on Valentina before leading the herd back. Why don’t you take Romelia and Cyri home in the meantime. If it’s alright with Cyri of course.” She added the last part, looking at him. All he could do was nod. “Okay then.”

Cyri walked to where Romelia laid in the moss. The girl was still as silent as before. And, when Cyri placed his hand on her forehead, he could tell her fever had gotten a bit worse. She was also shivering slightly, even though the heat from the fire had not died down.

Careful not to jostle her, Cyri picked her up. Romelia’s head was rested on his shoulder this time and her arms were rested on her stomach. She still didn’t make a sound as he got on Ordello’s back. The deer tried not to move them too much as he began to walk back to the tree house.

As he did, Cyri looked at the girl in his arms and one thought ran through his mind. Please be okay Romelia…

 

17: Chapter 15

Dominque tapped her fingers rhythmically as she narrowed her eyes at the Captain. Her right leg hung over her left one, kicking it in the air that wouldn’t be noticed at a glance.

“Why,” she said from her throne, “should I care about an accidental forest fire, Cap-tain?”

The Captain pushed down his fear to the back of his throat. He traced the patterns on the floor in an attempt to calm his nerves. “Because. sir, the forest is a mystery.”

“Yes, yes. I know the name of it is The Mysterious River Woods.”

“That’s not what I meant,” Captain said. “I meant that no one really goes in it, because of the myths about it.”

Dominque’s hand stopped tapping and her eyebrows raised slightly. “Myths?”

“Yes sir,” Captain stated. “There are many myths surrounding the forest.”

“How so?”

“Well, one of the popular ones is that a strange force protects it. Some think it’s an ancient old spell that surrounds it in mist. Others think it’s a spirit. No matter what though, one fact remains: Anyone that goes into the forest; they never come out.”

Dominque tipped her head to the side. “A forest from which no one returns…” She gave a large smirk. “That sounds like the perfect place for a traitor to hide.”

Captain nodded solemnly. “Yes sir, that’s what I was thinking as well.”

“Just the same,” she said her smiling falling, “We should send someone to see if he is there.”

“May I request myself for the job?” Captain asked, bowing his head more.

Dominque leaned back onto her throne. “Alright. I’ll give you a chance to redeem yourself.”

“Thank you Dominque.”

“Don’t thank me just yet,” she said. She was leaning her head on the heel of her hand, so her fingers were aligned along the side of her face. The glint in her eyes made the Captain weary of what she would say next. “If you do a good enough job, I might not leave you, dying, for the Nightmares.”

 

18: Chapter 16

Cyri dipped a white wool rag in the bucket of cold water. Once he ringed it out to where the rag was damp, he placed it on Romelia’s forehead. The young teen was on her bed, still asleep. Her forehead was glistening with sweat that was caused by her fever. Romelia’s eyes were closed tightly shut while her hands gripped the bed sheets tightly. Her silver hair was plastered against her face as she panted.

Frowning with concern, Cyri moved the hair away from her face.

It had been a couple weeks since the fire had devastated the forest and Romelia still hadn’t woken up. The forest was slowly recovering, but Ordello said that it might not fully recover before winter came. The golden haired boy was growing more and more worried about his friend as the days went by. He didn’t want her to get worse because of him or freeze when winter came.

Cyri knew that there was a small village nearby. He thought that they could have something that might help Romelia. But he didn’t want Ordello to grow angry towards him. He had already been kind enough to let him stay and he didn’t want to throw his kindness in his face by running to the nearest village.

Romelia’s voice interrupted Cyri’s thoughts. “N… No…” Cyri blinked at her quiet frightened voice. “T… They’re everywhere…” Her head moved to the right quickly and back again. “Destroying… Everything…”

He then realized that her fever was causing her to have a nightmare. Cyri gently grabbed ahold of her hand while stroking the side of her face comfortingly. “It’s okay Romelia,” he said soothingly, “You’re safe. You’re at you home.”

Slowly, Romelia’s hands uncurled, her eyelids relaxed, and she grew still again. Her panting died down, but not entirely and her sweating was still as bad as before.  She stopped muttering, growing deathly silent. Cyri check for breathing, slightly worried by the sudden change. Her breathing was faint and shallow when he found it, and sounded weak.

The teen held her hand as he made up his mind. He had to go to the village for the medicine. Even if Ordello cast him out or there wasn’t any medicine, it was worth the chance to help Romelia how she had helped him.

 

Cyri pulled the hood of his cloak closer around his head so it would cast a shadow over his face. He currently was looking out from under the stone bridge that lead to a small town. It hadn’t taken long to get there and he had left Romelia in Tanisha’s care before he had left the forest. He knew Tanisha would make sure that Romelia stay safe and sound due to their close friendship.

Hearing the familiar sounds of a wagon that was coming over the bridge, Cyri stepped out from under the bridge. Making sure to keep his hood on, he swiftly stepped up onto the road and jumped on the back of the wagon. He made sure to land lightly so nothing would be disturbed too much. Cyri sat down as the wagon drove into town.  He watched the commoners went about their daily business. He waited as a group of people walked by before jumping down from the wagon.

Cyri mingled in with the crowd as they started towards the town’s marketplace. Once there, Cyri gently pushed out of the crowd and started towards what looked like the medical stand.

Along the way, a couple children ran past. Both were around the age of five and looked identical in every way. Cyri gave a small smile, realizing they were twins.

Just like me and-

One of them, a girl with brown hair, accidently ran into him. She stumbled back as her brother gasped. Her own eyes widened as she realized what she had done. She bowed, putting her hands to her chest. “I-I’m s-so sorry sir!”

Cyri wasn’t sure why she looked so scared- she was actually trembling with fright- but didn’t think much of it. He crouched down to look her in the eyes. “It’s alright.” He reached into the small leather sack in which he kept his gold and pulled out five pieces. “Here,” he said as he placed them into her hands. “Why don’t you and your brother go get something?”

She gasped as her brother looked over her shoulder in shock. “R-really?” She smiled brightly at him. “Thank you so much sir!” And with that, both of them were running off, both squealing with delight.

Cyri smiled to himself as they ran. When they were gone, he turned his attention to the medical stall. The stall was being headed by a bald man with a red beard and no eyebrows. The man wore a simple tanish robe and nothing else. As Cyri walked up, he heard the man began to mumble to himself.

“Why won’t anyone buy my supplies? They’re just as good as Elaina’s! … And just because Tim died after using one of my medicines does not mean that my medicines kill people!”

Hearing this, Cyri decided to find this Elaina person. He didn’t want to take the chance of Romelia dying from this man’s medicine. Just as he started to turn, the man saw him.

“Hey! You there!” he called out to Cyri. “Do you need some medicine? ‘Cause I’ve got good-” Cyri walked away before he could finish his sentence. The man yelled after him, but Cyri kept walking, ignoring the man. After a while, Cyri paused to take a look at his surroundings.

There was a shop, that looked more like a house than anything, right in front of him. While there was no sign, he could tell from the smell that came from it, that this was a medical shop. Cyri opened the door, only to smile wide at the scents of Rosemary and honey.

Along there were shelves of medical herbs and spices. There was a counter in front of the door that lead to a back room. From that same back room came the scents of honey and Rosemary.

Sitting on a stool behind the counter sat a woman. She had flaming curly red hair and warm, brown eyes. Her hair gave a slight bounce as she lifted her head from her book. When she saw that someone had walked in, she smiled almost motherly. Her skin was olive colored that looked darker due to the shop’s dim lighting.

“Hello there,” she said. “What can I get you today, young man?”

Cyri stopped in front of the counter. “My friend is sick and needs some medicine.”

“I see,” she said nodding her head. “I can help. What are her symptoms?”

As he listed all of Romelia’s symptoms, the woman started to gather various jars of herbs. By the time he was done listing, the space in front of him was completely covered with jars.

“Okay then. I think I know just what your girlfriend needs.”

Cyri felt his face heat up when she said, ‘girlfriend.’ “Uh… Romelia’s n-not my girlfriend. She’s just a good friend.”

The woman raised an eyebrow as she started mixing the various agreements together in a large pot while stirring it continuously. “So Romelia is the name of the girl you are shopping for.” He nodded, even though it wasn’t a question. “Ah. Then with a name like that, she must be a real beauty.”

“I-I’m not so sure about that…”

“Are you saying your friend is ugly?” she asked, placing her free hand on her hip.

“What? No! Romelia’s actually quite…” He coughed into his hand, his blush increasing. “Uh, how much longer is that going to take?” Cyri asked, quickly changing the subject.

The woman chuckled. “Oh, this’ll take just a few more minutes, child. My name is Elaina.” Oh. The woman that man from earlier had talked about. Cyri came up with a fake name before answering.

“Alright Elaina, my name’s-”

“I already know who you are, Cyri.”

Cyri’s blood ran cold when she said his name. How did she even know who he was? Did she work for Dominque?? “H-how-”

“Oh, I know a lot of things,” Elaina said. “Including who you are and what happened to Romelia as a child.”

“Wait, how do you know? And what do you mean by that?”

“I have my ways child.” She took out a small glass bottle and used a ladle to fill it with the medicine she had mixed up. “Now, Romelia will need to take this with food. I’d mix it with stew to do so. I tried to get it to taste better with some honey, but it still tastes like wolf piss.”

Cyri gratefully took the bottle from her. “How much does this cost?”

“All I want is something in return later on, a favor.” Cyri gave her a weird look. What was she wanting later on?? “Nothing like that!” She said, seeing his expression. “I can promise you that!”

“Good.” Saying goodbye and thank you to the woman, he left the little shop. He pulled his hood up back over his head, holding Romelia’s medicine close to him. He was not going to drop it or spill any of it. Romelia needed this medicine.

He turned the corner of a house that lead to an alley way. As he did, Cyri ran into someone. The teen fell backwards as the other person gave a small, ‘oof!’ He held the bottle to his chest, making sure that it didn’t hit the ground and break. When he hit the ground, he immediately checked the bottle to see if there was any damage to it. Letting out a sigh of relief, Cyri lifted his head. Golden eyes met brown eyes, wide with shock and recognition.

“Cyri?” The man asked in disbelief. He had short brown hair with the same colored eyes. Cyri’s heart pounded against his chest as the man spoke. He jumped up and bolted back the way he came.  He heard the man call out to him. “Wait! Stop Cryi!”

Cyri ignored the man and continued to run.

 

“Cyri! Where have you been?!” Tanisha yelled at him when he got back.

Not wanting to lie to her, he replied, “Getting medicine.”

A few feet away, Tanisha stood up from Romelia’s bed. The anger was clear on her face as she looked at him. “What?! Why?!”

Cyri hung his cloak up as he said, “Romelia’s getting worse, so I went to the nearest village to get some medicine for her.”

“That still doesn’t mean-”

“Look, what’s done, is done and I have the medicine-” He held the bottle up to her face so she could see it. “-so now Romelia can get better. Okay?”

“But-”

“Not now, Tanisha!” Cyri finally snapped at her. “Romelia wasn’t getting better- she was getting worse everyday!- so I went to go get the medicine! Now she can get better! End of story!”

Tanisha had taken a step back, her blue eyes wide with surprise. After a few moments, her hands curled into fists. “Fine,” she said angrily. “I won’t tell Ordello what you did, as long as Romelia gets better. Am I clear?”

Although Cyri felt back about snapping at her, he nodded. “Okay. I’ll need some soup so I can give the medicine.”

 

19: Chapter 17

“Mistress!”

Dominque’s eyes narrowed as the Captain ran towards her. He tripped over his feet many times before he made it over. His hair was plastered to his forehead from the sweat that ran down his face. Captain’s mouth hung open in a pant. The winter chill that had settled in the room caused his breath to come out in a mist. While he was catching his breath, Dominque grew impatient and started tapping her fingers.

“Well?” she asked. “What have you found?”

The Captain took a breath. “I know where Cyri is,” he finally said trying to remain calm.

Dominque stopped tapping her fingers. “You what?”

“I found Cyri-”

“Where?!” she shouted slamming her fist on the arm of the throne, making dust fly.

“I-in Brichelwhyte,” he said nervously. “I-I ran into him in the market square. When he saw me, he took off for the road. I tried to follow him but he managed to evade my sight and escape.”

Dominque raised an eyebrow. “Where does the road lead?”

“To the forest,” Captain answered. “The Mysterious River Woods.”

“Well then.” Dominque leaned her hand on her chin. She gave a large insane smile, full of anger and hate. “I guess we’d better pay him a visit.”

Captain nodded. “Indeed. Shall I lead the raid?”

“Hmmm… About that…” She snapped her fingers. At her signal, two large men walked in. The Captain’s mouth fell open when they grabbed him by the arms.

“W-what? B-but I found him, sir!”

“You did,” she said, “Not. You didn’t bring him back like I said, there-fore, you did not do a good job. There-fore, you die.”

 

20: Chapter 18

Darkness. That was all Romelia could see. Harsh winds tore at her tunic, making it snap and crackle in the wind. Her silver hair was like a flame, illuminating the dark as it flowed with the wind. The sharpness of the wind caused Romelia to shudder and hug herself. The moon peaked out from the clouds and lit the land around her. The new sounds and sights made the teen’s eyes widened in shock and horror.

She was standing in the middle of a large plain, in the middle of a battle. Dark red stained the ground, making it hard to see anything else than red. The metallic clanging of swords and battle cries filled the air. The smell of death hung in the air like a cloud.

For some reason, Romelia felt like this was her fault. That she caused this horrific battle. She felt like she was responsible for all who died. She had a feeling that one of her friends was hurt, or worse. She looked around frantically as heard a voice speak in her head.

“Romelia…”

The girls eyes widened more. That voice… Who-

“Come this way…”

Suddenly, there was a hole in the middle of the fighting. The people fighting didn’t move, they just weren’t there anymore. Her feet acted on their own accord and walked between the fighting. As she walked, the people continued to disappear to make a path. Soon enough, they parted to reveal a clearing.

People were fighting along the edges, the same as the path she had taken. When she had taken a step in, the path closed behind her as fighting blocked her way back. She looked behind her just as it closed.

Guess there’s no turning back…

Romelia turned her attention back to the clearing. The moonlight lit the clearing completely. Unlike the other places, the clearing was devoid of any blood whatsoever. The grass had be stomped down though, killing it. What caught her attention was the unmoving shape in the middle. Romelia recognized the golden hair that glowed brightly in the moonlight.

“Cyri!” She ran to her friend. He didn’t respond to her touch as she rolled him onto his back. She wanted to help him in anyway she could. She didn’t know why, but something drew her to him, unlike anything she had felt before. It was the same thing with her and Tanisha, but different some how. When she saw him, she couldn’t help but gasp.

He wore some kind of uniform that consisted of a light blue shirt with a strange symbol in the middle. As she rolled him, there was some kind of clinking sound muffled by his shirt. Blood was coming out from the shirt, staining her fingers red. Cyri was cold to the touch.

“No…” Romelia whispered, tears falling. A sudden sharp pain in her head caused the girl to clutch her head tightly. Incoherent voices whispered in her ear. Through the haze of pain, she caught fragments of what they were saying.

“Night and Moon…”

“One and the same…”

“To stop…”

“Doomful flight…”

“The old one…”

“Save the land…”

“Wake up.”

 

Romelia’s eyes snapped wide open, With a gasp, she shot straight up. Her forehead collided with something hard. Even more pain shot through her head as someone yelped and fell down. Whimpering in pain, she laid back down in a tight ball.

“Damn! That hurt Romelia!”

Her eyes opened again when she heard Cyri’s familiar voice. They filled with tears, remembering her dream. “Cyri…”

“Huh? what’s wrong?” A tone of panic and worry  came into his voice as he continued. “W-why are you crying? A-are you alright?!”

She saw him next to her bed, looking down as her with concern. More tears came to her eyes at the sight.

“R-Romelia?”

“I-I had a r-really b-bad dream…”

His expression softened. Grabbing a handkerchief, he gently wiped away her tears. “It’s okay,” he said. “Nothing can hurt you. You’re safe.” Without thinking, Romelia sat up and hugged him.

Cyri stiffened as she cried into his chest. After a few moments, he wrapped his arms around her. She hiccupped a little as he started to rub her back comfortingly.

“It was horrible!” she sobbed. “T-there was blood everywhere! A-and there was fighting a-and y-you were-were-” She broke off in a sob. Cyri continued to comfort her, saying soothing words softly in her ear until she had calmed down.

“Better?” he asked once she stopped crying.

Romelia nodded, shifting a bit. “Thanks Cyri. That dream just got to me…”

He chuckled. “I could tell.” His smile faltered a bit. “Romelia, are you feeling better?”

She nodded again. “Yeah… I guess… Wait, why am I back home? I thought we were in the forest…”

“You don’t remember?” She shook her head and Cyri’s look got more serious. “Romelia, you passed out. There was a fire and the forest got burned, except for this tree. You’ve been out for a few weeks.”

A few... weeks? Why was I out for so long? Is everyone okay? … What happened to me? “Where’s Tanisha? And father? And mother? And-”

“Whoa there,” Cyri said. “You’re giving me a headache with all these questions.”

“Sorry…” I looked down ashamedly.

“Don’t worry about it.” I looked up, a bit surprised, to find him smiling comfortingly. “Tanisha is fine. Ordello is fine. Everyone is fine Romelia. No one got hurt in the fire.” He placed his hand on your forehead. “You should get some sleep, Romelia. You’ve still got a slight fever. It won’t go away until you get some rest.”

Romelia merely nodded sleepily. She wanted to stay up, to see Tanisha and make sure she was alright. But her body acted on its own accord. She was asleep before her head hit the pillow. There were no horrific nightmares or soothing dreams to help her sleep.

 

21: Chapter 19

Cyri watched as Romelia sleep. She wasn’t moving or muttering like she was before. She was still and the only sounds you could hear were her breathing, which had returned to normal. Romelia looked almost peaceful when she slept. And that was the good kind, not the bad kind.

He smiled a little before walking to the open window overlooking the tree house clearing. The moon was full and the clouds partly covered it from sight. A beam of moonlight broke through the coverage to bathe the clearing around the tree in a warm glow.

Cyri smiled again as he looked out onto the forest. In four days, the forest had gone from an unearthly, grey, and black, to a healthy, lush canopy of green leaves and brown trunks. Ordello was happy that the forest was recovering so quickly. He was even more elated when he heard that Romelia was recovering quickly as well. Tanisha even visited her every day, just to make sure that Cyri wasn’t trying to trick her and that Romelia was actually dying. No matter how many times he tried to tell her that the teen was fine, the nymph still wouldn’t believe him.

Sighing, he started to shut the window. The moon was high in the sky and he wanted to sleep as well. Just as he did though, a figure emerged from the tree line.

Cyri squinted his eyes a little to see the figure better. His eyebrow raised slightly when he realized it wa Tanisha. She was standing close to the shadows with her arms crossed. A strange look was in her eyes as she looked at him. Realizing what she wanted, the golden haired teen started down the ladder.

Once he was down, Cyri asked, “What’s up?”

“There are some humans that we spotted earlier,” Tanisha said without breaking her stance. “Ordello wants us to check it out. He thinks that you’ll be able to convince them to leave without a fight. Ordello wants us to meet him there.”

“Okay. Where are they?”

“At the eastern edge of the forest,” she answered.

Cyri nodded. “Let's go then.”

 

As Cyri and Tanisha walked, Cyri couldn't shake the feeling that something bad was going to happen. It only increased as they got closer to the spot where the group of people were spotted. A part of him whispered that Dominque had found him, that she hadn’t given up the search. Another part, his logical part, said that was improbable. He had been gone for months, there was no way she would still be looking for him. As they walked into the clearing, his logical part quieted down.

There was signs of people from the stomped down grass and the coals from abandoned fire pits. But there was no signs of any human life still there. The reason being the shape in front of them.

“Ordello!” Tanisha shouted, running towards the shape.

The white deer was on his side, his legs bucking like he was running. He was wheezing badly as he tried to breath. There was an arrow sticking out from his chest, just below his heart. Blood ran from this wound onto the ground, where it collected in a pool beneath him. Ordello’s eyes opened as Tanisha knelt next to him.

“Tanisha,” he rasped, “Are you hurt?”

She shook her head as tears filled her eyes. “I’m fine, but your wound-”

“Where’s Cyri?”

Cyri knelt by him. “I’m here sir.”

“I tried to convince them to go,” he gasped out. “But they wouldn’t go. I was about to charge them when that stupid ma-” He broke off as violent shakes wracked his body.

“Ordello!”

“Please!” Tanisha begged once they stopped. “Your wound needs attention! Just let me-”

“No!” Ordello snapped at her hand weakly when she tried to put it on his wound. “There was poison in the arrow. It’s almost… at my heart… Don’t waste your strength, Tan… Tanisha.” With tears in her eyes, she reluctantly nodded her head. Ordello’s breathing hitched as another spasm wracked his body.

Tanisha started crying at this point and Cyri felt like crying as well. Ordello was someone Romelia loved with all her heart. Here he was, dying, with no chance of living. He felt like he was letting Romelia down.

“Cyri,” Ordello whispered almost too low to hear. As he bent his head down, the deer continued. “They… are here… She… is here… They went towards… Romelia’s tree… Please… Protect my daughter… Keep her safe… P-please…’

Nodding, he croaked out, “Yeah. I promise I will. She’ll always be safe with me.”

“Good… Tanisha, you… need to gather the herd and… everyone else… protect them…”

“Of course I will!” Tanisha sobbed.

“Cyri… I don’t… have much time… Please… give a message to my daughter… Tell Romelia…” Leaning down, Cyri put his ear near the dying king’s mouth as he rasped out a message. His eyes widened when he finished. As he finished, Ordello’s body shuddered once more before falling silent. Ordello breathed one final time as his eyes closed.

Ordello, the great white deer, king of the Mysterious Riverwoods and father to Romelia, had passed on.

Moments after his death, something strange started to happen. He started to glow light blue, the color of stars. At first, it was just around his wound, but it spread across his whole body.

Gasping in shock, Cyri scrambled backwards. Ordello’s body slowly turned into a blue kind of dust. It glowed brightly as the wind picked up. The strange dust was lifted, swirling in a vortex as it flew off.

“W-what just happened?” Cyri asked, mystified.

“Ordello’s gone,” Tanisha sniffled, “back to Naragari’s heard.”

“W-who? What?”

Without answering, the nymph turned on him. The look in her eyes made Cyri cringe. “What did he mean by ‘she’s here’? Who was he talking about Cyri?”

“Look Tanisha,” he said. “I promise to explain everything later, but I need to get back to Romelia and you need to take care of the herd.”

“But-”

“Not now Tanisha!” Cyri snapped. “If the person I think is here, then Romelia is in danger! And so is the herd! Go make sure the herd is safe while I go make sure Romelia is!”

Tanisha hesitated before nodding. “Fine, but if anything happens to her, I’ll kill you.”

As Cyri ran towards Romelia’s tree, a single thought kept repeating in his mind. Please stay safe until I get there Romelia!

 

22: Chapter 20

A strange sound woke Romelia from her sleep. Lifting her head, she blinked open her eyes to see a girl with black hair. She was standing out on the balcony. Her hair moved in the wind as she looked up at the moon.

“You haven’t disappeared completely,” the girl muttered just high enough for her hear. “I’ll get you get back for what you did to us. You stabbed us in the back. And now, I’ll do the same to you. And this girl. It’ll be your fault.”

Romelia’s fear skyrocketed as she spoke. Her heart pounded loudly against her chest from it. She realized that it was her who was the one who gave Cyri that wound to the back. She’s going to kill me! she thought. She’s going to kill me because of Cyri!

But what did Cyri do? another part whispered to her. Maybe Cyri isn’t as nice as you thought.

Romelia shook her head. N-no! Cyri has been nothing but nice to me!

He could have been manipulating you, it whispered again. He could have been waiting for you to let your guard down so he could strike you when you least expected it.

No! Romelia covered her ears tightly, trying to block out the poisonous voices. As she did, her arm hit a book that was resting on her nightstand. It clattered to the ground with a loud Thunk! Romelia’s eyes widened in horror when she realized what she had done.

The girl’s head lifted at the sound. Without turning, she spoke. “So. You’re awake?” The girl chuckled as she turned to face her. “Good.” Romelia saw she had dark purple eyes. There was something in them, something black, other than her pupils. Before she could figure it out, a sudden sharp pain raced across her head, causing the girl to clutch her head with a whimper.

As she walked over, the girl reached into her pocket. Romelia tipped her head curiously as she brought out something shiny. Even though something was telling her to run, she couldn’t move. Romelia jumped a bit when a blade came out.

“Now girly,” she cooed. “You’re going to come with me.” The blade felt cold against her cheek when the girl placed it on her face. Fear froze Romelia even more and kept her from calling out for help. She finched as the girl’s hand moved sharply, cutting her cheek. “If you don’t, my hand may slip again, but in a diferent place. Maybe… your neck, your chest, anywhere.”

Romelia nodded numbly and the girl grinned. “Good. Now, let’s go back down.”

 

Romelia stood at the base of her tree, the cold knife pressed against her back. The girl was behind her with an arm over her throat. Her arm made it a bit hard to breath, but the silver haired teen could get enough air.

She had her eyes shut tight from fear as she trembled slightly. Her actions seemed to amuse the girl, because she chuckled while Romelia whimpered when the knife was pressed a bit harder against her. Despite this, Romelia refused to cry, even though that voice kept telling her that he wasn’t coming, that he had already left. But Romelia continued to believe and hope that he would come.

Romelia squirmed a little when the bushes rustle. The girl tightened her grip on Romelia, making her let out a small whimper.

“Romelia! Romelia, where are you?!”

“Stay,” the girl hissed as she pushed the blade into her back even more, almost breaking skin. Romelia obliged silently.

The bushes rustled as someone ran into the clearing. Romelia’s heart soared when she recognized who it was. She even started crying a little as she whispered a single word.

“Cyri.”

 

23: Chapter 21

Cyri eyes widened in horror as he took in the scene before him. Dominque held Romelia close to her, a knife to her back and an arm around her throat. He knew that in less than a second, if Dominque wanted to, she could easily have Romelia dead and on the ground. She still looked the same as when she had stabbed him, who would have succeeded in killing him if it hadn’t been for Romelia.

Romelia herself look like she was about ready to break down with fright. She was near tears, in fact there were tears at the edges of her eyes. Cyri could see Romelia trembling from where he stood and how scared she was from her eyes. Despite all of this, he could see how happy she was to see him.

I’m too late, he thought with a sickening feeling. Dominque got to Romelia before I could.

His promise to Ordello repeated itself again, as it had done since the king had passed on. He wanted to protect Romelia, not just because of his promise, but because he didn’t want Dominque to win.

This caused more valor to build up in him, as well as confidence.

“About time you showed up,” Dominque said softly. “I was starting to worry that you had run away.”

“Let her go Dominque!” Cyri snapped with his newfound confidence. “She has nothing to do with this!”

Dominque chuckled. “You brought her into this, traitor. All I’m doing is repaying the favor.”

“Damn it Dominque! Let Romelia go! She’s innocent!”

“Oh, no, no,no,” she cooed. “You have to pay for what you did. I’ll stab her like you did to us. I’ll stab her in the back, just how a traitor like you should be punished.” Her last words came out in a growl. Romelia whimpered slightly as Dominque pushed the knife into her back even more. Cyri even saw some blood drip to the ground.

“Stop! Don’t hurt her!” He accidentally let his worry show through his shouting.

Dominque stopped pushing the knife in when he spoke. Her eyebrow raised in surprise. “Don’t what? Don’t… hurt her?” She lowered her head, covering her eyes. “Oh. I get it. I was going to kill her… But now…” Dominque lifted her head, grinning maliciously. “I have a new idea.”

Cyri’s blood ran cold. He knew of the things she was capable of and there were things that he dare not think of that he had seen her do. “What are you planning?”

“If you come back with me, I’ll let little Romelia here go. You’ll work for me again, we can even go on missions again. I might even let you sleep in my room again.” Cyri felt sick to his stomach as she said this. “But if you don’t, I’ll make sure you never see Romelia alive again.” She tightened the knife again to prove her point. Some more drops of blood fell to the ground, a bit bigger than the last time.

Cyri’s mind raced with ideas on what he could do to get both him and Romelia out of this, alive. He only came up with one. It was risky, he might be killed in the process, but it was the only idea he had. Before he could try anything, a voice spoke.

“Don’t do it.” Romelia’s voice came out small and weak, but she sounded firm. Her voice didn’t waver, despite having a knife in her back. Her voice did break as she continued though. “Don’t w-worry about m-me, C-Cyri.”

“Oh?” Dominque looked at Romelia with new-found interest other than bait. “You want to die then? You would die for your friend?”

Cyri could tell that she was struggling to stay calm as her trembling increased. “C-Cyri has a-always been my f-friend.”

Dominque grinned mischievously. “Do you like stories?”

He knew what she was going to say as soon as she spoke. Dread filled his entire being when he imagined Romelia’s reacting. He wanted to be the one to tell her, tell her his side of the story, not Dominque’s. Curling his fists, Cyri shouted a warning. “Dominque!”

“I think you’ll like this one,” she purred in Romelia’s ear. “See a time, not-so-long-ago, there was a boy- an assassin, who worked for me. This boy was very talented, so talented in fact, that he was the second command. He received lots of money and gifts for each assassination he performed, each one better than the last.

“One day, he got a very important job. If he did this one flawless, he would be set for life. He got there and seemingly did it without a bump. But, later that same week, a person had come to me, with that person’s head. Not the boy’s. It was the one he was supposed to kill.”

A tone of mocking came into her voice as she continued. “I was shocked to say the least that he had not killed him, but instead saved him. I felt betrayed by the boy who had not only been my second in command, but by the boy who had stolen something very precious of mine: My heart.”

“Can you guess who he is?” Dominque asked. Romelia looked at Cyri with a shocked expression. “That’s right. It was Cyri-”

His mind raced as Romelia’s expression turned into horror. Quickly, he started talking to her. “Romelia! Don’t believe anything Dominque says! That isn’t who I am anymore! I changed a long time ago! I figured out what I was supposed to do with my life a while back. You helped me to realize that I made the right choice, Romelia. I promised Ordello that I would protect you and I intend to keep it.” Romelia smiled at Cyri in a friendly way. That’s when Romelia jammed her heel into Dominque’s foot.

Dominque cried out in pain, letting her arms drop to grab her foot. As soon as she let go, Romelia ran towards Cyri.

“No!” he said as she did. “Get into the house!” Romelia looked confused for a moment before nodding. As she ran towards the ladder, Dominque recovered.

“Why you-” Dominque held up a knife, snarling. “You’re dead!”

“No!” Just as she started throwing the knife, Cyri shoved her arm. He also elbowed her hard in the gut, knocking the wind out of her. He saw the knife fly, but not towards Romelia, towards the tree. The knife lodged itself in the middle of the trunk. Almost immediately, there was a change in Romelia. She stumbled to a stop, her eyes widening. There was a quiet dripping sound as she placed her hands to her stomach. Slowly, she turned back to Cyri. His eyes widened his horror when he saw the red staining her pure white tunic, dripping to the ground.

“C-Cyri,” she whimpered in pain, "H-help me." Her eyelids fluttered shut as she fell backwards.

“Romelia!!”Cyri shouted. He didn’t know how she had gotten hurt, all he knew was that she would more than likely die if he didn’t help her.

As he moved to help her, something hard hit the back of his head. He cried out as he, too, fell. White hot pain raced through his skull as he started to pass out.

N-No! Cyri weakly thought as he vaguely saw Dominque run for Romelia’s fallen form. He tried to get up, however, his body was too heavy. He reached out weakly as Dominque threw Romelia over her shoulder. “R-Romelia…!” he whispered. With one last thought, Cyri’s hand fell to the ground.

He fell unconscious when his head hit the ground.

24: Chapter 22

The sun was just starting rise when Cyri awoke. The first thing he felt was the warmth that did nothing to abate the enormous migraine behind his eyes. He groaned as his head pounded painfully against his skull, as if it was trying to escape. He sat up slowly, holding his head, the simple action causing him to flinch in pain. “Oh god,” he mumbled. “Why does my head hurt so much…?” I wonder if Romelia-

Cyri’s eyes snapped opened before he could finish he thought. The memories of before Dominque knocked him out rushed back to him all at once.

“Romelia!”

He sprung to his feet quickly, wincing at the increasing pounding. His body wanted him to lay back down for a few more minutes, but he refused to let himself sleep. He went up the ladder, almost flying. As soon as he got up, he called out.

“Romelia!” All he got in answer was silence. “Romelia, please answer me!” There was no answer.

Becoming panicked, he searched through the house for the silver haired girl. No matter how hard he looked, or how long, there was no signs of her.

After a few hours, Cyri sat down on the bed, Romelia’s bed. Sighing heavily, he put his head in his hands. “Oh God no… Dominque got her…”

“This is quite the mess, no?”

 

Cyri looked up as he heard the male voice. In front of him, standing by the front door, was a man around his age, if not a bit older.

He skin was a dark tan color and had amber eyes with flecks of green in both of them. He had light brown hair that reached past his shoulders down to the middle of his back. He wore a plain red cloak with a simple black tank top and jeans.

He also had a weird accent. The way he spoke was, “Zhis is quite zhe mess, no?”

Cyri, still a bit numb from fear of what Dominque could be doing to Romelia, just blinked. He didn’t know this man, if he knew Romelia, or if he lived in the forest. “Who are you?”

“My name is Luther,” he replied. “And jou know Dominque, no? I am looking for her.”

“How do you know her?” Cyri demanded, snapping out of his gloomy thoughts. As he jumped to his feet, Luther spoke again.

“Zhat is none of jour business.”

“Well,” Cyri snapped, “she took one of my friends hostage, so yeah, I want to know!”

“Zhen ve are looking for zhe same person.” Luther held out his hand. “Vould jou like to join up for a bit? Just until ve find her.” Cyri looked at his hand, contemplating his options.

If I do find Dominque, how will I be able to get past her security? She’s sure to have upgraded it by the time I get there. If so, how would I be able to get Romelia out alive? … I may need his help… But can I trust him? Who knows what he’ll do once we find her? Will he turn on me?

After a few minutes, Cyri gripped his hand. “Alright then. I guess we can work together. Just until we find Dominque. I’m Cyri by the way.”

Luther smiled. “Zhen let us get going Cyri.”

 

25: Epilogue

“Sir! Sir Oswaldo!”

A man dressed in heavy armor, ran in. On his helm, colored fiery red and inky black, was a yin yang sign. The man bowed, taking off his helm and spoke again.

“Sir, your daughter had contacted us.” He handed a letter to the silent figure on the form, who was garnished in soft clothes designed by the best gold crafters in the land.

“What has she said?” the figure asked, opening the letter. His voice was deep with a air of authority.

“She said she’s on her way,” he said, “She also said that she was also bringing a girl with her. She was caught helping the traitor.”

“What does she look like?” Oswaldo asked.

“Dominque described her having long silver hair and green eyes, my lord.”

“Silver hair…?” A speck of interest could be heard in his tone.

“Y-yes sir.” He said nervously. “A girl with silver hair.”

“Hmmm…” The man closed his eyes. “Begone.” The man left the room, still bowing at the waist. When he was gone, Oswaldo tinted his fingers together in thought. “So… Romelia had finally surfaced after all these years…”

He grinned as the wall behind him began to drip with black ink that seemed to radiate with evil. “Excellent.”