Wishing Chapter 6

Chapter 6

I blinked in confusion. Her words rang in my ears, echoing and echoing and echoing… with no end. The sky was as blue as ever, and the sun still shined brightly. The forest behind me was gently flowing with the wind along with the water. Birds tweeted harmoniously, but they were louder than they were before. They sang so loudly it was almost a warcry. Everything was stunning. The birds, the deer, the flowers, the trees… everything. Even the outsider in front of me. Her subduing voice was like no other. It was gorgeous, I might add. Her voice was crisp and clear like my mother’s voice. It sounded so lovely to me, and I felt peace… but something was wrong about it. It didn’t seem natural. It didn’t seem human.

“What do you mean-?” I asked Eira but then she cut me off, shaking her head and covering my eyes tenderly,

“Hush now, my little child. This place is not for you. It will fail to cage you in. You are the bird and I am your wings. This world is your cage. Spread your wings and take flight. Ignore the chains hanging from your feet. If you look down, they will drag you down along with them.”

“I don’t get what you are trying to say. I’m confused right now, what in the world are you talking about?” She stopped and sighed. Then she bent down and grabbed something away from my point of view. As she stood up to face me, she clasped her hands together and started opening them. Inside, was a flower the color of dark, dark purple. It was an anemone flower. Eira took a soft breath, and blew at the flower. Despite her gentleness with the flower, the flower’s petals broke away and flew with the wind.

“Unravel.” She whispered. I was about to say something again, but she shook her head. She looked at the darkening sky and sighed once more,

“Oh dear. It is almost time for me to depart. I’m afraid I don’t have much time left. Your “guardian” will most certainly take notice of me. I regret that I must leave. It was a pleasure to finally meet you after so many years.” She was about to wave goodbye at me when I stopped her,

“Wait. You can’t just leave now. I have so many unanswered questions. Why were you watching over me? How do you know my mother? How come Zerina didn’t notice your presence yet? How are you not in the flesh right in front of me? Why do I have to stay in here-”

“Calm down Isolde. Time will tell, but I also can answer some of your answers before I go.” I saw her bonnet tilt upwards towards the sun. I followed her gaze and noticed that the sun was going to set sooner than I expected. I frowned. Why did Eira have to leave so quickly? Was she afraid that she might get noticed by Zerina? But then Zerina didn’t recognize her presence yet. So… why? I hurriedly pressed her,

“Please tell me.”

“Well, first of all, your mother’s a very close friend of mine. Second of all, that girl doesn’t know that I am here because-” She snapped her mouth shut and curtsied regretfully,

“I have to go now, I’m sorry for not being able to answer all of your questions-”

“Wait.” I said. Eira jumped lightly. “Please. Just answer this one then. My mother, Cornelia, who was she?” Eira looked taken aback. Nodding her head, she bowed slightly,

“She was a brilliant and bright young lady. No one could match up to her enthusiasm. She was so brave, so kind, and so very gentle. She was like a dove. Your mother was beautiful, just like you. Your long hair… they remind me so much of her.” Tears slowly shifted down from my cheek to the ground. It was the first time someone actually told me something about my mother ever since she died. My father was almost never home, and when he does go home to see me, he was busy with other things. I sniffled and did my best to hold in my tears. Aria was told to never mention mother in front of me. Whenever I forced her to talk about mother to me, the following day, I didn’t see her. Then the day afterwards, she would come back, and act as if nothing had happened. I missed my mother so much. She was my light and my hero. Sadly, I was a fool for reserving those feelings for her. Eira watched me for a bit before she stepped back and turned away, saying,

“I’m so sorry, I must leave. I cannot delay myself any further. Hopefully one day we’ll meet again in the future. No, that’s wrong,” she paused for a moment, “if they succeed, we will see each other again.” As I blinked, she vanished. Gone. Completely gone. She was nowhere to be found. Then I heard her voice again, this time her voice rang in my mind, Don’t forget me. I stopped and looked around as I jumped over rocks, calling for her name. By the time the sun was almost about to set, I had given up on my search for Eira. It was useless, after all.

I was on my way back to the cottage, but before that, I payed a visit to the edge of the haven. I stopped and looked ahead of me. The scenery looked normal, there was nothing out of the ordinary. Almost everything was the same as the previous places I went to, except that I wasn’t able to cross. I extended my hand and it was stopped forcefully. Immediately, the barrier reacted, and ripples slowly dispersed from my touch. I touched the barrier once more, and the same thing happened again. I waited for a few moments and went back to the direction I was originally going. The cottage was beside a stream. A bird the color of pure snow emerged from the tall grass. It bent over to drink water from the stream. Then it stared at me, its eyes glinted before stretching its wings and lifting off. A couple of feathers fell into the stream, flowing along with it downwards.

I opened the cottage door and found Zerina sitting outside. She left the backyard door open. Her back was slouched and her head hung low. Looking at her pitiful back, I felt a twinge of guilt pulling at my heart. At once, memories from my past invaded my mind.

I curled into a ball and covered my ears. Zerina was in front of me and looked softly at me. But as she came down to pet my forehead, her gently expression changed dramatically from a mother’s to a psycho’s.

I shivered while shaking my head. Rubbing my arms, I sat down right next to Zerina. I smelled the air before glancing at Zerina. Her glazed old eyes stared off into the distance with no wishes to return. Looking at her face, I gritted my teeth. I caused her to become who she was now.

“Isolde, did you have fun?”

“I did, Zerina.” I lied to her, sighing lightly.

“This place is wonderful. It is perfect from anything that you have ever seen before right? I made it. I made the trees, the animals, the lakes and the mountains. All of it was for you, everything here, is for you and you alone. Thus, if you treasure her wishes, don’t think of breaking it anymore.” I hesitated. As much as I wanted to scream and shout at her for being useless to me, I knew that everything she did was so that I was able to be safe.

“I know.” I slowly said in a whisper. Zerina didn’t hear me though, but she didn’t say anything more about it. Then Zerina clutched her chest and breathed heavily, as if she was in pain.

“I have grown old and my Eldritch is slowly eating away who I am. I don’t know how sane I can still be after today.” All of a sudden, Zerina arched her back and coughed up blood. She collapsed onto the ground and I caught her before she hit her head on the stones. I immediately checked her pulse and leaned close to her to check her breathing. She was exhaling for a long time and was cold to the touch.

“Zerina, Zerina. Are you alright? What can I do to help? Please… don’t die. Not yet.” I didn’t want Zerina to die in order for me to get out of the barrier. I just wanted her Eldritch to weaken.

“I’m fine, I just need some rest.” So I carried Zerina into her room, setting her down gently. I covered her stone cold body with the warm blanket, and was about to go out of her room when she stopped me,

“Isolde, don’t go. Don’t go outside the barrier, please. I want to fulfill Leah’s wish.” I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. In my mind, Leah was playing with Aria and me. I tagged her using my teddy bear, and Leah caught me. She lifted me up from the ground and rocked me in her arms. Shaking my head, I responded back coldly, but not as cold as before,

“She never told you to keep me in the dark.”

I sat on the table, sipping tea. Memories of my past replayed on and on in my mind. From moving to different homes to the Fall of Khayal. And now, to what I did toward Zerina when I was a child. I know that what she was doing was for my protection, but I hated that protection. If blinding me and hiding me was the best way, that wasn’t fair for me. I deserved to know why I was being hunted down, why Zerina created the barrier, why the cloaked ones destroyed my hometown, and why they took Aria. But supposedly, protecting me equals me not knowing anything at all.

I hate the feeling of being a herding animal.
A spark rushed and drove my body to outside of the cottage. I headed towards the edge of the world and tried getting out, but as always, everything backfired. Then I looked back up towards the night sky. Stars twinkled brightly, just like that night. That night when my life changed, I was sure the stars were gleaming gleefully at the horrid sight from below, because they knew that they would never be able to experience the pain I went through. They were dancing joyously and sang a song of death. And they found that… utterly entertaining. I was about to look down and head back to the cottage when I saw something else from the sky. It wasn’t natural, that thing there. I widened my eyes in shock. The sky… it’s cracked.