Chapter 1

Their first conversation..

I crawled out of bed and screamed at my grandmother “Yeah, yeah I’m up! I’m up!” It was half-true. I was out of bed, but I wasn’t awake yet. I had another one of those bizarre dreams; the one about the massacre in Orla.

                Everyday I’ve been having these dreams. As if sixth grade wasn’t hard enough! Oh well, maybe Jakob will know what to say about it, even if he is atheist. He’s pretty good at interpreting my dreams… though I really don’t talk about these to him. For some reason, I feel obligated to keep it to myself, but I find it highly difficult to do so. It’s so big! It’s so exciting! So I just put it into my story that still has no title.

                “MARIAH! Hurry UP or you’ll be late for school!”

                “I KNOW! Give me a second!”

                I suppose that my explanation will have to wait a little while longer… although I do wish I could go back to sleep. That poor girl needed someone there with her…

*

                Of course, it’s just a review day before the stupid test. So I’m free to draw and write and read to my heart’s content. So I decided to write today and get the events of last night’s dream down on paper.

                I didn’t see a whole lot… But there was a lot of blood and death. I couldn’t smell it, because it’s always like I’m a ghost in Orla. The girl that I always dream about, she’s a princess I think. She had another girl with her who had the same face, but different hair and eye color. Seems pretty odd for twins huh?

                Well, those two were running together! And it looked like it was for their lives. I started after them; luckily I didn’t have to run…I just kind of… float when I follow their day-to-day actions. We all reached this cliff, and they both started getting up their courage, I guess to dive.

                What stuck me odd as this dream is that I felt the golden-haired girl’s pain. The arrow shot through my ‘ghostly’ form first, and then hit her near the heart. It stung… and rather burned. I think it had been poisoned or something, but she lay there paralyzed as whatever it was coursed through her veins making our whole bodies burn.

                The dark-haired girl, the one I feel so bad for, screamed in horror, and tried to get her sister to come with her over the edge to a safe spot. I’d seen it before in their adventures, there was a maze of caverns under the cliffs, but the only way to get deep enough to reach them in one breath was to dive off of the cliffs. Her twin died in her arms.

                That’s all I can really remember right now though… I think I remember the dark-haired girl’s eyes turning black, but that can’t be right… Maybe my answer will come tonight!

 

***

 

            She was here. I saw her… the girl that follows us. She was in so much pain when the arrow hit her… I wonder… did she die too? No, no it doesn’t matter anymore. Synne, my beloved sister and Helios my father are dead. The man that killed my sister is dead, and I’ll bet by now Runion has achieved vengeance for my father.

            I lost control though… Runion won’t be too happy about that… I killed in cold blood. Whether or not Asteliel wanted to play an extra role in getting revenge for “our” sister, I still wanted to kill. And I let her kill him for me. That makes me just as guilty of murder as that archer. I should be put to death…yet I live… Do the gods truly hate the Vessel of a Daemon that much…?

            Now, now Princess Sariel; you know better than to blame yourself for my misgivings. If you keep doing that, then I’ll have no problem eliminating your soul and taking over your power as the rightful ruler because its caretaker was too busy wallowing in her own self-pity.

          You’re supposed to be pure evil and you give me pep-talks, what is that SUPPOSED to make me feel like?

            That even I can tell that your father was a psychopathic bigot who should have treated you better…

            I sighed and agreed with her for once. Asteliel usually said “We” on a lot of things that meant she was getting something good out of it in the same way I was. In a way… we’re like sisters, in some sick twisted way of fate. By referring to me, she meant that she actually cared about my wellbeing. Our body was in tip-top shape, but my mind isn’t always.

            It is curious though… why do you try to keep my heart strong?

            THAT is none of your concern, now MARCH back over to Runion and tell him that I took control.

            But…
            It’s not lying; it IS true; even if you DID invite me in. Besides, he’ll probably want to know about our little ghostly visitor from another Realm.

            Again, there wasn’t a whole lot I could do in the way of arguing. I did as she said and headed back to what was left of the Palace; though not without getting sick on the way.

            A lot of the faces I saw pale and frozen on the sand were people I saw everyday. Sure they were cruel to me because of Asteliel’s possession of me… but they were people with lives and loved ones…

            It is sick… and I’m sorry that you have to see this… but because of what we are… You’re going to have to see a lot more of this later on in our life.

            How? There’s hardly anyone LEFT!

            You think you’re going to live your entire life here in this god-forsaken bay?! There are bigger things than you know of out there that are going to come after you and try to kill you just because of the power you have!

          I just left it at that and continued marching back home to the palace with Synne’s limp arm around my neck. If anything, she would at least get a decent burial.

            You’re thinking about that ghost-girl again aren’t you?

            Yea… Is it just us that can see her?

          I would suspect so kid… It’s not like anyone ever looked straight at her. She doesn’t seem like she’d bring any harm towards us, if anything she was just as confused as to why she was here as we were.

            Oh please don’t say “were”, she could be alive you know!

            Yes, “could”, but she’d never shown anything like pain or pleasure while she was here. I don’t think she ever sensed anything on her visits until then.

            Well, now that you mention it… it was odd that she never smiled at the flowers blooming, or cringed when Synne and I found that corpse.

            She couldn’t SEE either one of those things, so she couldn’t tell it existed. No smell, maybe she had some hearing… but for the most part, I think all she has in our world is limited sight.

*

            By the time we got back to the palace, Runion and our ghost-girl were waiting for us. I almost wanted to smile… but Synne’s body growing stiff just made me want to cry again. He rushed over to me and grabbed her body, set her down in a respectful manner and held onto me so very tightly.

            “Oh thank the GODS you’re okay! I was so worried about you Lady Sariel!”

            “….But my sister’s dead…”

            “Yes, but you’re alive, as are Asteliel, Remora and I. That’s all that matters. I know it’s painful little one….”         

            He stroked my cheek and wiped away my tears, giving me a sad smile and looking into my silver eyes with his own ruby-colored ones.

            “But, we have to look forward. Now there’s no one that will bully you, and Remora and I can raise you like you always wanted.”

            He continued on like that, just hugging me, luckily not seeing my face. I just stared at the ghost-girl that was behind him. I reached an arm out for her… and when she touched mine it was like everything blacked out. There was no bay, it was just a black abyss with stars everywhere.

            “You can see me too….?”

            “Yes! What is your name? I’d hate to keep calling you ghost-girl for the rest of the time we know each other.”

            “I…. I don’t know… what is your name…?”

            “It’s Sariel… how can you not know your own name…?”

            “I just can’t remember it… I’ve forgotten. Oh please Sariel, will you help me find why I’m here?

            “Of course! We have a huge library here in the palace!”

            “Good….” With that, she smiled and started to glow with a beautiful golden light… Almost like the faint glow of the sun set. She held onto my hand as her glowing lead to her fading away like she did when she left. “Goodbye for now Sariel…”

            Then she was gone. I “woke up” with Runion taking me to my bedroom where Remora was already getting a hot bath ready for me in the bathroom. Asteliel kept pestering me as to where I had gone. I honestly didn’t know, all I knew was that I wanted to go back to her. I wanted to help her so much, but most of all, I wanted to be near her always.

***

            I woke up in a sweat. "Four in the morning....What the... What just happened..?"

            The first thing I did was try to get back to sleep to go see her again... Maybe she could tell me what's going on... I mean, I DO know my name. It's Mariah Juniper Norman. But...I have another one....Back when I was with her... back in a time when magick still existed in my world.