Skyborn

Skyblue - Chapter Sixteen

Now it all makes sense. Hinter is after me. She won't stop. Not until I'm dead. Not until it's over. I would tell you why. But that's a long, long, story. And I don't have quite enough time to tell it. I did wrong when I lived without Aris. There's no other way to put it. Aris knew. The others knew. I knew. But worst of all. Hinter knew. Of course she did. I was not proud of myself. 

It was a mistake. A regrettable choice I had to make. And the worst part is. I didn't have to. I could've chosen not to. There were other ways. But every spiral starts somewhere. Every motion is carried out by choice. And I was not as strong as I am now.

The nightmares have gotten worse. They haunt me when my eyes are open, let alone when I sleep. That night I had a nightmare about Hinter. She said the spell again. I felt the pain again. And this time. I didn't lose my wings. I... my... She... She took my eyes. They were there. Then she finished the spell and they turned into black smoke and vanished. Leaving a dark glowing light pouring out of the empty sockets.

I woke up. In a cold sweat. Tears etched onto my face. Aris was woken by me and she held me until the morning. I didn't want to go back into the depths of sleep. Not while Hinter hid there. Behind my eyes she had taken over. My thoughts. My ideas. My hope. My life. My eyes.

"If she's down here," I started, "Then she doesn't have her wings?"

"I'm sure she's found a way of keeping them somehow," Ezra muttered, darkly. He looked like he hadn't slept for an eternity.

Does he have nightmares too? I didn't ask out loud.

It was a grim topic to discuss over breakfast. But it had to be done. If she was coming for me then we needed a plan. And fast. Aris hadn't spoken much since that night; it's been three days since Aris told us, since I had that nightmare for the first time.  I've had the same nightmare over and over again.  Every night. I go to sleep and my eyes disappear. Then I wake up and check they're still there.

"She might have been sent down here too," Lystra said softly, "Like us, as a punishment, she might not have her wings," She finished slowly, as if she was thinking of what to say as she said it, slowly building a sentence that made sense. Although she seemed far away. Looking into space. Looking straight past us, at something more interesting. Something that we couldn't see.

"I doubt it," Ezra mumbled, before filling his mouth with a spoonful of porridge. Aris and I had made the porridge, seen as Aris always woke first, and I was always awake before her since the nightmare began. So we started making breakfast for everyone. And they took it in turns to wash up. The porridge wasn't half bad; the ratio of oats to milk was near perfect.

Hinter was moving. I could hear her voice whispering again and again. Louder each time, as if she was still whispering it in my ear, breathing on my face. Hope, young Skyborn, that's all you needed. Hope. Hope. Hope. We had to do something about her.

If you look towards the sun as it appears in the early morning, creating light. You can see the sky turn from black. To purple. To orange. And finally blue. Earlier that morning as the sun reflected in my eyes and became too bright to look at, Aris came and stood next to me, on the east facing balcony.

"What are we going to do?" I asked.

"There's only one thing we can do," Aris sighed, looking out over the darkening landscape in front of us, "Hope." I flinched at the word. The most positive word in the English Language and yet the four letters caused me so much pain.

"Are we going to run?" I asked, "As we always do," I hoped that Aris would reply. She usually tried to avoid being in charge, she had to be so mature, and responsible for all of us and I didn't want to put her through that.

"No," She looked at me, "We're going to stay here, until we spot her, and as soon as we do-"

She stopped mid-sentence.

"We'll find out if she has her wings, and then run." I didn't reply. After a silence which lasted an eternity too long; she went back inside. Once the streets below me started to glow, and the sky was the darkest violet it would ever get. I had fully assessed Aris' plan. It had a single flaw, like most things did. When Hinter did come. When she found me. She would not let me out of her sight.

After lunch we discussed what was to be done.

"Hinter is seeking revenge," Aris put it as simply as she could.

"For what?" Ezra asked.

"For what I did to her," I sighed.

"What did you do?" Howell scowled.

"I did the same as you, but in a different way, I dove to the darkest of corners and surfaced in the wrong place." Everyone was listening. "I, I actually don't remember all of what happened," I sighed, "I think I overstayed my visit, and the winged people took me back home," I had to close my eyes. My shoulders started to ache. "I don't remember where I was on earth, or who I was, but I vaguely remember what happened before I came down to earth. I know I found one of the only spells that make you wingless."

"Why?" Lystra asked.

"I always had a small linger of hope that the lite planet would give me what I needed, and to go down there, I knew I needed to get rid of the things that marked me as Skyborn-"

"Enough," Aris hissed. "The point is that we need to make sure Hinter either doesn't have wings anymore, and that she is alone."

"If she see's us she'll follow us." I said.

"Kaliska has a point," Ezra sighed.

"We should avoid her at all costs," Lystra ran a hand through her white hair.

"I think it would be best for us all," Ezra agreed. I nodded at Aris. I could see she didn't want to have to run, but she wanted to keep us safe more. 

"I think we should hold out here for a while, and watch out for her." Aris said slowly. "Let her pass us, and then head in the other direction," She closed her eyes, "Maybe find an angel or two to help us on the way," She opened her eyes. I smiled.

Angels. 

Skyborn.

Are we the same?