Beautiful Cries

Chapter Twenty: Haunted Melodies

She couldn't quite make out what was being sung, but as she neared the end of the prophecy, three lines stood out in the second to last line.

The Lost Siren's call holds the key to all, though doom is soon set in her palm.

Through the dawn at first light, till the solstice at midnight.

The Goddess calls out for her heart.

The last sentence caused the breath in Alena's throat to hitch as she listened closer to the Helm, hearing the voice grow louder and stronger until she was inches away from the stone.

Her eyes focused on the rock and she could barely make out the words that were being sung, but she knew she had heard the song from somewhere before.

The octave at which the singer was able to reach sent shivers down her spine and Alena glanced down at the prophecy once more, the creature inside her squirming at the heart wrenching melody that far out exceeded her own.

Humming lowly, Alena tuned her voice to such a point that she was able to sing in complete harmony with the foreign voice, raising her voice gradually until she was confident in what she sang.

And beneath her harmony as well as the sorrowful melody, their was an underlying hum that carried from outside the cave, and she knew it had to be Damari.

At the peak of the combination of the three voices, a deep, resounding boom sounded from within the cave as the ground began to shake, the light fading from the stone and the prophecy as the rock beneath Alena's tail split in half.

"Damari!" she screamed, snatching the bag, along with its contents, and swimming away from the gaping chasm in the ground as she raced towards the entrance; a thunderous wail piercing the silent night.

"Damari, get in here!" Alena screamed louder, shooting through the cave as fast as her tail could take her only to find Damari standing stock still at the mouth of the cavern, utterly mute in the empty silence.

Moving in front of him, Alena wove her hand in his face, gaping in shock at the glazed look in his eyes.

"I said to get inside!" she yelled. "What about that is so utterly incomprehensible that your sad excuse for a sailor's mind can't understand it?!"

Her shoulders were heaving by the end of her tirade and Damari didn't so much as flinch, instead flickering his eyes to hers before lifting a visibly shaken hand to direct her gaze beyond them.

She rolled her eyes, still continuing to face him as she turned. "I don't see what could honestly be scaring you this much, Damari. I would have thought a man such as yourself would know a thing or two about the sea and how its creatures wor--"

Her words were cut off abruptly as she took in the blue mist that had spread itself far out across the plains, leaving no spot of land untouched as it increased in speed towards the base of the mountain.

"I think Hecate has come to call." Damari whispered deeply in her ear, pushing her behind him as the mist came closer. "When I tell you to run, you do it."

Alena looked at him incredulously, stepping out from behind him and grabbing ahold of his wrist to pull him back inside. "Damari, I found the entrance, we need to go now before they catch up to us."

"Alena, look behind you," he ground out, gesturing to the mist that was now climbing from the rocky base, "they've already caught up to us. There's no way we're going to be able to escape without confronting them."

"Oh when will you learn that confronting enemies isn't always the smartest solution!" Alena shrieked aloud, snatching her bag from the floor before staring down into the molten rock that lay below her feet. "You're going to get us killed if you don't start thinking with your head!"