Dance of the Damned (Completed)

27

Ariadne swallowed past the lump in her throat, she stretched out a hand behind her, and a moment later Iyrena's warm palm slipped into hers. The warmth of a familiar touch soothed Ariadne's aching heart. Somwhere inside of her, something shattered.

Iyrena gasped.

Ariadne's skin tingled and she pushed away from the door.

"What have you done?" Iyrena whispered, horrified.

Ariadne walked past Iyrena, and faced the mirror in her room.

Her hair was flame and it cascaded in big, tight curls down her back. Her feline face had come back, her eyes glowed a rich amber. Embers danced in her eyes and fire kissed every inch of her bare skin and she seemed to glow. Ariadne looked gloriously untamed. A force of nature. This was who she was, she would hide no more.

Ariadne turned to Iyrena. When she spoke her voice was rich, layered with deep, rumbling tones. It lilted a certain way, and her lips quirked up in a smile.

"I became who I was meant to be."

Iyrena took a step back, and bumped up against the edge of Ariadne's bed. Her hands scrambled to grab any part of it behind her.

"You silly child. You have no idea what you have done!" Iyrena's voice was sad, it had a desperate edge to it.

Ariadne gave her step sister a withering glare.

"You've never had it in you to embrace what you are. Even now you deny it to me. To yourself. You're weak. Why would I ever want to be like you," Ariadne scoffed.

Iyrena's eyes filled with tears, and she looked away from Ariadne. Iyrena backed towards the door. The truth of Ariadne's words scorched her skin. It wrapped its fiery tendrils around her heart, and the stone encasing it cracked. She shook her head repeatedly.

"I refuse to believe you would say those things. This your Pheonix talking. Not you."

Ariadne shrugged.
"Believe what you want. I won't live in a cage anymore," Ariadne tossed her hair over her shoulder.

Iyrena cowered against the door, as her hand crept towards the door handle.

"Ari!! Who are you talking to in there?" Kallen yelled.

"Not you, that's for sure," Ariadne yelled back.

Iyrena took her chance, turned the handle and slipped through the gap.

The door blasted all the way open and Kallen stood there. Iyrena now stood behind him. Her eyes full of tears.

Ariadne looked at the pitiful duo those two made. It was almost laughable. Pain lanced her side, and she gripped it. Her hands tore at the dress she wore as she tried to find the cause for her pain.

"M'anam come back to me," Kallen pleaded.

"No. This is not the way it's meant to be. Don't lie!"

"M'anam... There are many paths for each of us. Which ones we walk are up to us. Just please, do not choose this one," Kallen walked through the door; or he tried to.

A glowing barrier of gold stopped him. It ran the length and breadth of the doors. It sparked when his hands touched the edges.

Ariadne tutted at him.
"I told you no more cages, you didn't listen, and now you'll pay the price."

Kallen struggled against the golden barrier. It sparked as embers arced all around the room and died when they bounced off the floor. Kallen frowned, his brows furrowed deeply. Chasms crossed his forehead and split his skin. Iyrena leant over his shoulder and flicked each corner of the shield. Cracks blossomed and formed an intricate tree pattern across it.