Wings of Fire: Part Four by frostcrystal |  |
The Hidden Truth
This part of the story will make more sense if told from CryztalFury's
perspective, so here it is.
I was in the kitchen, rooting around for something to
eat, with Talen, my Horus, hovering beside me. Digging out a Organic Green Apple,
I headed back upstairs. Crystal was in the corridor, and she half-turned to
look at me, her soft dark brown hair shifting about her shoulders. "Cryz? I
left a book on your bed. It's for you." I nodded, still munching the apple.
Crystal was nice, but ever so slightly book-addicted. She resembled my sister,
Syll in that sense. I frowned, the thought of Syll bringing the thought to my
mind.
That day when I had jumped in to defend Syll
and Crystal… I didn't understand. I had not even known I had had the Smoke Screen
ability, the least powerful of the Fire abilities, let alone the much-more-powerful
Fireball one. I didn't even remember ever getting it. Its use had been almost
instinctive. Perhaps it had come from those long-forgotten days before Crystal
had met me. I paused with my paw on the doorknob, trying futilely to remember
my elusive past.
Sometimes I got little flashes of it, of a female
Fire Eyrie with a glowing mane wrapping me in a bundle of white cloth, of being
thrown down into a garbage heap, of a glimpse of the Eyrie fighting others -
I did not know who they were. Crystal had told me that I had teleported her
around Faerieland once, when she had first met me. I had never done it again.
Coming back to the here-and-now, I shook my head to clear away the shadows of
the lingering memories and entered my room.
The first thing I saw was the book on my bed.
I placed it on the bookshelf. I'd read it tonight, I thought, in bed.
~ * ~
I forgot totally about the book. For months, it lay there in the shelf,
collecting dust. Spring passed into summer, summer passed into early autumn.
The slim book with the slightly tattered cover lay hidden, all the secrets
within unknown. My past lay hidden, and my identity with it. When I finally
found it again, it was early in the month of Hiding.
~ * ~
I snuggled up in bed, book in hand and blankets pulled up to my beak. Glancing
at the title, I read it aloud, "History of the Ancient Eyries." Hmm... sounded
interesting. Crystal knew I preferred books on facts rather than fiction. Propping
my pillow behind my head and plumping it a couple times, I got started.
'The Eyries were an ancient race, their origins
going far back in Neopia's history. Although nobody knows for sure when they
first appeared, it is known that 2,000 years before Neopia Central was first
built, they were already dwelling in their favorite mountain caves, located
somewhere in the lower parts of the Terror Mountain range. Ancestors of the
Eyries of today, they were proud and noble, a great race indeed. Legend tells
us that they were the best weapon-makers of early Neopia, but few of these legendarily
powerful artifacts remain until today.
It was long rumored, however, that the Eyrie
King Khara the II of the Ancient Eyries, had forged for himself an Eyrie Longsword,
a weapon that shot living fire, the colour of the darkest emerald from its blade
when wielded in battle. The sword was given the name Kanara, meaning
'Fury of the Eyries'. Although the legendary sword had been duplicated many
times and sold in the shops of Neopia as a piece of ordinary Battledome equipment
(now called the Ancient Eyrie Longsword), the original blade could only
be wielded by the forger and his family, for if one who was not of the King's
direct decedents tried to use it, flames of emerald green would consume the
one, and he and those who might have aided him would forever be considered a
traitor. There was, however, one notable difference between the Kanara and
it's descendants. Although legend tells that the original sword had had a pommel-stone
the color of the emerald, all it's duplicates were colored like the blue of
the sky. Experts in myth and legend have determined that this was caused by
the decrease in power in a duplicate sword, and as the sword was duplicated
again and again, it's duplicates became less and less powerful than the one
before.
The Ancient Eyries differed in only one way
from their smaller, less powerful descendants. All Eyries, male and female alike,
were only of one colour - Fire. However, their firey coats were far different
than the imitations of today. It is rumored that those of the royal house had
manes of pure fire, and the flames on their fur moved with the wind. When at
last the time came for them to die, they would dive into a lake of clear water
and die there, the fire of their manes quenched. No body would ever be found,
and the lake would turn to a dark grey for seven days after. When the current
Eyrie King died, the lake would turn coal-black for ten days, following which
the fur of the eldest male of the House of the Kings would start to shimmer,
and glow bright green. The flames on his fur would fade slowly, then blaze hot
again, and his mane would turn into red fire, tinged slightly with green. However,
this had never before happened to a female, for the eldest children of the King's
house were always male. It was prophesied, however, that one day, a female
of the House of the Kings would someday be born first, and she would have the
red-green fire mane that only the Eyrie King has. Her child would be like no
other of the Ancient Eyrie's, born with fur that shimmered in the dark moonlight
and intricate flame designs, the marks of the Ancients, on it's wings and tail.
This child would be destined to seek out and unite the remnants of the Ancient
Eyries. However, some say that when he is at last born, the Ancients will be
no more, and indeed, it now seems that they were right.
The enemies of the Ancient Eyries were few,
but powerful. No one has ever seen their face, for they cover themselves with
masks when they go into the open. However, it is recorded in the Old Book of
the Eyries, that fully 1000 years before Neopia (BN), a group of the more powerful
and proud of the Ancient Eyries were sent away from the clan, though for what
deed had never been written. Rumor has it that they made their homes beneath
the earth, and, because of their place of living, have become mutated and black,
and that is why they are forced to cover themselves in shame.
Now, however, the once-thriving Ancient Eyrie
community as been wiped out, by disease or famine, or something more subtle.
Although there are still Eyries in the world, they are smaller and weaker, caused
by brother marrying sister and vice versa, diluting their bloodline and producing
weaker young, until they were almost a totally different species from their
stronger and bolder cousins. The last-known Ancients of purer blood still alive
were Syrataln and her mate, CryztalFlame, who disappeared from their cave over
two months ago.'
The book dropped slowly from my paws. The last
living Ancients -- disappeared from their cave… The child's memory of a female
Eyrie squeezing herself out of a small rock opening… all the old memories, the
hints and pieces, fell together and I began to sob, quietly. No… it can't
be. I can't be… why me? I screamed inside helplessly. An accident of birth
-- a descendant of the great. A power which I did not want. I reread the book.
My heart leapt at the phrase 'over two months ago'. It had been eight months
since I was living with Crystal. Ah, but Crystal bought the book about six
months ago, didn't she? That would make it about right, a smug little voice
in my head informed me. I absently told it to kindly shut up while the rest
of my mind ran over what I had just learned, trying desperately to disprove
it. But I could find nothing. Nothing to counter the fact that I was, indeed,
one of the Ancient Eyries. The last of them. More than anything, now I wanted
to remain normal, just a common Eyrie with a normal life. It was so unfair,
my mind railed helplessly. I had not even been consulted, I had not chosen to
be born in this position. All my life, I had known I was not like others, and
had reveled in the fact. And now that the whole truth was revealed, I could
only wish I was normal, common.
Numbly, I turned to the page about the prophecy
about the child who would have 'fur that shimmered in the dark moonlight and
flame designs on it's wings and tail', inadvertently looking down at my own
glowing fur and the flickering fire that decorated it. Everything fell into
place, fitting so tightly together there was no longer any doubt about it. I
was the last of the Ancient Eyries, the one prophesied. And I just didn't know
what I should do.
I shut the light and stared at the ceiling,
now dry-eyed and tearless. It was foolish, I knew that much. The course of actions
I was now contemplating was disastrous. But I had to do it. I had to know for
sure.
~ * ~
The next day, I slipped down to the kitchen early and filched some food from
the fridge. Putting it in a bag, I strapped my Fire Sword to my side, wishing
once again that I had that Eyrie Longsword I had seen in the Battle Magic shop.
It would have sure come in handy right now. Almost as an afterthought, I slid
an extra scabbard over my shoulders, to rest on my back. The thing was a one-size-fits-all,
able to carry any sword put into it. I didn't know what I could put into it,
but I just had this hunch that it might come in handy. I carefully shut Talen
in my room, with a handy supply of food. It wouldn't do to bring him along as
he might not be able to keep up with me. Slinging the bag over my shoulder,
I looked back at the quiet, empty house, sighed, and spread my wings, leaving
the only home I could ever remember. I was sure that neither Crystal or the
girls would care enough about me to come after me.
Hidden at the top of the stairs, Crystal and
Lynn stared, transfixed, at the disappearing form of the glowing Eyrie. They
had come down for an early morning snack and had been just in time to see him
going. Syll joined them as they put their heads together and talked quietly.
~ * ~
I flew north-west over Neopia Central, heading for the alleys
Crystal had found me in. From there, I hoped to piece my way
back to my parents cave. It must've been quite near to Neopia
Central, for my mother to be able to fly straight there.
Hovering above the dark alleys almost half-an-hour
later, I looked down at the place I had been found. It was very dark, and I
shuddered at the thought of what it must have been like for my child self over
seven months ago. Turning slowly around in the air, I surveyed the surrounding
countryside. Spotting a range of mountains north-east, I pumped my wings and
headed there.
~ * ~
Crystal put 'History of the Ancient Eyries' down
on the small coffee table in her living room. "Ready, girls?"
she asked her other two pets. They nodded. "Let's go, c'mon,"
the always-impatient Lynn answered. Crystal handed them
a small pack each, shouldering the largest one herself.
She fixed her eyes on the last spot where she had seen CryztalFury.
Hmm. Somewhere in Neopia Central, it looked like.
~ * ~
The mountains were getting closer. I thanked the faeries
I was an Eyrie - this journey would have been absolute
disaster had I not had wings. I swooped down and plucked
a bunch of fruit off a nearby tree. Looked like cherries
to me. I'd run out of food, and my stomach was telling
me pointedly that it was time for dinner. Settling down
on the ground, I tasted the fruit. Seemed good enough.
Now that was peculiar. It seemed that the only
trees in this entire forest surrounding these mountains
were those that bore this fruit. I shrugged it off,
dismissing it as a fluke of nature.
Worst mistake I ever made.
~ * ~
A grey Eyrie, its body decorated with tattoos,
and wearing a chain of sharp teeth around it's neck,
jerked upright in its chair. It smiled devilishly
as it punched a button on a peculiar looking device,
tracking the fruit that I had eaten. Signaling to
two black-clad and masked warriors, it gave orders
in a maliciously hissing voice. The Eyries bowed
almost robotically and marched out. The grey Eyrie
settled back into its chair, its eyes gleaming wickedly
with pleasure. It rubbed its paws together, eagerly.
"Soon, yes… soon. Come, young CryztalFury FrostTalon.
You will be mine."
Its talons flexed, producing a extremely unpleasant
sound.
To be continued…
Note from the author: The part about the supposed
'inbreeding' of the Eyries in no way means any disrespect
to Eyries of today, because I needed to have some
explanation of how there could be so many Eyries
and only one special one. Feel free to Neomail if
you don't understand anything. I enjoy feedback.
|
