Book of Fate: Siren Stone (Book 1)

Chapter 3

The next few days passed in a blur.  The picture of the decaying siren remained in my mind and I didn’t sleep a wink for the past few days hoping to not hear the voices again.  I didn’t go with my friends hoping to not see the decaying body of the siren.  For some reason, for the past few nights, I have been finding myself walking towards the siren’s body as if I was being called to it, and I couldn’t resist it.  Whenever I woke up to the hypnotizing call, I would always find myself standing in front of the siren, smelling the decaying flesh and organs and feeling the slimy poison under my feet.  I would head back to my house quietly, trying to think what really brought me out here.  I am surprised the sea birds haven’t come down to feast on this giant siren.

The ritual was about to start and all the seventeen year olds were already at the beach.  The cool sea breeze made me shiver and my friends were shaking with anxiety. The Chief and his daughter joined us on the beach and gave his heartfelt speech about the ritual.  I didn’t really pay attention, knowing that I have heard his speeches so many times at the gatherings and the previous rituals and knowing every single word he was going to say for the event.  I don’t know why, but he literally uses the same words for the particular celebration and only adds in a few things here and there when and if they were worth mentioning.

When the conch shell was blown, everyone started running towards the ocean and the forest.  Eiress and Sirene stuck together and went to find their shells.  I went off on my own towards the water. But for some reason, I felt a little pull on my body.  As if something was calling me.  I ignored the pull and went deeper into the water.  The pull in my body became stronger, and I had a hard time moving my body the way I wanted to.  As I continued to ignore and fight the pull, the harder it became to move my body.  Then my legs started to turn me around and walk back towards the sand and run toward the siren’s body.  I wasn’t even thinking about the siren, but I felt like something was calling me to it and I couldn’t resist the call any longer.  I felt my feet weren’t my own anymore.  I could hear a little hum in my ear and it got louder as I got closer to the siren’s body.

I stopped in front of the huge beast and the humming in my ears stopped. There was a small presence that made me feel like something was watching me. Soon, my vision automatically switched to Second Lens.  The light was almost out now. There was a mixture of an evil green and an icy red light.  The aura’s original form, from what I could tell, was like an anemone.  It was hard to tell since it was slowly fading.  I reached out and felt the siren’s body.  It’s scales were slippery with slime and cold.  I took my hand away and I was able to see the slime’s true aura. It was slowly draining the life of the siren.

I focused my attention on its aura and then began weaving.  I separated the green aura from the red.  Slowly the siren’s aura began shining brightly and I was able to see the aura was shaped like a whirlpool.  When I fully separated the auras, a whirlpool of red began to erupt and wash the slime away.

The slime’s nasty aura then started moving toward a different source now.  The source looked like a big white pearl.  It looked more like a moon than a pearl.  The slime started to cover the moon.  I quickly reached out with my aura and formed a barrier around it.  The slime’s aura targeted me and covered me.

I tried to break away, but the slime prevented me from doing that.  The slime started eating away at my aura.  I felt myself losing consciousness.  And then a voice started calling my name, sending a chill down my spine. No, not now.  The voice called to me, over and over, just like the nightmare.  Take it.

Take what?

Take it.

I looked at the pearl in the siren.  I reached out to it with the last of my aura.  The pearl wouldn’t budge and the voice kept on getting louder.  I could barely keep myself awake now.  The pearl still wouldn’t budge.  When my consciousness began to slip, I heard something slip from afar and land right in my hands.  And the slime’s aura disappeared as if it were never there.

My vision switched back and I took in a relieving gasp of air.  I didn’t realize how long I was holding my breath.  The slime that was covering the siren’s body was hardened and slowly disappeared.  The siren’s true scale color was showing now.  It’s scales were bluish white, like the color of the moon.  The horns on its head were curved, meaning it was a male.  Its teeth were sticking out of its mouth on the side.  It’s eyelids were moving slightly and then it’s body slowly moved so that it was now towering over me.

I stood absolutely still, hoping that it won’t sense me or even see me.  Before my eyes, I saw the cuts on its stomach close up and leave no trace of it being cut at all.  Its eyes then opened and stared right at me.  They were a scarlet red. I wanted to scream but I just couldn’t for fear that any sudden noises would scare the beast.  We stared into each other’s eyes for a very long time.  I thought we were having a staring contest, since we stared at each other very intensely. The siren started humming a beautiful tune.  It sounded like wind chimes and like a piano.  The tune lolled me back into a trance and I couldn’t move my body.  I felt limp and ready to fall over. The serpent siren coiled around my body and took an even closer look at me while it hummed its pure melody.

It opened its mouth wide and started to breathe on me.  It kept breathing on me for a few minutes then lowered its head and bit hard on my right shoulder.  I couldn’t feel the sharp pain of the bite, instead I felt a cold sensation seeping into my veins and coursing through my body.  I felt tears watering my eyes and my vision becoming a bit bleary. I wanted to scream, jump into something really nice and hot, like a volcano.  I wanted to tear myself away from its mouth but it wouldn’t let me go, nor would it open its mouth.  I wanted to break free of this painful sensation.

The siren finally opened its mouth and I fell backwards, slamming into the scaly body of the siren.  I screamed as the ice cold sensation started turning into a burning hot fever.  I fell to the ground and started screaming. My body felt like I was literally on fire.  I screamed so loud, I am pretty sure the entire island could hear me, but no matter how loud I screamed, no one came.  The siren watched me in silence and pain kept on going for hours.  The burning sensation gradually went away, and I was on the ground panting after screaming for the entire day.  By the time I calmed down, a full moon shined behind the dark clouds in the night sky.  I managed to lay on my back and look up at the moon.  It was blue, like a sapphire with a gleam of iced diamonds and surrounded by beautiful twinkling stars. I turned my head to the side, expecting the siren to still be sitting there watching me writhe in pain, but it slithered towards the water.  And the last thing I remembered was the siren wading back into the water and looking back at me with its fiery scarlet eyes and something huge and round in my hand.