Book of Fate: Siren Stone (Book 1)

Chapter 1

The sun was already high and bright and the warmth kissed my skin and the sound of birds and waves welcomed me. The smell of the salt water was wonderful. I looked around and everyone was already working, picking the coconuts and fruit from the trees. Everyone on this island works together because we are all one big family. The boys were out fishing already and the girls were cooking and making clothes. I went to my mom and she had dad’s breakfast ready and had me take it to him. Dad was still asleep so I shook him awake as hard as I could knowing that he is a heavy sleeper. After shaking for a few minutes he finally stirred awake and the smell of his breakfast instantly opened his eyes. He happily took the breakfast from me and ate it, hardly acknowledging me. I waited for him to eat it up, since he usually finishes it up within a couple of minutes. When he was done, he handed the empty bowl back to me and went back to sleep.

Both of my parents are mute, and my mom is deaf. They haven’t been able to speak for a very long time because of a tragic event that happened to them when they were my age. Both whistle to call me. My mom can read lips and either answers with a look, a nod, or shake of the head. Occasionally, she would respond with her shaping words with her mouth. My dad uses hand signals or body language and most of the time I am able to understand what he is asking for. Whenever I didn’t get it right he would let out a grunt or cough or even start laughing.

The island we live on is called Siren Scale and is far from the Main Kingdom, which was ruled by a corrupted king and council, as far as we know. The island is surrounded by an impenetrable fog and large rocks. Our ancestors created the mirage after the war was over and word spread that the new king was corrupted. For centuries, no one has dared to venture anywhere near here. The fog basically erased our existence, and we have been living in peace, untouched by the vile acts of the outside world. It is a very small island compared to the main kingdom, but it’s big enough to actually have a nice town.

Beyond the reef of the island are dangerous creatures known as sirens. Huge serpent-like creatures who hum songs to hypnotize the people to go in their mouths and smash boats with a squeeze of their long serpentine bodies. Legend says that they protect the island from intruders and make sure no one leaves the island. They rarely come near the island. They mostly come when there is an island trial or some other special occasion. I have only seen them on the blankets and tapestries that we make. And based on the stories I hear, they are at least 100 meters long.

On this island, we use magic to help with everyday life. From fishing to gardening to making clothes and items. Everyone on this island is born with magic abilities. We have been trained to do many things with magic since we were little kids. The magic I practice is known as weaving. Not too many people know how to use this kind of magic. Most of the people, especially boys, know how to use magic that can explode things and create things, like weapons. Weaving is a bit different and can be used for many homely things and healing.

Growing up with this ability made my childhood very lonely because I didn’t have the same magic abilities as everyone else. I became the laughing stalk, and my parents were so embarrassed they made me walk to school by myself for a few months. I grew tired of feeling useless, I went to the healer. With just one look, she told me what my magic ability was and took me under her wing. She was even kind enough to tell my parents and my classmates what my magic ability is. After that, everyone treated me like I was important to all of them.

I gave the bowl back to mom and my friends came to get me, one with scarlet hair and one with blonde hair. The girl with scarlet hair is Eiress and the girl with blonde hair is Sirene. Both are very pretty and had eyes that reminded me of the dawn and sunset. I looked at my mom and she nodded and gestured to me to go. I gave her a hug and we went down to the beach. The water was nice and cold and we splashed each other with water and looked for seashells, ignoring the looks the fishermen gave us when we came to the beach. It is a tradition that boys and girls turning eighteen would go all over the island to find their special item which will help control their magic abilities. the only place we're not allowed to go to is the Dark Side of the island, where there are deep dark caves. Not only that, many people who go there never come back. The item that we find in our trial helps determine our fate and future. The one thing that every person in the trial tries to find is the siren stone.

The siren stone is the most powerful item that anyone could find in the trial. It can amplify the holder’s magic power tenfold. It usually appears when a siren has died in the ocean. The people who usually find the siren stone are the descendants of the village Chief.

The three of us are seventeen and will be turning eighteen within a few days. We played and searched for a few hours and layed on the rocks for our clothes and hair to dry. We left the beach and played in the forest for a little bit. We searched for flowers to pick and decorate our hair with. We always talked about the boys we liked and who we want to marry.

The boys on this island are handsome, but for some reason, I’m not attracted to any of them. I guess I am just looking for someone who will stick out of the crowd, literally, and so far it hasn’t happened yet. The boys here are either too rough or too stupid. They mostly care about joining the army and attracting the girls with their impressive magic or muscles. The army that we have just in case the mirage fails us. My friends and all the other girls are in love with this one guy named Jet. He is the strongest boy in the village and he shows off his muscles every single time a girl or a group of girls pass by. His arrogance is as big as his muscles. In this town, it is every girl’s dream to get him to like them.

We headed back to the village seeing that it was almost sunset. It always happens to us, whenever we are together, time always goes by fast and always seems to never matter. When we got to the village, it was empty, although the torches were lit. We heard coming from afar and saw a bright light emitting from the beach and a huge crowd of people. We ran down to the beach and everyone was gathered around something huge. We pushed and squeezed passed people to see what was going on. When we got to the front, a huge serpent-like creature was washed up on the shore.