Phirias

Iris

He started to continue on down the row, leaving me behind. I had to tear myself away from my mother to keep up with him. We walked up and down seemingly endless rows. And then I saw it, a huge statue of a beautiful woman like the one in the town square, holding a baby. The statue was surrounded by gravestones that were placed in a circular motion. All of them were ivory with emerald engravings. All of them were simple with the exception of one. The one was a statue of an angel holding its hands out to the heavens. I ran towards it. "Danya, no! come back!" Adrian called after me as I ran towards the statue. And there it was, there was the answer that I had been waiting for. I screamed so loudly I didn't even recognize it. "Sleep well beautiful Lillian, you are and forever will be missed." I dropped once again to my knees. I couldn't even move, I couldn't speak, I couldn't do anything. "I didn't want you to have to see this. That's why I tried to stop you." He tried to pick me up off of the ground again. But this time, I shoved him off of me. I didn't want to leave. I sat there at her headstone for a long while. I didn't move, I didn't speak, I couldn't even cry. I stared at the headstone in anguish until a light appeared. I looked up at the light and gasped. The light formed the figure of a person. She was tall, long haired, big eyes, and slim. "It can't be," I was in shock. "Are you the goddess?" I asked the figure. I really was going crazy. She laughed. "I am not the goddess. I am Lilly, your daughter." She looked at me with her beautiful eyes and smiled. "I had a full life, when I passed I felt no pain. I missed you every day. Nana told me you were sleeping, but I knew better. The goddess came to me in my dreams and showed me that you would be back one day. But, it would be after I had gone." She just kept staring at me. I stared back. I started crying. This time there was no stopping me. I was sure to cry into the handkerchief, the one Adrian was so insistent that I keep handy. "How is this possible? I am still 20. You are a grown woman. When the last time I saw you, you were 4." I was still crying. How am I supposed to mourn the loss of my only child? My beautiful baby girl. "You disappeared when I was 4. I lived to be 39 after the ‘ world ended’. I had no children. But I did pass peacefully, in my sleep." I still was crying. "Why are you buried here? With the children? If you passed at 39, you should be over there instead of with the children." I still couldn't believe all of this. "Because you are supposed to find me. You would never have found me over there. When you disappeared, I was 4, so naturally this is where you would look. I have to go now mommy, I love you." as she said goodbye to me, she turned back into my sweet baby girl before finally vanishing into thin air. "I love you, Lilly." was all I could make myself say. Adrian had to fight with me to get me to leave her. "I think you've had enough for now. You need to rest for a while before we come back." He picked me up and threw me over his shoulder and ran back to the horses. "For once, I'm not going to argue with you, We need to go back to Phirias." I jumped onto my mare and took off. It felt like pure freedom! I loved the wind through my hair, the fresh air in my lungs, and the falling rain in my face. I was completely in tune with nature. And with everything that I had just gone through, I needed that feeling. Before I knew it, I was back on the outskirts of Phirias. Adrian was nowhere to be seen. "Adrian?" I yelled to him but, he was still nowhere to be seen. His stallion came trotting up to me. "Where could he have gone?" I wondered out loud. I grabbed his horse's reins and tried to double back but, it was no use. The horse was spooked enough by whatever happened to go back. "Guess I will just have to go back without him."

(Iris)

“Hello?” I couldn’t see anything. “Hello?!” There was no answer. I tried to stand and immediately felt a sharp pain in my side. Had I been cut open? I thoroughly inspected my left side. Of course, I had been cut open. I started to cry out again, but I thought better of it and pretended to be asleep as I saw three men appear from the shadows. “She is definitely one of the sisters.” The first one to speak was the oldest of the three. He was tall, with long white hair and eyes as dark as the evil aura oozing off of him. It made me want to get sick. None of them noticed that my eyes were open. They continued on with their conversation. “But, she is not the one we need for the ritual. Not to mention, we still haven’t found our brother.” Another one of them argued. “We still need her to fulfill our plan. We need to keep her.” The oldest one spoke again. What were they talking about? I couldn’t help but wonder. Was I still dreaming? I had a metric ton of unanswered questions, but in order to get the answers that l so desperately needed, I had to get out of this place. Just then, I saw a movement out of the corner of my eye. It was a man, about average height, kind of dark skin, and long thick black hair. He almost looked like- “It couldn’t be,” I interrupted my own thoughts and spoke out loud. They all turned to look at me. “Well, look who has decided to join our conversation brothers.” It again was the oldest one who spoke. “Is that who I think it is?” I asked, still dumbfounded about seeing Danya’s ex, Aaron. “You do recognize him then?” he said with an evil smirk on his face. I didn’t answer right away. He opened the door to what was my prison. “Its not polite to ignore someone when they are talking to you, Iris.” As he got closer, I planned for my escape. He pulled a knife out of a sheath on his side and started towards me. “I think you better take that knife out of here before you get hurt.” Okay, so that was probably not the smartest thing to say, seeing as I didn’t even know how strong this guy was or who he was for that matter. But, I wasn’t going to let myself get hurt either. “You sure are mouthy, aren’t you child?” He looked at me with a pure savage look in his eyes. He laughed as I sank back into a corner of the cell. Aaron shot a look of sympathy my way and I scowled at him in return. I closed my eyes and waited for the cool metal blade to hit my skin. I was shocked when nothing happened. I opened my eyes and found myself alone. I didn’t know what to think. Was I going crazy? I couldn’t even remember how I got here. The only thing I could think about at that particular moment was my survival. I stood and walked around my cell. Escape was seemingly hopeless. I jumped when I heard a noise. I looked at the wall where the door was and I couldn’t help but to hold my breath. No one walked through the door, no one spoke, and I was getting restless. I sat back down and examined my surroundings. I noticed one of the hinges missing from the cell door. “That’s my way out!” I jumped at the sound of my own voice and the echo it made throughout the dungeon-like room. I walked over to the door and lifted up on it. The other hinges gave way and the door came down with an almost deafening crash. There was a bag on the floor right next to the door. I don’t know why, but I had the urge to grab it as I walked out. Surprisingly, the door wasn’t locked. I walked out into an open field. Although plant life wasn’t flourishing, it seemed to be a peaceful place. I ran for what seemed to be hours before I came to a wooded area. I felt weary of wandering around by myself, but there was no one around. So, I went into the dark of the wooded area alone. There were no birds singing, there were no animals at all, for that matter. I came across an abandoned camp. The tents were poorly assembled, and the meat over the fire looked human enough to tell me that I shouldn’t hang around it too long. I heard a rustling in the bushes and took a few steps away from it. Out stepped a girl, she couldn’t have been more than 12. Her skin was grey, her teeth were yellow, and her eyes looked like she had cataracts on them. She smiled at me and pointed behind me. I turned around to find none other than Aaron. He tried to grab me. I ducked just in time. Shocked by how fast I was moving, I reached into the bag I stole from the dungeon room and pulled out a blade. I tried to jab at him, but he was two steps ahead of me the whole time. He grabbed the athame from my hand and carefully placed it on the ground. I took that opportunity to run. When I finally stopped to catch my breath, I noticed I was surrounded by buildings. They all looked semi-familiar. I walked through streets of busted concrete and ruin until I came upon my favorite place in the universe, my bookstore. I couldn’t believe it was still standing tall in the middle of the ruins. The smile on my face could have very well been spotted from the moon. When I rushed in, I was stopped in my tracks by the sight of the interior. Not that I had expected it to be immaculate, but I didn’t expect it to be so completely destroyed either. Some of my beautiful ash-wood shelves were still standing, the counter was still in place, and my office was still intact. But, the books were all torn, most of the shelves were destroyed, and my painting was missing. The only thing that was still hanging on the wall was The poster of Danya’s picture from the promotion of her first book. “I sure do miss her.” I let out a sob. I have to find her. I looked around the bookstore for a while, and I noticed something odd about the way the door to my safe was sitting. It was open! The only other person who had the combination to that safe was Danya. That meant that I still had someone left. I don’t know what happened, but I had enough common sense to put the pieces together. I didn’t feel safe leaving the bookstore after the sun went down. I decided to barricade myself inside my office. I sat down at my desk and started going through the drawers. It felt as if I were here just yesterday, although the time-damaged desk and materials told a different story. I sat down on the worn blue leather couch in my office. I tried as hard as I possibly could, but I still couldn’t sleep. So I stared at the ceiling for a while, but in the end, sleep found its way to me. I had a dream about a beautiful place. Although it was obviously a cemetery, it was full of life. Birds, squirrels, deer, any creature you could think of, were there. As I entered the lively but grim area, I heard someone screaming. I turned in all directions, but couldn’t quite place where it was coming from. Then, I saw the girl from the bushes. It seemed to me that I was being followed. I tried to talk to her, but all I could get her to do was smile back at me with nearly rotten teeth. As I tried to reach for her, she attacked me. I jumped and found myself awake and off of the couch before I could even grasp the idea that I wasn’t alone. I peeked out of the curtain still hanging from my office window, and I saw a man. He was tall, with long black hair and skin whiter than undisturbed fallen snow. He turned to face my office just as I ducked. I was so sure that he didn’t see me. Just to be safe, I hid underneath my desk in case he came into my office. I heard the door open and I held my breath. He walked right around my desk and sat down on my chair. I had never been that afraid of anything in my whole entire life up to this point. I let out a sob and before I knew it, he flipped my desk and grabbed me. “I knew you would be here. This is the only place you could be.” I couldn’t stop shaking, I was scared. “What do you want with me? Just let me die out in peace. That’s all I want, just not to be murdered. But, in that regard if you are going to kill me, make it quick. I’m tired of dealing with a bunch of degenerates.” Still looking at me, he sat me back down on the floor and scooted towards me. Now that he was closer, I could see a grey tint on the pale white snow that was his skin. “What is wrong with you? Your skin is grey.” He looked shocked about the fact that I was now asking him questions in a more calm manner. “You do not truly wish to know, trust me.” He just looked at me with a sad expression. If there was some kind of disease going around, I wanted to know what I could do to avoid it. “I was sent here to take you back to the brothers. But, I’m not going to.” I was afraid to let him come near me before, but I really was now. “You mean the men that locked me in a dungeon? Well, thanks for that I guess.” I pushed the desk out of the way of the door and started to open the door. Before I could even turn the knob, he was there at my side. “Just because I’m not taking you back to the brothers doesn’t necessarily mean I’m going to just let you go either.” He threw me away from the door and started towards me. It wasn’t until he got close to me that I started to panic. “Why not just let me go? It would be easier than trying to keep me here.” My head felt as if it were going to explode. He pushed me up against the wall and whispered in my ear, “I know who you are, I know what you’re meant to do.” I shivered and slipped away. “What is that supposed to mean?” I was starting to freak out about everything happening to me. I started for the door. But, it was no use. By the time I actually got my hand on the knob, I was at the back of the room again. He started laughing and he was moving faster than anyone I had ever seen. “You’re more fragile than I thought you would be.” He zoomed past me once again. “Stop it! If you’re going to kill me, then do it already!” I was yelling at him now. Although he didn’t plan on me jumping out the window of my office. “That wasn’t smart, now was it?” He ran past me and knocked me down. I ran and crouched behind the counter. What is he? I wondered to myself. He ran behind me and touched my shoulder and before I could turn around, he was already gone. “Can you find me? I can find you, every time.” I ran back to my office, and everything was in it’s place. Nothing looked old or worn, and I could hear voices. “Iris, have you been listening? I’ve been talking to you for like 10 minutes and you’ve been starting off into space. I jumped at the sound of her voice. It was Danya! “Danya, I have never been as happy to see anyone in my life as I am to see you now.” My store was completely together, and nothing was in ruins. Was I starting to go crazy? “Are you feeling okay? You might need to go and lie down for a while.” I couldn’t do anything but look at her. Everything seemed normal, but it wasn’t quite right. I turned away from her and continued to walk around the bookstore. Everything looked different than it had just moments before. Although nothing seemed right, I still couldn’t help but feel like I had been dreaming about the strange encounter moments before. Danya followed me around the store as if she were studying me. I looked back at her and smiled. My best friend always worried about me when she thought something was wrong. “Danya, I’m not going to disappear into thin air. Can you help those customers for a minute? I’ve got to find a book that a customer put on layaway.” If all of that really had been a bad dream, I needed to continue on with business as usual. “I can do that. Just be careful when you are looking for that book, there have been spiders in the store room lately, and we both know how you feel about them.” She just smiled at me and I knew that she was just trying to make me feel better. I went to my store room and pulled out the book that had been ordered and received a couple of days ago. “Hey, do you think I should order more of this one?” I held the book up in the air. She looked up at it and frowned. The book I held in my hand was a copy of her first book to ever hit the shelves. “I think you should order a thousand more copies of it!” she then smiled at me and gave me a thumbs up. I couldn’t help but laugh at her and continue on to the counter. The picture was in place exactly where I remembered it being before the nightmare. I checked the book in my system and went on about the day as I usually would. Before I knew it, closing time was just another ten minutes away. I felt better than I had in a while. Who wouldn’t like to run their own business with their best friend at their side? I love it. “Danya, can you flip the sign for me? I kind of want to close a little bit early. “Yeah, will do!” She jumped from behind the counter and flipped the sign over to the side that read, “closed”. Another day of business done, another dollar to put toward the cause. “Do you want to go get some drinks? I think I could go for a drink tonight.” I was hoping to get in some quality time with my favorite writer. She smiled at me and pulled a bottle of rum from underneath the counter. I smiled at her. She was always prepared. “Why don’t we just stay here and drink and play around with the literature?” She said playfully. “I think that is a wonderful idea.” She opened the bottle and poured it into our drinking glasses. “Hope you brought a pad to land on, because you’re going to be under the table by the end of the night.” I turned to look at the man that was going to marry my best friend. “Cian-“ Except it wasn’t Cian at all. It was a police officer. “Ma’am, I am going to need you to come with me. I’m afraid your friend has been in a terrible accident.” I looked at him for a moment, confused. “Are you talking about Danya?” He nodded. “She is right behind me at the counter.” I turned to look for her but, she wasn’t there. I really was going crazy. I turned back to look at the officer. It was Danya. “Are you sure you’re feeling okay, Iris? I think you might need to go and lay down on the couch.” There was something off about her. She put her hands on her head and started twisting her head really violently from side to side. “Danya, you’re going to hurt yourself, this isn’t funny at all. Stop it!” She continued on to twist her head until she broke her neck. When she didn’t fall to the floor, I knew nothing was right. I ran to the phone and tried to call 911 but, all I could hear was whispering voices, and a high pitched screeching, like nails on a blackboard. I looked back at her and watched in pure horror. She was spinning her head around in full circles until she grabbed the top of her hair and pulled her head straight off of her shoulders. I backed away from her and started crying. I heard a squishing sound and, like a mother giving birth, a new head popped out of Danya’s neck. It was the man from the nightmare, and I didn’t realize until now, it was all real. He smiled at me, running over to the counter and even though I knew it was no use, I tried to hide. I snapped my eyes shut, refusing to see any more of his lies. He laughed and I could feel him coming closer to me. He grabbed my arm and pulled me up off of the ground. “Don’t cry, come over here.” He pulled me in close to him. Just as he tried to wrap his arms around me, I shoved him away. “Don’t touch me! Stay away from me!” I tried to run to the door, but I didn’t quite make it. “You don’t want to go out there just yet.” He had his hand over my mouth and he pointed out the window. It was Aaron. He was looking around outside as if he were looking for me. “Be quiet, and stay low.” He jumped out of the building. Aaron walked up to him and opened up his long dark robe. It seemed to swallow them both for a moment, and the man emerged from the robe. He walked right back into the bookstore and picked me up. “What the hell are you doing?” I scowled at him. He said nothing the whole way outside. I tried to fight him and get away, but it was no use. “Why are you doing this?” I looked up at him, begging. “Here she is, she was in the bookstore the whole time.” He was looking at Aaron the whole time. “Don’t just stand there, give her to me.” Aaron told him. He handed me right on over to him. That was all that I could remember before I blacked out. I woke up in a dark and dank cave. “You can’t hide from me, Iris.” Aaron stood up as if he was waiting for me to open my eyes. “Let me go, I don’t have anything for you.” I tried to stand, but I was chained to the ground by my neck. “The brothers think you can lead us to Danya.” He laughed. “I think you couldn’t lead us to her if your life depended on it. “They think you are special, but the only one of you I need is her.” He looked at me. His eyes looked rotted out, and his movements were ragged. He picked me up as far as the chain would allow, and he shook me. Laughing, he dropped me back down on the floor. “Look, I think you’ve lost your mind. You need help.” I tried to reason with him. “Do not tell me what I need! I know what I need and I’m trying to get her!” He shouted at me. I looked at him and tried not to flinch away. I needed to be strong if I was to get away from here. I needed to escape if I wanted to survive. He sat down in a chair and just looked at me. “Where is she, Iris? I know you know where she is.” I refused to answer. I refused to play his game. I sat there, quietly. There was a knock at the door. My first instinct was to yell for help, but I knew it was no use. I knew something was up when he just barely opened the door, nodded, and squeezed through the crack and left the room. I started crying. “I need to get out of here.” I said out loud. What I didn’t expect was to hear an answer. “Let’s get you out of here.” A voice came from the back of the room. I jumped, and looked for the person to match the voice. No one was there. “Where are you?” I asked, still looking out of the room. That was about the time I got my answer. I saw a flash before my eyes, and I blinked and I was outside. It was him! The guy from the bookstore. He looked at me, touched my face and said, “You need to run, and fast. Run that way.” He pointed east of us. “Who are you?” I looked at him. He just shook his head. “You don’t have time for that. Run!” I did as he told me and I ran. I didn’t stop running until I was in a thick wooded area and the sun was in the sky. I stopped for a minute to catch my breath, and I saw the girl again. She smiled at me, and I jumped back. I knew what she was up to. I started for a tree and she threw her arms around me and hugged me. She didn’t attack me, she hugged me. “Who are you?” She looked up at me and gave me a saddened look. She pointed at the bushes nearby, and started toward them. I watched her for a moment, and something told me to follow her. I was afraid of being attacked, but she was only a child. She ducked into the bushes, and I did the same. She put her hand over my mouth and pointed toward where we were just standing. It was Aaron. He was looking around and smelling the air. The little girl just sat patiently and kept urging me to watch. He looked over at the bushes, and walked towards us. I tried not to move or cry. After a moment, he moved on walking through the woods. I let out a sigh of relief, and the girl grabbed my arm and dragged me out of the bushes.