Ch. 1 The Sirens Call

The lake was dark and foreboding. Atrum stood on the wet grass staring out into the fog of the lake. Atrum tried focusing on the dark shadow in the fog. The shadow appeared in the form of a young woman with a bird perched on her head. Atrum thought it was a bird because she had wings sprouting from her head. He wondered who would be swimming at this time of the night. He called to the figure. No response. He then called once more but, this time he heard a faint voice sing to him. The voice was heavenly and it sang ‘come to me.’ Atrum took a step. More singing… ‘come to me.’ Another step was taken. More singing, ‘come to see the beauty of the deep.’ Atrum was now walking in the water. The song continued with, ‘come to me and sleep’ he went deeper in the water. The singing still in his ears, he went deeper. The singing that caused his trance made him walk further into the ghastly fog. As the song ended he became fully submerged. He couldn’t resist the Siren’s call.

Atrum awoke in panic. Gasping for breath and scrapping the air as if he was drowning. It took him a moment to realize he was once again in his safe domain, his room. He calmed down from the nightmarish dream and sat up on his bed.

“It was only a dream.” To himself he had whispered in hope.

He got up and got ready for the day.

Atrum was sitting at the kitchen table eating the pancakes he had made. Reading a book that had struck interest into him just recently. His mother came into the kitchen grabbing pancakes and milk.

“Atrum are you ok?” she asked sitting down.

Her blonde hair was ruffled for she had just gotten up from a long night..

“yes.” Atrum responds quietly, not once looking from his book.

“Atrum, are you sure?” She asked persistently.

“I said I’m Fine.” Atrum says snapping at her.

Ignoring it she went on. ”… you have been weeping in your sleep, you have been doing it a lot lately.”

“Don’t worry about It.” Atrum said shutting his book and getting up to leave.

“Sit down!” His mother said standing up.

Atrum obeyed anxiously. He watched his mother who had quietly sat back down.

She opened her mouth as if to say something, then closed it and thought a little more.

“How do I say this… Your father, your biological father had contacted the adoption agency . The agency had called last night, he wants you to live with him.”

“What!” Atrum said raising his voice. “What the hell does that bastard want with me… If he never ran out on my mother then I would be with him now… what the hell does he want with me?” He was furious yet surprised. He did not know his father. Ven had ran out on his mother, Hella when he had found out she was pregnant. Hella, nine months later went into labor having twins, yet with no one there beside her to help her with the pain, she sadly died little after the birth.

With his mothers last request was to name her son ‘Atrum’ and her daughter ‘Lumina’. The twins had spent years in an orphanage since birth. When they grew to the age of four they were separated from each other to different families.

Atrum snapped back to the present ‘no use dwelling on the past’ he thought.

His mother continued. “You do not have to live with him if you don’t want to. He had requested for you to at least try a year with him.”

Atrum sat dumbstruck not knowing what to say he got up dropping his Creatures of Mythology book. He slammed his room door behind him. He slid down it until he was firmly on the ground. ‘What does he want from me?’ He thought ‘Why does he try to contact me now? After so long? Should I go?’ The questions haunted him. He wanted to know his father but, should he live with a man who had ran out on his true mom when she desperately needed him the most.

As these questions crowded Atrum’s head his mother was down stairs crying. She picked up Atrum’s book. A highlighted paragraph flashed before her eyes. Curiosity took the best of her and she read.

Sirens

Womanly creatures. Part woman, part bird and part fish. There are many descriptions for a siren but, the most accurate one is a mermaid with wings that derive from the temples of her head.

The sirens song is said to lure unsuspecting men to there deaths and the sight of them, is the foretelling of a disaster.

Atrum, in his room was laying in his bed. He just wanted everything to go away, for everything to be right again. He closed his eyes, his ears started to hear a faint melody. He had opened his eyes to find where the tune was coming from. He looked around his room and nothing beyond normal was seen yet, the aria was still in ears reach. A slight movement was felt under his bed.

“What the hell?” he asked as the bed caved into abyss.

Atrum fell deeper and deeper into the hole of pitch black. He tried to scream yet, not a hint of sound would escape his quivering lips. A deafening sound of wings flapped and he stopped. He covered his ears to block out the ear-splitting sound. A sharp pain sliced through his back. He screamed as he fell to the ground of moist grass. The suffering stopped. No more pain the sharpness in his back was gone and the flapping noise had disappeared. Atrum opened his eyes and uncovered his ears. He found himself laying on the bank of the lake. He slowly pushed himself up to find he was wrapped in fog once more.

The outline of the woman was seen in the thick fog. Her hypnotizing song had drifted in the air.

“What the hell do you want from me?!” Atrum yelled to her.

‘To come to the sea.’ she sang.

“I’m not ready to die, you Siren!” Atrum yelled. The piercing flap of beating wings was once again heard. The fog drifted away with the strong wind. The Siren who was hiding in the fog was in clear sight. Her hair was lively flowing with the wind rushing past her. With all the Siren’s might she forced her tiny wings to flutter. The powerful winds stopped and everything was still.

The Siren was sitting on a rock in the middle of the lake. Her long red hair with seaweed in its strands covered her chest. Her long elegant tail of crab red and sea green was shinning from the full moons light. The wings that protrude from her temples was red, the feathery tips was of the same green on her tail. She smiled with beauty. Her white teeth could be seen miles and miles. She slowly opened her mouth and her song continued ‘Now you know the truth ahead. For the ones you love shall soon be dead.’ As her song ended everything was pulled away from Atrum. He screamed as he fainted, he fell into abyss once more.

Atrum awoke in terror. He was flailing his arms and legs causing the black feathers that surrounded him to arise into the air going everywhere. He threw himself up off the bed and ran to the bathroom across the hall. He turned on the faucet and splashed water onto his face. He looked up and saw himself in the mirror he opened his mouth wide and screamed.