((( END -- TO -- SANITY )))

Part 1 : Memories of the Past

Chapter Two

The dungeon was dank, dark in the mists of the memory that was so long forgotten. The acute cries that pleaded for help sank into the fibers of his soul as he realized that their fate was his doing as it held fast in remembrance. The bitterness in the questions that still rang in his ears crashed down upon him again. The elders trust me now after my brother fought against them. My brother would have been the leader that the Falcon’s need after the war that split the clan and created the vast wasteland of injustice. They have no right to assume that I have forgotten what they had done. I will have my revenge in time. I know that they want Alexis, but they will never have her. I will protect her from what they where going to do to her. I should have known that the only way that I could redeem myself in their eyes is to allow them to take my life in their hands. I know that they thought the key was in Alexis, but if the three clans have to be bond in the blood to make the Phoenix then she will be forced to do there bidding. I will not let them harm another innocent.

I have to meet up with the Serra Falcon Clan soon or they might think I am dead. I may have to dangle Alexis in front of the Degno Falcon Clan for them to understand that we will have the upper hand. I will destroy them with the trust that they bestowed on me. I will restore the clan to its true glory.

My thoughts where shattered as I heard a cry come forth from Alexis. I ran over to only see her curled up into a tight ball clutching the emerald blanket. As I put my arms around her.” It is only a nightmare. I am right here. Don’t worry I will never leave you. Please don’t cry.”

“I saw Falcons devouring each other as the Raven’s beak gleamed with Sage blood.”

“Hush. It is all over. It was just a nightmare.”

“No it was not. I am Sage as well as Raven and I know that I can see the future, but I cannot block it. I can use the elements to make it rain, but I could not save my family from the flames that devoured my heart. I could have saved them.”

“It was not your fault. The Lanta most likely brought a legion of mages with him from the traders. That is why Evening Star and Raven Claw could not defend themselves lest of all you. Evening Star must have warned you, but I am sure that even if there was rain the fire would have still burned until the next morning.”

“They where the strongest of the clans. Why couldn’t they defeat them.”

“Your parents where strong, but the mage legion was stronger in numbers, which your parents didn’t have.”

Tarel’s eyes fixed fast to the path ahead; he seemed to be held in a trance until he motioned for me to walk forward.

His face hardened in awareness as he whispered, “They have been here. We should be careful. I feel their presence…smell their rancid stench.”

Something moved in the forest brush, just a rustle of the leaves. The air filled with a pungent odor that hung around the surrounding area. “Stay close to me,” he demanded holding my gaze.

It will be dark soon I realized with trepidation that radiated through this haunted afforest. He softly spoke, “We should make camp here for the night.”

I didn’t say a word, but I felt his unease as he sat beside me to make the fire. Night was coming to swiftly as the he handed me the blanket with a grave sigh.

I broke the silence, “ Why is it that you try to hide what you feel when I can clearly see there is something wrong?”

He merely laughed harshly at the question and shook his head causing his bound hair to fall out of place. His handsome features where more acute lit by the firelight. “I am but a man,” he finally answered with sorrow.

“It only takes one man.”

“To have such certainty marks your innocents.”

“What makes you so bitter.”

His eyes narrowed with grimace while his face hardened, lost in thought.

I reached for his hand that rested on his thigh without hesitation he griped my hand in response.

“You wouldn’t understand.”

His other hand cupped my face. “Your path is a hard one to tread worry more for yourself.”

His hand dropped slowly, but his firm gaze pierced through. “I worry for those who remain in the past.”

He sighed rashly, “I wish you would let that past rest for the night.”

“Hide all you want, but the past still haunts you. I can feel the pull on your heart.”

“Very prospective,” he muttered, “but I have diminutive faith in the heart.”

I moved closer to him.

“Please don’t hide it from me.”

His face awakened with a vibrant smile that shined radiantly. “Secrets are to be kept. Now, Alexis, get some sleep for morning will come.”

“Why won’t you let me understand.”

“There is nothing to understand.”

He seemed distracted from reality in thoughts that lead an uncomfortable silence.

“I care,” I merely whispered more to myself.

“Angels can fall from grace while the world crashes over the peace that once held the promise. Never believe your heart when your intellect is the key.”

“Who hurt you?”

“The world,” he grimaced.

I kissed his cheek while whispering in his ear, “Listen to your heart, but hold it with wisdom. I will heal you if you let me.”

His features softened to show the marks of a scared boy in an uncertain world. “The world falls, I feel it.”

“The world falls while life calls. Hope hides in the darkness within your heart let love heal you.”

“Love is pain.”

“Love is hope blossoming.”

The abhorrence that radiated from his eyes hardened his demeanor showing his faith under his memories. The distain of his heart perturbed me. “Love can heal as much as it can harm, but know that love is what grows in hope. Love is a beginning of life, faith. It brings uncertainty with pain; betters us, breaks us. It brings us up as it brings us down, but you must know that to heal you must forgive; with love you will better comprehend. It is my gift to give.”

“I don’t deserve such a gift,” he gingerly responded.

Morning came with the unease of lost faith. Tarel wouldn’t say a word, but keep his silence. His eyes told another story of a fear that clung to his soul. The silence grew deafening as the days past. The trees canopied overhead telling us that the journey was winding its way further. Night was day as he gravely lead through the murk.

“I cannot hold my tongue. Where are you leading me,” I stammered half-heartedly.

“Time will tell where the journey will lead you,” he sighed with irritation.

“I will not fallow a leader when the follower does not have an inkling of where the leader shall lead. A man goes to his death not knowing the cause as this leader lead.”

His contemptuous stare pierced through me as he spoke with words laced with malice. “You not of what you speak.”

His decorum stayed cold in the darkness of the night lit by the fire light, but the windows of his soul held a hindering pain that ingested an element that was absent in the hiatus within the faith. “I will not walk to my death,” I retorted.

“I will protect you, for it is my duty,” he stated unequivocally.

“Duty is but a word.” I stared into the fire that flickered with the skepticism of the faith I held with a fragile fiber. The icy winter wind blew through the night reminding me that pain is inevitable.

“You don’t understand what the world holds, so don’t judge those who have lived the life that they could only live. There are people who will do anything in their power to hurt you. I promise that when you travel with me that I will let nothing happen to you. Hold faith in what you know, but be weary of what is to come.”

“You speak in only riddles.”

“I speak only the truth.”

“You speak the truth that is held in your heart not the truth of the world.”

“You know not of the world when all your life you have lived sequestered from the world.”

I sighed with agitation, “Say what you must to please your bitter heart, but I still have faith even if I am to travel far to a place alien to me I will hold the sweet memories in my heart.”

The moon was full as he moved closer to feed the fire. The darkness was winding around us while in his silence I could see that he was holding back a past memory that haunted him. It might have been a trick of the eye by the firelight, but it seemed that his heart was disturbed with animosity. He was hiding in the shadows with a fear that held him fast with a vice grip. He kept watch most nights waiting for the darkness to take him again while he slept.

I could not sleep so I looked up at the constellations of the heroes that have fallen but shine so brightly over us. My thoughts where wavering on an ocean of fear that was waiting for the storm to come raise the wave of angry frustration.

The firelight gleamed with the self-hatred that laced his darkest dreams. She perplexed him with her childish folly, but her strength to endure told another tale of her determination that lead to admiration. The way that her auburn hair cascaded to cup her tarnished jaw; the luminous emerald of her slanted, ample eyes sparkled as she looked at the constellations caused the missing pieces to arouse what he thought he had forgotten. Her face was a mixture of famine splendor that held to that square jaw line that enhanced her lushes, full lips. He wanted to kiss those lips, and hold her so close to his heart, but he must not. He tried to push those thoughts from his conscience.

He knew well of the plan that was unfolding that held her as the accolade. He must not let the thoughts of her ruin what he knew he must do. Fear stabbed at his abdomen as realization that he knew that he could not let anything happen to her our he would never be able to live with himself. Why was he letting this girl change his mind? He has seen women more beautiful with their extensive, shining hair streamed down their curvilinear, hourglass exposed figure, but this girl? Her eyes held honesty; her mouth spoke truth, and her face shone of a saint. She is just a mere girl he tried once again to reinsure himself. He knew she was the key.

“Tarel, what darkens your thoughts?” she feebly whispered.

He was shaken back to awareness with the warmth of her soft voice. He wanted to tell her everything that was disconcerting him, but he kept his silence until she turned away with an awkward motion that was hesitant with a sigh. She began to sing softly at first that sounded more of a melodic mumble until her crisp, crystal voice rang true in the depth of his despair.