Contest Entries and Short Stories

#apicturesworth1000words

She tumbled from the sky into a sea of lilies. The graceful descent was the same trip that she made every day, as the sun crept closer to the earth and the moon fled from her arms to take its rightful place in the sky.

She loved how the earth sang at night. The path was second nature for her; the shadow of dusk her accomplice in secrecy.

Stopping upon the iridescent creature, Elowen bent over and kissed the butterfly's wings, encoding a message into the intricate pattern. She watched as it flew away on an errand of delivery.

Elowen, the wind called, weaving into her raven locks, and pulling at her skirts setting her upon the wooded path. Flowers blossomed in her presence, trying to win favour with their beauty.

Elowen, the voice now clearer and a yearning ached through her chest. The longing echoed and pulsated energy into the surrounding air. Up ahead the trees parted, bowing gnarled arms back for her passage. She entered the small clearing which was set adrift in a crooked stream. The water flowed and nestled against the protruding rock bed.

Now even that called her name. Elowen.

"I am here," she called, her voice filled with honey.

"As you should always be." Edom appeared at her back, his arms encircling her waist, "this is your place."

"But it can't be, we will only ever have the night," tears fell from her eyes as she turned around, brushing back his blond hair with her fingers and allowing herself to melt into his arms. Edom made her feel safe; nothing else mattered but his touch.

"Then I pray the sun will never rise." Edom rested a kiss on her forehead. The water lapped at the shower, the trees swayed in their movements and the ground hummed contently; the place was an extension of his being and it only added to the moment.

"Your messenger has betrayed you."

Both turn, startled by the intrusion. Her butterfly sat perched on the ancient shoulder. His robes cloaked the night, extinguishing the light of any stars as he lowered down from above, parting the forest canopy, revealing Elowen and Edom below. His eyes the glowing coals of time. The Magister had found their tryst and his judgement would be final. Overseer of all, his authority finite.

Elowen knew that fleeing was no more an option than undoing time. Her hair floated about her catching the black of night and masking her love from view in an effort to perhaps garner him pardon.

"Your cloak does not hide your deception. All has been known. Elowen, our laws have a reason." The words came out as a crackling boom. The trees cowered back, the animals woke to flee, yet her love did not.

He pushed back the boundaries of her hair and came forth, "Our love is but eternal, and a condemnation of death will not silence it, but rather make it burn ever strong."

The Magister pulled his head back and laughed, the clouds rolled on his tongue and he stroked his beard in a thoughtful manner as he eyed the two young ones before him. "So you think death is a punishment. Death is a mercy."

"Since when can you call murder a mercy?" Edom challenged the Magister; Elowen screamed arching her back, falling over as her feet set on fire.

"What have you done!" Hate rolled off Edom's tongue as he held her close. Elowen trembled in his arms, understanding the meaning of pain for the first time. She tried to find comfort in his face. Searching his mossy green eyes for knowledge. The gold around his iris' flickered in anger.

"I love you," she whispered as her consciousness slipped through her fingers.

"It is your love that has done this." The Magister bowed his head, turning his back on the scene unfolding below him.

"Be clear with your meaning! Stop these riddles!" Edom wept into her hair.

The Magister sighed, he parted the clouds and let the sky shower them in its own sorrow. "This is the balance. You are of the earth, and she is of the sky. Never the two can be together the way that you have."

Edom looked down at Elowen, the flesh peeling back from her legs revealing the ebony of her bones beneath. The deterioration snaking its way ever closer to her end. 

He would not them take his heart and from his pocket, he pulled forth a veil. The contents enchanted, a gift given for such unfortunate occasion. He carried Elowen over to the flowing brook, dipping the small vessel into the water, and made his wish.

***

Elowen stirred on the bank of the river, feeling the cool of the water as it licked at her skin. "I'm cold. Why am I in the water?" As Elowen tried to move up the length of the embankment something pulled at her ankle, keeping her in place. "Edom!" She screamed in horror, panic filling her lungs as she looked down.

"Edom!" The skeletal remains of a race long forgotten etched the water bed around her, tangling in her own bones and securing her to their grave.

"I'm here, I'm here. I'm sorry. I wanted to save you." His hand reached out and caressed her skin - his dark flesh standing out against the ivory of her complexion. "Are you in pain?" Concern laced his features.

Surprisingly, she was not.

"What has happened?" She looked into the face of the one she trusted more than anything, betrayal starting to squeeze around her chest.

"I wanted to save you. I promise I will never leave you..." Tears flowed freely staining his skin and adding to the water around her. Edom dropped the veil, he had saved her, but not as intended.

"I don't understand?" Elowen asked as she looked from Edom to the Magister confusion and fear clouding her mind. Edom did nothing more than hang his head weeping, and uttering a quiet oath to her.

"You are tethered. Everything has a balance," The Magister gave his final warning as he disappeared back to where he had come.