It had been what seemed like hours since Alena had heard from Damari last, the sounds of the hippocampus' being the only things that she could hear in the camp along the long and lonely path.
She rubbed her hands up and down her arms to ward off the chill that seeped through her bones, situating herself further into the blanket Damari gave her to maintain some kind of warmth.
Light began to fade from the sea as the sun set above its watery surface, the oranges and pinks of the sun's magnificent glow no doubt reflecting off the waves as it sank beneath the horizon.
However, as the light began to fade, Alena couldn't help but feel uneasy, as if something were off, yet she wasn't quite able to place it.
Shaking it off wearily, she opened the bag that Kaiya had given to her a few days before, wrestling through its contents in search of the paper and the spy glass that had been thrown into it quickly along with the pink vial that allowed Damari to breath underwater.
She couldn't think of a reason she'd need to look through the spyglass, but perhaps reading the prophecy would help distract her from her overactive imagination.
Withdrawing the thick parchment, Alena unrolled it gently to read through its contents, running her fingers over the scrolling black ink miraculously as she saw that the paper was unaffected by the salted waters.
Reading closely, it was obvious that the prophecy was as it had once been after reading it countless times over again. It still spoke in riddles that she couldn't understand and it frustrated her to such levels that she dug her nails sharply into her skin without realizing it.
She threw the paper down with the bag's other contents and swam a few feet away from the camp in the direction Damari had left, her worry growing more fierce as the waters around her became darker with still no sign of him.
Her nerves started getting the best of her and she could feel her hand as it twitched at her side, fearing the worst that could have happened to Damari in the unknown terrain.
She had decided to sit down and try to sleep off her anxiety when a searing, hot burn raced through her wrist, causing her to cry out in pain, dropping the blanket she had picked up to cover herself.
Lifting her wrist closer to her face, she could see that it was red and burning to the touch, sizzling as it curled in agony on her skin.
Her wrist shook with the control she tried to maintain in not crying out again as she instead gripped her arm tightly and groaned quietly to herself. "Oh Damari, where could you possibly be?"
Almost as if in response to her question, the silver symbol in her arm shifted, struggling to move itself toward the southern part of the camp.
Alena couldn't believe what she was thinking, staring first at her wrist and then in front of her into the shadow covered darkness.
"What are you getting yourself into?" she muttered. "Have some common sense to at least take something to protect yourself with."
She searched over the bags and decided to take Kaiya's bag, holding everything she could use if the time arose. But as she gradually began to swim away from the camp, she couldn't help thinking that something was wrong.
She had only swam a few paces farther from where she had sat when she heard a loud snapping sound directly behind her, alerting her to either someone or something following her.
Spinning around quickly, she saw that no one was there, only the abandoned plains that were laid out before her along with the hippocampus' sitting next to their supplies.
YOU ARE READING
Beautiful Cries
Fantasy**Currently Revising** The tale of Persephone is well known throughout Greek Mythology, however, the real tale hidden beneath the myth of a Goddess stolen away from her mother is that of Alena Cali - the Cursed Siren. Forever cursed to lure sailors...
