Underneath the Moon is Where My Secrets Lie

Chapter Nineteen: Finding Out What Happened To Ren Knifeborn

     Ren was a very good friend of mine. He was like the family I never had, but had wanted all the same.

     The sad thing was, I never had gotten a chance to say goodbye to him, or tell him all the things I'd wanted to.

     And, hopefully, I could make up for that.

     * * * * * * * 

     "Ren Knifeborn," I spoke. "Allow me to call upon you."

     "You cannot resist my power!"

     I sat in my living room, chanting at a large pentagram that I'd made on the wooden floorboards, my purple magic lighting up the room. 

     And, just as soon as I'd said the sentence, a figure appeared within the pentagram.

     "Hello, Raven Sharpclaw."

     His voice was too familiar.

     Too soon.

     Tears slowly made their way down my cheeks.

     "Ren...?"

     "Why have you called me here, Raven? As you know, I can't stay long, and I'm not as powerful as you."

     "I... I miss you. I want to know what happened to you," I say rather childishly, fumbling for the words I wanted to say but could never actually voice.

     Ren's green eyes stared into mine as he finger-combed through his white hair, his green vest - similar to Emeran's - popping from the loose white shirt he wore, the clothes he must have been buried in.

     The Rennasin I knew would never willingly wear something like that. I thought of making fun of him for it until I remembered the seriousness of our situation and why I'd called him here.

     "And I thought you were the strong one," he murmured, breaking into my thoughts.

     Ren's faerie ears seemed smaller now.

     Almost nonexistent.   

     "It's just really hard, okay? I --"

     "Aldergore killed me, but you already know that, don't you?"

     I closed my eyes as a wave of silence washed over the room.

     "He killed me in cold blood. I didn't have a chance to speak, a chance to be heard. I could only listen to the sounds I made as I died in his arms."

      Tears like mine flooded his face, his white teeth cemented together in anger, in sadness.

      "I wanted to see you."

     "I know, Ren. I know. I-I saw the pictures, and --"

     "I never got to!" he screamed, his sanity in shreds, his eyes red.

     Like blood.

     I allowed Ren time to master himself, apologizing unnecessarily to him. 

     When he recovered, he looked up at me and began his story.

     "I had returned from a mission," he began, his eyes still locked on mine, still endlessly searching mine. "Aldergore had wanted me to go to his office... but I refused."

     "Something didn't seem right about him."

     "He wasn't having it. He dragged me into his office, and he..."

     Ren choked on a cry.

     "To save the dirty details, he cut out my heart. He... he gutted me... that wasn't even the worst part..."

     "Ren, it's okay..."

     "He betrayed me. He betrayed us all, Raven. He would've done the same to you if he had the chance..."

     I stood up, walking toward the pentagram.

     "Don't enter it. You'll be cursed, Ravenous."

     "I already am. And I already know what fate the curse holds."

     I took off my coat, throwing it onto the floor, and started to walk into the pentagram, watching shreds of my magic glow in my wake, weaving in and out of the pentagram rather teasingly.

     But something stopped me.

     A forcefield of green magic.

     "Ravenous, please..."

     I kept my temper on a short leash with Ren around.

     He could call me Ravenous...

     ... but no one else. 

     He knew what danger it held.

     "Rennasin," I hissed. "Let me into the pentagram."

     "I will not let you throw away your life for me. Yourself  for me."

     "There's nothing left for me to do without you! Do you think that I enjoy reliving my parents' murders by myself?" I exclaimed. "It's hard enough trying to let go of you!"

     "Then don't," Ren stated softly. "You don't have to let go of me to accept the fact that I'm dead. You don't have to keep searching for them to make their loss easier."

     "Then make it easier!" I begged, on the verge of tears.

     "Now, now... there's no way to make it easier, but I will propose something to you that you may enjoy -"

     I shoved against the earthy green bubble concealing the pentagram, trying to convey my message.

     "Ravenous, I don't want you to lose your magic."

     "I'd lose it for you to come back."

     "I know you would... I know. But that is not the way the world works," he explained to me with the wave of his hand. 

     "You are born into this world only to be taken out of it. You must find another way."

     "But you would've never had to be taken out of it, Rennasin, if it wasn't for Aldergore stripping you of your immortality."

     "That was a choice that I consciously made, Raven."

     "I could've offered you protection all those years ago! I could've tried --"

     "You were going through something. Nonetheless," Ren said, "they would've killed you, too."

     "I have to go now. It was nice seeing you, Ravenous."

     "No! Please, I -"

     "I will always watch over you. I will never leave you."

     His duty as a Fae.

     "I will get revenge for you!" I whispered.

     He disappeared, and I was left to wipe away the tears and reface the world, a world so cruel that I wasn't sure I'd be able to do what I'd promised him.