Hi! It's me again anyways this story as said in the summary has won a writing award and scored me a full score on a standardized writing test. I think it's well worth reading, but if you don't like it, you don't. ( Please read and review!

Your Melody: Musician

Rynn closed her eyes as she felt a wave of emotional pain wash throughout her entire body. The words she was reading blurred as her eyes filled up with hot, stinging tears and the strains of music that reached her ears reached out and strung the chords or memories in her soul. How could she have done what she did? How could she have so selfishly betrayed the only person she knew could give her the ultimate form of love? In her opinion, the greatest form of love was the kind that had all elements mixed into one. Brotherly and sisterly love, friendship love, guardian love, and romantic love all mixed into one. Yes that was the kind of love she had had the chance to receive, but took for granted.

And the music . . . oh, the music. Every and any time she listened to music that felt powerful yet gentle and sweet she would be reminded of what she had done and what she had lost. Was it possible to long for someone's love in such a way that a single note could spring tears to your eyes?

The most special music of all was the music that he had given her, the powerful orchestral music that he had bestowed upon her. Before she met and knew Tide, she had never known how deeply orchestral music could make you ache and desire. The emotions that the music provoked in her were so deep.so deep that she felt like she was hanging on the edge of a cliff, ready to fall in the deep lonely sea of insanity.

Tide. Tide the warrior. Tide the musician. Tide, the one who had been her only true enemy, yet her only true love. She remembered very clearly that first day that she had seen him in the battlefield as they had clanged swords ever so furiously. Why had she heard those longing strains of music reach her ears even as there was violence and gore going on about them? She, one of the greatest Human warriors, had been struck down by the warrior-musician also known as Tide, and he had woven his curse on her that very day as he slung her on his back and took her back to his camp.

Tide was not Human. He was a Being, the enemies of the Humans. Although Humans and Beings were very similar, they still fought for the conquest of each other's land instead of living in a truce as creatures of the same species, albeit they were a different subspecies. When Rynn woke up from her slumber, she had heard someone playing the oboe, playing a hauntingly sweet melody that took her back to the days of her early childhood, where she had lived in Deningrad, the village of the musicians. She was a descendant of a whole line of musicians, yet since she had not been born with musical inspiration she had vowed that she would never allow herself to appreciate music when she left home to become a warrior during the beginning of the Human-Being War. Yet . . . the music Tide played on his oboe altered her perception and allowed her to explore inner feelings and emotions of herself that she had never known before.

Yes, now she knew that she loved Tide, but it was too late. He had sacrificed and risked everything to care for her and in the process had begun to love her, but as soon as she had the chance to go back among her own kind she had betrayed him out of selfishness and fear. And left him alone to face the wrath of the other Beings.

It had been a year and a half already, and now Rynn truly felt remorse for what she had done. She had managed to contact Tide through many other middle hands, but she knew that he had hardened his heart to her for what she had done to him. All she had left of Tide now was his music, his sweet, haunting melody that he had left in her mind and as a record to be played again and again forever and ever.

But now, as she stood hidden behind the thicket near the camp of the Beings, she nerved herself for the difficult deed she now had to perform. Confront Tide about everything, and show him that she had indeed remembered their melody.

"Tide!" she exclaimed, leaping out of the bushes as he happened to pass by. At first his facial expression was one of shock and astonishment but then it forthwith turned into one of obvious pain.

"You don't belong here, Rynn," he mumbled as he turned away, but Rynn held him back. "Tide . . . Tide, please remember. Remember our melody. Recall the song you played, the only music that was able to truly reach my heart and change me in a way that I have never known before. Only you can play that tune . . ." Rynn could sense Tide's wariness, but he turned back to her and gazed at her, his eyes effulgent. "Perhaps we could be friends again, Rynn, but I can never truly trust you ever again. You took my music away from me when you did what you did . . . now I can never nor will never attempt to play the oboe again."

Tears overflowed from Rynn's eyes. "Tide!" she cried, "Please don't just walk away . . . just let me hear that melody, the music from your heart just one more time. For tomorrow is the scheduled Final Battle, and I don't know if either of us will be dead or alive afterwards, but if I am in reality to die, then I want to die hearing your melody."

Tide's hard gaze softened, and he quickly brought up a piece of paper from his pocket and thrust it into her hands. It was old and wrinkled, evidently kept with him at all times. "Here is the song you so covet," he muttered. "Goodbye, Rynn. The next time I see you will be when you decide to change for yourself and for others, and when you really learn how to make people cry when you sing. You can't do that now, because I know that you are too full of false remorse and selfishness. Perhaps someday when you have proved yourself worthy of this song I will see you again after the Final Battle. But . . . Rynn . . . I want you to know, that even through I do not trust you and I never want to again . . . I still do love you. Goodbye."

He spun quickly on his heel and left her standing there alone, her heart hurting more than ever. "So be it," she whispered, her voice hoarse. "I will prove to you that I too, can be one of the greatest musicians this world has ever seen. I will change the world, Tide. I will give people music that will pull out the deepest emotions inside them such as what you have given me. I will do all this for you, Tide."

She took out the piece of paper he had given her and unfolded it. At the top of the page were the words Our Melodies of Life . . . the song written for the one who can perform it with the power and emotion that is portrayed in the words.

Alone for a while, I've been searching through the dark

For traces of the love you left inside my lonely heart

To weave by picking up the pieces that remain

Melodies of life - love's lost refrain

Our paths, they did cross, though I can not say just why

We met, we laughed, we held on fast, and then we said goodbye

And who'll hear the echoes of stories never told?

Let them ring out loud till they unfold

In my dearest memories, I see you reaching out to me

Though you're gone, I still believe that you can call out my name

A voice from the past, joining yours and mine

Adding up the layers of harmony

And so it goes, on and on

Melodies of life - to the sky beyond the flying birds

Forever and beyond

So far and away, see the birds as they fly by

Gliding through the shadows of the clouds up in the sky

I've laid my memories and dreams upon these wings

Leave them now, and see what tomorrow brings

In your dearest memories, do you remember loving me?

Was it fate that brought us close and now leaves me behind?

If I should leave this lonely world behind

Your voice will still remember our melody

Now I know we'll carry on

Melodies of life - come circle round and grow deep in our hearts

As long as we remember

It hurt too much to cry. She couldn't do it. Now there was no way that she could. There was just not enough musical impetus inside her to sing these words with all her heart, although she wished with all her heart that they were true.

Rynn resigned herself to the upcoming battle tomorrow. She might die, but if she did, at least she had the melody that Tide had taught her to keep her going. Now she understood what her father, the Lead Musician of the village, had told her back in Deningrad.

"Rynn, if you become a musician, you are providing the world with an escape of all the hardships and troubles in life," he had told her. "That's what musicians can do. They are like therapists who can soothe many with the sound waves that may soothe the mind. It just depends on what message you are sending out as you are playing or singing that might tell them what to feel."

She never should have left Deningrad. She might have become an embittered musician, but at least she wouldn't have become a desolate warrior. She took a deep breath. What would happen would happen.

* * *

It had been two years since the war. It had been two years since Rynn had last seen her love, Tide. It had been two years since she had sung that melody. After the Final Battle, which had been grueling in itself with Rynn barely emerging with her life, Rynn had returned home to Deningrad, where she had been well received as nobility of Deningrad, for in many ways her father had been the monarch. The town had prospered greatly under her rule, and now was the musical capital of the continent. Rynn herself had become known as the Lady Rynn of the Aria, prestigious musician and singer. Yet she had never once dared to sing the song Tide had given her. It caused her too much pain to even look at it, to remember that particular melody, although it was always in her ears. Rynn sang many other songs, reaching out to the hearts of people as she sang what she was feeling, and she composed many orchestral symphonies, for she loved listening to them.

The last bit of information that she had learned about Tide was that he had died during the Final Battle, struck down before the victory of the Humans. She had grieved greatly on that day she had found out, and placed Tide in the very back of all her precious memories, not wanting the pain to resurface.

Now she was sitting in the royal chamber of all that were there to see the great Theater Airship of the Beings to come and perform. Many people she knew and many that were of Deningrad but she didn't know were crowded down below to watch the show. Rynn sighed. She would go speak to one of the actors of the show, hopefully to find out what had truly happened to the one person who had changed her entire life with music, the most valuable commodity.

For now she would just relax and view the production. Rynn closed her eyes as all the memories of what had ever happened flashed brilliantly through her head. She opened her eyes slowly. No, she thought. That was the past. Tide, you have taught me many things, but what I must learn for myself is how to live a life without needing anyone or anybody to always fall back on for security. I will continue to make music for the world, even if to me it always reminds me of nothing but you.

One of the Being actors came out to introduce the play they were performing.

"Today what we are presenting is a drama play called 'I Want to Be Your Canary'," the actor announced. "It involves an illicit romance between a peasant spy named Marcus and a princess, the only daughter of the king, named Cornelia. Marcus and Cornelia are very much in love, but if they do marry it will mean war or worse. Cornelia's father knows naught of Marcus, and intends for Cornelia to marry another. The scene begins where Marcus and Cornelia are having a private rendezvous. Beside the stage will be our orchestra playing the accompaniment."

The actor walked off the stage and two other actors came on as strains of orchestral music were being quietly played in the background. Of the actors was Marcus in a peasant hood and the other was the lovely Princess Cornelia.

"O' sweet Marcus!" Cornelia cried, falling into the arms of her lover. "When will we be able to be joined in matrimony?"

"Soon, my love," Marcus replied. "Calm thyself, for we shall be wed soon."

"Marcus, sweet Marcus, wilt thou continue to love me after the marital bliss of being newlyweds has passed? Or wilt I become nothing more than a puppet, never to laugh, never to cry under this bright blue sky?"

"Worry not, my love, for I shall swaddle thee in a blanket that thee can not escape. I only fear I shall cherish thee too much, that thee shall become a bird in a gilded cage."

"Marcus, 'tis time for me to depart. If not, surely my father will come for me soon."

"Then let it be tonight before the first rays of the sol grace this lovely land, thou shall meet me at the dock, and then we shall depart from this place and live far, far away."

Cornelia pulled away from Marcus' embrace and slowly backed away.

"I fear I hear my father's minions nigh! Not to pother, my lord, I shall be there!" she called as she ran back to the castle.

Rynn sighed. This play . . . the play she had seen so many times . . . stirred up memories of her years. It was time for scene two.

"Princess Cornelia!" Blank, one of Marcus' comrades, called. Cornelia ran to him. "Blank, friend to my love! Tonight I pray thee escort me to the dock, for the time has indeed come for Marcus and I to be wed."

"Thy wish is my command," Blank agreed as he deftly knocked the princess in the stomach. She fell into his arms, unconscious. "Indeed," he said diabolically, "I shall escort thee, but not to Marcus, for if I do so then there shall surely be conflict."

He then dashed offstage with the princess in his arms, and the next scene began with Marcus standing at the dock, the moon almost gone and the sun about to rise.

"Where is my love? Where shall she be?" Marcus cried. One of the sailors rushed up to him. "I bid thee, Marcus, be swift! The ships shall leave soon with or without you and Cornelia!"

"She promised she'd be here," Marcus said sadly, shaking his head. "What is thwarting my love's arrival?"

The moon had almost disappeared completely and the sun began to rise, the rays of moonlight diminishing and the rays of sunlight appearing. The music in the background became more dramatic.

"The rising sun is my enemy of time, so let me make a wish upon the moon for the appearance of my beloved!" Marcus cried. He turned dramatically to the moon, the music growing even grander. The tune sounded somewhat familiar . . . "O' orb of the twilight, I beseech thee with a euphony!"

He brought an instrument to his lips and played a recurrently sweet tune, the orchestra in the background enhancing the simple melody immensely. Rynn caught her breath as the strains of music reached her ears . . . was it really? But how could anyone else have known the song . . . except if . . .

Marcus turned back towards the audience and swept off his cape and hood in one swift, fluid motion.

"Bring my beloved Rynn back to me!"

Rynn's eyes widened in stupefaction as she saw her beloved Tide, the very one whom she had longed to see and hear for so long. The orchestra played the melody that Tide had composed as he stood waiting on the stage, only that this rendition was phenomenal, grander than any music Rynn had ever conceived of hearing. Breathlessly she rushed down the steps of the castle through the corridors and ran out, weaving her way through he throng of people. Oh, there were so many people! How could she get to her Tide? She was almost afraid that he would disappear as if in a dream. She pushed her way through vigorously and almost reached the stage when the slip of paper that had become sacred to her fell out from the folds of her elaborate gown. She stood there hesitating as it was blown aside on the ground. No, she thought. Now, nothing is more important to me than living my life now to the fullest it can be! All the memories I need are always here with me. She began running again and ripped off her diadem as she felt her face crumpling. Glittering tears flew behind her as she rushed onto the stage and leaped into Tide's awaiting embrace.

The orchestral music kept on playing the most exquisite rendition of their melody, but now Rynn was oblivious to all else. Tide was alive, and Tide was here with her. Finally! She took her gloved fist and pounded on his chest but then sank back into his embrace, crying out all the tears that had been withheld in the last two years. She looked up into Tide's eyes as he gently gazed at her. The crowd cheered loudly, and the music was still playing.

"I heard you singing our song," he whispered. "So . . . I sang it too . . . and it led the way to you."

The song was at its ending climax, the notes playing grandly and the music warming her heart. The song had ended. The music had led them back together once more.

But Rynn knew that this was just the beginning of their true song, their melodies of life.



Thanks for reading! I really like this story, and the characters are based from my original fiction Crumbling of Time which if you like my writing and you like RPG style writing, you should definitely read. Please review!