Redwingblackbird: Now watch as I confuse the ever-loving crap out of all of you!
Kathy: Um, yay?
Redwingblackbird: Shut up! You're not even in this chapter!
Kathy: What?!
Redwingblackbird: In fact, clean slate. All you readers know won't come into effect until several chapters from now. Usual rules (one line timeskip, double line change of view and/or timeskip).
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"A hundred dead in Milan," the messenger droned on. "107,889 human injuries."
The queen nodded wearily. "Thank you, dismissed."
"Permission to speak, ma'am."
"Never needed, you know that."
"Why won't you let us actually attack the humans? Deaths instead of injuries-"
"Would have wiped them out entirely by now."
"Would have gotten their attention a long time ago. We wouldn't be in the fourth year of this war-"
"Dismissed." The queen's voice was sharp now, and the earth elemental glared before turning and leaving the throne room.
The queen, a young ruler at 23, sat wearily on the throne, head bowed. Her long platinum blonde hair hung on either side of her face and pooled in her lap. She dug her nails into the wooden armrests so hard her hands trembled from the force.
A hand rested on hers, stilling it.
"A hundred," she choked.
"I know," her companion answered.
"This war will be the death of me," she rose now and walked to a wide window that opened behind the throne, stopping but a foot from the glass. "I can hear them, Raul. Hear them screaming. All of them." She held her head and tried to hold back tears. "Why did I ever think we could make peace? How could I have thought in a thousand years the humans would want to coexist?"
"You can't blame yourself," he replied. "You played your pieces well, waited for the right time, and gathered the three of us to back you. It isn't your fault my kind want to control your people."
"The right time..." she said, looking out onto the silver lunar plane. "I wonder if it really was..."
"We wanted to reverse our mistakes six years ago. We had finally as a race come together, united. You made us an offer impossible to refuse- all you wanted was peace, and you'd heal the world we'd nearly killed. You'd even teach us to use our true powers."
She laughed harshly. "That 90 of the brain you wouldn't have used before." Still shaking from effort, she turned to face him, deep blue eyes accusing. "And the three of you? Who was I kidding?"
"You knew we could handle the truth," a second girl defended, stepping from the shadows. Her long blonde hair was pulled in a messy bun and framed her nearly white green eyes with its straying tails. "And it was a good plan. It worked for a while. Two whole years." She looked over her black-rimmed glasses to make sure her friend was listening. "It is only now that it seems a futile effort."
The queen returned to the window and looked to the Earth in the sky. "Now the humans see you as brainwashed traitors, and my people believe me to be weak and spineless, unable to even banish you from our renewed kingdom." She rested her forehead against the cold glass. "If they knew. If they knew I could end this war in a matter of moments..."
"Yet you will not fight," Raul accused, taking a step forward.
"There is no reason to kill troops, only the leaders forcing them to fight us-"
"How can you believe humans don't want to eliminate you as a whole? How can you tag this to a few leaders-"
"Raul," the other girl said sharply.
"Leira, don't stop me."
"You impetuous-"
"Leira," the queen interrupted. "Let him speak, it is his right. You are of the elementals now, you should have the right to speak against me."
"Yue..."
"I know, Raul, that the humans are tired of this war. They are willing to come to peace, but their leaders are not." She walked between her friends and continued down the few stairs that separated the throne's dais from the floor. She turned back to them at the bottom. "I have sent word to the human leaders that I will meet with them to talk of compromise. Their answer will return tomorrow. I will expect the two of you, as well as Mei, to be there to help me receive it."
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"Surely there is something we can come to an agreement on," Yue sighed, rubbing her temples. She had insisted that the three of us come to the peace talks on the now-deserted Dark Moon with her. I sat on her left, Leira and Mei on her right. "Something we could do to persuade you to call off this all-out offensive against us."
"You have to understand, your highness," one of the human representatives began. I did not like him. He had a pointed face and oily voice and I would not- could not- be sure of anything he said. "We feel intimidated by you. That is why we felt inclined to try and dominate you four years ago. We have now come up with a solution that would put us at ease enough to call off our troops- allow us to live in peace. A compromise of sorts."
"By all means," our queen said. "What is this compromise?"
"You see, your highness," he continued. "If your powers were to be bound-"
"Out of the question."
"You are the Prism-"
"And so I cannot allow this."
"Precisely why we must demand it."
Yue sighed. "Give me a night to think this over. When we reconvene tomorrow I'll have an answer."
The human leaders stood, smiled their greasy smiles, and left casually. We exited with a more frenzied step the other direction, heading for our temporary quarters in the east wing of the palace.
"Okay," I started once we were out of earshot, "what the fck is going on?" The queen and Leira continued their march, ignoring me. Mei jogged along behind us, her waist-length braid flailing behind her, and saw my confusion mirrored on her normally cheerful face. "What's all this 'Prism' crap and how can you even consider their demands?"
They ignored my questioning until we reached our half of the once-used palace and slammed the double doors shut behind us. Then Leira turned on me. Even though she was two years younger and a foot shorter than me, in a temper she was always in control of an argument. Her white-jade eyes accused me as she nearly screamed.
"Why do you think she's the queen of all the elementals, you twit?!" she started. "How else can she control all the different elements- all NINE?"
"Leira," Yue barked, as though yanking on a leash. "I never explained this to him, or to Mei. Calm down."
She took a couple of breaths before twirling on her heel and marching toward her room. My queen leaned against the nearby black marble wall for support and a moment of silence passed before she began.
"When all things were created, and the Destroyer sealed in Hell, the Creator's power was divided like a beam of pure light through a prism. In this way He created things the way they should be- unique and special and basically good and pure. But knowing that at any time the Destroyer might break free, He created a warrior that could harness any of the nine elements as weapons. A warrior that was, in essence, His own weapon, for should the Destroyer rise, He could use him as a puppet, resealing the Destroyer at the cost of the warrior's life." I saw Mei's brown eyes widen as she played nervously with her matching braid, spidery tan fingers undoing and retying the bottom knot rapidly. "The warrior became king over the elementals, and his descendants- three queens- held the throne. I am now that warrior- whose title is the Prism- who watches over all things on Earth."
"Y-you can't be!" Mei exclaimed. "You're a light e-element!" Yue nodded.
"Primarily. But all the other eight answer to me as well, you know that Mei."
"You can't be." The girl was nearly crying now. "You're not religious enough!"
"Mei," Yue said softly now, "you knew I wasn't telling you the whole truth, you can read emotions." At this, our friend bolted to her room. The air hung still and silent between us for a few minutes before I spoke.
"You can't let them seal your powers."
"I may have no other choice. If this brings peace-"
"It's a trap. They'll probably kill you."
She shook her head, deep blue eyes closed. "No. It's a trap, but a fate worse than death awaits me." She looked out the open wall in front of us, out into space. She held the Earth and our Moon in her eyes. "But it is the only way."
"Why don't you just choose a king?" I asked at length. "Then your child would take on the responsibility." She shook her head again.
"Because I want to marry for love," she looked me in the eye, a sad smile gracing her lips, "And in some games, the only winning move is not to play."
--
Later that night, as I tossed and turned with my new knowledge, I heard her playing on her harp and knew she couldn't sleep either. I knew she would sit there in the middle of her room, harp on her shoulder, wings resting on the cool floor. The whole room could be frigid, but she wouldn't even notice, not even in her nightgown. Her white fingers would glide over the strings absently as her own thoughts twisted like a restless snake. I strained my ears to hear if she was singing.
But tonight she played a Chopin variation. A nocturne. A lullaby.
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"The phantoms dance for you," Leira noted from the doorway.
"Do they?"
"As they always do. They seem to enjoy the company." I shook my head.
"Please, my friend. No more talk of ghosts. We have plans to make."
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The next afternoon I found myself surrounded by nine circular mirrors in, of course, a perfect circle. My friends stood in the edges of the room as nine human "Sealers" filed in.
"I don't like this," Raul warned. I turned to look at him and was surprised to see his bright blue eyes dark with concern. I gave him a smile I hoped was reassuring.
"Trust me," I begged of him, "Everything will be fine." He nodded tightly, glaring at the Sealers suspiciously. I turned to Leira next. She too was glaring and gave me a curt nod. It was as we feared, but planned for. I nodded back. She knew what to do.
"If you're ready your highness..." one of them said. I faced front again and spread my wings wide, white feathers brushing the sides of the chamber. For a moment I saw them hesitate, but then a greedy gleam appeared in their eyes and they reached into their minds for their power as I built mental barriers around mine.
They opened their palms and set their hands straight in front of them, one behind each mirror. My barriers were torn down easily, much to my dismay, and I felt the world fell away beneath my feet. A ripping began at my core and split my spirit, but the pain was necessary, for otherwise all was lost.
I had a moment of excruciatingly clear thought that broke through all the pain. I was suspended above the floor. My friends were looking on in horror. Above the mirrors, nine beach ball-size orbs of pure energy hovered. I reached out to each, ensuring with the last of my strength they had the one thing they needed for this to work before sharply bringing my arms down to point at the floor. The spirits understood the order and dove, beyond the reach of the humans through the mirrors as though they were nothing more than holes in the black marble.
Truthfully, I never saw them go through- the world went dark after I sent them.
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The scum were running for their lives, probably back to snivel at the feet of their masters.
"Yue!" I screamed and ran forward as Mei and Leira did the same. Leira took her pulse and demanded to know if I could carry her. I did so, following the Seer to a temple in the basement of the palace- a place with three sets of massive double doors that locked together seamlessly- a stronghold.
I set her down on a low bench inside as Mei locked the doors behind us. Leira took one of her hands and I wanted to run screaming from the scene, from what I'd witnessed.
"She lives," the Seer confirmed, "but only just. Her aura is gone completely- only her lifespark remains..." When we waited for her to explain, she did so: "Her aura, her soul's light that I can see- it's gone. She had to split her soul into the elements to change them to their spirit forms so they could hide once she released them into the Void."
I shivered. The Void was the space between spaces, the inky blackness all dimension jumpers dreaded.
"It was the only way," she continued, "to keep the humans from using her powers as their own weapons. They would have used them to end this war for the worse- and that would have killed her. This way there is still hope, and there is still time."
Leira stood to face me and I stood a little straighter. "Go," she commanded. "Retrieve the nine element spirits. They will have found new hosts by now, people with a similar spirit to Yue's. Track them down and bring them back."
Momentarily I wondered why I should have to do this- Yue walked right into a trap, knowingly. Clearly, she and Leira had concocted this plan with that knowledge.
"If not to save her," Mei spoke up now, reading my face, her soft mousy voice carrying in the silence, "then to end this war. Restored to full power, Yue will have justified reasons for the slaughter of the human leaders."
"Cut the head off a snake-" Leira prompted.
"The body dies," I finished. I instantly felt horrible for thinking the way I had. Yue was my closest friend, and though she needed to learn something from this clear mistake, she didn't deserve to die. I looked at her one last time to burn the image in my mind: the angelic wings tucked close to her frail body; death-white skin and paler hair.
I turned to face the doors and gathered my cloak around me. Eyes closed and head bowed, I found my calm center, my Dream Pool.
And fell into the Void.