((Author's Note)) This story does not have that much to do with His Dark Materials, except that it has daemons. Maybe some HDM characters will come into play later, but I'm not sure yet. All the characters in this story (so far) belong entirely to me. The only thing that doesn't belong to me is the idea of daemons.
Omnia Vincit Amor
"Let us die, and rush into the heart of the night." -Virgil
Chapter One
Silently, Ariu crept up the stairs to the highest inside floor of the apartment building in which she lived. Her daemon Aruin, crept beside her. She grabbed the lowest lung of the ladder leading to the roof, and climbed upward. When she reached the trapdoor, she pushed it out with one of her hands. Aruin, in the form of a monkey followed her.
She was not allowed to be on the roof. If anyone found out, her family might be evicted to make room for the other desperate people outside, living in the streets. Ariu moved to the edge of the building on her hands and knees, and stared down.
The height was dizzying, and the crowded streets below held swarms of people , moving likes ants. Ariu had long since decided that they must be ants. Or rats, more like. The lives down on the ground, some forty stories below, heading off in different directions. She hated it.
The suicide rate in the city Ariu lived in, one of the largest in the world, it was said (but she had never been out of it, so who knew?), was staggering. Several people had thrown themselves off of this building in the past few years. So Ariu was not allowed on the top anymore. No one was. That could not prevent her from coming. The city of Gitslent was so overly crowded, that Ariu never got any peace, until she sat on the building, squinting for a glimpse of sky through the thick covering of smog hanging low over the factories on the outskirts of the city.
On very clear days, when the wind blew the smog away for a few minutes, Ariu might catch a glimpse of the ocean, glinting blue. But when she stood in front of the water, it was always grey. She could never seen much beyond the city, which seemed to be formed in a exact circle, immense, but limited. She could see the tall smokestacks of the factories, which made cars and clothes, and everything else the people of Gitslent wanted. What was behind them? Ariu had seen far off hills, and large spaces of grass. Why did people remain in the city, packed in like sardines, when there was obviously so much spare room?
Ariu didn't like to think about it, but she thought that maybe there was something bad outside. Lately she had been hearing rumours of war and terrorism.
Shaking her head to clear it of all her frightening ideas, Ariu stared off into space, waiting for the Voice to come to her. Sometimes It did. Especially after making her wait for long amounts of time.
The girl did not pretend to believe that hearing voices in her head made her normal. But she had never been normal. She was not hooked on drugs or alcohol, and she was still a virgin. That made her very unusual in a city like Gitslent, at her age of 13. Ariu's luma was gone most of the time, working, and Ariu often had no one besides Aruin to speak to.
She had been attending the Talselado Magical Studies College for two years now, and the voice had not spoken to her until she had began her studies. Ariu had a cousin, Jenise, who lived on the other side of the city, and who had attended the College, and graduated just before Ariu began school. Talselado was a very exclusive school, and required elementary education, and a related alumni for exceptance. And, of course, magical ability. Meaning having a daemon.
Ariu was so lost in her thoughts, that she nearly missed the Voice's soft call: "Ariu."
She, as always, stared around, because the Voice sounded as though it came from all directions at once.
"I am not behind you, Ariu. I am within you."
"I must be insane."
"You must." The Voice made no extra sound, but it seemed to be smiling in mocking fashion. Ariu scowled slightly, knowing this, but not understadning at all how she did, or why she was not afraid of this voice within her head. The one that her daemon could not hear. "Why else would you sit still for nearly an hour to hear me say something? What do you think I have to say to you?"
Ariu stared at one of the tall buildings across the street, not knowing where to look for the Voice. "You must have somthing to say, else you wouldn't always talk to me."
"I don't always talk to you, child. Oh but sometimes it is amusing to see you squirm. I know you, Ariu, and what you want is a question," the disembodied voice in her head whispered.
"Will you permit it?" Ariu asked back, not realising that she and the Voice were speaking in their heads, and the Aruin, her daemon was pacing back and forth in the form of a fox, agitated. He did not trust the Voice he had never heard, and worried sometimes, that Ariu would go insane.
The Voice said nothing, so finally Ariu pointed across the city, off into the smoggy distance. "What is out there? Past the factories, and all the buildings and people, and past the hills? Is it the end of the world?"
"I can see why you are still in school at your age. You know fully that there is not an end of the world. It continues. A globe."
"Well, then! What is out there?"
The mysterious, sexless voice whispered, "Freedom..."
"Freedom?" Ariu asked out loud. "How do you mean?"
The Voice seemed upset, as it replied, "Mea culpa. Lapsus linguae."
"Pardon?"
The Voice did not answer. It was gone.
Ariu stood up slowly, rubbing her sleeping legs, and looking at Aruin.
"Come on, my darling. Let's see of anyone is at the wharf."
The daemon stared at her expressionlessly, and followed her back inside the building.
In the shadows inside the building, at the back of the room containing the ladder to the roof, a small figure hid, watching silently. When her sister and her daemon had passed, the little girl slid away from her hiding place in the corner. Grasping her cat daemon under one arm, she climbed slowly up the ladder.
Lucy was only seven-years-old, but she thought that if Ariu could go onto the roof, so could she. She had done it before. Gone up, and stood on the very edge of the roof, where the railings had long ago falled off. Her toes hanging off the edge, she felt strong and powerful.
No one knew. Ariu was not careful about her sneaking. But Lucy was small, and unnoticeable. She would not go inside if she could help it, finding it much more fun to lurk in the streets nearby, playing with the homeless little children. But Penny Sahren (sa-rain), Lucy's luma(mother), was very stern about not allowing Lucy out on the street alone.
Lucy knew what her luma did. But she didn't hate Penny, as Ariu did. Lucy knew that her mother made babies with men for money, but she understood that their mother was not smart, and had not gone to school, and could not do anything else. Lucy found it entertaining to play with the street urchins, but be one? No thank you very much!
Lucy stood at the edge of the roof, silently, her daemon Harlem poised behind her, now in the form of an eagle. Free. She was free. Standing on the roof, nearly falling off, and knowing how close she was to death, Lucy tried to avoid thinking about her luma's jobs, and how Ariu reacted to Penny, and how it all affected her. Her pale blond hair, so light it was almost white, but darker, because of the pollution, flowed out in the wind behind her. She stared off into the impossible distance, past the hills, where she had never gone, but where she would go someday. Her pale blue eyes focused on nothing.
Sometimes, when her luma was working, and locked her daughters out of their tiny apartment, and Ariu had disapeared furiously to one of her friend's houses, or wherever she went to, Lucy would stand like this, ready to fly, arms outstretched, for hours.
Ariu reached the apartment, and unlocked it one of the keys she carried on her neck. There were two others, but she could not remember getting them or ever not having them. One the others she had was silver, one was gold. Even when she and Lucy went without food for days, Ariu never contemplated selling them. And Penny either was not aware of their existence, or had forgotten about them, for she never mentioned them.
Inside the apartment, Ariu stared around. It contained five rooms: A kitchen, two bedrooms, a bathroom, and a living room. The kitchen was small and cramped, and the water barely trinkled a leady, brown sludge. The rest of the kitchen was empty. Ariu would have to stop at the market and filch something for Lucy to eat for supper. Still, the fact that they lived indoors automatically made them better off than most of the people in Gitslent. Ariu glared at the door to her luma's bedroom. Penny was out on a job, whoring herself out, just the way she always had been.
Lucy's idea that Ariu did not understand that Penny was stupid was not innacurate. It was simply...incomplete. Ariu, if she had written every reason she detested her mother on paper, could have filled a book. She had written a few of her reasons for hating her mother in her journal a while ago:
Dear Journal:
For your pleasure, and my later pleasure in reading this, here is a list of why I absolutely hate my luma.
1. She is a prostitute. She has a bougeois family, but we live in one of the poorest sections of town, and she sells herself for almost nothing.
2. She wants Lucy to end up like her. Another destitute whore. I can see it in her ugly eyes. She knows I am in school; I will become somebody. But Lucy can not go to Magic School until I graduate, and until then... Everyone says that Lucy looks like an angel, and she does. We obviously have different fathers.
3. She can't keep her business private. I hate it! She advertises her "services" to the world proudly. I hate the association.
4. She doesn't know who my father is. She probably slept with a couple of hundred men in that same week, so that's reasonable. But it's her fault, so I hate her for it.
Ariu could never forgive her luma. When she had begun school, only a few years younger than Lucy now, the teacher had asked the class what they're parents did. There were the normal doctors, and lawyers, and mechanics. And a prostitute.
Through her entire childhood, Ariu had only two true friends, Aruin, and Aaliyah. It was her luma's fault.
Sighing, Ariu shook out her hateful thoughts. There was no point in thinking them since Penny could not care less what her children thought.
"Lucy," Ariu said. She walked into the bedroom that the two girls shared, and could not find her sister. "Lucy?" The little girl was nowhere to be seen. "Oh no..." Ariu and Aruin said at once.
"I might have to start padlocking her in here again," Ariu sighed. "Gods!"
"Hopefully she's not outside," Aruin said. "But she might have seen us go onto the roof."
Ariu gasped, and ran out into the hallway. They lived on the 31st story of the building, where the elevators rarely worked. She pounded up the steps, but she wasused to it, and was hardly panting when she reached the top, and threw herself up the ladder, and out through the trapdoor, which was already open.
"Lucy!" Ariu exclaimed, seeing her little sister balanced on the precipice. "Get back from there!"
Lucy did not react for several seconds, and Ariu was scared to move, because she might startle Lucy and make her fall. Finally, the beautiful child turned around, and stared at her sister. She didn't say anything, which, to Ariu was frightening. Lucy looked dead.
"Lucy?"
The small girl narrowed her eyes. "You are not supposed to be up here," she said.
"Neither are you!" Ariu said, walking forward and grasping her sister by the arm. "And I am older."
"Age doesn't matter," Lucy scoffed. Her voice was hard and cold.
Ariu stopped. "What are you talking about?" she whispered. "Lucy?"
The girl stared at her silently, then shook off Ariu's arm and disapeared into the building.
"What did she mean?" Aruin asked Ariu when they were alone.
Ariu could only shake her head. She did not know. But she could guess that it had something to do with her luma, Penny.
"You'll stay here, right?" Ariu asked, but Lucy didn't answer. They were standing in the doorway of Penny's room. "You won't leave?" Lucy said nothing, but walked to the bed, and sat down, staring out the window.
Finally she whispered, "You're being mean. I'm not talking to you."
Ariu rolled her eyes. "What, Luce?"
"You're leaving me here all alone! Why can't I go with you?"
Ariu walked over and stood next to the bed. She would never sit on it, of course. "Lucy, I would take you with me; I don't want to leave you alone here, but when you're with me, it's harder to steal something."
Lucy's eyes widened. "Penny says you're not sposed to steal!"
The older girl smiled sadly. "I don't want to steal. But if I don't, you'll starve."
"I'd rather starve than steal!" Lucy exclaimed vehemently.
So would I, thought Ariu.
Lucy thought, as Ariu left, that it was her fault that her sister had to steal; that if she was older, Ariu could leave. She had promised that as soon as she had turned 16, and could live on her own, she would sue Penny for custody of Lucy, but Lucy didn't want to live with Ariu. She would ruin Ariu's life, for sure! She was a bad little girl. Penny always said that. Ariu was the one who had a good future ahead of her. Lucy was dumb, and not worth stealing for.
She scooted over to the edge of the bed near the window, and stared down, close to tears. She had not truely cried in all the time that she remembered, but sometimes she wished she could. She was not sad for herself, because she thought she was too young to deserve pity. She was upset for her older sister. Ariu wanted to leave. Lucy was young, but she could tell that if she wasn't there, Ariu would have run away long ago.
Lucy knew a secret about Ariu. She had been hiding in Penny's closet, while her luma spoke on the telephone to a man. Lucy could tell it was a man, because Penny spoke different to men, and because the man seemed to be yelling into the phone. Lucy still remembered most of the converstation:
Penny: I don't care! I don't!
Man: My wife would never understand.
Penny: Ariu has nothing to do with your wife! Just let her go see you!
Man: I will do nothing of the sort! I've never even met the girl!
(long pause)
Penny: Then perhaps my memory is failing me, sir. Because I was sure that you were present at her birth. And that you chose her name.
Man: Rolayna has forgotten about her.
Penny: How could she? How could anyone ever forget that their husband is in love with another woman?
Man: I am not in love with you, Taineese. You lost my love when you became a prostitute.
Penny: You stole my name, and my soul, and banished me. My whole family probably thinks I'm dead! What choice did I have? I lived in the Court! I have no skills.
Man: Of course you did. But you might not any longer.
Penny: That's right! I seduced the king! What else could I do? Answer that? Do not blame me for trying to protect my family. The only people I have left in the world!
Man: She is not coming back here.
Penny: She must! She will die here! She is a princess, and she--
Man: No! Your daughter is no princess. There's no telling who her father is!
Penny: HOW DARE YOU!? You took my virginity, and accuse me of sleeping around? I pity your kingdom, ruled by such an inane person!
Man: Be silent, Taineese.
Penny: You kept the name Taineese. It is not mine. My name is Penny now. You are not my king. I shall send Ariu to you. I might send Lucy as well.
Man: Send her then. I'll only lock her in the dungeons. And I won't have a little street child running about!
Penny: She is your prodgeny.
Man: I have others. Rolayna would never let me keep your children, even as servants.
Penny: (screams, and throws the phone into the wall) Asshole!
This was the secret Lucy knew about her sister. Ariu was a princess. But Lucy wouldn't tell her. It was selfish, but Lucy knew that Ariu would leave her then. They had different fathers, so they weren't true sisters. As much as Lucy wanted Ariu to be happy, she didn't want her to be happy without her.
Lucy knew what royalty was. It meant that Ariu was one of the people who could live in giant palaces in the middle of cities and order everyone around without ever seeing any of their subjects. She knew what a princess was, and had always thought her sister looked like a princess, even before hearing her mother's early morning phone call last autumn. Ariu always had perfect posture, and poise, and confidence. She had long dark brown hair that waved slightly at the ends. Her eyes were dark blue, like the sky right before it goes black. She hated it when she wasn't right, and hated it even more if someone didnt go along with what she said.
Lucy believed that her sister was a princess. Ariu obviously didn't. She thought she was plain looking, she smoked, hung around with the street children, and disobeyed every rule. But Ariu always took care of Lucy.