I'm so sorry for the tardiness of this chapter. I'll try to update in a more timely manner. If I can but I am regrettably a horrible procrastinator. But, I'll try.
Chapter 5
Hidrigo looked at the Prince's face a solemn look upon her own. The girl's eyes flashed as a tear tried to slip from her eyes. Hidrigo blinked it away and found herself looking in awe at the Prince's angelic face.
"Tragic." Said Hidrigo softly to herself. The girl heaved a soft sigh and closed her eyes. "It's tragic that you should be lost to the world. I did not know you long, but of what I did learn of you. I know that you were a good man." Hidrigo opened her eyes and a peaceful smile slid onto the girl's face. "Handsome as well."
The girl refused the impulse to cradle the Prince's head in her arms. Instead Hidrigo just stared at his face letting eye trace every couture of the Prince's face. At one instant the girl even believed that the Prince had moved, but the thought was quickly dispelled.
Hidrigo looked down at the lips of the Prince. They seemed soft and inviting. The girl looked up to the heavens. "Would it be wrong if I took liberties with you now?" The girl received no respond. Of course, it was not as if she expected to. After the still silence hung in the air for a moment; Hidrigo looked back down at the Prince's face, and with her hands still cupping the sides of the Prince's head, Hidrigo leaned over and gave the Prince's lips a soft kiss.
When Hidrigo raised her head and looked back at the Prince, she heaved a sorrow filled sigh. "Why did this have to happen?" Hidrigo closed her eyes, an image flashed into her mind. The strange thing about it was that this image was foreign to her. It was of a man and a woman richly dressed. Hidrigo gasped, and quickly opened her eyes and looked at the Prince's face.
Memories of the dead don't die with them.
I think I understand. Taking in a deep breath so as not to be overwhelmed. Hidrigo closed her eyes. A tiny ball of light, a spectral blue color fluttered by her eyes, then another image. A little boy with fiery red hair climbing a tree. The images continued to bombard Hidrido's mind's eye.
Eventually the images began playing out faster flashing past Hidrigo's eyes at a speed that made the girl dizzy. Suddenly, Hidrigo found herself standing in a swirling vortex of memories. All of them moving so fast that Hidrigo could barely distinguish the different colors, let alone the images.
Though Hidrigo tried her best to focus on the images they only seem to whirl about faster. The lights were moving so sporadically it hurt Hidrigo's eyes just to watch. She very quickly came to terms with the fact that she was trapped within this strange vortex of memories. What was worse the girl had no clue what to do to get out.
The movements of the image's were now fast enough to evoke a wind that whipped all about Hidrigo's form. The girl stared out blankly for a moment wondering if she should just close her eyes and scream. Before Hidrigo could perform such an action; a tiny ball of light, the same color as before passed by the girl's eyes.
The light was sprightly in it's movements as it rose and dipped, and wheeled about. Forgetting all else about her, even the wind, that seemed to disappear with Hidrigo's thoughts of the vortex of color, the girl watched the light. For a moment it danced playfully in front of Hidrigo's face, then the light quickly shot out of her sight.
Hidrigo quickly whirled around to see the light was dancing through the air, like an excited firefly.
"Curious little thing." Said the girl as she watched the light, a small smile drifted onto her face. Hidrigo cocked her head to the side for a moment just to look at the light, from a different angle.
Whatever the light was, it was close enough to touch. Hidrigo let her curiosity take hold and raised her hand slowly, as if to reach out and touch the light before her. It did not seem to try and escape, or even teasingly move from Hidrigo's hand, even as the girl's fingertips were nearly upon the strange light.
Just as Hidrigo was about to lightly caress the fluttering light before her, a strange sound seemed to rumble up from the ground. It was as if the earth was shrieking due to some immeasurable pain. Hidrigo covered her ears, her face contorted into a scrunched look of discomfort. Before her, the light wheeled about madly as if the sound caused it pain.
The light quickly shot to the wall of color that still spun about Hidrigo's form. The girl looked at the light which for a moment seemed to hesitate with its next movement. Then the light bobbed in a downward movement, and wheeled backward just a bit as it did. The next moment Hidrigo saw the light shot right through the wall of the vortex.
Hidrigo was perplexed, and would have stood and stared at the vortex walls in awe, had it not been for the accursed sound that threatened to burst her eardrums.
Following the movements of the light Hidrigo moved up near the vortex wall. She reached out and touched the wall it was like touching a strong gust of wind. Hidrigo could see herself being swept up in the vortex, and lost in it. Hidrigo shook her head, believing any place would be better than where she stood now.
Closing her eyes, and drawing in a deep breath, as well as all her courage Hidrigo forced herself to walk into the vortex wall. The girl felt wind whip all about her, then it stopped.
Hidrigo's eyes opened quickly, she thought she had returned to the room, but now she was standing in darkness. Sheer formless darkness. There was nothing no wind no sound. Though its remnants still hung buzzing in Hidrigo's ears. Hidrigo's senses were deprived, and for a moment she could not tell if she was up or down.
Encouraged by some unknown force Hidrigo stepped forward, or at least she moved in a direction that she perceived was forward. The girls eyes widened as the tried to distinguish some type of form in the all encompassing shadow, that seemed to have swallowed the world.
From out of nowhere a slit of light appeared, as if someone had just cracked the door of a dark room open. Hidrigo quickly raced toward the light finding the darkness unsettling.
Hidrigo rounded a corner and her eyes were greeted by the soft ethereal blue light that had been appearing to her. Only now it illuminated what appeared to be a cave's tunnel. Without a moment's hesitation Hidrigo started down the path. Rising, dipping, and stumbling along the path that seemed to wind on forever. The ceiling sometimes hovered a bit too low, the walls sometimes threatening to become far too narrow.
When Hidrigo finally stumbled out of the tunnel the girl found herself in a rather large cavern before her stood several different tunnels. Hidrigo looked at the tunnels quizzically unsure of which way to go. The girl walked toward the fourth and last tunnel furthest to the left.
Just before Hidrigo could step into the darkness of the tunnel before her, the little blue ball of light shot out of the tunnel. The light whirled about Hidrigo, this easily gained the girl's attention, then the light darted into another tunnel. Not wanting to lose the light again Hidrigo followed.
There was complete darkness, for a moment. Then when light began to glow, Hidrigo stood in a chamber that was covered in crystals. The girl walked through the chamber looking about, her mouth agape, at all of the crystals.
"By the Gods." Said Hidrigo sounding breathless, and completely in awe as she looked at a gigantic crystal that protruded from the ground at the far end of the chamber. Each and every crystal glowed that ethereal blue color. The color of what Hidrigo could only call "her little guiding light," for lack of a better phrase. That's when Hidrigo remembered the light, she had forgotten about it when she saw the room.
Hidrigo looked about for the light; she saw it flittering and wheeling about the large crystal. Hidrigo looked at the light curiously. She soon realized the glow of the crystal was becoming brighter. As the soft blue glow illuminated over the girl's face, Hidrigo found she was drawn to the light, like a moth to a flame.
Hidrigo stood before the crystal she could actually touch it. The girl stopped breathing, as she looked at the crystal with wide eyes. The crystal grew brighter, becoming uncomfortably bright. A sound of discomfort escaped Hidrigo's throat as she recoiled from the light. Turning away from the light she shielded her eyes, but still tried to look at the crystal.
The light dimmed allowing Hidrigo to look at the crystal easily once again. The girl touched the smooth surface of the crystal, as she had been compelled to do. Suddenly, an image appeared inside the crystal, in varying shades of blue, distinguishing shadow and light.
The image appeared to be that of a young man. From the lightness of the blue color the person wore Hidrigo could guess that he was dressed in white from head to toe. He was running and shimmering white hair was flying up behind him. Hidrigo could see the almost ethereal air about the being. Hidrigo could see an air of arrogance in the being's eyes, and it made her smile.
Hidrigo did not linger on the being's face as something twitching at the top of his head caught her eye. There tangled within the being's long tresses were a pair of ears. Hidrigo gave a look of surprise, then she noticed the white tail attached to the being's backside.
"Ajournous blooded." Hidrigo gasped as she looked at the being trying to figure out the meaning to what she was seeing. Had he seen what I now see? Thought Hidrigo feeling weak from surprise, after all these were memories of the Prince, were they not?
The being stopped running. The air of arrogance about him, showed itself on the being's face in a smug yet accomplished looking smirk. The being cocked his head to the side allowing Hidrigo to get a good look at his eyes. Up until that point she had neglected to even notice that they were a piercing gold color. That was only strange because everything else was blue, like the light of the crystal.
When Hidrigo saw the color of the being's eyes. She took a step back surprised by the vividness of them.
The being reached into the folds of his white tunic and pulled out a chain. The chain itself was nothing. What caught Hidrigo's eyes was the long thin blue crystal that was on the chain. The crystal could easily pass off as one of the crystals from the very cavern she stood in, yet the gem was different, in one very obvious way.
Inside of the gem that the being held, Hidrigo could see that there was a bright little light flickering within the gem. The light seemed to be something of a flame. It looked like a tiny blue flame, trapped inside of the crystal.
The being too looked at the crystal with a hint of curiosity. The being was scrutinizing the gem, for some odd reason, as Hidrigo watched the being look at the gem, she felt a tremor shoot through her body.
Ignoring her feelings, Hidrigo watched the being with unblinking eyes. It fascinated her whatever was happening. Though Hidrigo was unable to shake the feeling that she was being watched.
The ear's that sat atop the being's head suddenly twitched. The being turned around sharply. His attention drawn to a point behind him. The curiosity drifted away from the being's face and he once again looked complacent.
The being quickly placed the necklace back into the folds of his tunic. Then he smirked, as if happy to begin the chase again. As Hidrigo watched with great interest, the being seemed to transform in front of the girl's eyes, now the being was an ethereal fox like beast. The creature looked sprightly, and had a complacent air about it as well. The creature quickly bounded off and out of the view of the crystal.
Hidrigo just looked at the crystal trying to find the merit in what she had just seen. The girl just wondered whether or not the Prince knew of these visions.
This is a memory. Hidrigo thought to herself, then she closed her eyes trying to rationalize the images she had just witnessed. When she opened them again the room of crystals was gone.
"Ivem Octa!" The girl exclaimed as she whirled around trying to figure out where she was now. From the looks of things she was in another chamber of the cave. The chamber seemed empty, except for the sound of water dripping. Hidrigo saw a small mass of water, not even the size of a small pond. But large enough for Hidrigo to take notice.
Was that there before? The water it was a strange color, it looked almost black. When Hidrigo look at the water, upon closer inspection, the girl found the water was a deep red color. Hidrigo kneeled down looked at the water, it was so dark it was opaque. Hidrigo could not even see her reflection in the water. The girl was actually thankful for that much. It would have been too much like seeing herself reflected in a pool of blood.
Hidrigo suppressed a shiver and allowed herself to dip her hand into the water. It was warm and thick, it almost seemed alive. Hidrigo pulled her hand from the viscous liquid. Now she shuddered freely as she looked at her hand. Surprisingly, Hidrigo's hand was dry and clean as if she had not even touched the water.
Hidrigo looked at her hand with surprise, she was planning to put her hand into the water again, but, Hidrigo's attention was drawn away by the sound of dripping. Hidrigo realized that she had completely forgotten about the sound of the water. Hidrigo realized that the water had to be dripping into the pool of red.
Hidrigo looked at the water until she saw something fall into the pool of water. It rippled the surface a bit when the red water calmed another drop fell. Hidrigo's eyes were guided upward by drops of falling water that were plopping into the pool of red.
There above the pool of red was another pool of water. It was clear and clean as water should be. Another sliver droplet of water fell into the sea of red. Hidrigo could not help but look down at the way the slivery water dripped down into the red. Mixing into it, becoming one. But something else quickly caught Hidrigo's eyes. From the surface of the red pool of water, a droplet rose. It lifted upward, and mixed in with the pool of water above it. Hidrigo watched the phenomena with a raised brow. Not wanting to blink least she miss an instant of what she was seeing.
This can't be thought Hidrigo she shook her head in disbelief. When Hidrigo turned to look back at the pools, there was nothing there. "By the blood of Nacriss. What's going on? What does this mean?" Hidrigo's voice echoed on the walls of the cave, but there was no reply.
The blue light fluttered into the view of Hidrigo's confused eyes. "Is there something I should gain from this?" The girl asked to the light. The light stopped its movements in front of Hidrigo, and hovered there, as if waiting. Hidrigo reached out and captured it in her hands. Hidrigo, was not able to help herself from feeling a little triumphant.
Hidrigo opened her hands to look at the newly captured light. When Hidrigo looked into her hands she was holding a crystal. One not unlike that which she had seen being held by the strange being from before. In fact, Hidrigo looked at the crystal closer. Eyeing the tiny flame within it, it is.
The blue flame within the crystal began to flicker and fade. The crystal was now nothing more than a dull gray stone. Then, gem began to glow again. However, now it was a curious red color. As the red flame burned brighter, the gem seemed to bite into Hidrigo's hand. A pair of glowing scarlet eyes burned themselves into Hidrigo's mind's eye. Hidrigo grunted in discomfort, whether it was from the pain of the gem, that now seared her flesh, or from fear of what she had seen, was indeterminate. The girl however, let the jewel she held, roll off her palm and slip from her open hand.
"Pena Scularri!" Hidrigo cursed as she looked at the palm of her hand. It now held a faint marking where the gem had burned her. The marking resembled the gem that Hidrigo had held. Quickly, Hidrigo's thoughts shifted from her hand to the gem she had once held. It seemed as if time slowed just long enough for the girl to glance at the jewel before it shattered on the floor.
A light was emitted from the gem once it shattered. The light consumed Hidrigo, and moments later the girl found herself sitting on the ground, he face upraised looking toward the sky, her mouth open drawing in a deep breath of air. There was an unknown weight burdening the girl's hand. When Hidrigo looked around the room she quickly realized that she was back in the room. The girl felt tired and a little confused and all she could do was wonder about what she had seen. Did it have any significance, and if so what was she to do about it?