My Chapter – Shattered –

"You did it."

It was that voice again. She knew she knew it; but she didn't know what it was.

Who are you?
"I am the past."
What?
"I am your past, your present, and your future"
What do you mean?

But the voice was silent. She continued her ascent up the sheer cliff. Another few hundred meters and she would be home. To any other human, the climb would have been near-impossible; but she was one of the Mountain People, and among her people she was acknowledged as one of the best Scouts.

She checked her satchel. In it were her flute and the white flower she had found. It was, quite miraculously, still intact despite the battle she had just fought. She looked up at the sky. The sun shone almost directly overhead. She still had time.

Quickly she appraised her attire. Her Guardian was strongly against her getting into danger of any sort; she didn't quite understand why he had actually let her become a Scout if he was so against fighting.

A long cut ran the length of her thigh. It wasn't bleeding, but it was remarkably noticeable. She swore under her breath. Why hadn't she had the sense of mind to wear something that would at least protect her legs?

"Because...

"Because you never expected to find the Dawnbreaker.

"Only yourself."

Her sash was gone now. Another casualty of the battle. Quickly she tore the loose edge of her top and tied it around her leg. Hiding the knot, she covered the wound well; except that she now had one side of her shorts looking longer than the other.

Oh well. Maybe I can sneak into the house and change out before anyone notices.

"You think?" The voice seemed almost mischievous, but its presence was gone before she could fire back a suitable retort.

She continued her climb up the mountain. Once she was back, she would replant the flower... and then...

"Watch out!"

It was her only warning. She ducked not a moment too soon as a bolt of dark lightning screamed over her head.

Them! "Are there more?"

The two voices in her head spoke simultaneously. But then she saw that she wasn't the target. The Dawnbreaker swept over her head, leaving her to stare as she watched it fly into the distance.

"Towards your home."

Suppressing a cry of despair, she could only hope she was not too late.

With a single bound and a flip she was over the last cliff.

"By the Four..."

She had no idea what the Four were, but the voice was justified.

She sank to her knees.

"I'm sorry"

Her village was gone. She could see spires of smoke rising where houses once were; where she had once played with her childhood friends, huge craters of ash lay. The wind rushed in to fill the silence.

The ashes swept away on its zephyr wing.

It was all gone, but she would not cry for them. Her hand reached into the satchel, and pulled out her flute.

One last song.
"?"

The Requiem of the Lost Souls

It was an old tune. She had never played it before; and heard it only once; the day after her parents had died.

But in her dreams she had never forgotten.

A soft haunting voice accompanied her playing. She realized that it was the voice; the one inside her head.

"Arise; my children
"From the dawn, reawaken
Once more to sleep again..."

She closed her eyes and was surprised to find tears. Blinking them away, she concentrated once more on her task at hand.

"Return again
"Release the darkness and the pain
"And become pure again."

She could not stop playing now; she watched in wonder as the wind changed. Now it blew gently upward, the ashes it held glowing faintly white.

"To the sky, away from death
"Come to me; repent, forget;
"And rest in peace again..."

Both the voice and the flute broke off. She slumped to the ground, staring in wonder as white orbs of light escaped from the char-blackened soil of the earth and rose into the sky.

"It is done."

Who are you?

She asked the voice again; hoping to hear a reply.

"I am..."

The voice made as though to reply.

"Sleep now, child, and I will tell you all…"

She closed her eyes, and her world turned white.

Light
Darkness
There is no difference.

Palace of the Crescent Moon
Master of Souls
Reach of Night.

Eight children of fate.
One who seeks power.
One who refuses it.

Two, different as
Night and day
And another who walks the twilight.

One who cannot remember;
One who cannot return.
And then...

There's you.