Chapter 11

Emi was flying.

She couldn't control her flight, but she could move around and see her surroundings. She was floating gently over to a distant building. It looked familiar, but she couldn't place how. Then it hit her, she was looking at the Magicians' Guild, several years in the past. She phased through a few walls until she was looking at a familiar room: Embrea's quarters. Embrea was sitting in a chair, young and lovely as ever. She held two babies in her arms, with muddy brownish-gray hair - the color of an unclaimed magician. One, the girl, was slightly larger. The other, the boy, was a little smaller and moved fitfully. Embrea was lavishing attention on the girl, while the boy kicked and wriggled as if to say, Look at meeeeee!

Flash-forward.

The girl, now about six, was holding a long staff across her palms, a staff unlike any Emi had seen before. It was purple and had a triangular top. Emi then recognized it as Calythé's shadowbeam staff.

"What do you think it does?" the boy asked.

"I don't know," said the girl. "But I feel more powerful when I hold it." Suddenly a large shimmering yin-yang symbol appeared over the girl's head, and the dark part detached from the light and washed over the girl's body, shrouding her in dark energy. Suddenly there was a flash - and instead of dirty gray hair and mud-colored eyes, there stood a girl with teal blue eyes and a cascade of jet-black hair. It was Calythé, and she had been claimed by dark magic. Embrea squealed and hugged her daughter. The boy stood impassively and grumbled.

Flash-forward.

Emi saw Embrea come to her daughter, now about eleven years old, with a golden harp. The word CALLIE had been engraved in the gold in thin, spidery script. Calythé took the harp and gave it an experimental strum. Blue notes flew from the end, bouncing off the walls.

"It's wired to you," said Embrea. "Only you can play it, my darling girl."

The boy spat in anger - and suddenly a giant diamond appeared over his head, bathing him in white light. His hair changed to white and his eyes to light grey. With a shock Emi realized that it was Thunder. He strode to Calythé and tried to wrest the harp from her grasp, but the harp was stuck to her as if with glue. Finally he gave up and walked calmly into the courtyard, where he screamed in anger.

Flash-forward.

Emi was hovering about eight feet above the World Bridge. Calythé and Thunder were walking across it.

"Thunder, what are we doing here?" Calythé asked nervously. "There aren't any rails."

"Hmm. Yes. About that," Thunder mused. "You know, you were always Mom's favorite."

"What?" Calythé said, now more scared than curious. "Is this about the harp?"

"It's not about the harp, Sister," hissed Thunder menacingly, rounding upon her and slowly pursuing her to the edge of the bridge. Finally she backed so far that her heels were hanging over the edge.

"Don't do this, Brother," she wailed, tears streaming down her face.

"I didn't want to, but unrailed bridges are DANGEROUS!" he howled with a horrid manic grin on his face. He stuck out his hand in a gesture to help her up, then turned it over with a cry of "PSYCH!" and pushed Calythé off of the bridge.

"AAAAAHHHHH!" she screamed as she tumbled end over end down to earth. Thunder watched her fall with a completely impassive expression on his face.

"Goodbye, Sister," he said in a monotone, and with a swish of robes he was gone.

Calythé fell screaming into a large pool of dirty water. She desperately worked to crawl out, but cried out in pain. Emi felt a sharp pain in her arm and realized she was feeling what Calythé was feeling. An empathic link. She saw Calythé gasp in pain and fall limp halfway out of the water. Everything went black and Emi woke up, sweating.

"It was awful," Emi sobbed into Calythé's shoulder. "I don't understand why he did that to you. Especially someone as unbelievably gorgeous as he is."

Calythé stroked Emi's hair. "Shhh. Try having lived it."

"There has to be more," Emi gulped bravely.

"There is," Calythé murmured, and she put her forehead to Emi's again and Emi reentered the dream…