Obsidian Dawn

When I woke up I was hungry and went down to the kitchen. Chastity was sitting on a chair and had a phone in her hand, a pen in the other writing down on one of the papers that were in front of her. I looked for Dustin and he was getting plates out the shelf. I looked at him then at Chastity, he seemed to understand my silent question; he just shrugged and rolled his eyes.

“Pizza for tea tonight” he said, indicating to the box on the counter and grabbing himself a slice.

I walked past Chastity on my to the counter where the pizza was, looking at what she had written on one of the papers that were neatly scattered on the table.

FOOD-
•chips
•Lollies
•hot food
•M&M’s
•dip
•Kebabs
•Salad
ECT
*NOTE: WATCH FOR ALLERGIES*

DRINKS -
•lemonade
•Coca-cola
•Pepsi
•Alcohol for adults
*NOTE: MONITOR ALCOHOLE, MAKE SURE KIDS
DON’T TAKE WITH OUT PARENTAL CONSENT*

I knew what she was doing now; she was planning the party and just by looking at that list it seemed to me that planning parties in this world took a lot of preparation and organisation, or maybe that was just Chastity. There was a lot of paper on the table, how much of it was planning, a person no matter what species would never guess.

I grabbed a plate and a slice of pizza and went the way Dustin had to join him in the living room. He was watching a football game on the T.V; I glanced quickly at the screen and saw the home team was winning my 3. I felt like I had to say something but I couldn’t think of anything at all to say.

“What team you going for” Dustin asked me breaking the silence.

“Uhh, the one that’s winning” I didn’t know what the teams were so that seemed like the safest way to go.

And just when I thought things couldn’t get weirder, Dustin laughed. I don’t know why this seemed so strange to me; maybe it was because I was so sure that he hated me, when we first meet he seemed a little frosty to me at first but now he seemed to be warming up to me.

“Okay, see you tomorrow. Have a good night. Bye” you could hear Chastity saying in the kitchen

Chastity walked into the room and judging by the happy and relieved look on her face planning was done and it tomorrow morning was going to be phase 2 of the party, the decorating phase.

“Good News, planning is well under way; all we have to do is decorate and prepare. Some of our friends and a few of the neighbour with their kids are coming and they all want to meet you Oriana” she said, beaming as though sunlight had finally come after weeks of torrential rain.

“I think I might go back to bed now” I said

“Awe sweetie, you only just woke up”

“I know and I’m sorry but I’m just really tired. Besides I’m going to need all my energy for tomorrow, right? So I will see you in the morning yeah.” This was true, I was feeling really tired and I definitely would need all the energy I have for tomorrows events.

I made my way to the bathroom to go through the pre-bed stage of sleeping, brushing my hair and teeth with the appropriate brushes we had picked up today at the shops. I made sure my teeth were properly cleaned even using the floss that Chastity told me to use after brushing and putting a thick piece of stretchy elastic to hold my hair in place for while I was sleeping. When I was done with that I went to my bed, made myself comfortable and let my head sink into the pillows.

The Next morning I was up before Chastity and Dustin and the thought of escape was very tempting but like any fairy I like to stick around for parties and I didn’t think that a runaway foster child would look good on their record so I wasn’t going anywhere, for now at least. I had time on my hands I was already eating breakfast.

I didn’t know where to start with the organising or if she wanted it done in a particular way, maybe she made a list of that too. I looked to where I saw Chastity making list on the table and sure enough there it was, a list with all the preparations written on it. It was ridiculous, how could one person; one human, feel the need to be in such control of their life that they would plan everything in a effort to control it?

I don't think I could do some of the more difficult but i could attempt to do some of the easier stuff.

I walked into the backyard and was struck by the brilliance of colour I saw. There were pinks, purples, reds, blues and yellows among other colours that weren’t as vibrant but they all blended in together but all stood out like a wolf in the middle of a park.

“It’s beautiful, isn’t it” spoke a voice from behind me

I turned around to see Dustin standing there, the way his face looked it didn’t fit the words he just spoke; there were a number of emotions on his face, emotions like sadness, confusion, restlessness. Why would this man say the sunrise was beautiful but look depressed to see it? How could the beginning of a new day make these emotions occur?

“I, uh, couldn’t sleep so I came out here...”my voice trailed off as I saw Dustin’s expression darken.

Had I said something wrong? I looked over what I said, I have always been a early riser because I like to be awake to see the sunrise and all the colours and I did have trouble sleeping because I had the same dream I had the night before and I still couldn’t figure out who the boy was.

“My daughter was an early riser too, she was loved the colours of the sky. Then again she loved colours in general and she anything to do with nature” Dustin said

I couldn’t understand what Dustin was saying. I had no idea that they had a daughter and I couldn’t understand why he was using the past tense when he spoke of her, maybe something bad happened to her or maybe she moved on. But if something had happened to this girl that would explain why both Chastity and Dustin sometimes looked like their world had been torn out beneath them.

“We got Sunshine last year, the house seemed so empty. We had talked of getting a family pet for a long time and Edolie was always saying that she wanted to get a puppy from the Animal Rescue Centre.”

I gave him my full attention, his daughter by the sounds her interest in colours would have been a rainbow fairy or with her love of nature a forest fairy or possibly even half of each, that is if she was one.

“If it’s too personal you don’t have to answer but what it so risky about the forest? What happened to you daughter?” I asked him, I didn’t want to step on a touchy subject without warning.

He smiled weakly “The forest is a dangerous place, deep in the forest there are wolves and other beasts, there’re dangerous fish in the river too. That whole place is dangerous, some say that the forest is haunted and mythical creatures gather there, I advise you not to go there. As for my daughter she wanted freedom and didn’t like to face authority, on mornings I would sit with her watching the sunrise and she would always tell me that she wanted to follow the sun and have adventures.”

He took a deep breath before continuing “One day I come home and see Chastity on the couch crying, rocking back and forth while holding a note in her hand. The note was from Edolie of course; it said that she wanted freedom and adventure and that she was going to get it, that we shouldn’t worry about her that she would stay in touch. Our first thought was the forest but we couldn’t find a path; nobody could. We never did hear from her again, and most people think that she is dead.”

I shouldn’t have asked him about this, it’s too emotional. How could I be so stupid! I thought

“I have one more question, what was her name? Your daughter I mean”

“Her name was Edolie. I if I were you I would mention her name to Chastity and I would the preparation to her to her too” he called over his shoulder

I could understand how she felt about being free and wanting adventure, I could see how she disobeyed authority. I could see how she would go to places even though she was told it was dangerous. I could even understand how she could run-away to be free, to have adventure and the journey have the chance of being dangerous.

As I was thinking this the vibrant colours of the sunrise dulled until they were more like pastel colours and the air around me felt thicker as a fog appeared. I could still see the pastel colours but the fog was so think I couldn’t see anything but the colour. I turn around twice just too double check that there wasn’t door in case I had missed it the first time. On the second turn I see something.

The fog was starting to thin and even though I still couldn’t find a way out I did see something more interesting. There was a girl sitting down, she had long brown hair and a fringe, her eyes were open and her eyes were a peculiar type of brown; they were the colour of dark but still light and was a strait, set colour that they reminded me of polished wooden floorboards.

She was wearing jeans and a single but the singlet looked like it was made out of leaves and wasn’t just one colour. It seemed to range in greens, oranges, yellows, pinks; it was almost as if they were leaf colours of different seasons. Even though I had never met this person before, it felt like I do know her.

“Edolie, that’s my name if you were wondering” she said, as if she was expecting me

“E-Edolie? As in Chastity and Dustin’s Edolie?”

“Yeah, now instead of standing over their come sit with me” she called from the chair

I looked around me, now the fog and the pastel colours were gone and I was back in the garden. I looked back to Edolie sitting on the chair and made my way to sit with her.

“What are you? What happened before?” I asked

“I thought you would know what I am princess, after all you’re supposed to be in the light realm. Speaking of which why aren’t you there now?”

“And I thought you would have known that too, after all it’s the same reason why I am sleeping in your room instead of you isn’t it?”

“Fair enough, and as for your earlier question I am a wood nymph.”

“You were a human child first so how did you really change into a nymph. I only know what Dustin told me about why you ran away”

“That’s a story for next time. Right now I’ve got to get back light realm”

“One more thing. Can you please not tell the King and Queen about this; you have no idea how they will react.”

“What are you going to order me not to tell?” she said in a mocking voice

“That’s not fair! For now I am just a girl, my name is not princess or your highness or any other name like that my name is Oriana and for now I’m just an ordinary girl”

Sighing she said “I know, and you don’t have to worry; your secret’s safe with me but you know as well as I do that we are not ordinary and your heritage is definitely not normal”

She started to walk away across the bridge and seemed to fade with each step until she was gone.

It was still early in the morning and because of my encounter with Edolie I was too aware to even attempt to try go back to sleep. I was still staring at the space where Edolie had vanished wondering what exactly had happened to her for her to become a nymph and trying to figure out if Nymphs took humans they way that Fairies stole humans.

I felt a drip on my shoulder, thinking that somebody had spat on me I turned around to see if Edolie was there again. There wasn’t anybody there and it wasn’t raining yet, I turned again to go back into the house when what felt like a waterfall of ice cold water came crashing on me making me yelp.

Knowing who it was now I yelled “ADORA! What the hell was that for?”
It was that same trick that she used to do when something didn’t go her way. At least this time it was water over the head and not water being forced onto my face.

“Oh I don’t know, might have something to do with the fact that you took off from home. No note, no warning, hell there wasn’t even a track. Why would you DO that! Do you have any idea how worried me and Alamenda have been since you left. Honestly you didn’t even tell us that you were leaving, I thought you trusted us, I thought we were best friends. BEST FRIENDS DON’T LEAVE EACH OTHER WITHOUT WARNING!” Adora yelled at me

“Are you done with your rant? You know damn well why I left and I did do this because it’s the only way to take a stand against my parents. I want a shot a normal life where I don’t have to worry about royalty pressures, betrothals, fake friends or anything like that. I did give you some hint that I was planning to come to the human world, remember I was talking about adventure. And if you were so worried how come you didn’t tell my parents or were they too busy with other stuff to even notice I’m gone. How’d you find me anyway?”

“No, I was not done ranting. You could have simply refused to do what your parents said and hid out in the grotto, you know it’s dangerous here. Your royalty problems are nothing compared to the problems that will happen if you don’t get back to light realm, Alamenda will come and drag you back if she has to and your parents will go totally nuts and probably band you from the parties and balls for the rest of your teen years. Your parents knew you were gone but just thought you were visiting another kingdom. I found you by using your water trail to find which portal you used then creating a storm so I could try finding you.”

Damn it, how could I forget about that! I need to talk to Adora more and hopefully convince her not to tell anyone I’m here, if my parents found out I came to the human world I would be locked in my room until that stupid marriage. I thought.

“Look I’m going to be staying here for a while and Chastity’s in the middle of preparing for a welcome party, how about tomorrow we meet at the beach? I need to talk to you more an explain things to you”

“And how long are you planning on staying here? You do realise that you won’t last long, either the light realm will find you or the dark realm will. What about your powers? You haven’t mastered all your skills yet, you’re a threat to yourself and everyone around”

I felt my eyes tighten into a glare at what she said. “I don't need to hear you lecture me on this, I have heard this speech pretty much every day of my life since their royal pains discovered I had more than the usual amount of abilities. So if you don't have anything else interesting for me to hear just go”

“You don't get it, I’m just trying to watch your back and keep you from getting killed by the enemy. You should know by now that you are not like the rest of us; you’re the future ruler of our kingdom and you can’t just do whatever you want because something might just be your death wish” she sighed, again repeating what I’ve already heard basically every day of my soooo important life.
“Look, I’ll meet you at the nearest beach, you know how to call me out the water” she added

Adora looked like she was starting to levitate and she got paler and paler until as she got higher was gone. I knew that she used her water ability to essentially evaporate. Lucky, she’s already mastered nearly all her abilities, she doesn’t get lectures on responsibility and proper etiquette. I wish my life was as simple as hers.

I turned and walked back to the house. When I got inside I looked at the clock, it was five thirty now and the sky wasn't colourful anymore. Dark clouds were gathering and the temperature was dropping, after speaking with Adora about the human realm being free game I couldn't help but suppress a shiver of fear when I thought about the storm that was coming and would be strong.