Once upon a time there was a girl. She was not a princess; one could
only be a princess if one's parents were a king and a queen, and the
girl had no parents. She had never had parents, only the caring
directors of the orphanage where she lived. And she was happy there,
for the most part.
Yet in her secret heart, she longed for parents, for quietly unspoken
in everything that she saw or heard was the sense that without
family, one was nothing. And so, at one point, she wept with longing
for her parents.
As she wept, a traveller came to her, mounted on a pale horse. He was
neither a prince nor a king, she knew, for he wore no crown. Yet when
he came to her, he gathered her up into his dark-robed arms, and she
felt peace enshroud her.
CHILD, THAT YOU WERE MY OWN, he said to her in a hollow, booming,
gentle voice. YOU ARE STRONGER THAN YOU KNOW, STRONGER THAN YOU WILL
EVER DREAM. NEVER LOSE THAT STRENGTH, FOR ONE DAY YOU WILL DEARLY
NEED IT -- A DAY WHEN ONE WILL LOOK IN YOUR EYES, AND SEE ME COMING.
IN PREPARATION FOR THAT DAY, I GIVE YOU THIS. From within the folds
of his robes, he drew a sword, and placed it into her hands.
"Will we ever meet again?" she asked.
ONCE ONLY. I WILL COME TO YOU TO TAKE YOU TO A PLACE WHERE NO SHADOWS
FALL. UNTIL THAT TIME, FARE THEE WELL. And he was gone as though he
had never been.
Remembering his words, though perhaps wondering if the meeting had
been a dream, the girl practiced with the sword day after day as she
grew up. And one bright day, she journeyed to the east, to a bright
city of gleaming silver crystal, to the greatest academy in the
world, to become what she had always meant to become.
But was that really such a good idea?
Perhaps. But then, perhaps not. But it was the idea of the girl named
Calyx Empyria, and this is her story.
TBC
_______________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Get your free @yahoo.ca address at http://mail.yahoo.ca