Chapter 6: The end of Isle of Dawn
"Though your dreams may take flight and be gone with the day."
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Chapter 6: The end of Isle of Dawn
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A real castle it was, they felt like royalty.
Ah, so this is how the other sky kids felt when exploring through the Isle of Dawn before reaching the temple.
Unfortunately, the Sky sisters were not ones born from a royal family nor from a family of nobles, they were ordinary children who enjoyed playing around in the fields and picking the brightest of flowers.
As they walk through the temple, they couldn't help but fawn over about how everything lit up to their presence. The hallways, dark at first, illuminated at the sight of white-painted images appearing from the walls. Drawings made out of light, how unique was that.
A sight they certainly wouldn't find by the little village they lived in Prairies. Everything was so new, mesmerizing, even. Continuing to walk towards the exit of said temple, the red-caped sister glanced from the drawings on the wall then back at her elder sister beside her.
She stopped in her tracks and drifted away from Unity, lured in by the drawings by her right. She stepped closer to the wall and even gasped in awe, it was beautiful symbols, beautiful images. Swirls and waves with a temple just like this one appearing on the bottom, what did it all mean?
"Say, you like drawing too, right?" Infinity wondered, her voice not louder than a mere call. Her eyes were glued onto the drawings and didn't acknowledge that her sister was way ahead of her at this point. Unity, almost reaching the doors of the exit, tilted her head in confusion as the sudden topic came up.
Turning her head around to face Infinity,
"Huh? Oh yeah, I do. It's been quite a while since I didn't pick a feather though,
you know, art block and all that." She responded and her eyes widened lightly as she took in the sight of the drawings for herself. Not resisting one bit, she approached her little sister and looked over the beauty painted on the walls.
"What do you think it all means?" Infinity wondered, happy that her sister came to join her in figuring out a mystery like this one. What she didn't know however, was that Unity couldn't possibly be thinking the same thing as she did. "What if it means nothing? Just a drawing to represent the Isle of Dawn." She thought rationally for a second.
It was true though, there weren't sign of spirits, Sky children, nothing. Just symbols and squiggles. The only significant part about the drawing was the temple sitting on the bottom of a wavy hill. Shrugging, "Hm, well it does look pretty though. I don't see it having anything to do with Eden though." The red-caped sister moved on at last. She wasn't disappointed in her end, though.
Chuckling behind her, Unity followed the twelve-year old sky child. Really though, now that her sister mentioned it, she really should be getting back to drawing. It was one of her favourite pass times, aside from playing the piano and soaring the skies. However, she just couldn't find the inspiration lately. Prairies was always the same for her, same sights, same people.
Trust her, she still loved her dear home greatly. But, there's days where she wishes to push away the things she's used to seeing and see something else, get a fresh breath from a new land. Clenching her fists and staring at the massive doors in front of them, Unity nodded to herself. 'I'm sure I'll get some inspiration when I come back from this mission.' She promised.
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A bit stuck on what to do next, Infinity glanced from left to right, hoping more drawings, this time instructions, would appear to them. Disappointed that she didn't find any in the next two minutes, the small child sighed and stared back at the doors blocking their way.
"There's these jewels though that seem like belts!" She exclaimed after examining the pattern on the stone doors. Her older sister laughed once more and when rose a brow at the unusual comparaison. "Ahah, belts? Where'd you get that one from?" She asked, then dug her nose into the unfinished examination that Infinity left her with. The ponytailed-wearing child simply shrugged and stood beside her.
"Look at them," she pointed with a single finger then brought it all the way to the top of the doors. "What are the odds that's how they're supposed to work? We trigger something and they rise to the top and open the doors." She suggested, finding her theory a bit too unrealistic half-way through. Though, Unity showed no signs of retorting for that one.
"Wow, acting all smart again?" She teased and worked on discovering how to open this door. She kept in mind of her sister's theory and used it to reason and eliminate all of the ideas she had in mind. In the end, she only came up with a single one. The teal-caped child glanced over to Infinity and pointed at the gem knobs.
"I have an idea, why don't you try lighting up the gems and see what happens?"
Infinity gave her a confused look for a second, "Huh? How do we light them up in the first place, it's not like I can summon fire out of my hands." She commented. Truly, she was in need of some form of explanation but didn't debunk the idea anytime soon, what if it was the idea needed to get through? Unity sighed and placed her two hands together by her chest and pulled out a red stick.
"We'll use these candles, the ones we packed for the journey. We can easily light them up thanks to our light journey within us." She explained, kind of surprised she needed to do so in the first place. "If you couldn't get that from the get-go, turns out you aren't really smart, Infi." She mocked, taking back her previous comment of praise. Of course, everything it all being in good fun.
Nodding, the red-caped girl took out a candle from her massive stack of them and lit it up easily with the little patch on her chest that was the flap for light to exit out of her unique form. "Okay, it's lit up, how about you?" She informed her older sister before bringing the now lit-up candle onto the jewel. Unity nodded as well and held a melting candle in her hands. "Let's do this." She whispered, doing the same as Infinity did.
As the flames touched the cold and isolated jewels, the blue shade of them quickly disappeared into a lovely shade of orange. Astonished as the gems changed colours, the two sisters stepped back. Surprised that their prediction was correct and the gates blocking their way had been lifted, the doors began to slowly open. This temple was incredibly ancient even if sky children went sent here to roam these lands once and a while.
"That's our exit," cheered Unity as she got a peek of the next room's contents. There was a bridge leading to a white circle along with a countertop and a white candle, one that they have never seen before. They walked into the spacious room, peering over the edge of the bridge and in fact saw nothing but a bottomless pit. They wouldn't want to fall in there.
Infinity followed Unity towards the circle, only one thought came into mind as they drew closer, "We need to praise the lord, don't we?" Infinity jabbed, looking from the circle to her sister. Suppressing laughter from that comment, Unity shook her head. "We need to pray yes, but I'm guessing the lord you should be referring to is the Isle Elder." She corrected, mildly amused though at her earlier question.
Taking that into note, Infinity stopped to get on her knees within the circle. If what Unity said about praying was really true, they'd need to be on the ground. "Right, I've never done this before and no one told me before-hand." She proceeded to shut her eyes and reopen them a few seconds later when Unity sat down beside her.
She didn't earn a response, mere silence as she observed her sister place her hands together, now looking as if she was really praying. Sulking at the fact that Unity didn't answer her, Infinity rolled her eyes and did the same. "Fine fine," she whispered and closed her eyes as well.
The white candle lit up and the white coming from the circle began to disappear. The light that the Sky sisters were producing were being sacrificed to the Isle elder.
Opening their eyes, Unity noticed that they were no longer in the temple anymore but rather, inside of the Isle elder's spell room. A dark void with the mountains of Eden in the background. A small pedal tool where that same white candle sat. The short-haired child remained on the ground and looked down in respect.
"Isle Elder, Tandi, let us offer you light." She pronounced those words in a whisper.
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Tandi turned around and couldn't form a proper reaction as much as he wanted to. His mask was cracked and he looked absolutely astray, the sisters weren't even sure if the elder knew exactly what was going on. Yet, he spoke with a low tone: "Children, you have managed to light up the flame of the candle of freedom." He referred to the harmonious white one.
"That means that you are here for the prophecy, correct?" He inquired before being interrupted into light coughing. Holding onto a staff, he approached the two sisters, making sure not to crush them considering how tall he was as an elder. Infinity opened her eyes and faced the scene, instant amazement appearing on her face. She contained her excitement and allowed the oldest between the two of them to speak in their name.
Unity understood that pretty quickly and stood up from the ground. "May I ask what happened to your face?" She knew how personal the question may be, but an abyss of wanting to know more truths about their world was eating away at her light. It wasn't like she needed to know the answer, but she'd like to. Slowly, she felt a sort of acceptance that this journey will change her in more ways than one. She didn't want to be left-out about what was happening in their world, no matter where it is.
Tandi shook is head and placed his staff over the candle of freedom, the accessory's gem quickly glowing into a light purple as it collected the light from the candle. "Ah, it's nothing important. A simple injury from war." He briefly mentioned. The Sky sisters glanced at each-other for a second, worry flashing on their faces before the red-caped girl coughed and separated her hands from one another as the praying seemed to be over.
"It's the Eye of Eden that did this to you, didn't it?" It was rather easy to guess which of the seven kingdoms would be the most hostile one. The Isle elder nodded. "I wish I could just say that it was Alef's monsters going out of control. But no, you are right. Our king couldn't handle his rage." Tandi sighed, noticing his staff changing colours and smiled to himself.
Infinity was about to ask why he was smiling like that even with a horrible injury like that.
No, she also wanted to know more about the Eye of Eden, she was a lunatic over that topic and had always wanted to visit it, see what the kingdom was like and all.
That and Tandi informed them of a king? So there really was royalty here in the lands of Sky, intriguing. Tandi brought the staff over away from the candle and stepped away from Unity and Infinity. "You don't need to be grief-sicken though. Thanks to the both of you, I can heal my injuries and restore my mask." He told the two, explaining the secret behind his earlier smile.
Curiosity submerged from within Unity as she heard such a confession, it confused her a little, it was just candle light. "What's so special with those white candles? Me and my little sister see them from time to time and something unnatural always occurs when we get close to them." She mentioned. Now the answer for that was fairly simple, Tandi placed the staff over his broken masked-face first however.
The old elder began to explain. "Candles of Freedom are unique because they contain magic through the flame. You ever wondered why their flames are multi-coloured and shaped in a heart whenever it's lit? Compared to the ordinary ones that give off light." Just like he had said, the magic from the flame began to heal his mask, the cracks from the mssk returning to restore his face. Unity and Infinity were proud of their first accomplishment.
Taking a step back from the two sisters again, Tandi stretched and smiled even more. "Ah, how long has it been since I saw the world change again. Truly, I thank you both." He told them genuinely and held the staff over the two sisters. Unity and Infinity gave appreciated nods and smiles as they began to stand up from the meditation circle. The skies began to darken even more and Tandi almost faded away from their sight.
"Where shall we go next, what does it take to fulfill the prophecy, Isle Elder?" Infinity questioned the tall man. She didn't want to fail, ever. She knew her sister thought the same but she was not only determined to pleasing the other spirits back home, but also to visit Eden. Here they were, finished with one of the other seven kingdoms, six more to visit.
Tandi transported them back to the temple and all the sisters could see for a second was white. 'Ah...a warm light.' Unity muttered, bringing her hands to rub her eyes, trying to regain her sight. Her ears caught on the sound of old stone doors opening in front of them and the loud and clear voice of the grandfather Elder speak out to them.
"Meet the Prairies Elder and bring him the candle of freedom so that he too, will allow you to progress through your journey." He instructed. Something said to be simple but really it was not, they needed to head over to the next kingdom, the Daylight Prairies, their home. Unity gulped, knowing how awkward it would be if they were spotted wandering the lands.
As the doors finished opening, the two children regained their sight. They both stood up from the circle and didn't have much time to make exchanges against one another about what had just happened. The reason was due to the presence of two spirits sitting behind them all along.
"North, Drew!" Infinity recognized them, a happy smile found on her lips as she slid closer to the two males. The two of them exchanged with a warm smile and Drew patted the head of the little red-cape. "Good luck with your mission, children." He told the two of them, Drew glancing over to the responsible one as he pronounced those words. Unity nodded.
"We'll see you again soon, alright?" North chuckled and gestured Drew to step back from the two sky children. Infinity nodded and laughed, feeling the other spirit's hand slowly leave the top of her head. Unity came closer to her sister and wrapped an around her little sister to pull her closer to her. She smiled at the two spirits. "Yeah...we will." She whispered.
Waving at the two sisters, Drew and North began to fade away, ascending and leaving the temple, leaving the Isle of Dawn to be reborn into a new island that one would call home. They were finally at rest, now that someone knew their stories and relieved their memories. Infinity smiled softly and did a small wave as she watched the two first spirits she helped disappear from view.
"Well, that's that. Heard what Tandi said? We should probably move over to Prairies now." Unity pulled away from Infinity and beckoned her to follow her up the stairs and through the door. The little sister wasn't stubborn, more so excited to see their home again. Surely, their village was far away from where they'll spawn so they wouldn't bump into any family friends or family members themselves, right?
"Yeah, let's go!" The red-cape cheered enthusiastically.
The two sisters made their way towards the exit of the temple and spotted a porch from where to jump off into a mist of clouds. The gates and clouds separating the two kingdoms, they stood there. But before that Unity could even contemplate on how to help her sister fly,
"Hey hey, look, how pretty!" She heard a call from Infinity and a small tug on her sleeve.
She didn't know what Infinity was so possibly interested in, considering that they were standing outside and staring at a wall of clouds. But following the direction she was staring at, her light yellow eyes glistened. "It's a beautiful constellation.." she muttered, spotting a stick projected into the blue and pinky skies belonging to the Isle of Dawn.
Infinity nodded, happy that her sister shared mutual feelings at the sight.
"Yeah yeah! Do you think that's where Drew and North went?" She questioned, stepping away from Unity and standing at the very edge of the platform. Unity stared at the constellation for a few more seconds, counting the stars even through a breathless sky then brought her head back down to Esrth. She nodded simply, not saying a word that might ruin her little sister's beliefs.
They knew they needed to fulfill the next part of their mission, Daylight Prairies awaits. Unity reached her hand out to Infinity, the latter curiously looked at it for a second before grabbing it. "Okay, I don't get why I should be holding your hand.." she admitted her confusion.
The red-cape pulled the teal-cape to the edge along with her. The older sister chuckled and pulled them forward, eventually tipping them both off the edge. Their faces fell into the clouds and shaped-like wings, red and a teal cape opened up.
Gliding and receiving a soft wind on their faces as they bounced from cloud to cloud, they began their journey towards the next kingdom.
"Let's fly together, don't let go, alright?"
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A/N: I'm not sure whether "Tandi" is the Isle Elder's official name but I read somewhere on Reddit that it was. The other elders seemed to have "official names" too, so you can expect this book using them all!
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