Page 1 of Kingdom of the Two Moons

Melody

Jump.

Just jump. Then it’s over.

The icy cold wind cuts from below, deep into my bruised and throbbing skin.

Just one more step and it’s over. You’re almost there. Just one more tiny step.

No more Lyrian. No more being locked away for days. No more beatings. No more threats and a life I cannot bear.

I watch the deep, gray waves waltz below. The impact would shatter my body, I think. The cliff I’m standing on is so high I would just die, the water below like concrete from this height. I hope I won’t feel a thing.

Just one more tiny step . My last resort.

Small rocks come loose under my shoes as I stare down into the beckoning depth, feeling its lure in my bones, in my very blood, like a song.

The abyss always knew my name, even when I was still a small child. Always used to call to me. Like the wind.

Just then a gust comes up.

It whispers around me, telling me about foreign lands and creatures. About emerald forests and lilac woods, of milky turquoise streams, of horses with horns and feathery wings, and of dragons, their scaled hides glimmering like rainbows under the sun. I can almost smell the exotic fragrances, the flowers, the sap of the forests, as if those places truly existed.

I stretch out my arms and lean forward, into the wind. For a moment, I imagine myself having wings. That they catch the breeze as I jump and carry me, not down, but away. Somewhere safe. Somewhere good.

It would be so easy to give in. Easier than to go back. To keep going. To keep fighting. I can feel my body reeling forward, my balance tipping.

I feel myself falling.

At the last moment, I startle back, breathing hard.

Not today. I can give up any other day. But not today. First, I will try to find another way. I will fight some more.

I turn and run back the way I came from, through the crooked, moss-covered willows with their bent branches. I swear the ocean’s call is following me back to the mansion as if some ancient sea-good is disappointed to have been once again cheated out of claiming my soul.