A Whisper Among the Wind

As the carnage of Prince Ruth’s castle made way to endless accusations of treachery and treason, his great-grandmother took it upon herself to acknowledge the damages and handle the incident herself, as she was well aware of the events and how it came to be. She, unlike others with limited magical talent, had been blessed at birth by the sun and the moon, and thus had immense magical prowess, and over a kind that was the most difficult and chaotic to control – the elements themselves. All of nature spoke to her, and she could understand every droplet of rain, every crash of the waves, and even the ground itself, as if she were listening to her own words formed from her own mind. 

And so, she was well aware of the trees that sung a dark song, one that whispered curses to her along the wind, tainted by the greed and corruption of the man who lived there. It was often that curses would cast their spell upon the gifts of nature, as nature itself borrows and intensifies the life around it. Thus, the darkness within would then quickly consume, fires raging amongst the sea of trees, even the sky itself would turn black as night and unleash a storm when the taint had grown too much to control. 

However, the rage within these trees had stormed her mind, powerful words that blew her eyes open in freight as the haunting melody sang a song for her grandson’s death. She could feel the taint looming within her as she had struggled to keep her eyes open, shadows lurking beneath her eyes. The words whispered to her, softly, she couldn’t hear it, so – once, twice, ah! She could see his castle crumbling before her eyes, the stone bricks walls once fortified now laid on the ground, her grandson just a body on the pavement before his home. She couldn’t bear it. She sent word to him, a small whisper among the wind that would carry to his ears, loud enough to reach him. He would not be the one to reach his demise today. 

The man who had set his curse upon this beautiful nature could not be harmed, her morals too just to justify offing another human being. This curse would be cut off by the root of each and every tree he had infected, and to save the lives of the ones who had died, she would bestow each death a seed, to regrow in a newly replenished land, free of the rage that taints them so. She could hear their angry cries even now, and so she thought, “Now, it must be done now.” 

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Shadows loomed above the remains of a fallen tree upon golden sand, cackling and whispering as they sped about along the rising sun. The words carried along the wind to another across a nearby lake, a young woman standing alone upon a small rowboat, whose ear was raised to the sky, the water beneath her feet barely stirring as she had awaited a signal of some sort. As the shadows began to twist and turn in their amusement, their low whispers that pitched high like shrieks, the woman smiled as the wind turned up beside her, a faint melodic chime assuring her it had been done. 

With a soft hum, she extended her hands, and the wisps of wind began to wrap around her arms to her shoulders. This flurry around her shoulders continued in circles, picking up speed until the shrieking shapes of darkness began to whine and struggle, the grasp of the wind plucking them from their prospective areas and pulling them back. Undeterred, the woman only amplified her song, the notes carrying out across the water and intensifying the wind’s response, effectively rocketing them back to her, where they began to slow underneath the water and trail along her arms as well. She let her gaze fall upon them, soaking her arm within its inky black darkness, and smiled affectionately. 

“Alright, lovelies, ready for the next one?”