Lydia the Siren's Arc

Chapter 25 of 37

The walk carried Lydia farther than she meant. The grass gave way to trees, and the trees closed behind her. Once she had flown over ground like this. Her wings had known every ridge and gap. Now she walked on tired legs and did not remember the way back. The cabin was gone from sight. She kept moving, telling herself the path would open. It did not. The woods changed as she pressed on. Some trees stood plain and brown. Others shimmered, their bark laced with faint light. Their roots crossed the ground in tangled ropes. She stepped over one and her foot caught. She fell hard on her knees. Her palms scraped the dirt. As a beast this fall would have meant nothing. Now it stung, and she stayed down a moment, breathing. A sound reached her. Not a voice. A high, clear ringing, like glass touched by wind. It came from ahead, past the thickest trees. She had spent her whole life making sounds that pulled others in. Now a sound pulled her. She rose and followed it, one careful step after another. The trees parted around a clearing. At its center stood a crystal taller than a man. It glowed pale blue and threw light across the roots. The ringing came from it. Lydia stopped at the edge. She knew this feeling. It was the same call the cave once used on her. But she had no song left to answer with, and no power to take from it. She almost stepped forward. Then a root shifted under her foot, slow and alive. Branches leaned in around the clearing. The light in the crystal brightened, and the ringing sharpened into something that hurt her ears. Slowly but surely the ringing settled into a sound she could understand the tone of…. A warning. Why she was being warned was beyond her but it was a warning nonetheless.