Never cry, my soul.

There was nothing going on as far as he could tell. The grounds were all too quiet that morning, afternoon and evening. The moons were rising into place and the heat emitted continued to reach away the puddles from the rain that still sat with stagnant measure. He climbed the towers, drifted along the gardens and listened to the murmurs of the servants. All the while he was un noticed, his eyes glowing like a cat’s in the dark. Seryale was getting tired of bland monotone normality. He already had seen Stelon that morning shooing away the help of what was aided for her after Larkin’s announcement. He knew she would be staying in there for some time, daydreaming in her chambers. She occasionally went out to see the shrike but his sudden disappearance shunned her away. He watched the servants bring up her food and exit after delivering and retrieving the trays. He didn’t feel too hungry himself.

He was beginning to grow extremely suspicious of the situation. After the gathering, he wasn’t seen the rest of the day. And from what he had been collecting despite the few days he had been in that castle, he would show up for meals or to pay visits with the girl.

He was slowly making his way back to his room at moonset. He might as well meditate somewhere he had privacy and check into dream state early. Nothing else was going to occur from what he could tell. There was no use in wasting time any longer than what had been given.

He shut the door behind him, the day moons now basked under the glory of the dark. He reached the windows watching with no thought in his mind other than a memory of long ago. He sighed watching the Stryphus moon play affect, hovering, balancing into the medium of the sky. It was peculiar to see it in such perfect alignment. The only times it would happen if there was a summoning, a sacrifice or war was at play.

Unless…

At that very moment a sharp pain hit inside his mind. He yelled in pain falling to his knees as it continued piercing its fangs into his temples. His blood ran hot and burning. His veins swelled to the point he was sure they were going to erupt. He opened his eyes in the agony that had befallen him staring up at the sky. It was too painful to watch. His eyes stung and he shut them, clutching at his head. His tear ducts swelled, blood dripping down his face and the ground. He yelled again, screaming. Seryale climbed to the foot of his bed, clutching at the covers howling, shrieking.

His insides were throbbing greatly and his organs blistered and pulsated with each new wave of heat and pain. He choked. He gasped. Everything was too swollen that it had barely given his lungs room to retrieve the much needed oxygen inside. It hurt to breathe. It hurt to exhale. He choked again, violently, his body reacting only by pushing blood out of his mouth. He vomited. He couldn’t see. He writhed and convulsed in torment, trying to curl.

And then he felt his shoulder blades hitch. They were tearing his back. He could feel the red hot liquid stream down as his skeleton tried to leave his agonizing body. His collarbone melted into his shoulders, expanding and unfolding boney wings sobbing with veins and red life. He was going to die. He wanted to die. He couldn’t take it any longer. He screamed in hysterics. He could feel his sanity fading away.

I want to die. I want to die. I want to die. I want to die. I want to die. I want to die. I want to die. I want to die. I want to die. I want to die. I want to die. I want to die. I want to die. I want to die. I want to die. I want to die. I want to die. I want to die. I want to die. I want to die. I want to die. I want to die. I want to die. I want to die. I want to die. I want to die. I want to die. I want to die. I want to die. I want to die. I want to die. I want to die. I want to die. I want to die. I want to die. I want to die. I want to die. I want to die. I want to die. I want to die.

To die…

“You promised never to leave me,” she whispered.

Stryphus stepped down the sky that night into its standard position. The summoning was over. The pain subsided. His structure became the ordinary again, slowling pushing itself back inside. His inside fell back into place. His skin grew back over the tears in his body. But he couldn’t feel at all. He couldn’t sense at all. He lied there unconscious, his eyes open staring at the night sky while tears of water graced down his cheeks.