A Tale

It is a bright, crisp winter day, and a certain child wanders out from her home to explore this landscape made clean. She laughs in delight as the snow falls on her bare skin, little flecks of cold making her feel alive again. A gust of wind beckons, and she finds her wings, sweeping herself up into the air, floating amongst the snowflakes being tumbled by the restless air.

A man cloaked in shadow and a woman clothed in blood stroll across the snow, but are stilled once they see this girl flying on wings of copper. They are stunned by the flashes of sunlight those wings redirect into their eyes, but quickly recover, crying out "Oh, little angel, aren't you so pretty?

The man's voice is deep, remeniscent of an oil slick floating above water. The sliminess of his words wriggle their way into the girl's ears, transforming the meaning of his innocent words into something much nastier: "Hello little whore, come and let me use you".

The woman's voice is high, the cry of a peacock given words. In her mouth, the harshness of her voice stabs the girl's ears, to say "Come, and I shall feast upon your flesh, and leave you broken"

The girl sings in response, to drive their voices out of her mind. Her song is not words, but notes, but the meaning of joy and freedom shines through. With her song, the wind raised her higher, into the clouds above the forest ahead of the adult pair.

Their minds fixated on the capture, they sprint towards the forest, their footprints swallowed up by the falling snow. As they ran through the forest, their forms dissolved into a miasma of shadow and blood, to form a pool of filth overlaying the clean snow. No matter how they tried, they could not touch the ground or trees, nor rise back into their human shapes. Eventually, their essence froze, then shattered under the weight of a falling tree branch into a perfect circle of shards, soon buried by the snow.

Another child at play frolicked into the forest, to his misfortune, for he soon found those frozen shards of those two denizens. Delighted by their garnet hue, he picks them up to place in his pockets. Those shards never melted again, not even in the heat of the forge, but ever since that fateful day he grew obsessed with owning beauty. This passion lead him to rise to leadership, enlisting his peers to slaughter their neighbors, and he soon established a kingdom rife with rebellion and misery. All his days he carried those shards close to his heart, though he did not have long to appreciate them. His death, however, lasted long indeed; as each of those shards tasted his blood, the woman rose up and devoured his heart entire, the man sank and inhaled his shadow, and they split his soul amongst them. Satisfied, they departed the kingdom their influence created, to hunt for more beauty.

As for the girl? She flew and sang for the rest of her days, and legend circulated about her prowess. She could fly forever without setting foot to ground, she needed no sustenance but rain and snow, her heart reflected all joy like copper reflects light, and her song held the key to eternal life. However, nothing ever came of these rumours, for her power was simpler and deeper. She simply embraced joy and let the light of the world fill her, until her very wings were what weighed her down, and she became one with the sun.