Town Visit

Syren looked at the eclipse with bewilderment and fear, while Whisper saw it with excitement and thrill. At this point, Syren began to see Whisper as an extension of himself. He had a female body, but spoke with the voice of a man. His smile revealed rows of fangs ready for this new world. But Syren wasn't thinking about what Whisper thought.

Syren was just trying to wrap his head around what he was seeing. It felt unreal. And everything in his mind still felt disjointed even though his memories returned. It just felt strange to him, but he didn't know why. The sky was full of red as the sun turned black. The black sun looked as though it were constantly pouring tears of anguish. As he stared at the eclipse, it felt strangely wanting. He wanted to grab it, but it was just so far away.

As Syren reached for the dark sun, Whisper shouted, "Hey!" waking him up from his trance.

"Wha-?" Syren said as he jolted back.

"Cool. I could never really shout like that before," Whisper said ecstatically, "Anyways, we should get going. We should explore this vast new world you've unintentionally created."

Syren pinched himself and asked, "This really isn't some kind of dream, is it?"

"If it is, I'd be disappointed. But I don't think so."

Syren worryingly said, "The town! They must be panicking. And the whole world must be seeing the same thing."

"Well, at the very least, half the world. The other half is at night."

"Fine. Half the world. We should hurry towards Niter Town. We need to help them."

"What for?" Whisper replied, "They have military police to handle such things. Not like you have any friends in that old town anyways."

That was true. Cyren didn't remember having any friends. Not a single one. Ever since he was a child, he wasn't particularly good at making any. Even so, he still believed that he should go. He needed to know if the town was going to stay safe. "Even so," Syren said, "There could be riots. They won't know what's going on. I'm responsible for this mess. I should try and fix it."

Whisper exclaimed sarcastically, "Really? I'm actually shocked that you'd do something so... heroic. Or maybe, you just lost some brain cells after hitting your head. Wait. I get it. It's some kind of joke."

Syren made sure he kept his black tome by his side attached to his belt. He was sure that there were spells in that book that could help depending on the situation.

"I'm not joking. I have to do something. There might be something in this book that can undo the damage. But that will take time. For now, I have to help those men and women. I'm the only one who knows what's actually going on. If I don't try to help, who else will?"

When Syren looked at Whisper, he could tell that Whisper was truly surprised by his actions.

"Alright. I'll follow you," Whisper replied.

And so the two of them rushed over to Butterton down leaving behind the ruins of his burnt down homestead. As he ran, Whisper crossed his arms and looked as though he was just being dragged by an invisible rope behind him. It seemed as though that Whisper couldn't move too far away from Syren anyways.

Syren ran past a large lake that was between them and the city. It was glistening red.

Once they reached the town, Syren watched as everybody looked up at the black sun with awe. The priests and the religious began chanting a prayer for the end of times. Meanwhile, everybody was just staring up at the neverending eclipse. Nobody was sure what was happening. But Syren was relieved that people didn't go into a frenzy over it. They all just seemed captivated like he was when he was looking at it. He took another look at it, and its disparity in beauty and darkness captivated him once more. His heart raced faster and faster.

"Hey!" Whisper shouted as Syren awoke, "Let's not go staring off like that."

"Right. Right. Sorry," Syren replied.

"Looks like everybody is safe though. Men, women, and children. All safe and sound. Even those religious fanatics. Wish something happened to them."

"Wait. If I can see you, what if they can see you, too?" Syren exclaimed. He quickly grabbed an old blanket off of some homeless man too busy staring at the black sun to notice. He threw it atop of Whisper to try and hide his entire body. Unfortunately, the blanket just went right through him and onto the floor.

"Good job," Whisper said unimpressed.

Soon, some people started to worry. The eclipse was beautiful, but as it stayed up there for so long, they all started to sweat as though it really was the end of the world.

Then, one of the knights walked right through Whisper without even noticing him. The knight said, "Alright, people. There is no need for any alarm or panic. Everybody go back inside. The eclipse will end eventually."

Whisper said, "Well, that settles that. They can't see me. Let's test hearing." He took in one big breath. And all at once, he shouted with the intensity to bring down a building, "RUN!!! DRAGON!!!"

Syren covered his ears. He was surprised that his eardrums didn't burst and bleed all over his body. Everybody else was however unfazed.

"They can't hear me," Whisper said.

"I wish I couldn't..." Syren replied.

This town seemed to be safe. The military police went around cautiously, but there didn't seem to be any trouble. At least, not yet. They expected it to happen any second, but most were still so enamorated by the eclipse.

"You're right, Whisper," Syren said relieved, "These knights can handle it. We should go back. I need to study this black tome. There may be some way to undo this spell."

"Okey-dokey."

But in an instant, Whisper's entire carefree attitude changed. He looked to a corner and stared deeply at it.

"What's wrong, Whisper?" Syren asked.

He kept staring at it, but didn't know why. Syren looked at where he was looking, but he couldn't really see anything. There was a slight shadow, but it was so out of focus that it could have just been a bug.

"It's nothing. Let's go," Whisper said.

And so Syren walked back to his destroyed home at a brisk pace. He passed by the clear and shining lake. The fishes still swam around as though nothing was wrong. The dragonflies zipped past Syren and straight into a frog's mouth. The only ones who felt worry was Syren himself. He knew that the town wouldn't be calm forever. Eventually, the townspeople will sweat. The knights and soldiers would keep the order for as long as they could. But Syren knew that order was the last thing that this eclipse would bring. A chaotic gust of wind passed by Syren. The eclipse continued to cry black ink onto the edge of the world.

Whisper looked up at the eclipse and said, "Tell me, Syren. How many tears did you see fly out from the sun?"

"Tears?"

"Those black beams. I may have miscounted. How many did you count?"

"Uh, I counted seven. Is that important?" Syren asked.

"Seven... I see. Thanks."

Whisper began to feel something heavy in his chest. Something wasn't right with him. It felt strange for him to see exactly seven beams. And Syren felt that uneasiness.