Chapter 14 The Magic of the Stones

They heard a movement from the shadows and veered their sights towards it.

"Anyone there?" Rana asked.

Julienne came from hiding behind the darkness of the trees wearing a very big teasing smile on her face.

"Wow! Lovers under the moon sky. I couldn't be more wrong timing than ever, Ran."

She said joining the two who were standing close to each other by the banks of the lake. The bright moon was a witness to them while it reflected its own against the silent waters of the lake. Cicadas could be heard with their gritting sounds sometimes joined by croaks of frogs somewhere.

"We're not lovers, Jules."

"Don't be shy about it, Rana."

"I'm not Mother Julienne," said Rana trying to muster her nun-like voice when caught in an awkward situation.

"But you are of age, my child."

Julienne played along with her making her voice deeper and sounding stricter.

"It's not a crime to fall in love, Rana. Better to admit it than deny it."

Rana looked at Shane with unabashed embarrassment.

"Then, I think I love you very much, Shane."

Julienne burst out laughing openly at them.

"That is the best love confession I ever heard in my life, Rana," Julienne said wiping tears out of her face. "You always know how to say it with such honesty. You could have said it while I'm not around."

"But you said to admit it than deny it."

"Right, girlfriend. How do you feel about it, Shane?"

"You just spoiled it, Julienne." Shane quipped hiding his grin.

Julienne kept on snickering.

"But it's the best confession you ever receive in your life, right?"

"I won't deny it."

Julienne looked at the moon sky herself.

"It appears to be very different tonight, right Ran?" She observed and looked at her best friend. "It seems too huge I can almost touch it if I extend my arms."

"You feel it too don't you, Jules?"

"Yeah."

"Why don't we raise our arms and extend towards it?" Rana suggested.

"Sure."

They raised their arms together as if reaching for the moon and closing their fist towards it.

"Hey, Ran. Why do I feel like this is the last time we'll ever be together?" Julienne said in sudden melancholia and she felt tears rolling on her cheeks

"Hmm…" Rana said thoughtfully. "I don't know. I don't feel it. I know we'll always be best friends. Forever."

"But somehow it feels like I won't be seeing you for a long time after this, Ran. I'm even crying. I don't understand this…this…sudden melancholia."

"It must be the moon, Jules. It's been a while since we enjoyed looking at the full moon. We usually go here when it's a full moon, remember?"

"Yeah, I remember. Just to observe it." Julienne said.

"Just to enjoy it."

Rana piped in.

"Just to enjoy a full moon bath."

Rana laughed.

"Ahahahaha. Right just to enjoy a full moon bath."

"—better than a sunbath that tans our skin burnt—" they said in unison laughing more thereafter.

"You two have been together for a very long time," observed Shane in a raspy voice at the two women who still have their arms raised.

"We've been together forever," said Rana fondly turning her head towards Shane.

"Hey, Ran. Look at your arms," said Julienne, alarmed.

"What. Why?" Asked Rana turning to look at her.

"Don't you think it's kinda weird against the moonlight?"

"Why?"

"Ran. Look at your arms. They appear to be disappearing."

Rana checked the skin of her arms. They were light and almost becoming transparent against the moonlight. It appeared to be disappearing. She looked at both her hands and arms.

"I don't know."

Suddenly she felt very light-headed.

"Hey, Shane, could I be one of them?" She asked pensively and looked at him deeply. Then, with a twisted smile, she said, "I think I've seen you a long time ago. But it's so long ago. I can no longer remember it. I'm feeling very sleepy."

She yawned and closed her eyes.

"Ah, wait. Maybe this could help, Ran." Julienne said sounding frantic. She dipped into her pockets. "I have the necklace here that matches, Shane. I think this is yours if the bracelet is his."

"Is it?" Rana asked weakly. Her mind was already fading. She didn't notice it but she was already floating above them. She lost consciousness.

"Don't go, Rana. Please… " Julienne said, fear and helplessness mixed in her voice. Tears already falling down her cheeks. "Don't die, bestie."

"Catch her, Shane. Tug at her feet." She said with urgency.

Shane was already tugging at Rana's shoes before Julienne told him to hold on to her. He pulled her down to the ground and cradled her head.

"She's gone to slumber, " he said, his voice calm but worried inside.

Julienne put the bracelet on Shane's wrist and placed the necklace around Rana's neck. The opals of the bracelet and the necklace glistened and made sharp slapping noises. Then, she heard a deep dripping sound somewhere. Water continuously dropping into the water creating ripples.

"Do you hear it?"

He nodded.

"Is it from the stones?" Julienne asked mystified.

"Yes. It's doing its magic on her. It's healing her while she sleeps."

"Then we'll wait until she wakes up."

Rana felt her head light but heavy at the same time. She opened her eyes. She couldn't be asleep for so long but she felt like she has just woken up from a very deep sleep. Slowly the heaviness disappeared and she felt her head becoming lighter and better. Feeling better she noticed she was lying on her stomach, her legs stretched, her arms stretched and bent above her head on a glossy white ground. She slowly rose to sit and tried to look everywhere around her but it was just an endless sheen of pearl marble making up the ground and around her. She tried to gaze up but she couldn't see anything and was blinded by a very bright light. She raised a hand to shield her eyes.

Then, she heard a loud wail of an infant and saw before her eyes a young woman holding the infant and a young man standing next to her.

"We'll call her, Enara."

The man and the woman disappeared in a swirl and it was replaced by a very young girl and a very young boy squealing with laughter as they ran through a wide flower field. They were followed by two more boys and a girl slightly older than them who were also running catching up to them.

"Enos. Enara. Wait up."

The children disappeared again in a swirl. The flower field was once more shown but this time it was in full bloom. A young boy and a young girl were making flower rings.

"I will marry you, Enos. Ahahahahaha."

The scene showed the moon bigger than its usual size and shining so brightly in the starry sky. Enos was looking at it with such intensity from the ground. He was standing by the cliff and the moon was a giant orb behind it just yards away. He jumped from the ground and floated on air and drew himself closer to the moon walking on the passing cloud. He reached his hand forward to touch the moon and his hands passed through it like it was water though it was supposed to be hard because it was the surface of the moon. Then, his entire body was sucked by it and he disappeared out of Lunara.

"Enos!!!!"

Rana saw herself as Enara calling him. Before he disappeared, he turned around to look at her one last time with a mischievous smile on his face and disappeared out of sight.

Then the scene changed showing the two older boys and the older girl from the earlier memory and her teenage self. But this time the boys and the girl were young adults.

"Ethos, Ethiara. I will find Enos."

Helios held her by the arm but she looked at him with defiance.

"Even you can't stop me, Helios."

"I have to find him."

Then she saw herself getting past the portal that Enos entered himself when he disappeared from them ten years earlier. She touched past that portal and entered the human world but upon stepping into it, she saw herself turning ghost-like how she was moments ago and saw herself losing consciousness dropping on the park ground. Her necklace separated from her after falling and fell into the lake water.

The scene changed and it showed how it was later picked by Juliet, Julienne's mom on the bank of the lake. She showed it to Rana when she started to live with them but she looked at it with a stranger's eyes. She put it inside the museum to join the relics of ancient past collections.

Seeing the ghost scenes before her, her memory returned to her mind as each scene swirled in and out changing into different events in her life. She saw white smoke floating before her and felt her surroundings thickened with fog. White clouds formed from everywhere causing her eyes to be heavily lidded with sleepiness once more. She felt the lightening of her mind and her body.

Rana opened her eyes and felt that her head was cradled under the arms of Shane. He wasn't looking at her. He and Julienne silently observed the bright glow of the moon.

She made a slight movement that caused Shane to look back at her. His face eased up upon seeing her alright.

"Rana, you've woken up."

Rana looked at him with familiar eyes and smiled at him.

"Enos."

She said in a weak and hoarse voice.

Shane felt Rana's soft tails on his legs.

"Enara. You're back."

"Yeah. I am. And now I found you, Enos."

She said smiling widely at him. He smiled back at her.

Leaves rustled from the shadows and the sound footsteps caught their attention.

A man appeared from the cast shadows. He was wearing ancient wear of long weaved clothing in royal dark blue and was wearing leather sandals. To his waist was a sword sheathed on its scabbard. His tails were swishing from his back.

Enara and Enos looked at each other.

It's been a long while since they felt his presence. It was a light and quiet presence but at the same time powerful. He had a dark aura around him but his face was beautiful as the light of the moon shone upon him.

He looked down at Enara with distaste.

"Haven't seen you for a very long time, my lost love. How have you been doing, Enara?" He asked in a deep voice.

Enara looked at him with scorn.

"Ethos."

Shane looked at the man whose curly dark chocolate hair was shining like black marble under the moonlight.

"Brother."