I
think it's a good opening. Still getting word back from the girl holding the contest as to how long I'm allowed to make it, so there's no telling where I'll actually stop it. I'd just like to know what everyone thinks about it so far.
A song.
“Where once was light, now darkness falls.”
A beautiful sound.
“Where once was love, love is no more.”
That was what drew Rhia to that place. Doeskin boots and well-trained grace carried her silently through the woods. The forest was only just beginning to be illuminated by the morning’s sun, golden light piercing through the shifting darkness beneath the trees. Rhia lifted her hand to part a curtain of hanging moss as she delicately placed one foot on a patch of grass.
“Don’t say goodbye.”
The sound was growing steadily louder as she drew closer. Her sensitive ears were ever drawn to beautiful sounds, and this time was no different. It had been years since she had heard a sound so pure.
“Don’t say I didn’t try.”
The sound of water joined the song as she came close, and she knew there was a clearing up ahead. Eager, but ever careful not to be noticed, she stepped up to the edge of the trees, the shadows cloaking her position.
In the clearing, she saw a small pond fed by a trickle of water falling over a rock face, likely run-off from the recent rains. Gone unnoticed until now due to the clearing being downwind from her was a small fire. In the next moment, she saw the source of the sound that had brought her there. A man lounged beside the fire, singing to the sun’s rays that were slowly overpowering the light of the fire. His hair hung long to his shoulders, and there seemed to be something peculiar about it, though Rhia couldn’t quite tell by firelight. His legs were long; he was tall. Ever wary, her eyes searched for a weapon, finding a silver staff lying in the grass within arm’s reach of him. Her gaze lingered on that staff for a short time. She’d never seen a staff like that before. If he hadn’t been singing, she’d have been completely mesmerized by it. But the warm sensation the song brought to her ears caused her to ignore the staff and look back to the man.
Now that she saw him, the way he gazed out at the sun, she realized the song was sad. Her heart ached at the sound.
“These tears I cry are falling rain. For all the lies you told me, the hurt, the blame.”
Rhia knew that song, she realized. Strange, that she hadn’t noticed it before. For him to sing that song; she knew something had happened to him, something dreadful.
“And I will weep to be so alone. I am lost; I can never go home.”
With great care, Rhia began to travel along the edge of the clearing. She was wary of that staff, but at the same time drawn to this man. So she wouldn’t leave, but instead put the pond between them. All the while, she listened.
“So in the end, I’ll be what I will be. Only one friend was ever there for me. Now we say goodbye. You said I didn’t try.”
Something more had happened… Rhia began to understand, if only on a basic level. She stepped out into the clearing on the other side of the pond, her own voice rising to meet the sun. “These tears you cry have come too late.”
As soon as she spoke, the man’s voice broke and he turned quickly to look at her. As she had expected, his hand went straight for the staff, holding it up, ready to attack. While his expression wasn’t fierce, Rhia could tell he wasn’t happy with her being there.
“Take back the lives, the hurt, the blame. And you will weep, when you face the end alone. You are lost, you can never go home.”
The emotion that filled her voice seemed to cause the man to falter in his defense, the staff lowering a couple of inches. Did he feel what she had felt in listening to him? Someone who had felt the same thing, someone who knew the meaning of pain.
“I am lost, I can never go home.”
As her voice faded on the cool morning breeze, the man lowered the staff, and stared hard at her. Now that he was out of the firelight, Rhia could see that his hair was quite strange, fading into a nearly white blue. And his eyes; even across the pond, she could tell there was something strange about them. Well, she was sure he was thinking the same about her own eyes. Crimson wasn’t a colour one ran across very often.
“Who are you?” he asked with obvious distaste of her presence.
“A kindred spirit,” she replied softly.
He scoffed and set the butt of the staff against the ground, leaning casually against it. “A riddler, then,” he said sarcastically, a matching grin on his face.
She smiled faintly. “My name is Rhia. I’m sorry to have intruded, but…”
He arched a brow. “You couldn’t help yourself?”
She timidly stepped forward. “What happened?”
His grin faltered, and he turned away to put out the fire. “I should ask you the same question.”
“I want to help,” she said as she began to make her way around the pond.
“That so? Why on earth would you want to do that?”
“Because I know what it is to be alone.” She stood a few feet from him, and saw clearly as he hesitated. His eyes turned to her, and she could tell he was searching her face. Searching, most likely, for truth in what she said. From his sigh, she was sure he’d found it. “Tell me. Where is it you’re going?”
“To save the one I love,” he said simply.
She remained quiet for a moment. It couldn’t be that simple. “What did she do?”
He looked genuinely surprised at that.
“The song,” Rhia said.
He sighed, but grinned. “She left me,” he stated, as though it happened every day, like going for a stroll in town. “And now she’s in trouble.”
She took a deep breath, running the situation through her mind. Finally, she smiled and looked up at him. “You still haven’t told me your name.”
He laughed and extended his hand. “I’m Kiyoshi.”
She took his hand and exchanged a firm shake. “Right, then. What are we standing around for? Let’s go save the day.”
I really love writing a story around a song. Especially ones as powerful as Gollum's Song.
Oh, by the way, here's the contest this story's for:
Kiyoshi Aomori Writing Contest 
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