The Tale of Galron and Cyridel: Second Edition (A Tale Beyond Return)

By B. Richard Collebrusco

Home is where one feels safest at night.In the dream, the season was the autumn's fall, the leaves having already covered the ground in a colorful sheet of bright reds and yellows. There was also a haze that encircled Cyridel, a fading light that stole color from everything her eyes set upon. The water turned black as the stone of Ilhivendal choked in white. A most cherished gem hung from a chain around her neck, a birthstone, given to her the day she was named. In more waking hours, Cyridel would cling to it when she needed the world to become less frightening a place. That was the meaning behind the Fallenstar of June. As she dreamt, Cyridel held the necklace tight enough to turn her knuckles white, as if she was a child quivering in a nightmare again. And more she held on, she discovered, the more this dream-world transformed into something she did not recognize, but it still somehow remained familiar, like memories of days of a distant past. In front of her, a fountain appeared through the misty walls of delusion, its waters shining with colors of silver and blue--quite unlike the dark ocean that had come to rule this realm of doubt. Like so many that dotted the causeways and paths of Ilhivendal, it was remarkable as being the lifeblood of the Valley-City. Life grew here, alongside the grasses and trees, flowing like a current to the nexus created by all who have been touched by the lives of others and love shared by all; a beautiful sanctum of peace in her mind, one whose walls stood solemnly against the thunderous roars of the rushing tide. But what could this nexus become? From where did life flow on the darkest days?An echo then came into the dream, sudden and unambiguous, as a voice crying out and changed all that surrounded Cyridel to witness. The brilliant makings of Ilhivendal turned to greater towers of a younger hold. Its people like ghosts, walking the streets and bridges as life filled the air with vibrancy. Then, too, did this new city fade, transforming into something else, only the fountains remaining. This time, provenance waited at the head of an endless bridge stretched across a bottomless ravine, its waters becoming like clouds, and the mist, smoky and formless, twisting around in circles like a whirlwind, she attested. At its center were two piercing eyes, shining through like the sun above a storm. A lonely girl emerged from where it stood, silent and radiant and wildly wearing a white gown that melded fuzzily with the ground.And just like Cyridel, the girl of the dream wore a bauble around her neck, hardened and rugged; a jewel unlike any birthstone found among the Aaurians but fused to its chain by hands of the Ell?ndar, all the same. Cyridel became entranced by its light, and for a moment, she could hear the sounds of distant drums upon the steps of a greater host as the silent horns bellowed. The girl danced in the water of the fountain, letting it rain back down onto her head. Cyridel saw innocence in the girl surrounded by the darkness. It felt as though she was looking through a mirror at her own reflection. A guardian to a single soft place in the world, as terrible forces moved to steal it away as it had the colors. Cyridel approached the girl in gentle fashion, kneeling down to a height to match that of the younger. "What is this place?" she asked the girl. "Who are you?" The girl said nothing in return, or at least naught but words born of whispers amidst the effluvium. Not even giving notice to the watchful presence that was Cyridel, the girl stared into oblivion as she came to a halt within the fountain waters. She had become nothing more than a ghost within her own dream.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1549646109
• ISBN13: 9781549646102
• Release Date: February 2017
• Publisher: Independently published
• Length: 433 Pages
• Weight: 1.27 lbs.
• Dimensions: 8.0" x 1.0" x 5.3"