Ink Sisters

Prologue; Droplet

Droplet panicked as she ran home. Her sisters had had the sickness for weeks now! What if they were in too deep! Maybe she would never escape!

She tried to imagine life, or not-life, she amended. Not-life as The Sickness’s slave. Her, brainless, taken over, a mere pawn to do give The Sickness all her magic. A SLAVE. Sucked dry of her magic! No! She would escape! She had to!

Feeling sick to her stomach she thought back to when she was first aware of her sisters being sick.

It was her sisters. Spark and Breeze who were the first to catch The Sickness. Droplet herself hadn’t been aware of this until the last Campfire Bonding Night, the one where her and her sisters had bonded. The one that had nearly ended in disaster. Spark, quick on her feet and lovable, had been nominated by her own sisters to light the Bonding Bonfire. She had sent out a small flame to feed on the dry logs beneath it and spread into a huge yet tamed, fire. However, for the first time in anyone’s memory she lost control of her small spark and it grew into a raging inferno that was getting larger by the second. Spark had panicked, usually when a fire grew too much, she could calm it down. This time, she couldn’t.

It was about now that Droplet, Clover and Spark’s other sister had stepped in. Breeze, pretty and giggly as she was, she was well known for always keeping her cool and taking control of a situation, when matters got out of hand.

Breeze stepped forwards, by now the fire had consumed about a third of the village and the about half of the wildlife and nature around the Diamond Lake, near where they had lit the campfire, where they had planned to bond. The flames terrified everyone. Even the other Ink Sisters had failed to douse it. It was like a hungry animal, and if you dared to look closer you might even see shapes, creatures, writhing and cackling as buildings, homes and more was destroyed. Droplet saw these things but she thought nothing of them, after all her home was being destroyed and her sister stood before a raging fire. What had there been NOT to worry about?

Breeze stood before the inferno and sent a short and sharp gust of wind in the fire’s direction. This was when it all went wrong. Short became long and sharp became slow. Thus further feeding the flames. Breeze had paled and stepped back quickly as she tried to stop her continuous fire feeding but it didn’t work.

Droplet had ran towards the flames and doused it with water. Then after accepting thanks for stopping the fire and comforting her sisters, she ran, ran through the blackened streets filled with ash and faintly glowing embers, ran to the local bookhouse and asked for a book about the fabled Sickness.

Droplet could still remember the weird look that she had received from the bookhouse lady as the book lady had reluctantly walked to the most shady corner of the bookhouse and used three keys to unlock the rusty bolted and locked box that contained the only book on The Sickness.

Droplet thanked the lady and flipped through the book for the chapter about the symptoms. She read the list with wide eyes, thanking the librarian she thrust the book back into its box as if it was burning hotter than fire in her hands and ran home breathlessly.

The next days had passed in a blur, Droplet told her parents that she would be out living the wild life style in the the nearby ocean. Her parents were ecstatic, they had been begging her to spend more time outside for as long as she could remember. She would even have dragged Clover (her third sister) along had she not failed to grow a single tree and accidentally reverted the ENTIRE Mystic Woods into saplings. So alone and with that plan successfully carried out. She was now spending no time in the village. To stop people from coming to see her she faked a deathly quick-fire spreading illness. One that would rendering the entire village in endless comas should it spread further than her. So, with that lie woven she began her new life as a lone wolf. It was sad but she did like just sitting in her beautiful coral palace, deep under the mysterious dark blue sea. The colourful fishies swimming through her glass-less windows, the Shark Garden behind her home and the sketchy jellyfish pathway to the entrance. She liked this new life, it was nice and chill and wet! Though she was enjoying this living style, somewhere deep inside she knew that it wasn’t going to last…

Some weeks later, in the dead of the night, an eerie noise awoke her from her restless slumber. She started, bolting up in her bed, heart racing. She let out a scream bubbles emanating from her mouth. That nightmare, it had seemed so real, so vivid. She shook herself. ‘Get yourself under control! It was a DREAM you scaredy-FISH!’ She hissed at herself furiously. She couldn’t afford to be scared of a DREAM! Droplet took a deep breath and listened carefully for what had woken her up. If it’s another fish who decided that it would be a good idea to go for a midnight stroll through my bed-coral I will be FURIOUS and that fish will GET WHAT IT DESERVES!!! As she listened out, she trembled, nOw she heard it. It was terrifying. It was a strange song of some sort. A song of control. One of strangely perfect unity. One of many voices.

Shuddering (and a bit curious Droplet had used her travelling bubble to float up, up, up and up. Out of the ocean and over the village bonfire.

what she saw chilled her to the bone, the entire population of the village was standing around the lit flames of the bonfire, holding hands, eyes white, chanting in an unfamiliar language. But that wasn’t the only strange thing about what Droplet was seeing before her. No, the REALLY strange thing was that the villagers were singing in perfect harmony, as if they were one voice, not many. Droplet nearly screamed, she had read about the symptoms and she knew what this was! This was The Sickness declaring that it had made itself a new home. A new home with new power and new slaves.

This was the last straw for Droplet. She grabbed the small rare water plant (it was in a tiny fishbowl) on her bedside coral table, gave it a protective shield trying not to think about what would happen to her if her little friend died or got hurt and floated up, up, up. Higher over the village than even the most powerful of wind sisters could go. Over the village until she reached the Magicless Forest. It was the only place in the village where magic didn’t work. So she landed, packed away her travelling bubble and continued the escape foot. She ran through the dark and twisted forest. There was one path. A small one that she could barely see. She followed it to the edge of the woods. And cursed herself. She had nearly run straight into the protective barrier. The wall between her village and the outside world. She couldn’t get through without informing someone of when and where she was going. She also needed permission. Permission to leave The Ink Village. Permission that she probably wasn’t going to get. Exhausted she stumbled back to her village. She was too tired to summon her travelling bubble so she had to walk it. Dragging her tired feet through the once cheery and cozy pathways. The pathways that now screamed of a dictatorship and danger. Pathways that no longer had light. Pathways dark and gloomy. She shivered as she walked, she just wanted to leave, nothing more! Was that too much to ask?

Finally she arrived to her home. Her SISTERS home. She corrected indifferently. This was no longer her home. Not any more. She strode down the pathway to the front door. Suddenly full of energy. Something was wrong though. She halted and paused. It was the smell of The Sickness. It was EVERYWHERE. ‘Oh no… She whispered just as the house imploded and a hage destructive hurricane made and powered by her sisters magic grew from the wreckage of her former home. There were three blurry figures standing INSIDE of the hurricane. “Spark? Breeze? Clover?” She asked tentatively into the hurricane. No answer. “I’M LEAVING” She yelled. No Response. “I’M GOING AWAY AND NEVER COMING BACK. I DON’T KNOW WHERE I’M GOING BUT I WILL NEVER RETURN” She screamed into the hurricane. The people in the hurricane advanced, the hurricane came with them. Strange echoing voices could be heard coming from the heart of the hurricane. “No. You will not leave. No one will leave. You will succumb to our power. You will be our slave and you will give us your magic.” The figures in the hurricane announced as one being. The hurricane grew and swallowed Droplet. The last thing she remembered was whispering “Take me away, take me far far away. Take me somewhere safe…” and a huge rush of water seemingly grabbing her and carrying her high over the village. The raging hurricane of magical power chasing her. Then she started quickly, “oh no.” She whispered faintly. She could faintly see shimmer in the air. A solid looking shimmer that was getting closer very quickly. It was the barrier. Rumour had it that if you where high in the sky you could faintly see it. ‘I guess the rumour is true’ Droplet decided. I flood of panic rushed through her, after all what was the point of safety if you would never see it? As she passed through the barrier she felt a sudden and unexpected jolt. She had passed the barrier. She closed her eyes in anticipation and fell into an infinite sleep…