Greaves / Water /
C R Greaves about 4206 words
Trinidad
CRGreavesArtworks@gmail.com
The Alliance
Prologue
Run, run, run, faster and faster, my lungs burning with the speed; my boys Adam and Alex are running in front of me;
"Run" I shouted to Adam as Alex stumbles in front of me. I reach for him and gasp as a pair of hands pick him up before me. I look up into Aris’s grey eyes they were full of worry and fear but he smiles at me as he is lifting Alex up onto his shoulders. He grasps my hand and I follow him up the stairs behind Adam. I want to stop, to catch my breath; my lungs are burning, Alex has tears running down his cheeks and Adam’s breathing echoes loudly in the stairwell. The roaring is sounding closer, louder, it seems to be chasing us. We start running faster.
Aris shouts "keep running we are almost there."
We need to see what is happening, I run faster up the stairs, we needed leverage for us to protect everyone from whatever was making that noise. I look behind me quickly, where is Metatron? He was right behind us, where could he have gone?
As we reach the top a loud echoing boom steals the breath from my lungs ’what now’ I scream in my mind as Adam and I skid to a stop almost running into Aris and Alex at the top of the stairs their gaze riveted to the parapets on the roof of the Castle.
I jolted awake, my eyes still seeing the dream, sweat running down my neck. I take deep, rattling breathes to calm myself. Aris is holding me in his arms and I hear his voice, but I don’t know what he is saying all I’m hearing is the roaring in my dream. The room is a soft glow in the early morning light and Aris is still holding me as the dream fades away.
"It’s all right Leanne, calm down, we are safe for now."
The harsh breathing I hear is my own. He says the same phrase over and over again, like a litany. I touch his hand
"Aris its okay I’m calm, I’m back". He pulls me closer almost suffocating me;
"You were screaming so loudly, I tried reaching you in the dream but your fear was blocking me." He shudders; "I tried to wake you up before the boys heard. They only just nodded off."
Fear gripped me as he continued to talk
"You were dreaming again, every time you fall asleep ..." he stopped talking as he saw my expression.
I shudder, "It’s real, my dream?”
“Yes" - he says and holds me tighter.
"Oh God" I say as the memories come rushing back. I feel his mind touch my own gently as Aris pulls the blanket over me. He lay down next to me and pulled me close and I realized that we are on a big bed. I hear snoring next to me and I look across and saw the two boys sound asleep. I chuckle as I hear Adam’s distinctive singing snore. I feel Aris’s chest moving in silent laughter as he hears it too.
"Oh! To be young again, without a care in the world." He sighs heavily. "I’m glad they are asleep, they will need it come morning."
I shudder and sigh. Every time I close my eyes I see it again.
My pulse starts up a rapid beat as the memories coming rushing in, sharp, bright, the fear, the terror still running through my mind. I feel Aris’s pulse keeping pace with mine, his mind still linked with my own, gently calming my senses.
"I can’t understand what happened Leanne, One minute everyone is enjoying the party and then that loud noise and "... he groans, "where, where did all the water go. I don’t understand that part. Where is the water, all the water just vanished as far as we can see?”
We both turned to look out the window of the room we were in; we were high up and it gave us a good view through the panoramic window, of the barren land outside where once was a blue, clear lake full of life. A shudder ran through us both as a shadow blocked our view through the window.
The Fates
Alex was leaning over the railing waving to me as I climbed the last step. The view was breathtaking and we watched the crafts being dropped off of the conveyor belt into the stream. We would be joining them soon after our trip to see Rhea and her sisters. The village was about ten minutes from the edge of the mountain if we walked. Alex and Freya ran ahead as they saw the travelator with the other guest from the Hub, we joined them and in no time we were at the village. Glenarch village had an old world comfortable feel to it, there were houses and shops with thatched roofs and the road was a bleached cobblestone. We passed Pieter’s Bakery Delights, Wynn’s apothecary, Leah’s Library, Theadora’s Winery and Rose’s Eatery. We would visit some of the shops on our return to the hub.
Rhea’s shop was at the end of the village, close to the back of the mountain. The windows were a showcase of magical items, there were cauldrons big and small, feathers, wands, robes, vials with different coloured liquids swirling within them and various other items, all infused with some sort of magic. Two big grey urns filled with flowers framed the circular wooden doorway. The bell rang as we pushed open the door. Rhea came out from a door at the back of the building, her sisters, Nora and Mara followed her. Mara closed the door and latched it behind us. I looked at her with raised eyebrows and turned back to Rhea. She kissed both my cheeks in greeting.
“Blessed be Leanne, you are right on time and you brought everyone with you.” She beamed at the kids as she kissed them on their cheeks in greeting and she stopped at Aris and waited until he inclined his head in assent before she kissed his cheeks as well. Alex was looking around the store with wide eyes, it was filled with many magical artifacts new and old, the sisters were each skilled in a craft and they bought items from the villagers and ensorcelled them for those in need of protection.
“I have the items that you asked for ready Leanne as well as some others that I did last week for the rest of your party in anticipation of your arrival.”
I looked at her and smiled, they always knew what was needed in advance of their clients’ arrival, it was a little spooky especially if you didn’t know who they were and what they really did aside from protection spells and all manner of magical items.
“Aris and I would like to speak to you in private if you can spare a moment Rhea.”
“Of course Guardian, we always have time for you. Do you want all of us or just me, I will get someone to stay with the young ones if you want the three of us.”
“I am sure your shop is well protected Rhea; Adam and Nathan will stay with the younger ones because I would like to speak to all of you.”
Nora touched Rhea’s hand and she nodded her assent to whatever was said between them before she said
“Our shop is well protected Guardian, but I think we, should speak to all of you, what is to come will involve everyone.”
I reached for Aris’s hand and called the kids to us, Alex and Freya were examining the stuffed birds, Nathan and Alex were looking at the armor and chain link vests and Olivia was holding up a dress in front of a mirror. When they came to us, Mara waved her hands and a doorway opened in the wall behind the counter. Rhea and Nora went first, I followed them, the kids were behind me with Aris & Mara at the back of our little group. Mara closed and warded the doorway. The stairway was lit with glowing blue orbs that lined the way down the curved stairway into the chamber below. The room looked as if it was carved out of the inside of a tree, with knots and grooves engrained on the walls and around the top were bronze runes moving and glowing. I suspected that runes were a very complex protection spell that kept renewing itself over and over.
Alex and Freya held my hand as we entered the sisters’ chamber and they gasped as they got their first look at the loom of fate. The loom stretched from ceiling to floor and was made of bronze. The threads were weaving in and out of the loom moved by invisible hands, creating a tapestry that was ever changing with various scenes from the worlds in our galaxy. Alex reached out his hand to touch a scene that came up with a beautiful green hued dragon of Arach in flight in a pink tinged sky. I stopped his hand from moving and he looked at me with surprise, his hand suspended in the air. Mara looked at him sharply, then softened her features as she explained.
“You must not touch the loom of fate, a loose thread can change a life; a world; this ever changing tapestry shows the lives of everything in our galaxy, the scenes are of events that if changed or modified can affect many lives or even the whole of our little galaxy. I am the only one who is allowed to change the fate of something or someone by changing their threads on the loom. Rhea spins and adds new lives, different threads or paths and Nora is the one who weaves the new paths seamlessly into the fate of the being. We all have to look and see the being’s different paths in life and what changes we can make, if any, to improve on what is to come. Do you understand little ones?”
Alex and Freya looked at her in confusion, but nodded their heads. The room held many different artifacts, cauldrons, armor, swords, daggers, articles of clothing, jewelry and a full half of the chamber contained a library with scrolls and books. Each magical item was protected with a translucent aura of blue light and the library had glowing blue runes at the entrance to that side of the chamber. Alex tugged my hand and pointed to the little faeries that were moving around in the library. They stopped moving as they saw us and bowed, then continued their busy work. They were dusting and repairing some of the older scrolls and books. One older looking sprite seemed to be transcribing one of the older scrolls to a book with leather like pages. I would ask Rhea about it later as there was a book I wanted to borrow from their library.
There was a huge bronze mirror on the wall of the chamber and it swirled with blue mist inside the glass. Rhea and Nora were seated at a round table in front of the mirror, Rhea gestured to us to join them at the table. Rhea sat facing the mirror, with Nora and Mara seated at points on the table to create a triangle. Aris sat between Nora and Mara his backing facing the mirror, Leanne, Alex and Adam sat between Rhea and Mara with Nathan, Olivia and Freya on the left between Rhea and Nora.
The table was inlaid with beautifully carved symbols from the language of the titans, however anyone looking at the table would see the carvings in a language that was familiar to them. The table shimmered and the runes changed to Celtic, a language that we could all read.
Rhea, Nora and Mara closed their eyes, raised their hands above the table and started to sing. As their voices raised the chamber got darker as all the blue orbs flew to encircle us at the table, spinning and growing brighter. The protective runes we saw around the room started to glow brighter and my fingers tingled with the magic that I could feel swirling around the room. I could feel it like a living breathing thing. I heard the children gasp and I knew they felt it too. It felt comforting and familiar. The mirror rose off of the wall and positioned itself in the middle of the table, it was opaque, but as the fates sang the inkiness started to fade away and we saw many rapidly changing scenes. The loom started to glow and shimmer with the music and Rhea opened her eyes. The images stopped moving and the scene before us was one that looked like a cave underground, it had lava flowing out of one chamber into the next. The scene moved out and we saw that the cavern was under the sea, it kept on moving outward and we saw that Nuaeire was damaged in some places, there was destruction and death. The scene finally stopped moving and we saw that there was destruction on all the worlds in our galaxy. The mirror shimmered and we saw numerous faces flash by, some were of the seven of us, others were of people that were on the council, other titans and some were not known to me at all. We saw the worlds moving and flowing around each other and the glowing lights of the souls that lived on them. When they stopped moving we saw that all the worlds were still there but the positions looked different somehow. I could not figure out why. The mirror grew opaque again and affixed itself onto the wall. The room was quiet, we all sat in shock and then everyone started asking questions at the same time. Rhea raised her hands for quiet and I noticed her hands were shaking a little.
“I cannot tell you that I understand all that we just saw, but it is clear that something bad is going to happen to our worlds, something that cannot be prevented and it will affect all the other worlds in our galaxy. The faces we saw are of the ones who can help us save our planet, our galaxy. We will need to inform those that we know and prepare them. Most important is that we will need to find those, whose faces we did not recognize. My sisters and I will need to do some more searching. Leanne you will need to inform those members of the council whose faces we saw, you will also need to inform Maeve so that she can travel via portal rather than the ley lines.” Rhea took a deep breath.
“Rhea, do you think we can stop what is going to happen, did you get a sense of why or how it is going to happen.” I really hoped we could avoid it.
“I had a strong sense of inevitability as we saw the scene. It looks as if whatever the incident is it leads to destruction underground. I feel if we do anything now to try to stop whatever it is that we may cause even more harm. My sisters and I will need to do a deeper scan, we will check the loom, not today, but tomorrow we will need to prepare for such a deep scan. I will inform Leanne if I get any new information. Aris will be meeting some of his kind sooner than he thinks. I saw that their planet Seraph had destruction as well so Camael will have to be informed Leanne. I suggest you contact him as soon as possible, they can be of great assistance with this coming disaster.”
“I will contact him when we are on our way to Uisce castle, our bags are already packed in the craft we will be leaving as soon as we take our leave of you.”
Rhea walked to me and she surprised me by enveloping me in a hug. She transferred the images to me of the persons we needed to inform and the images of those we did not know. I would have my work cut out for me. As soon as we depart for Uisce I would be making contact with a few of them, I would probably try a mind link with all so that I would not have to repeat the tale over and over again A picture of my grandmother Selene flashed by as well as Gaia my great great grandmother. I pulled back from Rhea with shock because my grandmother was in her healing sleep and my great great grandmother was in parts unknown doing whatever she pleased, I had only seen her once when my parents had died. She said she had felt the departure of their essence and came to see how one of her children had met with death. Apparently there is very little that can kill a titan. Rhea’s images had ceased and when she stepped back from me I felt the weight of a necklace around my neck. I looked down at the red stone that was as big as a peach pit, the necklace settled almost to the top of my bosom. It glowed like the sun and felt warm against my chest, the stone was encased in copper and hung on a Celtic knotted chain. I glanced at Rhea.
“That is for you to use when the time is right, it belonged to someone close to your uncle Helios. The jewel holds a sliver of the sun and will guide you through the dark times ahead. Always remember that there is light in the darkness.”
Rhea& I turned to the others in the room who stopped talking as they spied the pendant glowing at my neck. Aris and Adam looked at me with raised eyebrows. “Later” I told them in my mind.
“Come everyone, let us go upstairs, I have some things that we have prepared for you, things that may come in handy for whatever the future may bring to our small galaxy.”
Rhea turned and ascended the stairs, we all followed her, the children looking on in awe as the blue lights danced around us and returned to once again line the staircase as we ascended to the store. The chamber gave off a faint golden glow from the enchantments around the artifacts that were on display and whispers followed us up the stairs as the loom continued to weave our lives, our fates. One of the sprites joined us from the library and I remembered the book that I wanted to borrow. I asked Rhea about it through our link, she glanced at Aris, inclined her head and I saw the sprite disappeared in the blink of an eye and reappeared at my side with the book I had requested. He winked at me and presented me the book with a flourish of his hands, little flower petals following his movements. I saw Aris watching the exchange with an inquiring look at the book. I shook my head, I would give him it later, it was of all the history of the Angelus race. It also had a linage at the beginning of the book that was updated by the fates. He would be able to see who his ancestors are and his grandparents – I would take a look first before I gave him the book to read.
My thoughts were disrupted by Rhea who cleared her throat to gain my attention. She stood by the jewelry counter with a small wooden chest clasped in her hands protectively. We all looked on in curiosity
“My sisters and I have prepared some talismans of sorts for all of you, to help enhance your gifts, for your protection and guidance in the days to come. They are very powerful so they are not to be given until the night before the Dail. I want you all to wear them on that night, it will give to and take from the power that is released during that night. After that you will wear them at all times. I have instructions and descriptions for each one inside the chest. Please keep them safe.”
She handed the box to me and I felt the protection charm link with my aura. I gasped with the strength of it.
“You will only be able to open the box on that night Leanne, or in the event that me or one of my sisters’ are no more. The charm is linked to us and our lifelines.”
I looked at them in shock, the contents of the box must be rare and important for them to use a blood spell for its protection. If I opened the box before time it could harm me and them.
Nora came forward with a long duffle shaped leather bag and handed it to me.
“These are the items you specifically asked for Leanne and I also put something for Freya, Albert, Fiona, Nathan and Olivia as well as. These objects though they are old they are still dangerous so be careful with them.”
Everyone looked at me with curiosity as to what was in the bag. I had asked Nora to get some protective weapons for us based on our personalities and gifts. Weapons that can work with our gifts and that can be disguised or cloaked while on our personage.
“Leanne will explain everything to you all, once you are on your way to Uisce. You will need to leave soon, we were in the chamber for longer than you think.” Said Mara as she gestured to the bay windows by the entrance.
We were shocked to see that the sky was already on its downward descent in the sky. Mara told the kids to close their eyes and walk towards an object that called to them. Nathan and Adam were lead to the section with cloaks. Adam walked toward a midnight blue cloak that was in a display case and Nathan stopped in front of a dark purple cloak with swirls of blue on it. Olivia walked towards a shelf with old books she stopped in front of one with a lavender binding. Alex and Freya both called their items to them, they would be very powerful when they learnt the full use of their gifts. A small hand carved flute in a carrying case came to rest in Alex’s hand and a scroll came to rest in Freya’s palm.
When they opened their eyes, Mara explained what each item was for and gifted it to them. Adam’s cloak belonged to Aeolus the god of wind and could be transformed into wings at will. He grinned at Aris as Mara explained the cloaks origins and powers. They would both be able to fly. Nathan’s cloak belonged to Oceanus and could be used to travel on or through water, it would also protect him. Alex was given Pan’s flute and it could be used to tame any beast of the air or sea. Freya had the scroll that belonged to Euterpe and it held healing music. Olivia’s book belonged to Themis the goddess of divine order and natural law. In it she could find what we may need to heal or stop what was to come. The kids thanked the Fates for their gifts and waited for me by the door with Aris.
“Can we stop what is to happen?” I asked again hoping that the answer would be yes.
Mara walked to me and gave me a warm hug as she answered.
“No Leanne, what is to come must happen, we just have to try and prepare for it and deal with the fallout, I am glad that we have some advance warning, I think we have some help from one of the ancients even though they are sleeping. Hopefully whomever is helping us with give us some more guidance.”
Rhea, Nora and Mara walked with me to the door.
“Try to enjoy the days ahead for I fear that what is to come will be trying on all of us and we will need to remember the good days we have now so that we will have the strength to fight, to fix, to heal our worlds.”
As they said this we saw them as they truly were – Lachesis, Clotho and Atropos - – the Mother, the Maiden and the Crone. Alex and Freya clasped my hands tightly as they saw the transformation and we all bowed to them before returning to the village. I felt the protective spell washing over us and I turned to look back at them with an incline of my head in thanks. We would need all the protection we could get. The sisters were a picture to behold, once again cloaked in their modern forms, three maidens framed by the curved wooden doorway of their store, full of wonders and magic.