by C. Swallow
"We're not human, Lilo" Kaelyn snaps like its obvious, "We all have power – she erased our memories," Kaelyn points to Celeste and everyone hesitates before glaring at her.
"What do you mean, she erased our memories?" Lilo speaks up again and a tense vibe suddenly changes the atmosphere. Anger was rising.
"Yes, but, I can't remember why I did it –" Celeste admits, nervous from all the attention.
"You don't have to," I snap, my eyes still focused on the foreign spelling, "I know what this says, I don't know how but I can read it!"
"What the hell does it say, Sapphire?" Kaelyn asks just as the sound of light rain starts to hit the newly formed roof of the temple.
"To recite... uh, to recite the lineage, is to regain... lost thoughts...!" The girls go silent as I quickly drop to my knees and look at the smaller print below. It wasn't a long list.
Five names.
"I hope you can read the rest of that," Kaelyn says dryly, "That's the lineage, isn't it?"
"Yes," I can read it clearly, this part was easier than the first. The names stick out to me.
Drusilla Maderia Citrine.
Isa Maderia Citrine.
Valencia Maderia Citrine.
Seraphine Obsidian.
Kaeyln Obsidian.
"I've got it," I prepare to tell them the names, I knew Kaelyn was going to get a surprise. I was also fully aware as soon as I spoke them aloud, my memories were about to all come flooding back to me.
I only hoped I was prepared for the consequences of doing so.
"Don't keep it to yourself," Kaelyn hisses, impatient, "Speak up!"
S~18~C
"Drusilla Maderia Citrine. Isa Maderia Citrine. Valencia Maderia Citrine. Seraphine Obsidian," I take in a deep breath as I focus to say the last name, a feeling of euphoria already flowing through me, "K-Kaeyln... Obsidian!"
The gate to the closed spaces of my mind cracks open, channels to my suppressed magic quickly expand and memories return.
My vision cancels out as my brain is overwhelmed with images from the past.
...My favourite place was our balcony, even though Sabir hated it when I lounged out here too long. It wasn't my fault I liked sun baking while watching him with the other Dark Gems, shirts off, backs glistening with sweat as they built the foundations of a new pool...
"...I want to have a bite," I complain, pouting up at Sabir as he reaches for one of the highest fruits on the tree. He pauses and glances down at me, those thick eye lashes shining in the sun as he observed me through narrowed eyes. "You want a taste my little blue eyed princess?" he asks, to my disappointment, with condescension. I nod and he leans down to my eye level, "Then you better tell me why Celeste and you were playing out in the forest when you weren't allowed," I frown. I hate repeating myself. He never listened. We had fun in the near forest, we didn't even go far...
"...Hraken," Sabir snarls at the one man who stopped me escaping, "I'll look after my own, don't get involved next time," I glance up at Hraken with sad eyes, sorry because he felt the same way Sabir could only feel around me. The difference was Hraken was balanced, Sabir was too far gone in his darkness. He would never let it go...
"...Traegr goes too far," I sit with Celeste in the sun of the garden, on the edge near the forest as we longingly look at freedom we can not gain. She reaches up a hand and a golden butterfly lands on her fingers while she tells me, "I love what he does to me, but I hate him equally so. At least I find some solace with you, Sapphire. We handle the darkness well," I can't help but smile mischievously, "You have to tell me what he did this time, Celeste," I give her a wink and then lower my voice, "Seraphine is coming in a few days..."
...A black swirl down one cheek from the corner of her right eye. A black swirl rising from the corner of her left eye, curving onto her forehead. The deep brown of her irises held passion beyond the scope of understanding to most. She yielded to no one...
"...Who is she?" Sabir growls at one of the prisoners, a girl captured from the outside, confined to a small cell. She stands at the bars, defiantly glaring at him with real bravery, "She is no one and she is everyone!" she screams at him. I stand back, in my own cell, because I flooded his room with water – but that was another story, "I'll get the answer out of you one way or another," Sabir lowers his voice and I close my eyes as he unlocks the girl's door. I didn't want to see the betrayal he was about to commit. But this was a part of my punishment....
...I hide in the corner of one of the many halls in the Golden Palace, wrapping my arms around my knees. I hold them close to my chest as I'm hidden in darkness. I gave Seraphine the access she needed. Now I was terrified Sabir would find out. He always found out. One way of another. There is a flash of light as lightening strikes in the clouds, it briefly lights the wide corridor and red deep carpet to show a tall slender figure approaching. Celeste! Another flash of lightening, rumbling thunder, I see the tears running down her face. She runs to my side, falls to her knees and shakes her head. "No," I let out a whimper, my heart breaking. "It's over," Celeste gasps out grabbing my hand, "We have to get out of here...!"
"...I can't believe we are stealing their Galaxy 5000-Explorer Spaceship," I grin, standing with Celeste at the controls, the whole ship, medium sized, was full of girls strapped into their seats. I glance out the window and along the field. Just through the trees, I see a huge, familiar, heavily muscled figure. A quick glance of those cruel eyes... Traegr! "I see him," Celeste says quietly as she grabs the throttle and pulls it down, "This is for freedom," she says and I grab the vile from my bra I had hidden before we had put this plan into action, "To a fresh start," I swing back the vile of liquid and instantly black out...
"What do you remember? Sapphire?" Celeste asks me.
"Why is she spacing out while staring at the wall?" Kaelyn snaps.
"Is she okay?" Lilo asks, worried.
I turn to face them; the girls I knew so well. Just as I had known deep inside the recesses of my mind, the most prevalent thoughts echoed through my mind first. The ones I cherished or feared.
"Say something," Kaelyn waves a hand in front of my eyes and I snatch her wrist to stop her annoying waving.
"I'm here," I say calmly.
"Tell us, how much shit are we really in right now?" Kaelyn snaps, jerking her wrist away from my grasp.
"You mean with our enslavers?" I ask, "The Others – they are Dark Gems. Dark, empty, bottomless pits of want and desire. If you want to remember for yourself, read the lineage," I look from Kaelyn to Celeste and smile slowly.
"You seem pretty calm," Kaelyn snaps, bringing my attention back to her before she chooses to suddenly lower her voice, "Seriously, Sapphire, before we all say the lineage and remember. Just tell us. How much crap are we in right now? Are we in real danger?"
"We're at war," I say, "We need to avenge Seraphine."
"Avenge?"
"She's dead, she will be reborn in another generation," I explain, "You were her niece, Kaelyn. You have a tendency to Shadow Fire."
"What the hell?" she asks, confused and I just roll my eyes.
I point to the lineage and shrug.
"You want to remember, you know what to do," I turn back to Celeste once more and take a step forwards, grabbing her into one tight hug before letting her go.
"I'm sorry for taking your memories," Celeste says, her eyes tearing up.
"Why are you apologizing? You don't even remember half of what happened either. You need to read it too," I put a hand on her back and guide her to the line of girls already preparing to read the lineage. Kaelyn had just finished and was also spacing out, remembering prominent memories first.
To be perfectly honest, the realisation that I was back on Kiyr was too much. Perhaps this was just another beautiful nightmare.
But the warm forest breeze on my cheeks, the pulsing in my veins, the breath moving in and out of my lungs was real and I knew this wasn't a dream.
Concerning my safety, however?
; I was in denial.
I knew feeling numb and refusing to admit the enormity of the situation, would keep me sane. Denial was fine with me. I'd cherish it. I knew when I stopped pretending everything was going to be fine, I'd slowly go insane.
I didn't want to focus on the fact that Sabir would go absolutely mental when he found out – as he always did – the truth.
I had never won the game, he was too cunning.
Perhaps this time I could.
I just had to stay out of his clutches, I had never managed it since that day I fell for his trap.
At least this time I had a head start, in fact I was back where I belonged. For now, I was safe in the forest!
This really was a fresh beginning, a new game.
I find myself slowly smiling.
Perhaps this time I could win!
S~19~C
Once the girls regain their memories, an air of sadness surrounds our small group of females. Tears flow and people hug for comfort. We walk around in the light rain coupled with warm air, it was humid and sweaty, but it didn't stop us exploring our safe haven and gathering some berries and fruit. Eventually we all retire back at the temple, processing our thoughts.
We were safe at this temple which was surrounded by diamond dust. It coloured the soil and affected the growth of flowers. Anything diamond was lethal to Dark Gems in extreme quantities. It mostly had the affect of dimming the male's powers and enhancing our own.
One by one memories continue to pop up, especially as I gaze around at the environment.
I could control water, Celeste could control earth, Kaelyn could control fire, Lilo could control air. The rest would all control the elements one way or another, but my closest companion was Celeste. There was something about her, she had an ethereal magical connection to the earth. She couldn't just harness the green things, but she could cast spells like a witch. It was a rare quality.
Kaelyn was Seraphine's niece. From past experience, I clashed with her because her tactics to fight were very offensive while mine were highly more cunning.
Which brought my thoughts back to Seraphine. I watch everyone sit around in a daze of their memory-rush. After hours of literally no one speaking, it was about time that we got off our asses and started to live again.
I go to the steps leading up to the rock wall with the engraved word of Seraphine Obsidian and I control my rush of anger and passion. Now was the time for action.
"We've wasted enough time," I say, instantly grabbing Kaelyn's attention, who had been sitting against the rock wall with her eyes closed but now jumps to her feet, alert, "Grab some sticks and burn them," I say more quietly to her.
She nods, for once not complaining with an idea I had suggested.
The other girls come forward, while Celeste, who was by a window, reaches down and picks up some twigs while she is near the forest floor. When she approaches she hands the sticks to Kaelyn, who burns them in her hand in a blink of an eye with fire that had yellow and black licks of flame.
"We have to honour Seraphine," I explain as Kaelyn hands me some charcoal, still hot. I try not to wince as I break some off into my hand, crumbling it down. Without another word, the girls copy me.
I dip my finger in the crushed charcoal and rub the black smears across the top of my right eye, along my brow, and down my cheek. I then start on my left eye, underneath I smear another line, then it continues in a curve up and over my forehead.
This was the mask Seraphine used as her warrior symbol, it was her guise.
Everyone knew what this pattern of charcoal represented.
Her fire was yellow highlighted with black, shadow fire of the Obsidian line. It burned through everything. Metal melted on touch, stone disintegrated. Shadow fire was the most destructive power anyone had ever seen on Kiyr. Seraphine's blood line, Obsidian, was renown for ridiculously powerful offspring and the fire they harnessed.
Madeira Citrine were the predecessors, even more rare than Obsidian, their five-line linage was very, very old. Drusilla, Isa, Valencia, all Madeira Citrine descendants. Drusilla held a rule of over a thousand years of matriarchal power, she was killed when the males, Dark Gems, took back supreme power. Isa was the leader of the resistance for a hundred years, but committed suicide from failure after failure. Valencia, one of the greatest of the Madeira Citrine linage, won back female power in an incredible historic battle. But she only stood as matriarchal leader for two hundred years before another resistance of the Dark Gems took back over.
Back and forth, one to the other, the males and females competed for dominance.
It was the eternal history, simple yet incredibly complex, of the Gems.
We dominated the planet in a small population compared to that of Earth's seven billion, yet only the most powerful lived at the Golden Palace. Royal Gems, the most important, were like gods and our power was equal to that of gods.
Hence we considered ourselves as such and we demanded the respect that such creatures deserved.
But respect. Respect was key. It came when you were in charge of all that power, the leader, the matriarchal society or the patriarchal.
The women were known formally as Gems because we held power-connections to certain gemstones that enhanced our powers.
"The Dark Gems," I say aloud, wanting to remind the Seraphine Rebellion Squadron of exactly who we were and who they were, "Killed our arguably most important leader we've ever had. Seraphine. She was smart, strong and capable of leading everyone to peace. It's tragic she barely lived for twenty-two years when those before her had lived decades if not centuries! We all remember the story. She was ambushed in her attempt to steal some documents she believed were integral to our future destiny on this planet. She never revealed to us what that was but she promised she would reveal it when she had the evidence. Instead, Traegr and the men present with him at the time of her capture, used their black abyss of want to drain not just her magic, but every bit of energy from her. We also contributed to her death, by filling the palace with diamonds – little did we know it would help in her death. The male's desire grew until they turned into monsters of want, with no mercy and insatiable hunger and thirst for our touch. Only our touch pleases them, our skin, is their path way to power. We need to start making weapons, girls," I nod at Celeste, the others, and finally look on at Kaelyn who has tears of passion already in her eyes. I reach forward and grab her hand, bringing her to my side as everyone else disperses, "You have to lead us into battle with them, Kaelyn. It's your birth right. We have no one from the Madeira Citrine line left, no one has been reborn. You are the last female from Obsidian and there are no Ametrine among us who aren't already with Traegr," I try not to snarl his name. His Ametrine blood line were always the males that tended to rule, or take back power from the females of our past.
"Seraphine always looked up to you," Kaelyn admits quietly, "Why did she prefer your advice over mine?"
"My water magic isn't that powerful," I shrug, surprised she'd admit to Seraphine preferring me over her, "But she liked that I was Sabir's play thing, it meant she could use me to get the information she needed," I look on Kaelyn's artwork around her eyes, done to perfection just like Seraphine had once done, "You are the big guns, Kaelyn. I'm just the spy, the informant."
"But you still have everyone's respect, do you have mine?" Kaelyn asks this, with a tad of nervousness.
From my memory, we had done nothing but clash. She was always too bold, too fierce, too direct. I was the opposite. I reached my objectives with cunning and wit. I knew when to submit. That was Kaelyn's only issue. She would never back down, ever.
You would think that was a good thing.
But I had memories of her being interrogated, she was told to give up the location of the Hidden Temple. Where we were now. Other girls were hurt for her silence.
Now her question intrigued me.
"I have respect for your authority, your power and your passion," I say, as truthfully as possible. It didn't mean I
trusted her to lead as well as Seraphine did, but Kaelyn was also young and had to learn in time. I hoped she learned in time.
"Start making your own weapons then," Kaelyn toughens her tone, "We're heading back as soon as we can to rescue those other girls. The quicker we are the better. We need to have the surprise advantage. They don't know that we now have full access to our power, our memories. I will tell the other girls, if any of us are caught or we fail... we pretend to know nothing."
"Then we have to get rid of this," I point to my charcoal mask and she smiles slowly.
"Ah yes," she says, "But we'll leave it on while we prepare. It'll bring us together as a unity. Once we strike and get more girls back, we'll have sufficient amounts to start building this place back up again to how it once was!" Kaelyn bounds off down the steps and starts yelling out orders while I go to find Celeste.
I can't help but feel butterflies in my stomach as I comprehend what we are about to do.
The butterflies are that of being nervous, excited and anxious.
I find Celeste growing spear long branches with her magic out the sides of trees. She breaks them off and hands them to the girls lining up.
When she is done, she makes one for herself and offers one to me but I shake my head.
"No, thank you," I say, hopping from foot to foot as I watch everyone prepare.
"I see that look in your eyes, Sapphire," Celeste warns, she stops admiring her spear and places it against the tree to face me, lowering her voice, "Why don't you want a weapon?"
"My wits and water are my weapon," I state, like it is obvious.
"Your desires are your weakness," she says disapprovingly, "I know what you are feeling, what you are thinking... I know you secretly want to get caught!" she whispers and when I try to glare at her, it doesn't come across authentic at all.
"I don't know what you are talking about, I'm happy here," I say.
"The men aren't obviously the only ones inflicted with the weakness of want," Celeste turns from me, muttering to herself as she grabs a sharp rock and starts sharpening her spear.