by M.M. Shelley
Chapter Thirteen – Legacy
“What was it that attacked her G?” Tatiana demanded from her grandmother. “How did you know to go find her?”
Their grandmother stood by the stove as she was in the middle of making them soup. “You may not think it, but I keep a good eye on you girls.”
“How?” Tatiana asked surprised. “I thought you said you didn’t use magic.”
Turning the stove off, she turned to her granddaughter. “In this instance I thought I should. Do you remember that first night when the bells went off? After that night I thought I should keep a careful eye on you girls just in case.” She knew who it was that came that night. It was Eros and he had come for Sita Knook. She was not sure how he learned that G had her.
He was upset with her for not handing her over. He thought she would help him catch Sita Knook and had even sent her a request to find her and place her in the green iron birdcage. Somehow he had learned that she had Sita Knook, but she didn’t know how he had come by this knowledge, as the location of Sita Knook was a closely guarded secret.
“I’ll take that up to her, G. I’m going to check on her and see if she’s still asleep.”
Grasiella had fallen back asleep by the time Tatiana came up with the soup. Tatiana sat on the bed, her eyes on her sister. When G came back the night before with Grasiella, she looked like she had been mauled by an animal. Tatiana wanted to take Grasiella to a hospital, but G had insisted that she could heal her faster and better than any doctor could.
Grasiella’s wounds did seem to be healing. Tatiana climbed into bed beside her sister and watched as she slept to ensure herself that her sister was safe. She fell asleep, worried.
G came in a moment later to turn the light out. She watched as her granddaughters slept. Grasiella would be fine. She knew she would be. G had been fixing wounds for ages. In the morning they would both have questions for her and she wouldn’t be able to put it off any more.
After securing the house and making sure the bells were in place, she turned the lights off and sat in the living room. By the time she had found Grasiella at the cove, it had been too late to help her with Mayrra. But she felt a powerful current of energy ebbing in the air.
She herself didn’t know how Grasiella fought off the attack. Grasiella had not been responsive nor has she spoken since G brought her home.
In truth G did not look forward to tomorrow, knowing that the girls would have questions and expect her to answer truthfully. How could she explain what she did not know?
Grasiella awoke early the next morning. The sun was hidden away. The birds had already begun their day calling out to each other. Turning onto her side, she saw Tatiana asleep in her own bed. The bedroom door stood wide open, which was unusual, as the bedroom door was normally closed.
Grasiella was feeling much better. Her wounds did not seem to pain her to much. As she sat up in bed, G walked in. “How are you feeling? I kept the door open in case you needed anything,” G said, coming to sit on Grasiella bed.
“I’m feeling better, what was it that you gave me?”
Smiling, she embraced her granddaughter, wrapping her arms around her. As she pulled away, she said that it was a remedy. Something she had worked on over the years. G told her that she would show her how to create it when she was feeling better. She then asked Grasiella what had attacked her.
Grasiella told her, starting from the time Mayrra first came to the house which was the day the bells sounded in alarm. As they talked, Tatiana awoke sitting up in her own bed. She listened adding to the story where she came into it.
G made the decision to share with her granddaughters the family legacy. “It was right after your ancestor Grasiella was given the gift from Edythe.” G explained telling them as it was once told to her.
Grasiella had raised an army as she had tried to undue the hold the Cinerians held over humans. She was unique in her abilities as her magic was unlike anything the humans had seen before. Grasiella and her army had pushed the Cinerians to a final battle on the Big Island of Hawaii. It was done with the help of Pele, the fire goddess of the Hawaiian Islands who begrudgingly decided to join Grasiella’s cause.
Pele usually avoided the outside world’s battles but when they made their way onto her lands, she would not allow the destruction to scar her sacred islands. She felt it was right to join the battle on behalf of humans and magical creatures that had at one time lived peacefully before the arrival of the Cinerians.
Grasiella had the last of the Cinerians on the volcano ridge of Kohala. They had retreated to this point after days of battle with Grasiella’s army. Pele had used her fires to push the Cinerians up the volcano. The lava rose up from the depths of the volcano, boiling hot as it came awake at the call from Pele.
Grasiella led the charge up the Kohala volcano. The Cinerians fought ruthlessly, raising their own demons to battle with Grasiella and her army. It was long into the night when Grasiella had the last few remaining Cinerians gathered on the top of Kohala.
“You believe they will accept you once we are gone and they no longer need you?” One of the Cinerians asked her, seeing that this was the end. There would be no escape.
The lava from Kohala was waiting to greet them. Holding a large fiery stone out for her to see, the Cinerian shouted at her. “My people will be coming for this. Do you know what we have been protecting all of you from?”
Grasiella’s gaze went to the fiery stone, it gleamed in the night. It was a very rare stone called Painite. The sky above gave a grumble as the earth began to shake. White lights shot out from the stone lighting up the dark sky like beacons.
Grasiella did not care for what he had to say, “We did what needed to be done to keep all humanity safe and we will continue to protect this world from you and any other invaders who may follow you.”
Grasiella was not afraid of whatever or whoever it was that he warned her about. She shouted out to him, “Nothing and no one could be worse than you and your kind. What you have done to us will never be forgiven.”
“That is where you are wrong. They will come. They will come for this and when they do, you will remember this time fondly, for we will be raised up…by you.”
Grasiella didn’t understand what this meant. She would deal with whatever may come after the Cinerians just as she has dealt with them. The Cinerian raised the Painite again, this time laughing as he said, “This will keep me safe.”
Pele rose out of the Volcano. She beckoned towards the Cinerian.
He did not look at Pele. He instead closed his eyes and began to chant into the night. He was absorbed by the fiery Painite stone. Grasiella reached out to grab the Painite so that it would not fall into the Volcano. Pele was faster; she caught it in her hands and submerged herself into the depths of the volcano along with the Painite. She would keep it as one of her treasures.
The last of the Cinerians were pushed into the mouth of the volcano. As they fell into the volcano, a powerful earthquake shook the ground, causing a landslide. The Volcano Kohala began to break apart, as chunks of rock were ripped from it. The lava pushed down out of the volcano and into the sea. Grasiella and her army fled from what was left of the Volcano Kohala. The Volcano Kohala was destroyed. The Cinerians were no more.
“Over here,” one of Grasiella’s soldiers shouted, drawing Grasiella over. A girl stood in the center of a circle that the men had formed around her. Their weapons were drawn and ready.
“It’s just a girl,” one soldier shouted.
“That’s no girl, she came from the lightning,” another said.
“I saw her fall from the sky,” the first soldier shouted, afraid of what the girl might do next.
The girl did not speak. She looked terrified. Her golden hair was so long it touched the ground. She wore a white dress with a gold braided belt and no shoes on her feet.
Grasiella approached, demanding the girl give them her name. Was this what the Cinerian had told he
r of? Is this what was waiting? Grasiella had believed the Cinerian to be lying to her, but perhaps he wasn’t.
The girl would not speak as she stared at each soldier who surrounded her. Grasiella broke through the circle of men to step right in front of the girl. She was not about to be ignored. “I asked you a question.”
The girl’s eyes settled on Grasiella then quietly said, “Who are you to address me in such a manner.”
Grasiella stepped closer. “Tell me your name.”
The girl was not about to be intimidated. “I will tell you nothing. But for addressing me in this manner, you will all die.”
The men, who became quiet while Grasiella had been questioning the girl, began to talk amongst each other. They had seen a lot of innocent things turn out to be quite deadly. This small girl made them all feel uncomfortable and fearful.
Grasiella was not afraid. She had to be strong. She knew that if she were to show fear, her men would cower and flee. She knew that there was only one thing to do. Wasting no more time conversing with this girl who she knew wanted to do them all harm, Grasiella decided to act.
Not sparing the girl any more words, she struck her on her blonde head, encasing her in a crystal. The girl began to scream but it didn’t do her any good. It was too late for her to save herself. Slowly the crystal began to burn, while at the same time it began to shrink. Eventually it lay in Grasiella’s opened palm, a small crystal lying in the center of her hand. It burned her hand as the heat ebbed from the crystal. The soldiers began to relax, their own fears leaving them as they each began to celebrate the victory.
Grasiella said nothing to them as they shouted in happiness. The night sky began to break as the dawn rose above the sea, shining its warm rays on them all yet all Grasiella could think of was what the Cinerian had said to her. She wondered if there were more who had arrived with the lightning. She would not break up the celebrations and merriment that her men had all earned to mount what might be a meaningless search. She would keep the worries to herself and remain vigilant. She placed the crystal in her pocket. Raising her arm up into the air, she made a fist with her hand. The soldiers’ shouting grew louder.
Pele called out to Grasiella as the men began to move further down the mountain. “You will leave now and take them all with you. I want my islands to be peaceful once more.”
“Yes,” Grasiella agreed. She was ready to go home and continue to look for her parents.
“You have already done enough damage here. My volcano, Kohala, the oldest on this island has been destroyed.”
Grasiella could say nothing. She knew nothing she said would comfort Pele. All she could do was to respect her request and leave the island with her army.
As G finished up the story of their ancestor Grasiella, she pulled out the necklace she wore, holding it out to them. “This is the crystal that Grasiella created that night and inside is the girl, entombed.”
Grasiella and Tatiana each took the necklace to examine it. “Should we be able to see her?” Tatiana asked.
“No one has ever seen her.” G responded.
Grasiella took the necklace back from Tatiana, holding it closely to her eyes.
“It has been our family legacy to look after this necklace and keep it from whoever may come to free her.”
“What is she?” Grasiella asked.
“Over time we have learned her name is Sita Knook.”
The color drained from Grasiella’s face as she understood. This is who Mayrra had been looking for. This is the person who was responsible for her killing Mayrra.
“Grasiella,” G called, noticing how uncomfortable Grasiella looked. “You can not blame yourself.”
“I killed her G. I took her life.”
“Not to put to fine a point on it but it really was her or you, Grasiella.” G took the necklace back and placed it around her neck. “I’ll make you something to eat.”
“How can you say that when you know I should have stopped? I was out of control.” Tears crept up on her.
“I don’t think it was you that killed her,” Tatiana said thoughtfully.
“That doesn’t matter. It was my hands that did it.”
Tatiana didn’t know what else to say, G herself was at a loss and went to the kitchen. She would fix them something to eat.