“I am who you speak of. What can I do for you?” I was barely able to make out his smirk with his response.
“You can give me the power to change this wretched world.”
Those were the last words I would hear before yet again my life would change forever.
34
Irony. It was a concept I was deeply familiar with. Being born an attractive woman who captured the hearts of men, it was ironic I would become a virginal High Shamaness before I had the opportunity to reap the benefits of my beauty. Though I had the power to see the future, I was often completely powerless to change it. My most ironic situation yet had come by way of being imprisoned by the very people I was trying to set free.
I awoke in near darkness, my body resting on a pallet that was not luxurious, but not completely uncomfortable. I was free to leave the bed, but the small cell that I was in made for little to explore. Judging by the set up of the space, it was always intended to be used for captivity, as there was a small toilet nearby the bed. I tried opening the door to the cell, but it was of course a fool’s errand.
The floor was a hard stone, and as my eyes adjusted to the low light, I was able to find a drain near the middle of the floor. The walls were made of the same hard stone, which had an uneven roughness to it. There was no window, so I had no way of determining what time it was or how much time had passed since I was last conscious.
In the thumping of my heart and the millions of thoughts racing through my mind, I had failed to notice the dull pain in my head. The last thing I remembered was talking to that terrible man, so it stood to reason he was the cause of my captivity. I had no idea what he could possibly be referring to when he said I could give him the power to change the world. Was that not what we were already doing? For what did we fight if not to change the conditions of the disenfranchised and create a space where all could be equal?
I was no stranger to harsh receptions. Even though I only wanted to do the right thing, I found my efforts often viewed as elitism because I wanted to save those that were lesser than me. I had been spat on and regarded with scorn, but never had I been kidnapped. The idea of such a thing never occurred to me as possible.
If the intention was to use me in some sort of bid for ransom, it would not get my captors very much. Though I was considered wealthy amongst my people, I lived a very meager life outside the village. Even if there was some way to contact the village to request money for my safety, it was unlikely that they would be forgiving of a High Shamaness who abandoned her position. There was nothing I had to offer that I was not already giving to the cause.
Searching around the small room again I became aware how specialized my abilities were. I boasted an enormous amount of power, but the application of such was useless to me in this situation. I listened intently, my enhanced hearing picking up a myriad of sounds, but nothing that proved useful for me to escape. Even if I were able to see my own fate, there would be only a minute chance I would be able to influence it. Being able to move quickly was pointless if I had nowhere to flee. The best I could do was sense another presence nearby in another room.
I wondered if this person was a prisoner the same as I was. Their Earth attunement made it unlikely, for that was something Meysam Jahangir was known for. He was an extremist for his people, and regarded everyone else as insignificant, even Fire Affinities who shared a similar plight. This person whom I could feel moving about was no doubt free to do as they pleased. If I could convince them to release me, I might have the chance to escape with my life.
Wish though I may, the person never came to see me, which left me concerned about what I should do next. My stomach began to growl angrily, and I had no way of knowing when my next meal might come. The only thought I had was to preserve my strength since I could do little else. I crawled onto the pallet in the corner and forced myself to sleep.
I awoke again, not because of being rested, or even because of hunger. I was ripped from my slumber by the overwhelming power that was Meysam Jahangir. I could feel his approach in my dreams and they immediately changed to vivid nightmares. Once awake I realized the source of my agony. To my eyes it was as if he were a bright light penetrating the darkness, even though he was not in close proximity.
With this feeling there was no doubt now that he was responsible for my capture. If he would simply tell me what he wanted from me I could hopefully be free. I could see the future for him, but I could not guarantee he could change it. The thought of this weakness frightened me since from the little I knew about him, he was not the most tolerant man.
I felt him approaching, the impending dread rising higher and higher. Never in my life had I felt the need to suppress my abilities, but in the presence of this man it was all I could do to keep my heart from exploding in my chest. Even as I worked to dampen my senses, I could still feel him clearly as he grew closer. When he was right in front of the bars of my cell, I squeezed my eyes tight, afraid of what was to come.
“You are finally awake. You Air Affinities are so weak. I barely hit you.”
I had not noticed before, but his heavily accented voice had a harsh gravelly tone beneath it. This was strange because some of his words were pronounced with a dramatic difference, the grating hoarseness gone, and instead they slipped around you like silk. In that brief moment I was emboldened, so much that I defiantly chose to speak out.
“What do you want with me?! Why have you taken me hostage?!”
“If I felt you would have been compliant, there would have been no need for such measures. Your response to my presence shows me that I made the right choice. Why can you not look at me?”
“Why would I want to gaze at my captor?!”
“I believe it is something else. You can sense my power. That means you are indeed the one that I have been searching for.”
My curiosity overtook my fear, and for the first time I opened my eyes to see him. Though it was still bright, much like they adjusted for the darkness, my senses gradually began to adjust for the waves of power he emitted by simply existing.
“What do you mean you have been searching for me?”
He smirked, licking his lips as he stroked his beard. “A beautiful prophetess of the native tribes of America with the sight to measure power will bond with you to create power unfathomable.”
“That sounds like a prophecy.”
“Though rare, you are not the only to exist with this ability. You indeed possess Affinity Detection, something that by itself makes you useful enough to live. The fact that you will bear my child is the true reason for your worth however.”
His words struck me harder than any blow he could have physically dealt me. The man was insane and his prophecy he had been following was false. There was no way I could be the woman he was seeking. If he knew this, he would surely release me.
“If the source of your prophecy is true, then it brings me untold joy for the first time to announce that I am barren. I cannot be the woman in your prophecy because I am unable to bear children. For so long I lamented this fate, but it seems it will be my salvation. Please, I beg of you, let me go.”
“If what you say is true, that will be most disappointing. I have waited decades for this, I refuse to give up so easily.”
There was a click at the door and in my shock, I failed to seize my opportunity for escape. He crossed the threshold of the cell and with the rumbling of stone I found myself trapped. Try as I might, there was nowhere for me to run, and I was no match for his strength. There he took me, my body tearing in pain. My feeble attempts to stop him could barely be considered resistance and at some point, I fell unconscious as I drowned in my tears.
As the High Shamaness I was required to remain pure, the expectation that to be befouled would taint my visions. It was said this was the reason for my womb being unfit for children, to spare me the pain of what I would have to sacrifice. If I was never capable of creating life, I would have no need to experience sex. When I left my post and the village I
reveled in my freedom, exploring my sexuality and found that rather than my visions becoming weaker, they continued to gain strength.
This gave me hope that the diagnosis of my infertility was also inaccurate, but unfortunately the best doctors I had access to all told me the same thing. Despite not being able to bring life into the world this man, this monster in his delusions subjected me to unspeakable horrors. For months he would take me, daily and sometimes multiple times a day in an attempt to bring about a wish I could not fulfill. My spirit was all but broken by the abuse.
I no longer wept, no longer struggled. I simply performed my duty so that it could be over as quickly as possible. To retain my sanity, I kept track of the days since my mind had little else to do. I tried starving myself to end my misery, but I was too weak to endure the punishment from defiance. On the 97th day I awoke very ill. The nausea and vomiting I experienced was strange, as I had always been fairly healthy. This continued for days until a woman was brought to me. She examined me and told me something both extraordinary and unbelievable: I was with child.
The visits to my cell stopped, and moving forward my only contact was with my caretaker Dinu. I was positive she was wrong, it had to be a malady due to living in such poor conditions for so long. Once Dinu arrived, I was reminded what it was like to be treated like a human. I did not know how much she knew about my situation, but she did everything she could to give me the best care possible. I wondered initially why she would work for such a man, but she was no doubt just as powerless as I was.
By the fourth week of my illness I was given free roam of the edifice I had been inhabiting for months. Dinu said it would be bad for the baby if I did not keep up my strength and stay active. The first thing I did was investigate my surroundings. I knew I had heard what sounded to be the shifting of earth, and I surely felt it. I now understood the cause. My prison had essentially been expanded, no doubt due to the influence of Dinu.
It had been so long since I had a vision, I almost forgot they existed. I had a dream even more horrible than the pain I had been enduring for the past few months. It was a story, one of being that was as powerful as nature itself. This being had the ability to destroy the world, but what was more frightening was that they could do it with ease. In this glimpse of the future I was the one who brought this child into existence, which made me responsible for the end of the world as we knew it. When I awoke in a pool of my own sweat, I focused my senses inward and was started to find I could sense something else inside me.
Everything I knew became twisted and confusing. Growing inside me I could distinctly sense a child that bore all the affinities of the world. I then understood why the child would be so powerful and even more so why that disgusting man wanted it. I felt so much disdain and fear for what was growing inside of me, but I also could not help but feel some connection to this miracle that had come to be.
I struggled with my own feelings about this child and what should happen if it were to be born and Meysam was able to get what he had been longing for. I finally gathered the strength of mind and spirit to do what needed to be done for the world. My own warring feelings about the child were nothing compared to what would come to pass if its father had his way.
I tried so hard to terminate the pregnancy in any way possible. Physical trauma, toxins, starvation, nothing seemed to stop the seed growing inside me. I could not understand, miscarriages were so common in my village, yet I could not manufacture one to save not only myself, but the world. I tried to get a glimpse of what would happen to me if I lost the child, but nothing ever came. I could not be sure whether I would be set free or if the process would start over again.
The more I tried to harm the child, the more steeped in weariness I became. Initially I thought it was due to the physical exertion, but it was something else altogether. I finally came to realize that the reason I had been consistently unsuccessful was because the child was utilizing my own life force to preserve itself. The only way I could end the pregnancy was to take my own life, and despite being willing to part with the child, I was too much of a coward to give up my own life.
Dinu listened intently to my story and with time even she was willing to assist me in trying to stop the child growing within me from maturing any further. Once both our attempts had been exhausted, she finally proposed I live with the miracle I had been given. I searched my feelings for days before coming to a decision.
I feared that whatever child was brought into this world, even if they did not possess the frightening qualities I had seen in my vision, would be incapable of receiving my love. They would be a constant reminder of all the pain and agony I had endured to bring them into being. The countless times I felt that man atop me, heaving and thrusting, I was sure I could never bring myself to love it.
If Meysam were to take the child, they likely still would not know love. Instead they would only exist to be a tool for his own ends. That was no life for a child. I had a responsibility to prevent that from happening. I redoubled my efforts to kill the child inside of me. The more I tried, the more difficult it became, not just physically, but also emotionally.
By this time I was well into my pregnancy, my belly had grown big and I had become accustomed to the additional weight and feel of the child inside me. There came a turning point where I no longer had the strength of will to go through with killing my child. No matter how he had come about, I had begun to feel nothing but love for him. I was told by Dinu that given my size I was most definitely having a boy, which excited and frightened me at the same time.
Boys had the tendency to grow very attached to their mothers, doing anything to protect them and giving them all the love they could muster. Though they had undying love for their mothers, they also tended to seek the approval of their fathers. If this child, in all it was, grew to seek the approval of Meysam, I feared what it would mean for the future.
Dinu and I had become very close, she was the only person I had seen for months, and without her I would have surely perished. Though she initially worked for Meysam against her will, she now did it so that she could care for me and my child. She was so devoted to us that she could not bear to let my vision come to fruition. Though I appreciated her efforts, I knew they were for naught. There was no escape from my situation and we both knew it.
Regardless of how hopeless it seemed, Dinu schemed and planned endlessly. She was determined to change our fate. It was some of the only joy I had felt in so long to have such a caring and loving friend in her that she would risk her life for me. We both knew the consequences if Meysam came to find out what we were planning. I would be kept alive, at least as long as it took me to give birth, but Dinu was taking a serious risk. Even with the risks known, she worked tirelessly on a plan, and one day about a month before I was due, we got our opportunity. It was the only chance we had and we grasped it with all our might. It was finally time for the two of us to make our escape from captivity.
35
Anaar had always been the patient and respectful type, never one to interrupt someone’s thoughts or stories, but this particular instance left him brimming with unanswered questions. Throughout Yatik’s tale he found there were so many details that seemed to be missing. He understood for the sake of time he was getting the abridged version, but something else told him there were important things about himself and Yefferson to be asked.
“Ummm, High Shamaness-”
The woman’s musical laugh filled the room as she gazed upon her child as if he were just a babe. “Yatik, or Tika is fine. I would not expect you to call me mother given the circumstances… Perhaps if you spent more time here, learning about your people, you might become required to call me by my title. I must ask, how exactly did you get here? The journey must have been long and rough.”
“Oh, it wasn’t that bad. Once I found the place I just portaled here.”
Her jaw dropped in shock, “You possess the abilities of a Transporter?!”
Slapping his forehead lig
htly, “Sorry, I forgot you can’t see manifestations like I can. Yes, I do. It wasn’t as if it just spontaneously manifested, I had to work hard to make it happen. I still have a long way to go before I can utilize it like my other abilities, but it is a work in progress. I don’t intend to be rude, but do you perhaps have some food? We have been talking for a long time and-”
She glanced outside, noticing the sun for the first time since beginning her tale. “My goodness! I feel so ashamed! I certainly am not winning any motherly points by starving you after being apart for so long! Please, come with me. I will prepare us something.”
Anaar throws his hands up in an embarrassed fashion, trying his best to stop her from where she was going. “No, no! I’m sorry! It is no big deal. I can just pop back home and come back later or tomorrow. I don’t want to inconvenience you.”
Yatik stops, turning to him and cupping his face with her hand. “I would not dare send you away. Please come. Just because I am High Shamaness does not mean I cannot prepare a meal. I take it this would be the first time tasting the cuisine of your people.”
Shrugging, “I’ve had bison burgers before.”
Her melodic laughter rings out again as her eyes glitter at him. “Though we are a plains people, I cannot say bison is one of our staples, and especially not burgers. Come, I shall prepare a meal.”
The two of them go into the kitchen where Anaar sits awkwardly as Yatik begins preparing dinner. Though he had more questions, he was curious if Yatik had picked up on her guests the way he had. Deciding it did not hurt to ask, he posed the question harmlessly.
“Did you know like half the village has been watching the house for some time now?”
“Oh yes, I can feel them lurking. They no doubt have many questions as I am sure the news of your arrival and lineage has spread through like brushfire. It is a small village.”
Apotheosis (Song of Sophangence Book 3) Page 42