by P. Milisande
Beings, intertwined, side by side by side.
She glided from the mountain, exhausted, exhilarated, surprised at what she had created. And afraid. She did not know she had this power.
The whole of the mountain bore streaks of her passion.
She closed her eyes and her whole body glowed. She muttered words which echoed through the mountain’s fissures and peaks. A large cloud moved and hovered near it to veil what she had created.
This will be my secret. My hope. My wish for the future. My future. Ours.
She now knew what she had to do.
Do I have the strength, the will to do it? I, Electra of the Seven, guardian of the Ancient Stones? I could not do anything that will put everything in danger. But how else can we be together?
She closed her eyes in despair and clasped her hands as if in prayer. She then fell head first, deep into the sea. She waited for the waters to embrace her, give her its comfort, its forgiveness, its warmth.
But it remained cold.
Taygete….
She knew Taygete would not deny her. She swam to the island, to the domain of the goddess Pele, a favorite haunt of her sister.
Taygete sees the future. She will help me.
Will she see I am close to the precipice of a betrayal?
Taygete walked upon the glittering shores of the wind-swept island. Her hair flowed about her. Where her bare feet touched the sand, stars burst and left an imprint. Electra looked at her in amazement and wonder.
Without speaking a word, Electra held out her hand to Taygete, who took it. The sisters walked to the edge of the water and dove. The current led them to the island’s underbelly, to a cove. Where blue light spilled from another world.
At the cove’s opening, Electra let go of Taygete’s hand. She swam to a slippery limestone staircase. It glittered an ethereal green in the darkness. She beckoned to Taygete and waited by a shallow pool.
They used to love to come to the cove. It bore witness to their frolic and countless imaginings as young nymphs, to their whispered secrets. Its glittering walls often provided them with comfort and solace. They stopped coming when they discovered what it held. But Electra felt she needed its protection now.
Taygete looked into Electra’s eyes. “You are troubled.”
“I am.”
“I have seen your thoughts, but what is it you want me to do?”
“I want to understand. Show me.”
“It is that human. He has power over you. You have not been yourself since the day you met him.”
“Taygete…”
“I do not need to see. You do not need to see. You and I, we both know you cannot be together. The law cannot be broken. I cannot help you.”
“I know.”
“You know yet we are here.”
“We have come from the world of the Ancients, stood before the seven doors, and have seen the two faces… yet lived. I thought I knew the reason I am. But it did not prepare me for this. Taygete, please help me…”
“The way is veiled. I only know that a future with him will bring you great pain.”
“I wish to see him.”
“Must you?”
“I need you, Taygete… I have never…. I don’t want to lose him… There are paths… and they are before me as the seven doors stood before us… Help me… Show me…”
She held out her hands. Taygete was unwilling – she felt afraid – but she took her sister’s hands. They closed their eyes.
Before them materialized the vision of Nahum. He who is lit within. Taygete became suffused and possessed with Electra’s thoughts. She felt Electra’s deepest feelings, her confusion. She heard the echoes of voices that seemed far away, indistinct. It sparked within her a distant memory. When she thought she could grasp its meaning, a dark cloud suddenly hovered over Nahum. She could see and hear no more.
The vision shook Taygete. “You must stop this at once.”
“What did you see? I could not bear to be parted from him, Taygete. I will cease to be.”
“He is not entirely…” Taygete shook her head. “There is a prophecy that surrounds your beloved… I heard it… He will father a new world…”
Electra grew fearful. “What does it mean? Taygete… Tell me it will be our world…A world that will have the favor of both gods and men…”
“I have seen it, Electra. You must listen. You have no place in that world. We have no place in that world.”
Bitter tears streamed down Electra’s face. “You are mistaken… The prophecy…”
Sadness filled Taygete. “I cannot tell you what you do not want to hear. But the Wall shall be completed. And they who have won their freedom by their own hand will lose everything, having lost the favor of the gods. Punishment is coming. Do not confound the Fates. We cannot have any part in this. We are lost to them forever.”
“No…. Then why are we here?”
Taygete fell silent. “I do not know.”
“The future shifts like sand. Nothing is certain. You know this.”
“I know this.”
“I have made my choice….”
“We are guardians, Electra. Have you forgotten? If you forsake this, forsake us…”
“I love him. More than any future, more than any past, more than any duty, more than what I am.” Electra’s eyes glistened with tears. “I am ready for whatever this future will bring us, Taygete. He and I are meant to be together.”
“I cannot let you do this… I cannot let you destroy yourself, or us.”
“Then please help me.”
Taygete looked away. In the distance, the wall shimmered, hiding a portal.
She took Electra’s hand, voice barely whispering. “I have not told you everything. A great power is at work here. We cannot have a hand in this.”
“You know that what I feel is true and pure. What he feels is true and pure.”
“Love is both light and dark. It can create, it can destroy. It can lead you astray.”
Electra’s eyes grew more troubled, and more tears fell. Taygete held her sister’s hand tighter.
“I know… I understand… What you feel is as you said. I know that your beloved feels the same.”
Electra looked imploringly at Taygete.
Taygete breathed deeply. “We are the guardians of the Ancient Stones. Let us not have a hand in our destruction, or theirs. I urge you. Forget him. We will go back to Valhalla.”
Electra looked deeper into Taygete’s eyes. Taygete had to look away.
“You have seen it! If it is written then I have to be with him!”
Taygete shook her head.
“There is a way… And you know it…”
“No.”
“But I am your sister.”
“Do not ask this of me.”
Merope walked the shores of a remote island beyond the Wall, in the domain of men. Her Stone had stopped vibrating. She knew it brought her there.
The island called to me. Why?
She put her palms on the ground and strained to listen. To know what it was she ought to do. But her thoughts distracted her.
Electra has found love, in all places, here. In this earth. A sister knows these things.
She sat down in repose and contemplation. Waves rushed to her and fine grains of sand tickled her feet. She looked around.
I do not know why I do not remember much about this world.
To her, it seemed she and her sisters left eons ago.
Left? Taken. Hera and the King – they took us from Maman.
She had vague memories of dark underwater coves and whirlpools. Beyond this, she had no memory about their old home. Of the blazing sun and its prisms of light that scattered when it touched the peaks of mountains. Of how this light traveled not as light but as transformed energy to the deepest undersea gouges. She looked, and saw everything with new eyes. She also knew she still had so much to learn, know and understand about its many perplexing mysteries. About its fascinating creatures
.
They fear us. They fear the gods so. It is in the scent that emanates from them, the look in their eyes. I remember – this used to be Paradise. We called it so. But the humans led an uprising against the gods. And they have fallen from grace and are now far from favor or redemption.
Merope pitied them.
“It is not their fault they are weak,” Electra told her. “They know not what they have done. Despite their courage and their valor, despite their fire, they have still much to learn.”
Electra is right. They have much to comprehend, much to atone for, much to suffer.
The shoreline glowed golden as the fading rays of the sun touched it. Merope, bathed in light, beheld the truth.
We are bound to them as they are to us – however imperfect these humans are, however they fear and loathe us so. We could not turn our backs to them. Maybe it is their incredulity, their impetuousness, the ardor of their passion that is their very enchantment. However we have tried to harden our hearts, it seemed impossible. We made them in our image and likeness. To deny them is to deny ourselves.
I think I understand why we returned. We cannot forsake them. We never could. We never would.
Despite the decree, she knew many gods have helped the humans rebuild. The humans also turned a blind eye and accepted help from the gods. Much work had to be done – the dead had to be mourned and buried. There had to be a healing before the Wall could be completed. Before the domain would be forever closed to the gods.
Humans have willed it and it will be so. We grieve but could do nothing. They have asked us to stay our hand.
But what part do we – and the Ancient Stones – play in all this?
Merope heard a strange sound. She closed her eyes to receive the Stone’s message. In a trance, she continued to walk near the shoreline. She stopped when she reached the edge of the blue mountain. Several towering basalt columns grew on it, perched near its peak.
The Stone has given me what I needed. Will this have something to do with what should come to pass?
Using fire from her eyes, she gently hewed the long columns of hexagonal basalt rocks. As if carried by an unseen hand, the columns floated upward and then sideward. It slowly laid itself on a heap near Electra.
Humans – mute and spellbound – appeared on Electra’s sides. They walked to the columns. With slow and definite movements, they carried the heavy stones to the water.
Merope smiled.
Maybe they are not so irredeemable.
Several small islets emerged on narrow stretches of water. The basalt columns proved to be a strong foundation for what Electra had been tasked to build. In her mind’s eye, she saw the structures rise. From it, several beams of light shot straight upward. It interconnected with other beams of light.
It will serve to protect this world. But before this could be done, everything has to be destroyed. What will come to pass, will come to pass as it has been foretold.
Exhausted but sated with the work she has done, she reclined on the glittering sands. The humans bowed before her and left. They found they could speak again.
The goddess sat in repose for a long period. She stood up when she heard a long metallic sound.
Fear seized her.
He is here. He is near.
How has he found me? I have to hide.
She ran to the blue mountain, to the opening which it hid. She crawled inside, steadied the beat of her heart, and took out her Stone. Clear as glass, its cerise core burned. She whispered a string of words, spells the Ancients have taught her and used all of the Stone’s powers to veil herself.
CHAPTER 10
~
URSULA STOOD BEFORE A tall window, as still as stone. She gazed at the Wall. She had time, but it may not be enough for what she needed to do. She grew disconcerted.
She did not hear Pleione come in.
“There can be no union between gods and men. You know that, Ursula.”
Ursula stopped breathing. “You know not of what you speak.”
“You are with child...”
Tears, long kept in, streamed down Ursula’s face. Pleione tried to give her an embrace, but Ursula shoved her away. “I do not trust you. I do not trust anyone.”
“It is a precarious time. For you. For all of us. But you know you can trust me.”
Ursula turned to Pleione. “Please do not tell my Father...”
“Nothing is hidden from the King. You of all should know that.”
“You are right. But I do not know what to do… Lamech is my world and I am his... I tried not to love him... I did... I toyed with him as I knew I should... But I am a fool, aren’t I, Pleione? To believe I could not be touched by this, by love?”
Pleione reached for Ursula’s hand.
“My father will listen, he has to. He sent me here, he must have known what will happen to me, what was bound to happen. He knows everything.”
“My dear child, you can have your son. You can leave him here with us when you go back to Valhalla. Your father will forgive you, but he will not accept your son. We will take care of him. Everything will be as it was.”
Pleione held her as Ursula continued to sob. She grew quiet and lifted her face to Pleione. Her eyes – multi-colored, pulsating, searing – glistened with tears. “Is it true you could see the future...?”
Pleione averted her eyes from the Enchantress.
“You have... You have seen the future... You have seen my son! Tell me! Tell me!”
“Your son will father a new world...”
But you will not be a part of that world.
Pleione kept the sorrow from her eyes but Ursula saw.
“I must go back to Lamech.”
She ran.
The Sisters hung suspended in mid-air, a sphere circling each one. They appeared to be sleeping. The King and Hera circled them.
“Are you absolutely sure they are strong enough?”
“Of course, my King. Do you doubt me?”
“You have done well. I sense a new strength in them. Maybe they are ready. I will now take them to the Ancients.”
Hera lowered her eyes. “It will please me to go with my husband.”
“You know that I cannot grant this, Hera!”
“I have done well. I have trained them, treated the Pleiades like they are my own daughters. And like a mother, I want to know what is to happen to them.”
“This is older than you and me, Hera. It is a matter not of your concern.”
“Then I want Ursula back.”
“She is coming. I have summoned her.”
“She has come to stay?”
“No, but you will get her back as soon as I have returned the Pleiades to their father.”
“You will return them…?”
“That is my promise. And I always fulfill my promises.”
Dark thoughts filled Hera’s eyes. But nothing could be hidden from the King. She cleared her mind so he would not see.
She looked at each of the Sisters. She did not lie when she said she treated them like daughters. But that did not make her trust them. Or her husband.
She had seen how the King had looked at one. Or two. Orion seemed to have fallen in love with a Sister as well.
But that is different. My son can have who he wants. The men in my life have a fondness for falling in love.
She must see where the King will take them. She will not be betrayed this time.
Orion led his sister down the long hall. She stood proud and beautiful.
Everyone could see she was heavy with child.
Her father sat upon his throne. She stopped before him.
“Father, why have you called me here?”
“The Pleiades have been sent on their quest. You are almost home.”
“I am not coming back.”
“Here is where you should be. You do not belong in that world, Ursula.”
“You would have seen, you would have known, and yet you have sent me there! You have seen this fu
ture, Father!”
“You have committed that which is forbidden! There can no longer be any union between gods and men! You know this! You have known this! I am your father. It is my duty to protect you, but it is also my duty to protect our decrees. You will leave this human and not see him again. This is my command.”
“Nothing can part me from Lamech! Nothing can part me from our son!”
“No!”
“My child is of us, Father. In his blood runs our blood…”
The King shook his head.
“I love him, Father. I love him. Forgive me…”
“You are a child. You know nothing about love!”
“I do! I feel it! I love him! Do not deny me this!”
The King grew impassive and still.
“Father, it has been prophesied – my child will father a new humanity. It should come to pass.”
“We will no longer speak of this. You will no longer return to your Lamech.”
“No! Father, please, no!”
“You do not know what you speak of. You know not what you ask. The father and his son will die.”
“Do not speak of death, Father. Please… Please do not will it to be so. I beg of you...”
“You do not know what you have done.”
The King looked out the window – at the stars, at both the moons, and then he looked at the daughter he loved dearly.
“You have put in motion the Great Change that will alter all our fates.”
“It is my sin...Father, please.... Punish me and not them. Let me have this child. Let Lamech and I have this child, Father. We have to be together. You can will it to be so. I know you can! His heart is pure...”
“Such a terrible sacrifice for love... Such a terrible sacrifice...”
“I will do everything for Lamech, Father. Everything for our son.”
“It is done. With these words, you have unleashed a power that will end us.”
The King paced. He looked at Ursula, touched her face and withdrew his hand as if she burned him. He turned his back. He could no longer bear to look at her. He again sat on his throne. His hands covered his face.
Ursula stood unflinching. Her tears flowed.
The King stood up, walked to his daughter, and touched her tears.