by Raye Wagner
“Really.”
She watched him get ready for bed, all the while feeling full of light and love.
When he lay down, she snuggled close.
“I don’t think I can sleep,” he said an hour later, his voice cracking. He pulled her close and buried his face in her hair. “I can’t get what happened out of my head.”
“Would you like me to tell you a story?”
He chuckled, and the vibration rumbled through his chest to her. “Like a bedtime story?” He kissed her head. “Sure. Tell me a bedtime story, Ari.”
She poked him in the ribs for teasing, but she couldn’t help smiling. “Did you know in ancient mythology it’s said that humans were initially created with two heads, four arms, and four legs?”
Chase snorted but pulled her closer. “Why would they do that?”
This was one of the first stories she’d read when she’d begun her training. She’d grasped for something that would make sense of her new world, and initially the story gave her hope and a reason to keep trying when her failures started adding up.
“Shh,” Ari whispered, putting her hand on his lips. “Just listen. The gods recognized that these creatures were filled with such joy and happiness, they feared the humans wouldn’t revere the deities. They were complete and had no need for the gods. So the gods split them. Tore them in half. The gods scattered the halves all over the world, and the effects were immediate. Man was incomplete, and they begged the gods to help them.”
She let her hand rest on his chest, feeling the steady beat of his strong heart. She closed her eyes, overwhelmed with gratitude for every moment that had led her here.
“It’s said you can walk Midgard your entire life and never find your other half, your mate. It is the void of the other half that drives humans to seek, but most die never finding what their soul knows would complete them. Occasionally, the gods smile on a couple and allow the two halves to be together.”
She leaned up and kissed Chase on the corner of his slack jaw.
His face was relaxed in slumber, but his arms tightened when she moved, and she nestled back against his side.
“Your soul isn’t splintered or broken,” she whispered. “It’s so beautiful that only a sliver will light the path for others to follow.”
Then she was silent as she let the peace and joy of what she’d found wash away the rest of the pain of the past.
Are you a Fan?
I hope you’ve enjoyed Splintered Souls: A Runes Universe Story
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If you enjoy my story-telling and the mixture of mythology in the modern world, you might like The Sphinx series, a young adult urban fantasy immersed in Greek mythology.
Titles include:
Origin of the Sphinx: A Sphinx Companion Story
Curse of the Sphinx
Demigods and Monsters
Myths of Immortality
Sphinx Coloring Book, Vol. 1
Son of War: A Sphinx Companion Story
Fates and Furies (coming June 2017)
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About the Author
Raye Wagner grew up in Seattle, the second of eight children, and learned to escape chaos through the pages of fiction. As a youth, she read the likes of David Eddings, Leon Uris, and Jane Austen. As an adult she fell in love with Rick Riordan’s Percy Jackson series (shocker!) and Stephanie Meyer’s Twilight (really!) and was inspired to pursue her dream of writing young adult fiction. Raye enjoys baking, puzzles, Tae Kwon Do, and the sound of waves lapping at the sand. She lives with her husband and three children in Middle Tennessee.
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