WARNING!! -- this is old, and while recently updated with minor edits and the last of the chapters i never put up back in the day, it shall never be updated...enjoy it anyways!
...since a lot of you seem to keep doing so o-o ...
- Created By itsumademo
Chapter Thirteen
The Catalyst
Chapter Thirteen
“Do you have any fabrics in deep green?” I gently set down some blue and white wrapped cloth onto several other objects I had collected in my time at the small though deceivingly bountiful shop in town.
Kaiden had been likewise rushing alongside me as I tried to think of the things I needed.
“There are several in that color…here hold on,” he went over to a corner in the far end of the store and rustled around a bit before coming back with what appeared to be another selection of fabric. “This is actually really rare, dad said not to bring it out unless the customer was right…I think you’re the sort that deserves it.”
I glanced at him with immense confusion before drifting to look at the bunch in his arms. It was a dark, warm green perhaps an emerald color.
“It’s called silk.”
My fingers lightly trailed against the material, “this is most definitely silk.” I moved to take the bundle from him, to which he allowed though with a mixture of emotion on his face.
“You know what this is?”
“Of course I do.” The stitching was incredibly well done; I found that an excited smile was growing on me. “This is excellent work.”
“How...how can you possibly know this fabric so well?” Kaiden’s face was still, if not far more perplexed then when I first took hold of the item.
“Oh, uh, sorry…I uh used to make clothing as a side job when I was younger, my grandmother taught me. I was often given the pieces that included things like lace, silk, jewels, or other delicates or intricate fineries. It’s been a long while since I have seen such well made silk.”
“No. No.” He shook his head forcefully a few times, looking just as confused. “That can’t be possible, silk hasn’t been created for years…decades…maybe even centuries.” He blinked profusely and gesticulated in equal amounts. “U-unless you’re uuuh – the-then you can’t be more than what, 17 or 18, maybe 19 years old…” He seemed to be breathing faster, running his callused fingers through his sandy hair in some form of anxiety.
“Yes, I’m 18.” I tucked the fabric beneath my arm to better my position in speaking with him. “Unless I’m what? What are you talking about?”
“Uhhh, I…I shou—no never mind, um is-is there anything else you’d like?”
I opened my mouth to counter, but he quickly began speaking again before I was able. “We have many varieties of threading and ribbon, if you’d like?”
“I...uhh...” gently I sighed with a small grin, “sure, that would be helpful.”
Kaiden laid out a few large, flat boxes filled with myriad assortments of thread in different sizes, types, colors, and amounts. There were many needles protruded from everything and ribbons of just as many varieties as threading looked to be littered even more chaotically than any other object in the containers.
Quickly I meandered through and pulled out several colors of string and ribbon, as well as a couple needles in different lengths and gauges.
Before I finished searching around I noted two brilliant azure ribbons lying somewhat quaintly upon a large puff of cloth bursting with needles. Immediately the Immortal’s soft onyx eyes came to mind, “these would look great in contrast…” my mumbling didn’t seem to bother Kaiden, although I gave him an apologetic look.
As I stroked the soft ribbons, my eyes dropped with a lengthy sigh.
“What?” Kaiden tried to look into my face though it was down and covered partially now by the hood I wore.
I peeked an eye up to his curious brown ones, and laughed casually. “Nothing really, I just need to find a few more things than I anticipated now.”
“Why’s that?”
Wrapping the blue strips around my fingers, “because it’s just how I am.”
He looked confounded but didn’t ask me anything else.
“Um, what other sort of goods do you have which are similar to this?”
“What do you mean?”
“Like uh,” I bit my lip in thought “something, kind of manly and uh...hmmm, I-I have no idea.” A light giggle escaped me.
“Well, I can rustle up a bunch of things and you can see what catches your eye.”
Before I even answered, he began collecting bits and bobs from all over, seemingly as if he were avoiding longer than necessary conversation.
Kaiden was quite fast, running around from one place to another, picking up objects and tossing them into a box near where I stood. He had amassed quite a collection when I gripped his shoulder at his latest toss, stopping him.
He jerked slightly, “oh, thanks.” A heavy sigh of relief and exhaustion slipped from beneath his words.
“Of course. I was worried you were on some sort of autopilot.” I gave him a friendly smile though he just furrowed his brow at my comment.
“So, let’s see what you found!” The moment felt slightly awkward to me, though he didn’t seem fazed, at least not any longer.
I began to rustle about through the box, several of the pieces seemed no better then something I would find in a measly dollar store, however others showed some promise and were nice even if still knick-knacky.
Just as I was about to ask for something else to look at, my hand pulling away, the smooth texture of leather brushed my fingertips. Digging back into the objects I removed what appeared to be a sort of leather wrist cuff. I ran my hands over each edge, a few bits of fray were evident, but all in all it was in fairly nice condition.
“This seems like him…” I rubbed the metal on the single buckle it had.
“Like who?” Kaiden had already begun moving the things back to their places.
“Hmm?” My attention shifted, “oh, just a friend.” I placed the cuff beside the two ribbons I had chosen earlier. “Now, just one more thing. Do you have any sort of…horse blankets?”
“Uhh…” he prepared to answer but closed his mouth, as though in disagreement with what he was about to say. “I have no idea.”
“Oh, well okay um..”
“No no, let me check around for a minute.”
“Alright.”
He yet again vanished among the shop’s collections, while I stayed by my large pile with my eyes keenly gazing upon the two gifts I had picked out. I couldn’t help but smile as I thought of giving them.
Suddenly Kaiden appeared, stepping towards the door in the back. “I’ll be right back.”
I quirked a brow as the door shut, his face had looked almost nervous. “…hmm, I wonder why?”
There was a quiet muffled voice from the other side, then a second; a conversation, perhaps? Another loud thud sounded, similar to when I first came upon the place and had made my way to the entrance I currently watched with uncertainty.
I had, yet again, contemplated going over and checking for myself but just as I began the movements to follow through with the idea the door pulled open hastily and shut just as fast with Kadien back on my side. In his arms was a large blanket, just like I had asked.
My face beamed happily, despite the future recipient of his current armload.
“You found one then?”
“Uh…” he giggled nervously, “not exactly.”
“Oh, then what did you find?”
“Well, we have had this back in the store room for a long time now. Father has always been…I don’t know, I would say he’s afraid of the thing but he denies it.”
“Afraid?” I eyed the piece curiously, “why would he be afraid of a blanket?”
“You see, according to the owner who first traded the blanket, it has an enchantment. The person never said whether they placed the magic on it or not, but dad always thought she had.”
“What sort of enchantment?” I looked it over, lightly touching parts of the plain looking material. “May I?”
“Oh, yes sure, of course, sorry.” He nearly shoved it into my hands; I was a little suspicious that he was also acting somewhat afraid of the unimpressive mantle himself.
“So, what does it do?”
“It changes according to the temperature of the wearer. If hot, then it cools the person and if cold then it warms the person. Supposedly, anyways.” He chuckled a little awkwardly, still seeming to be trying to hide his own uneasiness about the thing.
“That seems simple enough, what’s the big deal about it then? Why does it bother you?”
“I don’t know.” He shrugged nonchalantly, however his eyes were in belief. “The woman who supposedly worked on it was a…well, no one really knew her that well, she was sort of mysterious and odd. There were all these rumors that she was the current slave to the Immortal nearest our town. That he had taken a witch in and was plotting something.”
“Slaves? Witches?” I moved my gaze to my ever-so-slightly fidgeting hands, my eyes not really seeing anything, then quietly mumbled “Just where on earth did I land?”
“Huh?”
“Oh …uh sorry, nevermind.” I shook my head slightly. “Um, I think I’ll take this though.”
“Really?” For a moment his wood brown eyes widened in shock, but he quickly reined it in, “Okay then.”
I set the folded blanket down with the rest of the things I had gotten for purchasing, “So ummm, slaves you mentioned? Why-why would the Immortal...er, well, an Immortal have slaves??”
“You really don’t live around here, do you? Are you from an entirely different continent or something?”
“Uhh…hmm, kinda.” I giggled softly and looked away with a bit of an awkward glance.
“Anywhere I would know?” He asked somewhat offhandedly while packing all my objects into boxes.
“Oh, no no I’m sure you haven’t.”
“So let me see, I think all this is about...” Kaiden glanced to the ceiling for a moment, lightly tapping his fingers, “around two hundred and ninety gold.”
“Wow, umm okay, just a sec.”
Somewhat clumsily, I reached into the cloak and pulled from a small sewn-in pocket the pouch the Immortal had given me as we parted ways. I really REALLY hoped that he had given me enough money, or gold I guess, in order to pay for things. It would be horribly rude and embarrassing to have to leave this nice man without buying anything because the Immortal has a cheap side.
I furrowed my brow at the thought while loosening the bag strings.
The pieces inside glimmered with a dim shine, I moved towards better lighting to see what sort of number I was dealing with when a bright glare caused me to look away briefly. Once my eyes had adjusted I peeked into the bag again to examine the contents.
I gasped harshly.
I held what appeared to be numerous gold coins, all of which had a crude “5 0 0” carved into them; a bag full of gold coins, all worth 500 gold each. Jostling the bag over and over, I found that there were around twenty coins, every one the same as the last, all shiny and new looking, all with the same number.
“That’s-that’s…twenty times five hundred….so..so…that’s ten..thousand..gold…HOLY SHIT!” Just barely catching the bag before it smacked into the wood flooring, I could feel the red blush on my face.
Kaiden was looking extremely baffled, a bag of what looked like rice starting to spill from his hold.
“I-I-I-I am so so sorry, I’m…I was just…just, a little startled. I mean I-I don’t really curse, at least I try not to…sometimes it just..I mean… involuntary really.”
“No no, really, it’s alright I don’t mind.” He sat down the bag.
“Well um, I uhh…I think I’ll need change.” I was really getting nervous after my outbreak. It hadn’t even occurred to me that I would have to pay for everything while not knowing a single fact about how this world functioned. My only hope was that Kaiden wouldn’t become suspicious or just kick me out for continued oddity.
With some hesitance, I placed one of the polished gold coins onto the table between the two of us. His eyes seemed taken aback though he picked up the money and said nothing out of the ordinary; for which I was truly thankful.
“Been a while since someone’s paid with a five hundred gold piece,” he chuckled suddenly. “It’s also been a long while since anyone has gotten so much at one time.”
I could tell he was trying to ease my discomfort, but I just felt so off…especially knowing I had ten thousand in gold just sitting calmly in my hand. Most especially, because I was beginning to worry how I was possibly going to get all these crates back to Orion…and then back to the tower…merely thinking about it made me want to hide in a corner.
“Um, I apologize if it’s inconvenient. And uh, do you think it would be alright if I could leave these here until I am able to contact my companion.”
“Sure, that’s fine, as long as you make certain to pick them up today. I can’t have crates of goods laying around for no reason.”
“Oh, of course!” I leaned forward on the surface separating us. “I just simply I can’t carry all these myself, I’m sure my friend will be able to get transport.”
“It’s okay, calm down.” He giggled with his hands out in a placating manner.
“I’m sorry…I guess I’m a bit more flustered than I had thought. I’ve had a few very interesting couple of weeks lately, I suppose it has me a little on edge.” Lightly I began chewing on my lower lip, my fingers slowly wrapping and unwrapping an escaped strand of my hair.
“No problem, just come by whenever your friend is able.” He smiled kindly, though before he turned I thought I saw a small twitch at his mouth.
It unnerved me to think he was uncomfortable in my presence, I couldn’t think why he would be in the first place…other than because I’m certainly not a member of this region; a stranger.
As he placed the coins down onto the counter surface, I opened my mouth to speak. “Um...” I slightly reached my hand out, a gesture towards him, but then quickly retracted. “Nevermind.”
He thankfully hadn’t noticed my attempt at friendly contact and nodded to me in cordial goodbye before walking back through the door in the far wall.
I released a long, drawn out sigh, my limbs shaking slightly from the anxiety that still pumped through my veins. There was still only half a chance that I could even get the Immortal to listen about helping me, let alone having him actually do anything about all this. The crates bore into my brain with the sad way they rested on the ground beside me, however there was really little I could do now. Silently I prayed that this Kaiden would keep his agreement and hold the items for my return. It would be hell, but if need be I would gladly attempt to drag each one back if it meant new clothes, food, and hygiene products. The taste of the odd toothpaste-like substance in my grandmother’s bathroom was a pastime to be lovingly forgotten.
“At least I can give these,” I ran my fingers gently along the deep blue ribbons I had chosen earlier. They were soft and oddly well made for such a minor accessory. “Perhaps it will prompt the Immortal to agree with moving the boxes.”
With one last glance at my purchases, I turned and headed through the cluttered rows of knick-knacks, then weapons, then material flowing like water from its shelves. After barely missing a large stand with dangling chimes, I managed to slip out the door and into the quiet alley. Colorful lights and cheerful noises were coming from the more open part of the city; “it appears that the festival the Immortal spoke of has finally been started. Wonder how long it’s been going on?”
Despite my dislike of crowded areas, I found myself a little compelled to want to investigate, but I really didn’t have the time to. “Shame.”
I shrugged briefly then headed towards the very festival I couldn’t take part in, as it was the only way for me to return to where I originally left the Immortal. With any luck I would be as inconspicuous as the old gentleman had suggested.
Pausing at a darkened building’s edge, I let my head ever so slightly come out to peer at the people who were now congregating at full volume in the large spacious area of the city’s center. As I moved to head along the equally dim wall of shops and houses, a light tug at my cloak distracted my attention.
Looking down, I caught the curious grin of a small girl with large brown eyes staring up at me. “Have you seen my mommy?”
My mouth hung open and I couldn’t help but blink several times. I had two options, make a timely meeting with the Immortal to see the mage or help the lost young girl find her mother.
“Uhh….”
Chapter Two
The Catalyst
Chapter Two
I gently opened my eyes and found a dark hard wood ceiling looking down at me. I quickly flung myself forward in shock, “What the…?” a small damp cloth fell from my head into my lap. I picked up the cloth and curiously looked around the area I found to be surrounding me. I was in a large room where everything was made entirely of wood and iron, several pieces of paper with strange archaic, and some kind of familiar writing covered two walls of the room. The sheets I sat upon appeared hand woven wool and silk spread out on a four-poster bed with a roofless canopy.
“Uh, this is weird.” I rubbed my head as I got up to have a better look around. I stood with a bit of a wobble and noticed I had many small bandages all over my body and my dress had been stitched perfectly where every rip and tear had been made. “That’s right, I fell through the ceiling…but where am I now?” As I headed for the large door, I continued to observe the room. There was a huge window on the wall opposite the door and it had the same balcony with warped iron railing I remembered seeing outside… so, it must be a real one then. Since I had been backing up while still observing the window I nearly bumped into the door, but my hand rubbed against the metal doorknob before I managed to. I spun around to turn the handle slowly, just in case it made any sudden noises.
I gradually peered out from the room I was in and, glancing in both directions, saw only vast empty hallways. The darkness enveloping the entire place seemed to give every corridor or room an eternal breadth of area. I cautiously crept down the left passage, mostly out of curiosity rather than self-preservation, and ran my hand along the smooth timber of the shadowed walls. It wasn’t terribly hard to see once you had been used to the murky atmosphere for a moment or so, but in a few select areas there seemed to be an unrelenting aura of not only black air but also a morbid rippling that made my skin crawl. I tried to ignore the uncomfortable feelings and continued on for an endless span of time until I felt my hand brush against the cool iron handle of a door. Through my trek, I had forgotten to pay attention to where I was going, “it’s good I kept my hand out,” I sighed, “otherwise I’m sure I would have rammed right into this door.” My voice echoed slightly despite my lowered tone, although thankfully the waves of sound didn’t vibrate as harshly in opposition to the thick wooden panels.
I opened the door and found it to be incredibly heavy, as though it were made of iron as well. With panted breathes and much thanks to my grandmother for pushing me into doing yoga, I managed to heave the door into a slightly ajar position, just enough for me to wedge through. On the other side there was only more of the abyss that appeared to be engulfing the entire building, all, however, except the entrance to the tower where the peculiar clear blue light emanated without origin.
Now that I had become lost within the belly of the beast, I found myself wishing that I could be back in that lobby where at least I was able to see my surroundings. I sighed with frustration at my never ending sojourn and ran my tired back along the passage wall, sitting in defeat and now combing through tangled hair from the impromptu brush against the confines of the corridor. “Crap, now I’ll never get out of this place.”
An abrupt squeak of floorboards came from my previous location, most likely from behind the large door I just realized I had left open. Quickly, my feet scrambled to stand and hurriedly moved me further away from the noises, since currently my brain decided to argue with itself over whether or not to see if anyone were there and basically risk the chance of tortured murder on a different world in another dimension…or something like that. I stumbled lightly, using my painstakingly enhanced balance to catch myself.
“Hello?”
I froze in place, neither brain nor feet working. The question fluttered out of existence after running itself over my sensitive ears and causing little nervous pricks to dance along my skin.
“Hello.”
The voice came closer and this time it seemed as if the sound crashed into me like an ocean wave, flowing around every curve of my body.
A large hand gently placed on my shoulder appeared nearly two seconds after the sounds. “Found you.” The definitely male voice whispered behind me, however, instead of screaming, I tightly gripped the hand, forcefully twisted the wrist, and finally thrust my other palm in the area of his face. All I received for my self-defense was a quiet vocal expression of surprise and the fast gripping of both my wrists.
“That was uncalled for.” He spoke clearly.
I scoffed with irritation in my tone and attempted to pull myself free, but to no avail. “Let go!”
“You’re rather rude.”
“Rude!? HA, you’re the one sneaking up on young women in this abysmal rabbit’s hole!”
“Rabbit’s hole?” His voice sounded genuinely confused.
“It’s a literature reference.” I sighed and shook my head. “But that is not the point!”
“There is no point, therefore this conversation is pointless.”
“Pointless!? You’re the psychotic torturer kidnapping women!”
“Kidnapping? I never kidnapped you.”
“Me? Whoever said I was speaking of myself? I obviously meant the woman you had chained to a wall!”
“Her? I suppose I may have captured her, but I had my reasons; nothing for you to worry about.”
“Why not worry? Regardless of how I got here, I have been kept here, implying that I may be another victim. Not all murders require bait.”
“You are being stubborn.”
I growled at his remark and yet again tried for my freedom. “Just let go already!”
“Why? I came to get you, if you had simply stayed put I wouldn’t have needed to come and find you.”
The strangely matter-a-fact and actually sort of true way he said that only made me more annoyed and yet also kind of embarrassed by the current circumstances.
“Come on.” He released my arms, but I could still feel his presence in front of me. I felt a gentle brush of skin on skin and noticed that he was slipping his hand into mine, strangely I felt my face flare hot for a brief moment. He then easily began to make his way back to the door with me in tow.
After a moment of awkward silence, I opened my mouth to speak. “So…how did you find me?” My voice was relatively quiet, though somehow I knew he could hear me.
“It wasn’t difficult; I followed your heart actually.”
I laughed loudly, thinking his comment had been a cliché joke.
“What’s so funny?”
“What you said, you were joking, right?”
“Joking? No. I followed the pulse of your heart and minute sounds of breath as well.”
I cocked my head in the dark. “How could you follow something like that?”
“The dark is most beneficial, I use it to see and hear.”
“You’re blind?”
“No, but living in the dark helps one learn to use heightened senses.”
“Ah. That’s a useful skill. The most interesting thing about me is that my nose is hypersensitive.” I released a solemn giggle at my pointless fact muttering.
“That is very helpful. A powerful sense of smell can be invaluable.”
A shook my head and suddenly found my face colliding with a solid mass.
“Sorry.” He mumbled. “I needed to reopen the door.”
“Oh, no it’s fine…my fault really. Umm, do you need any help? I know the door is rather weighty.”
“Really? I always thought it a little too light.”
He steered me across the threshold and afterward I heard the quiet thud of iron against wood.
We continued at a calm pace the rest of the way to the room I had awoken in. He stopped me and I assumed we had reached the entrance, though he made no indications. I watched the black air I believed he occupied and a sudden red glow appeared, outlining the upper form of his body.
“He’s taller than I thought.” I swiftly thrust my hands over my mouth during which I thought I heard him elicit a quiet laugh.
When the blood aura decayed, I heard the turn of the handle bringing forth a crack of light from the room behind. Once the door was opened completely I found myself heading directly for the balcony windows, which I pulled wide open allowing me to gaze outside.
The timid breeze rustled my hair and I simply wanted to breathe in the sun’s warmth after my long trek through gloom. I turned around expecting to find the man right behind me, but I only managed to pinpoint his outline still behind the doorway in the darkened hall.
“Why are you still out there?” I tilt my head.
I walked across the floorboards and without even thinking I stretched out my hands and took hold of the man’s, pulling him into the room despite his peculiar hesitancy. Once I got him into the light I noticed his features more clearly than the fuzzy memory of when I first saw him though the ceiling. He did have black eyes, completely pure; I couldn’t see what was iris and what was pupil. He also had long black hair falling down past his hips, with two short pieces draped along his chest wrapped in blue colored ribbons. His skin was fair and smooth with no bits of pigment left darkening fragments of the surface, although he did have dark circles under his eyes.
I think I was staring slightly because his brow rose along one side with curiosity. “What are you looking at?”
“Hmm… oh, nothing. You just…you look exactly as I thought you might.”
“What are you talking about?”
I released his hands and shook my head in denial. “Nothing, don’t worry about it.”
He opened his mouth to question my reluctance, but I immediately spoke before he could. “So…why did you put me in here? Why am I still here, actually?” I casually looked around the room while waiting.
“You were injured because of me; it was only natural that I help you.”
“Well, I wouldn’t have had the opportunity to become injured if your ceiling was stable.”
“The tower is stable; you merely became an easy target for Narre. That is entirely your fault.”
“My fault? Maybe you should take better care of where you leave obvious cracks so that curious trespassers don’t become interested!”
“That never existed until your presence triggered Narre’s attention.”
“Well, pardon me!” With my hand expressions gesturing wildly, I fell backward onto the bed and sighed. Though I was focusing my irritated gaze on the ceiling, I soon noticed the man’s head coming into my field of vision. “What?” I mumbled.
“It just occurred to me that I don’t know your name.”
I blinked several times as I also came to the realization that I didn’t know his name either. “No wait, I know you. You’re the Immortal.”
He didn’t seem at all phased at my knowledge of his title. Which, considering my grandmother said that’s what a few people called him, didn’t surprise me.
“I’m Jade.” I held my hand up in the air, expecting the general greeting of a handshake. However, he simply looked at me; for some bizarre reason I think I had been expecting some realization at who I was. I lowered my hand slowly and blinked a few times in confusion. “What? It’s just a handshake?”
“I don’t particularly enjoy physical contact.”
I sat up and furrowed my brow. “What are you talking about? You took my hand in the corridor and you allowed me to bring you into the room by grasping your wrists.”
“Different. One was merely to help you through the dark, the other I had not been anticipating and was not voluntary on my part.”
“Hmm. You certainly have issues.” I stood up off the bed and started to gracefully pace around the room, somewhat unintentionally encircling him. “Soooo, is there any food here? I feel like I haven’t eaten in days.”
“You’ve been asleep for over a day.”
“WHAT! What do you mean?”
“I mean what I said. Why else say it if I had not intended the meaning?”
I rubbed my temples in frustration. “Uhh, too many means…” I casually flopped down face first onto the floor and moaned into the wood. After a few moments of silence I felt the presence of the man next to me. “What?” My voice was muffled and sounded more like ‘uut’ in the confined space between the ground and my barely open mouth.
“I keep some vitals on the second floor kitchen.”
I pulled up onto my arms and raised my brow slightly. “Did you say vitals? You may be old but you don’t need to speak like you are. It’s the 21st century where I’m from and we say food.” I looked at him and noticed he had a much taken aback appearance.
“Who are you?”
I held my mouth open and drooped my eyes as though I couldn’t believe he was that inattentive or ignorant. “I told you, I’m Jade.”
“No, not your name; who are you? Where did you come from?”
This time I sat up, and nodded somewhat for my own benefit. “Oh yeah, err, yes, sorry. I had completely forgotten about that with all the chaos I seemed to fall into.”
“Of course.” He himself nodded to my explanation calmly.
I cleared my voice lightly. “I’m Jade Kannon. Daughter of Sonya and Derek, and granddaughter of Guinevere and Kalen.” I paused my incredibly formal, and honestly, somewhat sarcastic introduction to watch his face. When he made no show of recognition, I then opened my mouth. “Uhm, you do remember her, don’t you? Guinevere, Keeper of the Catalyst?” Still saying nothing in response, I continued with a little of my own confusion, “you know, brown wavy hair, grey blue eyes, a few dark freckles here and there.” I was pointing at my face as I spoke, when at last he did something.
Closing his eyes, his face briefly twisted in anger. “I knew it,” he whispered beneath his breath.
I moved my head to better see his face, which was downcast and turned away from me. He didn’t say anything, so I placed my hands on either side of his face and brought it around to look into my eyes. He looked stunned by my sudden contact and I was also a bit shocked that I simply did such an intimate gesture to a near stranger. I reactively pulled my hands away and held them together close to my chest. “Sorry, but don’t worry.” I paused and pondered what I was going to say next. “Um, grand-I mean, Guinevere didn’t leave you; she was taken back to my world…well, her world. She has never been able to come back to you. The Catalyst, the ring…” I held up my hand, “she gave it to me for my 18th birthday. It was that night that I came here.”
He straightened himself and walked out of the room. Unsure of where I even was, I quickly scrambled to my feet and followed him as best as I could into the darkness of the tower.
Chapter One
The Catalyst
Chapter One
I casually repositioned myself on my bed when I realized that I had been staring at the small emerald lined box for over an hour.
Gradually, I opened the soft cover and exposed the perfectly clear gem, shaped similarly to a needle, nestled in a black onyx ring, which closed in around it in peculiar designs. I gently removed the piece of jewelry, and examined it closely beneath the lamp beside me. Every turn reflected the sudden rainbow of colors produced by the apparent prism within the onyx setting.
I slipped the smooth stones onto my ring finger and again observed its appearance in the light.
“Hmm…” I tilted my head curiously. I had never really been too fond of jewelry other than the simple rosary-like necklace I wore to ward off my cousin’s curse; I shivered reflexively from the memory. However, there was something special about this ring.
I solemnly remembered my grandmother’s story, the true one at least. She said she had slit her wrist in an attempt to kill herself. When she fell, her injured limb landed onto the old wooden flooring of her kitchen and the longer she laid there the more her blood seeped through the cracks in the wood.
For some reason, the ring and its box were directly beneath the boards her blood was spilt on. Every time a drop slipped down to the hidden area containing the ring it seemed attracted to the gem. She remembered that just before her final breath the ring must have become full, turning a deep scarlet, causing it to emit a slow pulse. Her flat hand had begun glowing in reaction to the rhythm and just a second later she looked as if she simply flashed out of existence, not a single drop of blood was left where she once lay.
I stared blankly at the wall before me, and then took a quick look at the ring resting comfortably on my finger. Sighing, I mumbled quietly to myself. “I suppose I could try…it couldn’t hurt. Well, to try, not…not literally.”
I quietly pulled off my bed and walked over to my bookshelf; resting neatly on top was a medium sized chest carved from wood and intricately painted in various warm shades of green. The clasp slipped open easily and I carefully opened the top. Deep within the several objects filled with past memories was a small clean steal dagger my uncle had given me before he disappeared.
Once I had replaced the chest I moved to the center of my bedroom and kneeled to the floor. My natural inclination toward strange and possibly dangerous things caused my nerves to flutter anxiously as I steadied the dagger above my left palm. I tried to keep my breathing steady as I prepared to start and in my head counted: 1…2…3…cut!
The initial feeling was strange, but not bad. Nevertheless, almost immediately after that the pain hit me, the cries of millions of nerves struck my body and I instinctively clutched my hand tightly, making a strong fist in an attempt to dull the pain.
Biting my lip hard, I released my grasp. The cut was much deeper than I had intended, the wound reaching from the center of my hand to the top, thin skin of my wrist. The flow of blood was very strong, spilling onto the floor in small pools of red. My body began feeling a little heavy and I seemed to be slowly rocking my head in a gentle, rhythmic circle.
Slowly, I took a deep breath and balanced myself as best as I could. Despite my attempts to control my body, I continued to feel the same as I felt the blood dripping away from my existence, like an hourglass leaking it’s sand, and slowly my ripped hand began to throb angrily as though it were being refused oxygen.
“Damn.” I exhaled, “I think…I cut..the veins... but...but I wouldn’t have thought that…I would pass out so soon…I-I never would have pegged myself for…squeamish…” I took a few more deep breaths while weakly holding my wrist, trying in a near futile attempt to slow the blood. “I’m…going to pass..out…”
The strange feeling of constriction and pain continued to increase its overwhelming hold on me; in an effort to cease the confusion I quickly jabbed the odd ring deep into the flooded abrasion and then slapped my hand onto the floor. I nearly slipped in the blood covering the surface combined with the clotting layer on my hand, but I caught myself awkwardly just as the fabled red glow traced along each stained finger. I watched the light until suddenly the world turned black.
Large shadowy figures were everywhere; it was so very dark, my eyes ignored my hopes that they’d adjust. Being practically blind, I began running my hand in along the ground I sat on, soft dirt, small rocks, and little clumps of grass and moss rubbed against my fingers.
I quirked my brow slightly, “…Is this the place?” I thought out loud.
I leaned forward and used my hands to help push myself up. A sudden sharp pain swept through my calf, causing me to topple over and catch myself alongside a hard mass.
“OW!” My voice echoed eerily through the blackness before me.
With an unseen, but definitely annoyed, expression on my face I pulled away from the object and rubbed my hand along my now sore back. Using my other hand, I reached backward for the thing I had run into and found a rough, bumpy, moss covered tree. The tree wasn’t very big and upon further inspection I found that I had just nearly missed a broken, protruding branch, which was covered in sticky sap. I quickly pulled my hand away from the substance and wiped it against the trunk and a little on my most likely filthy dress.
Continuing to feel around, which gleaned only more evidence of foliage, I mumbled to myself, “This must be the forest grandmother talked of.”
I stumbled briefly in the dark against a rock lying in my hidden path; thankfully another tree broke my fall. “If this is the woods, it’s not quite how grandmother described. She said it had been strangely bright with animals rustling all around her. I don’t hear anything.” I stopped my blind groping and looked about at the deaf air around me. “What was that thing about silence in a woods?” I tapped my lip as I thought. “If-if you don’t hear anything, that’s when you should worry…because…animals scatter when they sense danger...”
My heartbeat sped up and my eyes observed the black anxiously. I suddenly felt my hand grasping the metal cross of my necklace.
“Help me, Daela.” I heard my voice whisper.
The sound of my deceased cousin’s name seemed to echo back to me, spreading though the hidden trees like light reflected off metal. Beneath my hold the tree shook abruptly, knocking me backwards. Daela’s name still fluttered to my ears in the dark.
A warm wisp of air ran across my neck. “Guinevere?”
I jerked slightly at the sound of my grandmother’s name, even though the darkness prevented me from seeing anything.
“Who’s there?” My voice echoed once again. “How do you know my grandmother?” Once the words of my second question passed over my lips I noticed there was no chime of echoes but more of a dull, flat nothing, similar to talking at a wall.
“Grandmother?” The mysterious voice spoke clearly, as though it were right before my face.
Abruptly, bright light broke out around me, startling my eyes, and I reactively brought up my arms to shield my face. A small, soft hand lightly touched my arms, urging me to put them down. I blinked my eyes a few times before they adjusted and settled on an attractive child, no more than, perhaps, eight years old. I opened my mouth to speak but was interrupted by a delicate, albeit, demanding voice.
“Who are you?” bold, golden eyes were fixed on my own. Waving wildly in half curls were long thick locks of completely brown hair, nearly the exact same color as the dirt and trees I now saw clearly around me. Her golden glare narrowed at my silence. “Who are you!?” she demanded again.
“Oh, uh, sorry, I’m Jade.” I grinned politely, but continued sitting quietly beneath the young girl’s gaze.
“Jade?” She lowered her brow questioningly, “How do you know Guinevere?” Her tone suggested she was confused by my answer.
“Guinevere is my grandmother. I’m the only one of thirteen grandchildren who enjoys being with her.” I chuckled a little awkwardly.
“Grandmother? Grandchildren? Guinevere never had children.” The girl gracefully crossed her legs and sat down across from me like we were about to have some long conversation. Since she no longer protested so forcefully I assumed she wanted me to elaborate.
“She did eventually. Ten children, six boys and five girls, however her first two boys-twins actually- they were born at an entirely different time period then the other eight but they have been missing for a few centuries. And since obviously she never told anyone but me about her life here, none of her other children have any idea about their older brothers or their mother’s past.” I paused, realizing I had kind of babbled off, but she remained watching me, as though waiting still. So I continued, “Uhm, unfortunately most of her children dislike her, so they never come to visit.” I looked off, thinking, “there was one son who cared for her and one daughter who tolerates her, that would be my mother. I had also been rather close with my uncle, he was like another father to me…” my gaze lowered sadly, “but he went missing after my fourteenth birthday, three years ago.”
“Wait, wait, wait.” The girl shook her hands angrily, “I don’t understand. I thought Guinevere left because she never wanted a family or children?” The girl seemed to be unintentionally leaning toward me with intense curiosity in her eyes.
“Oh um, no…is that why you thought she left?”
The girl nodded anxiously.
“No, she told me that she was heading for this forest to tell someone something, I would imagine you. I think it was to mention that she may be pregnant.” The girl inclined forward a little more and opened her small mouth to speak but I held my index finger to her lips. “She said was running through the trees when suddenly the setting just changed and she was on a rain drenched cobblestone road in the late 1700’s,” I quirked my lips in thought, “I think around 1798 or ’99. Grandmother told me she researched for many years, but was never able to figure out why she went back or why she could never return.”
Surprisingly, the girl had a large smile drawn across her face.
“What?” I tilted my head.
She ignored my question and leapt up happily, her long hair bouncing about her face and shoulders. “Hello Jade, granddaughter of Guinevere, I am Autumn, the druid of Talen Forest,” she spread her arms around smiling proudly.
The gesture leads me to notice she had a vine twisting around and going into parts of her left arm. I didn’t have much time to observe it though, since she continued her exaggerated introduction.
“It is a great pleasure to meet you.” She held out a small hand and, although I was wary, I took her invitation; the second our hands met she swiftly yanked me off the ground. I attempted to pull my hand away, but Autumn held fast. “The Catalyst suits you well.” I watched as the rainbow effect reflected onto Autumn’s young face.
In all the chaos I had almost completely forgotten about the ring on my finger and the cut on my hand. I pulled my arm away from her at last in order to see my once mortally wounded limb; a long, pale, somewhat silvery taut scar lay where the bloody slit once was.
“Don’t worry, the scar will go away a little more in an hour.”
“Only a little?”
“Yeah, the first wound you ever get when you come here stays with you as a scar forever, but all the others completely heal once you arrive in Talen.”
“Hmm.” I ran the tip of my finger along the smooth, slight protrusion on my skin.
“Well, now that we’ve been introduced, it’s time that you got going!”
“Wha—” she turned me around as I protested and pointed a finger directly ahead of me.
“Just go straight, heading for the shadows. That’s where it’ll be.” I felt her give me a gentle nudge forward.
“W-wait, that’s where what will be?”
“You’ll see.” Her voice whispered across my ear as she had done the first time we met.
“Autumn?” I swung around, but she was nowhere to be seen. Taking a deep breath, I returned to face the gradually darkening shadows. “Ok, I guess it’s off to… somewhere.”
Once I started walking I yet again felt the sharp pain in my calf, it had lessened now but still not good enough to walk well or quickly. I gasped through clenched teeth and continued, limping along with the help of sporadic trees. After about an hour, the sky had nearly fallen into the blackness I once sat in and the bright Talen Forest still shown faintly behind me. The further I went, the fewer the trees became, but then about fifteen feet away an odd, large tower stood on the ground, the area around the edifice was far spreading and barren of all nature. Once I finally managed to get out into the clearing, I was better able to view the structure hidden within Talen Forest.
“Wow, that’s a very tall building.” I craned my neck so that I would be able to view the peak of the tower.
Large rectangular bricks wrapped themselves around the cylinder with perhaps three large windows set into the stone, two of which had balconies with black iron railing warped into a strange mess of designs. As I limped in a daze around the side, I found vibrant green ivy growing from nowhere up the wall and slightly tangled with a railing. The leaves stemming from the vine were large and soft with small veins of blue emanating from beneath its thin skin. For some reason, I felt rather compelled to hold and take one of the hypnotic leaves. Gently, I slit through the stem of one leaf and carefully tucked it into the bosom of my dress, as I had no pockets. The plants appendage was warm against my chest, calming my racing mind, which eased some of my discomfort with my wounded calf.
While I continued my observation I came across a large door. “That looks relatively heavy and impregnable, maybe steel or some other form of iron. I wonder why? It’s not very probable that whoever lives here comes across many robbers.” I cocked my head and noticed the handle, it was vertical iron and just as warped as the railing along the balconies edges.
“AHHHHHH!” A muffled female shriek echoed in the clearing.
My heart skipped a beat as I gasped, “holy crap…w-where’d that come from?” I gazed up the tall structure, “the only possible place is this tower.”
Although the voice was obviously expressing pain from who knows what lurking inside, I reached for the large handle and pulled. Dust, dirt, and small rocks drifted from the top of the door molding, it had evidently not been opened in several decades or centuries even. Luckily, as I strained to open the door, not one rusted cry came from the hinges. I heaved a sigh of relief, just in case there was a murderer or psychotic torturing fiend waiting in the tower, and so I then carefully shut the heavy door behind me.
The inside was even darker than the clearing until my eyes adjusted and I noticed a small amount of patchy, pure blue light drifting in from most likely one of, if not all of, the three windows.
“I didn’t see the moon while I was outside?” After a moment I shrugged my shoulders and began to look around.
I quickly found that the room was enormous and quite empty, with polished black marble floors and smooth ebony banisters lining the two elegant spiral staircases, one on each side of the room.
A sudden vibrating creak sounded from above me.
“Eheh…that’s right, I had almost forgotten about the scream I heard. Maybe I shouldn’t go on...” I had my head tilted slightly in thought and my upper lip pushed out over my lower one as I looked cautiously up into the ceiling’s abyss.
The excitement began increasing its force and fast paced adrenaline advanced its once steady flow through my veins. My thoughts raced quickly with all I could imagine, good and bad, and something clicked in my brain. “Urg…” I groaned, “It seems my curiosity has gotten the better of my fears.” I bit my lip lightly and then stepped toward the left staircase, but before my foot even touched the first step I felt the blue, clear light envelope me. It was strangely warm, like walking into the sun’s rays. I looked up to find the source of the light and discovered that the blue only seemed to continue toward that black nothingness above me. The light was similar to the source-less vines that grew on the outer walls of the evidently huge tower.
Turning my head away, I again focused on the dark stair that twined before me. Another shrill creak rattled the wood of the banisters and pulsed eerie vibrations through the tips of my fingers. I stepped onto the smooth step and began to lift myself up. The blue light dulled bit by bit and the further up I went, the deeper I headed into darkness and consequentially toward a possibly life threatening danger.
When I finally reached the continuation of a stair I assumed I had reached the top level, although I couldn’t actually see to be sure. As my eyes adjusted to the pure black around me, I noticed a ray of white light emanating from what was most likely a crack in the floor. I made my way over to the hole rather slowly, groping about with my hands straight ahead of me. I kept feeling the general paranoid thoughts of sudden blindness, like I were about to hit a wall or fall down a never-ending pit.
The hole in the wood flooring, or so it appeared to be, was not very large but did give me a view of two peoples in a brighter room, though it was dimmed in several areas. It appeared to be a man speaking to a woman tied to a wall coming up out of the floor. “A wall in the middle of the floor?” I whispered without thinking, but my hand quickly smacked over my mouth. Hopefully they hadn’t heard me.
For a brief moment I thought I saw the woman’s disturbingly bright pink eyes twinkle excitedly in my direction, but I must have only imagined it. Her eyes were very vivid.
She suddenly screamed violently toward the man who leapt back with anger on his face, at least that’s what it looked like. I didn’t really have the best view from where I was. She definitely glanced at me this time and her eyes seemed to glow before she winked briefly at me. I pulled back my curious eye in confusion and concern. However, an almost immediate cracking sound erupted from beneath my body. Before I knew it the floor had given way and I felt myself falling a good twenty feet down, however, before hitting the ground, I was caught lightly in the air and then set down on the broken rubble. There was a sudden flare of pain from my injured calf; no doubt falling through a ceiling didn’t help matters much.
Everything was blurry for a few seconds due to the abrupt change of light and startling fall, but once I could see clearly I saw untainted black eyes staring back at me. I couldn’t for the life of me figure out what his expression was, but I assumed it wasn’t a good one. We continued to stare at one another, though I kept my gaze for mere uncertainty of what could happen if I turned away.
A few long black hairs draped down over his shoulder and caught my attention, making a good excuse to stop looking so intently at him. He seemed to begin the attempts of forming a word when the woman abruptly rammed into him, knocking a chunk out of an arch molding and breaking several small objects.
Many more loud bangs came from the room openly connected to the one I had landed in. A bit of the separating wall beside me began to crack and dribble pieces of what looked like dry wall but smelt completely different. I leaned forward to touch the strange substance when the wall unexpectedly ruptured and collided with my head. The peculiar scent hit me along with a painfully nauseous dizziness, I felt my eyes roll against my eyelids with small patches and blurs of moving light and then I drifted into unconsciousness.
Prologue
The Catalyst
The Prologue
“Jade, do you remember the story I told you as a little girl?” My grandmother gently held my hand between her own, her soft aching whisper carried on the heavy smelling air of the room she had been in the last few weeks of her gradually worsening illness.
I nodded slowly and placed my other free hand over our entwined ones. Her hazy gray blue eyes still held the youthful glimmer I always used to see when she looked at me as a girl. A small grin pulled at her delicately aged face and then she nodded as well, disrupting her pure white hair, which flowed in soft waves all around her face and head.
“Jade sweetie, can you hand me the box over on the vanity.” I rotated my waist toward the small table near the bed. The container was about the same size as a ring box with a strange greenish metal or stone lining the edges and forming in the center of the cover to create a strange design. It appeared to be a hand.
I placed the package in her open palm and watched as she stroked the unique design on the top. Tears flooded her eyes and her breath shook slightly as she ran a finger across her cheeks.
“Are you alright?” I moved forward to make sure everything was normal.
“I’m fine sweetie, fine.” She eased herself up against her pillows along the headboard while still cradling the box in her hand as though it were the most precious thing in the world. “Jade, remember how in the story the simple girl ended up in a magical world and met the man of her dreams?”
“Yes,” I quirked my brow in confusion.
“The story is actually…very different.”
“I don’t understand, what do you mean different? Why does it matter?”
“You see, the story is true but not exactly how I told it.”
I shook my head. “But—”
“Jade.” Her quiet voice interrupted my question, “I feel that it may be time to tell you the real story, or at least how it really began, but I warn you, it’s not what you may think.” She chuckled a little, “You probably won’t believe me, if you ever even did before.” A small smile stayed on her face for a moment, as if she were reminiscing on something, but then her expression drooped a bit, “…just, please, wait until I finish telling you. ”
I nodded somewhat reluctantly and repositioned myself as she took a deep breath in order to begin speaking.
“Back in the 1600’s, around 52 years after the landing of the Mayflower at Plymouth Rock and the Pilgrims had settled into their lives somewhat, I was born. It was the 21st of June 1672 that I was born as the second daughter of a prominent family among our colony. I grew up like all children did in that time, however I had always felt…different. And some of my interests were likewise. Unfortunately many of those were things our families, my family, would consider evil. Around my 18th birthday I decided to start quietly voicing these interests, which caught the attention of a small group of three woman and two men in our town. It turned out they were what our village dubbed as witches, though, despite everything I had learned and heard and been forcefully taught since I was an infant, I simply didn’t see in them the qualities our reverend had described. I worked with them for about a year, learning and discovering all these incredible things I never knew but felt I was somehow always meant to know. It was so, fulfilling, so wonderful that I was,” she chuckled “I was over the moon. And in all the haze of acceptance and confidence in myself, I stupidly decided to try and tell my parents who I really was. What I really loved and wanted in life.”
For a minute she paused, looking off, her lower lip slightly quivering before she pulled in a deep breath to continue.
“They disowned me; called me a devil worshipper. I spent two weeks living in that horror from not only them, but soon the whole of our town. You know, back then, the world wasn’t like it is now. There really wasn’t anywhere I could go, and even if I could, this place was my home. Our sense of community was so strong, so, completely normal, that when it was stripped from me it was hard to live.” She sniffed a bit as a few tears ran down her mildly flushed cheeks.
Clearing her throat a tad, “Well, not long afterward all of this happened, it had been decided that two of my spell-casting friends and myself were condemned to be burned at the stake. The remaining three of my friends were kidnapped for a time but were able to escape, and as far as I know they lived safely for the rest of their lives. Oh, and just so you know, this was close to the time when the famed Salem Witch Trials occurred. I guess we sort of gave the final spark to that flame.
“Anyway, back to before that happily ever after my friends hopefully managed, these three appeared the night before our death, and rather stealthily rescued us from where we had been confined. Thanks to their excelled skills, they were able to burn a hole in the wall so that my two captive friends and I were able to slip out into the woods unseen. We were on the run for three days, and while I knew that I shouldn’t feel badly, I reached a point where I finally couldn’t stand the guilt that welled up inside me. The main problem was that I missed my two younger brothers terribly. They had always played with me, and called for me and not my mother when they were scared or sick. So, after a great deal of tumultuous thought, I eventually decided to leave my company and went back to my cottage home.”
She exhaled a small sigh, “It was about one in the morning when I arrived, so I crept in through a window and, as quietly as possible, headed to my brothers’ bedroom. They were asleep together in their one bed, their shiny black hair rustled on top of the pillows. I was rather eager and wanted to run over, hug them, and never let go again. But I had to be quiet, so I went over and gently tapped them awake. Neither were too surprised to see me; they were always rather mischievous and not easily scared little boys.” Grandmother smiled sadly at the thought.
“The boys both sat up and, instead of a warm reception, I was met with cold glares. They had these big green eyes, so full of expression, almost just like yours actually,” she grinned lovingly, though her own eyes were still saddened, and brushed her thumb across my cheek. “In the beginning, I thought…I-I was so sure they would find me more exciting due to their rebellious nature, but when they looked at me, I could see so clearly that they were very angry. I wanted to ease my way to them and so softly spoke their names, but…in return th-they spat at me and turned their faces away, calling me a...a devil worshipper.” Several tears were streaming down her cheeks, “I-I was stunned. Of everyone, I thought that surely they would still love me, as young and stubborn as they were. But, I was wrong. They shunned me, in every way. My family and other friends had refused to acknowledge me, the entire colony rallied together to burn me alive; throwing me away like garbage. And yet, I never allowed that to seep in, not all the way at least, because I still had my brothers. Then, suddenly, with that one moment of pure hatred in their eyes, I felt the weight of all the rejection I had ever received for so long run me over.
“I walked away like a dazed ghost, sweeping easily through the hall, and eventually I stopped in the kitchen, or well, what was as close to a kitchen as possible nowadays.” Her lips quirked a little, her eyes having shifted to the little box in her hands.
“Everything seemed empty, I felt so alone, completely worthless. A broken shell that had been discarded by every person I had ever known and ever loved. The feelings that had before plagued my mind now came flooding back to me. Horrid, evil things, but I soon found I didn’t care, I didn’t feel much of anything the longer I stood in the light of gentle darkness. I slowly searched the area until I clutched a smooth wooden handle and I slowly picked up a surprisingly clean blade, which my fingers excitedly held. I knew my people’s ideas in regards to killing oneself and, honestly, a part of me wanted to spite them. My life was over no matter what I chose to do in the end and without the love of my brothers; I just saw no life to be lived. Why not curse their precious ideals? So,” she exhaled, “I quickly ran the blade through my skin and severed the veins. There was a strange mix of sharp pain, then a tingling, dizzy numbness drowning my senses, and then back to sharp, now throbbing pain. I sat down and soon fell to my side, my entire arm felt as though it were being simultaneously strangled from blood flow and flooded with biting fire, all the while attempting to recite the Lord’s Prayer. I remembered that just before I was gone, basically lying in my own blood, there was a faint red glow dancing in front of my blurry, tear-filled eyes. The next thing I recalled was bright sun, it was like a sudden jerk from a second of unexpectedly tripping into sleep.”
I watched as she took a long, deep breath and sighed, sniffling a few times.
“It turns out that this little box was opened beneath where my wrist had landed, catching the blood as it went through the wood of the floor. The ring this holds was just waiting for it to come. You see, to work, the clear gem needed to absorb fresh blood and once full, it would glow that scarlet I saw before everything was supposed to go black. Forever…” Her words drifted off.
“Grandmother?” I placed my hand on her shoulder, worry in my gaze.
“Hmm, oh, I’m fine. Just tired, sweetie.” She nodded, patting my hand calmly.
Clearing her throat, “now, I stayed in this new world for a while and found it to be quite pleasant, somewhere freeing, although I never did hear of a name for it. In that place I was able to practice my witchcraft and study many more different types of magic, most were things I had never heard of before. It was a dream come true, one I never could have been able to imagine coming from where I did.” Her gaze had grown a bit happier as she spoke of the fairytale world I grew up on.
“About a year into my time there, I met him. The Skeleton Man is what many referred to him as; others simply called him the Immortal.”
I nodded at that, recalling his title name since he didn’t seem to have a real one. This story was now beginning to come to what I remembered as a child.
“I soon began to work with him. He opened doors into dreamlike wonders my old friends and I could have never imagined, never thought could even be conceivably possible, and soon I was able to create an elixir, which, in a way, could make a person immortal.”
I furrowed my brow at this. She never talked of creating a way to be immortal; actually, all the magic in her story felt a lot more like the kind of magic you read in books or on.
Despite my being caught up in my thoughts, she continued, “In reality it merely prolonged life depending on the amounts of certain ingredients added to each portion.” She paused, her lips growing into a smile like I had never seen before. “We spent a great many years together, more than two centuries. Not only working together, him teaching me ways of this world and it’s magic that I would never have been able to learn on my own, but also just…being with each other like friends, the closet of friends. It wasn’t too long into our meeting and working that we found we had fallen in love.” She exhaled a laugh, “It was literally like a fairytale, the fairytale that I would later tell you off in my many tales of our life. Yes, we were very happy for such a long while and one evening I discovered some exciting news, something I couldn’t believe and was dying to let out, so I left in search of a friend to tell as quickly as possible.”
Unexpectedly, that smile I had never known fell away, “I was running through the woods I had originally appeared in when I first arrived, but then, suddenly the soft sounds of my feet on the moss and grass changed, the air became heavy and thick with moisture, and the scenery was now quite different. The forest I had grown to love so dearly was no longer there, instead there was numerous dreary buildings coming up all around and a rain drenched cobblestone road spread beneath my running feet.” She shook her head, “I felt like I had gone mad. This completely foreign city had just appeared without the slightest warning, the shift had been so smooth, even beyond when I had first arrived in that world I loved. When I realized I was no longer there, when my efforts to saturate my ring refused to work, I fell to the filthy wet ground and cried harder than I could have that humanly possible.”
Tears had been falling silently as she spoke, like she had given so much to her mourning already that her heart couldn’t give anymore effort beyond those instinctive tears.
Ignoring the salty water drying on her face, “I discovered that I had landed in 1798, on a city road somewhere in Massachusetts. A lengthy while afterward, I mean well beyond my life in that early time period, I was able to do some accurate research and found it to have been around my hometown of Plymouth now called Plymouth County, Massachusetts.
“In any case, after spending what felt like ages trying to find whatever possible job I could procure as a pregnant single woman with no family or money and a little over nine months later on February 23rd, 1799, I had twin boys whom I named Crispyn and Gabriel.” A tony smile tickled the edge of her mouth, “I remember, just like it was yesterday, both my boys had black hair and shared each other’s eye colors, one grey blue like mine and the other violet like my mother’s. They were so handsome, such good, strong boys, and I loved them more than anything. However, on their 21st birthday they made a joint decision to leave and explore the world.” She huffed, “Crispyn was always very stubborn and adventurous, and Gabriel, oh sweet little Gabriel, he never left his brother’s side. So, regardless of my protests, he gave up his artistic talents to go with Crispyn. I knew I couldn’t hold onto them forever, and I knew just because they did so didn’t mean it would be forever. But still, it…it broke my heart the day they left. When my boys never returned…I died a little inside.”
She made no expression like I thought she might, but simply looked at her hands calmly.
Sighing, she grinned and began speaking again. “I spent decades waiting, but deep down, I knew they weren’t coming back to me. So I left our little home and decided to travel as well. Sometimes I went places as a mere tourist and other times I traveled on my own, usually only when I was low on cash.” She giggled girlishly. “Oh, then when I had the appearance of a twenty five year old I met your biological grandfather, my first husband. I loved him very much and we lived quite comfortably. It was during my time with him that I had my first three children, your eldest two uncles and your mother.
“Unfortunately, disease came for him, crept up so fast that before we knew it, it was too late and he died. The doctors never found a reason for it, which only made things so much worse. I had a hard time after that, again a single mother, dealing with medical bills and funeral expenses on a teacher’s salary. Through my years of working to keep food on the table, I inadvertently developed a close relationship with a co-worker and friend of mine. That man would become the grandfather you know, Kalen. We were just as happy as I had been with my first husband, and soon had many more children. Then of course, as you know, he died the year before last.” She sighed again, nearly out of breath from her long story. “Now, that was the short version. Maybe some other time I’ll tell you the long one.” Her smile stretched across her face in a mischievous way and her eyes glittered happily.
“That’s the short version?” I blinked with confusion, “…wow, but that was so long.” I shook my head as the normally internal thoughts finished slipping from my mouth.
“Dear, you’re speaking out loud again.” My grandmother patted her hand against my arm.
“Hmm?” I looked up at her, “Oh, sorry,” I shyly mumbled, my cheeks mildly pinkened in embarrassment.
“Now back to this little box of mine.” She stroked the small container with a smile. “This is my friend. I have carried this with me everywhere, but when I remarried to Kalen I promised myself that I would say goodbye and never wear it again.” She gently popped open the top, revealing a stunning thin shaft of a clear diamond. “I want to die, Jade. I want to be with my husbands, my brothers, everyone I loved and lost once again.”
A light, sad smile barely tugged at her lips and she turned her tearful gaze on me, a hint of something unspoken reflected in her eyes, but I couldn’t tell what it meant. “Here,” My grandmother placed the small box in my unsuspecting hands.
“W-why are you giving me this?” I jerked my gaze back and forth from the box to her then her to the box.
“It’s your birthday gift, my last to you, and also the most precious thing you’ll ever own.” Her grey blue eyes twinkled at me. “Now sweetie, why don’t you go read your books.” She yet again brushed my arm lightly as she lowered her eyelids to sleep.
I kept the box palmed as I walked out of the room, my face still held a slight hint of stupefied awe and immense confusion at what was going on.
Later that evening, my grandmother went to see her family at long last.
End
