Immortality
The cloudless dark sky was indicative of the day. In a time of change and rebirth of magic, I felt no joy. I had no faith in the future. Neither magic, alchemy, science, or faith had stopped the events that snatched my child away.
Lillie Star’s silence screamed at me.
We stood inches apart over our three-year-old daughter’s grave isolated in this never-ending nightmare.
I did not want forgiveness or comfort. I wanted retribution. I picked fights with Lillie. I pushed knowing I was ripping her apart.
I needed her anger, her pain. I needed her to leave now, today, and she did.
On the banks of Mermaid Cove where the river met the sea, I cut my hand holding it over the churning waters. I am magic-born. Power sang in my blood a siren’s call to the siren. I squeeze my fist and watched the blood drip into the water.
Faces swirled in the churning depths as the water rose up to lasso me pulling me into a bottomless watery canyon.
Darkness swamped me.
My oblivion was short-lived. Conscious awareness returned. The soothing lullaby of the siren song did nothing to ease the cold that gripped me, nor relieve the paralysis that owned me in the captivity of my stasis bubble. Mer-folk surrounded me.
One red hair nymph finally spoke from her seated position. The merfolk parted allowing me to see her for the first time.
“Why do you invade the sanctuary of the Daughters of Neptune?”
“I seek the portal to the underworld. I wish to bargain with Hades.”
“Hades? He is not your patron. No one enters there, but the dead.”
“Kill me then so I might enter.”
Seaweed slithered up my body and circle my throat. “If you return, a debt is owed me.”
The water boiled. A burst of intense light illuminated the stunning beauty of the mermaid. She cried out, her shrill sharp. Jagged pain lanced my eyes.
“Open your eyes mortal.”
I was no longer in a sea of water, but a sea of light. A dangerous-looking male with enormous black-tipped wings stood before me, his beauty harsh, yet enthralling as the mermaids.
“These Greek deities cannot help you. Your daughter is not among them. Why do you seek death, when you have so much life before you?”
“The fault is mine. My life for hers, Angel.”
“Choices cannot be unmade, nor consequence reversed. Life is always in motion. The outcome has already been decreed.”
I wanted to lash out. My body did not react to my anger. I suppressed the urge to yell. “Who are you to make such decrees?”
“I am the servant and deliverer of God’s mercy. My name is Zadkiel.”
“Mercy? I will not serve a God that doesn’t hear me.”
“The one God has heard you.”
The light that surrounded me warmed the chill in my soul even as I fought it.
“Some choices cannot be changed, Daga Morgana. In time you may understand. You are given immortality to serve the world until you can see the value in your own life. This is your onus.”
Photos: Pixabay.com
531 Words
#Storytimebloghop
Storytime Blog Hop founded 2015 by students of the Holly Lisle’s writing course: How To Think Sideways: Career Survival School for Writer’s.
Story Time Blog Hop January 27th, 2016 -Welcome to January 2016 Story Time Blog Hop. Here are 10 speculative fiction short tales from authors around the world. Read more stories at the links below. Enjoy!
Find More Stories in the Blog Hop below:
Mel Corbett If It’s Not Yours
Elizabeth McCleary Essence
Katharina Gerlach Scars
Karen Lynn My Story
Angela Wooldridge Uninvited Guests
Barbara LundNew Space
Kris Bowser Smithereens
Justine OhlrichTwo Deaths on My Birthday
Rabia Gale House Bound
