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.

Siena’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 Siena knowing I was ripping her apart.

I needed her anger, her pain. I needed her to leave, 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. 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.”

Thank you so much for stopping by to read October Storytime Blog Hop. I really hoped you enjoyed my flash fiction story. Some of you may remember it from 2016, but posted it today because…

This short story will be one of four stories I will expand or start at a different point and make into a paranormal romance for my Moon Hollow series.

I am hoping to do these stories for Amazon Short Reads, but not sure I will be able to keep them 25,000 words or less. That is the word count I am shooting for because Short Reads on Kindle Unlimited does well for single author shorts and romance categories.

I also hope to publish the first one by the end of this year. Cross your fingers for me.

This story will be the fourth in the planned series. The first book in series does not have its own short story yet. It will be about Gideon Katz and Daelyn Sky. Gideon is the owner of The Shipwreck a wrecked Galleon Ship that is carried to shore when Atlantis rises and lodged in a building on the wharf. The rising of Atlantis, releases magic, back into the world with apocalyptic affects that the world must recover from. The governmental world powers shift as Atlantis becomes a major player.

Gideon buys the whole devastated wharf in Moon Hollow rebuilding and incorporating the ship into the buildings structure for a tourist attraction. Moon Hollow was already a town where the magic-born lived-in secret before The Emergence. That is the name given the Atlantis Rising event.

Anyway, I am 3600 words in on my zero draft.

For NaNoWriMo I will be taking my Space Opera series first book Ghost Pirate through November as I have 16,300 words written on it. Still, I hope by the end of year I can say I have finished two books, a novel, and a short read.

October 31st, 2020 – Storytime

Storytime Quarterly Blog Hop
January, April, July, October!

Check out the other stories in the blog hop and leave us comments.

Unwelcomed Vistors by Bill Bush

The Witch at the End of the Road by Katharina Gerlach

Unraveled by Bonnie Burns

Holiday Guest by Sabrina Rosen

Home by Barbara Lund

Missing Parts by Jemma Weir

A Perfect Match by V. S. Stark

The Glistening Bat by Karen Lynn

II-The Priestess by Raven O’Fiernan

The Old Ways by Nic Steven

Halloween Pest by Elizabeth McCleary

Tales From the Pumpkin Patch by Marilyn Flower

Immortality by Juneta Key <<—YOU ARE HERE