3. Our Father’s Storm
Chapter 3
Our Father’s Storm
M y name.
Anástasi was my name.
My true name.
I felt like I couldn’t breathe. Like I no longer knew how to. My knees hit the floor, and as all the power left my body so did my battle armor. A warrior no more. It was like the book knew of my inner turmoil as a long, soft gown of emerald-green enveloped me. One that now made me look more like some fallen, medieval princess.
We were both on our knees, emotions clearly overwhelming us. Then I felt a gentle hand at my cheek, taking away the tears that were clinging to my skin. Lerna raised my face up to hers, only for me to find the same tears mirroring my own as they ran freely down her cheeks. But why did the sight of her heartache cause me pain? It was as if I cared about this woman and, once upon a time, more than anyone else in all the realms combined?
“I don’t… I don’t understand… why am I feeling this way toward you?” I asked, scrambling back a little, as if she had cast some kind of spell on me. Flickers of memories began to flow back to me, like fragmented pieces of a life I had once lived. One where this woman had once been my entire world.
I watched as she swallowed hard, as if the lump that had formed was near big enough to choke on. Then after clearing her throat and, with it, what I knew was the desire to cry freely, she told me,
“Because… because I am your sister… and I feel the same way about you.”
I sucked in a quick breath, knowing her words to be true. This wasn’t a trick or lies. She had nothing to gain here but retrieving a slither of the past, whereas I had everything to obtain. A whole life unknowingly shadowing the mortal one I had been living.
And in it … I had a sister.
So, without any other thought but the warmth coursing through me now, I reacted. I suddenly launched myself forward and took her in my arms, hugging her to me for the first time in what felt like centuries.
The second we were united, a bright light exploded all around us, as if this place was connected to our pain, our joy, our eternity of heartache. The emotional storm was long gone, and in its place was one of pure serenity. But that was not all our embrace did… Lerna cried in my arms, the tears of which felt like sunshine landing on my skin. As if she was the light to my dark. Two sides of the coin that were forever entwined as one.
Like I said, I didn’t remember it all, but it didn’t matter, for I knew now with a certainty what she said was true, making me whisper against her,
“My sister.” I also knew that saying this was like a soothing balm to her ragged soul, and she gave me even more of her weight before she wept in earnest.
It was as if she had waited centuries for this very moment. This holy reunion between us had been all she had ever wanted, and I knew this because of my connection to her. Every feeling she felt, it was like it poured from her in waves and I was there to catch every one as it crashed into me. The strength of her love for me was staggering and quickly stole my breath, taking me a moment to recover enough to ask,
“How is this possible, Lerna?” I also asked this purposely speaking her name with such ease, it was as if at one time her name had been the only one that ever mattered. At this she finally pulled back before taking my hands in hers, telling me,
“There is much for us to speak of.”
“A lifetime, it seems,” I replied, making her nod before we both got back to our feet, helping each other. Then with my hand still held in hers, she walked us both toward the cave’s opening, right where the waves lapped at the rock’s edge. The ocean looked to go on forever with no other land in sight.
“Where are we… is this Heaven?” I asked, gasping at the sight of crystal waters that looked infinite.
“No, but we are somewhere that hangs between two worlds, a special place created for us in the Elysian Fields,” she said, letting go of my hand and motioning to the serenity in front of us.
“Elysian Fields?” I questioned, holding on to the cool rock as I leaned forward to try and see how big this mountain was. One that looked too big to see it all in its entirety.
“It is a place separate from the Underworld ruled by Hades, like a Heaven created only for those worthy enough to live out their Afterlife in paradise. Gods among mortal men, those classed as heroes admitted past the River Styx. Those chosen by the Gods, the righteous and heroic, or simply put, God’s children.”
“Sounds like one Hell of a club… no pun intended,” I commented, making her grin. The vision was a gut-punch to my memories, and I remembered teasing her in sight of her constant smiles. She was always the joyous one.
“So that’s where we are now?” I asked, pushing past the memory instead of chasing it.
“Of sorts, yes, but a hidden part of it that borders closest to its creator’s realm,” she replied, making me question,
“Its creator?”
“Hades, God of the Underworld,” she replied, making me shiver because, of course, practically everyone on Earth knew of the Mythological Greek Gods, Hades being just another form of the Devil. I had even questioned why his symbol now graced the cover of the Summoning Book, knowing that he was connected to all of this somehow.
Was Garmr working for him?
Was the God of the Underworld at the root of all this somehow? And if not, then why did the knowledge of him seem so familiar to me now?
“Is it a prison?” I asked, looking around the temple and seeing that it most likely continued on past the arched doorway I could see at the end of the cavernous room. At this she covered my hand and told me in that sing song voice of hers,
“No, it is a safe haven.”
“Safe from Garmr?” I asked, making her wince at the same time her hand tighten on top of mine before letting me go.
“I honestly don’t know, perhaps at one time it was,” she replied, letting me know that my fears of Hades and Garmr being in league with one and other were wrong.
“What happened, Lerna, how did I become mortal? Why did you betray Jared all those years ago? Why… why marry him only to…” I couldn’t finish the painful question and she too looked as if it hurt too much to even think about.
“Gods, Anástasi, but where do I even begin and more than that, how is it to end? For I feel as if we are once more back at the very start of it all.”
I frowned, not understanding. Her painful expression looked out toward the ocean as if she might find the answers she sought to give me. Then when finding none, she released a heavy sigh before turning back to me and telling me,
“I am the reason you were born again as a mortal, for I had no choice. It was the only place I believed he could not reach you again.”
“Again?” I asked, wishing that I remembered as much as I didn’t.
“He stole you from me once before and made you a slave to his ambitions of power, he used you, just as he used me to make you do whatever he wished of you. It was why this place was created for us, so as he could never get his hands on us, but in the end, it did not matter, for free will was the only lock needed to open our golden cage.” I started to shake my head as all this information tumbled on top of me.
“I don’t understand any of this. You’re telling me that Garmr kidnapped me and used me to gain power? But how then did I become mortal and what do you mean by free will being the only key?”
At this she walked away, before taking hold of her head in her hands and berating herself,
“I am not explaining this very well at all! But how else am I supposed to show you the truth?” she said as if speaking to herself. Although when she stopped dead suddenly and started nodding, I found myself speaking her name softly,
“Lerna?”
“You’re right, I can do that, then she shall see,” she replied, but this time it wasn’t to me, suddenly making the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end.
“Lerna, who are you talking to?” I asked, making her look back at me before walking closer. The determined expression was set firmly in her features as well as her steps.
“I speak with our father,” she said, shocking me enough that I took a step back away from her, putting me right at the water’s edge.
“Our father?”
She nodded, that smile of hers now taking on a different tone than before.
“There is just too much for me to say and I fear I lack the right words to tell such a tale as this. But then I was reminded that there was another way,” she said, again taking steady strides toward me, not stopping until she faced me with barely space between us.
“I don’t understand, Lerna, wait, what is happening?” I asked as the room was overcome with shadows, making me look back behind me.
There, I found that the once clear sky above the water was now marred with thick clouds forming. Clouds that started to gather speed as they rotated in the sky, turning from white to dark gray and thunderous in seconds. Seconds was all it took for the once clear-blue water to turn dark and ominous as the storm above raged on, building in its ferocity. The wind started to whip at my hair, as well as Lerna’s. Unlike me, she looked completely unaffected as if she knew what was coming and didn’t fear it as I did.
But that fear had no time to manifest into the rage the book needed to protect me. I had no time to call for it.
“He is right, it is the only way for you to truly understand what you did!” Lerna shouted against the sound of the wind whipping at our bodies, the power above lashing at us until I was forced to step into her. Her hands caught me and I looked up, almost afraid of what I would see in her face, making me question if I had been wrong to trust her?
Would that trust become my undoing?
My answer to this soon came in the form of action as she grabbed the tops of my arms to hold me steady. Then I shouted,
“What’s happening?! What is this!?”
“It’s the power of our father, for he comes now to take you!” she shouted back over the sound of the rising storm. The same betrayal I felt for Jared was one I soon felt for myself as I asked the final question,
“Who comes… who is he, Lerna?!”
“Hades comes… Hades is our father… and he welcomes you home, Anástasi!” she told me, right before she…
Pushed me into Hell.