Chapter 24 #2
“I’m sure I’ve heard that story before,” he says.
“Probably. Most high schools teach it. Gilgamesh was the king of a Sumerian city-state called Uruk. Everyone feared him, but when the monsters came, he was the only one strong enough to fight them.”
“Monsters? What monsters?” Victor asks. “I’m pretty sure he never fought any actual monsters.”
“Ishtar says they were abominations,” I reply. “Some sort of cosmic mistake that slipped past the goddesses. Ishtar didn’t mean to create them, but once she did, she was unable to undo the mistake.”
“Why? She didn’t have enough power?” Victor asks.
“It was beyond her power. Ishtar could only create life; she could not take it away,” I answer. “Neither could Mother Fate. Oh, now I see…”
“What?” Victor asks, sitting up straighter.
“This story is a little more complicated than we’ve heard,” I report hesitantly as I flip another page.
“The abominations nearly wiped out the of kingdom Gilgamesh. They killed his best friend, Enkidu, too. Mother Nature and Mother Fate tried to help Gilgamesh by sending druids and emissaries to fight by his side.”
“Yeah, that’s different from the legends,” he admits.
“Gilgamesh figured out that Ishtar was the one who created the abominations. After they were wiped out, Gilgamesh wanted to ensure there would never be another threat like that to his kingdom. He demanded immortality and the secrets of shifting, so that he would have the power to protect his own kingdom.”
“And I’m sure that was denied,” Victor guesses.
“Not because they didn’t want to,” I continue. “Ishtar and Nanaya shared some of their power with Gilgamesh, hoping to appease him. Ishtar realized it was their mistake that threatened the world they were supposed to protect. She was trying to make it right.”
“They taught him the secrets of shifting and he still killed all the druids?” Victor asks.
“They weren’t able to teach him that. Shifting is something you’re born with; you are either a shifter or you’re not.
It can’t be taught,” I answer, my finger moving along the page.
“But Gilgamesh didn’t believe them and sought another way to harness that power.
Unfortunately, he had just enough power to be dangerous.
Instead of learning how to shift, he merged with the last blood wolf. ”
“Blood wolf?” Victor’s eyebrows shoot up. “Never heard of a blood wolf.”
“Seems they’ve been extinct for a long time.
Merging with the blood wolf turned Gilgamesh into the same thing he hated.
He became an abomination,” I read on. “An abomination hellbent on killing both Ishtar and Nanaya. With the blood wolf’s power, Gilgamesh was finally able to shatter the cosmic barrier that protected the goddesses.
Right after he killed every druid and shifter who tried to stop him. ”
“Damn. All that power, but he must not have been as powerful as he thought,” Victor observes. “Something had to have gone wrong if he got through the barrier but still couldn’t kill both Ishtar and Nanaya. Nothing should have been able to stop him.”
“Time was his real enemy. He thought he could take Ishtar’s power and make himself immortal, but he wasn’t strong enough for that, even after merging with the blood wolf,” I report.
“Ishtar realized that. It’s why she fate-blocked her last druid and created these rituals.
I’m not sure what happened after that, but Ishtar knew she was no match for Gilgamesh anymore.
She planned to sacrifice herself to restore the cosmic barrier and expel him from their realm. ”
“Maybe that’s what she did,” Victor says. “Our stories say that Gilgamesh died alone. Mother Fate never sent him a mate. Maybe he became more like a shifter than that book says.”
“That’s definitely possible,” I say, flipping to the next page. “That’s all there is about Gilgamesh. The next part of the book is the first ritual. The Ritual of Sunshine.”
“What do we have to do?” Victor asks.
“It says that when Ishtar was born, part of the world was lit up with eternal sunshine. The people called it Eden,” I say, then pause. “Wait, do you think it means the Garden of Eden?”
“I don’t know,” Victor says. “But I’ve never heard of anywhere that’s lit up by eternal sunshine. Definitely never heard of the Garden of Eden being real.”
“This ritual is supposed to replicate that miracle,” I say, reading through it. “Wherever the ritual is performed, it will bring eternal sunshine. There are ingredients we’ll need to gather, and I’m not even sure what some of them are.”
“Like what?” he asks, leaning over. “Do you need the same thing for every ritual?”
“No. The spell I originally cast is called the Ritual of Fate. The ingredients we used are there, but there are several more in a second column,” I explain, showing them to him. “Every ritual is a little different.”
He reads the list, then shrugs. “Write down what you need for the first ritual,” he instructs. “If I can’t find it myself, I’m sure Saul or Ingrid can help.”
I stand and walk to the bedroom so I can retrieve a notepad and a pen. When I return, I sit beside Victor and jot everything down. I’ve never heard of some of the ingredients, like aura roots and fire manna. Hopefully Victor or his friends have.
“That’s everything,” I say, sliding the list over to him. “Well, everything except my blood. That seems to be necessary for every ritual.”
“Fuck, I don’t even know what some of this is,” he gripes, taking a picture of the paper with his phone. “Does the book explain where to get it?”
“No, the ingredients are there, but nothing about their location,” I say, looking over the page again. “Maybe the names have changed over the years? It’s been a long time.”
“Over four thousand years,” Victor mutters. “A long time for the world to be so fucked up.”
“A long time for this book to find the descendant of the last druid,” I reply. “I guess that means my grandmother was one. And my mom. They just never tried to cast any of the spells in the book.”
“Probably not,” he says, then he leans closer to me. “Only foolish little girls play with magic.”
“Stop,” I groan. “You don’t have to keep teasing me about that. I think we’re way past playing with magic now.”
“Yeah, we definitely are,” he chuckles.
I let out a sigh and look at him. “Do you think breaking the fate-block just impacted me, or would it impact other people in my family?”
“I don’t know,” he answers. “Why?”
“Well… just thinking about my mom,” I admit. “I don’t know much about her, but she had a really hard life. If the fate-block is broken, maybe she’ll actually find someone… assuming she’s still alive.”
“Why do you care? She abandoned you,” he growls. “She didn’t even care enough to make sure you were okay after your grandmother died.”
“I know, I just… maybe that wasn’t her fault,” I sigh. “My life wasn’t the greatest either. I never believed my family was actually cursed, like my grandmother used to say, but sometimes it felt like we were.”
“I don’t think you would abandon your child,” he says, shaking his head.
I look down at my belly, realizing that could be a reality at this very moment. “Do you think I’m pregnant? After the frenzy?”
“Too soon to know,” he says. “It’s common, but not a guarantee. If you’re not pregnant yet, then I’ll just have to try again when you go into heat.”
“I’m going to go into heat?” I ask, my eyes widening.
“All mates go into heat when they’re bonded with a shifter,” he answers. “Usually happens during a full moon, but sometimes it’s spontaneous.”
“How often?” I ask, a little concerned about this new aspect of my biology.
“A few times a year, usually. It’s nothing like a frenzy,” he says. “But it’s the only time I can knot you outside of one.”
“Hopefully it’ll be a while before that happens,” I murmur, pressing on my stomach. “I don’t feel pregnant.”
“Like I said, it’s still too soon to know,” he chuckles. “If the frenzy resulted in a baby, then it will be a blessing. If it hasn’t happened yet, we’ll keep trying.”
“For now, I guess we should focus on the rituals,” I say, looking back down at the book. “Question is… where? Lighting some place up with eternal sunshine could cause problems, right?”
“Possibly,” he growls. “We’ll find somewhere out of the way if we have to. First, we need the ingredients.”
I nod in agreement and continue flipping through the book. Every ritual has ingredients I’ve never heard of. If Victor’s friends don’t know what they are, then I may not be able to do any of the rituals. Mother Nature may never be reincarnated.
But surely the book didn’t find me just so I could fail.
With Victor at my side, I feel like I can accomplish anything.