Icarus

Timeless

Timeless

One does not simply stroll into the Guardian's Palace. Apprentices are taught how to go from the human world to the Guardian's only when they are old enough, otherwise they would likely get lost in the limbo of the labyrinth, adrift between two worlds, or at least that is what Piero told her... Eventually it becomes easier and faster. Even though Cassie had successfully negotiated the challenge many times before it still made her feel somewhat uneasy. She envied the way Piero and the other members of the Twelve could flash from place to place in mere seconds while it always took her a few embarrassing tries.

Thank god Tate isn't here, thought Cassie. The fact that she was about to find out what would be happening in the days ahead didn't help her concentrate.

New Zoldova is a quiet, unassuming town, by day and with no one to be seen on the streets she took a deep breath and ran again. Cassie closed her eyes and thought about the Guardian's Palace, the marbled floor, the beautiful animated paintings, the golden decorations, the Aesterdis, and Piero. Running, she began to feel her whole body lift off the ground embraced by a whirlwind of some divine force. Any human watching would have thought she'd simply disappeared into thin air.

Her feet finally came down on a white marbled floor. Cassie looked up, agitated, knowing she was there to find out who would replace her for the Icarus mission. Facing the fact that it just wasn't possible to change Tate's mind, and yet going against all her training, Cassie struggled with the one thought that kept circling. She was still one of them...for the moment.

Feeling a hand on her shoulder, a warm smile welcomed her.

"Piero," she smiled back. If circumstances were different she would have hugged him.

"Does Tate know you're here?"

"Yes."

"Did you say goodbye to him?" he asked with a probing, but soothing voice.

"No," she frowned, "that would suggest I wasn't ever going to see him again."

Piero nodded holding both of his hands together in a gesture of respectful authority. "Let's go."

Knowing she was facing her future, Cassie looked at the walls and the corridors, perhaps for the last time. So much had changed in her life and yet the one rock-solid constant was the Guardian's Palace. Cassie had practically grown up playing amid the hallowed halls, but for some reason whenever there she felt trapped...stuck in time...or as if there was not time, no clocks to countdown the days, hours, minutes she had left to live.

In its timeless perfection, nothing ever changed there...except for her.

Cassie knew the Twelve did change, though, but it takes place so slowly that even if a hundred years passed, they would still look the same. She glimpsed back at Piero, sure his eyes would remain like melted gold forever.

Of course, the other thing that changed was her future, when someone touched the Aesterdis. It could have been an apprentice but, why would an apprentice change the Aesterdis? Cassie didn't know any of them. Maybe it was one of the Twelve, then, but again why would they risk so much and break such an important rule?

Suddenly she felt the urge to ask Piero to answer all her questions, but the time just wasn't right. He opened the door for her. They were welcomed by ten Guardians standing in a circle; Heron was in the middle sitting on a chair that looked more like a throne. Cassie realized that one of the Twelve wasn't there. She whispered to Piero,