The plateau of Adyll was born out of the sea, pushed up through tectonic pressures over a million years ago. To the east, beyond the cliffs where the capital city is located, lies a formidable desert which stretches for hundreds of miles, uninhabite...
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She fell into the night sky. Warm winds caressed her limbs and ruffled her hair as stars floated by her.
This is the taste of death I promised you, child. Death is not to be feared, Lina's voice echoed alongside Vasi's thoughts. Each of us is made of sky and earth and of light and dark. And we return ourselves to them.
How long have I been dying? asked Vasi.
You have been dying since you were born, said her guide. Just like all living things.
Vasi turned her head to look at Lina. Her eight-legged form stretched across the expanse touching each horizon beneath her. She held the moon between two of her front feet like a precious egg. Her abdomen glowed like the sun, but Vasi could somehow look upon it without being blinded.
You cannot stay here staring at my beauty for much longer, said Lina with a laugh. You have work to do. Come, let me take you to the All-Mother. The spider motioned with one leg, pointing to the darkest part of the sky. She lives there, Vasi.
Vasi felt the warm ocean winds on her face and closed her eyes. The familiar air of the mother tree enveloped her, and she breathed in deeply. Damp earth. The sweet fragrance of fallen leaves covering the forest floor. Tea made from dried flowers and fruit. The warm smell of home. Birdsong. Laughter.
Open your eyes, Vasi.
No, Lina, said Vasi as tears streamed down her cheeks. If I open my eyes, I might live and lose everything again.
"Vasi," a different voice called to her. "This is the beginning of your awakening. Open your eyes. This is more real than anything you have experienced up until this moment."
Vasi opened her eyes and the feeling of weightlessness disappeared. She stood in the mother tree where she had been born. The same place destroyed by the Swarm over a decade previous.
"Would you like some tea, Vasi?" asked the woman kneeling near the fire. Vasi could not remember ever seeing a woman who looked like this one. She seemed to shift between young and old, light and dark as she moved. One moment, a pale old woman with silver hair, the next a brown-skinned matriarch wearing a crown of autumn leaves, then a maiden with golden hair flowing down her back. Finally, Vasi's own mother with her deep luminous eyes and black braids that tinkled with golden bands.
"Who are you?"
She is the All-Mother. Vasi looked for the source of Lina's voice and saw her sitting in a web at the top of the doorframe busily spinning her thread.
"Lina is a good guide," said the woman, shifting in appearance once again. "But she does interrupt at times. I am indeed the All-Mother. I go by many names. Some call me the Lady. Some, Aaysha or even Moon Daughter. Some call me hope and life. You may call me what you will, but I shall call you my Morning Star."
"Can you please stop shifting? I am feeling a bit dizzy," said Vasi, sitting down on a stool by the fire.
It's the venom, said Lina from across the room.
"Of course, dear one." The All-Mother seemed to solidify in front of Vasi into an ageless woman with pale skin and white-gold hair. Her eyes took on the color of a midnight sky. "In Adyll, this is the form by which I am known. Here, I am the Goddess known as the Lady. I usually have wings, but your sweet house is too small to contain them. I am glad you picked this place to meet me, Vasi."
"I picked this place?" asked Vasi.
"Yes. This is the place where you last felt your mother's love. These are the places where those who seek me shall find me." She dunked a cup into the herbal brew on the fire next to which she was sitting and passed it to Vasi. It smelled exactly as Vasi remembered, like honeysuckle and ripe pears.
"They destroyed all of it. This tree. My mother. My grandmother. All gone. Everyone I cared about. And then they took me to wait tables and pour their wine."
"Yes. They did. And you survived all of this, just as all of them wished you to do. They live on in you. As long as your heart beats, as long as you remember them, their memories survive. Mahleck is a terrible devil whose deepest desire is to destroy that which he cannot have - love that is freely given without shame and without compulsion. With that comes the desire to control and subjugate all to his will. But you, brave girl, refuse to be controlled or submit. You are a warrior," said the All-Mother.
"But I did not succeed," said Vasi. "I failed. I gave the knife to the Queen hoping that she would kill him for me. But she failed. And she died as well."
"The strigoi-viu will murder any of my line that he is able. This is no fault of your own. He does this knowing I gather the souls of my descendants as they pass, hoping for one more glimpse of me," said the woman.
"What is strigoi-viu?" asked Vasi.
"Strigoi-viu are those who feed upon the suffering and fear of others. They consume life and hope. They become a walking curse upon the land, drinking the blood of their victims."
"And Mahleck is one of them?" Vasi felt the delicate tickle of Lina's legs upon her hand.
He is the first of the strigoi-viu. He is the one who brings death and fear upon the lands.
The All-Mother nodded in agreement.
"You said you needed a warrior who would not whisper to speak for you," said Vasi. "A warrior to fight the strigoi-viu. I wish to fight."
The pale woman smiled and reached out to embrace Vasi, who snuggled against her bosom.
"You come from a land far from Adyll, Vasi. Where trees hold a mother's love and wise women raise strong children whose feet fly across the forest. Now you have made your way across the desert, hiding among Locusts to speak to a country you do not know and bring them hope and courage."
Vasi felt feathers wrap around her protectively as Lina ran up her arm to hide in her hair. The world shifted around her. When she released the Goddess' embrace she no longer stood in the Mother Tree. Around her were walls of living rock, and a ceiling so dark she could not see where it ended. Rosy morning light flowed from behind her, illuminating an altar upon which poured water from above. Two female forms knelt there in silence.
"Welcome, Morning Star."
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Author's note: it is an interesting synchronicity that this chapter ends with the dawn of the Autumnal Equinox in Adyll. Tomorrow is the same equinox in our world. This was completely unplanned on my part. May the light of the Lady guide your paths, dear readers!
