Doesn't Mean Fearless.
When my world changed it seemed like a normal day in the life of a fledgling oracle. I was woken up by one of my numerous cousins pounding on my door as if the house was on fire, screaming "Breakfast" at that top of her lungs. I 'd pulled on a clean tank top and loose knee-length skirt and started stumbling down the hall towards the kitchen in search of food when the pain hit. It speared through my eyes with the energy of a millions suns. Barely holding onto my training I sat down , ignoring the grumbling a young girl who was trapped behind me in the narrow hallway. i winged a silent prayer for guidance to Athena, and thanked her that only one of the three cousins living at my house that summer had lounged in bed that morning.
With the pull of the pain getting ever worse, I took a deep breath and felt the sucking feeling of the vision pull me out of my time, space, and body. All of the sudden, I was there.
The sun beat down, punishing my shoulders for being bare. It didn't matter though, It wouldn't get the chance to burn me. I raced to reach the center of this endless green field. Something was there, Something I needed desperately to get to before I died.
The thought of my death almost shocked me back into reality, but I calmed my breathing and returned to the meadow that felt so important.
"Hurry up, Selene." I thought aloud. "He's gotta be close." As if summoned by my words, the ground before me creaked, warning me before cracking open. A solid black shadow streamed out of the chasm, blocking my path. "You can not take me. Not alive at least." I vowed.
The pain pounded back, and my world ran to black as I was thrown back into my body. The cousin had long since stepped around me, and my legs ached from the strain. I slowly climbed to my feet, hearing a voice in the kitchen in front of me complaining about "that wierd girl without a mom.".
when I entered the kitchen, my eyes still blazing with excess energy, it went silent, and I ignored the curious gazes that followed my path. I walked up to my grandmother, and quietly began speaking with her. "Grandmother, I would like to talk to you. Now." I said, much calmer looking than I felt.
She nodded absentmindedly. "Yes, dear. Give me a second."
Three pairs of dark eyes watched my casual approach of talking to Alethia. My cousins had never understood Alethia, and would have never dared to speak to her with anything less then formal and respectful. I had grown up with the quiet power she exuded, and talked to her as affectionately as my prickly personality allowed.
"It's been a second." I said lightly, my calm slipping more and more every moment. The eyes at the old wood table snapped back to me.
"Go on then." Alethia responded, tossing her head as she cracked the last egg on the stove. I nodded sharply, rushing from the room before another word could be said. The door to my Grandmother's sitting room opened smoothly, and I closed it behind me tightly.
The room was beautiful. A ivory couch sat in front of a low slung table covered in papers that I had been meaning to get around to reading, all written by one of my ancestors, all supposed to teach me something. 'No use now.' I thought bitterly.
"Stop." A voice said from behind me. The note of command in Alethia's voice startled me. "Stop feeling sorry for yourself. organize your thoughts as I taught you, and tell me what has you so startled."
I looked down at Alethia, seeing something that I didn't know how I missed before. Her gray eyes were misty with age, but seemed to stare at me as if they already knew everything. Her black hair held streaks of gray that served to make her look distinguished, and her pale blue dress tumbled around her still slim figure artlessly. She looked like an Ancient queen granting a petitioner a boon.
"I assume that you've had a vision about your own death." She said, quietly. I stared at her in utter shock, then shook my head.
"no, um... more like I was planning my death, or it was about to happen." I replied. I shook my head again, and mentally reran the vision through once, and relayed all that I could remember.
"So, He has decided to search you out. I should have known He would have been one of the three. " She whispered, more to herself than to me. She walked away from me, going to her window and staring out towards town. The room was utterly silent as I waited for her to finish what she had been saying.
Finally, I could not wait any longer. "Grandmother, who are are you talking about?" I demanded to know. She looked over her shoulder quickly, as if she had forgotten I was there, before sighing heavily.
"What do I call him? To me he is a bastard, a monster of the worst kind, and a man who only did one thing good his entire eternal life. To you," she shrugged. "He is simply a Father." Everything sped up, then slammed against an immobile wall as I attempted to register her words. The world started slipping in an out and, for the first time in all of my 17 years, I fainted. my last thought being 'breathe, you Idiot.'
YOU ARE READING
Tearless: Curses and Lockets
Short StoryThis story was inspired by Greek myth of a man who saw Athena naked (*gasp*) and who was blinded by her as punishment (sounds brutal for accidently walking in on her, but the usual punishment was death.) she felt bad and granted him the gift of inte...
