“So,” an ethereal voice says, her voice carrying over the wind, tugging on my soul. I whirl towards the sound, entranced by the beauty and the peace it evokes. The water sloshes against my feet, kissing my bare calves. “It is your time, again.”
A woman, with the imprint of green leaves and vines running through her mocha skin, approaches me. With graceful steps, she walks across the field I had just come from, but she had not been there a moment ago—of that, I am sure. Her hair is made up of cherry blossom stems that appear as soft as silk. A glow radiates from her skin and her eyes, a prism of colors, call to me.
I see maternal love in her concern.
Why?
“Again?” I asked, hesitant to speak, evident in my breathless question. She has a gentle power exuding from every pore, that alights in me a desire to run to her, to embrace her tightly, as if she is a family member I lost long ago.
“Yes, my child,” she says in that angelic voice. “You and your consort’s rebirth. It is time for you to reclaim your title, your powers and restore balance to your realm.”
Wait … what? I gape at her, unsure if she’s speaking the same language as me. Powers? My realm? Wait … rebirth?
“Who are you?” I timidly ask, feeling the pulse of her power deep in my bones.
Her expression softens to one of pure love and, surprisingly, regret. What does she have to regret?
“You may not like the answer to that. I felt your hatred for me before you joined me in your dream world.”
I’m dreaming? That makes sense. Pale pink water and women with cherry stems for hair don’t exist.
I shake my head, unsure. “I don’t know what you mean. My mind feels a bit fuzzy right now.”
She stands straighter, a regal air surrounding her. “I am the Goddess of Earth. You may call me Gaia.”
Suddenly, I feel myself denying the pull to this Goddess.
Gaia.
She let Beth die.
Everything rushes back to me, popping the bubble of blissful ignorance and naïve entrancement that had fogged my memory. Anger and betrayal pulse through me as I stare into the eyes of the supposedly divine being that allowed nature to kill my mom.
Mother fucking Nature.
That storm should have been in her power.
“Ah,” she says, a grimace on her lips. “I see you remember now. May I tell you a little of Beth’s story?”
Not trusting myself to speak to her, I nod.
“That night when Beth’s family died in Arizona, the storm that took her husband and young son—she was there that night with them, driving. She died with her family. As her soul was being pulled from her body, it called out to nature, to Earth, to me. It called to me in a way very few souls are blessed enough to be able to do.”
I gasp at the revelation, feeling more confused than ever.
“Another God, Thanatos—you may know him as the God of Death—owed me a favor from an eon ago that I had been keeping safe for a time such as this. I asked him to spare her and he did. He returned her soul to her body and I asked the waves of the flood to carry her to a field for safety.
“You see, Lana, many misunderstand what I am capable of doing. I create life and nature obeys me, respects me, but nature is a body. I cannot control all its limbs at all times. I hold a balance. For me to protect Beth and focus on the water to transport her to safety, my focus on the balance of the realm suffered for a few brief moments, allowing more disasters.” She shakes her sadly.
Hanging on every word, I try to expand my mind to absorb all of this information that’s being thrown at me. Gods and Goddesses being real was enough of a mindfuck. Now the idea that those beings conferred to bring my foster mother back to life?
This has to be a lucid dream.
Let’s pretend this is real. “Why Beth, then?”
“As I said, her soul called to me in a way few can. Only the purest of souls can cry loud enough for a Goddess to hear. I saw your birth coming, Lana. I knew the troubles you would face and how I would be powerless to intervene. So, I did what I could—I saved a pure soul to serve as a shining light in the maze of darkness that you would experience in the human realm. I led her to you, in hopes that she could provide you with the upbringing you would need to make it through what is to come.”
That’s not cryptic or anything.
“I call bullshit,” I state. “I’d say excuse my language but I don’t think any of this is real. If Beth was that important, then why did you let her die tonight?”
Maybe I shouldn’t sass a potentially real Goddess, some rational—irrational? —part of me supplies.
“I understand your pain, my child,” she says, grief in her words that has me wanting to believe that maybe she does. “Beth’s death tonight was inevitable, necessary to restore the balance in the world. Her time in this world was borrowed, for a purpose. She was never meant to take you further than today. On your twenty-first birthday, your powers are set to awaken, allowing you to protect yourself. Your consort’s power will also begin to awaken, providing you with another layer of protection. Your journey moving forward would not have allowed Beth to have any part of it.”
I regard her with suspicious eyes. “So, say I believe all this fantasy shit is real and not just a hallucinogenic-induced dream … You mentioned rebirth and powers. Explain.”
Making demands of a maybe-Goddess. Nice, Lana.
I’m either incredibly stupid or incredibly brave but as of now, I’d like to believe I’m being incredibly logical. Shit like this doesn’t exist. She’s only in my dreams because I was cursing her before I passed out. That’s how the brain works, right?
“You were blessed with the power of magic in the Fae realm. As I protect the Earth realm, you are set to protect the balance of the Fae realm existing in another dimension. You are an extension of me. I have children that hold these titles in every realm.”
“Fae?”
“Yes, Fae. A supernatural race. Your kind typically wields elemental powers on the light side. This would explain your draw to nature, as well as your consort’s interest in it.”
“Okay. I’m trying to not dwell on one thing so I’m going to continue asking questions—you know, just in case this is real. You said on the light side. That means there’s a dark side?”
“Yes … and you have a dark Fae living in the Earth realm. They have likely been biding their time with their powers bound, as yours have been.” I open my mouth but she shakes her head before I can speak. “I cannot help you with their identity, my child. It may change the events of the future. You must travel that journey on your own.”
“Well, thanks for that,” I snark, “Lots of help.”
My brain is racing a thousand miles a minute and none of this makes sense. I huff and fall into a cross-legged position into the now receding water. Still needing a bit more dramatic, I throw my back onto the sand, staring at the sky.
None of this makes sense. Nothing. Why is this place so familiar to me?
Wait … my back doesn’t hurt. Is it because it’s a dream?
Before I can weigh the importance of asking, Gaia says, “Your back has been healing and stitching itself back together as you come into your powers and absorb the beginning of your magic. You are transitioning into your Fae form. This is what your realm looks like. I brought you into one of your memories buried in your soul from a previous life. I wanted you to see the beauty you will have to fight for.”