Post by Justin KG on Feb 8, 2011 12:05:06 GMT -8
April 11th 1994
Midnight
He fell to his knees, the pain left by his bindings searing, the wounds unwilling to heal quickly from his struggle. The loons had left him broken, angry, and most of all filled with an unknowable regret – he had failed her and caused her great suffering. The pain of that caused him more anguish than any silver ever would.
Lost in the sorrows of events beyond his control, he wept, crying out to the heavens with all the emotion he could muster, a pleading howl to Luna. As if in answer, the world around him silenced, the whispering wind hushed its travel through the trees of the forest around him, frog song faded into distant night, and an unearthly calm settled upon this little part of Gaia.
“You are not alone in your pain, Elton, son of Stag, born of Fury, Keeper-of-Wyld-Secrets.”
He turned to the voice, feminine and ethereal, and what he saw banished all thoughts from his mind for an unending moment. A woman, clad in burnished silver armor and a long and enrobing black cape with hood stood only a few feet from him. Her skin was as pale as moonlight itself, radiating the light of the celestines from her unblemished countenance. Her eyes were quicksilver, each radiant sparkle penetrating his spirit and searching the depths of his soul before any defense could be made. Long curled locks of crimson hair framed her beauty and fell softly against her bosom.
“You are…” he stammered.
“I am Artemis, the blood and fire that beats within the heart of the Furies, and the mask of war worn by the bearer of tides,” the resonance of her voice echoed as if in a deep well, overwhelming and enchanting. “This,” she held out a bundle to him, “is Eris, your first and last son, marked by Pegasus and born of the greatest burden. He shall know us in time, but he will never know you as you are now.”
Elton reached out to receive the sleeping metis infant, looking at it with care and sadness, “He is beautiful.”
“One of many gifts that he will see as a curse as much as he will see it a blessing.”
“What of Diana, does she live,” his question full of hope.
She smiled briefly, but spoke sternly, “Diana is to take another path, you will not meet her again, but know that her love for you and this child saved her from darkness.”
“What must I do now?”
“You are to take him to his family and in a fortnight you will call me again to begin a new path. By the light of the next full moon, Elton of Stag will be no more, and you shall live again. Now hurry, the hounds of madness chase this babe’s heels, and if he does not enter the protection of Aeolus before the rising of the sun, they will have him.”
The vision of her radiance faded as a cloud passed across the face of the Philidox moon. Not taking any extra time to wonder at the events of the night, Elton removed his shirt and tore off enough to make the package he was to deliver easy to carry in a faster form. Off in the distance he heard a terrifying howl, and he knew that Artemis spoke the truth. He just hoped that the others were able to escape the servants of the Corruptor.
Elton shifted to lupus, black as night with highlights of red that could not be seen by the dim light of the moon, picked up the straps to the bundle that was his son, and ran with all the speed who could borrow from his totem-father toward safety, toward home, even though it was not to be his any longer.
Midnight
He fell to his knees, the pain left by his bindings searing, the wounds unwilling to heal quickly from his struggle. The loons had left him broken, angry, and most of all filled with an unknowable regret – he had failed her and caused her great suffering. The pain of that caused him more anguish than any silver ever would.
Lost in the sorrows of events beyond his control, he wept, crying out to the heavens with all the emotion he could muster, a pleading howl to Luna. As if in answer, the world around him silenced, the whispering wind hushed its travel through the trees of the forest around him, frog song faded into distant night, and an unearthly calm settled upon this little part of Gaia.
“You are not alone in your pain, Elton, son of Stag, born of Fury, Keeper-of-Wyld-Secrets.”
He turned to the voice, feminine and ethereal, and what he saw banished all thoughts from his mind for an unending moment. A woman, clad in burnished silver armor and a long and enrobing black cape with hood stood only a few feet from him. Her skin was as pale as moonlight itself, radiating the light of the celestines from her unblemished countenance. Her eyes were quicksilver, each radiant sparkle penetrating his spirit and searching the depths of his soul before any defense could be made. Long curled locks of crimson hair framed her beauty and fell softly against her bosom.
“You are…” he stammered.
“I am Artemis, the blood and fire that beats within the heart of the Furies, and the mask of war worn by the bearer of tides,” the resonance of her voice echoed as if in a deep well, overwhelming and enchanting. “This,” she held out a bundle to him, “is Eris, your first and last son, marked by Pegasus and born of the greatest burden. He shall know us in time, but he will never know you as you are now.”
Elton reached out to receive the sleeping metis infant, looking at it with care and sadness, “He is beautiful.”
“One of many gifts that he will see as a curse as much as he will see it a blessing.”
“What of Diana, does she live,” his question full of hope.
She smiled briefly, but spoke sternly, “Diana is to take another path, you will not meet her again, but know that her love for you and this child saved her from darkness.”
“What must I do now?”
“You are to take him to his family and in a fortnight you will call me again to begin a new path. By the light of the next full moon, Elton of Stag will be no more, and you shall live again. Now hurry, the hounds of madness chase this babe’s heels, and if he does not enter the protection of Aeolus before the rising of the sun, they will have him.”
The vision of her radiance faded as a cloud passed across the face of the Philidox moon. Not taking any extra time to wonder at the events of the night, Elton removed his shirt and tore off enough to make the package he was to deliver easy to carry in a faster form. Off in the distance he heard a terrifying howl, and he knew that Artemis spoke the truth. He just hoped that the others were able to escape the servants of the Corruptor.
Elton shifted to lupus, black as night with highlights of red that could not be seen by the dim light of the moon, picked up the straps to the bundle that was his son, and ran with all the speed who could borrow from his totem-father toward safety, toward home, even though it was not to be his any longer.