“Olivia Lee, will you marry me?”
Off in her own world, staring down over the edge of the old Golden Oak Bridge into the reflective waters below, Olivia let out a small preoccupied laugh, not even looking behind her at the source of this unexpectedly comical request. Her mind was so transfixed on the lazy moving water and its magic mirror world and so concerned with complex thoughts only a sixteen year old girl could truly appreciate, that she said the generic, “You’re so goofy.”, she used primarily for one of Brandon’s silly jokes. Brandon, her close friend since preschool, boyfriend since third grade, and complete weirdo/nut job since birth presumably, was known for saying randomly awkward comments to get a laugh. Most of the time it was to amuse others and bask in his role as “life of the party” but just as often his words were designed only for himself. He was his own best audience.
“Olivia Lee, I Love you. Will. You. Marry. Me?”
When he spoke the words again, Olivia was snatched from her reverie with the force of a thousand rubber bands snapping in her mind. His words sounded so serious and so unlike the Brandon she had forever known and they filled her with an apprehension that bordered on dread. She quickly turned from the water, keeping one hand on the old wooden railing for support, looking behind and then down, her dread made whole when her troubled blue eyes saw Brandon kneeling on one knee; hope in his contagious smile, a ring in his outstretched hand.
This was not a joke. This was real.
“This can not be happening.“, she whispered to herself and the wind as he knelt before her, both their futures dependent on this completely unexpectedly insane question and her much expected one syllable response. Marry him? She had spent the winter break debating if she should break up with him, wondering if she was wasting both their time in a relationship destined by Fate, teenage hormones, and pop culture to fail but not wanting to hurt someone she cared about as much as she did this stupid boy. She loved Brandon with all her heart and he was one of the few people she trusted completely but they were not even seniors yet…and even though she wanted nothing more than to believe in “Forever” , she had a keen enough mind to realize the improbability of it all. Hardly anyone married their high school sweet heart. That worked for old people before the invention of the internet, flash mobs, and reality television but in today’s world if you got married right out of high school with hopes of raising a big happy family, you generally ended up trading your dream for free airfare, hotel stay, and a complimentary paternity test in exchange for becoming a daytime talk show cliché. Seriously, how do people do that?
Young love was not meant to last in this world, that much she was sure. It was a beautiful thought and seeing him there, wearing his Golden Oaks High Eagle’s hoodie to keep warm in the early December chill, swaying unsteadily while trying to keep his balance on the ancient bridge, she wished she could believe in forever. If there was a ‘Forever’, then Brandon Scott Long was the perfect partner to share its depth. He was smart, caring, athletic, and he did have that contagious smile as a centerpiece to his pretty, chiseled face. He was also filled with an earnestness that was almost overshadowed by his loud mouth. It was this earnestness that she loved most about him and right now its intensity was leaking from every pore of his being. He truly meant the words he was saying and was sure there was nothing more right in the world. He believed in eternal love. With her. This realization was all she needed to reassure herself that she was not a bitch for being so doubtful. Only crazy people could be this sure about something. He probably needed therapy.
Olivia was not big on contemplating her feelings and even less concerned with discussing them, the outcome often comical and always embarrassing when her tongue tied in knots chasing untrained words as they battled in her mind.. Her difficult time expressing herself was caused by the constant fear and worry that warred with her hearts true desires. She just wasn’t sure about…anything. A psychologist would probably say this underdeveloped emotional skill set arose from abandonment issues caused by the death of her father when she was young. Olivia would have told that psychologist to kiss her overdeveloped, spray tanned ass. She would say she didn’t have abandonment issues, and that the fire which took her father was an accident. She would tell that overpaid, overrated, I’ve ran out of “O” words, quack that Jonathan Lee hadn’t left his family for another woman, didn’t die from a rusty liver caused by a drinking problem, and hadn’t skulked off into the night on a drug run gone bad only to end up dying alone in a puke filled back alley. Her father had been a great and caring man and he died saving his daughters life; he had not abandoned her.
Olivia would have used these defensive comments as a shield and her hard sarcasm as a stone wall to hide behind while unexplored emotions raged against each other: much like she did now.
“Are you serious? Did you get hit too hard at practice? Do you have a brain tumor? Did you start smoking meth or did you just completely lose your freakin mind?” her words come out harder than she intended, and feeling guilty, she quickly softened her outburst with a small, earnest smile of her own.
It WAS sweet. Had she been on the shore, skipping rocks by herself from its small grassy banks, she would have been moved by the sight of this crazy/stupid boy on bended knee as the low rivers water tickled the shore and the sun rose just above the treetops. She may have even had a brave moment true of heart when she saw such thoughtful young love. She might have yelled to herself from the quiet distance, “Say yes!” as her normally erratic heart was filled with hope and promise for the future. It was romantic. It was stupid and foolish and not completely thought out, but it was romantic.
Only seconds had passed since Brandon had traded sanity for a padded cell but to Olivia time was moving like the honey her mother poured over fresh cooked biscuits ; slowly, steadily, and with purpose. The biscuits awaited that golden bee love juice just like he awaited an answer. Patiently. He just smiled. He was used to her sarcasm, immune to its sting, and knew that after her initial mouth fart, she would give an honest answer not poisoned by fear. She just needed time to think and he respected that. It was yet another of his annoyingly wonderful traits. She wished she could say yes.
“No. Brandon we can’t”, her words were much gentler this time.” I can’t. We are sixteen years old and I never, we never talked about.. I just don’t…Err.“
She was getting her words twisted and let out a long sigh.“ Marriage isn’t even on my bucket list, Brandon. It’s definitely not something I want to do while I’m still growing into my classic beauty and Victoria Secret body.”
There we go, she thought to herself. Ease the tension with humor. Olivia realized her beauty and figure was closer to a “best friend” role on a mass produced Disney teen sitcom than any model. Well, a Target print job perhaps but definitely not a Victoria Secret model.
Brandon stood up quickly, causing her to hiccup in surprise. He sweetly took her hand, still smiling and looking into her eyes.
“Not now.” he said.
Olivia frowned. “Huh?”
“Not now. Not even this year, or next. Maybe after college. Maybe longer than that….but one day. ONE day, Will you marry me? I know this is a surprise, and we’ve never talked about it. I know you have major commitment issues”, at least he didn’t say abandonment issues she thought, “and I know you always worry about the future.”
“I don’t always worry.” she said defensively.
“Yes you do.”
“No. I don’t”
“Yes.” she put her had over his mouth forcibly, looking him in the eye even harder, before he could finish his sentence.
“You are not helping your case in this whole marriage question.” Two minutes ago she had been staring into to water with thoughts of school dances, getting her other best friend Ally to trim her hair, her parents anniversary dinner tonight, the new Sims expansion pack, and if she should put this fool out of her misery.
“Liv,” he said tenderly, using the annoying nickname he had given her. He was the only one who called her that because everyone else knew it got on her nerves. Brandon thought it was sexy. Olivia thought he was a jerk. He said Olivia was a beautiful name for a beautiful woman but that Liv had a certain hardness to it. Something stronger than beauty. Something he saw in her. Maybe that’s why it annoyed her so bad, because of his sureness of that fact. So he continued to call her Liv and she continued to spit gum at him during lunch every day. Last Thursday it stuck in his hair and had to be cut out with craft scissors. Good times.
“Liv, do you remember the summer when we were eleven and you broke up with me because I got grounded for a month for shaving Mister Whistles? You said a relationship couldn’t survive such long term obstacles. You were eleven and you used the word obstacles. In a sentence. You even knew what it meant. I had no clue, no idea what that word meant. I just know I was miserable and didn’t talk to you for five weeks. I was grounded for four weeks and then sat around acting all emo around the house for another week before I finally came and knocked on your door.” his smile got brighter. “You said ‘took you long enough.’ and invited me in for cookies.”
“I remember that breakup just fine thank you. You were just lucky enough that no new suitors moved into the neighborhood. That’s the only reason I took you back.” her words only a little lie.
“Suitors? Really, you’re gonna use that word? Who even says that anymore? “
“I like the word suitors.” she said sternly.
“Fine then, eighth grade. When you broke up with me after Jared Nettleton moved to town. Attractive, funny, smart. Played football, and was such an awesome guy he helped me get on the team. I think he even sang in a glee club. I actually cried when he sang Unchained Melody to you after science class. That was beautiful.”
“I remember Jared too. What about him?” Olivia knew what about him, but was hoping Brandon would save her the details.
No such luck.
He continued,” He came into town and met you and did everything in the world to get your attention. Everything he could to get you to fall for him. He told me it was nothing personal but you were just way too good for me. He said he was going far in the world and would be a great football player and that he could give you everything you ever wanted. For an eighth grader that kid had vision. I also agreed with him that you were too good for me but seeing as how I was the one having the incredible run of luck of being your boyfriend it did offend me a bit”
“So you punched him.”
“I overreacted.” he admitted, moving closer to her.
“Then he punched you back” she replied, thinking about that strange day.
“Yes.” he took the ring from the box.
“And you got knocked out.” she let him pull her hand to him.
“KTFO.” he agreed.
“KTFO.” he agreed.
Then he placed the ring on her finger. It was the first time she had actually paid attention to the ring. It was beautiful and she had seen it before. Simple gold with a winding pattern of ivy leaves, and the perfectly beveled sapphire, it had belonged to his mother. She had left her family for another man. Then come back. Then left again. Brandon and his older brother hadn’t seen or heard from her in eight years. He had found the ring in his mother’s old jewelry box while packing her belongings for his father to put in storage, and remembering it once belonged to his beloved Mamaw Ruth before she passed, he claimed it as his inheritance. His Mamaw was always the glue that held his family together, his older brother would tell him. Brandon often talked about her as though she were a saint and this very ring as if it were from middle earth and would bring people together. He had only 6 years to know his Mamaw before she died of old age, so Olivia let him have his fantasy of the woman. Olivia met Mamaw at Brandon’s fifth Birthday and was not impressed. The old bat liked to pinch cheeks. Hard. Even so, Olivia knew how much the ring meant to him.
His words pressed on, “I woke up to you on his back, trying to choke him out like an MMA fighter. It took two principles and a student teacher to pull you off of him.”
“I was there.” she joked, the edge completely gone from her voice. That had been fun. Seeing her boyfriend lying on the ground, blood trickling from the corner of his mouth, rational thought had left her. Without thinking she had leapt a bench in the school courtyard, ran across twenty feet of grass, and tackled Jared as hard as any professional linebacker. He had gone down, but like some horror movie bad guy, he stood right back up. Olivia was sure he wouldn’t hit a girl, but she didn’t want to test this theory so she hung onto his neck as he stood up, trying occasionally and unsuccessfully to smack him upside the head. By the time they pulled her off him it was looking like a bad professional wrestling match but she was thoroughly enjoying herself. It felt good to release some aggression.
She had not tried to choke him out as Brandon liked to tell the story, it just happened from the force of her arm around his neck as the school staff tried to reign her in. He only passed out for like one second. She thought of reminding him he was unconscious while most of this was going down, but sarcasm had been replaced by sympathy.
She put her hand lovingly on his face,” You were hurt, and he was an ass.”
He let his other hand go to her face in mirrored love.
“You know he wasn’t actually a bad guy, but he was a suitor. A suitor who you should have picked over me. He was the most popular guy in school until his family moved to Nashville but you never even gave him the time of day. You didn’t break up with me because of another guy. That’s not you. You would never hurt someone that way. “
He paused for a second, his thumb reading the bends and grooves of her fingers like brail, “You did break up with me for a week though. You said our relationship would never last and you couldn’t be with someone who put themselves in such dangerous positions. You said it scared you too much.”
“I did. It did.” she said, leaning her face into his warm touch.
“I waited one week. One week exactly, and I knocked on your door.”
His lips moved closer to hers as their words heated the air, stopping within a whispered distance. “You opened the door and what did you say to me? You said,” and their voices declared in unison, “What took you so long?”
“I heard it in a movie.” she breathed.
“I know” He kissed her, while a mild and irrational fear of drooling entered her mind.
There are moments when a couple merely kiss, and then there are moments when two people of same soul meet in a union of flesh and love so profound that time simply ceases to exist. During one of these rare and purely unscientific moments, if one could measure the length of the magical kiss from inside the intertwined hearts, it would perhaps be lengthy enough to take a trip to the grocery store to stock up for the month on almond snickers and diet Dr Pepper, or even more rarely this kiss could offer a traveler enough time to fly to Greece for a week to explore the great labyrinths of lore and enjoy classic Greek cuisine, before the lovers lips finished exploring and enjoying each other. When Brandon’s lips met hers, they danced and played in this timeless world, a kiss pure enough for sixteen but passionate enough to be remembered a lifetime.
Slowly she pulled away from him, making sure her feet were still planted firmly on the bridge. She had lost contact with them for a moment. She did a quick drool check; negative.
“Definitely a great kisser but you’re still in need of shock treatment and straight jacket.” she said to him while admiring the ring on her finger. She had always liked this ring. Still, she was not ready for marriage. She was open to the idea of a discussion that could happen after graduation where they threw the thought of marriage and forever and what color scheme should they use in their sunroom, into a hat of better ideas and drew them one at a time. She would be given at least one pass, and the talk would need to be mediated of course.
“I am not going to say yes to this. This is still crazy. I saw you eyeing Cyndy Rattrap’s boobs last week at the pep rally, do you really think your uncontrollably gross male hormones could be faithful the rest of your life? What if Cyndy comes on to you? What if she starts sending you those bikini shots half the guys in the school have set as their wallpaper? Huh? Who spells Cyndy with a Y anyway? Her parents marked her as a slut from birth.”
“I don’t want Cindy Ratt…Rapshaw. Its not Rattrap. They don’t even sound the same. I don’t know why you other girls give her such a hard time. She’s a nice girl. A nice girl but not the one I want. I want you. I love you, and have for as long as I can remember.”
“She is a nice girl” Olivia conceded.
“She is a nice girl” Olivia conceded.
“Think about it. I know you love me, and I know you’re confused and like I said’ I know you always worry about the future. I know you have your parent’s anniversary dinner tonight, and that you always get real sad around this time of the year. You miss him, and you worry about your mom and Tommy like crazy because you know they miss him too.” Tommy was her little brother and to his protective older sister he was the cutest, weirdest, most highly annoying little ten year old on planet earth.
Brandon’s words drew her in. “Every year you guys have a dinner in his honor, then you spend the Christmas break in a depressive funk. It hurts me to see you so sad but I understand. I get it. Things suck sometimes. I just wanted to give you one less thing to worry about. I wanted you to know I would always be there for you. I love you, Liv. We were meant to be together. Just keep the ring, think it over, and give me your answer whenever you‘re ready”
She looked at the ring again. Damn, it looked good on her finger.
“Think about it.” his words hung on hope.
Olivia shook her head slowly and completely without intent, as her strobe like smile nodded yes.
“I will think…” A flash of magnificent light and mathematical sound exploded through her mind as every hair on her body stood at attention, and a feeling of oneness with creation flowed through her.
Then someone flipped the channel and everything changed.
**********
Atoms rearranged themselves, time broke down, and reality took a back seat to the fantastical. It happened suddenly and completely, one second Olivia was there on old Golden Oak Bridge playing life’s funny little game with Brandon Long, the next she was not. Instead she was suspended on a vast spire of ice like crystal, shooting from a metallic black colored shore far below. Her wrists were tied above her head and twin bindings secured her ankles, her form pulled tight in a full body stretch like a sail tied to a crystalline mast. Stuffed securely in her mouth was a dirty cloth that smelled of clove and tasted of exotic oils. Directly in front of the spire was a dark stone shape, obsidian in color and cold of texture. Both structures shot from the cold ground, her translucent mast looking more like some giant’s spear left forgotten in the earth after a failed hunt, the other resembling a tremendous burned and blackened oak; a petrified victim of infernal fires from long ago, its limbs lost to time, its canopy cleaved smooth and flat by erosion and eternity. Olivia could hear waters lapping hungrily at the black sand beach and she knew the waves come from the Azelean Sea and its poisoned waters to her right. She turned her head left and saw only a curtain of night, but instinctively knew the black sand went on for countless days before giving way to perilous mountains in the east.
The instant channel flip of reality should have surprised her, but a righteous anger was consuming all other thought. She was lost in a moment of raw emotion as fire burned in her soul. Who had done this to her? Who had defiled these sacred grounds? How dare they?
As if in answer to her question the night suddenly filled with static and sparks as a perfect circle of emptiness opened high in the sky above. Calmness filled the sky and the circle blossomed with radiant light; a gateway opened between worlds. Shadow quickly covered the portals glow as a winged form flew from its mouth. Small like a hummingbird at first , passing finch and falcon in the blink of an eye, moving with a hunters intent, the shadowy blur landed directly in front of her on its petrified perch; not a bird but a beast; a humanoid body and an intellectual brain but a beast most vile. It had the form of a man clothed in war scarred metal and draped it robes of fine midnight but its eyes betrayed the rabid animal within.
In his right hand he held a sinister looking staff, its base a foot long blade with deadly intent, its length transcribed in ancient markings of lost languages, its wooden shaft picked from the tree of life, aged over millennium and coated in pure iron mined from a dead star. The staff was crowned with a beautiful circular crystal the size of a mans fist, and as red as blood, its core made from the energy of the same dead star as it went supernova, murdered for its powerful blood. It was this energy that had opened the gate and allowed the man to fly without wings. This same energy was keeping her here now. It was not just the simple bindings of cloth but this wicked man and his corrupted power that trapped her here. He had used the secret knowledge and stolen magic from this staff to kidnap her, open a gate to her ancestors home, and suspend her from this once sacred spire; an intended sacrifice for his dark God. He meant to kill her and the life that lived symbiotically within her.
Olivia new all these details and a million more, knowledge gained but not earned, synapses firing with surety as each new detail fell into place. The rage she was feeling became a tidal wave, threatening to beat reasoning against the rocks, and drown her sanity. The portal above her head was unaware of her plight, and its light faded as it closed, leaving her alone with her captor.
“I remember being brought here as a child.”, the man’s voice was smooth and tasted of fire and snakes blood.
He waved his staff lazily at the darkness, “The land was fertile, the water was pure, and the light of the four suns made the world shine with their brilliance. It was truly breathtaking. There was no place in all the Kingdoms more beautiful.“
His gaze was lost in memory as he took a step towards her, the toes of his boots contemplating freefall.
“I remember coming to this stupid rock as a boy and watching as hundreds of Kingdoms opened gates in the distance, millions of inhabitants from distant worlds walking, flying, and slithering through time and space to come to this ignorant planet in celebration. Millions of beings making the pilgrimage here so they could bask in the glory of the Law‘s and awe at the beauty of the Pillar of Destiny awoke anew. It was as poetic as it was pathetic, how the horde of worshippers would line up like cattle, waiting on the birth of a new child as the Keeper of Law‘s stood on this very pillar of stone.”
He tapped the bladed end of his staff against the ground for effect, a tick tick tick of evil.
The dark man‘s voice filled with sarcasm, “A gate would open directly behind me, and he would walk out, looking like a strong warrior king, noble and just, like a character from a children’s book. After waiting for the thunderclap of applause to subside, he would exclaim the Law’s in his warm deep tone. No matter we all knew them by heart. He would yell to the throbbing masses, his voice translating to thousands of different dialects and languages, as he reflected on the life of the honored Pillar that had recently succumbed to the second Law.”
With each word from his hated mouth, Olivia’s rage increased, his words baiting her as she thrashed like a fish caught to line; a violent dance of hate, struggling without rhythm. Gone were any thoughts of Brandon, marriage, and the future. Gone were all worries, fears, and doubt. There was only this man and her utter hate at his very existence, and if she could only get free of these bonds, she would rip his soul out through his heathen mouth. Her rebellion against the restraints intensified; her body straining with the effort, her face a mask of tension and throbbing veins.
He continued with his egotistical tirade as if she wasn’t there.
“Then he would turn back to the gate, and from its quantum depths, he would pull a newborn child. You never knew what the child would look like. Would it be male or female? Would it at least be somewhat human? Or would it look like an Omerion perhaps, its small tentacles wrapped around the Keeper‘s outstretched arm?
The man reached with his free hand, gliding it like a serpent through her free falling hair, and pulling it with bite as his voice grew louder, “He would turn to the Kingdoms of Infinity, and he would hold the child above himself in triumph. The First Law, he would shout, is made WHOLE!”
His own hateful anger boiled just beneath the surface and his words came laced with acid.
“The worlds would cheer, and another life would be raised and studied and worshipped until its final breath. A new setting for the eternal spark of life it protected, and nothing more; traded in at the first signs of tarnish for a newer bauble. The thought of it all sickens me!! “He spit in her face, enjoying the drama of the moment.
The man laughed, the sound unholy and unnatural, and shook his head while releasing her hair.
“Please forgive me. That outburst was beneath me. I’m just so passionate about this subject. Sometimes I let my emotions get the better of me.” he said softly to her, his eyes making the apology a lie.
“It was coming here as a child that inspired my passion. There were so many cultures and philosophies and stories about the Pillar, how could I not be inspired. The very idea of a being whose life and death keeps all of Creation in balance kept me up numerous nights, looking out into the heavens, wondering of all that is and could be. I became so interested in the story and history of the Pillars and their birth that I spent all my free time combing old texts and forgotten scrolls in libraries throughout the Kingdoms, my interest turning into obsession as I filtered fact from fable. Did you know there was once a Pillar that was a newly born star? It was found all alone floating in dead space, its soft glow the only life in that entire universe. It supposedly lasted for eons before it was captured during the Great War, its spark extinguished by Chaos Mages as they tried to discover the secret of the first law” He looked into her eyes and smiled, hunter to prey, before nodding at the softly glowing crystal of his staff.
Olivia howled threw the gag, her body an uncontrolled seizure, needing to escape. She could not let this happen. Not here. Not this man. This animal.
“They failed of course. Their ranks were filled with mostly lesser races from backwards Kingdoms and the few from Noble lines had weak minds. It was a grand attempt, but they lacked the knowledge and power to truly understand what they were doing and the forces it would unleash. The mages killed the pillar in an attempt to steal its power, but when the small star exploded, it destroyed dozens of planets and ended billions of Kardarion lives. The only thing to survive the destruction was the star stone they hoped would harness the Pillars energy. The crimson gem was left floating in orbit around the cold star, the Chaos Mages who created it turned to dust, leaving few who knew of its existence.”, he kept speaking and Olivia’s anger gave way to tears of remembrance as flashing images and emotions she had never felt flooded her mind. She remembered being chained and tortured by dark magic long ago. She remembered the loneliness and fear and the feeling of complete helplessness as the Kardarions started the chain reaction that ended Pillar Eru. The explosion that ended her life. She remembered the star stone they had placed inside her as they tried to harness the power within her. She remembered the pain of dying: an unimaginable, indescribable pain. Olivia cried harder as the memories from someone else’s life poured through her and as the sobs racked her body, her eyes rolled back in her head and closed, and all attempts at struggle ceased.
“You cannot imagine the difficulty I had finding this star. The sacrifices I had to make.” he hissed, his gaze turning to the star stone almost lovingly.
With expert speed, the dark man spun the staff one hundred and eighty degrees, his left hand grabbing it just below the blade as he spoke again, “I lost everything in search of this power. Everything! “, his voice boomed. Holding it like a spear ready to thrust, he traced the tip of the blade down Olivia’s cheek, leaving a thin line of blood in its wake. Salty water and blood quickly mixed and began falling from her face, tears of life dripping from her chin onto the unnatural shine of the staff’s blade. Olivia did not acknowledge the transgression, nor did she realize it had occurred. She floated in a sea of thought, not unconscious, but focused. Remembering the life and death of Pillar Eru had been a catalyst; an explosion which released universal knowledge and wisdom, details of countless past lives, and a sense of Devine purpose that filled her with unwavering confidence. Every cell in her body came alive and power coursed through her veins, as the hopes, dreams, and fears of countless Pillars pasts were remembered, studied, and cataloged in her mind almost instantly. The very core of her soul became pure and loving; not the heart of a caring pacifist, but rather the protective love of a confidant mother, angered that someone would hurt her children. Her children were infinity, her righteous anger was eternal, and she would not let this impetuous child bring about the uncontrollable chaos he so desperately craved.
Tears of blood still fell on deadly blade and only seconds had passed since Olivia’s eyes had closed. The man grabbed her face forcefully with his right hand, “Now don’t you fall asleep on me Princess. I want you awake for this.” He let go, causing her chin to bounce against her chest, before slapping her repeatedly in the face.
“Wake up. Wake up. Wake up.” each command followed by another slap.
With cheeks red and bloody, and lips stained with tears, The Pillar of Destiny opened her eyes.
The dark man took a hesitant step back and placed the blade of his mighty staff against her throat, his own confidence diminished by her soul searing gaze. “Yes! Wonderful. I was so hoping you would make an appearance! The little princess is very fun and feisty, but I find her lacking in conversation skills. It may just be she had nothing to say that I cared to hear”, the mans lost confidence was replaced with bravado as he spoke.” But you! I have been waiting centuries to speak with you, Oh great Pillar!” He grabbed the tattered rag in her mouth and shoved it deeper into her throat, trying to make her gag in reflex. Without gagging, she continued to stare into his eyes throughout the attempt, as he realized he could not intimidate her. He pulled the cloth from her mouth and dropped it over the edge to ride the wind into the sea.
“You know not what you do.”, the Pillar’s tone was calm but strong, full of compassion that tempered power.
“Oh but I do.” he said, smiling again,” I know precisely what it is I am doing.”
“You do not understand the nature of the one you serve.” the Pillar’s expression saddened, “Whatever you have been promised, it is a lie. You are nothing more than a means that will be used for this dark purpose and then discarded without thought. You will die with the rest of Infinity if you let it wake completely.”
“You truly think I would be here if I did not know this? You think me some stupid boy?”, he asked in anger.
“I have studied The Law’s for thousands of years. I have traveled to the far reaches of reality in search of knowledge. It was I who discovered the location of Eru and the star stone that contained its life force and it was I who realized its potential. It was I who captured and brought you here. How dare you think you are superior to me! How dare you speak of lie’s made and promises kept by others, when it is you who promises the greatest lie!” his grip tightened on the Staff of Eru, and again he held it like a spear, as he moved its blade tip from her throat to chest.
“You would have us all believe there is a purpose! A meaning to all there is! You would have us believe that life has some Devine Destiny! I know the truth now. I know what you fear.”
The Pillar shook her head sadly,” I do not fear your master. I fear for you and all of Creation if you continue to travel down this path. It will destroy you. Then it will destroy everything else.”
“That’s where you are mistaken mighty Pillar. First I get to watch as you are devoured and turned to nothing, then I shall watch while reality crumbles as each Kingdom falls into the abyss. I shall have the great honor of being the last to exist before I too am swallowed into the deep.” The darkness in his eyes shined with madness as he spoke.” Like I said, I am no stupid boy. I know full well the destruction that I am about to unleash. Do not try to shame me with deceitful words and pious eyes. I know the truth. We are all come from nothing. I am just sending us home,”
“I can not let this happen,”the pillar spoke with certainty in her eyes.
Again he gave a chilling smile, ”You have no choice,” the dark man shoved his sinister blade into her chest, its tip piercing flesh and parting bone as it entered the warm red embrace of her heart. The staff of Eru, forged with Chaos magic for a single purpose, had fulfilled its deadly destiny. The Pillar began convulsing instantly, her eyes wide with wonder as her blood and energy began crawling down cool metal. Her eyes closed and her head fell as the essence of creation within her began to leave the long lived, yet mortal body of her host, and into the Star Stone.
The dark man softly lifted her head, cupping her chin almost lovingly. He spoke sweetly, his words filled with remembrance if not remorse, ”My dear, sweet, fiery princess. You were corrupted by deceitful men and a prideful Law. You are an abomination and never should have been created or allowed to live. I know you did not choose this destiny but it was thrust upon you. From this day forth, we are all free from that same fate. From this day forth, there will be darkness.”
Olivia opened her eyes slowly, defying death with powerful grace. She no longer held the penetrating, soul searching gaze of the Pillar, just sad, angry princess eyes. The star stone glowed and pulsed as the blood and energy draining from the Pillar dripped the length of the staff, a candle with a mighty flame.
She spoke soft words, a specter of her former self that held onto this world with a tenuous grip
”Tomas”
She spoke the name and the hairs on the dark man arms tickled with weirdness. He had not heard that name spoke in centuries. Had not ever wished to hear it again.
“Tomas. I am so very sorry,” her eyes spoke true, and the evil man cringed from her remorse and memories, and the sound of his High Born name, “More than you can know. I understand your anger…and your hate. I know you blame me. “
She paused and her eyes closed. She took a deep and painful breath, and her voice became a whisper, “I never even knew her”
The staff of Eru became radiant and filled with vast cosmic energy as blood, life, and power flowed freely from her wound. Tomas, lost Prince of Infinity, The Great Betrayer, and servant of Chaos, held his sister’s head, waiting for her eyes to reopen; those eyes that had always reminded him so much of his mother. He hated those lying eyes as much as he longed for their gaze.
Her eyes remained closed, as did his heart.
He could now feel the power in the staff growing. Only seconds had passed but its might had more than doubled. Within moments he would possess the power of the Pillar of Destiny and all his planning and toiling, all of his hardship and struggle, would be rewarded. He would finally know peace.
Unexpectedly his sisters eyes opened one last time, filled with sadness, anger, love, and something deeply indescribable: A look filled with knowledge he would never comprehend. When she spoke, her voice was not that of the princess, nor that of the pillar of Destiny. When she spoke her voice was many, a whisper and a shout, the heavenly host singing, and all of Creation lending her strength.
” I/We cannot allow this to Happen!”
“You/It will not end what the Laws created” The power stolen from his staff was but a fraction of the might he felt building within the Pillar, and the dark prince trembled with fear, as he held onto his staff and her strong words. The power of his Dark Lord seemed weak in comparison to the might of such a being.
“You may destroy Me/Us, but I/We are eternal. I/We are infinite!!” Her/Their words were a verse, a song, an incantation; a fact.
The staff grew hot in his hand, searing his flesh, from the righteous fire building inside the Pillar. He did not release his grip; he had endured worse. Tomas felt the energy burst from her body before he saw it. A force of nature unlike anything he had experienced, exploding in every direction of time and space. A rage of Life. The stolen power from the staff covered him instantly, protecting his body from the blast as he tumbled up and over, tossed like a rag doll a hundred feet in the air before he could fully bring the staff under his control and catch himself. He stood on air for a moment as his cape danced in the wind. When he sensed no more danger from the Pillar he flew back to his captive. As soon as saw her he knew that life had left her.
The Princess was dead, and the Pillar was gone.
Tomas looked at the Star Stone, uncertain of what had just transpired, fear and hatred seeping from him. He could feel the power of the Pillar trapped within the stone, but he knew it was not complete. She had stopped him. They had stopped him, those infinite voices. The Pillar was not killed, nor destroyed, nor even captured. A portion of her essence had escaped, and she was probably being reborn in a distant Kingdom. The Keeper would find her. His Disciples would protect her. They would hunt him down. He did not have another millennium to hide in the shadows. He was too close. He had come too far. A portion of the Pillars essence was not enough; he needed all of her. He needed all of her power. He needed her now.
He held the staff above his head, calling upon its power, listening to its knowledge. His spoke unknown words from a dead language, each syllable harnessing ancient magic, as he searched for her through Creation. It was the same spell he had used to find the sleeping Princess earlier this night, but where before the effort had left him weak, now he felt like a God! He let his mind wander the known Kingdoms, and then beyond, spying on Infinity in search of a puzzle piece. He was in all worlds and none. He was the bringer of chaos, and as he searched for the Pillar, he could feel the threads of innumerable lives just waiting to be cut. Waiting too be set free. Not now…but soon. First he must find her. He called on more of the cosmic magic. His mortal body began showing signs of abuse, even as his mind cried out for more. His skin grew cold and hard where he held the staff and it began cracking like aged marble. Slowly at first, but steadily picking up speed, the calcification traveled up his arm as he called on even more power. His eyes sunk into his head and their blue and milky white interior turned black and empty. There was nowhere in Infinity she could hide. No power that could stop him from finding her! Again he called on more magic…and again his body paid the price: his cruel and handsome face hardened as laugh lines became fault lines that fractured his features.
Then he sensed her and he laughed with hideous glee. At first there had been nothing, and then a ripple in reality as she was reborn. He would just follow it back to its source. He had her! His laughter ceased quickly however, and his head cocked in confusion when he felt a second ripple, then a third. He could not pinpoint the origin of one before another appeared. Dozens of alterations in reality happening again and again, until he could feel hundreds of ripples in time and space. What was happening made no sense to him. His glee was washed away by uncertainty, and drowned in fear. He did not understand what he saw, what he knew. The Pillar was not in a single world, but in all. She was not somewhere, but everywhere. In every Kingdom, Greater and Lesser. Somehow she was being reborn into each of the Realities. There was not just one Pillar of destiny. There was an army of them. Tomas remembered the many voices, and the words they had spoke only minutes before. ‘I/ WE cannot allow this to happen” Those voices. Harmonizing like a chorus, they had proclaimed they were eternal. The voices had said they were infinite. He realized the truth of these words as comprehension dawned. The Chaos Mage assumed control of his fear, and replaced it with determination. He knew what must be done. He must act quickly. His dark smile returned to his cracked face as he stood on darkness high above the sand and waves. He was done plotting and fighting from the shadows, through avoiding the Keeper and his Disciples. It was time for blood.
It was time for war.
**********
Olivia opened her eyes with a scream, “I/WE are Infinite!”
Brandon looked at her quizzically, a smile of confusion on his face.
“Huh?”, He said.
Olivia saw Brandon in front of her, but for one eternal moment she did not know who he was, or where she was. She was lost in fear and pain and her hand quickly flew to her chest, feeling for a wound that was not there, instead feeling uncontrollable sadness candied by fear. Tears began to flow quietly down her face. Brandon’s confused look became worried,
” Liv? Are you ok?”
She looked into Brandon’s eyes, and her life came rushing back, in a thunderous rage. She remembered everything at once; her entire life lived within a moment. She remembered the fire. She remembered her father’s death. She remembered that today was her parent’s anniversary. Tonight was the annual dinner to celebrate his memory. She was on old Golden Oak Bridge, and Brandon Long was standing in front of him, and she loved him with all her heart, and he had just asked her to marry him.
She also remembered pieces of a life she had never lived; her mind filling to the brink with images she had never seen and ideas she had never thought. Olivia couldn’t keep the thoughts from rushing through her head; alien data processing and mixing with her own life. Her head was spinning. Brandon started calling her name but she couldn’t hear his words. She could see his lips mouthing and miming,” What’s wrong?” as images of a cold steel blade kept flashing in her mind. She kept seeing it plunge into her chest, reliving the memory over and over. Olivia was scared. She did not understand what was going on. It made no sense. It made absolutely no sense. What had just happened? What was happening?
She started shaking, her trembles vibrating teeth. Brandon kept talking, and his voice was still on mute. All she could hear was her mind crashing. Olivia took a step back, kicking her heel against an old board. She would have fallen if Brandon hadn’t caught her with youthful reflexes and outstretched arms. His touch came unexpected, as did her screams of terror. All she could see was the dark man in front of her, his arms outstretched as he pulled her from her bed, capturing her from a palace she had never visited and from a world she had never seen. All she could see was those hateful eyes and that sinful grin. So she screamed. Her scream was hard and forceful, the shock making Brandon’s heart skip two beats and his grip fail. Olivia fell backwards, following the trajectory initiated before Brandon had caught her. She spun her arms around as she fell trying to keep her balance, trying to escape the man who had killed her. She fell on her knees, her hands hammering the wooden timbers of the bridge. Splinters bit and blood shed from her palms. Olivia looked back over her shoulder in terror and for a second she stopped screaming. Part of her knew it was only Brandon standing in front of her, worriedly trying to help her. Part of her knew he would never harm her. Ever. That part just wasn’t in control. The human mind can only handle so much new input and stimuli before it will overload. Olivia’s mind was cracking under the weight of what she had just experienced. She was jacked up on terror.
Olivia closed her eyes. She sat on her knees and placed both hands over her ears, trying to block out everything. Trying hard. Failing. The images, the sights, sounds, tastes, feelings, the wondrous horror and amazement of it all would just not go away. She just couldn’t understand. She could only fear. Olivia felt the weight of numerous lives on her soul, yet she could barely carry her own burden. She had to stop this. She had to escape. She had to get away. Olivia opened her eyes and stood up in one quick motion. She had to escape. She had to escape. Olivia had just been asked for her hand in marriage and gutted by a reject from an 80’s metal band and her mind told her that finally it had had enough. Thank you but this has been a stressful morning, so I’m pulling down the shades, turning on the NO VACANCY sign, and packing it in early. Goodnight. Don’t let the bed bugs bite. Rational thought shut down. Instinct took over.
Olivia ran.
**********
