Evermore

Chapter 3

Elone awoke with a start, her breath rapid, her heart pounding, her throat coarse. She sat up gradually feeling weak, and weary, resting her back against the headboard. Sweat was clinging to her body, All was silent John was slumped in a chair beside her.

She stared at her hands; the terror was still running through her, her hands were trembling uncontrollably. She sat and wept crying into the silence, silent tears rolled down her cheeks, like the blood that had rolled from the heart of the man she had slaughtered, it was only a nightmare, yet it seemed so real. She could still feel the death all around her. She could still feel the pain. She could still feel it all.

Without a sound she sat in the stillness quivering with fear and misery, all she wanted to do was run to her mother, like a child would, and snuggle up in the comforting arms her parents bestowed upon her. Oh how she longed to nestle herself in their embrace, for now, and eternally. She hugged herself close, it was the only reassurance she had now. Why was she dreaming of such dark things, why? Was her mind really that frail? She cried out in the silence of her mind, screaming for salvation from the darkness she had witnessed in the void of her minds rest. But what was there to do but sleep.

She laid her head gently back down upon the pillow without so much as another thought she drifted off once more praying that she would not dream again.

When she awoke the following morning, daylight streamed in through the window rays of light chasing away the shadows and night time chill. She hadn’t dreamed again, she sighed in relief feeling far more normal than she had the previous day, still energy less and fraught with fear and sorrow, yet far more rejuvenated and adequately strong enough to walk. She looked over to where john had been sitting, he was no longer there and as she rose the hum of the television caught her ear from afar. He had stayed all night as well as looked after her when she had collapsed. She smiled, for the first time in what had been a very long time. Somebody did care.

She dressed swiftly throwing on another pair of long blue jeans and a yellow and black Nirvana t-shirt. Her head was throbbing and her muscles ached, as she made her way down the staircase. Unexpectedly she smelt the familiar smell of bacon and eggs, the popping of the oil in the saucepan. At the bottom of the stairs appeared John sporting a newspaper formed chef’s hat and one of her mother’s old white aprons.

She giggled kindly, feeling the misery and fear leave her momentarily, she knew it would return shortly, but he looked so ridiculous she couldn’t help herself.

“It’s good to see you smile” He smiled back in a goofy innocent way, “Now I have murdered eggs and blackened bacon for starters, followed by some green orange juice and a bizarre looking muffin!”

“Oh dear,” She whispered back still smiling, “what happened to you? You look ridiculous!”

“I look ridiculous!” He spoke, pretending to be somewhat offended, “This is all the rage in Europe, the only problem is the flammable hat that could be an issue.”

“Well at least you found a fine use for the news.”

“The news is good for many things!”

“Like?”

“A cat’s litter tray.” He smiled harmlessly, “Anyway, time for you to dine, m’lady” he spoke convincingly bowing simultaneously. They strolled into the kitchen, of which he had tidied, and sat to eat. As she began eating she realized how famished she was, and managed with little trouble to eat two pieces of bacon, a couple of eggs, and a sausage. She began to feel the sorrow set in then, now fully awoken from the horror of her dreams, the horror of her actual life began to take substance. She looked away as tears began to run from her eyes once more, not wanting to look at john; he didn’t deserve to witness her sadness.

“I’m gonna go sit down” she spoke quickly to hide the sobs as she made her way into the lounge and slumped into a large arm chair. John joined her after a while and the awkward silence descended upon them.

“Thanks” whispered Elone, fending off the tears and fear, where only emptiness remained prominent, “thanks for looking after me”

“Hey, no need to thank me;” He answered softly, “You know I would do it anyway.”

“I know”

“Here I found this, thought you might like it” He said reaching inside his coat pocket, his hand emerging grasped about a piece of paper, a photograph. Placing it carefully in her hand, “Take a look”

“What is it?”

“Just look, I went on a little drive and found it, “He didn’t give too much away, she’d want to know what he was doing there otherwise, “thought it might help”

She stared down at the photo; her heart skipped a beat as she stared down at the picture, the faces and building staring back at her. All those memories locked within a single frame, forever preserved in time.

“How did you?”

“Long story but I thought you might like it”

“I, I” She began to cry again, tears of joy and longing, “Thank you”

She remembered back long ago, when they were all in their teens an old couple used to own a little cottage in the middle of nowhere to look after orphaned children and teach children about life. They all used to go out there spending hot summers in the woodland, down by the canal, baking cakes, reading stories, enjoying the fun and frolics of life in a direct escape from the reality the suburbs and metropolis beheld. Away from the prejudices, away from the politics, away from the system, where you could truly be free. It was there own getaway, until they had passed away, but still it held various memories.

“So many memories,” She sighed despairingly, “It seems so distant, so far detached from the way life is now” Oh how she longed to return to those times for once and for all.

“It was, the best time of our lives” replied John, something in his eyes concealing a dual meaning.

They talked for a while of old times, old adventures, of times where things were fresh and spell binding, of times when anything was feasible. It was midday when John declared he had to leave and began getting his things together, heading to the front entrance, closely followed by Elone.

They stood for a moment lost within each others gaze as if reading each others thought, before Elone moved forward, cuddling him close, nestling her head into his shoulder. He brought his arm about protectively holding her close as she sobbed into his shoulder, comforting her quietly.

“Thank you so much,” She whispered softly, “You’re the only one I, you mean the world to me”

“Hey, Shh” He replied softly stroking her head as she nuzzled into his shoulder, “It’s ok, I promised”

“One day it’ll all be fine again”

“It will be”

“Thank you”

“It’s ok, I have to be off now” He spoke gently, “I’ll be round in the next couple of days to check up,” He smiled kindly, “Oh yeah, before I forget, someone phoned me about you the other day, they told me to pass on a message something about a prayer to Iris,”

“Iris?”

“Yeah, didn’t mean anything to me,” He pulled his jacket up against the cold and thrust his hands deep into the pockets rocking back and forth on his heels, “I’ll see you later”

“Yeah, Ok, I’ll see you”

The door slammed shut unexpectedly in the wind and startled her. The house returned to the eerie silence and loneliness and sadness the four walls had made its own. The words hung in Elone’s mind ‘Prayer to Iris’, what on earth. She knew who Iris was, but what did the prayer bit mean. She strolled into the lounge and looked around her eyes focusing on the book that rested upon the table next to the arm chair. I wonder, she thought to herself strolling over to the arm chair, opening the large leather bound book.

She scanned through the book, pass rituals, pass the section on underworlds, pass the dreams, the prayers, the spells, all the way to the section on Deities / Gods she hummed to herself as she looked. Her mind fascinated and focused.

Iris
Iris is personal messenger to Hera, queen of the gods. In Greek mythology iris is the personification of the rainbow, as the rainbow bridges the gap between the heavens and earth, Iris is the link from the gods to humanity. She travels like the wind from one place to another. She is represented as a woman of divine beauty with wings upon her shoulders and by the rainbow.

Elone read on captivated by the information she held before her she knew a large amount of it already but a couple of lines just didn’t make any sense. Or they made too much sense, she read on. ‘When carrying messages she has been known to visit mortals in the form of dreams.’ She read the line numerous times before moving on, no its just a fluke, she was just looking for an answer to something she couldn’t comprehend.

She read on, the last line stuck in her memory, haunting her, calling out to her through silent voices

‘She can be summoned through many rituals, the most famous being the pray to Iris‘

She stopped reading staring into space, this was just co-incidence someone trying to pull a prank on someone who was already ripping themselves apart. Yet still she couldn’t shake the feeling that ran through her veins, that maybe, just maybe something wasn’t quite the way it seemed and. She stopped; she was being illogical and foolish.

She walked away leaving the book open at the page she was reading. Her mind engaged in distinguishing dreams from reality, she paced the house, backwards and forwards. Impatiently she walked, her thoughts so conflicting. She stared at the window, at the ever moving world, it was almost certainly rubbish, just a fantasy, a complex her brain had established in an attempt to lock away her inner demons. She walked back to the book, on the other hand what was there to lose?

She searched the book for a while, everything she read about Iris whispered of her dreams and visions, all of them implied the impossible, she remained cynical, yet remained ingrained in her conviction that you never knew. Her curiosity got the better of her in the end. She turned to the subdivision on prayers and began reciting the inscription that lay out before her, substituting the appropriate names and situations.

She finished sighing a long relieving sigh feeling rather exhausted of energy and spirit. She switched on the television and stared at the images, the news came on, followed by some soap in which everyone had dark secrets, followed by a program on doctors and death. Great, people’s escape from reality is reveling with tales of death and the dying and the pain and suffering of others. What a perverse people we have become she thought to herself in the darkest depths of her mind. Entertainment derived through and from the hurt of others. Once long ago entertainment came from enlightenment, of looking after, of the arts and of compassion. Now it seemed to be the watching of peoples lives as they are torn from them, watching the suffering, and reveling in the anguish of others.

She switched the television off, which was why she didn’t watch it anymore the perversion on today’s screens is more taboo than the taboo that is censored by the same companies.
She slept then, falling asleep where she leaned in the arm chair, time and space dripped away, dripping out of structure to the shadows that were her mind. She didn’t know how long she slept yet when she awoke the twilight sunlight was pouring in through the window, purples, gold and scarlet painted upon the sky stretching the horizon, in a world where you were falling apart both inside and out, little things like this soothed the pain if only momentarily.

She went about preparing some food in the kitchen and a little drink for herself, she needed to keep her strength up, and she wasn’t going to make a fool of herself again. She ate a small meal of breaded fish and a single golden waffle. Before quickly scrubbing the tableware and drinking the glass of wine she had set out for herself.

The wine was fragrant, sweet and soothing; she poured herself a second and walked into the garden, carrying the glass and bottle, sitting upon the creaking swing she watched the world go by in the departing radiance of sundown.

Children ran up and down the road lost in adventures, lost in quests of discovery, the same as the teenagers that walked hand in hand, or the guys who stared at the women who walked by, jaws dropped. Cars drove by carrying families out to dine, or carried people home from the pointless endeavor that was their labor. A few bicycles passed by, all becoming fewer as the sun crept over the horizon and the threshold of night descended a sheet of black sweeping forth over the world.
Elone looked up, staring at the shimmering stars and the brilliant silvery arc of the moon that shone down upon her and the world, drenching the world in a ghostly silvery sheen. The light so bright that you could see for quite a way through the darkness. Elone liked the nights she always had done, more so now, she felt at one with the stars, somehow at harmony in the sweet serenity. It was as if they watched over her, keeping her safe from the demons that would tried to get her.

She remembered when she was very young her mother and her would stare at the stars

“Elone,” She spoke gently pointing up at them, “You see those stars all those stars”

“Yesh” Replied the little girl that was Elone

“You see all those stars, every last one,” Whispered her mother softly, “They are angels, they are the angels that watch over everyone and keep you safe when the sun is sleeping.”

Elone stared wide eyed, “Angels?”

“Yes, they will always be there, always protect you, will always be watching over you”

“But, how can they hear me all the way up there?”

“They can hear you, all your prayers; they can see your dreams”

“Is that where people go when they die?”

“yes, all of the angels of every person becomes a watchful star looking after you, watching over you” her mother smiled gently stoking Elone’s hair, “one day I will watch over you, and so will your father and when we are not here we will look after you from up there.”

“How will you hear me?” asked Elone fascinated by the stars above, mesmerized by the shimmering beauty she beheld, “There so far away”

“They can all hear you, however far you maybe, they will always be there, even when clouds cover the sky, they can still hear you”

Mother and child stood, spellbound by the glimmering beauty, and stared wondrously and the enchanting illumination above them.

Elone sighed, staring up the sky; I hope your looking after me, please watch over me, I need you she called out in the silence of her mind. A wave of calm washed over her soothing her, for a moment she thought the stars must have taken heed of her plea, as she stared down at the empty wine bottle, oh.

She got to her feet carefully swaying, the blood rush causing her to lose her balance momentarily, and made her way into her house and upto her bedroom. Sitting on the end of her bed her garments tossed aside she stared up at the stars and moon through her window as wraithlike clouds drifted by, hanging upon the velvet milieu. This may have been her first step; she thought for the first time in three months, although sorrow and pain still clung to her heart, she felt as if she was making a adjustment for the better. However she still remained in confusion of her dreams perhaps she would never be rid of those demons soon to.

Elone opened her heavy slumber filled eyes once more to find herself no longer in the warm safety of her bedroom, no longer tucked away in the sheets of her bed. A chilling gust of wind caused her to shudder in spite of herself. She had been here before and she knew what to expect standing stationary as a sharp wind circled about her.

She peered around expectedly, a drape of calm sweeping over her once more as before, she didn’t feel afraid, and she simply waited. The white robes she bore hung off her billowing in the comforting breeze, as she stood alone, a strange aura and a soothing ambient pulse surrounding her presence.

She looked about smiling, fragments of light sailed and glimmered about her, a towering circular stone room encased her, stretching a far to the heavens above brushing against the starlit sky. Stars shimmered vividly against the velvet black, as vapors of violet and silver swam beneath the dark embrace to reveal the silvery glow of the moon. Inscriptions covered the grey stone walls. Latin phrases merged and faded, Greek, hieroglyphs, and Celtic runes all shimmered and faded upon the wall,. ‘Ad astra’, ‘Est deus in nobi’ and other such scribings. There were no windows, no openings of any sort other than the skylight above her.

Glowing silver light radiated down upon her, resonating eerily. Elone peered around the room quickly trying to gain some sort of grasp of reality, in the shadows before her now stood a figure clocked and hooded within white robes that bore no symbols, no insignia, no markings whatsoever. The figure grasped at a long golden staff that shone like a guiding light before her. Elone knew instinctively who it was falling to one knee out of respect.

“You have no need to bow in my presence,” Spoke the ethereal voice of the young woman, “For I should bow in yours Elone, arise”

Elone stood opposite her, as the woman lowered the white hood and removed the white cloak. The woman before her radiated silver. Her skin was very pale, almost pastel like. Her silver hair falling about her, draping past her shoulders, she was incredibly slender, yet her stature powerful. Two white feathered wings rose from her shoulders curving from her body elegantly. The Golden staff she grasped at pulsed before her. Her name was Iris, Greek messenger of the gods.

“Why do you send for me?” Spoke Iris, studying Elone with tender eyes, “Why have you called me here?”

“Why are you haunting me with visions? Why are you calling to me?” Replied Elone, asking what she had summoned Iris there for.

“The dreams are a message, as this is from Hera,” She spoke choosing her words carefully, measuring every action, and alas reaction “you are needed; you are the only one, the only key, the only enduring.”

“What is the message?”

“We do not have much time, the bonds between our worlds is deteriorating, you must stop the war that is taking place, you must destroy the Avatars, a man does come to you a warrior whom is the champion of Hera, he will be your aid, charged with the task as you have been.”

“What? Where am I supposed to begin, what are the Avatars?”
Iris winced against some invisible pain, “There is not much time, the apocalypse you see is what will happen, what will happen when the Avatars lose control of their war, when their war spills over to a point of total destruction, to the point where Hades will claim this land as his own and Thanatos will control the dominion of humanity.”

“Surely there’d be better people suited to this, this, this voyage?”

“No, only you, not even Hera’s champion can be successful without you”

Elone peered around finding themselves within the crumbling city she had seen in the initial visions, fires were burning furiously, smoke rising, and screams devastating the silent wasteland, the light of the fires illuminating the darkness in a flickering amber glow. Overhead clouds hung motionless, grey, blank, empty soulless spirits. Flashes of cobalt lightening tore across the heavens, cracking with an almighty roar, deafening in the hush. The beasts stood around them, eyes fixated upon them, stationary, the bloodlust and hunger mirrored in their shadowed gaze.

“How am I supposed to stand against such darkness? How am I supposed to stop this?”

“You will find a way, your mother and father left you with everything you need, if you can’t find the way, no one will” Iris reached out to touch Elone’s hand a wave of energy riding up and through her body. ”I have given you the task, you already have the means. You must find a way, you and the champion are the only one’s who can stand against and stop what is becoming.”

What other choice did she have? If she did nothing this world will come about, if she acted and failed this world would come about. She had no other choice; she had to bequeath herself to this cause. Who knows maybe there would be a chance she could succeed? Hardly likely, but maybe she could find peace of mind.

The world swam about before the chamber they had occupied before merged through the mist.

“Will you?” Spoke Iris through the hanging stillness silently separating them.

“I will” replied Elone, her mind now transfixed on the task, and possibilities it presented to her.

“Will you become who you were born to be?”

“I Will”

“Good luck may the gods be with you, Hera and Zeus bestow their blessings.”

“I will"

The world began spiralling before her diminishing into the shadows that ceaselessly haunted her.


Elone shuddered jerking awake from the shadows, the recollection unfading upon the expanse of her mind. A calm hush had descended over the world, moonlight filtered in through the window, covering her home in an eerie silvery glean. Everything was silent, everything still, Elone feeling oddly calm in the tranquillity of the night.

The knock at the door brought her back to actuality, the calm fading into bewilderment and confliction. Was that really real? What had she agreed to do? That couldn’t be? She had to save the world or destroy it. What!?! The sheer magnitude of the quest she had agreed to dawned on her, where was she to start? Although she knew where and she wasn’t alone, but what was the means, she had nothing to go on except a dream that could in all cases be a hallucination. She shook of the thought, and arose from her bed.

She dressed hurriedly, she knew impulsively who it was, and she also knew they would be in no rush to leave. The shirt hung off her once more as the jeans clung to her legs; she descended into the shadows of her house, flicking on the reassuring lights that dotted the house. Wandering over to the door leisurely with little more than a glance at anything other than the door.

Taking a deep steadying she unlocked the door and opened the door in a single motion.

“John?”

“Hey, erm,” He paused for a moment looking lost, mystified, and somewhat a mess, she could see the brightness absent from his eyes “can I come in?”

“Yeah sure” She replied seeming somewhat puzzled herself.

He walked in casting his coat over the banister and strode straight into the kitchen. Elone followed caught up not only in her own worries, but those that were obviously troubling John. She walked up behind him placing a reassuring hand upon his shoulder.

“John?”

He sighed breathing deeply his eyes closed against some inner turmoil. “April left me, she’s taken Lou and has gone to her parent’s house about 300 miles away, she says she doesn’t want anything to do with an ignorant guy like me”

“Oh John I’m so sorry” She clasped his shoulder tighter as he began to weep silently.

“I don’t care about her, but Lou,” He turned to face her, “Lou means more to me than anything in the world”

“I know”

“I don’t know what to do.”

“Come on, I’ll look after you, and we’ll get her back, sort this out” She spoke tenderly, her hand clasping his back, “I Promise” and she meant it.

He smiled a sorrow filled smile, full of innocence and kindness, “Thank you, I knew we’d always look after each other”

“It’s my turn” She smiled a motherly, gentle smile and put the kettle on the stove, “and you can stay until this is all sorted, you’ll get her back John, you’ll get her back.”

The thoughts of Iris, the charge, and obliteration of life placed aside in her mind, in place of the friend who had always been there for her she went about pouring two cups of coffee and setting out the sofa bed and bedding in the lounge.

“What’ve you been reading?” Asked John cradling his cup of coffee as he entered the room walking toward the book Elone had read the inscription from earlier, the inscription that had triggered Iris.

“Nothing, just a book on,“ She intercepted John as he reached down to pick up the book, and flicked the page over to the section on deities, “It’s got lots of information on mythological deities and beings feel free to have a look.”

“Ok” he replied suspiciously, carefully taking the book out of her hand.

Elone left him then walking back out to the kitchen, falling on to one of the chairs, what a night she thought to herself. She took a quick swig of her coffee, and began trying to construct a suitable course of action. Nothing provided what she needed and out of a mix of sheer frustration and an extreme need to sleep, she made her way back up to bed and slept through till morning without so much as a flinch.