Rapture Chapter 4

Rapture 4

There was darkness as far as the eye could see. I was floating in the stars, my soul bare. Floating past the planets and stars I had the strange feeling that I was being watched by multiple pairs of eyes. The Gods were watching me, as they always did but this time I could feel them-like a veil had been pulled back. It seemed like an eternity that I drifted until I came upon a book that glowed with golden light. I couldn't read it with my eyes but I touched it and read it with my soul-read past, present, and future. But before I could memorize any of it I was pulled back, yanked back into my body, returning to existence as I knew it.

"With people that are soul compatible it is extra special. It's like the Heavens decided it." I heard Lucia's voice say.

The darkness faded and my eyes were open. My aching, sweaty body twisted and turned as I tried to sit up. No luck.

I sensed eyes on me again so I turned my head to see Lucia underneath sheets, her shoulders bare and I had the feeling that the rest of her was the same.

"Wha-" I tried to ask.

Lucia stroked my cheek, "Just rest. I brought you back."

"I thought I was dead," I closed my eyes but I couldn't stand the darkness and opened them again.

Lucia didn't say anything; had I died?

"It doesn't matter," she tried to comfort me. "What matters is that you are here now. And I have made a new bond between us."

She winked and I relaxed, letting the soothing lullaby of my body take me into sleep.

When I awoke, Lucia's mom was standing over the bed and I was dressed in a casual toga.

"Maria?"

Maria looked down on me with caring eyes, "why are still laying down?"

I slowly got out of bed and painfully stood.

"Lucia wants to seek revenge for your death, no matter how short it may have seemed to us. For her it was an eternity." Maria explained. 

I shook my head, "We can't fight the Olympians. They control the politics, money, and power. No matter what they do, they can not be opposed. Even if we had our Spell Unity, spells are no match for an army."

Lucia entered the room in the same style toga, "but if we win at the coliseum we could get into Elysium. And in Elysium there are Olympians without guards, we can start there."

I wobbled towards Lucia and grabbed her hands, "Babe, we can never spell duel again. We have lost our True Name, the light of the Gods will never shine on us again."

She looked into my eyes lovingly. How long had I been...gone?

"Tell him," said Lucia.

"There is an old ritual like the ones that we use now to receive our True Name. But this ritual was once used to change a person's True Name."

"We DON'T have a True Name anymore." I countered.

Lucia kissed me on the neck and rubbed her gorgeous face against me, "Don't you see: you are still alive. There is speck of our bond still, no matter how small. We can take that small bond, change it-transform it and possibly make it stronger than our previous bond now that I have shared my body with you wholey."

She was pressed against my body at that point, and my body raged in warmth-in rememberance. I could feel the heat in my cheeks rise as well when I remembered her mother was still in the room.

I gently pushed myself away so I could look her in those eyes, and there was nothing there but fire, passion, and truth. I decided at that moment that if she was that determined to do it I would give it a try.

Maria stood and my body stiffened. I wasn’t sure what she was going to do. She simply patted me on the shoulder as she walked out of the room, saying over her shoulder, "You are one lucky man. The ritual has be performed in the same place as the True Naming: at a temple of Zeus. I know how to perform the ritual."

We walked to the temple of Zeus in our district, Lucia and I hand and hand.

The temple was gigantic, open aired with only massive columns blocking the view of the priests within. Above the columns was a cornice engraved with a picture of the Gods feasting at a large dinning table; Zeus was at the middle of the table, the center of the picture larger than all the other Gods.

We entered, welcomed by a servant of the temple. Maria lead us, heading straight for the ominous statue of Zeus at the center of the temple. The statue was at least four people tall, made of ivory plates and gold panels. The precious Zeus sat upon a throne of ebony, ivory and gold studded with precious stones. The statue was awe-inspiring. I had only seen it once, the day I was bond to Lucia forever.

A priest approached to ask us what services we needed, Maria intercepted him. Lucia and I continued our way to the stone Zeus. We bowed before the statue and said our prayers. Maria eventually came up behind us, "I bought us a few minutes. Let's hurry."

Kneeling, Lucia and I reached over towards the other with one hand. Our fingers interlocked and Maria began the ritual:

" When the gods first gave us Soul Magic: Into them it inspired no other sentiments than those of exultation and rapture."

I closed my eyes and tried to remember the first time, but there was only the terrible dark of death awaiting me. I immediately opened my eyes again.

Maria continued, "And it is through this exultation that we sing of victory. Through this rapture we learned to dance in ecstasy. As you clothed us with the mantle of love, armed us with the sword of our faith and fortified us with the shield of our submission...to each other. There is already a bound between these two but I beg of the Gods to let them change their names to eyes of mortals. Bind these wills, souls, and hearts as one, as:"

We looked into each other's eyes, pierced into our souls and read the words there. We let the words come to us, "We are Brightstar. We are Hope. A reason to breath. Our soul shines so bright that it illuminates all darkness."

We crawled on our knees toward each other and kissed. The light of the Gods flooded our bodies. As the kiss ended, the light continued to beam from our skin. I saw Lucia's beautiful smile illuminated and I couldn’t help but be filled with joy. I closed my eyes and I could still see her radiant smile: with her I could face the darkness. We stood as the priests of Zeus came to see what unauthorized happenings were occuring.

They say Truth leads to transcendence. And it was then that I realized the truth: Lucia and I were destined to be together no matter what. They could never really take Lucia from me. All the fear I had of them vanished and I was transformed. Eros was not dead, would never die because Eros had transcended into Brightstar.