CHRONICLES OF AADYA

Episode Eighteen

AADYA

By the old warlock's command, I have been summoned to a room in the belowground space of the coven along with lady Harmonia. A black and gray stone pound stood by the end of the space with bizarre ilks of runes etched on the stones around. Ought to be some kind of ancient terminology or spells. They had made me switch to a simple white garment, my barefoot on the cold stone floor of the room.

"Aadya" Lady Harmonia called "This is a ancient ritual that is only implemented for the sole reason of knowing who one is. You need to find out who you truly are and the strength of your powers, and that's why you'll have to go into the hidden" Her tone foreshadowed the force of what I was about to embark on.

"You'll be challenged in different ways, memories would surface, both good and bad, temptations. In all these, you need to find your path"

In the shadow of my mind, a scared little girl's emotion surfaced. "What if I fail? What will become of me?" I let out from the keen dept of my soul.

"This isn't the end of you, child. You're more than you think"

"Yes! A lot of times I've heard those same utterances. I'm yet in full control of my power and you presume I would survive the hidden?" My voice echoed through the space. I wasn't being dramatic but there were numerous memories I wasn't prepared to stand up against, a lot of them I've pushed limit only to conceal them.

"Your powers are futile to the hidden. Your past will only be a form to oppugn you for you to see your destiny. It will come in many faces. There's no right or wrong, only what is and what isn't. No one would coerce you to the hidden if you do not wholly consent to the ritual, child" Ambrose spoke. "It is you to decide"

I dwelled in my thoughts momentary, coming to an agreement with myself "I will do it" I said profoundly, what more could my memories do, they were only memories, I was strong through it, I could do that again.

The old warlock, Ambrose, poured a drop of brew into the pound and starts to whisper some commands intensively, the water began to get foggy till the entire surface was covered by them. I was ushered in, the water cold to my feet, through the stone stairs that faded away below the veneer of the water I strode my way in and to the center of the pound as instructed by Lady Harmonia. I laid back floating, the front part of my body above the surface, inhaling an adequate dose of air, I sealed my visions. I laid, waiting, yet nothing transpired, a bit of length and suddenly my mind went blank, a huge force struck me and my body went into a sudden shock, shaking violently on the surface of the water before I felt being pulled in.

Darkness, unending darkness, I was floating until my feet met the ground, I began to move about in the dark, wasn't confident about what it is I was scouring. In a short distance, lightening struck, it goes on like it was readying for a heavy downfall, the light only a stretch from where I stood, curiously I starts to make my way cautiously to the lightening and mysteriously started hearing a child's cry and there my mother was, laid tiredly while one of the two midwives held an infant. The storm ceased the moment the high-pitched voice of the crying newborn stopped.

Abruptly a voice called "Aadya!" And I turned to witness a year old me gratifying series of objects in midair, perhaps with just the mind. "Aadya!" Mother called again and everything fell to the ground, she hurried to my young self wrapping her close to her chest. And suddenly the voice of my father distracted me from behind.

"She strives my last nerve, Colette" My father uttered dragging my younger self to my mother. I looked a bit older, presumably four.

"What have she done this time, Hrafen, for you to pull her in such manner" Mother's voice laced with outrage and resentment toward my father. The look on Father's face was that of enmity, it wasn't towards my mother, but my young self.

"She ducked her hand into a burning fire, what if others had witnessed her" Father retroted.

"Shame on you, Hrafen"

"You should take her to the clergyman for cleansing, she is possessed by demon"

"Bite your tongue! I forbid it" She condemned pulling me away.

"You know that, Colette! She's ruined! She is evil!”

I tried to pursue my mother's retreating form before a raven flew past me causing me to swerve from the touch, looking around the already altered scenario, I watched as my young self ran through the woods and Mother chased after me. I came to a stop only to discharge a heavy force of the wind as I yelled out my frustrations, my outrage, and my pain. I wasn't certain what had induced my younger self such despair. The force had struck Mother to the ground, I appeared at least six but this memory I remember not, I wasn't sure why I had no remembrance of anything that has been transpiring so far.

Rage flowed through my younger self like lava, she struggled against it though it came off to be taking much effect on her as she cried out again, the trees shifted with the force but managed to outlive. "Aadya!" Mother yelled from where she struggled to uphold her balance. "Aadya stop!" She appealed.

"Aadya, Aadya my child, why?" The concern on her face as she knelt before my young self caused my heart to rupture. Gently she traced her fingers across my small cheek.

My small face covered in tears "Father loathes me, he sees me as a curse, he doesn't want me here, he wishes I was never born" I let out bitterly.

"Of course your father wants you here" She tried to convince.

"He doesn't. His eyes tell me. His thoughts, all of them, I can hear them"

"Everything will be all right"

"You lie mother!"

"Mother" I hear in a distance. Strangely, the place appeared to be the same with the small village I had rested the night I thought was an illusion. The old woman I had encountered come off to be her mother, my grandmother, the one I could recall being told was dead. "She is out of control, I need you to take them away" Mother implored.

"You had only come this far only for me to take away her powers? Colette child, she is not like any other witches, she was gifted with great powers for a reason, she has a destiny to fulfill"

"I don't care, mother"

"I know your hatred for her power was because you were born without one. Your greed has led you astray and now you can not even look at your own daughter because she was blessed with what you have always desired"

"I know you, Colette. But you can't hide her from fate. I can't pledge I would be capable of stripping her off her powers though I will try"

"I need her memories of it gone too" Mother put in.

The old woman seems to be thinking for a while. “No matter how you try, Colette. None of us can choose our destiny. And none of us can escape it. It will find her. Aadya holds the power that could safe or destroy us all"

"I don't believe anyone has that power" My eyes traveled to where my young self had settled, she looks so tender and fragile, what was these memories I can't recall? Was this truly how I had forfeited the memories of ever exploiting my powers?

I immediately followed as mother went through a passage, the passage concisely swerved into a dark forest with my young self swaying through the path that lead back to our home. This memory I could vividly remember, the day I greatly condemned myself for being selfish. It was the day mother was slain by a wild creature only because she was finding her way to me, she was searching for me in the woods. I was only seven back then, her face was ravaged to no glory, and her dress was coated in her blood, some fellas had found her lifeless body during their hunt and returned her to Father.

Raw anger shot through Father the moment he laid eyes on me from a distance, the flicker of irritation in those eyes of his caused me to tremble even when I had no idea what had happened at the moment. I swallowed as he surged towards me before pulling me by the hair.

"Father!" I had cried out in pain.

"You're a curse! You ruined everything!" I tripped to the force and crashed on the ground yet he kept pulling me by my hair, I just cried and begged with no idea what my offense was. A wave of terror crashed through me as he pushed me into a dark room and latched the door. "Father! Father please! I'm sorry, father!" The cry of my young self echoes from the room and I watch my father walk past me. Resentment clouded his features, he was smoking with anger and hatred toward me. I remember being locked in there for days that I lost count. I cried for mother but she never came, and that made me accept that I was truly a curse, I had no idea she was dead.

Father's resentment grew inside him like a tumor, sometimes I didn't see him in at least two weeks, I couldn't be sure though, because most of my time in the dungeon was me being tormented by my hallucinations, it was probably since I wasn't fed. Father's mother was old, though she did manage to bring me meals, but soon she doesn't, I thought she forgot, or perhaps Father forbids her. Whenever Father comes down to the dungeon it only meant one thing, to remind me of his umbrage. The gods save me from those evil thoughts but I had wished he could die a thousand fiery deaths.

With time, Father's absence worried me, not because I was worried for him but because the only one who managed to feed me had stopped coming down to the dungeon... Nana, she was the only one who had told me about my mother's death and had tried to take care of me. I knew I wouldn't last long since she stopped showing up, and it wouldn't be the quick death of father losing control and beating me until I no longer breath. It would be the slow, painful death of starvation.