Time's Mistress

Maps and clues

Iris sent Blake away with a tired happiness at having some of her questions answered. It was a small relief, considering she could start to feel a faction of herself return. It almost felt like she was getting life, and energy dripped back into her. She turned to her sister with a smile.

"How was the visit? You seen pleased at the moment."

"He helped me a lot. I have some questions answered, but there are still so many more that need to be filled." Cassidy nodded her head.

"Well, that's good. I was a little concerned. Blake is known to be quite a ladies' man, and I didn't want you to fall into his trap."

Iris laughed at her sister. "I can assure you, I have no interest in that man besides helping to return my memories. I have no interest in any man, to be honest. Hopefully, that man we call a father will remember that when he sees that. Hopefully, this foolish engagement is off." Cassidy sighed.

"He really is a good man Iris, you should give him a chance." Iris looked at her sister and sighed. She would never understand.

"Cass, even if I was interested in him in that way, it wouldn't work out because I am fated to someone else. You will understand that one day." Cassidy looked at her in question. Who could this mysterious person be that her sister was referring to?

"Do you know who it is that you speak of?" Iris smiled.

"I do know who, but you will see one day who." Iris just smiled secretly to herself, ignoring the impulse to touch her fingertips to the marks on her neck. Cassidy looked her over in thought. She caught a glimpse of something moving on her sister's neck, and she froze before pulling Iris to her and yanking her collar down quickly. "Woah Cass, what are you doing?" Iris said, grabbing onto her hands.

"I know that this is going to sound crazy, but I saw something move on your neck."

"Where?" Iris asked quickly.

"Right here," Cassidy said and touched the marks on her neck. She felt a flash of heat go through her as her body pulsed. She froze, and slowly, her vision went black as she was transported to a different place and time.

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Iris opened her eyes as she looked around. She was in a room surrounded by men. They looked at her in wonderment. She heard herself speak, but she wasn't controlling the words. The hard faces of them stared at her with their different colored amours shining in the light of the room.

"We are the beings that created this universe, and only our kind can kill us. We have nothing to fear from those fowl breasts that wish to fight us. We will destroy every single one of them and bring peace back to the relam which we oversee. This is our relam and as the future leader of this relam, I will not stand to back down, even if I have to cut them down to size one by one until I make it to their king. That is why I am making the decision to enter the war and go straight to the front lines." The men stood. There was chatter in the room buzzing wildly.

"Quiet down," a voice spoke up. She looked at the man across the room. "Daughter, what do you hope to accomplish by doing this?" She smirked.

"One simple reason, because I am the best and most powerful amongst you and a leader, has to stretch her muscles sometimes."

"You wish to prance around in the land of the mortals to fight in the wars of man for enjoyment?" Iris smirked.

"Father, you know damn well that demons are inhibiting the bodies of those mortals, and that is why this keeps going on."

"You wish to partake in this pointless war?" He sighed.

"Once the God's interfere, then there will be much more fun to be had."

"Once we gods acknowledge that the demons are attacking on the Earth, we will have no choice but to act as will they." Iris smirked.

"It's time to take back the souls that give us strength, father. Once they see their gods coming to the rescue, they will worship us and fill our temples with offerings and prayers, empowering us further."

"Do as you wish, but the moment I announce for you to return, you must return immediately with no questions asked." She nodded as she smiled. She couldn't wait to stretch her body in that world. She couldn't rule properly if she's never been there. She smirked to herself. This testing of her immortality thing was going to be fun.

*****************

Iris opened her eyes to see the ceiling of her room. She looked around, trying to figure out what had happened to her. One minute, she was talking to her sister. The next, she was in a war room. She shook her head as it ached slightly. She got up and walked to her door and opened it. The hall was empty from both sides as she looked out. She wandered the halls, committing every detail to memory for future use. She felt compelled to stop in front of a door. It was dark red with black ruins carved into the door. She pushed it open to reveal a library.

Her eyes went wide at the sheer size of it. The room was dimly lit, and there were a few darker wooden tables with chairs to match. She turned when she heard the shuffling of books. Her brother Sae appeared from between a couple of shelves and smiled at her. His eyes were gentle as his smile touched his entire face.

"My dear sister, I'm happy to see you up and well. I got a little worried when Cassidy told me that you fainted after saying goodbye to Mr. Blake. I came here to look up some herbs to see if I could come up with an elixir to help you feel better." Iris smiled at him and shook her head.

"I am fine. I was probably just tired." He nodded at her in acceptance. "Come and sit and talk with me, brother. I have some questions for you." He nodded and quickly pulled out a chair for his sister before sitting across from her.

"How can I assist you?"

"What do you know about the tunnels that we came in?" Sae looked in thought for a moment.

"To be honest, I don't know much about them. I know that they are like a maze. When we were kids, you used to talk me into going to explore them, and then you would draw maps of the layout as we went." He chuckled then. "For a child, you were quite intelligent, measuring out the distances and marking the doors. But we always got caught about 20 minutes into our adventures. Mom and dad would scold us for it, saying that we could get lost in those. Even they didn't know where the tunnels went. The only people who know are our ancestors who built this place."

"These maps, so you know where they are?"

Sae thought for a moment.

"You used to hide them so no one would find them and take them away. You used to get pretty obsessed about it and study the map before we attempted to enter the halls again." She nodded. "My best guess would be that they were hidden in your room somewhere only you would think to put them." She nodded.

"I have another question." Sae nodded at her to continue. "What do you know about the story of the goddesses Iris and Aurora and what the tree has to do with them?"

"Well, that story is older than time. But Iris, who you're named after, is the first born and the strongest of the light God's children. And Aurora is also the same as Iris but from the God of darkness." Iris nodded. "But it seemed that they were a little more reversed in their actions. Aurora was a quiet God who rarely left the dark relam. She was actually kind of a hermit. She never interfered in the affairs of her father or the other God's until he dragged her into them."

"But Iris was the opposite. She was always in the affairs of the other God's, especially if it involved war or some kind of bloodshed. She loved battle and senseless fighting. She took it all in fun and proving herself to show everyone how strong she was. She helped to start the war between the relams because of her involvement in the human wars. At least, that is the story. But she was highly intelligent and had a knack for battles and wars. But sometimes, she could be overly confident to the point of cocky and make reckless decisions."

"How do you know so much about her?"

Sae looked hesitant for a few moments before speaking.

"Because, when you were a child, you seemed too advanced for everyone around us. You were planning things and seeing details that everyone missed. But after you made that garden in your room, I knew that you were different. You weren't, I mean, you aren't like us. Your intelligence and strength, not to mention your abilities, are unfathomable. No one in our line has ever been able to do the things that you have done. So I started to research about Iris and all of the old God's because I believe you are a direct descend of Iris herself, or at least somehow touched by her to have been blessed with such things."

"Did you tell me this before I disappeared?" Sae shook his head.

"I did not. But I feel as if you knew because you sometimes said some things that were hinting that you knew what I was up to. Like I said, you were always smart and noticed things that no one else did. Plus, you are a lot like her. Running into battles and wars to the front lines recklessly to prove your battle prowess, among other things." He chuckled at her.

"We all got too confident the last time you went out before you disappeared. That's why you disappeared for so long and look how you come back. Two different colored eyes, an arm missing, and two new tattoos on your neck that are overriding the ones from our people." Sae shook his head again. "Life is a mess. Just do me a favor and never go anywhere without me again. I want to protect you as best as I can, even if that means I'll die trying my sister. Iris, you are more loved and cherished than you will ever be able to know." Sae looked at her and smiled.

"I'm sorry, I got off topic." He cleared his throat. "Now, back to the story. The war went on between the demons and the gods for ages before they came together to make a pact to end the war. Both sides had to give something in order to come to an agreement. So both sides gave the greatest treasure they had, their daughters. So, to end the war, they declared that their daughters would join in marriage to create a balanced union and rule all three relams from the place in-between. But as you can imagine, that was easier said than done. Neither goddess wished to be bonded to the other. It is a very serious and sacred matter not to be taken lightly."

"How do gods and goddess bond, Sae?" She interrupted quickly.

"I don't know all of the details. But there is, of course, the normal bedding of the partners, and there is the marking and then the soul ritual to complete the bond and rights of the gods. I don't know any more detail than that about it. It has always been an illusive subject." Sae chuckled then. Iris tilted her head in thought. Well, apparently, they had already done two out of the four Iris thought to herself. But she wondered how the other two went. She would have to ask Aurora when she saw her next.

"But before you disappeared, you did start acting strangely."

"What do you mean by that?"

"You were stand-offish and more secretive. I tried to question you on it, but you denied it. I'm just saying that you were on to something big. You were even distant from your betrothed. You denied him spending time with you and turned away his advances of courtship. You almost refused to speak with him. You were pulling away from everyone except Blake. It was strange. I used to think that you were secretly having an affair with him. But that was later proved false. But he never said what you spent so much time talking to him about." Iris nodded.

If she spent that much time with Blake, it was probably because she was relaying information to him to keep secret in case something happened to her. That was her first guess. But she would be finding out in the encounters that she was going to have with him starting tomorrow. Iris looked at her brother as he seemed to be studying her.

"You are trying to figure me out."

"I'm trying to figure out what you are and will become. Because you have a far greater destiny than any of us know." She smirked. Even she was just beginning to figure it out. But it seemed like she was on her way to starting down the path that she needed to go. She only nodded at him.

"It feels that way, but I need your help with something. I need to locate all of the books that we have on the old God's and whatever else I was studying before I disappeared." Sae sighed and nodded while standing.

"I will help you. Just don't pull away and disappear again, Iris. I don't think my heart could take another 10 years of not knowing." She smiled and raised her hand.

"I promise you, brother. I will do my best." He nodded while she stood. They disappeared down the isles of the library, gathering books for her.