Magic, Myth and Mysteries

If We Had Forever, Part One - May Clarke

If We Had Forever- Author May Clarke

They had been made for the amusement of the Gods. She, like all her divine family, had enjoyed watching them from afar. They seemed to pack so much of life into their short span of mortality, and the rest of the Gods and Goddess’ mocked them for it. Sometimes they placed obstacles in their way, so they could watch how man-kind re-built, endured and started over.

Entertainment.

An eruption of a Volcano was a minor display of heavenly power, but they revelled in the anguish it caused for the souls on earth. Boredom motivated their malicious actions as they manipulated the humans as if the pace of the chapter was too slow, and they needed to rush through the pages. Unfortunately, this was the problem with immortality, after a while everything had been seen before and they resented the mortals’ ability to live happily, and die eternally. In their jealousy they either became crueller or despondent. The only exception to that perspective was Selene’s, the moon Goddess. Rather than play with the humans, she envied them. In her eyes the beautiful brevity of their life, made it shine like the moon she pulled across the night sky. She would often wonder what she would do differently if her tomorrow’s weren’t guaranteed, and this philosophical question led her to a secluded place on earth she had made for herself. In many ways it led her to him.

Cool sand beneath her bare feet was not too dissimilar from walking on the clouds. She had purposefully chosen a fine grain in her designs to make it so. The soft breeze blew the back of her dress behind her like translucent ribbon, and she enjoyed the crisp air. Her island was a shadow of what she had in Olympus, but even a shadow of immaculateness was something to be revered on earth. She looked over to the sea, and watched how Poseidon’s rippling waves caused the reflection of her moon to cast stripes over the water in resplendent rows of radiance. Although there was nothing special about this particular day, she noticed that the moon seemed bigger as if it was pulling towards her, reaching out to the Goddess it was bound to. During this scrutiny she saw a tiny, black speck that tarnished the moon. She squinted to discover what the moving shape could be, before realising that it was a sail boat. Torn between what she should do to protect her sanctuary, she thought of the horrid suggestions her fellow Gods and Goddess would have given her. At one point she held the magnetic pull in her hand that would have easily capsized the vessel, but reason stopped her. When she had watched long enough to safely ascertain that the human would reach the shore, she climbed atop her carriage and rode home, guiding the moon behind her.

Despite her need to walk on her sandy beaches and pretend she was human, Selene avoided her island. Perplexed by this unusual circumstance she found herself in, she appealed to her brother and sister for help. Helios offered to make the sun shine so brightly that the heat would chase the intruder back onto his boat. She politely declined. Eos said she could make dawn rise earlier on the island, so that the invader would be disturbed each morning. Selene smiled, but refused this aid as well. Both suggested that she could kill the human and then there wouldn’t be a problem at all, but Selene would never take a life for her own benefit. Strangely, the very idea of hurting this person on her island made her stomach clench with dread.

On the fifth day, she hung the crescent moon in the star-dotted sky, and returned to her island.

Hiding in the sand dunes she was unsurprised to learn that the human was a male, as if something deep within her had recognised this before her eyes confirmed it. She watched him with fascination as he gathered supplies to create a fire, as if he were a grandchild of Prometheus. When he pulled his tunic over his head and warmed it near the flame, Selene could feel the heat as it burned within her. He lay on the ground and stretched into a star shape, his back popping as he groaned appreciating the release of tension. The goddess was transfixed on the craft of his muscles that elevated his mortal body to rival that of the deities. Following her desire, her eyes studied his biceps and pectorals that were raised against his frame, lowering her eyes she let them hop scotch over his abdomen where neat squares waited to be admired, to be touched, to be tasted. Having no control over her instinct she lingered on his Apollo’s belt, before deciding that she would scrap Orion’s belt in the sky and recraft it until it looked like his. She was transfixed by the human who flaunted his splendour across her sandy beach.

“You are welcome to join me whenever you choose, Moon Goddess. I feel your eyes across my skin.” The man called out, with an unusual expectancy.

“How astute you are. How did you know I was here? There aren’t many mortals who can detect a Goddess who doesn’t want to be discovered.” She replied coldly, while leaving her hiding place.

They stood before each other in silence for a moment. Unashamedly, he drank in her body with a compulsion he made no attempt to fight against. Did she realise that the ray of the moon made her glow? Was the ethereal sparkle her inner beauty that only he was able to appreciate? She was better than all his dreams of her, but still familiar.

“Forgive me, I’ve waited many nights to see you my Goddess. You called me here. Your loneliness and need to experience life beckoned me to come to you.” He examined her apprehension at his words, realising she hadn’t reached out to him intentionally.

Embarrassment, rushed to his cheeks, and Selene couldn’t help but find him endearing.

Sitting on the ground, unconcerned by the sand spoiling her dress she gestured for him to do the same. He began his story, how he heard the moon song telling him to find her island. The waves that had sighed directions to him, and the stars that had created a clear path in the sky for him to follow. In every dream he heard her musings about love and life, he saw her dress ripple behind her in the breeze like water, and felt her sad countenance as she walked along the beach.

“I don’t know what, or who created this feeling inside me if it wasn’t you, but in my soul I know I was made to love you.” He admitted.

Selene wanted to believe him, more than she had wanted anything for a long time.

They spoke until the fire rescinded into soft, romantic embers, and both their faces were enlightened with anticipation. Reluctantly, Selene left that night to pull the moon away for her sister’s dawn, but for the first time it seemed like a heavy burden. An orbed obstacle keeping her from Endymion.

Months passed far too quickly. It was a sensation that Selene wasn’t familiar with, but she was happy every single day she was with Endymion. They would explore the island, and dive into the sea where she swam him into the depths that he was wary of, because of his mortality. Selene used this as an excuse for their first kiss, placing her lips against his, so that he could breathe a little longer. When they broke to the surface, he admitted that he would risk drowning a thousand times a day if there was a chance that her lips could save him once more. Each night she would leave to push the moon into its place, and each morning she would leave again to pull it down. She only told her love of how hard her task was becoming, her joy was no longer found in her duty.

Sprinting across the sand, she screamed with exhilaration as Endymion chased her. Wrapping his arms around her waist, he spun them around joining in with her laughter as joy coursed through both of them. With the sun shining brightly and heating them both, he lay her on the soft sand. Encasing her in his arms as he suspended himself above her, he was captured by her sensuality, her need for him and his need for her. Desire burned in his eyes as he took her lips like he had done many times before, welcoming her soft moans of pleasure. Caressing the back of his neck she parted her thighs for him, lifting her hips to meet his arousal. Endymion gazed at her in adoration, whatever she wanted of him he would have happily provided. The notion that she might love him even a fraction as much as he cherished her was a sacred gift he wanted to treasure. He placed his forehead against hers, hoping his love would be communicated in his actions, and when she pronounced her holy words in his ear, he felt blessed.

“I love you.”

Their union was sanctified in a power of their own making, greater than the might of all Gods combined. He kissed her deeply, his tongue sucked into her mouth, and she writhed beneath him at the intrusion. Continuing his worship of her body, he tilted her chin to the side, leaving soft bites at the juncture where her neck met her shoulder, while she nibbled at his fingertips, leaving them wet and tingly. She unclipped her wolf headed broach casting it away upon the sand, and the folds of her toga slid from her body, exposing her perfection to his eyes only. Impatiently, she pulled his loin cloth from his body focussing on his manhood with a desire equal to his own. Rhythmically, she pumped his shaft with a fluidity that made his restraint pleasurably painful. He turned his attention to her heavy breasts, teasing her taut n*****s with the graze of his teeth, her chorus of cries made his own passion harden, but he was her follower and was determined to wait for his indulgence. Tracing his wet fingers to the apex of her thighs he rubbed his palm against her demanding c**t, as he circled her opening with his fingertips. Lying next to her he tilted her on her side continuing his worship of her body.

“Look at me Selene, I want to see every shifting expression on your face as you finish on my fingers.”

Lips parted, she watched his delight when her forehead creased in response to his fingers that he had sunk deeply into her tight temple, twisting inside her like a wine bottle before the cork explodes. Instinctively, she wanted to throw her head back and be intoxicated by the fluid that would cover them both, she was surprised when he held her cheek still.

“Let me be part of it, not just the cause, my Goddess” He groaned, before gently biting her bottom lip.

With the exciting nip of pain on her mouth, she felt something pop deep within her, before the flood of satisfaction leaked from between her thighs. Needing no urging she climbed atop of him, easily sinking down onto his thick c**k. She wanted savour him, as he had her. Slowly, oscillating back and forth she wrapped her arms around his chest and gripped onto his shoulder blades as her breasts pressed against his body. She wanted to merge into him, to be so lost in each other that they could never be found by the world or the heavens. Together to the point that there was no possible way to separate them. She wanted their souls to be one.

“I love you, Selene. Only you. For as long as I live.” He cried out.

When his final thrusts carried him into oblivion, she watched him come undone, as he had watched her.

She had lived a million life times, and never seen anything as beautiful.

It was with a heavy heart that she left him to drag the moon to the sky and bring it back again. That night, it wasn’t only the parting that saddened her, it was the realisation that he would love her for as long as he lived, and that would never be long enough for an immortal Goddess. For the first time in her existence, she realised that brevity wasn’t beautiful, but rather brutal.

Securing the moon until the night called for her again, Selene was planning to return to her island. She couldn’t remember the last time she had stayed in her home on Olympus, but she knew she didn’t miss it.

“Sister, you have been absent too long.” Helios appeared, dressed in his golden armour.

Selene was already suspicious, dawn belonged to her sister Eos, and there was no need for the sun God to arrive yet.

“You have seen me every day since time was created. Surely you can understand why I enjoy my peaceful island?” She retorted, annoyed by the unnecessary delay back to her loved one.

“I think you enjoy your human lover more than that island.” He laughed pompously, as if he had won a game against her.

Selene’s blood ran cold. It wasn’t forbidden to enjoy the pleasures of a human, for some deities the hedonistic pursuits made the passing of time less tedious.

Loving a human was a different matter.

“You shouldn’t make love under the gaze of the sun, if you didn’t want me to find out, dear sister.” He taunted her.

“Many Gods fornicate with the humans, why should I be any different?” She returned, nonchalantly.

Pretending to be indifferent to his sinister suggestions of crimes committed, she held his stare with an expression unconcerned triviality, before turning to gain strength from her moon.

He slithered towards her like when the invading sun creeps through the window chasing the secret shadows away. Wrapping his arms around her body, while he stood behind her, she stilled. To an observer he would have looked like a loving brother, but she knew he wanted to feel her pain, sense her flinch against the power of his knowledge.

“Because you love him, and that can never be.” He whispered, as if they shared a confidence. Just as he predicted, she flinched at the thought of what would happen to Endymion.

“End it sister, or I will set your island alight before you can save him. It will be a lesson burnt into you memory for eternity.” He left her, crumpled on the floor.

Days had passed since he had seen Selene, and Endymion couldn’t shift the heavy weight of foreboding that settled in his stomach. Making love to her on the beach had been monumental, there was no chance she could be regretting it. Who regrets true love? Still, the sense of doom wouldn’t shift, and even though the moon appeared each night it was dull like matt stone. He called out for her to come to him, that they could survive anything together, that his love for her was too strong to ever diminish. Silence. Weeping as the wave washed up against his legs, he screamed her name to the heavens, begging for answers. His desolation was boundless. Unable to resist his pain any longer, she returned to their island. When he felt her arms wrap around his shoulders as she covered him with her shawl, he didn’t realise that it wasn’t a dream until the tingles of love warmed icy soul. He kissed her passionately in relief, and she returned his kiss with same vigour.

‘Just one more time’ she told herself.

“Are you OK, my love?” He asked her, his voice breaking when he realised that uncomfortable sense of disaster hadn’t been eased by her arrival.

“We cannot be together. It is forbidden to love a mortal, and we have been caught. The punishment if we continue is your death. That is something I cannot endure.” She tried to be cold and unfeeling, but the devastation on his face made it impossible.

“If you don’t think that l would rather die, than live without you by my side than you have failed to comprehend the depth of my love. Give me death, every night for as long as you live, rather than condemn me to survive the rest of my life without you!” He yelled in frustration.

She had predicted these words, hoped for and dreaded them in equal measure. Negotiating with her brother she had managed to gain some time, so that he wouldn’t spend the remainder of his life in misery. Superciliously, removing the memory elixir from her pocket she leant into his arms.

“There will be no other for me. I will be fixed in this time of my happiness until time ends, and be devoted to our memories here. I want a better life for you. Marry a human girl and have many children, always love the moon more than the sun…and never remember your time with me.” She stumbled over the last words, unable to keep the lump from constricting her voice.

Discreetly, she held the potion in her mouth before claiming her last kiss and transferring the contents into his. Crying, as the dazed confused look hazed over his face, she lay him in his sailing boat and told the moon to take him home. When he passed the horizon, Selene howled with a pain beyond understanding. Her sister and brother rushed to her side, but she didn’t recognise them. Darkness swallowed her whole, and even the moon was eclipsed by her sorrow.

“It will all look better when the dawn rises” Eos tried to comfort her, but Selene shook her head.

“There are no tomorrows worth seeing if I can’t watch them with Endymion” Helios looked as if he were going to speak, but realised he was the last person she wanted to hear from.

Little did the siblings know, that those words would be the last they heard from her for many years.

Hours, days, months, years, lifetimes. Nothing. Selene had no concept of time. Since her lover was banished, misery made life move at an infinitesimal pace. There was day and dawn, but there was no hope in the night anymore. The moon had not been seen for a long time. When night fell there was only darkness, and in the beginning the Gods used this clandestine opportunity to make the worst monsters. When day time arrived, no-one knew which God was to blame for the latest catastrophe, but the mortals suffered from the idle fun of the cruel celestial court. An absent moon resulted in natural disasters plaguing man, and it was this oversight in the consequences of her isolation that brought Eos to Selene’s island once more.