Oblivion's Kiss

Twenty years ago, Midsummer Solstice. Bernekhia. Barely a second after the pain ripped through my lower abdomen did I hear my daughter’s cry. I threw my head back onto the pillow, closing my eyes, and released a heavy sigh of relief.  After nineteen hours of labor, I was grateful that it was finally over. “Oh, hush little princess” I heard the angel’s distressed attempt to soothe her, but it only caused Cayara to screech only louder with disgust. Cayara, my daughter. I smiled, before I managed to lift my head so I could finally meet her. Beads of sweat rolled from my forehead, and my skin still burned from the birth, but I had no right to complain.  Cayara was suffering discomfort, less likely more than I but I didn’t want her to feel anything like this in such a tiny little body. I had been warned this would happen to her.  Situations of heavy distress would push the power pooling inside her to its peak. It was a kind of power that could scorch, disrupt, and even abolish if tampered with. Especially, when it would come to her emotions.  It frightened me the most. At first, all I could see were tiny feet kicking as she squirmed in the angel’s arms, and then I saw which was my greatest fear. The power was visible in her eyes. Molten coals of amber sparked with the irritation she displayed as her tiny fists flayed mid-air. “Olivia, her eyes, what if…” The angel shook her head and smiled calmly, but only momentarily until she was forced to glance down alarmingly at Cayara who started to wail even louder. “It won’t be a problem. I will take care of it” the angel said, but regardless of her reassurance, she hurried to my side with the little bundle now slightly wrapped with a soft, cream blanket. I took Cayara from the angel and immediately pulled the blanket from her tiny body. I examined her from head to toe. Ten toes. Ten fingers. Soft, honey hair matted on top of her little head. Her eyes were the only thing different from every other newborn child.  She was undeniably beautiful. “My little girl” I whispered to her as I kissed her on the forehead. I let my lips linger there for a moment, closing my eyes so I could savor this moment. The realization of what was to come had already begun to cut through my heart in immeasurable degrees. Cayara finally stilled and when I re-opened my eyes and lifted my head away from her, I found her blinking at me with curiosity.  I could already tell she was like her father. Flared with a temper and a soft heart. It would be the only characteristics I might ever get to meet of hers.  I did not realize I was crying until I felt the tears dripping down from my chin and onto my chest. “I can’t do this Olivia. By the great mother Berne, I just can’t…” but my voice choked with a loud sob, which caused Cayara to break out in wails all over again. “Ari, it has to be done. Not for you, but for her” the angel said in a soft voice. She lowered herself at the edge of the bed, her golden hair so long it fell like a blanket around her when she sat. Her eyes were glassy, and I knew she was about to cry too.  “He will hate me” I whispered, wrapping the blanket back around Cayara’s tiny body, and held her softly against my chest to soothe her. “He will be angry with you, yes” the angel spoke truthfully as she narrowed her eyes to look at Cayara, “but he loves you. In time, he will learn the truth and he will forgive you” I closed my eyes and shook my head. “Cayara’s father will not, Olivia. Not if our plan goes through as anticipated” “And it will work, you hear me. I will not fail this. It means to me as much as it does to you” she said, “and if she’s anything like either of you, which I can tell you this, she will be, she will go looking for the both of you” My body stiffened as another stab of pain went through my heart.  “S-she won’t find m-me” I forced the words out between more sobs. I felt like I stopped breathing. It was only before the angel turned away from me that I spotted a tear glistening on her left cheek. She didn’t say anything else, because she knew as well as I that no words would comfort me.  “Olivia?” I asked when she stood up and headed across the cabin to add more wood to the fireplace. “Yes?” “Do you miss him?” Olivia paused, her brows furrowed in a frown, but then she smiled. “Not at all” Her answer had taken me off guard. “You don’t miss your son?” She dropped another log in to the fire when she then turned to face me, “of course I do, Ari, but it hurts less when you know that your child is doing just fine” I did not understand anymore what she meant by that, even after she handed me a silver pendant. An oval-shaped mirror framed with small crystals. It was slightly smaller than the palm of my hand. “Look in to the mirror when you wish to see her, and you will” My heart fluttered with hope. “This will allow me to see if she’s all right?” “Yes” the angel smiled, “and nothing would ever be wrong with her. I vow to stay by her side until the time comes when she would be ready, and then I will guide her the way.” For a brief moment, the fear rushed through me that what if this failed. What if something would happen to her? I grind my teeth together and shook my head again. It won’t go wrong. It can’t. “Yes. Nothing could go wrong. Not with her” I agreed, planting another kiss on her forehead.  But everything was wrong. Her having to leave me was so wrong.  “I’m so sorry my little angel” I whispered to Cayara, “I will always love you. So, so much”