Children of the Goddesses (completed)

Forgotten World

Laila’s POV

            Black spots filled my vision as that wretched female vampire’s fist connected with my head again. Pain shot through my body in short bursts of explosion and I no longer had the strength to struggle against my assailants. I felt the familiar feeling of being close to death once more and morbid as it might be, I couldn’t help but be amused at the number of close calls that I had since coming back from the dead. Slowly, Hanna’s desperate screams for mercy faded away as darkness completely took over. 

            It was an unusual darkness, not the kind that was lonely and scary but rather, it was comforting and familiar. Like a child craving the love of its parents, I allowed myself to indulge in the warmth of the darkness until a gentle but strong voice called out to me. The voice was persistent but I tried to ignore it, not wanting to leave the comforting darkness so soon. Gradually, it became louder and louder until I could no longer ignore it. As if it had read my mind, the voice stopped calling out to me the moment I had decided to follow it. A sudden brightness chased away the darkness and like the gentle sun on a cold winter morning, I smiled and embraced the brightness instead of shielding my eyes from it. 

            “We finally meet, my child,” the persistent voice said softly, and I opened my eyes in curiosity to see where it came from. 

            “Are you an angel?” I asked in awe as I stared at the majestic feminine being in front of me. Her tanned skin sparkled like molten gold as her piercing blue eyes shone like clear sapphires. The way that her golden tresses fell down her shoulders made her look out of the world and as some of my rational thoughts returned to me, I realized that I was most probably in another world. Was I dead again? 

            “No, my child,” she smiled gracefully in response. “I’m the Goddess that you’ve been praying to as a child, the Goddess your mother believes in. I’m Sol, the Sun Goddess. And my dear child, you’re alive.” 

            Confusion swirled in my head as I gaped at the being in front of me and I had to quickly give myself a mental knock on the head to stop staring at her like an i***t. “I don’t understand. If I’m not dead, how can I see you? And I don’t mean to be rude, but you’re real? I prayed when I was a child because my mother told me to but you never answered any of my prayers so I just thought that you were a myth.” 

            My ramblings neither angered nor annoyed the Goddess. Instead, her smile widened as she stretched out her hand to me. “Come with me, child, and everything will become clear to you.” 

            Without hesitation, I took her hand with childlike faith and followed her. The ground beneath us was soft and only when I gazed down at my feet did I realize that we were walking on the clouds. Yet, I was neither fearful nor did I feel like I was out of my mind. A sense of calm that I couldn’t explain caressed me like a warm jacket on a freezing winter night. 

            “Look,” the Goddess said gently as she pointed at a small gap in the clouds in front of us. The gap revealed a vast expanse of green and at the edge of it was the stormy ocean. As the waves crashed against the cliffs below, it reminded me strangely of our base camp at Wallace Bay. 

            “That’s L'Anse aux Meadows in Newfoundland, and I know what you’re thinking. Reminds you of the vampire base camp at Wallace Bay doesn’t it?” I nodded gingerly at the Goddess’s question. 

            “Centuries ago, my people came to this New World from the Old World, bringing with them their history and culture as they settled in L'Anse aux Meadows. Life was difficult but it was a fresh start for them, away from the persecution of new Gods and beliefs brought on by invaders to their homeland. I was powerless to help my people in the Old World because of the treachery of my father. My twin brother, Mani, and I are the guardians of mankind but our father was not happy with what we had. He wanted more power, more control and one day, his greed angered the other Gods and Goddesses. War inevitably broke out and our people were caught in the middle through no fault of their own. It pained my heart to see my people dying from the floods, storms, wildfires and earthquakes created from our war, but I was powerless to help them against the wrath of the other Gods and Goddess. In the end, I was left with no choice but to lead my people to a New World and shortly after we had left the Old World behind, the Twilight of the Gods began.” 

            Sorrow etched across the Goddess’s face as she smiled sadly at me. “My twin brother was amongst the fallen, and he was cut down by the giant wolf Fenrir, who took over his place as the God of the Moon. My niece, Bil, fled to the New World and sought me out for help. We both knew that Fenrir’s heart might have been in the right place when he fought against the tyranny of my father and cut down my brother, who had chosen to support my father. But he was a wolf and had no idea about being a guardian of mankind nor about the responsibilities of a God. Soon, disasters after disasters happened in the Old World as tidal waves and floods wiped out more and more of our people, and foreign invaders took advantage of the chaos caused by the War of the Gods and Goddesses to slaughter and enslave our people. Eventually, Fenrir admitted defeat and used the last of his strengths to protect our people, ferrying them to the New World. As he took his last breath, he returned my niece’s rightful position to her and Bil became the Moon Goddess.” 

            A thought nudged at the back of my head as what the Goddess recounted played out before our eyes in the world below the clouds. I couldn’t quite put my finger on it but the name Fenrir was so strangely familiar. 

            “Who is Fenrir, Goddess? Why do I feel like I know him?” 

            “You do know him, my child,” the Goddess chuckled. “To repay Fenrir, Bil used the magic that only God or Goddess of the Moon could wield, drawing from the full moon, she created the first werewolf, the original Alpha and his wolf was Fenrir. Bil wanted to give Fenrir a second chance at life and using the magic of the moon, she gave him a mate, the First Witch. They were created to complete each other and their bond was cemented by powerful magic that werewolves call the mate bond, but Bil was a young Goddess. She had never been in love and little did she know that no magic in this world or the next was powerful enough to create perfect love. She underestimated the lure of the darkness that came with power, the darkness which caused the demise of the Gods and Goddesses in our forgotten Old World, but Bil was determined to give Fenrir the second chance he deserved, so she created a she-wolf for him to be his second chance mate.” 

            Realization dawned on me as I recalled why the name Fenrir rang a bell. “Was the she-wolf named Sköll?” 

            “No, my child,” the Goddess shook her head as she waved her hand over the world below, and the vast green expanse faded away. In its place was what appeared to be a dense forest, but upon closer examination, the black dots were not trees but charred remains of different beings. 

            “This was the final battle in the Old World, which ushered in the Twilight of the Gods. Fenrir’s lover, Sköll was killed in this battle but because her remains were burned by the vengeful Goddess of the Underworld before it could be consecrated, her soul was lost, wandering between the world of the living and the world of the spirits.” 

            “The Mittelding? Was that where she was?” I asked curiously as I thought about the first time that I had “died” and was able to speak with my mother. 

            “In a way, yes. The Mittelding wasn’t what it is today back then. When you were in the Mittelding, your mother explained it as the realm between the world of the living and the world of the spirits, but in fact it was a waiting room of sorts, where Bil and I would welcome our creation to the world of the spirits before leading them to their final resting place. Right after the final battle, the Mittelding was invaded by the Goddess of the Underworld to prevent our people from passing into the world of the spirits meant for them. The Goddess of the Underworld was determined to capture as many souls as possible and bring them back with her in order to shore up her power. It took Bil some time to find Sköll’s soul but by the time she found it, it was too late. Sköll’s soul was so tainted by the darkness of the Underworld that the only way to give her a second chance at life was as a human with magical powers to keep the darkness at bay. Sköll was the First Witch and the part of her soul that was tainted was put to sleep until the day Fenrir’s love could purify and awaken it again.” 

            “Alpha Finn and Luna Kayla? Fenrir and Sköll are their wolves, ain’t they?”

            “Yes, my child. Bil had hoped that the magic of the mate bond would help Fenrir to awaken Sköll’s true soul but over the centuries, he failed to do so, and Sköll also failed to fight against her own darkness with the magical powers given to her, until Alpha Finn and Luna Kayla finally succeeded. In doing so, they also repaired the sacred mate bond, which became a gift from Bil to her children after she had created it for Fenrir and Sköll.” 

            “I don’t understand, Goddess,” I mumbled as I thought about what she had said. “If the mate bond is a gift from the Moon Goddess to her children, then why do I have a fated mate? Or at least, that’s what Ethan said we are.” 

            “My silly child, that’s because you are Bil’s child as well, just like you are mine,” the Goddess explained patiently. “The First Witch’s Daughter was able to create the first male vampire because Bil and I allowed her to. Even though humans from the Old World are the creation of my brother and I, many of them have forgotten about their origins after arriving in the New World, and when Bil’s children began taking humans as their mates, we decided to allow them to have children and turn them into vampires, so that one day our forgotten world might be known again.” 

            My head was getting heavy from the amount of information that the Sun Goddess was showing to me and the more she explained, the more confused I was about how everything was supposed to fit together. 

            “How? How will we remember the forgotten world again? And my mother, she believed in you. Did she know all of this?” 

            The Sun Goddess beamed kindly at me and said softly, “Soon, my child, soon you’ll understand.” Slowly, the glow around her became brighter, burning like a fiery fire until I had no choice but to shut my eyes. 

            “Laila? Laila, can you hear me?” 

            The familiar scent of mint hit my nose before a dull ache exploded all over my body again, forcing my eyes to fly open as I gasped out in pain.