Chosen by the Fates

The Darkness and the Gift

Delphi ~

I feel Cian’s arms release first, as he steps back to regard me with a concerned expression. Ashleigh’s eyes are watching me, worried. “The last time we tried that…”

“I know. But this time is different. Every time I dream since our vacation, I am Delphi. I experience impressions and thoughts that are new to me from it. However, I only have memories of being Aisling, and everything else is still nearly blank. And I can’t leave this dream space.

Between waking and sleeping I have this sense that this is…” My voice trails off.

I’ve tried leaving a few times on my own, and each time I end up back at this beach. It doesn’t seem like a coincidence that my death while trapped in this life could be the means of killing an immortal.

“…A prison?” Sionainn’s eyes haven’t left the falling stars.

I nod, “Yes. Ever since you brought up the risks of me dying like this…as Aisling.”

Ashleigh heaves a sigh. Cian glances at Ashleigh, a knowing look. Something they can’t tell me.

Sionainn’s musical voice breaks through my thoughts, “The stars have been falling this whole time?”

Turning my gaze skyward, I nod.

Sionainn considers my words for a long moment before speaking into the silence we all share, “Your first lesson then. Each detail of the dreaming is of importance.

Some wiser than we have even gone on to quantify it. For example, a daytime sky might mean your conscious awareness while the evening is the realm of your subconscious. Bodies of water might signify emotions, and the depth of a body of water would then signify the depth of the emotional connection. And so forth.

However, the wisest of those who learn to interpret dreams understand the context of those details is equally relevant. What would these things mean to you within the context of your life? What do you love and what do you fear? What draws you in, and what drives you away. But most of all, why?

Knowing this is within your own mind is your first clue. Your second clue is that everything within your dream is from somewhere you have or will one day be.”

Sionainn’s words remind me of something Ashleigh told me in the first dream I remember with him. My eyes find Ashleigh’s as his voice comes to the forefront of my memories.

‘You've been or will be everywhere you see here. But it's all blended together to suit what your mind and lucid form needs or wants in each moment.’

I let that thought fill my mind like a beacon. Remembering, I open myself to the flow of thoughts and memories without grasping for them. Like catching something floating within water.

The stars remind me of a memory as Aisling.

It was the first time dad took me to see a meteor shower as a young child. I was amazed that stars fell every year. ‘The stars won’t all fall from the sky?’ My voice is filled with childhood wonder mixed with worry.

‘No, these are pieces of small debris falling from space. They are different from the stars, which are gas clouds like our sun, but far away from us in space.’ He always explained everything very clearly to me, never assuming I was too young to understand.

I was even more amazed at what he was saying meant. ‘The stars are other suns? Does that mean there are other worlds like earth?’

He laughed at that and nodded, ‘Maybe. Many scientists believe so and are searching for life outside our own.’

That thought feels right to me. Even as a child I had grown to understand that the people in my life who I loved had lives and experiences beyond when I was with them. How could there not be whole worlds and realities beyond the one inhabited by people?

Another thought occurred to me after that. ‘Then why do they call it a shooting star? Will my wishes still come true?’

My dad chuckled and nodded. ‘Because of the trail of light, they probably looked like falling stars to people a long time ago. And the number of shooting stars just means your wishes are even more likely to come true.’

I feel the tears trickling down my cheeks even before I realize I’m crying. Every thought contained withing that memory of being Aisling is filled with the sound of my dad’s voice. A sound that has been gone for a long time now.

I find myself wishing I’d hugged him back then. I miss the feel of his warm hugs.

“The stars are a memory from this life, they are tied to my dad and wishes.” My voice is quiet. Before I can say anything else Sionainn strides to me and pulls me into a comforting embrace. I feel the arms of Ashleigh and Cian join as well.

When I close my eyes and lean into their hug another memory rushes through me. This one is of a dream. It was a lucid dream from my childhood as Aisling which I had forgotten.

It was sunset over an ocean. A procession of faceless figures in hooded robes was moving along a beach toward a cliff. Some bore torches, some swung incense. The smoke curls through the air into vine-like shapes before being blown away by the ocean winds.

I joined with them quietly as their chanting filled the dusk air. We climbed steps cut from the cliff, and ahead of us I was a huge stone structure. Perhaps a monastery? I am not sure because I can’t remember why we were there.

My eyes snap open. As I am watching the beach begins to shift and change around us. A large outcropping of cliffs with stairs carved into the stone up to the peak rises before us. The long shadow of that same building can be seen overlooking the ocean.

“Is that…” Cian starts to ask, but Ashleigh elbows him and shoots him a cold glare.

“It’s a dream from my childhood. I don’t remember the rest.” I answer quietly.

Sionainn’s voice is gentle, “Perhaps if we approach?”

I nod, and we begin walking together. It seems as if only a moment has passed before I am pushing open the dark gates. The building of my dream is abandoned.

More memories flood my mind.

The huge audience hall was lit in the warm glow of firelight. Torches and chandeliers seemed to fill every corner of the great space. We had arrived just in time to celebrate the birth of a very special child.

Upon entering, chests were brought forward from the back of our robed group. When the chests were opened, they revealed wealth and riches beyond imagining.

But before the gifts could be accepted by our hosts, darkness fell across the huge hall.

The torches were simultaneously blown out.

Shouts filled the darkness.

I wanted to run. I was a child and there is one certain truth I knew about darkness. Here there be monsters.

But when I turned to run, I felt the darkness pursue. My own terror pounded through me, but my scream for help is silent. Something was grabbing at me, my running slowed. I was so frightened, whatever was in the darkness was about to take me.

Then Dad’s voice drifted through my child’s mind. It was the first time he taught me about lucid dreaming. It was because I used to tell him about my nightmares.

‘The things in your dreams have no power over you beyond what you believe they have. Your dreams are entirely within your own mind. Do you know what that means?”

I shook my head at that. I didn’t know what it meant, but I was hanging on his every word. My nightmares scared me, and I could feel that he was teaching me how to stop them.  

‘That means you are the master of that dream, and you can do anything you want.’

But I was powerless, I already knew that. There was nothing I could do. He just didn’t understand because of how big and scary the things that were chasing me were.

‘Is there a hero you love from your books or the movies you love? Someone unbeatable, who always vanquishes the monsters?’

Of course there was, and I told him all about her. How she’s a normal person, but she transforms when she uses an incantation.

‘In your dreams you can be her any time you want. It is your dream.’

He was right to think my hero could defeat what was after me, but how am I supposed to be her when I am powerless?

‘The next time you are being chased, you turn and face it. And you say what your hero says when they transform. Then you will become her. Whenever you face what chases you, you weaken it and take some of your own power back. Each time you turn, you will be given a gift.’

My dad was the wisest man in the world.

So as the darkness climbed up my small body, strangling my voice from me, I spun on it.

Shouting the incantation, a blinding light filled the audience hall.

I stood in full armor, wielding the weapon of my hero. And before me was a small white rabbit. That is when I woke up.

As the memory finishes, the now empty audience hall fills with a softer light. Glowing sparkles dance through the darkest corners. It is overgrown with moss and vines.

Sionainn’s eyebrows are up as he regards me, “I like the armor.”

A glance down brings a blush to my cheeks. I stand tall and lithe as Delphi in the armor. It somehow looks even more striking now on this body than I remembered it. “It was something my dad taught me when I was little. I always had nightmares. It’s why he taught me to lucid dream.”

Sionainn holds up four fingers.

As Delphi, I have the distinct feeling that in the past our roles in this game of his were reversed. I raise an eyebrow at him even as he smirks playfully.

“What were your nightmares of?” Ashleigh’s tenor is serious.

“Darkness. Darkness was always after me.” My voice is soft and distracted as I explore the banquet hall. I never did get a gift for this dream. At least not one I could remember.

“So, the armor…?” He prods softly.

“Dad told me to change into my childhood hero and face it. He taught me that I am the sole master of my dreams.”

Ashleigh looks impressed, “He was a wise man.”

Sionainn nods, watching me. “If the void was after you as a child, it’s possible that his lessons are what have kept you safe for so long.”

“What’s this?” Cian’s soft baritone catches all of our attention. Sitting atop a few steps at the far end of the audience hall is one of the chests the robed figures had brought for the celebration.

“It looks like something from my old dream.” I mutter this to myself and the brothers look at me in question.

Approaching the box, I kneel to look at it, brushing dust from it. Old and weathered, I’m surprised it’s still here. It is not locked.

Carefully I open it.

The lid slams backward as darkness floods the great hall. I hear shouts from the brothers fade away as I am swallowed by it.