The Essence of Eternity - Awaken

Chapter VIII - Meeting a fairy

The next day I am like a zombie at work the whole morning so I take a nap as soon as I get home. When I open my eyes again it’s early evening and I am feeling much better. I always enjoyed long sleeps but lately I have the need to sleep more. Seven hours sleep a night is not enough.

I go downstairs and see my dad is on the couch asleep. I go into the kitchen and see there is food on a plate. I take a diet coke from the fridge and go in the living room to eat while watching TV. It has been several days since I have watched the news. I remember I have not called my mum yet and I make a plan to do that once my dad is up so he can also talk to her. I finish my food, wash my plate and sit next to my dad until he wakes up.

"Hello sweetie," He says. "Are you ok? I didn’t see you this morning."

"I know, Dad, sorry. I woke up late and I needed to be at the store at ten so I just got dressed and left."

He looks concerned. "Are you feeling sick?"

"No, nothing like that…It’s just, you know I love sleep. That’s all, don’t worry."

He seems relieved. "Oh, by the way, Kellan passed by this morning and he did not look happy. He was looking for you."

"Well, I guess I will see him later. I am not planning to come to the pub tonight. I was thinking of watching a movie. I work at ten again tomorrow."

"Ok sure…"

"Now, have you already made that call?"

"To Mum?"

"No, to Jesus! Yes to Mum…"

"Nope."

"So bring the phone, and we’ll do that together," he says.

I dial my home phone number and I am thinking she must be home now. It is already eight in the evening in Greece. She picks up and after we have a quick hello in Greek I tell her we should speak English as Dad is sitting next to me and I want him to be able to understand. I also beg her to be nice to him; I’m not sure whether she will get angry after I tell her what I am planning to do but it is not his fault. "So how are you?" I ask casually in English.

"I am good," she answers. "How are you? Is everything going well in Galway?" I can tell she is smiling now.

"Yes we are all set here! Well, actually more than set. I wanted to tell you…" I look at my dad and he is a bit nervous now- well that makes two of us!

"Yes?"

"I wanted to tell you that I was thinking of staying here for a while, more than a couple of weeks."

"Tita did something happen? Please put Dad on the phone!" I roll my eyes and pass it on to Dad and I hear him reassuring her that nothing bad has happened; everything is going fine. He gives back the phone, telling me that when I am finished he wants to talk to her again.

"Hello again, Mum," I say.

"So you are ok!"

"Yes, I am ok! Why wouldn’t I be?"

"No reason, nothing! Why are you staying then?"

"I don’t really have anything to do back in Greece." I tell her truthfully. "I got a job here!"

"You got a job?"

"Yes, at a very nice music store. It’s only part time but still I will be making some money and I want to spend some time with Dad. Plus, I will be closer to Edinburgh if I need to travel for any last minute arrangements. And you can come visit! Dad said he wanted to invite you; an open invitation…"

''He did?"

"Yes, in fact, he wants to talk to you now."

"He does?''

"Yes Mum. Are we good?"

"I guess! Do you have everything you need?" I can feel she is still worried.

"No, actually I was thinking that you coming here for a weekend sometime soon and you could bring me some stuff…"

"We'll see…"

"I will let you know what I need. Love you. Bye! Talk to Dad now."

"Love you too…" But before she finishes her sentence, Dad is on the phone.

"You love me, huh?"

"Well, not you!"

"Oh! That hurt!" He says playfully. I hear them laughing now, and I can feel my dad is full of joy, so I go outside to give them some space.

I lie on my hammock for a while and as it is getting darker and chillier now, I feel the refreshing humidity of the plants and earth around me, wrapping me; I am at ease. It’s so nice and normal when I am outside. Dubhghall was right. I already feel much happier. The conversation with Mum went ok and I am seeing Dubhghall tonight! We will actually spend time together like a normal couple. He is my first official boyfriend ever. That will be interesting.

In less than ten minutes I see my dad leave for the pub in a hurry. He seems really cheerful. I ask how it went and he gives me a thumbs-up and shouts, "She will visit soon!"

I am really giggling at his obvious joy and love for my mum.

Dad is gone now and I am alone. It is a bit past six in the afternoon and I remember that I have not replanted my flower yet. I get up from the hammock and go on the porch to find my flower still wrapped in the towel. I unwrap the cloth and see that it is starting to wither. I feel sad for not paying the proper attention to it. I must to do my best to revive it. I go to the back of the yard where my dad has his gardening tools and get a small spade. I decide to plant it close to the tree that holds my hammock. This way it would be closer to me when I rest there. I get down on my knees and start digging a hole and as I cram my bare hands into the ground, the sensation is remarkable. I feel like I am touching a living organism and the earth responds to my touch by channeling strength and love and rapture to me. I suppose this is how surgeons must feel when they touch human organs while in surgery. I keep digging until I have a big enough hole. I put the roots of the flower inside and start filling the hole with dirt. I cannot make the flower stand straight though. It has gone limp, so it is folding and the wonderful purple petals are touching the ground. I am trying to prop it up but it’s no use and then I hear a voice coming from behind.

"Ye nid to givlif’ to‘t…"

What? Who is that? I turn my head and I manage to see it only for a second as it runs in the fields and disappears. What was this? It looked like an elf! I am not kidding. It was small and funny looking, with a tall hat and a beard. I am losing it. Maybe it was a squirrel and I just imagined the rest. But it spoke! What did it really say? Something like ye nid to lif tot. What the hell does this mean? I nid to lif to it? I need to … life to it? Oh my God, did it say I need to give life to it, to the flower? How do I give life to it?

I think about how Earth was channeling all this power to me before and I wonder whether I could channel this life to the flower. I put both my hands around the stalk that is bent and I try to channel strength. I have strength from the earth -I feel it. Can I really pass it on? I close my eyes and I focus all my energy to my hands. Nothing really happens. So I sit there looking at the flower all sad and ill. It’s like I see a real person dying. I don’t give up. I focus again and this time I picture it flourishing and I feel it happening! I open my eyes to see my hands glowing and the flower seems to straighten up. I keep holding it with one hand and I put the other one on the petals, which turn green again. Wow! This is incredible! The flower is fully rejuvenated! I am so proud. This was beyond imagination. How did I really do that? And what was this creature that came to talk to me? Could it be that I really have followers?

I sit on the bench of the gazebo, thinking I want to see them. I want to talk to them. Dubhghall said when I am ready I should get in nature and call for them. Can I do this during the day or does it work only at night? Well, let’s find out. What did Aisha say? Open up my senses.

I inhale and identify the scents around. I smell the wet ground, the leaves, the blossoming flowers, and the fertility of the pollen.  I am a part of nature and nature is a part of me. I look around and I whisper, "Hello!" I hear the wind blowing a salutation back and it’s like a warm welcome. It is a bit silly to sit alone and talk to invisible creatures but my instinct tells me I should, so I do.

"Where are you? Please make yourselves visible for me!" There are tiny voices and whispers all around me but I cannot see anything, so I speak again, this time with a more commanding tone. "I am asking you to reveal yourselves. I am here to meet you and introduce myself. I am not going to harm you…"

"Miquennn…" The voice comes from behind me.

I turn suddenly to face a tiny airborne creature flying around the gazebo. It approaches me and right in front of my eyes, it changes into a woman-like figure with wings and really long hair. I have witnessed it and still I cannot believe how this is possible. I look closely to see she is much like the fairy pictures I have seen in books, just like the ones I have been drawing. She has long blondish hair and two enormous wings and she is greenish -not actually green, but her skin is so pale I could see her veins if she had any. I do not know how to describe it. Her body and face and everything…she is the color of a huge flying caterpillar but she is beautiful - fairy tale beautiful! She is not wearing clothes but her figure is not naked - she has no breasts or other womanly parts. I need to relax. I don’t want to scare her off and also I want to show some respect.

I say, "Hello…"

"Halow…"

"Who are you?"

"Minome e Tirinda y em a fluoreifae…"

Her language is really strange and a bit funny. Did she say her name is Tirinda?

The funniest part is that I understand what she says, almost.

"Pleased to meet you, Tirinda is it? What language is it you speak?"

"Faelis…"

"Faelis, what language is that?"

"Thi oldie one."

"Are there more of you?"

"Yi…milun…us waitishirQuennn…" Her pronunciation is strange, she stresses the 'n' and skips words, but I believe I understand her correctly to have said something like, "Millions, waiting for our Queen!"

I ask, "Do you know who I am?"

"IrQuennn?" She replies with a very strange look on her face. I give this look to my mum a lot when she asks something so obvious that is almost stupid. 

"How do you know?"

"Nihtsbefirtha u spok wit thee dork maestre."

"I am really sorry Tirinda; I did not understand what you said. Do you know how to speak English?"

"I speak with my mind so I can speak everything. If you prefer Greek please let me know…" She tells me in perfect Greek!

"English is fine thank you," I say. "So you speak Faelis, English, Greek and more -wow! I wish I could do that…"

"You can! If you speak with your mind"

And then I realize that she is not moving her lips as she speaks but still I can hear her; interesting.

"So what other abilities do we have?"

"We?"

"Yes, you and I, and the rest of the fairies."

"You and I are not the same" she says. "I am a flower fairy. You are the Queen of Fairies. There are a thousand different breeds of us."

How will I ever learn more about me? Everybody is speaking in riddles. She seems to understand my frustration and continues.

"You need to find the Lady of the Mortals. She is the connection between the two worlds. She can tell you everything you need to know.''

"Do you mean Aisha? I found her but I still do not know much! May I ask you?"

"Of course you may ask, my Queen. I will try to answer.”

Finally I will get some answers! "Where do fairies live?"

"We live in the fields, in the lakes, on the mountains - it depends on our breed."

"What do we eat?"

"Everything and nothing. We can eat whatever mortals eat, but we do not enjoy cooked food. We prefer our food raw. Or we can eat nothing for a long time."

"Can you take other forms as well?"

"How do you see me? I usually take the form others expect to see."

"I see you as really beautiful, with wings, and a bit greenish…"

"Greenish?" she exclaims with a laugh. "This is what you think of fairies then…"

"How can you hide?"

"I just blend with the plant life, or the ground. Hiding is easy -it’s more difficult to appear!"

"Do you think I could change? Do I have other forms?"

"I imagine you possess attributes from all the fairy breeds, but I have not met a queen ever before, so I cannot tell you for sure."

"How old are you?"

"You mean in mortal years? I don’t really know. We just count the millenniums."

"I know there are evil creatures. What are they?"

"There is evil everywhere my Queen."

"Even among fairies?"

"Of course."

"What should I do?"

"What do you mean?" Suddenly she gets alarmed and looks over her shoulder. She says, "I need to go now…he is coming!"

"Please wait!"

"I am sorry my Queen. If I don’t go I may not live another day…" She flies away.

I wonder what alarmed her so badly. I don’t sense any danger myself. I’m pleased that I did get a few answers. She said he is coming. Maybe Dubhghall is already here. Why would she think he would hurt her?

I enter the house to wash my hands and clean up. I also change into a small sexier dress and black tights; I want to look beautiful tonight. I go back downstairs to go outside when I suffer a threatening feeling. There is something wicked outside.

I open the door cautiously and find Kellan sitting on the porch just as he was the last time he met me here; only this time his eyes are not happy and welcoming. He seems angry and confused. He speaks, but his voice is not Kellan’s. His voice is cold and strict and vicious."I was looking for you yesterday, and again this morning."

"Well, you know I have a mobile for emergencies."

"It wasn’t an emergency!"

"Anyway you found me now. How are you?" I can’t believe he is angry. This is my best friend. The only friend I ever loved. And not to forget, the guy I have been making out with just a few days ago.

"I am more than fine. How are you?" He says, calmer now.

Is he being ironic? What the hell is going on? I decide to let it go and be polite. I invite him out to the gazebo. "I am good. Work is fine. Mark is great and the music he plays is very nice. There are not a lot of people buying but still I enjoy it."

"Good for you. So you are really staying!"

"Yes I am. When are you going back to Edinburgh?"

Suddenly he seems angry again. "Are you trying to get rid of me?"

He is really agitated, as if he knows something and he doesn’t like it.

"Kellan! What is going on with you? It’s me, remember! Your Tita…"

"You have changed," he says accusingly.

"I have grown up. Maybe you should do the same!"

"Indeed!"

"Come on now, I don’t want to fight with you. Come here…" I put my arms around him to hug him but he stays still. After a few minutes that I don’t lose my embrace, he holds me back and he buries his face in my neck. I feel him smelling my hair and I get some scattered thoughts from his mind. He is thinking of kissing me again. He is thinking it feels so right to hold me in his arms and that I am his. He is thinking that if there is anyone else he will kill him! I am shocked by the image I see in his thoughts. There is something really evil in his head and I am wondering, where does this come from? My Kellan was always well-mannered and sweet. He is still gorgeous but he has lost his kind touch. I lose my embrace but then he grabs at me. Oh s**t! Not again…

"Kellan stop it!"

"Shut up, I want to kiss you!"

"No! Ι said no, Kellan." I am trying to set myself free. I know I have become strong now, how can he be stronger? He is all over me when I feel a hot mist of air tossing him away onto his back on the ground. Kellan looks upset and confused, but instantly he is on his feet again. When did Kellan start to move so fast? He is really angry now and he is approaching me again, only to see the same wave of mist pushing him back. He is really powerful but the mist is stronger, so he retreats. He is taking a defensive position; he looks like a wounded animal.

I am trying to pacify him when I hear him shrieking in the air "Whatever you are, make yourself visible!"

"Who are you talking to Kellan…?"

He is looking around wildly. "Make yourself visible or I will hurt her, I swear!"

Now I am really annoyed. Who is he that he thinks he can hurt me? I am an immortal! My rage is explodes inside me and in a sharp move I find myself standing in front of him. I punch him really hard in his face. He did not expect that and now he is stunned, so I find the opportunity to grab him by his shirt and pull him close to my face, so I can look into his eyes…

"Who are you?" I demand. " and what did you do to my best friend?"

"I am your best friend still" he says angrily. "You are not who you used to be! You have changed and it is not for the best! She was right. I should have listened to her…"

Being so close to him hurts. I hear his thoughts and feel the disappointment. I feel the love he keeps in his heart for me. Maybe he is just jealous? But then I see his neck and it carries two round small marks. I recall the dream I had… Could this be it?

He cries out to me, "I loved you so much! I still do. Leave all this and come with me." He comes closer and I am thinking he will kiss me again, but he turns his head and opens his mouth to bite me. I can see his fangs coming closer…Oh my God! Kellan has fangs.

Suddenly, Kellan is lifted into the air again and thrown back against the tree. He stands instantly and is in my face, whispering, "I will kill him and then you will be mine!"

And then he is gone.