Note:I do not own or have rights to Twilight or its characters!

Yes, it's very short ... but it's also quite profound. I was going to make it longer; in fact, I'm still working on the part that was going to be the other half of this post. After I wrote White Stag's revelation, however, I couldn't bring myself to say more. After reading it, you have to take a little time and digest it a bit.

Don't look for anything new in the next few days, I have the second draft of a Vertebrate Anatomy reaserch paper to work on.

Enjoy!

Chapter 38

A Vision of Armageddon

Days had passed since White Stag's visit in the clearing and my sister still sat dumbstruck in the parlor; she would not speak or move. This sort of thing was, to my knowledge, unheard of among or kind; we could not be hurt physically by the thing of the natural world nor did we suffer with vapors and faint with bad news, yet it was obvious that we could be thrown into profound shocked. I could scarcely imagine what manor of horrific revelation that could have caused my sensitive sister to fall victim as she had. It would almost seem that she had witnessed the end of the world itself and the awful magnitude of the vision had been more that she could bear.

Since depositing her in front of the hearth, Iann had not left her side except to speak with me privately on the porch. As he sat with her, he spoke quietly to her and held her in his arms. He spent hours regaling her stories from Celtic folklore, singing ballads to her … anything to draw her back from the black pit of her despair. For my part, I read to her from her favorite book; the one we spent that first long cold winter reading together . . . Defoe's Robinson Caruso. In spite of mine and Iann's ministrations, however, she would not come about.

Her malady was in its seventh day now; she lay on the sofa, her open eyes gazing blankly into nothingness. Iann finally reached the limit of his endurance; with his thirst gnawing at him to the point of madness, he stepped out to hunt.

I sat in my favorite chair by the hearth reading Shakespeare's Midsummer's Night Dream aloud to her; I finished Defoe the evening before and wasn't in the mood to start it over again.

"Either I mistake your shape and making quite," I began the after turning the page "Or else you are that shrewd and knavish sprite, Call'd Robin Goodfellow: are not . . ."

"Panther Eyes," her words were the faintest whisper as she called my name, but I heard them and my heart leapt with joy.

I put down my book and moved to sit beside her on the sofa. "I am here child," I insisted as I settled next to her.

Slowly her head turned and her gaze fixed on me. By her expression and the slight quiver in her lower lip I could tell another emotional monsoon was about to break. She sat up rather quickly and through her arms around me; hugging me fiercely. I returned her embrace and her affection.

"There, there now," I soothed as I stroked her hair, "I'm here . . . and Iann will be back soon, he's gone to hunt." I continued to hold her and whisper softly to her until she calmed down and released her iron grip.

"Little Deer," I spoke her name as I lifted her chin with my finger tips. There were things I wanted to say to her that I might not have another opportunity to say if my demise came suddenly. "I know you've been through quite a shock . . . whatever your guardian reveled to you must have been very traumatic."

She nodded ever so slightly but didn't answer.

"I want to assure you that I love you, Little Deer, very much . . . and I will always love you," I insisted warmly. "I count myself fortunate in that I have seen nearly two centuries of existence. While I often speak disparagingly about this half life, if truth be known . . . I doubt I would be half as much use to human kind as a physician if I were yet one of them.

"And I am happy Little Deer . . . since you and Iann entered into my life, I have known nothing but immeasurable joy and deep satisfaction. I thought love and happiness were lost to me when I awoke to this life, but you and Iann have given me all that and more. I am a blessed man indeed." I paused and took a deep breath; I needed a moment to refocus my thoughts. "Remember me fondly, my dear child, and do not let sorrow and grief consume you . . . know that I have lived my life well and that I have gone on to my reward contented and without regrets."

"My brother is dying," acute anxiety suffused her voice and her expression was one of utter shock; I was caught off guard by this.

"Well, yes . . . I suppose . . . isn't that what White Stag showed you," what other eventuality could have thrown her into such an emotional state. "The Paths of or journeys will soon part," I repeated her exact words.

"No," she squeaked as she shook her head.

To say that I felt embarrassment would have been the understatement of the century. Although I meant every word of my confession to her, knowing that my words likely compounded her distress made me suddenly quite ill. I wanted to apologize to her, but I feared she might misconstrue such an effort so I let the matter drop.

"Then what did her reveal to you that had you so distressed," I asked in an attempt to redirect the conversation.

She leaned in against me then, seeking the physical comfort of being close to me. In response I wrapped my arms around her and kissed the crown of her head tenderly; just what had she seen?

"White Stag says that you must heed the Creator's call upon your life and serve the men of the east as a healer," She whispered into the folds of my linen shirt. "You will not be able to resist the Creator's call and remain in the wilderness much longer. It is the strong pull of your destiny that will take my brother away from me and cause the paths of our Journeys to part. . ." she began to sob tearlessly into my shirt and I pulled her closer in an attempt to sooth her. "Because you must leave me . . . it is the unavoidable path of your destiny . . . White Stag has found a new Keeper to entrust my care to . . . Iann will look after me and from him I will know the boundless love of a husband." She looked up at me from her place against my chest, "That is the only happy news my guardian had for me," then she turned away again.

"He showed me other things too," she muttered. "Things which I do not understand and these things frightens me and make my heart burst with grief.

"He told me that a great leader would arise among the men of the east and that he would make the eastern People leave their land . . . I saw them marching in the snow with the bitter wind tugging at their tattered clothes; many will die.

"I saw a great iron beast, built by the men of the east. The men feed it logs of wood and ugly black rocks and it has fire in its belly to consume them with. Thick smoke bellows from its huge nostril and it makes an awful sound when it is angry. The men build pathways of iron and wood for the beast to run upon and it goes very fast . . . faster than any horse; it runs without growing tired.

"The iron beast will carry the men of the east into the land of the People and when they see that our land is good and they will want it for themselves. I saw the men of the east herding the People, like so many buffalo, off a high cliff and their mangled bodies were stacked as high as the tops of the pine trees." She stopped and I heard her take a ragged breath. "White Stage says the men of the east will destroy the People if something isn't done. They will hound the People like the hungry wolf hounds the deer in winter . . . the Creator says I have a role to play; I am destined to aid the People but White Stag did not say how."

She fell silent then as she nestled in against my shirt. I laid my cheek on the top of her head and began humming softly. I was correct; she had seen Armageddon . . . the end of the world . . . the end of her world. No wonder she spent the past seven days in a near comatose state; a massive burden had been placed upon her and from the sound of it, I would not be there to help her bear it.

"Hush now," I stopped humming long enough to whisper, "The future isn't written in stone child; we'll find a way through this . . . together."