Chapter Two
I am in darkness. My thoughts are the only color in this void. I struggle to find an exit, perceiving as much as I can, searching. Is that a light ahead? I can't remember what light looks like. Transition, and now I'm in a circle of radiance, emanating from a silver torch held by Beth, my boss at the café outside of dream. "I suppose you're not really her, are you?"
She smiles and nods, "Here, I am Birch, with the charge of blessing and starting new paths."
"Can I ask a favor then?"
"One only, though I am sad to tell you that is all I can do for you."
"Oh… What am I here to find? Why is this happening in this way?"
Beth looks down for a moment, and lights a pathway behind her, to her right. Shaking her head slightly, "I don't know. This path will tell you things about power." The same slow fluid turn to her left, "This path will tell you about yourself."
"Are they as dark as the journey here?"
"Without light, yes."
"Would you lend me something to show me the way?"
Beth smiles, and dips her fingers into the flame of the torch, holding the light gently inside her fingers as she steps closer, and lets the flame, now liquid light, flow over my head, illuminating me, "Yes. That will do, won't it?"
Smiling, I nod, and am about to speak to thank her, but she raises her hand and stops me, "Choose your path. I will see you again." I nod, and choose the way to her left, and proceed through a tunnel, though I was never in one before that moment. Darkness again, held back from my sanity by Birch's light, which encompasses me. The path is narrow, hardly as wide as I am, and flows with a trickle of water. Turning a corner into a natural cavern, hung with towers of dripping rock, I work my way through and around them. Somewhere along the way, my foot slips, and I grab a stalagmite to keep from falling.
It is my sixth birthday, and unbeknownst to me, my mom planned a small party, with balloons and everything. After school I had gotten into a fight, because a boy was trying to look up my skirt. When my mother came to pick me up, I was sitting on the curb poking at the scrape on my knee. She yelled all the way home.
* * * * * * * * *
Steady now, I let go of the projection, filled with awe that I still remembered that afternoon. Looking, I could see each and every tower held a picture of my life in the sheen of water dripping onto it, some event, or action that made me who I am. After a moments awe, I continue through, following the trickle of water that led me through the tunnel.
* * * * * * * * *
A light ahead, what is it this time? I am footsore now and tired, so tired. Maybe this is the end, I see no more paths to fork, nothing to choose. At the edge of the light, I stop.
"Hello Ivy," My voice tells me, from the center of the light, "I've been waiting a long time to meet you."
'Who... Who are you?' I think to myself.
"Why, I'm hurt you can't tell me from yourself… My name is Gort. I'm a rune-mistress of the highest order, trained by Odin Allfadher and Loki Liesmyth themselves. I am your power, and your urges."
I step closer, dazed. Indeed, it is me, but I can see blue and green ink tattooed into skin I knew bore no marks, and she walked closer with a sureness I could not match in a thousand years.
"What do we do then, Gort?"
"I'm waiting for you to claim me. I have waited here your whole life, barred by your mother, and then by the memories of your mother. She taught you to be
afraid of being different, and she taught me to hate."
"What do I do?"
"If I knew, I'd be free by now."
We stood. And we stood. It could have been minutes, or years. When I knew what I was there to do, I began to speak quietly, suddenly sure of myself, "I am Ivy. I am Gort. We are one, sister. Join me, and we will be finished here."
As I spoke, my double smiled, and held hands with me, her flesh joining mine, but she wasn't flesh, she was power. And power birthed in hate burns like the sun. I stood, joining with her, and suffering with her, for the length of my life. It flowed between us, our two perceptions merging. I knew things then that I was never told. I knew my father, and why he did what he did. When it was finished, I closed my eyes, and left.
I am in darkness. My thoughts are the only color in this void. I struggle to find an exit, perceiving as much as I can, searching. Is that a light ahead? I can't remember what light looks like. Transition, and now I'm in a circle of radiance, emanating from a silver torch held by Beth, my boss at the café outside of dream. "I suppose you're not really her, are you?"
She smiles and nods, "Here, I am Birch, with the charge of blessing and starting new paths."
"Can I ask a favor then?"
"One only, though I am sad to tell you that is all I can do for you."
"Oh… What am I here to find? Why is this happening in this way?"
Beth looks down for a moment, and lights a pathway behind her, to her right. Shaking her head slightly, "I don't know. This path will tell you things about power." The same slow fluid turn to her left, "This path will tell you about yourself."
"Are they as dark as the journey here?"
"Without light, yes."
"Would you lend me something to show me the way?"
Beth smiles, and dips her fingers into the flame of the torch, holding the light gently inside her fingers as she steps closer, and lets the flame, now liquid light, flow over my head, illuminating me, "Yes. That will do, won't it?"
Smiling, I nod, and am about to speak to thank her, but she raises her hand and stops me, "Choose your path. I will see you again." I nod, and choose the way to her left, and proceed through a tunnel, though I was never in one before that moment. Darkness again, held back from my sanity by Birch's light, which encompasses me. The path is narrow, hardly as wide as I am, and flows with a trickle of water. Turning a corner into a natural cavern, hung with towers of dripping rock, I work my way through and around them. Somewhere along the way, my foot slips, and I grab a stalagmite to keep from falling.
It is my sixth birthday, and unbeknownst to me, my mom planned a small party, with balloons and everything. After school I had gotten into a fight, because a boy was trying to look up my skirt. When my mother came to pick me up, I was sitting on the curb poking at the scrape on my knee. She yelled all the way home.
* * * * * * * * *
Steady now, I let go of the projection, filled with awe that I still remembered that afternoon. Looking, I could see each and every tower held a picture of my life in the sheen of water dripping onto it, some event, or action that made me who I am. After a moments awe, I continue through, following the trickle of water that led me through the tunnel.
* * * * * * * * *
A light ahead, what is it this time? I am footsore now and tired, so tired. Maybe this is the end, I see no more paths to fork, nothing to choose. At the edge of the light, I stop.
"Hello Ivy," My voice tells me, from the center of the light, "I've been waiting a long time to meet you."
'Who... Who are you?' I think to myself.
"Why, I'm hurt you can't tell me from yourself… My name is Gort. I'm a rune-mistress of the highest order, trained by Odin Allfadher and Loki Liesmyth themselves. I am your power, and your urges."
I step closer, dazed. Indeed, it is me, but I can see blue and green ink tattooed into skin I knew bore no marks, and she walked closer with a sureness I could not match in a thousand years.
"What do we do then, Gort?"
"I'm waiting for you to claim me. I have waited here your whole life, barred by your mother, and then by the memories of your mother. She taught you to be
afraid of being different, and she taught me to hate."
"What do I do?"
"If I knew, I'd be free by now."
We stood. And we stood. It could have been minutes, or years. When I knew what I was there to do, I began to speak quietly, suddenly sure of myself, "I am Ivy. I am Gort. We are one, sister. Join me, and we will be finished here."
As I spoke, my double smiled, and held hands with me, her flesh joining mine, but she wasn't flesh, she was power. And power birthed in hate burns like the sun. I stood, joining with her, and suffering with her, for the length of my life. It flowed between us, our two perceptions merging. I knew things then that I was never told. I knew my father, and why he did what he did. When it was finished, I closed my eyes, and left.