Author's Note
Please don't flame the poem. I'm not a poet. That's my best friend. And it's only there to help serve the plot, not to show my amazing prowess at poetry.
Chapter 3
Angela awoke from her slumber. The last thing she remembered was the vortex of memories when she touched the Balances. The Balances...They were meant to simulate the two sides of every situation, whether it be evil and good, light and dark, right and wrong, and so forth.
Celestine sat by her daughter's bed, thinking about what Angela would have seen and the questions she would have. She sighed. It was high time for Angela to know her heritage. Celestine cleared her throat to get her daughter's attention.
Angela turned around to meet her mother's gaze, startled and disoriented. About to ask what everything she saw meant, she noted the look of resignation on her mother's face. Celestine spoke first.
"I believe, dearest, that among the images you saw, one was that of a solar eclipse, correct?" At Angela's nod, she continued, "The solar eclipse signifies your heritage; more specifically, your maternal heritage.
"My daughter, I am the last of the Solar Eclipse line. The females of that line have always been the Lady Solar Eclipse. With this title, comes the responsibility of a Guardian of Time. As a Guardian of Time, it is my duty to oversee crucial events that happen in order to protect a certain timeline. Yes, it means I can go back and forward in time and so forth, but it is necessary not to abuse this power. As the Lady Solar Eclipse, my powers are based on both the sun and the moon, but they are at their greatest in the event of an eclipse.
"When it is time, I will pass the powers onto you. Traditionally, however, in a family of more than one daughter, they are passed on to the most eligible daughter, not necessarily the oldest. To give them to you now, I feel, is folly. When the time is right, they will be yours forevermore."
Angela pondered the new information. "But, Mother, what of the phoenix I saw? Or the visions of you? What do they mean?" The Lady blanched. The phoenix? But that must mean...the prophecy!
From the union of Light and Dark,
Will come the child who bears the Mark
Of the lines Eclipse and Phoenix;
She will be the one who picks
Between the Light and the Dark,
The Daughter of the Mark.
Things began to fall into place in Celestine's head. Angela's father was the Phoenix; and herself, the Eclipse. Her father most certainly fell into the category of darkness, while she was an Avatar of the Light. If her father was one of the legendary Children of the Phoenix, then Angela was...a Daughter of the Phoenix. That line held the fabled powers of the Phoenix Song, awakening comatose people, and Phoenix Tears that could heal anything.
It also explained the aura of age around Angela's father when Celestine met him. Although he looked to be her age, his eyes told a story of the millenniums he had lived; the Light, the Dark; the wisdoms, the foolishnesses; the hope, the despair. Phoenixes, by legend, died every five hundred years and were reborn from the ashes. Children of the Phoenix, the half-bloods, were reborn every two hundred years.
To Angela, her mother seemed to be taking a very long time to ponder this question; too long, as a matter of fact. What could her mother possibly have to hide? She knew that her father had left her mother pregnant, and out of wedlock, but surely that couldn't have been it. Did her father have something to do with the phoenix?
"Angela, the phoenix...the phoenix is the symbol of your paternal heritage. Do you remember the stories I used to tell you when you were little about the Children of the Phoenix?" At her daughter's nod of assent, Celestine continued, "Your father...he was a Son of the Phoenix, which makes you a quarter-blood."
Credits:
"Guardian of Time" and its responsibilities are taken from Naoko Takeuchi's Sailor Moon series; specifically, the other alias of Sailor Pluto and her responsibilities.
The powers of the phoenix are based from J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter series, Dumbledore's pet phoenix Fawkes.
"The Light, the Dark; the wisdoms, the foolishnesses; the hope, the despair" are based off the opening lines of A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens.
