Prolouge: Bedtime Stories
"I'm putting my life in your hands," she said heart gripped with fear. "I'm not ready for this."
"Keep yer life in yer own hands, You are ready," he reassured her, "you 'ave to be."
She gripped his hand, " I'm so scared," she whispered.
He pulled from her grasp. "I can't watch over you anymore, you can't be dependin on me, you have to stand on yer own two feet, they'll snatch you up and drain you like a mug of mead if you can't be strong enough, and there won't be anything I can do. I'll 'ave so many of them on my arse that I won't even notice if you die."
She readjusted her grip on her sword. "I can do this," she told herself.
"There's nothing to it, It's just like we practiced. I am ready," she said aloud.
"Good, cause 'ere they come."
A whole army of sharp toothed heathens came running full speed at the young warriors. An unsettling mist surrounded the battlefield. The ground was dry, very solid, She found it easy to plant her feet. He crouched down ready to leap into the sea of evil distorted faces with fangs sharper then sewing needles. She choaked on what might be the last few words she would ever speak, "Alexander?"
He grimaced, "Ciera this is not the time."
"I love you lex," but her words were lost in the sudden screech of a war that had only just begun.
Indeed by the end of the bloody battle Ciera had fallen, and Alexander, her beloved had lost his chance to know the depth of her feelings.
"But grampa you said that this story had a happy ending! You said yourself that Ciera was not ready for the battle." "Why did Alexander let her fight if there was a chance she would not survive?"
"They both fought for reasons of thier own, and Ciera would not have let Alexander leave her behind." "As for the happy ending, did it ever occur to you my dear Sarah that the story of life does not end with death."
"Do you mean like they were in heaven together?"
"There are things in this world that you have yet to understand, or expeariance dearheart, and no, I am afraid that heaven was not a possibility. You see Alexander fought against his own that day. He showed courage and determination beyond all others, and yet in the eyes of Maya he did not deserve the only thing he wished."
"What did he wish grampa?"
"For death of course. You see Alexander knew that he would never be the same without Ciera, he knew that the grief over her death would lead him into a path that he had successfully strayed from. He knew that he would turn from the light, and choose to walk in the darkness."
"But grampa you said..."
"...I am trying to tell you that the story has still not ended, Maya would not grant Alexander's wish, but she did grant Ciera's."
" With her last breath she asked the goddess to let her find her beloved Lex again, she begged Maya for another chance at life,and even though Maya held nothing but contempt in her heart for Alexander, she was filled with nothing but love for Ciera, and so her wish was fufilled."
"So then there was a happy ending grampa! They found each other in another life!"
"Not yet Sarah, no not yet, for the malice in her heart tainted her spell, and Maya twisted Ciera's wish."
"...Grampa it's getting late, and I have a spelling test tomarrow...can you please just tell me what happened?"
"Impatient are we...well let me see...Ciera was reborn in another time, when the memory of the ancient war had been forgotten, but she was not given any memories of Alexander, and so she lived her life secluded and away from the other villiagers. She felt alone and forgotten her whole life."
"That's horrible, and not happy at all."
"Don't you see Sarah, don't you understand, once an old soul always an old soul."
"I think your'e going insane."
"Ciera was not reborn once, but many times."
"So she found Alexander in another life after all."
"Well, I don't know... no one does...perhaps one day we will find out the ending hmm?"
"That was pointless, I'm going to bed."
Sarah rose to her feet. "G'night you old geezer."
"Good night sprout." Wisened eyes watched as Sarah turned the corner toward her bedroom, waiting for the question she had yet to ask. A blonde curly haired twelve year old popped back into sight.
"Grampa do you spose' Alexander knows that Ciera is alive."
"Oh I am positive."