" Where is he?" she anxiously enquired, the despair Kaleipus read in her gaze being as vast and as deep as the ocean.
"Don't worry, Xena, he's safe. He's back in the village, playing with some friends….Come on, your presence here will make his day!" he tried to calm her, gesturing for her to follow him.
Without uttering another syllable- the lump she now felt in her throat preventing her to speak anyway- the Warrior Princess started to walk slowly behind her dear, old friend but, as they gradually got closer and closer to the Centaur settlement, something extremely unusual happened…With every step she took, a flood of impossible to control memories began invading her mind, violent, soul- racking images of a dreadful battle in which- together with an incredibly attractive but dangerous Hun warlord- she was painting the ground red, her sword mercilessly sentencing to death one centaur enemy after the other…..The air itself was heavy with the smell of blood, a raw, festering scent that only drove her even more insane, even more determined to leave no one alive.
She was after the Ixion Stone and no living creature on this earth was going to stand between her and ultimate power, no one, not even her yet unborn child who was in his turn kicking restlessly against her swollen belly, making her clench her teeth at the more and more powerful and painful contractions seizing her…
That was it, the decisive bloodbath that was going to write her name down in all history books for ages to come…the influence she had been craving for, ever since she first held a blade….This would be her moment of glory, the blessed day in which everything would change…With the Ixion Stone in her hands, she would reshape reality as she saw it fit and fulfill her destiny- just like the War God had once told her-…She was going to rule the world….
The melodious voice of a young boy calling her name, swiftly pulled her out of her reverie though and one single blink was enough for her to realize what was actually happening…Once again, her memory was being systematically erased, and one image after the other was being deleted from her brain as if it had never been there….
A few more hurried steps and she extended her arms, eager to welcome the beautiful blond boy running happily towards her, smiling widely at the unexpected surprise he had before him.
That ever so desired hug never came though, for, right out of nowhere, an invisible energy wall rose firmly from the ground, separating them, keeping mother and son apart, and useless were all the frustrated blows against its transparent surface, the only thing that she did manage to do, was for a whip of bright, sizzling energy to brutally throw her a few yards back, at a speed that defied all logic.
By the time she managed to pull herself together and to stand again, she noticed that despite the fact that it was still late afternoon on her side of the wall, on the other side, a pitch dark night was settling in…
" Xena….Xena, don't let the darkness engulf me….please….." Solan asked, looking at her with imploring eyes, desperately hitting the wall just like his mother had done seconds earlier…
" It's ok, Solan, don't be afraid. " she vainly tried to calm him, everything inside her breaking at the sight.
" Please don't forget me, please….! I don't want to lose you. Not again…." the boy begged, tears streaming down his face.
" I won't, I promise. I could never forget you …" she murmured, falling down to her knees the moment when even the last ray of light disappeared along with her son's face…..
"Mommy loves you, darling…" she murmured, and it was all it took for her to burst into a river of tears….
XXX
This was precisely how the War God found her, startled and disoriented, visibly torn apart by the vicious agony gripping at her heart, sobs breaking out endlessly from the usually impenetrable prison of her chest…..
A stab of pain the likes of which he couldn't remember having felt in a long time ran through him at the sight of her, broken like that, and he restlessly looked around to see what could have triggered such a dramatic reaction but there was nothing left anymore, not even the slightest clue for him to understand what had happened….Whatever it was though, it sure left its mark on her, and as he took a seat by her side, and wrapped his arms around her, her wails only became even more intense.
" Shhhhh…It's just a dream Honey, remember? It's just a dream…..A bad dream. But I'll make sure you wake up soon, and everything will be fine…."
She didn't answer but in return, she shifted in his embrace and just like a defenseless little girl, she snaked her arms around his neck, burring her face in his shoulder, unconsciously trying to muffle her moans, as if finally aware that he was there, an outside witness to her immeasurable suffering.
As if having noticed her tremendous efforts to compose herself, he just tightened his hold on her and gently began caressing her dark, silky hair. It was killing him to see her like that, and the pure, barely veiled affliction that had savagely marked its presence on her perfect visage, only made him loath whomever had done that to her even more…..They were going to pay, by the head of Zeus himself, they were going to regret the day they were born!
" What happened, Sweetheart?" he whispered lovingly against her ear, raining a trail of soft, comforting feather like kisses from her temple to her cheek.
A long, heavy silence followed until she finally found her voice to reply, but the moment she did so, his own heart only hurt even more when realizing just how devastated she really was. Her entire universe was crumbling like a sand castle, and there was nothing he could do about it...
" I don't know….." she murmured back, slowly pulling herself from his embrace, and looking him in the eyes with a rather empty stare that didn't tell him anything, really…..
He could clearly see the distress in her crystal blue moons, yes, but all that sorrow appeared to him rather like the far away echo of a distant past…..Nothing too recent…. "I don't know….but it hurts so much…."she added, closing her eyes for a moment. " What is happening to me? Where am I?" she then asked, scanning the dark green forest around her, as fresh tears began wetting her face again.
" Do you remember me?" he immediately asked, cupping her chin and letting his thumb delicately brush over her lips- which had been in their tear stained just like her cheeks.
She just nodded, frowning lightly at the fact that he was actually one of the few people she still had memories of.
" What else can you remember?..." he inquired, doing his best for her not to feel the tension in his voice….The poison was obviously working…and not in their favour.
"The day I first met you, on the outskirts of…a village….I can't really recall its name…"
" Amphipolis…." the God patiently filled in the blanks for her.
"Amphipolis?" she simply asked, as if it was the very first time she heard she heard the name.
" What else?" he continued, ignoring the cold fear slowly creeping inside him at the perspective of her forgetting him as well.
" A lot of battles, in different places….a lot of blood…..and a faraway landscape, a dry , semi- desert region but very different from Greece….."
" The steppes of Central Asia…." he involuntarily murmured, but she failed to hear him, too busy with trying to put the pieces together.
" ….I can't really recall the faces of my soldiers though…..it's all a blur…And this void I'm feeling inside, the loneliness….It's like a dead weight crushing my heart…" she whispered, twitching her fingers nervously, while searching his amber eyes for answers.
Once again, that accursed emptiness in her eyes sent shivers down his spine. He silently prayed he found the answers he was looking for before he lost her for good….
" You're not alone. You will never be alone, never. You have me….You just need to hang on a bit longer, Princess. I might have found a cure ….."
" Am I sick? " she asked, not quite understanding what was happening to her….
" Something like that….But I'll need your help….I can't do this alone…"
" Ok…."
" I want you to take this…" he said, removing his silver dagger pendant and placing it around her neck instead. " Until I return, I want you to think about us…..If you ever feel like you start forgetting things, just touch the pendant and call my name…."
" Please don't leave…." she begged, her breathing suddenly accelerating as if in the face of a terrible threat.
" I have to, Darling….It's the only way I can help you….." he tried to calm her, taking her hand in his and softly pressing his lips against its velvety surface.
" Is it a magic pendant?" she lowly asked, a bit more resigned at the idea of his departure, gazing down at the beautifully shaped jewel, making the God bite his lips in frustration. How could she not remember it? He had been wearing it…..forever…..
" Yeah….It's as old as time and it does have some pretty strong magic attached to it. Try it….Just touch it and think about us…."
As soon as her fingertips began caressing the shining silver surface, even though her eyes were wide open, just like a film, thousands of images began unfolding rapidly before her, dialogues, gestures, reactions, stolen and freely given kisses, sex scenes, fighting scenes, places he had taken her to, you name it….It was all there and she was reliving every second with so much intensity that there was no doubt in Ares' mind…..not everything was lost….He just needed to find out what that accursed expression meant…." The essence of pure love….". That was his answer…and her salvation.
