CHAPTER 4
AZAKURAIN
IRIS:
Iris soon regained the faith despite Feenie being apparently oblivious to all her minor Supernatural Seduction techniques during her 'travelling nun' stays in Kurain.
Sighing dreamily, she flicked another page of her favourite classic romance novel, a wonderous tale. The main protagonist, a silent, gentle maiden back before the Industrial Revolution, did, thought and said very little throughout the 500 pages until miraculously marrying the object of her desires in the wonderful ending, her rivals having shot themselves in the foot in their cart accidents and soforth (despite the heroine's total lack of proactiveness or inner or outer dialogue.)
Patience was definitely a virtue, one which was surely well respected by the Ancestors.
The wonderful destined prophecy had never been given an actual date, perhaps it was intended to occur not right away but in a few years, maybe even when Iris was in her forties – people still could become mothers then.
She knew Feenie still had feelings for her – see how he'd stammered and been so shy when she saw him before in Fey Manor!
Her usual daydream rolled forth, of her and Feenie romantically married in a little house with a picket fence…
Disconcert suddenly interrupted; the wonderful prophecy had merely foretold their union producing the Heir to be next Master of Kurain And Azakurain, not marriage.
She'd have to ask permission from the elder Enlightened Ones to query the spirits further on this point, it was a grey area. The Kurain half was definitely a problem, in the historic unenlightened times of backward isolation, the Master often didn't marry, but had a harem of possibly short stands with lovers as she chose, it being left to the spirits to determine the resulting heir. (Superstition had never quite caught up with the switch to marriage and thus the traditionals went crazy trying to forecast the one 'right' opportunity instead of the usual method of odds with many candidates.) Azakurain, on the other hand, was far more enlightened than narrow-minded Kurain, since they respected other powers men were equal members and about a third of their Mystics indeed were male, an Azakuranian prophecy surely included a romantic marriage to Feenie.
She had to admit the premature seduction techniques were possibly not the methods intended by the Ancestors – although they were considered perfectly acceptable at Azakurain. Part of the initiation vows of any medium in the Kurain and Hazakurain Orders was to only use the powers in the service of the departed and others, not merely for that kind of direct personal gain - however these techniques seemed to be undiscovered by those Orders anyway. But being in the service of the Venerated Ancestor by channelling him to use his will to help bring her destiny about, that was the type of sacrifice in service of others Iris, and the ancestors, surely respected and was truly a unanimously moral act.
Still, the fact that Feenie was so oblivious to Destiny did disquiet Iris, enough that her Mystic Sisters had commented on her distress in the Sharing Circle and demanded she air her troubles.
"I..it's nothing," Iris had whispered. "I'm f-fine, really.."
"Nonsense!" roared Mystic Miranda. "I saw you roaming around Kurain like a wet sock! That's not the attitude I expected from someone on a Destined Mission from The High Kristoph!"
The words dried altogether from Iris' mouth in recoiled terror at her glare.
"Shh," hissed Mystic Patricia, a bony claw dragging Mystic Miranda's looming form backward from her place on the next Sacred Mat around the circle. She then addressed Iris directly. "Come on dearie, we know something went wrong.."
Iris didn't want to share, but the Sharing Circle rules demanded it, and things would merely get worse again if she was cursed for disobeying them.
"I-it's all my fault. I'm too w-weak..."
"Of course not, Rissie!" exclaimed Mystic Dora. "You are weak, but your Guardian is strong! You must only be in absolute submission to his service, and he will manifest your Destiny with the strength of His powers!"
"B- b..."
No sound came out so Iris tried again.
"B-but I tried every single one of the Supernatural Seduction techniques, even with the strength of Da-m-my Familiar, many times, but d-dear Feenie was just oblivious! It was like they never even happened!" A tear squeezed from her eye.
"Oh, stop snivelling," snapped Mystic Miranda. "He was probably with that evil Fey woman, was he not, Mystic Pretender Master Maya? That was the problem."
"N-no," choked out Iris, keeping her eyes on the encouraging ones of Mystic Dora to extract the will to rebut Mystic Miranda, "I t-tried them many times when he was al-lone, nowhere near Mystic Maya! Even when his resistance was weakened, under the w-waterfall or the spirit ice!" Her eyes began a full-scale bawl.
"And there was no effect whatsoever?"
"N-n-none!"
"I know what has happened," declared Mystic Miranda with a face like thunder. "I detect supernatural meddling. That evil Mystic Maya has cursed him, and I thi- the Ancestral Ones have informed me how! Their Divine Message is suddenly clear!"
"And remember The High Kristoph's own Message, dearie," interjected Mystic Patricia. "He Divinely Spake that Mystic Maya had used 'evil spells and amulets to lead Mystic Phoenix astray!'"
"Y-yes! Precisely!" cried Mystic Miranda. "From this and my own Divined Prophecies I have received from my Guardian and the Kurain Ancestors, it is all clear. In fact, they have Shown me the exact Evil Amulet of which the High Kristoph himself prophesised! Did Mystic Phoenix seem to have a Magatama with him, Mystic Sister? If not it could well have been concealed..."
"No-no," admitted Iris, "his Magatama was strung right around his neck! It was green," she recalled, eyes screwing in recollection.
"The Ancestral Magatama!" Iris' body was thrown backward at the ferocity of Mystic Miranda's sudden screech. "An evil atrocity which Mystic Maya had no right to give!"
"Quite," snarled Mystic Patricia, her encouraging eyes sudden chips of demonic ice, "we- I mean, the Venerated Ancestors know exactly what happened!
"AMI herself and the spirits of Kurain are ANGERED!" agreed Mystic Miranda in tandem unison. "They have told us of this horror before! Many years ago, before she was even Pretender Master, Mystic Maya illegally 'gifted' Mystic Phoenix with the Ancestral Magatama, in intent of wielding her evil control of him for her own purposes and subverting Destiny!"
"She has surely put a spell of bondage on it," Mystic Patricia agreeably fumed, "as he has been brainwashed to her subservient service from this time, allowing her to defy the Fate as the Ancestors and AMI MAI willed it!"
"And the Ancestral Magatama was not hers to give! We-I mean, AMI herself has willed it illegal. As we know, Mystic Maya's Destiny was not to be Master but Mystic P...um, anyway!"
"Yes," agreed Mystic Patricia, eyeing Mystic Miranda alone, "all did do awry at that point, did it not? Anyway," she continued, turning back to Iris, "there is surely an evil spell Mystic Maya has put in the Ancestral Magatama, and that is what is blocking your Powers in service of The High Kristoph! But if so, there's an easy way around that, isn't there?"
Iris couldn't for the life of her think what it was.
Observing her blanked stare, Mystic Miranda snapped "Take it away from him, of course!"
Iris' body began shaking frenetically at the thought of this precedentedly - insurmountable task, and her muscles must have given way as she had felt herself sagged to the floor.
###
Of course all events subsequently had been a haze, but the Mystics had kindly summarised again to her all that had occurred, which Iris recounted rote-ly in her mind like a sacred text at every opportunity.
Mystic Miranda and Mystic Patricia (both experts on Kurain) had figured it out! Dear silly Feenie had been blocked these past 10 or so years from his MAI-destined path by the evil powers in Cousin Maya's Magatama, it holding him in a kind of bondage from then on and using its evil powers to ward off the spirits' desired path of Fate, along with other rightful powers such as Iris' minor Seduction techniques.
This, they decided, must be part of the true meaning of The High Kristoph's earlier proclamation in the Prophecy of "evil spells and amulets."
Mystic Patricia had then suggested maybe Iris could take the Magatama away from Feenie for a while, freed from Cousin Maya's evil 'protection' powers maybe then her Seduction Powers would work. Iris had almost fainted at the horror of how this situation would surely again turn out.
But this distress now made her see in hindsight that it did indeed sound like the kind of problem to befall poor Feenie, what with how obsessed and confused he used to be over that bottle! Furthermore, she soothed herself, she was not the same weak person she had been then. Well, she was, but now she was also given strength and guidance, very literally, from AMI MAI and the Ancestors whenever she was enacting their will for destiny!
They had then asked The High Kristoph for clarification, (he had benevolently manifested in her Mark, despite her weakened state, with his High Powers) and indeed it was So! The only reason Feenie was not already with Iris as had been destined, was that his life had been manipulated by Master Fey's evil amulet Magatama and the evil powers she herself put in it, right from the point she gave it to him.
Yes, the memory was returning, the chilling scene had indeed been just as the Mystic Sisters said...
"Ask your Guardian, Iris!" nudged Mystic Patricia.
Iris' thoughts had wavered hazily, choking in the billowing incense fumes. It was true the greater strength of The Great One and her Butterfly Familiar magnanimously made up for her weak limitations and the Mark Channelling now required little effort on her part, but with her current state of overwhelm and shock, even this had been taxing.
"O Great One," she had managed to croak, "M-Mystic Maya gave Feenie - um, Mystic Phoenix - the Ancestral Magatama, and my seduction spells d-didn't w-work um... c-cursed"
"Speak up!"
"E-evil spells and a-amulets," she whispered.
"O High One," interjected Mystic Dora, falling on her face in reverence, "we are wondering if this is the meaning of your sacred proclamation that Mystic Maya is using 'evil spells and amulets to lead Mystic Phoenix astray!'"
"Precisely!" thundered the Great One. "In fact, her evil spell has cursed Mystic Phoenix, right from the point she gave him the Ancestral Magatama! Oh, the Pretender Fey's evil knows no bounds," the High One had sighed, "she may curse other objects in addition... Yes, dear Mystic Sister! This evil spell of bondage she has put on the Ancestral Magatama is indeed the only reason you and Mystic Phoenix are not already together as Destiny decreed!"
"Ahhhhhh!" breathed the Mystics in shocked awe.
"We should divine further information about this terrible atrocity." Mystic Patricia started nodding frenetically to Mystic Miranda's suggestion. "Indeed, I want to know more," offered Mystic Dora.
Iris didn't feel very well, especially since this new terrible revelation of Feenie's latest dangerous object saga, but thankfully The High Kristoph was by now so acclimatised to her Mark that it took far more effort to cause his spirit to leave rather than allow it to stay. (In fact, she couldn't recall actually ever making his spirit leave on her own will, but why would she want to?)
So, eager for further information, Iris had continued to channel The Great One in her Mark whilst Mystic Patricia, Mystic Miranda and the other members fell into a ritual Divining Trance, in which they together determined the Truth of what had happened in the past. The butterflies in the pit of Iris' stomach shivered in reverent fear as her mind rolled back to that scene, her body beginning to shake against her conscious will in recollection.
One of the lower-ranked Enlightened Ones had surreptitiously flicked the switch of the Blessed CD Player, and the dirge-like tones of a rhythmic, consistent and largely subterranean beat reverberated through the circle. Iris' exact memory of events was blurred, but there was no blurring of the intensity of rapture as she had swayed and silently mouthed the words of praise as her surrounding Mystic Sisters screamed them, or Mystic Patricia's supernatural cry as she was seized with the Divine Knowledge of the Past from her Guardian and the Spirits Of Kurain, a message straight from AMI MAI herself!
And thus the Truth of the Past was divinely spake from the tranced body of Mystic Patricia! It was truly a miraculous Truth straight from AMI MAI, because unlike some of the Divined Messages, (which required vast amouts of expert interpretation) it had been explicitly clear! Master Maya had disregarded the wills of the spirits and destiny and instead run off to meddle in human legal affairs like her mother, performing spiritually unapproved acts like cursing Feenie with the Ancestral Magatama. (Iris' legs shook in horror even recalling and her hands dropped her book, but she couldn't pick it up.)
"ANGERED! I AM ANGERED!" The Supernatural Message had thundered amid the smoke! "Like her mother and sister before her, Master Maya's mind has been poisoned by the Earthly corruption of human Law! The Curse of the Fallen House of Fey! She defies the instruction and will of the Spirits for her Destiny, and uses this atrocity of Earthly trickery to defy MY Fate and Plans! The Line of Misty has forever been corrupted from MY favour!"
Thus, (as the Divine Message from AMI had explained), Mystic Maya continued the evil blocking of destiny begun by the elder Fey sister when she disregarded the Spirits' plan for her life to be Master and instead pursued the evil of Corrupt Human Law (in direct defiance of the spirits), then ripped Feenie from her side and brainwashed him into also pursuing this Fallen path! Maya Fey herself was never destined by the spirits to be Master, Mia had been their chosen destined candidate.
"I sent a Sign, that the Curse of the Mother not live on in the Daughter, but the Feys disregarded my direction instruction! I blessed Mia Fey with the powers to succeed as Master, but she evilly abdicated from my Will and defied her Destiny to pursue the evil Earthly trickery and forgery of that which is called Human Law! Lured by the very Fall of her mother before her!"
Mia herself was lured astray by this evil temptation all due to the Abdication of Misty Fey, an insult against the will of the spirits, A Fall caused by also falling prey to the wiles of the ultimate evil, the corrupt human Justice System. The only justice and law of precedent was the will, destiny and guidance of the Ancestors!
###
Iris continued pouring over the 'truth' every waking moment for weeks after, especially as consultation-channellings and trance-divinings further reinforced and refined the pieces of the puzzle.
Iris didn't think Cousin Mia had been evil – just misguided. She had disobeyed the spirits and her fated destiny by abdicating and defying her true path – Iris knew from the communal trances what was supposed to have happened. Cousin Mia had been blessed by the spirits with the most powers and designated by the Venerated Ancestors and AMI MAI as predestined to succeed as Master, but she had openly defied them. Mystic Maya was never supposed to have been Master! It had not been Ami and the spirits' will! Iris knew that Mia's disregard for the spirit's plan was understandable and was all caused by Misty being too weak and also defying the spirits by abdicating.
Iris flinched. She knew she also suffered from severe weakness and it was her own personal weakness which had prevented her from fulfilling the ancestors' destiny for her life thus far – it was all her fault she'd messed up with Feenie and let him be led astray down the wrong path by errant Cousin Mia instead! The destiny planned by the Venerated Ancestors, revealed in the Communal Trance had been this: Mia Fey (who had the most powers) to succeed as Master after Misty Fey, then the heir of herself and Mystic Phoenix to become Master after. It was only the defiant actions, against the will of the spirits, of Cousin Mia, her mother and, yes, her own weakness, that had prevented this from occurring. But there was still time to make up for her sins and please the spirits! The fact Feenie had been 'disbarred' from any more of that terrible lawyer thing that had led Misty and Mia down the wrong path was surely a Sign from the spirits, a deliberate act of mercy to save him back to the Predestined Path. The Venerated Ancestor Spirit had said so, and that he himself had supernaturally effected this merciful rescue! He had then been martyred directly for this Cause, murdered by the corrupt evil at odds with the will of the spirits that called itself human Law!
'Law', the poison temptation in defiance of the wills of the spirits! It had murdered her mother, it had murdered her sister, it had led Misty and Mia and Feenie astray! It had forced her to endure trial in a cruel cell for six lonely months!
Real truth and justice was the path of the spirits, obeying their wills and enacting their infinite forgiveness.
She clasped her hands to her heart as she recalled today's Sharing Circle ritual where she'd admitted her fear and sorrow over the fate of her mother and sister and whatever eternal sadness had befalling their tragic afterlife. And the others had consulted, and had come up with such a reassuring conclusion!
"Your mother was sadly misguided, but at her core enacting the will of the Venerated Ancestors against the sinister mundane evil of corrupt Law. I am sure Ancestor MAI has enveloped her in her butterfly wings of forgiveness!"
It was the answer she'd been searching for, for the first time Iris found peace and closure on the tragedy of her mother and a little more comfort on the matter of her sister. And it would not be in vain! Iris' heart swelled. Morgan's line would carry on the Master lineage after all, it was destiny! Morgan's fatal error was not realising the spirits' candidate was her firstborn – she had, actually, come out before dear Dahlia – and ignoring the message of the Enlightened Ones at Azakurain due to her impassioned fury over being slighted at the blinkered and narrow-focused Kurain!
And yes also, Morgan's vice of selfishness, still blinded by wanting the Master position for herself and thus not seeing the spirits' path of her destined reward being later through the lineage of her daughter or granddaughter, but Iris knew better, understanding one's own desires are best fulfilled by sacrifice and dedication to another!
Her heart leapt, it was beyond her wildest fantasies, but it was as if she could already feel the daughter in her arms, the true and destined future heir!