A/N: so please don't take offense to historical inaccuracies in this chapter for any of you history buffs. I did take real events and people to further my own story and yes I twisted them to make it interesting so I do hope that that worked to my advantage. The next few chapters will finally relate back to the original premise of this story...two souls; Prue and Duncan, have constantly avoided their happily ever after and this is their last chance to get it right. I wanted to redirect the story back to that, as I tend to overly complicate stories I originally set out to make simple. So you will finally be learning how they've managed to ruin every opportunity that they've had/how fate screwed them over. Please read and review.
"To live is to love and hurt and find hope in all our primal pain,
And trust that someday we shall find our way.
The future writes this as plain as day; on a tablet of brass the ultimate plan is engraved.
Our souls embark on countless journeys, entwined together throughout time
To learn from the past so speaks this rhyme."
Just as Prue returned to her body there was a sudden pain in her chest as the breath left her body, gasping from the excruciating feeling of an invisible knife tearing through her soul. Collapsing, her mind lifted away from her corporeal manifestation as something else took hold.
Duncan inhaled a breath as he was forcibly woken from his slumber, his back arching and fists clenching the bed sheets as he fought to stay in control of his consciousness. He clung to the chill of the night air on his naked chest until he could no longer fight the magic that took control of him.
She moved with grace as the young priestess hastened to the Vestal fire her fellow priestess was guarding. Her gown flowed around her as she fled the darkness and entered the light of the fire.
"Sister, I beg your pardon for disturbing your Holy duties," Pinaria spoke. "I've had a vision and must pray to the Goddess. Please, allow me to give you leave and bear your burden tonight."
Aemillia rose from the floor, where she kneeled in servitude to their Goddess. "Sister, do you not wish me to remain with you in prayer? If it is truly a dire matter then allow me to stay with you so that the Goddess may hear your words in greater volume."
"Thank you but I must pray in solitude. Go now," Pinaria said and led her fellow priestess to the chamber's entrance. "I shall keep the embers of our Goddess's fire burning brightly over Vesta and protect Rome."
Aemillia nodded and took a candle to guide her back to the rooms where she and the other Vestal virgins laid their heads to rest.
Pinaria kneeled, and removed the hood of her cape, revealing jet black hair that curled in glossy locks upon her shoulders and an alabaster complexion that set her apart from the other three priestesses of her class.
Chosen at the age of six to live her life in servitude to Vesta, the Goddess of the Hearth and Home, Pinaria had been raised by the previous class of Vestal Virgins who had served before her. Eleven years later, Pinaria was still enslaved in the house of the Vestal virgins and to the virtues she was ordered to protect.
Pinaria had come to realize the true purpose of the order of the Vestal virgins; to one day end their allegiance to the Goddess so that they may go on to wed the Emperor of Rome or be promised to one of his noble politicians. Pawns in political schemes from the moment they were chosen as children by old men who would lock them away in order to protect their virtues for mans' own use.
Most of the priestesses chose to stay and protect the eternal flame, while those coveted enough were made slaves by marriage to men who only wanted them for their beauty. Of course, the noble families had to wait for a vestal virgin to end her mandatory term of servitude; thirty years of education, practice and eventually teaching the next order. Pinaria was the exception.
Exceptionally beautiful, the Emperor decided he wouldn't wait to make her his queen. He sought to punish her for crimes she hadn't committed so that he could remove her from the house of the virgins and only grant redemption by forcing her to marry him. Pinaria couldn't allow that.
"As breath fills my body to give me life, so I expel my breath and life to keep your sacred fire's embers burning brightly in protection of our great empire. Goddess, I sacrifice myself in your servitude. I raise up my prayer so that you may guide me as you wish. Move through me."
Pinaria leaned over the breathe into the fire, the chill of the night could be seen on her breath. She did not expect to see the ancient fire extinguish in the blink of an eye. Suddenly the chamber became both dark and cold, leaving Pinaria to reach for her cloak.
"Pray, don't do that on my account," a voice called out, deep and foreign; unheard by her ears before that very moment.
Turning, the girl struggled to make out his form and was confused by the Goddess's response to her prayers. "Who are you that dare enter the Holy temple of the Vestal Virgins? None but the priestesses that vow to protect their virtues may enter the chamber of the sacred fire of Vesta, Goddess of Hearth and Home," her voice sliced through the chill to cut down the intruder by power of shame.
"My name is not important," he said, edging toward her. "My purpose is. You, my dear virgin, must come with me and flee from Rome or you will meet the fate you have just prayed to avoid."
Coming toward her, Pinaria noticed just how tall he was as he towered over her. Something stirred in her, as for the first time in her life she took notice of a man's beauty portraying her oath to remain virtuous.
"How do you know of my fate and why are you so intent on helping me avoid it?"
"Tarquinnius, fifth King of Rome assumed power by usurping the throne. He was meant to watch over my brother and I until one of us was old enough to rule over Rome."
"So you would help me out of vengeance? You would betray your religious duties and commit such an act because you feel you've been wronged?"
"I will do it, because I don't wish to see a natural born son of Tarquinnius rule over the Roman Empire. As long as you do not bear his son there is hope for Rome to be ruled by a truly pious man," the stranger bit off. "If you wish to avoid that as well then we must be leaving quickly."
"I cannot avoid this fate if I remain in Rome," she yelled at him in a panic. "He will search for me and then I shall be punished for incestum as well as for treason."
"Not if you're no longer in Rome," the handsome stranger told her. "Rome is at war with the Latins. If you leave with me tonight than I can smuggle you into Latin territories before finding a permanent location for you but we must go now," he declared.
Pinaria was torn. She had been pledged to the Order of Vesta since she was only six years old. It was her home and the priestesses her family. Finally making up her mind, she agreed to leave with him, "but I must get Aemillia first. If I leave here without rekindling the fire then she will be punished for leaving her post. Let me go to her now and I will be back soon."
Returning with the other girl, she hugged her old friend goodbye and left with the strange man for Latin land.
It had been two years since she fled Rome with the man she had come to know as Marcius. Alone and without family, he had no choice but to vow to stay with her and have her as his own in order to protect her from the foreigners they had gone to live among.
In that time, Pinaria had found that love for Marcius had replace the love she held in her heart for the Order of Vesta. They had built a home and soon she had given him a son. It hadn't been as hard as she thought it would be to adjust to life outside of the Holy temple of Vesta, and Pinaria had accepted this place and these people as her home.
As it often is in these scenarios, at the very moment when Pinaria and Marcius felt content and joyful in their new lives, tragedy struck. Rome conquered the Latins, and as they plundered the territories they occupied, Romans entered their house and Marcius was slain; believed to have conspired with his brother to kill the king and Pinaria was arrested and returned to Rome where she was put to the death.
A hand was clutched at her heart as she struggled to breathe in. Prue had collapsed to the floor and she pushed herself up even as she found it hard to control inhaling and exhaling.
Eight years had given her a long time to study her craft, as well as for her powers to advance. The eldest, her powers were still beyond the levels that her sisters' had developed, and still the magic that had taken her tonight was the strongest she had ever felt.
She knew what had happened. Prue had been taken back to where it had all begun; her first life. Ever since she had been turned the witch had begun to have visions and dreams of past lives that seemed to be trying to get a message to her. But those visions had been quick little snap shots and she hadn't been able to make anything of it.
This was something else completely; a memory that was released in its totality rather than some random little snippet that left her eager and jumpy, and on edge. And Prue Halliwell was not the type to be left on edge. So it all begged the same question; what were her past lives trying to tell her?
Duncan walked over to his nightstand and tugged on a shirt before he walked out to the porch and sat down on the balcony rail. Looking up at the stars, he wondered what it was the fates were trying to tell him; to guide him to.
He didn't care that the sky was pouring down on him or that lightning was ravaging the heavens. Duncan only knew that it felt extremely similar to when she had abandoned him.
Phoebe stood at the book and closed it, studying the symbol on the cover as she remained in the dark, cold attic as the storm continued to rage.
When she had come up here it had been to find answers and alleviate her anger, but when she went to look up the summoning spell to question her mother and grams the book had opened up to a spell she had never before seen in the book.
Now she was left wondering what the outcome was, but Phoebe realized that the situation would be there tomorrow for her and her sisters to handle together.