The master spy or Puss in the boot adventures

Lyra, the Goddess of Dreams 16, Part 146

 Moira stepped forward, her weathered hands held out in a gesture of peace and calm. She began to chant in a low, melodious voice, ancient words of soothing and serenity flowing from her lips like a gentle brook.

"By the grace of ancients' might,

By the glow of healing's light,

I command thee to be still,

O hound of shadows' will. "

As the words left her lips, a soft radiance began to emanate from Moira's hands, a warm golden glow that pulsed in time with the beating of her heart. The light grew in intensity, swirling and eddying like a luminous mist, until it formed a shimmering aura that surrounded the healer like a mantle of purest sunlight.

Cerberus hesitated, its six eyes widening in what might have been surprise or confusion. The light from Moira's hands played across its massive form, dancing along the ridges of its armor-like scales and casting strange, shifting shadows across its snarling faces. For a moment, it seemed as if the great beast might attack, its muscles tensing beneath its ebon hide as it crouched low to the ground.

She could feel the aura of rage and pain that emanated from the creature, a roiling miasma of primal emotions. It was ancient, this entity - a being woven from the darkest stuff of nightmares, tasked with guarding the shadowed paths between realms since time immemorial. Endless ages of solitude and ceaseless vigilance had taken their toll, twisting its psyche into a labyrinth of madness and despair.

But beneath that, deeper still, Moira sensed a glimmer of something else. A spark of recognition, perhaps even a yearning for contact after eons of isolation. It was faint, flickering like a guttering candle in a tempest, but it was there.

Drawing upon the well of compassion and serenity at her core, Moira projected calm and understanding towards that fragile mote of consciousness. She suffused the space between them with waves of soothing energy, letting them wash over Cerberus like a gentle tide. Slowly, she opened her eyes and met the beast's smoldering gaze, her own filled with empathy and acceptance.

"You are not alone," she whispered, her words resonating with the weight of an oath. "Your long watch is not forgotten."

And then, something extraordinary began to happen.

The soft, shimmering glow began to to envelop the monstrous form of Cerberus like a soothing blanket.

Slowly, inexorably, the beast's snarls faded to low grumbles, then to whimpers, and finally to contented sighs. Its six eyes, once blazing with infernal hunger, now drooped to half-mast as a profound calm descended over its fearsome visage. The mighty serpent's tail, moments ago lashing the air with whip-crack intensity, now wagged in a lazy rhythm, thumping against the obsidian flagstones.

Moira continued her chant, the ancient words flowing from her lips like honey. The golden light pulsed in time with her voice, each undulation seeming to drain a little more of the aggression and malice from Cerberus's towering form. Its colossal paws, tipped with scythe-like claws capable of disemboweling an ox, flexed and kneaded at the ground like a kitten making biscuits.

The others watched in awe as Moira worked her magic, her mastery of the healing arts on full display. Even Odin, a mighty druid in his own right, couldn't help but marvel at the sheer potency of his wife's gift. The worry lines etched into his brow smoothed as he gazed upon her with naked adoration, his love for her renewed and deepened by this display of compassion and skill.

Colin and Roku stood hand in hand, their eyes wide with wonder as they beheld the incredible sight. The sheer magnitude of what they were witnessing was almost too much to process - a living legend from the darkest depths of myth, soothed into docility by the power of a gentle healer's touch.

As the final syllables of Moira's chant faded into silence, Cerberus let out a great, shuddering sigh and sank to the ground, its eyelids fluttering closed. Soft snores soon emanated from its cavernous jaws, and its colossal flanks rose and fell with the slow, even rhythm of deep slumber.

Moira lowered her staff, a small smile playing across her lined face. "The power of the Great Mother is strong," she murmured. "Even the mightiest of beasts cannot resist her lullaby."

The others looked on in awe, hardly daring to breathe lest they break the spell Moira had woven. Odin stepped forward and laid a hand on his wife's shoulder, eyes shining with pride and love. "You never cease to amaze me, my heart," he whispered.

Roku let out a low whistle. "Remind me never to get on your bad side," he quipped to Moira. "I'd rather face a dozen Cerberi than have you sing me to sleep."

Moira managed a tired smile. "The magic of the Lifesong is old and subtle," she murmured. "Not the flashy displays of power favored by younger druids, but the gentle, persistent flow that moves through all living things. Through it, even the most fearsome beast can be soothed... at least for a time."

Colin and Roku approached tentatively, marveling at the slumbering form of Cerberus. Up close, the beast was even more enormous than they had first realized, its bulk like a small mountain of fur and muscle. But in repose, it seemed almost peaceful, the aura of dread and malice that had cloaked it now utterly absent.

"I can't believe it worked," Colin whispered, her eyes wide open.