if you cry out i'll be there now (chaelisa)

chapter 2

A promise fulfilled, a proud bloodline loyal through the generations. Protectors, watchers, guides. "We're so close. She's almost ready," says the guardian.

A long, dark watch entering its final hours.

*

Born, reborn, born again. An endless cycle of life only made bearable by each new clean slate. A single but defining mercy, to not be burdened with the millennia. This cycle: a happy childhood, although a cautious adulthood. Mortal life is always so unpredictable.

*

Civilizations falling, rising, consuming themselves, transforming, burning to ash, rebuilding.

*

Mama, have we angered the gods?

Be hush, child.

Why are we offering so much at temple?

It's not given for us to know the reason why, just that the gods demand and we answer.

But mama-

If you are silent, I will tell you a story that my mother told me and her mother told her, and her mother told her, and so on before her. Does this satisfy you? Ah hah, wise child.

The smell of incense, something unnamable, unknown to the modern sense of smell. Sheaves of grain, platters of fruit, glistening cuts of meat. Echoing stone and marble halls. A cool, breezy dusk, heat fleeing quickly without the sun and fall poised to steal over the land.

What about now mama?

You have been patient, and so you shall be rewarded. Here, hold my hand, the crowd is growing heavy.

There was a goddess, once, very beautiful, and golden all over, who was the goddess of creation. She fell in love with a mortal and wanted to bring her mortal love to heaven to be a god with her, but the other gods were jealous, and conspired against them. They attempted to murder the goddess and the mortal, but the mortal was a great warrior. She fought off the gods, who were so impressed that death himself offered to grant her one wish before dying. She wished only that her love might live, and so before she was sent to the underworld, she was allowed to see the goddess return to heaven. Then she went to the underworld, and the goddess wept, but because she was a goddess of creation, her tears nurtured the earth and made the crops grow and nourished new life. And so death begets life, just as life must wither away in death. Once a year, on the anniversary of the warrior's death, the goddess weeps, bringing the rains and the flooding of the river, so that when its waters recede we may plant our crops and prosper. That is why we bring offerings, and in particular these offerings, because it has been very dry, and we need the goddess to remember her sorrow.

All right mama. Should we bring something nice next time? The goddess must be lonely without her love.

*

Mama, I'm bored.

Be hush, child. Wait for the priestess to finish the prayer, then we'll leave our offerings and go home.

There, that wasn't so bad, was it? Help me up, your mama's knees grow old faster than her.

Mama, will you tell me a story?

Do you think you deserve a story after interrupting prayers?

I didn't interrupt them very much.

Well. That is true. Let me see. This is a story my mother told me, and her mother told her.

There was a goddess, once, beautiful and radiant, like a golden sun, and rich as the summer harvest. She was the goddess of creation, and she was much beloved by mortals for her generosity. She was full of all the joy that comes with new life. Her opposite was death, and she did not like him, for she had no power over him. She did not like any part of death, including those who caused it, except that she one day met a great warrior. The warrior was very brave and very noble, and had distinguished herself as a commander in a great war. The goddess saw that she only brought forth death so that she could remove the obstacles to creating more life. She was very wise, and also a woodsman's daughter, and when the war was over she used her father's tools to begin to repair what the war had broken. The goddess of creation loved her for this and came to her in mortal form, visiting her as a simple traveler. But as her love for the warrior grew, so too did her despair, for she would not be parted from her love when death came to claim her for his own.