Althea - The Dark Goddess

The Dark Goddess (1)

Note: This chapter continues with Althea's POV from her last one...

Then I hear the loudest roar of all, every other feeling in the air dull compared to it. I sit numb as I look up to the sky, but my vision far from it. My pitiful lips torn apart, pulled away from one another.

It was me. My grief. Echoing to the heavens.

Then I'm pulled into a land, heavily filled with green, blooming beautifully with tulips that stretched beyond, meeting the peaceful blue horizon. Then I see a girl dressed in white, her perfectly sliver hair blending into the pureness that she exuded. She sits on her knees as she hovers over the pond.

Hesitantly, I move forward, pulled by the curiosity that held the girl's keen eyes tightly to the pond. I stand just behind her and look over her shoulder at the clear colourless water.

But instead of both our reflections, I see a man. One that looks very much like Aries with his golden hair now shorter, trimmed and his face void of the light stubbles. He looked younger.

However, the deep scowl forever engraved on his handsome face and that piercing blue eyes now hard, I knew it really was my Aries.

"Aries." I cry out, reaching forward. But I couldn't scope past the empty space. Something forced me out, locked me from uniting with him.

"Are you looking at that boy again, daughter?" I twirl around upon hearing the sweetest melodic voice of heaven.

And I see a woman unlike any other I had seen before. She exerts a power. She shines amongst the flowers. With a sweet rosy smile implanted on her luminous silky skin, her silver eyes gazes loving at the girl who still had her eyes glued to the pond.

"Mother, why does he have to be alone in every one of his lifetimes? Is it not enough of a punishment already?" The wind carries the girls melodic voice, somehow familiar to my ears, yet very strange.

The woman, her mother, walks towards her and stands beside her. "Do you truly think it is enough of a punishment, even though he slaughtered so many lives in every one of his lifetimes? Daughter he will never change."

"My Aries will never do that." I step forward, angrily staring at her silver eyes as I see his sweet smile in the back of my head. "Do you hear me. He's not like that." But it was as if I was invisible. She does not see me as she continues looking at the girl huddled by the pond.

"But what if we send him someone that can stop his hunger for blood? What if he had someone with him? Maybe he wouldn't turn out like that? Mother maybe he too will change."

"Daughter, we cannot just send an innocent soul to test your beliefs. What if you are wrong? The soul will be too pitiful and as a mother of their creation I cannot do so."

"What are you talking about?" I try to grab her shoulders, but my hands move right past her body. It was as if I didn't even exist on this land.

"But mother, isn't he one of your children as well?" The girl reaches her hand forward almost as if lightly stroking the mirage of his face. And I fail to understand them. I fail to understand her.

"What if I'm right?"

But her mother shakes her head, standing by her belief. "That child of mine is beyond redemption. No one can save him now." Sighing heavily, she too looks at his mirage, Aries' hands soaked in blood, his handsome face now painted red. "He only has one more lifetime left, then his soul will be forever imprisoned in the fire of hell, never to be set free again. No one can love him as he is."

"Then let me."

The girl turns around to look at her mother, finally gracing me with her view. With eyes and lips wide open, I take a few steps forward to get a closer look and I still, shocked of how much she resembles me at the same time, how different she was to me.

"Did you hear a word I just said? Do you even hear yourself, daughter?"

But the girl's glimmering silver eyes looks at her mother, a brilliance in her milky skin, and her rosy lips. She looks heavenly. An epitome of pure and innocence.

"Let me love him, mother." She repeats herself with a sweet smile on her face.

"Enough, Althea." Her mother replies sternly, and I swing my head towards her with a deep scowl on my face. She had called the girl Althea.

"Althea?" My lips too utter her name or rather my name as I scan the girl from head to toe.

"But mother-"

"I will not bring such tribulation on my own daughter. And I will never pair you with the soul of a fallen. He is doomed to reside in hell, even if he manages to get through this time around."

She comes forward and places her hand on her daughter's shoulder. "And you, my dear daughter, you are a goddess of life. There is no place for you in the flames of hell."

"But mother there must be a place somewhere in this infinity where he can be free of his hatred, of his sins." Determined the girl swallows before she inhales deeply. "I want to give him life. I want to show him a colour other than red. Wouldn't it be so nice to see him smile for once?"

The girl smiles tilting her head a little to the side. "I want to hear the sound of his laughter. I wonder what it would sounds like?"

"Listen Althea. You cannot just go into the world of living and declare your love for him and expect him to love you back."

But the girl continues to hold her smile and blink her eyes as she places her hand on top of her mother's. "It's okay even if he doesn't love me back. I'll be more than happy to be the only one that loves him."

I glaze into her silver orbs and search for a little bit of hesitation, a tint of lies. But I find none. For I knew her love was selfless. Her love was pure.

"And I have yet to ascend. I can take this as a trial." Taking her mother's hands in her own, she pleads her with innocent eyes. "Let me be with him. Let me free his soul of his past sins. Let me love him."

"The world of living is not for you my dear child. There is too much hatred in that world. And you, my dear-" Her mother frees her hand and cups her face, gently caressing her cheek. "-your soul knows no hate. There is no wrath, no anger in your heart. That world will mould your heart and taint your soul. You will never be the same again."

Her eyes glistens as she gives her a sad smile. But the girl holds her mother's hand as she holds a smile of her own. "As long as I can save his soul, I am willing to sully myself. I'll take his hate. I'll womb his sin. I'll show him patience. I'll bring him peace. Mother, I will teach him to love."

"And what if you can't?"

"I can only try." Her innocent smile holds no fear of future or failure on them as she speaks.

"Why Althea? Why are you willing to go so far for a boy that does not even know you exist?"

The girl looks down at Aries' stern face, finally with a hint of sadness in her eyes. "Because I can hear his soul. I understand his heart. I want to bear his burden. I want to share his loneliness. Mother, my heart chooses him."

But her mother shakes her head. "I cannot. Even if I wanted to, I don't hold the power to give you such tribulation."

"But mother you are the moon herself. You are the moon goddess. There's nothing that you cannot do."

Her mother exhales heavily as she stares sadly into her daughter's eyes. "Always remember this Althea, there's always some things that's beyond one's power."

Her face softens a little as the girl stands silent with determination in her glimmering eyes. "You do know that once you are paired with him, you will only ever be half of your soul. Without him, you'll never feel complete. Whether you succeed or not, he will forever hold half your soul. But what after you bear his sins? Heaven may still not home his soul. What then?"

"Then I'll look for a place in this infinity where our souls can be together."

With knitted brows, she looks at her daughter as she tries hard to make the girl understand the weight of her choices. "Destiny is cruel. Following her path would be hard. I can only shelter you for so long before she challenges you with a journey that's beyond my grasp."

The girl looks back at his reflection one more time before she gives her mother a big smile and nods.

"I am willing to take this path if I can save him."