Life Of Hera

Part 26 - It Takes A Dream To Remember

Hera looked around her. The same old place, she thought. There were grey walls around her with pictures on the walls as what she seen before. But as she looked closer, it wasn't walls. Not concrete walls, it was rocks. A familiar feeling rushed to her brain. She had a headache. She looked around once more. She saw toys and many other things. A room for a kid. That thought rung a bell as if she had said it before. After that, she saw faint light. She walked towards it. But the light glowed brighter and brighter, blinding her entirely.
As she opened her eyes, she saw a man carrying her and also the sky and trees moving backwards. She felt tiny or maybe she was a baby. The man was running while she heard a baby crying.

"Quickly, they're gaining on us!" said a woman's voice.

"Hera keeps crying, we have to hide," said the man who was carrying her. After that, she realised that she was the one crying.

"Eden, I need to recite the spell," said the woman.
Eden, that name, Hera thought. Harper's husband. She heard footsteps running and branches below their feet breaking as well as dry leaves cracking. She kept crying. But it seems like she has no control of this body as if she was in someone else's body or maybe her own.

"The cave is this way," said Eden.
The blue sky turned grey, no, they entered the cave. The sky wasn't moving. They stopped. She felt Eden lowering her to the ground. She continued crying and her head turned to look at the woman who pulled a scroll out from her pocket and placed it on to the cave floor. After that, she took a glass sphere out of the sack. As she looked closer, it wasn't just any glass sphere, it was the Globe Of Light. But she couldn't see the woman's face clearly as her hair was a mess all over her face.

"They're just nearby," said Eden.

"There's no time to recite the spell, we have to run," said the woman.

"But they are really close."

Suddenly, she felt as if someone else was holding her now. The woman held baby Hera in her arms.

"I've passed the power to Hera. She's the new keeper now. We can't do this any longer," said the woman. Now she was looking at baby Hera. Hera was shocked. She recalled back when she was in the chambers with Isabel. "Look at this portrait. She looks like an older version of you," said Isabel. The letters carved in the frame were damaged. The teenage girl in the portrait is now holding her in her arms, only much older.

"What do you mean?" asked Eden.

"I'll leave Hera here, she'll be safe," said the woman. That dialogue sounded familiar. She has heard it before. But this time it continued. "I'll bring the crystal ball with me and lure them away. You'll stay here with Hera. They will never find you here."
Crystal ball? So it wasn't the Globe Of Light but the crystal ball, Hera thought.

"No, Harper, I'll go with you," said Eden.

Harper? The woman in the portrait that looked like an older version of me, Hera thought. She had a weird feeling. She saw Harper looking at Eden, tears rolled down her cheeks. The teardrop dripped on to Hera's face! But she didn't feel the moisture. Harper handed baby Hera to Eden. Harper took the scroll and hid it. Hera couldn't see where Harper hid it. After that, Harper held baby Hera in her arms. She kissed her forehead. Harper placed baby Hera on the floor. She felt the coldness of the rocks on her back. "Hera, my little girl. We'll have to leave you. When you grow up, you shall recite the spell and destroy the crystal ball. Stay safe, so long for now."
Harper and Eden looked at her with glassy eyes. After that, they walked towards the light, back facing her. Their shadow slowly got swallowed by the light. After that, the light glowed brighter and brighter. She saw flashes. She looked around the cave, there were pictures on the walls and toys all over the floor, a home for a kid. After that, the scene faded and she saw faint light far across the cave. She ran towards it but she would just reappear back to where she came from. Flashes of her past flooded her vision. Cave, glass, voice... She hit the glass and shattered it to pieces, she felt a breeze of cool air. She heard a voice, "Once you step out of this cave, live the life on an ordinary human. Forget all about this cave, Hera. Forget it... Forget it..." she saw flashes of her on a patch of grass. She recalled the day she went to the Enchanted Forest with Isabel and Mateo, she felt the same familiar feeling.
"This is part of the forest," she remembered what Isabel had said. After that, she recalled Isabel reading the book about the Enchanted Cave, which was hidden in the Enchanted Forest. She kept seeing flashes of her past, from growing up in that cave until Leonora appeared before her, basket in hand, "Are you lost dear?" She woke up in cold sweat. She was breathing deeply. She remembers everything now. She grew up in the Enchanted Cave. Harper and Eden are her parents. She is the keeper of the crystal ball.