Nyctophilia: For the Love of Darkness

◇~Chapter 1~◇

"For one so loved the night
It provided a power
That could give quite a fright
If not handled right."

"Amaya!! Come down and watch the storm with me!!"

My mother shouted for me from downstairs.

"Ugh do I have to?!" I hollered back.

"It's gonna rain soon, I want you to watch it with me." The plea lingered in my ears as I thought about whether I should join her or not. "Please?"

I heard her gentle beg before I gave in.

"Okay, okay, I'm coming. Let me dress a bit warmer." I sighed before sliding off my bed onto the warm wood flooring.

"Excellent!! I'll make you a cup of tea." My mother's excited tone cracked a smile for me.

My mother always loved night storms, especially the ones that would bring rain, that's how I got my name. Amaya originated from Japan, and in a rough Japanese translation, Amaya means Night rain. Back before my parents got divorced my father told me he wanted to name me after the Finnish goddess of night, Anniki, but that was only because my father had been from Finland when he met my mother.
She was on a family trip when she ran into him at some upscale restaurant, then by chance into him again on her morning walk two days later. From there they would meet at the same place and walk together, they grew close but unfortunately, she was only there for a month. When her last day arrived the two spent every second they could together before finally exchanging contact information to stay in touch as she went back to Paris. From then on they would take turns visiting each other and before long they got engaged and married.
Now they're divorced, my mother somehow found her way into the French Breuacracy without marrying into through some duke.
I wasn't complaining though.

I made my way down the stairs of our rather extravagant mansion where my mother was awaiting me at the door with two cups full of steaming hot, honey chamomile tea.

"Mmmm, smells delicious, mother." I smile grabbing a cup from her hand.

"It does, doesn't it?" She agreed with a kind smile. "C'mon let's sit out in the gazebo." She opened the door and we walked across the covered bridge overlooking our pond.

I never could get enough of the sights our garden had. The pond which surrounded our gazebo on its own little island, the colorful tropical flowers and plants lining the edge of the water, across an open bridge on the other side of the gazebo was a little forest path that followed along a small trickling creek. It was absolutely beautiful, and perhaps the most peaceful place in the world. There were periodic flashes of lightning and soft rumbles of thunder coming from the South by the time my mother and I sat at the little table in our gazebo.

"Oooh... it's coming from the south this time!" My mother said happily.

She loved Southern storms so much better than any others because of how powerful they get to be under the right conditions. Last week it had started out super warm with a gentle breeze, as each day passed it got cooler but the breeze got warmer. Perfect conditions for an empowering southern storm.

After my parents got divorced and my mother got into the bureaucracy about 7 years ago, when I was but 12 years old she purchased this home for us and gained full custody of me, so she has spent the last 6 years of her life studying the patterns of storms in this area. Everyone called her crazy for being outside during loud and highly dangerous thunderstorms, but she didn't care, she knew something about these storms that no one else did, not even me, but I loved them just as much as she did and it was even better if they came around at night. I always felt so alive in the darkness, and the storms would fuel that power, I don't know what the feeling was but I loved it.

As the storm continued to creep ever closer, my mother and I just basked in the warmth of our tea, the smell of the honey, chamomile, and rain combined was absolute heaven and before we knew it, heavy rainfall started cascading down from the pitch-black sky creating a cocoon of water splashing into the surrounding pond. The rain's intensity matched that of the Thunderclaps from above, it was addicting how empowering storms could be.

After immersing ourselves in the thunder and finishing our tea, we went back inside to get some sleep.

"Hey, mother, why is it you like thunderstorms so much?" I ask. The question is definitely not an uncommon one I ask her the same question about once a week in hopes of getting some answer, but it was always the same response.

"You'll know why soon." She smiled kindly at me before shutting my light off and heading back downstairs.

"Why do I even bother?" I sighed, frustrated by the lack of enlightenment.

I turned on the desk lamp I had at my bedside before heading over to my bookshelf to finish the day with a bit of reading. I grabbed a new book my mother had gotten for me on my last birthday, thinking that maybe this book will have some kind of answer to my question. The book was about mythology from all over the world. It was a huge book, it gave an inside look at numerous countries' mythological beliefs. 

When I sat back down on my bed, leaning against my pillows for more support on my back while I sat against the headboard. I opened the book and the first chapter was on Norse Mythology, starting with a sub-chapter on a goddess by the name of Baduhenna; The goddess of war and storms.