The Almost One Night Stand

Chapter 55

Multiple POVs

Victor's POV

Darkness. Cold darkness is all I knew. There was no sound, no light, no smell, just dark and cold. I couldn't even tell if I was standing, lying down, or sitting. I'm not sure if I had a body any longer. I'm not really sure if I even existed.

Into the Cauldron the old woman's voice had said. What was the Cauldron? Is that where I am?

"You are nowhere and everywhere, Vine and Bramble born," the voice answered my thoughts.

Why are you calling me that?

"It is who you are, were and will be - vine and bramble born," she replied.

I don't understand. Am I dead?

"Yes."

Her answer made me reel in shock. If I'm dead then what now - how will I help Nimue?

The old woman laughed at my thoughts, "Simple, be reborn. The Wheel is always turning, life and death are never-ending cycles."

That's easy for you to say, you're not the one who's dead, I grumbled.

"Are you sure about that?" she snickered. Um, well, now I'm not. "Why do you want to be alive?"

To keep Melody safe.

"Is that all, just her safety - no other motivation?"

I'm sure I'd be blushing right now if I had a body. I love her. I want to keep her safe, but I also want a life with her, I admitted.

"Then what are you waiting for?" she laughed.

Um, a body would probably be helpful.

"Then create a body, Vine and Bramble born," she said sarcastically.

How? I'm not a god.

"But you are life and death. The vine gives life just as an umbilical cord connects the mother to child. The bramble is riddled with thorns, choking out life. You are both. Will what you want into existence," the old woman explained.

This lady has to be insane, I thought, but I still did as she said. I focused my thoughts on what I wanted - to be alive again. To be able to hold and protect Nimue; to kiss and please her; to build a life with her. It was as if I could feel my body knitting together, bone and skin until finally, I opened my eyes. I was inside the cavern I struggled to reach before. The walls were covered with vines and thorn brambles, and there sitting in the center was a small woman veiled in white, a fire just in front of her.

"Greetings, Victor," she said with a nod of her head. "I see you kept your old form."

"I didn't realize there was an option," I chuckled, feeling as if my skin were rippling over the bones.

"Oh my boy, you can be whatever you please. Such is the gift of vine and bramble - creation and destruction eternal," she gestured her hand to the cavern and I watched in awe as it shifted into a grand palace with ornate fixtures. "This is your gift, son. The power of transformation runs deep within your veins. You are part of the Cauldron now, and it is part of you."

I shook my head, "I don't understand. What is the Cauldron?"

She cackled, "Oh Victor, you have much to learn. This will help," she placed her gnarled hand over my Druid mark. I felt pain shoot through me but stood firm. Like a veil parting, I saw the passage of the Wheel, the cycle of the Cauldron ever turning. I saw lifetimes of those I loved from the past dying and being reborn. I watched as the lines of those I call family and friends were slowly gathered over the centuries with one center connecting us all - Nimue.