The Queen of Elysium

Chapter 61 - When stars align

Lucifer wakes to find his eyelids heavy. The dulcet tones of a sweet lullaby almost subdue him back to sleep, but he forces his eyes open. Pushing himself up with his arm, he blearily looks about trying to get his bearings. He is in a glade and his comfortable bed is a carpet of thick, emerald-green moss.

With a sluggish brain and memories obscured by cobwebs, he wonders, Was I drinking last night?

Warm sunshine smiles down upon him and streaks of light, all the colours of the rainbow flit across the bright blue sky. The trees are magnificent with golden, shining bark and leaves made from crystals in brilliant blues, greens, reds and purples.

A gentle breeze drifts through the glade and wafts divine music from the trees. The sound washes over him like the caress of a lover and fills him with bliss. The desire to lay back down and shut his eyes is strong, however, doubt niggles at his brain, warning that something is amiss.

He rubs his eyes. Shakily he gets to his feet, wobbling like a new-born foal and he leaves behind a man-shaped indentation in the moss.

To his right is a pool, its perfectly smooth surface like a mirror. Drawn, he takes a few steps toward it only to stop as the coloured lights whizz in complicated patterns in the air right before him. Mesmerised, he turns, following their movement.

Pain lances through his heart causing him to clutch at his chest. Once more he is surrounded by soothing music; without words it tells him, the pain is not yours, it is not real. You are just tired. You should sleep.

He yawns. The sun slides down like melting butter and fills the glade with rosey sunlight. Tiny white flowers open, studding the ground like stars and filling the air with a heady, soporific scent. He yawns again and stares, only half-seeing, at the way the dusk's light makes the tree trunks glow like molten gold.

They remind me of her eyes. He smiles wistfully, then frowns wondering who she is. Somehow, he knows that the answer lies in the pool and starts walking determinedly back towards it. This time when the little lights try to distract him, he swats them away.

Kneeling down by the water's edge, he looks down upon the glassy surface and rather than his own reflection, he sees a room with three people; a female light elf, a male wood elf and a male Dragonite.

Although he does not recall seeing them before, his heart leaps at the sight of the female. Tears are falling from her golden eyes and he is filled with a deep yearning to be the one to comfort her, not the wood elf.

The Dragonite places a hand on the wood elf's shoulder and speaks in a hushed voice. "Darish, please tell me what is wrong. I hate to see her so upset. Did Kai do something?"

Darish shakes his head and strokes the moonlight hair of the girl, whose face is buried against his chest. "Ishtar made her give him up for Babylon's prosperity."

The Dragonite lets off a colourful string of expletives. "That is why Ishtar blessed so many? Because of Elissa?"

Recognition flares to life. Elissa – that name is etched across Lucifer's very being. Decades he searched and finally he found the one who makes his soul sing. Why then am I here?

"Darish." Elissa's cracking voice draws his attention back to the pool.

"I can't bear to look. Can you check my tattoo and let me know if it has changed?"

Elissa lies back upon a bed and pulls up her dress to reveal leather trousers. Darish bends over to examine the exposed flesh on her midriff.

"Now there is a sight I never expected to see. My beloved with his head under a lady's skirt."