Interlude XI

Octavia

Contemplations

Seclusion. Silent meditations. Call it what you will, it was a punishment and Octavia was the one suffering from the implementations. It didn’t help that she was also the one who felt the need to administer the punishments in the first place. Nor did it help that others couldn’t understand her somber mood since she was called upon to act as the anchor for the ritual.

By all rights she should be happy. Every other priestess was ecstatic. The first new priestess, raising the number of known priestesses from seven to eight. Such events were only hinted at in the old texts. But Octavia felt betrayed. Worse she was the one who had done the betrayal. For the second time in one lifetime, she had punished the same man unjustly. What was worse, looking back on the events she now knew the truth. She had punished the man she loved for the fact that he loved her back. He loved her back and in so doing hurt the heart of another who had crossed his path.

She could see all the signs. She had finally interpreted all the different impulses that had been there but hidden. The priestess, Nayali had somehow managed to hide most of her thoughts from Octavia during their pair bonding, that much was a given. How else could she know the feeling of betrayals, but not know the name of the man she, Octavia, would unjustly punish for something so petty as loving another.

I was so stupid. Going with a more painful process to prove a point. Worse, that point ultimately was that he, my love, should not love me. These were the thoughts that plagued Octavia’s minds over the past weeks. Worse she had been blessed by the great forest spirit; all the priestesses had been blessed. Once the seventh and final pillar was consecrated to the great forest spirit every high wood elf received a blessing. Each priestess received a greater version of the blessing.

Worse still, Octavia for her part as being a key component to helping a fellow priestess complete the trials received the greatest version of the blessing. She had been rewarded. That was her punishment for damaging the man she loved beyond all repair and almost killing him. She had been rewarded. That is what made the accomplishment so bittersweet.

The great forest spirit saw nothing wrong with what she did. The first time she had injured the boy, she was punished for five years. This time because no direct attacks were thrown everything was seen as being acceptable. As if she did exactly as she was supposed to perform under such circumstances.

The worst part of all of this, her connection to Lykan, once thought unbreakable was now severed. Severed by the very actions that the gods themselves had to offer to save his life. The gods themselves got involved to save him. They came in to save him from her actions.

Truthfully there was no way to know that Lykan’s meridians had been severed and that this would cause an inverse reaction to the cleansing effect. By all rights, even if she had gone with the less violent way much the same effect would have been seen. The only difference would be, in the second easier option Lykan would not have suffered as much. Though he would have died, or at least should have died then as well.

It was a no-win situation, but now she was cut off from the man she loved. The human who had somehow stolen her heart during their time as having a forced pairing. She wanted to go down the self-destructive path of blaming this on the gods but knew that was a fool’s game. It wasn’t like the gods would openly admit to being evil. No, the only thing she could do was think about what had happened and try to not repeat the same mistakes again. So lost in thought was she that she missed the moment the high priestess joined her. She also missed the moment the high priestess made her way up to stand behind her.

However, Octavia didn’t miss the sudden cough that came from behind her. The same cough that instantly broke her silent contemplations and caused her to nearly jump out of her meditative pose. With a thumping heart she turned to see the High Priestess behind her staring at her with her seeming all knowing eyes.

“Come daughter, there is something I must show you.” The High Priestess said, the use of daughter an obvious call on the rank of the junior priestess. Then the High Priestess abruptly turned about and left not looking to see if Octavia would follow. Octavia for her part darted up and after the High Priestess who was quickly making her way down the myriad of tunnels that made up their home.

It wasn’t until they made their way down to the lowest floor, the floor that was otherwise cut off from everyone else that the High Priestess began to speak.

“Priestess Octavia. We are nearing a time of great change upon the world. No doubt you have seen the signs yourself already.” The High Priestess began.

“You mean the calamity?” Octavia asked, not knowing if there was more to what the High Priestess was getting at.

“I do in fact mean the calamity.” The High Priestess said while nodding approvingly, never slowing her relentless pace forward.

There was a long pregnant pause as the High Priestess came to a wall and then waved her hand at an unseen fixture. Within a second the wall slid away.

Octavia stared at the wall that had been seamlessly smooth up until a second ago, no sign of a door or sliding wall. Even the floor seemed to be perfectly smooth as if the wall that had been one solid piece was now missing. Staring at the opening where a wall had just stood not a moment ago Octavia missed the moment the High Priestess walked through the opening.

“Well come on.” The High Priestess said, snapping Octavia out of her slack jawed stare.

Had that always been there? How did it open? What is this place? These were the questions bubbling forth in Octavia’s mind. What was weird was the fact that the room they entered was completely dark.

On the side of the wall was an unlit torch. With deft motions the High Priestess grabbed the torch that had likely been placed here for just such a purpose. Muttering the incantation for light, the torch came ablaze with fire illuminating the dark corridor.

“What is this place?” Octavia asked, before the High Priestess could turn and head further down. The High Priestess paused for a second, but ultimately decided to answer the question while continuing to walk forward.

“You know this wasn’t made by our ancestors, right? That our ancestors found this place?” The High Priestess asked.

Hearing the words Octavia couldn’t help but wince. She knew that many of the things used and seen were from a time before. “Yes.” Octavia finally managed.

“Then you should also know that almost everything about our culture is stolen. Our language that we read and speak, the training simulacrum that we use to enhance our prowess. Everything we do and are came from a race that came before.” The High Priestess began.

Hearing this Octavia gulped, suddenly wondering what the past had to do with what they were currently doing.

“Yes, I am aware. When the gods slew the titans, our ancestors the wood elves were chosen due to our virtues to watch over the known Titan strongholds so that no others could wield the power of the Titans. This raising of stature is what helped us evolve from standard wood elves to high wood elves.”

Hearing the dogma spoken verbatim to the lectures the High Priestess let out a laugh. The laugh was the same a mother would make when their child gave an exact wrong answer to a question. Hearing the laugh, Octavia’s face contorted into a grimace.

“Oh, sorry about that. What you said is correct. At least that is the story that we pass down to our young. The only problem is that you are now of the age where you need to know the truth.” The High Priestess began as she continued to make her way lower and lower through the twisting mazes of corridors and hallways.

“The truth is, we were elevated to high wood elves for no other reason than we were loyal, and we had the longest lives of any of the other races.”

Hearing this Octavia looked like she wanted to protest, but a quick gesture from the High Priestess caused her to stop.

“We were then blessed by the gods to help fulfill a role. Our role was to maintain knowledge of the enemy, to know of their strengths and be able to teach others should the Titans ever re-awaken.” The High Priestess began.

“Re-awaken? But they were all killed?”

Shaking her head sadly the High Priestess could only feel that the stories that were told to placate the young did a disservice to them as they got older.

“No, the Titans were never killed. They were only forced to retreat for a time. As the watchers, it was our job to learn the language of the feared enemy so that we might be better able to stop their next attack should they rise and try to conquer the world once more.”

“Rise up? But they were all driven deep below the ground. To the dark places that not even the power of the gods can enter.”

“Yes, and no. They were driven deep below ground, but not because it was some type of punishment.” The High Priestess began going through a final set of doors to show a room filled with giant cocoon like vats that were twice the size of any humanoid creature. Even the mighty Orcs would appear small before the giant cocoons. Worse the cocoons were made up of a clear material that allowed one to see through. Inside many of the tubes were humanoid monsters. Monsters in the fact that they were all easily bi-pedal creatures, with two arms, and long tentacles that came from their mouth. Seeing how each was resting in a vat of what appeared to be water, it was clear that the creatures were aquatic at the very least. Like lost sea monsters that had somehow managed to create a sphere of protection around their bodies.

Many of the bodies appeared to have giant wounds in them and floated listlessly in the water that had turned black with traces of their dark blood.

The two made their way forward until they saw one that looked alive. If alive was the correct word. The creature had wounds that had long ago healed over on its body. The almost perfect black body was now covered with white dots that had to have been scar tissue. The beast was asleep or at the very least unaware of the surroundings. It had large red eyes that didn’t seem to have eye lids, at least none that Octavia could see. Instead, the eyes appeared to be large and circular, the way a horse’s might be.

Just looking at the monster before her caused the hairs to rise on the back of her neck. Looking at this monster something deep within Octavia stirred, a warning posed in her very genetics. Looking at the creature she was assured of two things. The first was that this creature was a primordial evil that should be treated with caution. The second was that this being was not from this planet, that nothing that evil should be allowed to exist here.

It took Octavia a few minutes to realize that the High Priestess had been staring at her for a while now. That she had been waiting for this dawning realization to settle in.

“What is it?” Octavia asked in a low voice, not wanting her voice to awaken the great creature.

Seeing the look of fear on Octavia’s face caused a smile to form on the High Priestess’ face. “Don’t worry, this creature has been dormant for as long as we have been here. I too had much the same reverence of not wanting to speak in their presence, but after coming down here this is the only one that appears to be alive. This is also the only one that never responds to anything.” The High Priestess said, then raised one finger to tap on the clear glass like structure that the water cocoon was made of.

Seeing the finger rise up Octavia couldn’t help but have a full feeling of fear and panic rise up from the depths of her very soul. This was a warning that the High Priestess shouldn’t be doing this, that she was somehow tempting fate with such an act.

“Wait!” Octavia cried out, then with a horror filled look turned her gaze to the still comatose creature.

Badump. Badump.

Octavia’s heartbeat wildly, as she watched the being for any signs of movement.

“See, there is nothing to be frightened of.” The High Priestess said, as she continued moving her finger forward and gave a quick tap to the cocoon. “The being in there is just as passed out as it…”

Her words trailed off, as the red eyes of the being suddenly came to life with light and energy. The room that had been relatively dark, save for the torch in the high priestess’ hand was washed in a sickly red color. With a start the two turned to see that the primordial being, the being so horrible the gods could only force the creatures to retreat to their holes in the grounds stirred.

“What?” Octavia cried out.

“Quickly, we must…” The High Priestess began, but her words were quickly cut off as a powerful hand punched through the thick lining of the cocoon causing water and shrapnel to flow everywhere. A giant black hand lunged out and gripped the High Priestess around the neck, chocking her and raising her from the ground in an instant.

Horror filled Octavia as she could only stare on in horror as the High Priestess clutched pathetically with both hands trying to remove the vice like grip that clamped her neck so tightly.

Just as Octavia was about to move, to do something she heard it. A sickening pop and crunch sound. Then she looked to see the High Priestess’ head was bent to the side at an impossible angle. Fear and terror welled up within her, she was petrified with fear. The black creature moved, fully breaking its way free from the watery prison that had contained it for so long. Octavia tried to act, to call forth the powers that had been granted to her by the great forest spirit.

“Sleep.” She muttered, only for the spell to be disregarded. In a way this was like the way Lykan had easily avoided the spell all those years ago. She watched, knowing that should she take any other action that her powers would be broken again. She stood and waited. The being must have sensed something, either it sensed her casting the ineffective sleep spell, or just noticed her life. Either way it turned to her and was upon her in the blink of an eye.

A blur caught up in her mind’s eye as she tried to understand what had happened. In a way the monster’s speed was a blessing. It meant that it was upon her with its vice like grip before Octavia could even realize what was happening. Snap.

The sickening sound of her neck snapping caused the world to go dark.

***

With a shock Octavia awoke to find herself behind the High Priestess, they had just entered the sliding wall and the High Priestess was just reaching for the unlit torch.

“Wait!” Octavia shouted; her mind caught in fear as she tried to make sense of what she just saw. It was a dream? No, a vision of the future.

Badump. Badump.

How close to death had they just come?

“You saw it?” Was all the High Priestess said, as she let go of the torch.

Nodding her head slowly Octavia couldn’t speak. Instead, she just let the sweat that had started to accumulate on her head flow down. Her mind and body were trying to find out what was real and what was just part of the vision.

“This is not good. So, it awoke this time?” The High Priestess asked.

Still unable to speak, as Octavia was currently drawing in deep breaths of air to keep herself from hyperventilating, she could only nod in agreement.

Finally, after a few long moments of Octavia shaking her arms and trying to calm down, she felt calm enough to be able to speak. At which point she asked the only question she could think of the only question that seemed to have any value.

“What does it mean?”

Hearing the words, a somber expression filled the High Priestess’ face as she shrunk in upon herself. “It means that we have less time than we originally thought.”