Elfwood
He stood there completely gob smacked admiring the breathtakingly scenic location, dense woods crowning the gently sloping hills all about him. Amongst these, a series of magnificent red-granite giants dominated the landscape, huge monoliths depicting Men, women and children in an assortment of dress and assuming postures of eating, dancing and playing, these illustrious figures most likely taken from mythology encircled a large clearing. The surrounding terrain suffused with the heady fragrance of flowers. Adding to this beautiful landscape was a symphony of birdsong and the sound of a babbling brook lying unseen somewhere amongst the lavish foliage behind him as the sun danced upon the treetops and the air invigorating. This place was like a utopia. But where the hell was he?
"What just happened?" he asked himself once more, not expecting an answer. I remembered coming back from Celestra's house, having just climbed off my bike -- now where is it -- when I found myself here. He then noticed his Harley perched against a red gum, propped up on a strange angle, covered in crystals, or something.
He trod back up the slight rise and brushed off the strange substance that seemed to quiver, and make a strange sound, as a music box put through a sequencer. He jumped back in fright as the crystal thing, or whatever it was, ‘flowed back into the rocky outcrop close by. Then after struggling for five, more minutes or so, he righted his bike, wheeled it to even ground, wiped the sweat off his brow, and sighed, unconsciously polishing the shining black carbon fiber machine.
This place is weird! I didn't take anything, or drink anything, nor have I hit my head. I am a health freak by occupation and a damn good student, so my mental health is not in question here.
"Where is that blasted house, and where are the children, Sole and Juniper must be here somewhere?" He asked the empty setting, not expecting an answer, unable to accept the vibrant images before him. As he looked on in stunned silence, wondering where the farm had gone. He kicked a nearby stone, sending a strange looking rabbit -- if it really was a rabbit -- scurrying off into the underbrush. It looked as if carved from amethyst, but rabbits aren't… he shook himself. "Get a grip, I must have had something, inadvertently, but none of my friends do drugs… all I can see that vaguely resembles ‘home' is that stylized cottage down there and where the hell have those orchards come from…"
It was then he noticed an enclosure resembling one of those forts in a US cavalry film with Errol Flynn.
"This landscape is all wrong!" he shouted in frustration and began to walk back down the slope once more. He pondered his predicament whilst trying to make his way back the way he thought he had come, towards the monuments.
~*~
The sculptures had him stopping dead in his tracks.
"Impressed?" came a voice from somewhere behind him, giving him a start.
"Shit! You frightened the crap out of me!"
"Sorry," the young woman giggled, "I am Alana Sky, a Fire Mage of Ellinia and it is my duty and honor to serve as your guide, my lord."
"Please… it sounds like a bad line from a Harry Potter movie!" he looked at her askance, unsure of how to take the girl. Could it possibly be the case he was sane and everything and everyone in this place was mad as a hatter? He looked at her again, and rethought his assumption, her dress, and her manner, her ceremonial jewelry spoke of a high ranking and powerful woman, though not far beyond girlhood, she was nonetheless formidable.
"Harry… I am sorry?"
"Oh, never mind, nothing seems to make any sense around here anymore. I am one moment returning home…, and next I have a psychedelic trip like nothing I could have ever imagined, given I hate drugs, have no mental health issues, well, now I wonder, yeah, I am completely at home…wherever the hell it is."
She looked at him with understanding; He sensed there was something quite luminous about those cerulean orbs that seemed to look right through him. She wasn't human, of that he was sure. But he had barely time to process this information. At that moment, a cry emerged from within the clearing, the distinct screams of a woman in pain resounding off the trees. Before he realized what was happening, Alana had grabbed his hand, and for one so small of build, standing he thought at five feet two inches tall, a perfectly proportioned fairy-like woman. He soon found himself hauled into the grassy court.
Before them, a circle of children knelt around a bespectacled man with long silver hair. But he wasn't old, far from it. He wore a torn, but clean lab coat and had what seemed to be a medical kit by his side.
The children ranged in ages from nine years to sixteen, lying sprawled on a white mattress was the most pretty woman he had ever seen, she looked familiar, but he couldn't quite place the face.
"Lady, he is here as requested." Alana said in a voice so filled with reverence and love, he had to stop and look at her, and he liked what he saw in her eyes, her face and her whole demeanor.
"Lord Woden, please do not be shocked."
His mouth agape, a woman, beautiful and yet familiar looked back at him with emerald-green eyes, her hair corn-maiden blonde. She wore a white gauzy gown with loosely fitting puffed sleeves. She lay panting for breath, knees up, a sheet draped over them. Two young girls flanking this woman, who seemed serene and at peace, the girls looked about fifteen, he supposed they were trained midwives as he watched them ministering to her. The bulge of her abdomen told him she was about to give birth, She was giving birth that very moment.
"Woden, step forth," she commanded. "Take my hand. After all, it is your right to be present at the birth of your children, is it not?"
He stammered, "F-father of…children, but I…," he was totally taken aback, not understanding why they seemed to think he had not only known this beautiful woman, but to have made love to her, that he thought, he would certainly have remembered. However, why did they call him Woden, and why couldn't he think of his real name?
With no answers forthcoming from his befuddled mind, he complied, sitting beside the remarkable young woman, he had recognized but hadn't the slightest idea from where he had known her.
He thought this a dream, but if it were, it was the most incredible he'd ever experienced. I have heard of astral travel, or out of the body experiences, but this takes the cake! He thought as he took the soft proffered hand.
The physician looked up, smiled, and turned to the woman, "My queen, it is time." She nodded and fluttering eyelashes drew Woden to her sweet loving eyes as she gripped his hand a little tighter. "Breathe…and now push," the physician entreated.
She gripped Woden's hand even tighter than before, if that were possible. Now I know how Bill Cosbey felt during that comedy sketch about his wife's pregnancy! This brought a wry smile to his cracked lips.
Suddenly, upon contact of their hands, he knew her name, the lady that was, but how? Lady Avalonia, queen of Ellinia… I know her, but how… He questioned himself as strange sensations rushed up and down his spine. A flash, and then two girls stood in the photograph on the sideboard at their home, where once there was only one. "Celestra!" he said aloud, bringing Avalonia's eyes to his.
"Yes, I am she, but I am also more than I was, as are you. In Ellinia, all is possible, Woden, my love. You are the King, my beloved consort and guardian of magic in the capital. They will soon forget our children, and me, but it is all well…remember, the awakening is still unfolding and the children must rise anew as sovereigns after their many trials and thereafter claim their mantle. I know you're confused. But know this, my husband; I love you more than the stars above and all the celestial rhythms of the weavers of song. You shall remember. I must go. I shall return. But these, my maidens and the good doctor from the old world, will assist in your journey and raising our little ones, the prince and princess will need you as shall our court more than ever. I am only the afterthought of the awakening, the wayshower, the daughter of the Goddess and her celestial partner, a crest upon an eternal wave that follows countless others…" She felt the onset of another contraction and fell silent.
"Aviaé!" he heard himself answer, "And I love you. I know it, but why am I so confused? I am two people fighting over the same body!"
She waited, only speaking with her eyes and he nodded. His answers would have to wait until the birth of their children.
At that moment, baby princess Ellinia and prince Orbis entered the world announcing their arrival with fervent cries as Avalonia unbuttoned her bodice and attached one, and then the other hungry child to a full breast each.
~*~
Later, he sat by Avalonia's side, cradling each child in his arms, pride and love flowing off him in waves. "They're beautiful, my love. I don't care about my past and the fact I am losing my marbles, for this more than makes up for it without a doubt."
"You wont forget everything, but you will bring a unique perspective to our realm and so too shall the Terra-Tuatus, as those from the old world were known by legend."
Alana knelt by the queen, her hip-length silken black hair falling over her perfectly formed amber skin of her forearms and thighs, her dark eyes aglow with love and respect as she leant forward, and whispered into the queen's ear.
Smiling, Avalonia nodded. Then Alana kissed her sovereign on the forehead and stepped around the queen on her makeshift bed. This heartwarming setting blessed with the most beautiful sky above, adorned by a far larger moon than he had ever seen in the old world shone its light on the scene below, bringing a phosphorescent glow to the circle of mythical figures on the perimeter of the clearing.
Alana sat by Woden, and smiling, he handed each child to her and she in turn gave them to Avalonia and soon they were feeding at their mothers breast once more.
"Where are you going, Aviaé?" he found himself asking, still feeling a sense of unreality sweeping over him.
"To Maple City, enroot to Jasper, a continent at the Southern Pole, but fear not, its seasons are far gentler than your former planet and the icy conditions are limited to the Kauyleri Peaks, and Bay of Sirens is a place of refuge and mostly populated by artisans. I will be safe there. Alana will take care of the children until they're a little older and can be looked after by my sister, Rishinea."
Alana smiled at Woden and nodded. "This honor befalls me, my Lord."
Shifting his gaze to his beautiful wife, he wanted so much to get to know, or re-know, then back at Alana, the babies at Aviaé's breast and then up at the starry night -- he felt alive, wonderfully alive. But he knew an adventure was about to befall Avalonia, Alana, himself and their party.
