Selena watched as she circled her companion Earth. Aeon after aeon she observed the cycle, the dance, the poetry between the two. Oh how she knew others were envious of them. sometimes the goddess would take note of the changed people- each night more changed then humans. Occasionally she'd strike a little pose as those on Earth observed her with their strange devices up close and very intimately. When she had first noticed they could watch her like that she felt a sense of nakedness and blushed. She was glad that they could only see her better side...
The side she did show was of course littered with debris and meteorites from previous cycles. Not as bad as behind her, but she was an old goddess... still beautiful despite her planet's state. Indeed she was taking measures to heal it all, now that she was awake. Someday, she would draw enough of that special breath they called life, just as before.
This age was different but then, all ages were in some way after so long a rest... how strange that those who had become humans, noticed her so... yet the moon goddess was troubled. Her conversation with the Feminine Force replayed in her mind. Something that old to give favours- what humans might consider 'blessings' was never heard of... She could not recall the last time such has happened, and that was enough to make the moon give just a little quake of unease.
The mortal, Lilly Gordon... an unassuming, very ordinary child of the iridescent sun was a focal point. Of the seven billion people living on the Earth, why that one particular girl? She shifted her gaze to Artemis, her smile beaming with gentleness. Oh how glad she was, to have Artemis once more. How she hoped for many grandchildren from her this time. It would be a joy to watch her grow up. She missed her presence for so long, to finally be able to see her child again after the sleeping spell was cast... and the age of gods ended...
Yet Selena was restless, even in the Great Sleep. She was the goddess most aware of everything that happened on Earth. She was closer to the humans... close enough that Cass and Lucas, had actually formed a bridge to her realm... her world. Interacting in the physical form, limiting as it was. It was perhaps a little strange that they took so much of her power to alter the physical, when there existed so much more in existence then that... it was certainly a case of mortals playing with their new toys, so she didn't mind them experimenting.
She recalled briefly the sadness of the last time her daughter came, with her other friends in the special night. Lilly was too heavy to bring with her all the way, into the depths of the moon. Such was not the fault of the child. It simply was the way things were. But the gods rarely had visitors, and dreams were the easiest way for a mortal to touch their domains. It allowed them to work within the rules of reality... Selena had 'encouraged' the direction of Lilly's fall, to the feminine force, when she heard Her whisper... and she entered into Essence of the All Woman's dream.
Everything in such a world is both real, and yet not real... a perfect setting for them. What insight Lilly could have gained there, only the squirrel-girl would know... but she hoped it would have eased the child's mind some. If even only sub-consciously. How odd that humans had different levels of consciousness... each capable of perceiving a different reality. A god did not. They perceived different levels of reality, all with the same consciousness. It was one of the greatest differences between them. A strength... and a weakness.
"Sister, What is going on?" She asked flatly in the end. Perhaps she was taking on too much from the mortal Lucas. It would be a concern if that was the case. Still by being on her plane, her world... and her domain, it was inevitable that some aspects of the mortal would become part of the moon goddess, just as some of her would reside in them. Not on the intimate way of her daughter, but...
Selena tried to call out to the others, gods and deities, concepts of being, any of them... but found no other awake enough. Not even her companion the Earth would yield from the slumber. The Sun acted just as sleepy as ever, despite the powerful magic surrounding it as the Pivot of this new age.
That unnerved the goddess even more.
She slowly descended down, as her realm changed in light from moon shade to darkness... the Great Door of Destiny was here, it's all seeing eye observing the goddess- and as always, denying her entry. Thunderously large chains sealed it. Only certain gods were allowed entry- so it was said. This was where the truly old ones resided. She wasn't sure what brought her here.... a bad feeling maybe...
she approached the door and- was surprised as the chains suddenly, yielded for her.
Enter
Selena swallowed... what was going on? Did the Feminine Force grant her entry? Slowly she took one step in... the question already on her mind. Dare she ask it though? What if... no. She had to know. Something was going on, that much was obvious. It might even involve Artemis. "The child Lilly Gordon," she spoke. "What is her name here?"
Destined
Selena gasped. She ran out of the door quickly, the moon shaking at her every step. "Cass! Lucas! Return!"
She hoped it was not too late.
Cass and Lucas had just 'appeared' in the town. It was still a little jarring to be moving about by the power of a god. There seemed to be a few limitations to it though. For one, no matter where they found themselves, they could always see the moon above them. It seemed that Selena could not transport them somewhere she was not actually present in symbolically. Generally this meant they had to appear at night, but the moon was sometimes seen in the day. It was odd that nobody realised their sudden appearances either. Perhaps Selena had some way of occupying everyone's blind spot in some way...
So it was even stranger, when Selena suddenly just... pulled them back.
"What's going on?" Asked Lucus.
Selena stood before them in a grey shroud of a dress. They appeared to be in some kind of 'tower'. It could almost be an observatory. "I brought you here," she said steadily. "There are grave matters at hand."
"What is it?" Asked Cass. IT was strange to notice that her aura did not have much influence here, beyond her skin.
"I need to show you something."
The two mortals, and single goddess descended down a flight of steps. It was an impossible number... how far down did this tower go? Selena didn't even seem to note that they must have gone down over five hundred steps, and still going!
"We going to hell?" Asked Lucas a bit amused.
While Cass laughed just a bit, it was a hollow echo as there was no response by Selena. Whatever was going on must be terribly serious.
"We have to put the summit on hold," she said carefully.
"What? Why!" Lucas looked crushed. She wanted to represent humanity there!
"I will explain... I'm afraid I..." how could she explain this to the mortals. "Tell me, what do you see?"
"We're in a staircase, we see you..." Cass said carefully.
"And how do you see me?"
"A woman," shrugged Lucas. "Like- well like us."
"Yes. But you see, just like the myriad of worlds before, you are only seeing what you expect to see, In a way that works to your senses. Ironically, you see more of me in a dream then you ever could physically. Come, we have further to go yet."
Still they descended... and suddenly, steps were going up? But- then Lucas glanced upwards. There were stairs running up the wall! They have entered an MC Escher painting? This was getting very strange! This was not at all like the domain they were used to before. Though they were still unused to travelling among realms other then Selena's. Lucas was starting to miss that throne she made to herself...
Selena continued to speak. "Tell me, how much do humans know of... existence?"
"We can make a drink out of pepper," grinned Lucas.
Cass rolled her eyes.
Selana allowed herself a moment before continuing. "I am aware you have a nature that you call science," Said the moon goddess, her ever word smooth as silk. "It's a force that once brought visitors to me..." She had never been more awake until that point. The ship intrigued her, and it demonstrated just how far this new age had come.
Cass and Lucas shrugged. Neither of them really paid much attention to science. Lucas was a translator and sometimes her work did bring a little technical knowledge to it. Though as always, trying to translate technology was not an easy task at all. Science was just one of those really odd areas that invented new words as it went, and not every language was able to keep up. That was why she was so prideful of knowing English though. It was the language of commerce, if not the most adaptable language to new ideas... by drawing from all other languages if it needed to borrow a new concept.
The old goddess sighed. This was going to be harder then she thought. "Very well... what you have to understand, is that the universe is not just physical... but the most important aspect to it, is that things can be defined, and undefined."
"You mean like.. quantum stuff?" Asked Lucas curiously. She knew that vaguely.
"Yes. I believe so. Naming something and not naming something... You humans do a lot of naming. I fear you may have tried to put a name to something that does not want to be named..." It boggled the mind to the goddess... how did the humans even know such a thing existed? ... The gods only had a passable understanding of such things... yet humans seem intent to not only know it, but to.. quantity it?
"what does this have to do with the summit? And what about Artemis's birth parents?" Cass asked. "we were hoping to fix things there..."
"All will be revealed... Cass, I'm afraid you must remain here. We can not risk your dramatis personas power affecting the delicate balance in this room."
"Aww!" The anime girl said upset. "That's not fair!"
"It is too risky... behold.."
Finally they arrived at a gigantic door... it's chains had fallen down. There was something very imposing about it. A giant eye was at the top of the door, seeming to observe them. They all looked to Selena for some kind of explanation. "This is the room of Destiny... not all mortals have one... but sometimes, they do... Follow me, Lucas..."
Lucas went in, and as she did she found her sword suddenly glowing. It was just as well as the door behind them suddenly sealed shut. She glanced down at her sword with some shock. Selena stood beside her, as slowly the darkness in the room lit up around them.
The sight was unbelievable...
Lucus was dazzled by the sudden burst of colour in the center of the room, that could only be a depiction of the iridescent sun. It stood on a central plinth of some kind. What was even more interesting were the four large 'giants' around it, staring at it. To her relief they seemed to be just statues... but their eyes, they looked alive... It was one of the creepiest things she had ever seen.
Even more so, were the eyes in the 'wall' of the room. Eyes watching them... everyone. Sometimes an eye would cast a gaze to one of the four main statues, then a beam of light would pass from them and into the central light of the sun image. It was then that the Angel of Vengeance realised, they were actually standing on a delicate balance, beneath them seemed to be...
...oblivion.
"It is much to take in, this room..." said Selena carefully. "I do not know how you perceive it... what you see is symbolic to your own limited understanding." The goddess explained delicately.
"What are the four statues?" She asked looking at each.
"We do not know," said the goddess. "We have... theories of course. Each one has an element associated with it... and each one has a kind of 'consciousness', but they can not be communicated with directly. Yet they are aware of us... This is why I could not bring Cass here. These four beings exist in perfect balance. An imbalance is swiftly corrected..." The old goddess looked to Lucas carefully, hoping she had explained sufficiently the magnitude of just where they were.
Lucas was quite impressed, even if she didn't understand it all. "So... why are we here?"
"Show us the Destiny, of Lilly Gordon..."
The sunlight in the center changed as new images appeared.
The image shifted to a large battle scene. A strange girl laid unconscious, dressed in the guise of a magic girl. A squirrel jumped over her just as a large energy blast was about to impact... The squirrel girl screamed as she shielded the other from the force of dark energy...
Lucas looked wide eyed at what she just saw and could feel herself retching. "W-What the hell?! What did I just see?"
Selena placed a calm hand onto lucas's shoulder. "The mortal, Lilly Gordon, is destined to die... in a month's time. That is why... an ancient entity has taken an interest in her, and wishes her happiness... before it is her time" It was perhaps the first death, by magic, that would happen in this world in such a long time. Such deaths were always marked by the gods, and for it to happen to such a young child was not pleasant... "This string binds her destiny to her..." The red string, one of several tethered itself to the air, held by nothingness... and to descend into nothingness.
"I Won't allow THAT!" Lucas screamed. To hell with that- she lashed out with her sword, and cut the string.
Surprisingly, Selena did not react. The threads were easily cut by Lucas's sword.
The moon goddess looked in awe at the angel-changed girl's ability to alter destiny, something which they struggled to do. "As I thought... your sword can cut through the binding threads of fate..." She said hopefully. "God's can not interfere with a person's destiny like you can... I just hope... Oh no..."
"What what is it now?" Lucas was ready to slice another of these 'destiny strings'... She will save everyone if she had to!
"It is now... the destiny of the mortal known as Jenny Walsh, to die..."
Lucas just pressed on her attack, as string after string appeared. But every time she sliced the string binding Jenny's fate, Lilly's would replace it and vice versa. This was NOT an option! She would not allow either little girl to die if she could help it! But her sword could only cut one string at a time. With a flourish she tried to cut BOTH strings at once, so that neither child was destined to die...
Only to have a thousand strings suddenly appear, and the room 'tilt' slightly making her lose her footing.
Gasping for air, the angel of vengeance dropped onto the ground, panting for breath. The statues gave an ominous glow, as each thread slowly disappeared. Balance was restored, with just the one string remaining... Lilly Gordon.
"W-why is this happening!" Lucas was almost on the verge of tears. She didn't know the child, but...
The moon goddess looked sadly. "Mortals die all the time, Lucas... it knows no boundaries. The young.. the old, the rich... and the poor." She glanced at the statues. "The world exists in a balance... it looks like to prevent many deaths, one of these two will die... Because of the nature of power, that the one named Jenny has, her life can bring more life if she grows old... therefore, Lilly is the one that by default, will die... she is..."
"She's expendable?!" Lucas wanted to break something again. She wanted to lash out at those statues, but a stern look from Selena stopped her. So one girl was more expendable then the other?! That.. was.. wrong!"I can't accept it... I won't accept it!" The angel of vengeance was almost glowing with a palpable aura of anger, enough to make the goddess Herself step back.
"Listen to me Lucas... we have one chance. My daughter, Artemis..." She said carefully. "Like a human, she is not subject to the rules we have... if we influence events carefully, we can avoid both deaths... maybe." It was a slim hope... but that must be what the Feminine Force was trying to do. She set all this in motion very carefully, without tugging on the strings of fate...
"I'll do whatever I have to do," Lucas said staring quietly. "Tell me these.. rules. Why can't we just bring these two children out of harms way?"
"You can bring one out of harms way Lucas, but not both... not without many more deaths."
"T-That's-"
"Unfair? Yes... I know it can be," said Selena sadly. "This is one of the aspects of godly life we deal with. if... you place too much influence upon my daughter, you might take away their only chance... we have to help them carefully from this point on. Otherwise, even Artemis might..." She paled slightly. She dared not look into Artemis's fate. What if... what if she were to lose her? What if she took her place as the one destined for death? So quickly after gaining her again? It was rare to happen to a god, but... if the attack was being brought on by those things... nothing was impossible.
"Come.. Lucas. Let us leave this room before we disturb something further..."
Lucas allowed herself to go. She still didn't believe in destiny. Indeed her own sword could apparently 'break' a person's destiny... but... if it was only to give that destiny to someone else?
She had to think of a plan...
