Darkness Descends

Kayla’s Perspective:

Soaring though the air, I find myself a large thunder dome of crossing wind flows as my flight becomes hard even in my Horned Owl Form, getting caught up, the security by the Twelve Sisters is nothing to mock, but I understand why they’ve done this, to further protect the First World Tree planted long ago.

Thunder booms as a hole forms in the cloud cover for me to enter and as I do, I am greeted with a floating island and the large World Tree that hides within. A wooden structure at it’s base as a large lake sits below that’s surrounded by beautiful marigolds. I see a shadow swimming below it’s surface, one that’s half fish, half woman, one of the Twelve Sisters, Capricorn.

Soaring over the lake and to the front of the building that’s built within the tree, I transform back into my human self, my cornflower hair falling down my back, reaching my hips. My arms losing their brown feathers as some drop to the ground, remaining there. My clothing by layered cloths of blues and whites that cover my body, my arms moving with the energies of the winds around me they appear as a rainbows over the lands, constantly bobbing like waves in the ocean, and constantly having me dance as I move my way forward. All whimsical as I am greeted by a second of the Twelve, Gemini who towers over me upon entering the tree.

“Hello Little One.” She waves as I stare up to her. Around her many balls of light burst into fluffy animals that plop along with cute bitty eyes and smiles, an aroma of what would be freshly baked bread filling my nose.

Tall about three times my own size. She wears a midnight blue leotard, that blends into a soft white at her waist where a golden belt rest that connected to a blue skirt around her back, while in front, her skirt is translucent. Her platinum blond hair braided over one shoulder and frayed into multiple strings of large round beads of blue, white, and pink. Her skintone naturally browned, her golden eyes peer at me as I pet one of the dog critters that comes up to me, of the many that surround her already.

“Good to see you again, Gemini, are the others already here?”

“Shu Fang wanted you all here to discuss the coming events, she never cued me in on what they are…I’m a bit nervous about it all.”

I give her a wary look, for her to be nervous, something serious must be happening that I’m not even aware of, and we don’t often meet like this. “Will you be joining us then?

“I’d rather not, if I don’t have to, but she’s talking about the Darkness…”

My mood with petting the dog changes as I stop and it comes and nuzzles my leg, wanting me to pet it more, more of the critters coming close to me, wanting me to pet them and play but I’m considering what Gemini, my giant friend just told me. “She better have a good reason for this then.”

“She got a Wish Seed from the Shade Gypsy Willow.” I stand now, completely ignoring the critters.

“Then she is serious about this. Take me to her now.” I state, my moon and my free flowing dance suddenly becoming ridged. I’m tensing up which isn’t allowing the energies to flow though me as easily as before.

She takes me further into the tree, to a large room just out of the hall that we where in where inside is an arboretum of many different plants and trees causing the room to be quite humid, but still large enough to fit many of those who I knew would be arriving. An old man, in pale robes, frail but smiles at me as he’s petting his large sister, a giant swan—far larger then he—who’s head remains bent as her beak is petted by him. Ulysses and Arcadia.

On a chair, pouting, a man much like me in a plain tunic with a golden sash around his waist, next to him, a large black wolf that perks up upon seeing me, bounding over as the man remains where he’s at, his cornflower hair waving around his face as if he where underwater, geometric shapes popping in and out of existence of varying colors within. His hawk eyes stare at his companion that came over to me. He barks happily as I pet his large muzzle. Lewis and Fenrir.

“He’s in a sour mood,” Fenrir’s deep voice reaches into my mind as his tongue hangs out clearly hot in this room.

“Garp is in the city,” Lewis calls to me as I am aware of that, Garp would never be able to fit into this small room. Twice as tall as Gemini—although she is capable of dwarfing him easily.

Four of the Seven Burdens are here…

“This is serious…” Gemini taps me on the shoulder as I stare up to her. Then past at a curious hanging eye on a stock in the ceiling’s center. Only now do I notice the many vines with thorns that expand from that eye. It’s a flora pattern pupil that blinks as it notices me, it moves slowly, observing as I see planets, how Mother Earth once thought of their solar system before they grew wise to the deceit and that we live on a plane of existence. Gemini notices my gaze, narrowing down what she already knows that I know, she stares at the eye hanging from the stock on the ceiling.

“It’s an eye from Istanbul, the Plant Bull and her herd out south, they need near constant attention and Taurus found this to be a great way to tend to her so that she doesn’t need to constantly be on location.” Gemini tells me as she then grows quiet and bend down closer to me. “Talk some sense into Shu Fang please, she need to understand that what she is planning is a bad idea.”

“Let me speak for myself,” I tell her, “If the Tree really granted her a Wish I won’t complain.”

Above, a door opens along a staircase as we all hear hooting and a snowy owl lands on the railing, staring down on us. “Everyone come up here please.”

I, Lewis, and Ulysses all approach the staircase, Arcadia remaining where she rest while Fenrir paces around below us as we ascend the staircase. We enter the large room that has wooden craved root like patterns for a window, yet no glass. The room’s ceiling has fine fabrics that hang from the ceiling and that glisten, in a soft light coming from high above and soft violet budding cubical shaped clouds drifting aimlessly by.

The ground around us in a shimmering blue pink grass that blow in a gentle breeze as a willow like tree towers before us, Shu Fang standing on one talon beneath it as these deep—piratically black—purple moths that produce a shimmering powered that wafts off them as they flutter around, their wing a half circle around their body that drapes as they flutter.

Those same vines from the Eye of Istanbul growing into this room, halting before touching the ground, yet another eye hangs over the threshold, staring at the tree before us, staring at us. I don’t sense any ill intent from it, curiosity rather.

The willow visually similar with shimmering blue pink leaves and deep purple bark with blue roots entangled into the ground around it standing tall before all of us.

Garp’s huge face appears at the window, his skin of pale blue, and orange hair in a braid. An extra digit on his fingers, has he’s resting a hand in the window frame. He wears pants of fur, while his chest remains bare with line tattoos etched over his body, his soft green eyes greeting us with a smile.

Shu Fang forms glow as she grows slightly, she’s always been small compared to us, always in a hybrid form when not in her pure owl form. A female’s face appearing, her deep black eyes softening as they appear almond and yellow as she looks upon us. “I’m glad you all came here…this is a very pressing matter we need to discuss.” Her voice has a grain to it, yet pleasant and soft.

Her face is quite charming, her body taking shape. Her feet remain as talons, while her body is covered in white and black speckled feathers as she finishes her morphing, with less large feathers covering her stomach and chest, rather plumage. Her tail remains the same, although equal to compensate for her larger frame. Her face remains with a beak, but of flesh. Her lips—the upper lip—slightly obscuring the bottom.

“The energies are going to be disrupted soon,” Ulysses answers with a rough voice, one of the wisest of the seven Burdens, he can usually sense things well before any one else.

“About that...Shu Fang, what did you wish for?” Lewis snickers, and I glare at him, “Hush.”

“Anything for you, Nat.” He answers with a bow, mocking me and I roll my eyes.

“Shu Fang, why did you do?”

A humming starts echoing in the room as A glow comes from the tree and radiating out of the glow like portal, a small fairy flies quickly almost colliding with me as I catch her—cupping my hands then opening them. She stares at me with her large singular eye. It takes up most of her head, living little room for her nose and mouth. The hairs upon her scalp hang in three stranded braids behind her back, a deep blue leotard and a root like skirt with transparent cloth that glistens, stretch between. She has four arms, two on either side as she stares at me.

“Sloth,” I answer, staring at her, “and one of the Twelve Sisters. Cancer, what are you doing?”

She giggles but cuts it off as she looks around startled.

Shu Fang hoots, “I wouldn’t say she started this, but things have lead to others, and I got my Wish Seed from the tree thanks to Cancer’s explorations of the lower realms.”

“What did you do, Fairy?” Lewis growls rushing up to me, as I back away, closing my hands around her while trying to protect her from Lewis.

Garp laughs from behind the window, “We’ve had issues before to deal with, I doubt this is any different.”

“Wishes come from Faeries majority of the time, even the Shade Gypsy Willow is birthed from wood petrification of dying faeries.” I stare hard at the tree and can see many faces within the dark bark of the faeries that gathered to make the tree long ago. I open my hands where Cancer sits quietly, “Tell us what exactly you did, Cancer.”

Her chest is heaving as she catches her breath, but she looks up to me, not wanting to look upon the others. “I met a girl that was very troubled…Sophie, from the early two thousands.”

Lewis has a fierce look on his face at hearing this, “We’re not suppose to bother people from that period of time, there is too many changing energies that one slip up could blow the whole Ascension out of the water, what did you do?”

She must have just gotten back, as I’m beginning to feel her energies, reading them and gasping as I stare at Cancer. “Tell me you didn’t grant that girl’s wish.”

She nods at me as Lewis comes closer and I have to close my hands around the faerie, bring her to my chest, keeping her away from Lewis.

“Calm down, Boy,” Ulysses says, resting a hand on his shoulder, “Cancer, you do realize you have inadvertently caused a loop of time now. Someone who’s not already destined for those kind of lessons shouldn’t be placed in one.”

Through my hands her voice is muffled so I open them as Shu Fang hobbles closer to us now. “Her mother died…then though the depression her father…she ended up killing her father due to an assault, so she wished to go back and see her mother, before she died from what they call cancer. She was an EMT, she saved hundreds during the towers falling.”

“That doesn’t give you a right to interfere during those times.” Lewis scolds her while Shu Fang hoots, gaining out attention.

“That lands on me, as Sophie is part of my own soul, a past aspect that needed those lessons…Cancer coming to me during that time was my guidance, I made a wish…” She says as she brings out a tiny plum of fluff that has a small seed attached to it. “My wish was to reunite with the rest of my soul…my body as you can tell isn’t whole, scattered though many fractals of reality. The only way for me to become whole is calling them back to myself, but something has prevented me from doing so, thus my wish to speed up the process.”

“You are willing to put Mother Tara in danger for your stupid wish?” Lewis yells.

A large hand slams down on Lewis as he looks out from where his head is poking through. Ulysses has slammed his hand on Lewis and smiles, “We all have our own path, and Shu Fang’s path has brought possible Darkness back to Mother Tara, she is making sure we understand that so we can prepare for what ever is to come.”

“Exactly…and part of that,” She now looks to me as I open my hand fully, with Lewis restrained and Cancer flies off my hand and floats about us, the Eye of Istanbul following her “is from your tribe, Kayla. She hasn’t been born yet, but a girl who is friends with Sparrows will come, she will cause great changes on Mother Tara, and her friend, her sister will aid in that. Please identified them and prepare them as best you can. Let the energies of Mother Tara guide you.”

“Putting us all in danger isn’t right.” Lewis shouts as Ulysses hand starts shrinking and he’s able to stand again.

“Pipe down,” Garp yells as a rush of air and foul breath reaches us, “Your just mad that you’ll have to do something again. You should be the Burden of Sloth, not Cancer.”

“To bad I’m not,” He grins, “I’m the burden of Lust, and unfortunately my path with the hatchling your going to be guiding seems certain now.” He turns to stare at me, only slightly shorter then I as I nod.

A wind blows though the room as my body is naturally caught up with it, I can feel a presents staring at me, I close my own eyes to see that a large eye floats in the air above the tree and is watching me, seeing what I’ll do. I stare down on the clouds that are below me now, closer to the hanging fabric ribbons that decorate the ceiling and glisten in the soft light. The others watch as on the clouds before me, images appear, fully colored as if displayed. A Girl coated in Sparrows, like a protection, she’s young and doesn’t look aware of what the world has in store for her.

The next one, a pure white dragon flying, rare but not uncommon. I peer down Ulysses as he has caught Lewis by his ankle and holding him still even though he tries to fly up and see what I am doing. Lewis is allowing him to do so, he could easily break free, but fighting with the Burden of Wrath could cause a disruption here and he wouldn’t want the Twelve Sisters mad at him since last he came, almost burning the World Tree down.

I sense something amidst about the dragon, like she is just as unaware, and it doesn’t surprise me, the larger someone’s role in life, the more vague the universe and God is about what they are to do, and how they’re guided to meet that role. Neither of these two I know of, as the third comes along of a young girl that I do know, born rather recently into our village, I’ve been taken care of her since her parents want to explore Mother Tara, and she now has Shaman Lou to look after her while I’m here. But children are easily able to fend for themselves within our tribe as we act as one parental unit and they usually descend with their whole soul intact, however she didn’t She’s lost in ignorance and is finding her way out of it as we speak.

“Mye, to be apart of this is great,” I smile happily at the girl as her appearance change and I come to an understanding. The clouds drift aimlessly by as I see a glowing coming from the Shade Gypsy Willow and I decent of my own volition back to the ground where everyone is staring at the Willow as it’s branches move and the leaves twirl.

They come together and form a ball as some of the leaves part to reveal inside a larger then average seed. Shu Fang gasp at the size of it and I approach, realize what we’re to do with this already as Ulysses has a smug look on his face. A deep blue color to it with a pink underside. The Gypsy Moths flutter by, their powder falling onto the bulb and making it glow.

Cancer flies up to it and then stares back at us, “this one needs time to grow, but when it’s ready, they must come here.” She tells all of us, flying back to me. “Since she is tied to your tribe, the girl, you must bring her here as quickly as possible.”

“She’s too young right now, but when she is ready, I’ll bring her here. We still have time, and I’d like to chat with you two a bit more.” I tell Cancer, turning to face Ulysses and then Shu Fang.

Lewis comes up to me as I hold out a hand, his face fitting snuggle in it. “What about me?”

“I have more important things to do, Lucius.” I jerk his chin out of my hand.

“Have it your way Natalie,” He mocks as he runs for the door, I watch him hurdle the railing and I hear trotting as I know he rode Fenrir away from here. He’s not entirely welcomed here, but that’s because of his own doings. He’s kind enough other wise when he’s not looking for tail.

I look back toward the two, Garp waving as he heads back to the city behind him, “Lets discuss this more then.”I say calmly to Ulysses and Shu Fang as they come forward.