*Elentari* “I hope I found everything to your liking, my Princess. Human stores are so strange!” She exclaimed. “Lady Emily gave me a potion of transfiguration so I would look just like them, but they still gave me strange looks.” Her face had an expression of indignance upon it. “Did you fly while transfigured?” Belle asked her, trying to hide a smile. “Of course I flew. I never walk anywhere. I don’t know that I would be able to hold myself upright if I tried to walk in that lanky body. It’s natural to me.” She was genuinely puzzled. “Do humans not fly?” “No Tanz, humans do not fly unless they are in an airplane.” I tried so hard not to giggle that my face I’m sure was turning red. Then I spotted the brand names on the bags and squealed in delight. She finally put them on the bed, and I was immediately absorbed into examining the contents of each. One back was labeled ‘FucktheMainstream.com’ which was one of my absolute favorite online retailers. Another from Spencer’s, one fro
*Elentari* Unlike the other times I had fallen asleep, this time I was in what looked like a snowglobe, but there was no snow. The ground was a grass covered meadow littered with flowers. A small cottage was meters away. It was picturesque like it belonged in a children's book about fairy godmothers. I could tell this scene was an illusion created by another person’s mind. A tall man walked out of the building, looking directly at me. He seemed confused by my presence. “You do not look like her, but you have her hair and essence. Who are you, child?” His question took me by surprise. I felt oddly at ease with him and it was easy to trust him with my identity. “I am Elentari, the Lunar Guardian and reincarnation of Selene.” It felt strange to utter these words to another person. “Who are you?” He chuckled with a voice that reminded me of Santa Clause. “My Dearest brought you here in your slumber but did not tell you of me. How typical.” I clicked my tongue in annoyance, recognizi
*Elentari* Tanz came to my room to wake me up as I had forgotten to set an alarm. I rubbed my eyes and yawned, still sleepy. It amazed me how tired I had been the last few days. It felt like I could never get enough sleep. The pixie was humming a pleasant tune. It made me smile as I watched her buzz around, getting things set out for me. My mind wandered to the events in the dream state and I sighed internally. “My Princess, your outfit for dinner.” The announcement startled me out of my thoughts. My eyes landed on a deep plum almost black gothic steampunk dress with a pickup type skirt. It had a deep plunging sweetheart neckline and a matching bolero. It was my style to a “t”. On the other hanger was a corset with silver skull clasps in the same deep plum. Black shiny Mary Jane heels finished off the outfit. The shoes had a bow on the toe and a satin strap that wrapped around the ankle multiple times before it could be tied in a bow. The cloth material matched the rest of the outfit.
*Elentari* I looked around at all the eyes that were fixed on me. I was trying to understand everything, internally freaking out when Selene sent a wave of calm over me, and Lucinda was jumping around like a pup on crack. She seemed so happy. The auras of these individuals seemed to intimidate everyone in the hall. Everyone except me, that is. I took a sip of my water as the room stayed eerily silent. The customary annoyed tongue click was heard and some eyebrows raised. A couple of the beings cracked a smile. “So no one is going to explain to me what’s going on?” I asked, looking around. More of them were trying to hide smiles at this point and a couple of them openly laughed. I rolled my eyes. A thought fluttered through my mind, ‘once children, always children.’ It was my turn to laugh. I laughed so hard I squeaked trying to take a breath. This made everyone laugh at me. It was rather embarrassing. I counted the faces I didn’t know. Forty-nine of them. I double checked again. ‘Th
*Elentari* The door to the room burst open and a man with hair like Selene’s entered. “Pardon my intrusion, Majesties of Faerl, but I could not ignore such a large family gather.” He took the empty chair that Lucinda would have occupied if she weren’t within me. “How have the children of my sister been?” His eyes landed on each person around the room. I shivered a bit, but Stacie shivered more. “We are just peachy, uncle.” The outspoken one answered him. ‘Elentari?’ Stacie mind-linked me. ‘I feel weird, like I’m being drawn to that man. I don’t like it.’ fear laced her sentence. ‘Fuck.’ I heard Selene mutter. ‘I never gave that playboy a mate, nonetheless a mortal teenager.’ I let out a long, deep exhale. “Who are you?” I asked. “You’ll have to forgive me, history has never been my strong suit.” It was Selene’s turn to be annoyed. ‘You realize you just gave him a chance to brag about himself? You could have just asked me.’ she retreated to the back of my consciousness, presuma
*Aranelda* It’s cold and dark. It’s been this way for a long time. No light, no warmth. Just darkness and pain. I don’t know what I did to deserve this. They keep calling me names, saying I’m the son of a whore, pieces of shit that not even the slut wanted to claim. A worthless being that’s only useful when Hades is angry so he doesn’t whip the others. Persephone tried to save me once. That ended tragically. Hades didn’t want to kill me and I didn’t want to give him a reason to, so the next couple times she tried, I didn’t use the items to escape. I simply buried them next to a large rock. Maybe someday I could leave here. All I could feel was despair. The imaginary friends from my youth were still with me, but they didn’t speak much and I couldn’t see their mythical forms any more. I was too depressed for them to come around me. I had taken to carving my story on the wall, maybe someday someone would read it. Probably long after my death. I started from my first memory. *Thirteen y
*Aranelda* Suddenly I was no longer under ground. I was in a strange place that reminded me of my life above ground, before Hades. The sun was kissing my skin, but blinding my eyes. Panic filled my heart as I had no idea where I was. I had no idea who I could trust or if I should trust anyone. Persephone told me to think of something happy, so I thought of the little girl singing her song. Would I find her? There were houses in rows greeting my eyes. Outside one of the houses was a girl about my age. She had the same color hair as me, and I assumed I would have the same skin tone if I hadn’t spent years in the dark. As I walked closer I could see her eyes were sapphire blue, just like mine. My heart started beating wildly, I thought my ears were playing tricks on me. She was singing that song. Absentmindedly I started singing along with her. Her eyes looked up as the song ended. “Hi!” She cheerfully greeted me. “Wanna play?” Her hand was extended to me. I was hesitant. “I promise i
*Helios* We moved Elentari to her room. I exchanged a worried look with Alaric and Belle. I couldn’t understand why Aphrodite would have done this. If she wanted Chaos for herself, she would let us wake Endymion and keep them bound. She knew as long as those two were together, Chaos would never get to Selene. It was so confusing. I rubbed my temples as the three of us turned to leave the room. There was a loud thump on the floor behind me, and I turned to see what happened. A tall malnourished man laid on the floor. His wrists bore deep cuts, his neck rubbed raw from something that had been around it. He was barely clothed, but had strong muscles. He was barely alive. Belle ran to the man, turning his face up to hers. “ALARIC!” She cried out, “Alaric, it’s him! Oh Starlight, Starlight, stay awake.” Her words were repeated again and again. I felt my form turning to mist. This must be the boy I was meant to be with. A smile traced across my thoughts. “Helios..” She turned to where I