Earth's Daughter: Chapter 2

“Who is she? What is she?”

It was the woman who answered. “I am the goddess Anomi, patron of Man.”

“Amira is the youngest in a family who are the last to remember what life was like before humans became the dominant species on the planet, and the other races were driven out.” The goddess continued, “She serves me here on Earth and spreads the message of the High Gods, of which I am but one. There are nine others who she is yet to meet, but who she undoubtedly will. She has been the most useful of her family since her great grandfather’s time.”

Alex watched with interest as the girl flushed with pleasure at the compliment. He glanced up at Anomi, only to see the golden-skinned woman returning his stare with a knowing smile on her lips. It was his turn to blush and look down, embarrassed that his interest in Mira was so obvious. Clearing his throat, he stared straight ahead, determined not to think about the dark-haired young woman. Instead he looked up at the goddess, still sceptic but undeniably curious. Feigning casualness, he spoke to both women at once.

“We must have had a reason for driving these… others out.”

He expected the immortal to answer him, but it was Mira who spoke up. As she talked, her voice grew less quiet and more confident, as though she was reciting from memory something that was as natural to her as breathing. As the tale unfolded, Alex became more confused and more disbelieving by the second; his head was beginning to throb and the edges of his vision looked hazy, no matter how many times he blinked to rid himself of the strange fogginess. Her words seemed to fade in and out like a badly tuned radio.

“I’m not sure of all the details, but I’ll tell you the basics. Before Man became too shallow-minded to see anything but themselves and their own glory, there were nine High Races inhabiting planet Earth, ten if you include humankind. Now they are creatures of myth and legend: Vampires, centaurs, lycanthropes, merfolk, elves, dwarves, fairies, dragons and shapeshifters are all very real.” As she listed them, she counted the races on her fingers. “However, humans quickly increased in number until they were by far the most dominant creatures on the planet. The other creatures were forced into hiding in a world that is rarely found by humans not native to it; gradually, they faded from Man’s memory until they were only heard of in legends or fairy tales.”

“Each High Race has a High God acting as their patron. In order of age, they are: Krethin, Talmya, Jasto, Festan, Lithra, Shezrak, Engra, Bersc, Mest and Anomi. Each of them has dominion over a different part of Earth, but I won’t go into each one. I don’t always remember them yet. Anyway, according to Anomi, each of her siblings has chosen a member of their race to act as messengers for their people. Legend says that a prophecy was made, one that-”

“Is not yet for your ears, Alexander.” The goddess smoothly interrupted, casting a warning glance at the girl that was not lost on Alex. Somewhere a voice said he should be annoyed at the use of his full name, but somehow it seemed exotic and worthy when spoken from Anomi’s lips. He shivered, suddenly feeling cold, and squinted at the ground, which seemed to be further away than usual. A wave of dizziness threatened to overwhelm him. He blinked, called back to reality by the woman’s voice again ringing in his ears with the same awesome power it had possessed when he first encountered the pair.

“All will be revealed in time, my friends. For now I must take my leave, though I am quite sure Amira will be able to answer any questions you may have.”

Distracted by movement, he turned his head to see Mira shielding her eyes with one hand, her head turned away as though in deference. Looking back at Anomi, he gave a whimper as blindingly bright light streaked across his eyes, searing them and leaving them feeling dry and itchy. As the flash faded, he blinked furiously, feeling tears streaming down his cheeks as he rubbed at his eyes. His headache was beginning to worsen, a dull throb that hammered the inside of his skull in time with his accelerated heartbeat. Feeling a cool hand calmly prying his palms away from his stinging eyes, he squinted again and made out the blurry form of Mira’s smiling face.

“Close your eyes for a minute.”

Obeying blindly, he tensed as he heard the soft rustle of cloth. A light touch on each of his eyelids followed, and he stood in painful wariness until the strangest sensation began to spread across his eyes. Coolness flickered across them, easing the burning, before liquid-like warmth flowed across his eyelids. Opening his eyes to narrow slits, he found that his vision was no longer fuzzy and that Mira was replacing a small brown bag into her rucksack.

Feeling the pounding in his head begin anew, he winced and sat down abruptly on the bench, his mind reeling. Goddesses? Centaurs? Dragons? Shaking, he felt shock, like an after-effect of Her presence, uncoil inside of him. Sweat broke out on his pale forehead, and he looked with suddenly wide eyes at the tranquil face of the girl. Jumping to his feet, he began to back away.

“You’re mad. What was that, some kind of illusion? What sort of freak are you? I’m getting out of here.”

Ignoring the hurt that had suddenly appeared on her face, he turned and sprinted for the school building. The normal, everyday, blessedly boring school building. His bag lay forgotten where he had dropped it as Mira dropped to a crouch beside it, her face suddenly tight with hurt anger and fear.

Later that night, Alex lay on his back in bed, his eyes closed but his mind spinning. Shifting restlessly, he frowned as he tried to grasp the enormity of what he had seen and heard. There was no one God, or was there? There were ten siblings, gods and goddesses, but were they the only ones? What about the Christian God? The Muslim? He rolled onto his side, eyes open but staring sightlessly at the wall. His thoughts churned for a long time and when he finally fell asleep, he was plagued by restless dreams. He saw vampires, elves, age-old faces both male and female, some kind and others hard and cold. Above it all he could hear Mira’s voice, an image of the goddess burning behind his eyelids.

Not far away, another young person tossed and turned in the grip of fitful dreams, though she was far more used to them. Since she had been born, Mira had been blessed by the powerful visions as she slept. Now she walked in a familiar place, an open, grassy meadow. The sun beamed down on her with every step, the waist-high grass scattered with bright flowers of every colour; it was a peaceful paradise she had visited many times before. A familiar atmosphere smothered her with soothing warmth, and though she could not hear the goddess, she could feel the heat she emitted, as though she burnt with power. Keeping her voice light to mask her weariness, she talked to the sense of Anomi that filled the meadow.

“Will Alex ever be able to visit here?”

“He could do, but he is not ready. This is my reality, after all, and I can bring into it whomsoever I desire.” The goddess’ musical voice came from all around her, seeming to originate from the very air.

“And the… other thing? When will it be time?”

“Soon, daughter. Very soon. Something is building, Amira, something the other world has not seen for thousands of years. You must be ready.”

“I will be, little mother. Even if it means my life.”

Weeks had passed since he had sought refuge in the garden behind the school, and Alex had tried to put the incident out of his mind to no avail. His cheeks had begun to look sunken-in, he had lost weight and his eyes were circled by dark smudges. His mother fussed over him, trying to get him to visit a psychiatrist, and he’d taken numerous types of sleeping pills. Nothing seemed to work. Whenever he managed to finally sleep, his dreams were troubled and he woke feeling more tired than when he had fallen into slumber. He felt hot all the time, with a headache constantly booming behind his eyes. His grades were starting to slip, though they’d not been brilliant in the first place, for all he could concentrate on was Anomi’s voice. Alexander… Alexander…

“Alexander Sheffing! Will you explain to the rest of the class what is so fascinating that you can stare out the window and not listen to me teaching?”

Alex jumped, turning tired eyes on Mrs Blackman where she stood at the front of the class, tapping a finger on her desk impatiently. “What?” His voice was a low croak. He tried to focus on the small writing on the board, feeling suddenly light-headed.

Her voice suddenly seemed distant as a low humming filled his head, growing to a dull roar that had him slamming his hands over his ears. The teacher abruptly stopped shrieking as he swayed in his seat, his eyes rolling back in his head as he toppled from his chair onto the floor. Then all was blessedly silent and dark. The students rushed forwards, the girls twittering anxiously and the boys smirking; after all, wasn’t it usually girls who fainted? Mrs Blackman called the school nurse, and soon Alex was on his way to the sanatorium, though he remained unconscious for the journey.

The first thing he became aware of when he woke was the sound of voices, though they seemed to get louder and softer as he wavered on the border of consciousness. He caught snatches of conversation, but wrote them off as delirious dreams, for he could clearly identify Mira’s voice, and yet the school nurse was calling her ‘Mrs Sheffing.’ When the blackness returned to claim him, he surrendered to it gladly, wondering if the blurred image of Mira’s worried face hanging over him was real or just a figment of his imagination.

The next time he awoke, he was at home, lying in his bed. His eyes traced the familiar patterns on his ceiling, taking in the posters dotted randomly across the walls with relief. Suddenly aware that he was thirsty, he rolled to his side and was surprised to find a glass of water already waiting for him, alongside some neatly arranged cards with things like ‘Get Well Soon!’ and ‘Hope you’re feeling better!’ scrawled on them in elegant, flowing script. He opened a few to look at the signatures, surprised to find one from Mrs Blackman, as well as the school principal. Looking at the shaky writing inside a large, grotesquely pink and frilly-looking card, he felt his nostrils flare with distaste as he read Samantha Cooling’s clumsy attempts at expressing her feelings for him.

Grimacing, he lifted the final card. He looked at the merry sunshine beaming at him from the cardboard, the first hint of knowledge rising in his brain. Hurriedly flipping it open, he jumped when a small packet fell out onto his lap. Lifting it, he inhaled the faint herbal scent it emanated. Crunching the dry contents between his fingers, he began to read.

Alex,

I hope you get well soon, just as I hope that what I showed you doesn’t have anything to do with your illness. If it does, I can help you. Come to the garden again if you ever need to forget what I revealed. I’m sorry if I caused you trouble. Dissolve the herbs in the packet in hot water to make a tea; it will help you sleep better and should cure your headache. Please get well soon.

Amira

He took a moment to wonder how she knew that he had a headache, then decided that he didn’t want to know. For a moment his anger flared; of course she had to know that what he had been shown was the cause of his ‘illness’. What else could it be? One day he was just a normal teenage boy, sloping off to school in a mood with his parents, rude to his teachers and generally being adolescent. The next he was crushing on one of the most beautiful girls he’d ever seen, only to find himself being introduced to a goddess and told that fairy tales were real. It was no wonder he’d nearly gone mad.

Then his anger abated slightly as a new thought slipped into his mind. Mira had obviously grown up well aware of the facts she’d laid out for him. The casual way she’d recounted the truths he’d been forced to see had proved that. What must it be like, to be the only one in the world aware that mythical creatures do exist? That gods and goddesses watch your every move? Could he have kept all that bottled up inside for over a decade? He doubted it. The foggy haze that seemed to have fallen over his eyes since that afternoon began to clear, and for the first time he felt the throb in his temples ease.

Alex blinked down at the sweet-smelling herbs in his hand. Shrugging, he swung his legs over the side of the bed, only to collapse back onto the mattress, the room spinning around him. Groaning, he waited for the light-headedness to fade before carefully standing. He staggered out into the hall, grasping the banister in a death-grip as he tottered downstairs. Flicking the switch on the electric kettle, a shiny white monster of a thing, he slumped gratefully into a chair, wincing as the hard surface jarred his back. Resting his head on the table, he found himself drifting into thought again, his eyes slowly closing despite his best efforts.

If these other races existed, why hadn’t he seen them? Why didn’t they return to Earth? Surely they outnumbered humans? He could vaguely recall the references Mira had made to another world. How could there be another world, out there in the shadow of Earth, that hadn’t been discovered by scientists? His thoughts seemed to be skittering around inside his skull, pounding behind his closed eyes. The shrill scream of the kettle made him wince, though it effectively dragged him from his confusing thoughts.

Doing as instructed, he opened the packet and poured the herbs into a mug. He added the water from the kettle, surprised when a curl of steam rose, carrying a light, crisp scent to his nose. Warily he sipped at the liquid. He sloshed it around in his mouth a moment before swallowing. Though it was almost scalding, it tasted sweet as honey and as strong as he could have hoped for; as it trickled down his throat, he felt his muscles relax as warmth spread through his body, the fierce pounding in his head fading somewhat. He stumbled up to bed, his eyelids drooping. He swallowed the last of the tea before slumping with a grateful sigh onto the sheets. He just had time to pull the duvet over him when he drifted into sleep, looking forward to the first peaceful rest he’d had in a long time.