This short story is based on a dream I had recently which left a big impression on me. I'm not exactly sure why, but it was one amazing dream. Be warned, there is a very brief scene of consensual sex between a man and a woman, so if that offends, please skip that part or do not read on. Kendaa
She came down the ramp from the rail station slowly. It had been a long, busy day and she was exhausted. But even so, she didn't feel like heading home right away. She wasn't sure what she wanted, so she ambled along the main street of the town.
There was a small arcade leading off the street, and she didn't think she had ever investigated it before. She stood, undecided, for a brief moment, before shrugging and moving into the poorly illuminated and practically empty arcade.
Right down the end, she passed a store with a long window covered with thick curtains, and with another curtain over the doorway. There were all sorts of symbols on the curtains, and the only sign was a small one directly above what she took to be the entrance, proclaiming, "Madam Elara: Transmigration".
She smoothed her hands down the long, simple, shift-like blue tie-dyed dress she was wearing and made to move on. Instead, however, she came to another halt, her tall, slender frame turning abruptly to face the curtain-covered doorway. Long blonde hair whirled as she turned, a frown on her face.
Then, as she stood indecisively, the curtain suddenly blew outward, accompanied by the eerie, inexplicable sound of wind howling, almost as if in invitation.
Her frown deepened. She had never been interested in anything to do with the New Age movement. But now, she felt almost compelled to enter the strange establishment.
Taking a deep breath, she pulled the curtain aside and stepped inside.
She blinked as the curtain fell closed behind her, blocking out even the poor lighting in the arcade outside. She was standing in a large, oblong shaped room. Thick dark blue velvet hung all the way around the entire room. The scent of incense filled the air in a thick, almost tangible veil. There was no sounds to be heard - it was as if the outside world had ceased to exist when the curtain fell closed behind her as she entered. Towards the back of the room stood a table. the only illumination in the room was a candle sitting on the table.
Behind the table sat a woman. She wore the customary costume of the fortune teller and her visitor had difficulty in containing a cynical smile. Even so, she was unsure what to say as she stood facing the apparent Madam Elara.
The woman looked up, her dark eyes serene.
"You wish to begin your journey here."
It wasn't a question, but the tall blonde took it as such.
"No...yes...I don't know." She shook her head in confusion, a rare state for her.
Madam Elara's eyes held hers in the dim light from the candle. "You wouldn't be here if you were not destined to begin your journey here tonight."
The blonde blinked. "What journey?" She felt a little more than ridiculous standing in such strange surroundings and discussing some "journey" with a fortune teller.
"I am not a fortune teller, mistress, and only you know what that journey will be," the seated woman informed her, disconcertingly reading her mind.
The blonde shook her head again.
"This is ridiculous."
She turned and made to leave.
"Leave now and the opportunity will never again be offered to you," came the quiet voice from behind her.
She stopped, and slowly turned back to the woman seated before her. She felt like she was standing on the edge of a precipice, getting ready to jump into the unknown. And she had no idea why. Yet somehow it seemed so right.
"Alright. What can you tell me about this "journey"? What is transmigration?"
Madam Elara smiled slightly.
"Your journey begins with an act of trust. You place yourself in my hands, and the hands of the Goddess, and prepare to let go of all that you have held familiar. Transmigration is...the means to this letting go. That is all I can tell you, mistress. Beyond that, you must learn as you go. I offer you no assurances."
Now the dark eyes were intent as they gazed at the tall woman before her. She waited, silent.
Her visitor suddenly made her decision. Her life had become boring and mundane and featureless. She plodded through day after day of sameness, feeling the grey world around her pressing in on her soul to an unbearable degree. With a strong degree of trepidition which she quickly smothered, she stepped forward slowly.
"Alright. How do I begin this...journey?"
Elara smiled. She had known what the answer would be. No one ever came through the curtain who didn't at least begin the journey.
"Come mistress, sit," she indicated the simple chair beside the table, and stood, watching while the blonde divested herself of her briefcase and sat, her elfin face curious.
Elara moved to stand over her, pulling a bowl holding a number of vials containing fluids of different colours towards her.
As her visitor watched with a fluttering of butterflies in her stomach, Elara removed the top from one of the vials, and dipped a little of its contents on her index finger. Moving slowly, she parted the woman's fringe and gently stroked her finger across her forehead. her visitor inhaled the scent of aromatic oil. She wasn't sure what exactly it was, but it was pleasant to the senses.
Elara replaced the top and returned the vial to pick up another, and repeat the process, this time running her finger under each eye. She repeated the process several times, gently stroking her oil-laden finger over another part of the tall blonde's face. At some stage she had started chanting, a quiet, monotonous sound.
The woman in the chair inhaled the scent of the different oils now covering her face. She felt a most peculiar sense of...rightness about it, but still the butterflies danced in her stomach.
"I feel like I've been marked," she joked quietly to the woman still standing above her, her own face intent.
"You have," came the quiet reply.
The blonde swallowed and blinked up at her, but said no more.
Elara was finally done with the vials of oil. She stepped to the other side of the table and brought back a bowl containing a dark liquid which she now carefully proferred to the seated woman.
"Drink."
The blonde stared at it, frowning.
"What is it?"
"It is the means to begin the next part of your journey - the unloosening," came the uncompromising reply.
Green eyes raised to dark ones. "You're not about to drug me, are you?" She asked uncertainly, suddenly unsure.
"Drink or leave immediately, mistress. Something has been put into place and you must either drink this now and continue or leave immediately."
The woman in the chair drew in a slow, deep breath.
She nodded.
Reaching out, she took the bowl from Elara and began to drink. It was like nothing she'd ever tasted before. Sweet, almost like a wine, only she somehow knew it was no wine.
Elara waited until she had begun to drink before moving to the entrance to the room and quietly closing the door and locking it. No one else could now enter until what had begun had reached its completion.
She turned back to see the tall blonde emptying the bowl and slowly replacing it on her table.
"You must relax now, mistress, and allow that which is straining to come forth to do so. Close your eyes," she quietly bade the blonde, picking up another smaller bowl containing a solid oil, and moving to stand behind her now.
Gentle hands pulled her mane of hair back from around her face, and then she felt fingers delicately massaging the solid oil onto her temples.
"Relax mistress, so that I may see. Breathe deeply, slowly, and keep your eyes closed."
The blonde did as she was urged, already feeling the beginnings of something indefinable within her. She had no idea what was happening to her, but it felt good. Her whole body seemed to be loosening up, and her spirit seemed to be floating within her. She expelled a deep, relaxed breath.
Elara continued to gently massage her temples, once again quietly chanting.
The woman visibly relaxed even more as the ministrations continued, the chant touching something deep and elemental within her.
Suddenly Elara stiffened. Although she didn't stop the movement of her fingers, her eyes widened in shock.
"Ares!" She whispered. She looked down at the woman in the chair. "So - that is why. You are the Priestess of Ares, and he is coming for you, my Lady Krisana."
In the grip of something she couldn't name, the woman in the chair nevertheless heard. "Krisana? My name is Elizabeth," she murmured almost sleepily, although her voice now contained a sensual, relaxed note that brought a knowing smile to the face of Elara.
"Oh yes, my Lady, your name is indeed Krisana. And Ares is coming for you. You must be prepared."
Elizabeth, the tall blonde, raised her head slightly, eyes still closed. "Ares? The Greek God of War? He's nothing but a myth," she disclosed dreamily.
Madam Elara smiled again. "We shall see. Come, my Lady, are you ready to begin the next stage of your journey this night?" She asked quietly.
Elizabeth, who had once been Krisana, opened luminous green eyes. "Yes," she whispered.
"Then come," urged Elara, leading her towards the other side of the room, and pulling the velvet hanging aside, waiting for Elizabeth to move ahead of her into the other chamber.
Elizabeth looked around her. This room was rather different to the one she had just left. There were dark blue velvet hangings in this room too, but they were adorned with a multitude of different, almost, arcane, symbols. In the centre of the room stood what appeared to be an altar. It was covered with a red velvet hanging that spilled over the sides and touched the floor. The hanging was also covered in symbols similar to those adorning the wall hangings.
Around the altar stood a multitude of candles, illuminating the room with a golden glow.
She stood, gazing around her, until Elara moved to stand beside her.
"You need have no fear, my Lady. The Goddess will protect you. There is now no turning back from completing the ritual. But I must now have your free consent for what is to come. In order for that which is within and a part of you to come forth, you must be symbolically bound to the altar, but bound nevertheless. Do you agree to this?"
Elizabeth moved her head in an almost wanton gesture.
"Yes," was all she said. Something was happening in her now. She wanted whatever was to come with every part of her. She felt as if her entire life had been leading to this moment.
Elara nodded. "Very good, my Lady Krisana - for that is who you are. Remove your clothes."
The gypsy woman helped her remove her dress, bra and panties so that she soon stood naked except for her long, thick mane of blonde hair.
"Lay on the altar," Elara told her.
She slowly moved forward and did so, looking up at the featureless ceiling, on which the candlelight flickered in a golden dance.
Elara had produced several brightly coloured scarves. She took Elizabeth's left wrist and wound one of the scarves around it and attached it to the ring at the top corner of the altar.
Elizabeth lay patiently as her other wrist and then her legs were each attached to the four corners of the altar. She closed her eyes and smiled, her body writhing wantonly against her bonds as Elara began to chant again. She had never felt so good in her entire life. She had never felt so aroused in her entire life. It felt glorious.
Elara suddenly stopped chanting.
Elizabeth heard a gasp from beside her and opened her eyes.
Standing at the foot of the altar, dark eyes intent on her, stood the most beautiful man she had ever seen in her life. His long legs were sheathed in black leather, and a sleeveless black vest adorned the top half of his body. A silver earring hung from his ear, and a silver sword pendant hung from a cord around his neck.
His face drew and held her rapt attention; it was the most devastating mix of beauty and utter masculinity.
She gazed at him expectantly. Her whole world was now limited to the being gazing back at her so intently and with such a knowing look. She wasn't even aware of Elara sinking to her knees beside the altar and bowing her head in wordless submission.
"My beautiful Krisana. How I've missed you. You were once mine. And what is mine stays mine." He smiled slightly, his dark eyes caressing her.
Before her eyes, his clothes disappeared. She licked her lips and writhed even more wantonly against her bonds, wanting him more than she had ever wanted anything in her life.
He laughed quietly, the sound inflaming her senses even further. It was utterly sensual, wicked and knowing.
"Be patient, my sweet. Soon you will be with me again. Until then..."
Then he was on the altar, his body covering hers. In one hard thrust he had embedded himself deeply within her.
It hurt. For he was enormous. But even so, her body arched beneath him to draw him even further within her.
With a possessive snarl he was slamming into her, harder and harder, and she cried with every thrust, her body rising to meet him every time.
Then they both reached their completion. She screamed with the ecstasy of it, and pulled frantically against her bonds.
He moved to leave her, but stood for a moment beside her, as she lay panting up at him, her green eyes begging him - for what she couldn't have said.
A large hand reached out and he stroked her cheek with one finger, his touch completely sure and sensual. She leaned her head towards his hand, but he withdrew it.
"Not yet, Krisana. Soon, though. There is something still remaining, but then - you will be mine again, and this time, it will be forever." He stepped back away from the altar now, his clothes once more covering him, and disappeared from her disappointed gaze.
She tugged against her bonds now, knowing that whatever was to happen was going to happen soon now. Very soon.
She cried out.
Elara was there again, smiling. Gently, she reached out and touched the writhing woman's stomach. "Ares' seed is within you. You carry his child. He is pleased, I can tell, Lady Krisana. and now we must hurry, for the moon wanes."
The woman on the altar turned her perspiring face to the other woman, almost pleading.
Elara grinned, delighted. "Yes, now is the time. You must wear the cloak of the Goddess now, and then your Journey to Transmigration will be complete." She moved away out of Elizabeth/Krisana's sight, to return carrying a thick, hooded cloak, richly decorated in a multitude of designs.
Smiling, she ministered to the impatient woman on the altar. She placed the hood over the head of the blonde woman, completely enveloping her head, apart from the holes for her eyes and nose. The hood was gently secured around her neck. The rest of the cloak was wrapped around her body, and secured with loose ties, while the lower part of the cloak covered her legs.
Elara stood over the woman on the altar, her hands out, as she chanted, loudly now.
The woman enveloped in the cloak writhed madly against her bonds now, hands spasmodically grasping thin air in their efforts to get free, muffled screams emerging from behind the hood. Elara smiled broadly as a golden glow at last began to surround her body. The journey was almost at an end.
Slowly the light faded, as the woman on the altar stilled.
Elara waited a moment to be sure.
Then she leaned down and gently and reverently removed the cloak and its hood, to reveal the lax form of the tall blonde.
Her eyes were closed. She didn't move as Elara made to remove her bonds.
For several more minutes she lay still.
Elara moved to gently speak to her. "My Lady Krisana, it is time to wake."
Green eyes opened now. They were sparkling eyes that were filled with a new knowledge.
She smiled up at Elara, saying something in a language that had Elara frowning, until she realised.
But the woman who was now sitting up and swinging her bare legs over the edge of the altar had already realised.
"I'm sorry...old habits die hard, Madam Elara," she told the gypsy woman in a husky voice that could almost have betrayed centuries without use.
Elara nodded, smiling, and went to fetch her clothes.
She dressed silently and quickly, for there was much to do that night.
Wordlessly she hugged the one who had brought her to rebirth, and quickly left, heading out onto the street into the silence of the predawn.
She went to take up her long lost life, and to go to her Lord.
And somewhere in that in-between time between the dark and the coming of the light, Ares came for his last priestess.
Finis
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