Aeternitas by M Mixson (free ereaders txt) 📖

winter calls to me

ever so softly she wraps me

in her heavy arms

I lie in stillness

flesh the color of pale ice

lips the color of the winter sky

in this crystalline winter

we lay here in slumber

awaiting the coming of the dawn

There are many legends about the birth of a world. Aniatea’s is no different. In their version there was the Prince of Gods who defied his father, the King of Gods and created this stunning creature. This stunning creature he called “woman”.

But this woman was bored and lonely. Nothing in the God’s realm could amuse her. And so she began to languish. She grew deathly pale, and her skin contained a blue pallor. She became so thin that she was almost wraith-like. The Prince didn’t like seeing her like this, yet he also didn’t want to lose her.

The Prince was not known for his decision making skills. Eventually the woman’s heart gave out and she passed from being a god to being a subspecies. The Prince was devastated by this loss and he cried for three long days and three long nights before coming up with a solution. First he created a world in which to place other beings like the woman, and then he created the “afterlife” a place for those beings to go when they “died”. Because this woman was no longer a god or this new species “human” he made her Empress of the Afterlife and gave her this world to rule. She would govern these lost souls when they passed from one world to the next.

Still, she was lonely so the Prince made three people, two women and a man. When they died they would pass over to the next realm. The prince found however that these new beings were rather susceptible to the new animals, terrain and weather in the world he had built for them. They had a habit of getting themselves killed quite quickly.

A few generations later the prince grew so aggravated with the stupidity of these humans he came down from the clouds to teach them some lessons. Upon arriving he found that the humans were speechless – they were unable to communicate with each other. He fixed this fairly easily. Once he was satisfied he returned home thinking that everything would be better. A few more generations later he found that even though they were talking they still were dying of hunger.

He flew down to this world and taught them how to gather berries and eat them. (it took him many tries before he got them to recognize that some were poisonous while others were not). While this fixed the dying of hunger issue for a while he saw the humans growing weak because their diet was unbalanced. Once again he came down and taught them how to make weapons. Instead of hunting with them they left them in their tents as relics of the great gods.

Aggravated once again he stormed down to the world and taught them how to hunt. They took to hunting with great pleasure and the Prince was happy for some time. Then he finds that because they are eating the meat raw they are getting sick and dying. He makes the trip down once more. There he gives them fire.

As he is teaching them about fire a beautiful young lady catches his eye and steals his breath. She is beyond gorgeous to him: fair skin, a dainty figure, tiny feet and hands, rose red lips, a high brow, chocolate brown hair and sky blue eyes. He thinks she is the prettiest thing he has ever seen. The prince approaches the young woman and comments upon her beauty declaring her the fairest and most gentle woman he had ever laid eyes on.

The Empress of the Afterlife hears all this from her spy amongst the living and grows furious as she had always assumed she’d be the Prince’s love and that in time even though they were separated by worlds that they’d be together again. Feeling betrayed she sends her spy to look at the young girl. The Empress finds that she is the daughter of the King of the Living World. She decides to appear in a vision before them and give them this news, “The Princess must marry a Chieftain’s son and combine the two lands together. It will bring peace and prosperity.”

And so it did. The Empress had effectively stolen away the Prince’s love. When the Prince came to visit he found her married off to the Chieftain’s son and no longer available to him. He grew furious and a storm raged for three days and three nights. His fury grew and grew until it consumed him. In his rage he shouted, “If I cannot have her, no one can!” and that night he killed her while she slept. When morning broke the courtiers found her husband’s hands and body covered in her blood. They assumed he killed her to take the throne. The husband was beheaded and the children were kept by their aunt.

The princess’s soul arrived in the Afterlife whereupon the Empress asked her to come to the palace. It was there the Empress planned to torture the girl for all eternity; but when she met the girl she realized that the Princess was innocent and it wasn’t her fault the Prince was faithful to no one. When the Empress explained the situation to the Princess the Princess was outraged and called out to the Prince, “Beloved Prince, come and save me from this wicked place!” Hearing her call the prince raced to her aid only to be caught in a web the two women had woven. The Empress declared her vengeance, “For all eternity you shall rot here while you watch the world pass you by,” and chained him up upon a mountain where he’d be able to see the Afterlife, the world and the Heavens.

He cried out in anger and shouted curses upon the ears of his former loves. The Princess decided she’d go to the world and watch over her people from afar and the Empress smiled warmly and led her through the gates that would take her back to the mortal realm. As they were about to part the Princess said, “We need to name this world,” and the Empress responded, “We should name it after a place of sanctuary,” and they decided on “Aniatea” meaning sanctuary. Before they parted for the last time they agreed on one final thing, “No God or Goddess shall henceforth interfere in the lives of the mortals, the humans. For breaking this promise they shall be confined in the Afterlife to rot in pain forever.” They kissed each other’s cheeks and parted; The Princess to Aniatea and the Empress to Afterlife.

When the princess returned to the world she found her grandchildren fighting amongst themselves. She hated to see such anger and hatred among her own kin so she found a priestess that she would communicate with. For some time the people listened and got along well, but that soon began to fade when one greedy man wanted to rule the whole world. Angry at the betrayal she sent the Priestess to bring an omen of death to this king. The king however refused to listen and continued in his terrible ways. This king ruled the city of Venicia. Venicia was one of the most powerful cities in existence. Its wealth was priceless. But all of it was stained with blood. For the tyrant king had gotten it through blood and war. People came to the city seeking wealth, whether it was for knowledge and wisdom, jewels and gems, or magic, they found it here. There were vendors on every street. It was the most splendid city. It was as if the walls were made of gold and the streets of paved silver. Sidewalks held encrusted gems of all shapes and sizes, much like the people of the city. The people wore their wealth on their bodies: in clothing and in jewelry.

Venicia had the best artisan’s in the whole world. They worked in stone and clay, in oil and frescoes, and architecture and gardening. The Venician’s people were geniuses in everything they did. They were happy, they believed that the gods favoured them above all others. And in that way they were spoiled. The Princess was angered by these lofty attitudes and decided to put an end to the thing that turned brother against brother. It was then and there she decided to sink the city and the people into the ocean where it would never be found again.

She looked upon these people with great sadness as she made her decision. She had warned them, given them time to fix their ways and all they had done was laugh in her face. In the dead of night she returned to the city where she had once grown up and woke up the priestess who had carried her message. Into the girls ear she whispered, “Flee this city and bring this message to every town and city you come across: if you seek to harm, if you disobey my words, you too shall find yourself drowning.” Once the Priestess had left, the Princess cried for a few long minutes as she wandered the streets of Venicia. On one street she ran into a young man who helped her up and asked, “Why do you cry, fair lady?”

She told him, “I weep for my people because I begged them twice to give up their harmful ways and they would not listen,”

The young man shook his head and said, “I am sorry for your pain, can I offer you a bed for the night?”

She refused but turned to him and said, “Your kindness has restored some of my faith in this world, kind boy. I give you this warning in hope you can save yourself. I am the Princess and I have come here to smite all those who disobeyed my word. You have proven yourself to be good of heart and worthy of my praise. Go forth from this city and you shall prosper and live many happy days.” So she promised him. When morning dawned the city was gone and all that remained was a vast sea in its place. The young man she had saved and all his descendants were to be the future kings of the prosperous world on Aniatea until the Scarlet Sweat Plague.