“I can barely keep up with the demand for my disks,” muttered Oberon to Tajor. They were in Oberon’s lab working feverishly on the sun and silver disks that killed Werekin and Shapeshifters.
“The battle is raging all over Terra Firma, we have to contain them before the human population is decimated and the fight is very close to home.”
“We cannot let on how worried we are Oberon; Atlantis does not need to know.”
Oberon chuckled wearily and said, “She all ready knows Tajor. She has known for weeks that the battle with the Werekin is close to our homelands. We have become used to our v’ma’ter’a’s magic that we no longer notice her slipping in and out of our minds at will.”
“She is so close to birthing our Little Ones she does not need to worry about the possibilities of loosing loved ones to the coming battle.”
“My Lords?”
“Yes, Twa?” asked Oberon.
“A summons by King Borland for both of you.”
Turning Tajor noticed the transportation globes hanging in the air in front of Twa. Oberon sighed and said, “Twa, while we are gone you must protect our v’ma’ter’a at all cost.”
Oberon and Tajor’s movements mirrored each other’s and they simultaneously changed into the same clothing, and reached out for the transportation orbs and vanished. They appeared in the King’s private chambers. He was looking out the window whose view overlooked a dense forest.
“Thank you both for coming.”
“Your welcome your Majesty,” replied Oberon.
Clasping his hands behind his back, King Borland said, “We need an advantage over the Werekin, more then what your disks currently give to our warriors.”
Silence descended between the King and Oberon and Tajor, a prickle of unease crept up Oberon’s back, linking his mind with Tajor’s he shared his unease with his Mate.
Clearing his throat, the King continued, “It has been brought to my attention that we do have a secret weapon that we can unleash on Those That Cannot Be Spoken Of. Atlantis has innate magic and she can destroy all of the Werekin with her magic.”
Rage swirled in Oberon’s mind, blinding his focus until all he saw was red. Tajor was there anchoring him he felt Atlantis’s growl at his anger as it hit her like an ocean wave. He saw her double over in pain, and knew that his uncontrolled anger at the King’s suggestion had triggered her body to give birth.”
Tajor spoke into the deadly silence that filled the room, “Who brought our v’ma’ter’a to your attention?”
“Her uncle.”
Tajor sucked in his breath and held it and said between gritted teeth, “Her mother’s stepbrother? That uncle? The same one who wanted nothing to do with Atlantis when she was a Youngling? The same uncle who disowned her from her Clan because she was raised by the parents of her heart who happened to be Tree Elves, that Uncle?”
King Borland did not reply to the rhetorical questions from the brother of his heart. Who knew the answers to his questions before he asked them. Borland grimaced at his brother’s raging anger.
“No,” spat Oberon.
Turning around with a scowl on his face, Borland demanded, “You dare to tell your King no?”
“I dare because she is preparing to give birth to our Little Ones even as we speak,” replied Oberon as he began to calm down.
***
Atlantis was in the wintry garden thankful for a moments quiet from her hovering Mates. They were both in the lab working on the disks that would be sent to the Elven Warriors on the front lines killing the Werekin.
Atlantis used a subtle thread of magic and made two piles of disks and with a wave of her hand she added them to the stockpile in Oberon’s lab, placing hers under his so that the subtle difference in magic would be disguised.
Sighing, Atlantis slowly walked around the forest that happened to be in the enclosed sphere of protection that Oberon had put up as the battle with the Werekin began raging over a year ago.
Rubbing her belly, she hummed a tune to her Little Ones, who giggled back at her and kicked her hand, enjoying the push she gave them back through the layers of protection that separated them from her. Smiling Atlantis rubbed her enlarged stomach and chuckled.
“Hi Twa,” she said.
“How do you do that Atlantis? I haven’t been able to sneak up on you in months, well since you acknowledged that you were having your Little Ones,” grouched Twa.
A tingle of unease jangled her system and Atlantis said, “It is night time on the earth.”
Suddenly she was tired of winter and she turned the snow into water and made the sun chase away the clouds and evaporate the melted snow that was in the sphere, she made the sun burn brighter and she through a veil of protection over her and Twa, and she placed her hand on Twa’s shoulder and transported them to the flat roof of her home and waited.
“Your scaring me Atlantis, what is doing on?”
Waving her hand she brought the disks to her from Oberon’s lab, separating the disks into two separate piles; she looked at Twa and said, “They are here.”
A wave of red anger hit her mind and doubled her over, pain ripping through her body as the Little Ones began demanding entrance into the world.
Forcing the red haze of anger from her mind, she slammed a block in the middle of the communication channels she shared with her v’ma’ter’i closing them to her condition and the situation she currently faced.
Using his magic, Twa was stunned to feel the thick, sharp edge of evil bounce back at him form his probe of the land beyond the globe of protection. He threw up a ring of fire around the globe, burning the Werekin that were the closest to the circle of protection. From the corner of his eye he saw the blurred motions of the disks fly through the air through the sphere and incinerate the Werekin and shapeshifters that they met.
Waving her hand, Atlantis knew that unless something drastic happened she would be overwhelmed. She used a small hole in the layer of protection to develop and forced direct sun light through the hole and using her metaphysical eyes was stunned that it didn’t have the intensity of the disks and only singed the Werekin that it was trained upon.
Reaching down deep within her, Atlantis called upon the wind that roamed the earth, and demanded that it bring the sun to her aid. Suddenly the earth’s sun was in the sphere, and the burning intensity of it made her skin begin to blister.
Using her magic she dissolved the globe of protection, allowing the real earth’s sun to scorch the Werekin. She watched as bodies disintegrated into ash and dropped to the earth’s crust.
Weaving a spell, Atlantis sent the earth’s sun over the land seeking Werekin and dissolving them where they stood. When the oily feel of evil no longer lingered in her mind, Atlantis replaced the sun in the proper orbit at the exact place that it would have been in if she hadn’t stolen the sun from the sky to use it for her own devices.
Her breath was stolen from her lungs when she was doused with cold water from head to foot, it was only then that she realized that her clothes were on fire and her skin was blistered and she slowly slumped to the ground.
***
Twa realized what Atlantis was attempting to do, he sent a summons globes to her Mates. He then watched as the earth’s sun appeared and the walls of protection explode around them and the evil Werekin turn to ash. The sun chased the night away killing any Werekin in its path and before he could blink the earth returned to night, and eerie silence reining no sounds of night, not even a chirp of a cricket.
Shock thrust though his mind as he realized that Atlantis was on fire. He doused her with a waterfall that materialized out of thin air. He turned as her Mates appeared and watched in horror as Atlantis slumped to the ground. Oberon caught her body and disappeared with it into the forest. He laid her down on a bed that Tajor conjured up and gazed down at the ravished and burned body of their Mate.
Tajor leaned over the bed and whispered, “By the Gods, she’s going to die.”
Oberon said, “No she’s not.”
Sadly Twa gazed down at his friend and said, “No she is not.”
“Stretching out his hands over the bare burned body that belong to Atlantis, Twa, sent a healing stream of magic into her body and began healing her, taking on her wounds to his own body, and healed hers from the inside out.”
Atlantis opened her eyes and met the burned face that was Twa, knowing what he had done, quickly eased him down on the bed and summoned Isolade, the mage and healer to her side.
Isolade felt the summons from Atlantis and she knew it would be coming and her potions were ready for immediate use. “Quickly Atlantis, we must slather his body in this cream before he wakes up.”
Using her magic, Atlantis elevated the body of her friend Twa, using her magic; she opened the potion and wove the cream all over the back of his body while Isolade did the same for his front.
Atlantis studied the chemical components to the potion and suddenly the bed turned into the potion and she lowered Twa down and onto the bed and wrapped up his body in a blanket that had the potion on one side and gazed sadly down at her friend.
Isolade said, “There is nothing that you can do for him at this time Atlantis, your daughter needs to be born and born now or she will die and the Elves cannot loose her.”
The pain of her contractions doubled her over and she fell to her knees. Following Isolade’s instructions she squatted and bore down. After several pushes, a small body emerged from hers and Isolade cut the cord and the Little One bellowed out her displeasure of being on Terra Firma.
Puzzled, Atlantis searched her body and was dismayed to discover her other daughter was gone. The small memory of the Seeing she had sent awed her. Her wee one had given her life up so her twin could live. She had sent her Mother and Father a burst of love before she disappeared.
Putting her hand on her forehead, and propping it up on her knee, still squatting, Atlantis wondered how good of a Mother she would be if he could give birth and her daughter die without her noticing it.
Oberon was dismayed at the Seeing that Atlantis had discovered in her mind and wrapped his metaphysical arms around her and whispered that it was meant to be and the One Who Had Gone to the Beyond went joyfully, and knowing she saved the life of her sibling.
Isolade washed the little body she held her in arms with her magic. The spell she used was one she had spent the last 10 millennia perfecting for this very moment. This female elf was integral to the future of all Elves on Terra Firma and she was determined that she would live to see and meet her destiny.
She handed the Little One back to Atlantis who was in shock from learning that her other daughter had died. Using her magic to sound a clap of thunder over Atlantis’s head, she watched as the female looked up and the grief in her eyes dissolve and anger spiked in them.
“Hear me Atlantis! The One Who Is Not lived her life’s purpose in a moment…she was born to meet her destiny and she knew this and obeyed her destiny. The Little One in your arms must be protected no matter what even above your v’ma’ter’i. You must live for one reason and one reason alone. For the protection of the Little One in your arms for the destiny of the Elves are bound with her and her survival.”
Atlantis was startled to hear the thunder clap above her head and anger at Isolade’s tactics pushed away the sorrow of viewing the Seeing from the One Who Went Beyond.
She listened to Isolade’s words and felt the magic that was her daughter twining thread around her mind and heart keeping her tied to the Little One in her arms. The commitment in the moment of bonding weighted down on Atlantis’s spirit. Closing her eyes, she embraced her destiny and the commitment to the protection of her Little One and the sacrifice of her other Little One was placed in honor in her mind and her heart.
Looking down at the Wee One in her arms, she was met with dark stormy blue eyes, Atlantis smiled and whispered her welcome and caressed her Little One with her magic. The Little One seemed to sigh and closed her eyes and fell fast asleep.
Looking up at Isolade, Atlantis said, “About Twa, will he live?”
Isolade replied, “The will to live is strong with him, however, the decision will be his to make and his alone.”
“Oberon, Tajor? Help me stand up please,” requested Atlantis.
Slowly she walked over to the bed that held Twa, and she whispered in his mind, “The Little One has been born. You have much to teach her my friend, live for her.”
Suddenly Atlantis was tired and looked at her Mates and said, “I need to lie down.” The extended use of her magic and the birth of her daughter had depleted her energy to very low levels; she would need rest to find her balance.
© All Rights Reserved. Copyrighted October 2007, Version
