Immortal Memory (Iris' Atlantis 1)

Timothy: Mysteries

Then whose blood is it?

And he had said someone was coming.

I whirled to face the door with a vampiric speed and precision. Just when a crack of light appeared as the double doors opened outside.

I was wearing nothing but the little hair on my body, when she entered.

And I knew who she was. Like in a dream: I knew places where I had never been and people I had never met. I knew her by the blood inside, blood that wasn't Mo's, or mine, but hers.

Before me, framed in a rectangle of soft light, stood a middle-aged woman. Her hair was gathered in a bun. She had draped a shawl around her delicate, powerful shoulders and wore a twinkling, welcoming smile. She carried with her a book with an intricately engraved wooden cover.

Behind her came a young European woman with dark golden hair. She was wearing skirts of deep burgundy. Compared to the older woman, she was dressed like royalty. And I couldn't have cared less of who she was. My eyes were fixed on the goddess. On Iris.

And not just my eyes.

I felt her. My vampire sense picked up an aura that couldn't belong to a human, or vampire, or any other being I had ever experienced. It was like someone had tried to pack a rainbow in human form. While her clothes were ill-fitting fast fashion from the common shopping centers of Breasinghae, she held an aura that shone and bounced and filled the room immediately as she entered, so that I wasn't sure if I was in the room with one goddess or dozens and hundreds. And I could tell nothing of her personality by it. The aura seemed to contradict itself, to be made up of millions of personalities simultaneously.

I was overwhelmed immediately.

And then I wasn't.

The aura turned suddenly transparent, like Mo's. Instead of the light of ten thousand rainbows, I was gazing through clear water, my eyes drawn to her human shape.

I did drop then.

It had never been easier, as I was in awe of the divine. Her clearheadedness echoed in me, and drew me into the meditative state like the tide retreating. I wouldn't have had any options, had I wished to do otherwise.

Then I stood. Naked. A being not alive nor disappeared. Awaiting her judgment.

Goddess Iris left her notebook onto the low table in front of Stump who eyed it curiously. I noted that Stump wasn't much moved by the presence of the one goddess.

"Timothy," she addressed me then. "You who want a path of your own. But are you prepared to walk it?"

I blinked.

Opened my mouth.

I realized I was looking her in the eyes that were slowly shifting from green to blue and on to golden.

"There is absolutely nothing you can do, to offend me, little friend. Please, you have chased the divine here through many forms of existence. It would be a shame to forbid you from looking, now that you have found me."

The goddess smiled. It was a welcoming smile.

"Anything you want to ask, I will answer. Anything you want, I can grant. Any blessing you wish for, is here."

She reached out a hand to me.

I walked, almost floated, the distance to her. Connecting to touch her fingers.

Suddenly, I looked at myself. Still dressed like an old lady of the 21st century, but myself, with gray, colorless eyes and pale, greenish complexion. Colorless. I was holding my own hand, grasping it in my hand with a death grip.