Mother Earth left the Fey to their endless dancing. She had one last task to perform before she could sleep, but first she approached the body of the Shaman. She knelt beside him and closed his sightless eyes; then she waved her hands over his body, and the rich earth of the prairie parted, gently making an opening in which to cradle the old man.
“You did well, just as I asked. I know it broke your heart to follow my edict and sacrifice the maiden, but by doing so you have given Kalona his only chance at redemption, for he has, indeed, been tainted by Darkness. Nyx does not see it, but I see it as clearly as did you. You did as I commanded. Now I will keep my word to you, old one.” Mother Earth touched his forehead, and drew from within him the glowing orb that held his eternal spirit.
Come to me, mighty beast of the grass sea!
An enormous bison trotted up to Mother Earth. The muscles of his wide chest rippled as he bowed before her, his muzzle resting by her knee. She stroked his thick pelt, murmuring her appreciation of his majesty. Then she completed her promise by saying:
Joined for a lifetime you and he shall be!
She pressed the spirit glob against the bison’s forehead, and it disappeared within the beast. Mother Earth smiled up at him. “Go, old one made young! Roam the prairie and have a long, fertile life.”
With a snort, the bison obeyed her, and as he trotted away he kicked the air in a joyous dance of freedom.
11.
THOUGH IT WOULD CREATE A WOUND WITHIN HER THAT WOULD ACHE FOR ETERNITY, NYX KNEW KALONA MUST BE STOPPED …
And so the eons passed. At first, all was well in the Otherworld. The Goddess was no longer alone. She had warrior and lover, playmate and friend. Nyx thrived, and thus did the Otherworld.
Nyx’s children, created by Mother Earth before she retreated to sleep within herself, thrived as well, though both immortals had been right. Many were not strong enough to survive the Change, but those who did were the best of humanity—the bravest and strongest, the brightest and most talented. In solidarity, they named themselves vampyre, the children of Nyx, and they evolved a society that honored women as Goddess, and valued men for their roles of warrior and lover, playmate and friend. Nyx was so well pleased by her children that she sometimes passed along gifts to them based on the five elements over which her friend had granted her dominion. But no matter how much they pleased her, or how many times Nyx granted the vampyres gifts, the Goddess made quite certain that she did not meddle too often in their lives. Mother Earth had taught her a valuable lesson. Love cannot thrive if it is too closely controlled. Nyx vowed that she would not control her beloved children, that they would always have free will, whether they chose to use that freedom wisely or not.
Though she was sometimes sorry she had made that vow, the Goddess never broke her oath.
Nyx was also sometimes sorry that she had vowed never to speak of the night the first of her children had been created. The vow had been well intended—made to protect her children. What the Goddess had not realized then was that by cloaking that night in silence, she had also lost the opportunity to explain many things to Kalona, and in return to ask him for an explanation for many things as well.
They never spoke of what had happened when Kalona had appeared at the geyser, or of the strange superstition that had caused the Shaman to make blood sacrifice to Kalona.
In her mind Nyx often replayed the chant the Shaman had sung before he sacrificed the girl.
What I do, I do for two
One for her
And one for you …
What had the old man meant? Nyx believed the “you” of which he had chanted was Kalona. Could the “her” not have meant the maiden, but instead have been referring to the Goddess herself?
The not knowing haunted Nyx, especially as, bound by her own vow, she could speak her questions to no one, especially not Kalona, who seemed increasingly not to want to speak to her about many things.
Nyx tried to talk with Kalona about Mother Earth, whom she missed terribly. Kalona avoided the subject of his symbolic mother and grew silent.
When Nyx wondered aloud what could have happened to little L’ota, who disappeared the same night Erebus and Kalona entered the Otherworld, Kalona had only silence as reply.
Kalona’s silence began to lengthen and spread, until there was little he and Nyx were able to speak about, and the only thing that was not awkward between them was the flame that burned when their bodies joined.
But Nyx needed more than wordless passion to be happy, and she found herself more and more often turning to Erebus for companionship. The golden immortal was not her lover, but he served the role of Consort more fully than did Kalona. Erebus spoke with her easily; there was nothing hidden between them. Erebus truly listened to her, without pride or jealousy, and Erebus had the ability to make her laugh.
The more Nyx turned to Erebus, the more withdrawn Kalona became, until he stopped seeking even the solace of joining his body with the Goddess. In the malignant silence that grew between them, Kalona was filled with a jealousy that had never truly been reconciled, and the anger created by that jealousy.
It was then that Darkness began its attack on the Otherworld.
The first time it happened, Nyx had been sunning herself on Erebus’s balcony, taking in the morning light. She remembered that Erebus had made a feather toy for the wildcat that followed Nyx throughout the Otherworld, and that she had been laughing like a girl at the cat’s obsession with the feather when something dark and terrible had slithered over the edge of the balcony and wrapped itself around the cat’s hind leg, causing it to yowl in pain.
Nyx had screamed in fear, and Kalona had suddenly appeared like an avenging God, wings spread, eyes glowing amber. He had skewered the slithering creature with his obsidian spear. Nyx had scooped up the cat and run into Kalona’s arms. He had held her, stoking her hair and whispering reassurances to her, until she had stopped trembling.
“What was that?” Nyx had asked him.
“Darkness,” Kalona had said in a voice filled with anger.