Timeline/World: Iais’i
Characters: Caspian, Opal, Lirilei, Timaeus, a nameless healer, and mentions of Elyanor
Death is a funny thing, or perhaps I should say he’s a funny guy. I’ve gotten to know Death pretty well over the last…however long it is now it’s been since I died, and he decided to pull my soul of of the stream.
Of course, Death has a name one I uttered for the first time only recently despite how many years I’ve been his companion now. At first I resented him for taking me out of the soul stream, and not allowing my rebirth. All I wanted to do after all was to be born again, and hopefully be found by Opal again, and yet…that was an impossibility now thanks to my soul being snagged.
It took a long time for me to come to terms I was now Death’s companion, and that Opal might just be moving on without me. Of course I wanted Opal happy, nothing more than that in fact. You might wonder how I could be found by one after being reborn, that of course they’d be dead by the time I was of age.
Well, it’s simple when you’re the companion of a God. I recall the first time I saw Opal, he’d washed up on the beaches near my home, we had no name for our tribe, we were just one of many water tribes there on Iais’i, but we are one of the larger tribes there.
He came during a large wave while our home was under attack from a sea creature, and our guards were busy defending us all. The wave wiped away several of the men, never to be seen again, and in theirs and the creatures place stood Opal.
I knew immediately he was someone special, after all who else but someone special could come from the great waters, and in one piece? Still, he never told me just who…or perhaps more fittingly what he was. It didn’t matter, I was immediately enamored by him, I was maybe fifteen the day I saw him.
Of course I was an oddity amongst my people I had different colored eyes, and was shunned for that. My older sister was shunned because she was so tall. Our mother drank the strong water, and died one night after too much, so ashamed of us she was.
I was one of the many divers, I collected gems, mosses and other what not from the waters, or climbs up the cliffs to get things from there, I was adept at what I did, and I found a small measure of worth in doing that. But of course that day I was unable to do my usual tasks, and so I’d stood there watching.
I remember his eyes locked onto mine, and I stared a moment before I looked away and ran off in embarrassment to the lodging I shared with my older sister. Of course he was brought to her to tend after his time in the water, she was a healer, a good one even then, and she was the one who’s turn it was to be at the beck and call of our people. It helped to have many so everyone got their own time, to rest and see to personal things.
So, the stranger was in our lodging, in the spare bed that we kept for moments like this, and my sister asked me to help her with him. He was a tall man, taller even than my sister, and she was taller than all the men there, I remember seeing the shock on her face when he stood in front of her, and couldn’t help the soft laugh that came from me.
Our new arrival, we called him Opal, no name was ever given by him, but his hair resembled one of the stones I constantly dove for and he seemed to like it. With him, came the water. It rained almost constantly, not the violent storms we were used to, but gentler rains, warmer rains, and the rumors started that he was the Rain Bringer, the Water Maker, and many began to treat him with more respect, many thinking he was a God walking on Iais’i, gracing us with his presence.
I had a habit of singing while I worked, especially those jobs that kept me above the water though for some reason I found myself going out of my way to not let Opal hear me sing. I still to this day can’t explain why I didn’t want him hearing me, maybe I was afraid of being looked at funny by him. He’d accepted my eyes and my sisters height…but the singing was also unheard of amongst my people, so it was one more mark against me.
Yet, one day unbeknownst to me he heard me singing, and not long after went to the king of the tribe, and requested me as his companion and I was gladly given to Opal, I think perhaps in hopes of when Opal would leave I’d be taken with him.
Opal was given his own lodging, and I was told I was to take my things and move in with him. It was an altogether frightening experience for me really because while I found him interesting, I didn’t know anything about him for as little as he spoke.
That first night, he asked me to sing for him, and at first my voice was soft, hard to hear over the water crashing into the rocks, but it grew in volume, and the look he gave me, I flushed from it. He looked so pleased with my voice, and told me I was just what he’d been looking for, for so long.
The following days, was spent in one anothers company, getting to know each other better. I still helped out since my sister and others relied on the things I gathered, but most of my time was spent with him, and it wasn’t long before I stopped feeling entirely uncomfortable curled up next to him in his sleeping area. In fact it started to feel more like home, than all my years living with my sister had, and it was the scariest thing I’d ever experienced up to that point.
I recall the day I asked him out right if he’d take me with him when he left, because I knew Opal wouldn’t stay forever, and the complete relief I felt when I was told I was his, and would of course go with him when he left.
That, was the happiest moment of my life, at least up until that point. A few short turns of the moons later, and I was able to count sixteeen years, and my gift from him, was nothing material, no…it was him claiming me as his completely.
That became the happiest moment of my life, knowing he wanted me in all ways, though it was of course also the most painful moment in my life. At least up to that point it was. Still, I would have changed nothing in my life, and it continued on in this way for some time, my never realizing that there was darkness on the horizon.
About a year after I’d been given to Opal as his companion, one of the healers from another tribe that had come to us for more in depth training tried to insert herself into Opal’s life, to gain his attention and favor, and though he was always kind, and courteous, seeing as he was never anything but that, there was an obvious dislike of the woman.
Every time she attempted to hug him he side stepped, her tries to get him to go somewhere privately with him turned down, and he’d take me off somewhere instead. He was trying to blatantly, but politely make it obvious it was my presence he wanted and preferred.
She was the darkness on our horizon, the blot of sorrow on our happiness. After several months of this, she finally stopped and it was thought she’d given up on Opal and no more thought was given.
I could now count eighteen years, and I was beyond happy. Opal had become close friends with the princess, and spent quite a bit of time with her, mentoring her a bit, she knew she was to be sent away to be married to the prince of another tribe, to form alliances and I didn’t begrudge that time he spent with her, Elyanor was a sweet girl after all.
It was shortly after that I fell and injured myself, and my sister was unavailable to tend to me, she’d traveled to a near by tribe, and was helping some sick people there, so I was treated by the healers we had available to us, which was fine. I had no reason to be wary of any of them, they helped us after all.
It wasn’t long after that, my injury healed, but I was weak, and I was sick. I could barely lift my head most days, eating and drinking became a chore, and I could see the concern in Opal’s eyes. Even though my lips were so dry they cracked and bled, I continued to assure him I would be okay. That the healers would figure out what was wrong and heal me.
After all, thats what they did. They fixed us. So I took the medicines and herbs they brought, hoping to get better. By this time, Lirilei had returned and even she couldn’t help me, I could see in her eyes I was too far gone to help.
Opal almost never slept to begin with, and he slept even less so in my final weeks. I remember the day I died. He’d sat up all night holding me, pain wracking my body, but I refused to let any cries of pain leave my lips. It was bad enough he had to see me so sick, I didn’t want him hearing the pain I was in.
I didn’t want to be drugged and fall asleep. I wanted to be held, and listen to his heart when I wasn’t tense with the pain, when my eyes weren’t full of tears I looked up at him, and tried so many times to speak but I couldn’t find the strength.
As the sun began to rise, I could see it was dark outside, dark clouds had filled the sky, and I knew it was raining, I could hear the soft rainfall as I looked up at him.
My final words to him were a whispered “I love you Opal.” my fingers had been against his cheek caressing it softly, and I recall his lips touching mine, his own repeated words of love, and then I simply sighed, a peaceful sound, and I died in his arms.
Death wasn’t as scary as it’d been made out to be, it was a calm process and as I left my body I heard the sky let loose, the torrential rain, and I saw Opal clinging to me, calling to me to come back to me, and I ached to do so, though it wasn’t a possibility.
My soul drifted along, and before long I felt myself surrounded by others that had died, and flashes of things filled my senses such that they were.
Then, there was a warmth, a voice, and I was suddenly not as surrounded as I’d been, and I found myself kneeling before a man, as tall as Opal had been, and he wore a kind smile on his face, though there was sadness in his eyes.
He said he was sorry that he’d had to take me from Opal, and he hoped his friend could forgive him but there’d been nothing left to send me back to. I’d been poisoned so long that nothing could have saved me.
Of course I was shocked! Poisoned? But who? Of course it hit me, the shunned healer. It angered me, and I begged to go back, but of course I couldn’t. That was why it took me so long to speak Death’s true name. I couldn’t bring myself to say it, I resented being dead, and worse of having no chance to return.
I’d been chosen out of the stream because of the bright spot my soul contained, because I’d been touched, and chosen by one of the ones from the Island.
He explained it all to me. The Island was the home of the Deities. The Gods and Goddesses we’d worshiped were real entities. Opal, was of course Water and it all made so much sense to me, and I realized I’d known all along.
Finally, I stopped being resentful, stopped wishing I could go back, because I began to enjoy my new companion, he was quiet, and melancholy, but given his role, I could see why.
Which is why I feel bad it took me so long to speak his name to him. The way his eyes lit up, his face dropped the years away and he looked so young…it made me wish I’d said it sooner.
Now, I say it daily, and I relish the fact I’m a spirit. I don’t exactly exist, not like Opal, or my sister…only one can interact with me now.
Timaeus.
