Crystal Shade Episodes 01

gluttonous Aurora’s belly. This bothered none of them at all; her sister was the youngest, she needed to eat much more, and the fruit made everyone’s body healthier.
    “My belly is full, thank you very much,” she shook her head and played her majestic role while she forced her hand behind her back before the temptation could overwhelm her and she grabbed the fruit. She felt her mother deserved it more than she. Silently, she watched her father fondly put the fruit into her mother’s mouth and the last delicious fruit quickly disappeared to dissolve Grace’s temptation. A lovely smile stole over Grace’s face as she saw her mother thankfully nod to her father.
    “We still have time,” said Eion. “What would you like to do? Would you like to explore the feast?”
    “We may stay and watch the dancers’ masquerade parade if you like,” her mother responded with a smile, then looked at her youngest daughter and whispered into her ears. “What do you think, Aurora?” she asked, but the awed, enchanted little girl stayed silent. Instead, her green eyes, which mirrored the happy people who danced in their colourful clothes and masks, answered and quickly ended the debate; she’d like stay to watch them, too.
    Grace looked around to her favourite statue once more. The little girl fell into a trance while everything went silent around her.
    Let’s try again, Gracie my dear, she thought to herself while she peered into the crystal-clear water of the fountain at the foot of the Guardian Mother’s pedestal. The water’s surface rippled slightly, blurring her mirror image, and when it cleared it was no longer Grace’s face staring back at her.
    A young beautiful blond haired winged Aserian woman looked up curiously, but she seemed lost and sad. Her white-feathered wings were spread wide before they lowered behind the woman’s back. Behind her, the large faultless crystal watched; the mirror reflection of the night sky that watched her from above. A soft crystal chime came to her ears again, the kindest crystal chime voice that Grace had ever heard. The chime came from the crystal, its motherly voice called her.
    The winged woman seemed too familiar to Grace. She was sure they'd ever met. She was a young Aserian, but she wasn’t her Guardian. She felt it. Then the crystal behind the woman became brighter and brighter. It enchanted the little girl. The brightness beamed endless peace and protection toward her. It called her. But Grace resisted. She didn’t want to go, wherever the voice called her. Not now.
    Soft waves distorted the image, and when the water’s surface calmed, the stranger’s image along with that strange crystal was gone. Grace saw only her own face in the fountain. She looked up to tell her mother and father what she saw, but she wasn’t in Odess’iana anymore and the fountain was also gone.
    “Where am I? What is this place?” she asked quietly as she looked around. Eleven columns in a large dark hall shadowed her; an angel statue guarded each of them. “Mommy? Daddy? Anyone?”
    Carvings, symbols, runes, and hieroglyphs watched her from all over the walls and columns as she slowly strolled toward the center of a hall. The entire hall centered on that horizontal and flat circular plate, full of carved regular lines; a large shiny seal embedded in the ground. Like a tired heart, it pulsed sapphire blue reaching out and called her soul with soothing crystal chime music. But as she stepped closer to the seal , the crystal chime music became sad and menacing. Her bare feet felt the large seal’s surface was pure crystal as she stepped onto it. Wary, she strolled to the middle and looked down into it. Her mirror image wasn’t hers anymore.
    That beautiful winged Aserian looked back at her again. This time there was no trace of emotion in the woman. She seemed ruthless, cold as ice. Then after a moment, Grace was able to read the Aserian’s face, even without words and emotions. Guilt and sadness exuded from the woman, it cried from her icy soul.
    Grace wanted to help her, speak with her, but she remained silent.
    The pulsating sapphire surface flicked to dark red and beat on like a bleeding heart. Vanishing, the Aserian woman and the mirror image were replaced by something else, something darker. The crystal-chime music became more menacing than ever before, urging the young girl to run far away as fast she could. Yet, she stood mesmerized by the pulsing crystal surface beneath her