Page 109 of Within the Veil

Zane's voice snarls through my head, effectively cutting off my pleasant thoughts,How about you cut back on the fucking insidious murderous thoughts while being threatened...

By a fucking not-so-Jolly Green Giantess?Ryder interrupts, his eyebrows sitting high on his face.

I ignore them both and turn my attention to Elodia with a nod in affirmation.

"Yes. I have. I do not hide that fact. Nor do I regret it," I say dispassionately, ignoring her growl of outrage. In truth, had I been a threat to the secrets of the knowledge library, I would be dead already. It is clear that I am safe... for the time being, at any rate.

I place my hand on the hilt of one of the many blades that adorn my tactical belt, "I have never hidden my past, I simply do not choose to divulge it. As you can imagine," I offer a casual shrug, "it would not make polite dinner conversation..." I pause, my voice trailing off, the unspoken implications hanging in the air.

"Hi. Hello. Seelie Fae Queen here reporting for destined duty and all that..." Hudson steps forward, a scowl affixed to her face and her bottom lip noticeably-- and uncharacteristically--swollen from where she has been biting down in a valiant effort to hold her tongue. Frankly, her resilience in this regard is nothing short of surprising. She glares at me before sweeping her eyes around the room and settling on Elodia's mammoth frame as she towers over us.

"Does anyone want to clue me in as to why my cuddly protector of the Mary Poppins desk has suddenly become Legolas on a bad hair day?" She gestures towards Elodia, and I suppress a smirk at her 'Lord of the Rings' reference. She quirks an eyebrow my way, evidently surprised that I caught the reference. In response, I offer an almost imperceptible shrug.Research. After all, there is a certain pleasure in understanding the extent of human ignorance.

"Really, Hudson?" King questions, amusement coloring his tone as his eyes remain fixed on Elodia- a testament to my supreme training-- as he lightly shakes his head.

Hudson throws her hands up in the air with a huff, "I mean, I can't, very well, call her 'Tinke-roid.'" She surveys the room, locking eyes with each of us as if daring us to challenge her. "I mean, what do you even call a hulked-out, not-so-cuddly-anymore protector? Schwarze-sprite? Optimus Prime-Pixie?"

We all blink, slightly taken aback. Elodia, who's usually amused by Hudson's...spirited rantings, for lack of a better term, looks a bit off-color. Although, I suppose that being reduced from a noble entity safeguarding the Knowledge of the Fae and Gods to a mechanical creature in desperate need of lubricationisquite disconcerting.

I shake my head, ignoring Hudson's slightly fervent tirade in favor of giving her a response that does not echo the hysterics of a woman seeped in pregnancy hormones. However, I don't have a chance to speak as my hands come up as I shield myself in time to deflect the bolder that drops from the sky while several colorful insults and threats to my person reverberate through my skull. Volatile and hysterical--a potent aphrodisiac.

"It is like you are all allergic to even a fucking modicum of structure. Just once, can shit go smoothly?" Zane spits out through a clenched jaw, his eyes narrowed as he glares at us in irritation.

I cross my arms and heave a sigh, "the reason why Elodia's protective side was triggered, is because I have long dwelled within the realm of darkness. I have sought power that has not necessarily been mine to seek. However, it is not because I was thirsty for that power--quite the contrary. Once you find yourself of a certain age, you become bored."

"Fuck this is going to turn into like a shimmery cameo with windchimes as he has a flashback, isn't it?" Ryder mutters.

"Indeed," I summon the sound of windchimes with a quirk of my lips, earning a scowl.

I sigh, "Once upon a shadowed time..."

Oberon

* * *

Centuries Ago

The silence within the castle; it's pervasive. After Tatiana's death, everyone feared me. Everyone still fears me. Although, that may be because I have given them a reason to do so. Nevertheless, I find myself once again bored, constrained by my own immortality. I have been training my whispers for quite some time now, but they needed a certain edge--I craved a certain edge

I let myself wander around the Fae, basking in the sweet air. That is all of Tir Na Nog. However, I have to admit, after centuries, no matter how far I dwell, no matter how close I stay to home, there's always something new to discover. That is the magic of the Fae. The beauty of it: a living, breathing land that understands what you need and will give a seeker what they seek.

I always thought I saw them readily as I walked through the forest and stretched my wings before taking flight again from the high trees of Tir Na Nog. I noticed something that I don't think I have seen before. It may be because I have not actively sought it before. However, as I approach the close darkness, a light, yet inky well was pulling me in--pulling me closer, screaming for me to find, screaming for me to discover all that it was hiding. Far be it from me to ignore that need. I am a pleaser, after all. Someone, something, greater than most beings--that is I. I chuckled to myself.

As I approach the shimmering darkness, I pick up on a power that seems to be resonating from the very ground that is now beneath my feet. After leaping from a tall tree down to the ground, kneeling forward and placing my knees on the ground, I put my hand on a shimmering field of power--a force field, perhaps a ley line. I think to myself, the power here is something that I have not felt before.

Ley lines were typically guarded for the holder of great power and access to such power without proper training--that is, it could break the minds of even the strongest and most resolute of Fae. However, ley lines also were portals, so to speak. One can travel within the magic to locations that were far beyond their reach--beyond the veil, through the veil, within the veil--everything was possible.

With the pure magic of a ley line, said to be a direct vein that runs through Gaia herself, another reason why ley lines were not to be trifled with. However, in this case, I sensed it protecting something far more forbidden than I have grown used to. I like darkness. It was ingrained in me--it was part of me--I embraced it and this screamed of darkness.

Now, I do feel that I have been in this location before. For it is easy to sense the spirits of the trees and the souls of the blades of grass beneath your feet. The vibration of the magic woven into the air--I stepped closer, letting it draw me in, letting it tell me everything I needed to hear, whispers calling me forth. And I have to wonder, why were these whispers so familiar? Why did this darkness feel as if it was already part of me?

I shake off the thoughts and walk closer towards the tear within the ley line, a small tear within the veil that did not lead to another realm-- intriguing, I think to myself. A veil within the veil. I have heard of such things. Although I admit, I have not been curious enough to seek such things. There was no bloodshed, no maidens to bed, no training, no kingdoms to lead, and I already had untold powers--one of the strongest Fae. So, I did not need to seek what was not mine to find. It had no interest in me, and I had no interest in it. Until now.

As I walk closer, I feel my body being sucked into the void. I let myself flow with the ley line, knowing that if I fought against it, I will surely tear my body, my soul into pieces that can never be found by any living, breathing, physical entity. No, if I fought against the ley line, Gaia herself would have to piece me back together again.

Although I'm not even sure if it would be worth it after being torn apart. You can piece a physical body back together, molecule by molecule, but the spirit, the mind, cannot be put back together again. No matter how good the magic was being used, no matter how strong the entity, no matter if it was the gods themselves, there are things that cannot be controlled, cannot be manipulated, cannot be fixed even by the gods themselves. Your spirit is one of them.

While there are some ways to piece together a broken mind, it is only a temporary solution, for even the strongest of magic will eventually fail when put against the test of something so pure, so untainted. Something that can only be twisted by the owner of that spirit. Fate is an interesting thing. Destiny is even more interesting. The power a being holds over their spirit, over the very thing that makes them who they are, is absolutely incredible.

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