IC: The birth of light

[Chaia Lyric]

[align=justify:ec3472b623]Chaia breathed in the clean morning air deeply into her lungs before breathing out. Teeth clenched and tongue perched behind the crevice of her teeth emitting a sharp hissing sound through the bridge of jaw and pursed lips. She always enjoyed walking through the dimly light temple, outside to witness the birth of a new day. A new inner light to bless the lands of Eden and Ayenee. Usually her tasks included daily prayer and tending to the fountains of the earth, the sacred wells of the Earth Mother, Gaia. Morning and evening it was her task to ensure the secrecy of the well to the Order of the Earth. The waters that only the priestesses were to know about. Legends spread throughout the land of stories and myths of its existence, but no one outside of the higher ranking priestesses actually ever got to see it.

Supposedly the well represented the actual womb of Gaia, where she herself had given birth to the earth and blessed that child with the rich properties of the hot pools and healing mud baths that naturally entwined the underground passages beneath the temple. Here the ancient relics of the earth had been hidden within secret chambers and not Chaia had ever witnessed their authenticity. She had been inducted into the order since a child, an orphan brought to the temple to serve the Mother of Earth. At first it was a high demanding expectation to place on a child, an even harder on that of a girl blooming into maidenhood for the temple order forbid any of the priestesses to become involved with man. They were to remain virginal and pure. Should any be discovered to be known by man, they suffered the scourge of the earth and were never seen again.

She had never dared break the rules of the temple. Her sisters had provided for her, food, water, shelter and a warm bed at night. All that was required of her was to keep to prayer, tend to the waters and remain pure. There had been many times where she had been tempted by warriors traveling through the woods who had stopped her to have a drink from the clay urn she carried over her shoulders. The forests surrounding the temple brought much in the manner of food and water, but they had to be carried vast distances. All that was in the temple was for the banquet of Gaia and all in the temple were forbidden to eat from the Earth Mother’s altar, they were her offerings, her sacrifices of nature. There had been a time when once she had tasted the lips of a man, a wanderer through the forest who had become taken with Chaia and promised her the Earth, Moon and Stars.

They laid down together beneath the moon, under the shadows of a poplar tree beside a babbling brook upon the lush green moss that bedded the rocks in a soft blanket. She had been discovered and torn from her lovers arms and taken back to the temple where she had been whipped and then thrown down the Abyss. A black hole that some whispered was bottomless. There in the darkness she had to pray for forgiveness and plead her chaste to Gaia, that her purity was still in tact and had not been promised to the weak promises of a man with only one thing on his mind. Now, she rarely ventured to the forests other than to tend to her chores with her sisters, none of them were permitted to travel alone without one of the superior sisters. Every night they chanted in prayer and song to the Earth Mother by candlelight and the beat of drums.

Lithe bodies swaying to the beat of ancient melody, their naked virtues showing through the sheer white fabric that clung to their holy thighs. Untouched by the grime of man or roaming tongue to taste the nectars of Gaia. It was only when one was chosen to carry the child of Gaia, one of the chosen ones to copulate with the Lord of the Earth to produce an Oracle of Gaia. A woman of untold beauty, who spoke and represented the mother on earth, in the flesh. There had been whispers through the order of this event soon to light upon the altar, the month of the triple eclipse. Many never got to see this in their lifetimes, and soon they would all be a part of a monumental moment since the Oracle’s light would soon extinguish plunging the temple into darkness. It was this darkness they all feared, for it meant darker things awaited them and the Earth Mother would be powerless to intervene. [/align:ec3472b623]

[Priestess of Gaia]

Chaia had been an unruly subject to govern over. The curiosity to explore her sexuality and that of a man had always caused the suspicion of Nadia's eye. A priestess of the temple had to be one that could be trusted otherwise there was a weak link in the circle they had circumvented for many centuries beneath the moon and the loving embrace of Gaia. Had darkness touched the heart of Chaia and she was now working as a spy? It was not as if Nadia could not speak her suspicions aloud, she was the Oracle of Gaia after all. The High Priestess of Light over all of Eden and Ayenee, it was in her power to voice whatever suspicion was held in her soul while she was the governing order of the temple. It was her place to punish or execute and it was a power she did not take too lightly.

Carefully Nadia walked amongst the citadels, her long filmy white dress outlining the subtle figure beneath the cloth. Long blonde hair falling over shoulders as emerald eyes stabbed through the shadows and dim corners of the temple. Nodding every now and then at the passing priestesses all tending to their temple chores and daily worship of Gaia. Here they were protected. Here was their sanctuary away from the sickness of the world outside. Here within the solid stone walls more like a fortress than a temple, a monastery of chastity and pureness all for the mother. Only when she demanded another child, that the womb of one chosen would carry the seed of the Father God. Nadia was sure it was her time, even though the Lord would savor many of the priestesses virginities, it would be her womb fertilized with his egg of life. That she would carry the goddess in the flesh.

Smiling to herself. Not because it was a sexual experience to have but the honor it would be to give birth to the Goddess in this time of darkness. It was through this ritual that the guarantee of light would be ensured. Nothing of darkness could prevent this balance. All things needed balance but through divination the high sisterhood knew darkness was going to do everything in its power to prevent this birth of light. Should they fail in the consumption of the seed, all they had harvested would be lost. Unless a male sacrifice was found and offered to the mother in replacement of the child. With a new consort, she would show them prosperity and favor. Grant them the wealth of crops and mead. It was all too risky to place bets on Chaia, if she would remain faithful to the order. In her mind, Nadia plotted for a way to be rid of her earth sister. Eliminate the doubt and any competition.

All was fair in love and war.

[Chaia Lyric]

[align=justify:6a1667d7e2]She came running back from the forest, a long white scarf trailing behind her in the flux of the wind which carried the voices of the temple guardians. She knew they had been looking for her, wanting to interrupt her time with her lover beneath the moon and the eyes of the Goddess. There were no secrets for how could they be hidden from one who saw all about her, nature was the way of her heart and never would she abide by the rules set by a temple when the earth mother knew of her love and their meetings every night when the pregnant moon hung high in the sky below Orion.

They had been jealous of her love for this man, even though contact with any man was forbidden by the laws of the sisterhood, yet how could something so beautiful not be allowed? Chaia had questioned it so many times that she grew dizzy of it, their clouded minds would never understand that a union between a woman and a man, was a most sacred blessing. The Goddess had her consort, the Horned God, the Lord and Lady of Greenwood, why were they so set upon their ways. The Earth Goddess did not hold virginity sacred, she held fertility and union as a precious thing, and she had been blessed with this insight. No way was she going to let these ruin it and take away what was not theirs to take.

She knew in her heart that she had been spied upon and discovered, in no way did she fear them or the repercussion of her outings. Inside she knew that no matter what justice they threatened to serve her, she had been justified in the eyes of the Goddess and had done no wrong. If following her heart would be marked as a crime, then guilty she would sit, and not guilty would she plead. Only a sin, guilt could be felt and she had neither sinned nor broke the creed of Gaia. There would be nothing false in her certainty. It was true that something darker was coming. It already stained the white marble pillars of the temple, growing like obnoxious weeds.

Weeds that fed upon their suspicion and prejudice so that eventually it tangles and grows into a jungle of doubt, thorns and vines until they overgrew what was once a temple of light, and bring it to a temple of ruin. Chaia did not need to consult the oracle in regards to this prophesy, it was already taking place, lurking over them like a silent web waiting at the first opportunity to ensnare them, transforming them all into the monsters they knew awaited inside. Every mortal had a monster inside. It was only their sense of humanity and sympathy which held them fast at the chain. Already those links were bending, ready to snap at any given moment. The moment they threw all resolute to their own deadly sins. And envy was its most dangerous.

Already the darkness had eased its way into the hearts of her sisters, especially Nadia. All along Chaia knew she was plotting something in that devious mind of hers. The union of this Lord and her was meant to be monumental to the Temple of Gaia yet whispers had already reached her that this was no man, but a beast born of evil and therefore could only create evil. This creature needed a human concubine to birth him in the material world, darkness incarnate. In this mortal form he would rule the elements and create much imbalance in their world. Chaia would be their only hope because she was yet to be tainted with the corruption that lingered.

No matter how Nadia would try to make this turn around into a negative, Chaia would have to stand her ground against all the odds. She would have to make them all see that the Priestess of Gaia had turned bad, that the holy water in the Shangri-La had turned sour. That some poison had tainted its pure waters and corrupted their minds. Unfortunately, her union with her lover would not work favorably, for in their eyes she had sinned and they would punish her for it. Giving birth to some Goddess? Chaia had heard Nadia speak to the others and yet, through her own divinations and mediums this was far from the truth. The union would not block the darkness, it would open this world up to the full force of darkness, not as an element but an actual face, an actual being of the purest form of darkness. The ultimate evil.

Chaia had no clue how Nadia managed to manipulate them all and change the Sacred Scrolls of Gaia, but she knew that Nadia would pay, the eyes of the Goddess were always watching over the Temple. Mother Earth would never allow this darkness to manifest, unless it was out of her control. But how could that be? Chaia had to block that from her mind and keep her faith strong. Even running through the clearing, past the ancient braziers into the glistening white temple where the Priestess of Gaia awaited her. All the other sister had long retired to sleep, for now it would just be her and Nadia. Walking along the corridors, listening to the silence other than the prayers being spoken from the sacred chamber of the altar.

Entering into it and leaving nothing of hesitation “I am here dear sister. I believe you wish to query me on something that is troubling you?” Cocking her head to the side while addressing her sister with a polite nod, there was no love lost here, any fool could see it and she grew tired of the pretense of masquerading as otherwise. Chaia knew what Nadia’s game was and she could have it. A vow that all the sisterhood had made was to deny the darkness of outside influence but never neglect that which is the natural darkness all beings possess, only to use it in a positive light for the cause of those whom held the secrets of Gaia true, for all they had achieved and maintained. To never abuse or betray that of the Mother and Chaia knew Nadia had broken all the above, if not the entire creed itself. [/align:6a1667d7e2]