Morgana lay on the cold stone at the centre of the ancient circle. The power of the magic dancing around and inside her. She focused on her breathing not wanting to let the fear she was feeling take any hold. Fear would get her killed.
She knew what was to come, even though as the first she hadn’t yet witnessed it with the others. Hers would be different as it was. The Council had agreed to Colden’s request for a deviation in the ritual. Instead of the blood being collected to be discarded after, Colden himself would take Morgana’s blood bringing her to the point where she could leave her body and pass beyond the veils.
He would watch over her until she either returned or the contact between body and soul was severed and she remained in the Otherworld. The elders had assured him that it would be done well before sunrise.
“Do not fear.” Colden said taking his place at her side.
“Easy for you to say, you’re not about to die.”
“You will not die.” He tried to reassure her. “You will return to me.”
Morgana closed her eyes.
“That’s the plan.”
“It is time.” One of the elders said coming into the circle and extinguishing the candle at her head.
“I will try not to hurt you.” Colden said raising her wrist to his lips. She took three deep breathes followed by three rapid, repeating the pattern, Aunt Seph had called it fire breathing. She ignored the pain as Colden’s teeth sunk into her flesh. She could feel the life leaving her flowing into him. Her head was light and colour danced behind her closed eyes. She felt strange, detached. She focused on that feeling pushing herself free, pressure mounted behind her forehead, the place where they say the third eye lies. She pushed her whole consciousness at that pressure and suddenly she knew she was free, her body near death and her spirit free to roam.
Colden felt her wrist go limp and stopped drinking placing it tenderly beside her. He knew she was gone and the longest wait of his undead life began as he waited to see if she lived or died.
He did all he could to keep himself the stoic creature he'd always been, but inside he felt scattered and frantic. He wanted to hold her as she lay there, lifeless, pale. It killed him inside and if she died it would be him to be placed under blame, but he wanted to be the one take her blood. It was partly selfishness that led him to do it. He also knew it was never pleasant to be sliced and drained, if those were going to be her last seconds on this earth he wanted to feel her inside of him.
Morgana drove him crazy inside and got him all turned around from what he was since the day the two of them met. In all his centuries walking this earth alone he never thought he'd be standing here ever again. When Lorelei died Colden stayed and helped the next priestess in her trails before he disappeared. It was a good thing he had, everything just fell apart after Lorelei was gone. Now, here he was pacing back and forth in front of Morgana's body, chomping at his thumb nail anxiously. He wanted her to wake up already... He wanted to see her eyes open. She needed to be alright. He needed her to be alright... God couldn't damn him to an endless life of loneliness twice.
Stopping dead in mid pace he squatted down at her feet, his gunmetal orbs glued to her, a hint of fear raced across them for the first time in centuries. "Be brave..." He breathed. She could do this, he knew she could, but if she couldn't believe that she could do it, then she'd never make it through.
The seconds passed like hours and minutes felt like days, his discomfort wasn't at all eased by the fact that there was an audience around him and that they knew what he was. He'd almost been burned to death far too many times here to feel comfortable with humans surrounding him. She was strong she had to make it. he growled under his breath. He wanted to cut his wrist and bring life back into her body, but he wouldn't rob her of this moment. If he did he was sure he'd never see her again anyhow. Damn it... why wasn't she waking up? 'Come on wake up Morgana...Become the Goddess you are.' The thought to himself as he continued to gnaw at his thumbnail.
A woman stood facing away from Morgana. Her dress was beautiful, the softest silver embroidered with swirling knots and roses in purple and green. Her hair hung long down her back flowers and thin strips of brightly coloured cloth woven through the dark tresses. Her voice is familiar to Morgana but she could not place how she knew it.
“Why have you come?” Morgana wasn’t sure what to answer but she knew her answer mattered.
“For wisdom and guidance” She finally replied
“Why have you come?” The repeat of the question made her heart race wildly.
“To find my place and my path”
“Why have you come?”
“To heal the land”
“Why have you come?” Morgana’s mind raced, what was she meant to say? And then the answer just fell from her lips
“To know you” She could feel the smile on the face of the woman though she could not see it. The woman turned and Morgana gasped.
“But you already know me.” Morgana was looking at herself, that was why the voice was so familiar, it was her own.
“You must pay the blood debt to become me. You must make the sacrifice.”
“I’m scared” Morgana admitted. She knew what she had to do and it scared her. Her hand was shaking as her other self handed her the dagger.
“You must die again by your own hand and only if your soul is pure and strong will you become.”
“And if I’m not strong?”
“Your soul will be lost from the wheel, your body will die and you will not be born again.”
Morgana’s hand shook even worse at that. The end of her soul was some serious danger.
“It is your only chance to return to this life. If you cannot I will take your life and your soul will move to the Otherworld to await rebirth. It is your choice to make.”
Morgana looked at the dagger blade. So her choices were death or complete death with the chance that she truly was the one destined to be the Goddess incarnate and become the priestess. Not really a choice at all. So she acted before she could think and plunged the dagger into her chest feeling the blade slip between her ribs. She felt the warmth of her blood on her breast. She tried to breathe to take it back but it was too late. The other version of her smiled and glowed and faded before her eyes and she was falling.
She was a spirit, a ghost, she knew it. She walked the stone circle unable to touch or affect. Time had slowed and none was aware she was there. She saw Colden at the side of her body.
“Can you say goodbye to him?” Morgana spun around and found herself face to face with three woman. The triple goddess. She fell to her knees bowing her head low. The first was young, the maiden, her hair blonde, her face soft. She was the promise of youth and innocence, spring time. The second was older, wiser, she was the mother, her red hair falling down over her swollen belly. The last the elder, the wise woman, she that was death but without death there could be no rebirth. Her skin old, her hair dark. She spoke “Answer us daughter”
“I..I don’t know....I don’t wish to. I have only just found him again and I do not feel what has passed between us has finished.”
“You know him?” The mother asked.
“I remember what you wish me to remember.” Morgana replied. “I dreamed of her and him and though I do not yet remember her as me I know now she was.”
“You are wise child and you will come to know all the times you have walked this world. Your soul is old but that will not guarantee you a place as our chosen.”
“What will?”
“So demanding of answers aren’t you” The maiden spoke her voice light with her laughter. Morgana flushed and bowed her head again deeply embarrassed.
“My apologies.”
“It is good that you humble yourself before us. You will need to humble yourself before the people but still you must find the strength to lead. To be the first into battle, to be the last in retreat, to starve so those around you may eat, to freeze so others may take warmth from your fire, to stand guard long after all others sleep. It is a hard place to be you must be more to them that you are to yourself and there must be nothing you must not be willing to give for another. Including your life.”
“I would give my life in the place of any other.” Morgana replied. “I would give my body and soul in place of another. I would take any pain away from those who are pained. There is nothing I wouldn’t give up.”
Her eyes flicked to the still form of Colden still kneeling beside her real body. She wondered how true that was.
“The chosen knows the elements, she is aware of how all is connected and she is the same as all that exists.” The crone said.
“The elements must test you and know you are worthy.” The mother added. Morgana looked one last time at Colden and faced the Goddesses again.
“I am ready.” The scene faded before her eyes and she stood atop a great cliff. She felt the earth claim her pulling her inside it, the wind catch her spinning her high, the water wash over her and the fire burn through her. She set aside her fear and took on each element drawing its power the creation and the destruction into her, understanding them in ways she had only touched on in her training. It was amazing, exhilarating and completely terrifying. As she stood there voices began to whisper, images rushing through her mind as each priestess that had ever come before placed their mark on her. She feared her mind was not strong enough to cope with it but then it was over and she stood alone. Her dress billowed around her as she stood looking out over the endless ocean. She was not who she had once been. That had been burned away and she was transformed. She was priestess, warrior, she had been tested and she had been accepted. But still more waited for her. There was a final part to this rite. A Goddess was nothing, incomplete, powerless without her chosen consort, her horned God. She hoped he would accept her. And more than that she hoped he would accept this place and ritual. It was time, time for her to return to her body. She closed her eyes and willed herself back to her body falling into it, feeling her heart start to beat once more, her lungs draw the air back in. She opened her eyes sensing all those watching, heard the murmur of voices as she sat up. She stood up smiling at Colden as she did. She stood atop the altar stone.
“In all life there is balance, duality. Light and dark, life and death, male and female. So in all things must this be true. In ancient times there was a union of man and woman, of God and Goddess. It was through that union that the Goddess became complete. A consort must be willing. A consort must be strong. A consort must be willing to give of himself and become himself, a part of the divine. God and Goddess in union. I willingly offer myself as Goddess, is there one who would be my consort?”
Colden would rise to his feet as Morgana drew air back into her lungs. He wanted to smile but who was he to smile at her after she'd completed such a trial. She was a goddess now walking the earth and he had no right to her in anyway. In many ways he was a monster standing before her. In many ways he turned his back on an oath he'd sworn long ago and vampire or human he was not worthy of her presence now. When he helped to lead Heather to her place as priestess she cried out for her consort to step forward and all eyes turned on him, as Heather's fell on his too. He grinned at Heather and the people talked amongst themselves in shock as he offered her a farewell nod and turned and walked away. He never looked back after that.
As she spoke his proverbial pulse raced, she was empowered now and it shone even in her speech. He knew what she was going to say before she could finish and he was torn for a moment inside. A million questions raced through his mind as he stood there staring at her. Would she accept him if he offered himself to her? Could he even stand for a god when in reality he was dead? It was tearing him apart. What if she did reject him? What then? Did he walk away as he had before? He came to when he heard a few men call out to her, wanting her body more than the honor of being her God. He wondered now if he even realized what he was getting into when he was human. It was only a few centuries ago that he understood what it really meant. What it stood for and the honor it was for him to have had it.
He growled in his throat at the men who'd called out and ignoring their offer he stepped forward. Taking charge as he always had when he wanted something. When he wanted it he took it and why the questions raced through his head a moment ago he didn't know. Something told him she wanted it to be him. She wanted him to complete her trial with her just as he'd helped her begin it. He was stronger than any man in this room. He was more experienced and if she chose to keep him around he would protect her far better than anyone here. His voice commanded attention as he spoke, all eyes shifting to him.
" I am the one you seek... I am stronger and more knowledgeable than any here." The people spoke amongst themselves wondering if the priestess would take an outsider such as him. Most there had no idea who he was and for some reason it angered him. He approached her now, not even allowing her to answer him. "I am Colden... Protector of Lorelei... I not only offer myself to you but my life and undying loyalty for as long as it pleases you... I will protect you with my life and honor your name with my lips." The people were now surprised to hear of who he was and it almost surprised him that they were so taken back that he had such a big impact in their tales of old. He was almost expecting to hear someone say he was supposed to be a hundred feet tall. Colden ignored them and turned his attention back to her. "Will you have me as your God?"
Morgana felt the power that was inside her weaken at Colden’s silence. She heard the other voices calling out offering to be her consort. She didn’t think she could pick another. Though it might cost her this honour she didn’t think she could lie with anyone she did not want herself. If she didn’t complete the rite her soul might still be taken from this world. She wanted to push her mind at him and tell him that it was him and then he spoke. She inhaled not realising she had stopped breathing waiting for him to choose her. She dropped down before him kneeling on the stone altar so her eyes met his. Her voice carried out over all. “I willingly take this man to be my consort, my God. I choose him over all others.” As she spoke a woman stepped out of the crowd bringing forth a large bowl the contents moved as she walked. She stopped beside Colden offering the bowl to Morgana. Morgana pulled the small dagger from her hip and slashed her wrist letting the blood fall into the bowl. She took hold of Colden’s arm and did the same to him. As the blood flow stopped from the small wound she bent her head to his wrist and kissed it. She then placed a finger in the bowl and stirred it all together before moving her finger to his forehead marking him with a triskillian. Her fingers moved between the bowl and his skin marking him with the sacred symbols. She didn’t know how she knew what to do she just did now. She then trailed her finger over herself marking her own body in a similar fashion. Two young girls came forward then placing a garland a top each of their heads like primal crowns. “Will you take me as your Goddess and Consort and share the oldest Rite and Magic with me?” She asked looking into Colden’s eyes.
Her voice stirred him in was he couldn't describe and her touch only made the ache that pulsed deep down in his bones become an intense hammering. Colden grinned down at his goddess when she kissed his wrist after the wound sealed. He could see it in her eyes and hear it in her mind as she was pleased with him as her consort and that she wanted no other. He saw that she was willing to risk her soul and turn away from the rite if it wasn't him, and for some reason he liked it. She returned to him, after all these years she returned to him and he couldn't believe it was real. She wanted him to be her God as badly as he wanted her to be his goddess, and the thought of it animated him inside. When she asked if he wanted her to be his Goddess and consort sharing in the oldest rite of magic with her. "I will..." He breathed the words before the girls came and removed any remaining clothing from the two. The girls giggling at seeing his naked form as they ran off.
Colden moved around behind her observing her naked form, pushing her hair aside he kissed down her neck to her shoulder, and wrapped her in his arms. He'd turn her to face him and lay her on the altar, his weight coming down on top of her age he stole a hungry kiss from her lips as slowly slid inside of her with a low primal groan. She was warm, far warmer than he could ever be. Colden could feel that her pulse was still weak as was her heart and for the first time since he was turned he wanted to give all of him to her. He found the dagger she'd use to cut the two and cut his neck for her to replenish her life force, she asked for all of him and now she would be able to see him and be bond to him through a drink of his blood. He wanted her bound to him, he wanted to feel her even when she wasn't near him and he wanted her to feel him. He never offered his blood to a human but he just couldn't resist having her connected to him for the rest of her life.
Morgana slid down off the altar stone as Colden accepted her as his consort. She let the girls come forward the blonde taking the cloak from her shoulders. She raised her hand to her shoulder and unclasped the ancient broach and the soft fabric of her gown fell down her body pooling at her feet. She should have felt embarrassed to be naked with so many eyes on her but all she saw was Colden. Her mind had moved beyond the constraints and programming placed on her by an inhibited modern society governed by the rules of tired old men seeking power and dominion through state and religion. Her body was not sinful, this act was not sinful. It was natural, it was powerful. It was the oldest of magics. Her head tilted as Colden took her in his arms his lips moving over the silky flesh of her neck and shoulder. She expected to feel the cold of the altar stone against her as he slowly laid her down his eyes intensely fixed on hers, instead her skin met the soft and still warm fabric of the cloak she had just discarded. Her eyes flicked shut, the breath pushed from within her as she felt his body move against hers and she arched taking him within her. She could hear the distant chanting as the druids, her people spoke the words of power but nothing registered on any conscious level. All there was in this moment was Colden and the ancient rite.
She gasped for a moment as the dagger ran across his neck and then her mouth was on it. Blood was sacred, powerful and that he was willing to share his with her was an honour. She knew what this meant, with his blood inside her he would be a part of her, he would know her, feel her, there was no turning back from the bond. There was no turning back, and there was no hesitation at all in her. It was right, it was balance. Her blood in him, his blood in her, a complete union, a union unlike any had seen for countless generations, a union that honoured the union of the God and Goddess. This was right, this was destined. This was why she had felt that calling within her soul to go to the river that night. That is why she had been lead to the ruins. It was not just so he could convince her to come here now and become the Goddess Incarnate. It was so he would be here with her now, God and Consort, a being of magic himself.
She took in his blood, the taste and the power it gave her heightening the already powerful magic as their bodies moved together. She was almost regretful as she pulled back from his neck. She found his eyes again feeling his blood on her lips and chin and now surging through her body claiming her.
Colden had always been a confident being from the beginning of his mortal life and on into his eternal one, but even with trials shared with Lorelei in the ancient druid rights he never felt the empowerment he did in this moment. There was something different about him. A heartbeat... the flooding of warm blood through his veins as Morgana accepted his blood offering. A passioned hiss seethed through his teeth as she suckled at the cut on his neck, binding her Rite with the blood of her chosen God. He was alive again... There was a true animation coursing through his body and he could feel his skin warming him. In this moment he was a God the greatest God they would ever set eyes on, and she the most magnanimous goddess who would ever take the title of High Priestess.
He breathed his first warm breath nearly a thousand years and it was an incredible feeling, far greater than the one he experience in the otherworld. He could feel her throbbing meeting his and he moved his body against her, their rhythm's coming together to meet in a perfect of each others body's as they became one. Everything about her becomes fluent and clear in his body, mind, and for at least this moment, a part of his soul that he was long ago robbed of. She was a complete part of him now and he a part of her. The flood of his being into hers was present on her feature as she pulled away looking at him as if to question why she'd unlatched her lips from the drink of his blood. The euphoria of his ancient blood would likely cause a stir in her.
Colden watched her, those gunmetal orbs of his only leaving hers when he ran his tongue from her chin, to her mouth, swiping the blood from her chin and lips and willed her to have it by rolling his tongue into her mouth and pressing his lips firmly against hers. There was indeed an incredible magic that travel through their tangled bodies as his movements and thrusts felt more urgent and alive. Colden couldn't help but wonder if she remembered him as they were like this before, when she was Lorelei, and if she did was this moment more empowering to her as well?
Something was going on with Colden, Morgana could sense the magic moving in him but she was being consumed with her own to be able to grasp what was happening to him. His blood was taking hold of her and making him a part of her, she wanted to just focus on feeling him inside her, in all ways he was in this moment inside of her and one with her but there was another presence claiming her. The Goddess was taking her over, giving her their blessing and empowering her further.
All of her senses were heightened, her eyes seeing clearly all the layers of the world, she gasped as she saw Colden through her new eyes and saw the life flowing in him. Was this permanent or just a reflection of the Godforce within him. She had to stop looking at him though she didn’t want to as they kissed and he rocked deeper into her. Every sensation was more intense than anything in her life had been before, in all her lives. Memories stirred in the edges of her mind. She saw Colden and Lorelei, she knew what they had been together. An irrational jealousy gripped her and she nearly pulled away from him but why was she jealous. That was her and here he was wanting her again and with her in a way that they had never shared before.
She moved her hips pulling him deep inside her, clenching to keep him there. She opened her eyes and they were the eyes of the warrior goddess, fierceness and victory, the animal, the hunter, the killer.
“You are mine” She hissed, she wrapped a leg around his and pushed him over onto his back underneath her not letting the contact between them break. Her fingers dug into the flesh of his chest as she rocked her hips, her body moving in a sensual dance and rhythm. Energy was flooding into her as the elements claimed her, her voice a breathless moan as everything combined inside her flooding her with power and then suddenly all she could feel was her body, his body, her mind brushing against his and she dropped all attempts to keep him from hers. She surrendered offering him mind, body and soul, offering herself to be his for all time.
Completion, the feeling of been whole. That's the only way Colden could describe the life force that was flowing through him, the moment wasn't ravenous as it normally was. There wasn't that ache for blood that had its power over him all these centuries; somehow it had all faded away. Morgana clenched around him the deeper he moved inside of her, the sensation was awing with the new strange life that had entered his body. 'You are mine.' Her tone was a possessive hiss that caused his heart to sputter. He was absolutely mesmerized by her as she clenched him tight and rolled on top of him. His chest heaved, pulling and releasing heated breaths at a rapid pace. The blood flowing through his veins was like liquid lust as she took over him completely.
Visions flashed through his mind, visions of lives he never knew he led, all of them leading him to this moment... this rite. He wondered before they came here if he belonged. If he was meant to fulfill this honor for her? The goddess answered through the bucking of her body above him as she sat up, rocking her hips down on him to take in his length as deeply as she could. Colden's body reacted to her every move. His muscles contracting and retracting with every roll of her hips into him. He hissed as she dug her nails into his chest, his head dropping back against the stone, as she made his groin ache and throb with a fierce predominance over any other sense in his mind and body.
A deep primal groan rumbled from his throat as she rocked hungrily into him and Colden couldn't lay there under her any longer without feeling her body coil completely around him. Taking a firm hold of her hips, his fingers dug in into the flesh of her ass, squeezing as he sat up, guiding her to wrap her legs around him as his arms wrapped around her. One of his hands found its way into her long dark locks and he pulled her down the length of him with a primitive groan that left him panting growls. His hand tangled in her hair, he tugged her head back kissing and nipping ferociously at her neck and breasts. His lip slowly drug from her swollen, bitten nipple, along the length of her neck to her ear.
His voice was a deep, raspy, hiss in her ear. "Since time began." He answered to her possessive hiss. The god and goddess had made it very clear to him that all his lives, including this, which couldn't really be considered life, was all lived for her. To be with her, to protect, and honor her even if it meant he would die in doing so. Hunger driven by the deep roll of Morgana's hips caused Colden to pull her head down to his shoulder as he lost his mind and body in the magic of the rite and the breathless moans of his goddess coiled around him in the consummation of her power as priestess and goddess.
Morgana felt Colden’s arms come around her as he sat up, she was having a hard time focusing her mind. The sensation of their union was overwhelming and on top of that her mind was unlocking hidden memories, not just of her previous lives but all the lives that her blood had lead leading to this moment.
Her head fell to his shoulder her lips and teeth moving over his flesh. There was this desire in her to bite him and taste him again. His blood was flowing inside her now and it was a strong elixir of magic. Everything was threatening to overwhelm her and then she raised her head and looked into Colden’s eyes and everything just fell away, there was only him and her, this moment, their union, their power. He was hers and she was his in all ways for always. She wanted to stay in this moment forever but then a haunting voice filled her ears with a beautiful melody. The voice was joined by a male counterpart. The chief bards were singing and their words held power. They whipped around her like a wind moving across her skin in compliment to the touch of her lover, her God. The moment was building. This was it. Her body reacted, her soul willing this moment, the moment when in the extremes of pleasure she would be one with the universe, one with her God, one with herself. A moment of purity, the true moment of power and spirit, this moment was why those who would control the world tainted the act of sex, the act of making love, the act and union where any could experience the moment of the divine. Her head fell back and a long growl left her lips as she tensed around Colden, cresting her wave of pleasure and divine, and became the Goddess on earth.
***
Morgana groaned, she felt like she had been hit by a truck....hit by a truck, dipped in tar, dragged through a meat grinder and crushed under a 747. Last night must have been one heck of a bender. She hadn’t felt this bad since Aunt Seph had died. What on earth had possessed her to drink? What on earth had she drunken? An image of a goblet being passed to her flashed in her mind. Last night? The sleepy fog lifted from her mind. The third trial, the triple Goddess, the elements, the blessing, Colden offering himself as her consort, joining with him in the Great Rite and the feast afterwards and the wine, all the goblets of wine as everything in existence was toasted and celebrated. It had been a long night, point of fact she didn’t remember it finishing, where was she now. She sat up and yelped as her head collided with something hard. Her yelp startled Colden awake beside her and before she had time to warn him he had collected his head just as painfully. He cursed loudly. Her eyes slowly adjusted and she realised that something had been placed over the bed. Someone obviously worried about Colden’s special skill of sunlight combustion.
Morgana remembered last night, the gift bestowed on Colden. He had been as human, heart and breath as he had joined with her as God and Consort. She wondered if the gift was still in effect as he pulled her down into his arms. “Greetings Goddess.” His voice moved in her mind like a lovers carress. She let her thoughts move back against him. “Greetings my consort.” The laughter of her mind tinkled like silver bells before she added turning more serious. “I remember you.”
