THE MORRIGAN CHRONICLES

EMRYS, BRIAN, NEIL and myself set out on horseback to the Great Oak. The horses felt the energy of Samhain and made good time.

Emrys and I dismounted and gave the reins of our horses to Brian and Neil.

“We will need to enter in less than a minute,” Emrys said, looking at me. I know he felt my uneasiness.

Neil hopped from his horse and gave me one last embrace. As he pulled away he cupped my face and with a seriousness I’d never seen from him said, “One year’s time, my love. I will be right here a year from now. I love you.”

I know my eyes teared a little. I didn’t mind Emrys seeing, but thankfully Brian looked away, clearly uncomfortable. I ran my hand

through Neil’s hair and said, “One year. I love you.” “Now, Morrigan,” Emrys said, grabbing my hand.

Then we entered the Great Oak.

We came out into the realm between night and twilight. You could feel the magic in the air. Literally. Goosebumps raised on my skin, though I was not cold. There was no breeze but my hair floated as if I were swimming in a pool. The scent of cherry blossoms filled the air. I looked to the pinkened sky. Every shade of pink I could imagine and possibly a few more swirled, from the softest pink almost faded to white, to a bright magenta. Because of the lighting the grass and trees took on a rich deep purple hue, and a distant pond looked almost black.

I couldn’t believe how light I felt. Like I could fly. Until we started floating, then a panicked look must’ve crossed my face because Emrys laughed.

“I love when I get to surprise you,” he said. Having been there before, he maneuvered himself easily, flying next to me.

“I’ve seen and done a lot of crazy thing but… flying?” I know I sounded like a child but even Tuatha have dreams of flying. The freedom of actually doing it was exhilarating.

“You’ll get the hang of it. Pretty cool isn’t it?” He winked. Then he pointed to a distant hill. “We need to cross beyond the ridge. There’s a spot

next to a large lake. We’ll find Druantia there.” I nodded, still amazed that I was flying.

We began slowly until I got the hang of it. I was staying upright, perpendicular to the ground. Emrys leaned forward so he was parallel and I followed. Then we really began to pick up speed. We soared higher up away from the ground. Far higher than the ridge we needed to cross. The distance must’ve been twenty miles but we traveled so quickly we were there in a matter of minutes.

A large tree with pink blossoms grew next to the lake and under it was a woman. Druantia.

We began our descent and she turned to face us. She was beautiful. Tall and lean. Strong. Long chestnut curls tumbled down past her shoulders and there was a crown of antlers upon her head. Her skin was a porcelain I’d only read about but had never seen the likes of. Large, warm brown eyes were trained on Emrys. Her full pink lips smiled in genuine joy at the sight of him. She wore a forest green gown—the color not only complimented her coloring but starkly contrasted the pink and purple hues of the realm. The low cut of the gown revealed an ample bosom and the snugness of it implied long thin legs.

I couldn’t help but glance sideways at Emrys. The Druid looked smitten. Hell, I was smitten at the sight of her. Who could blame him?

“Emrys!” She beamed and embraced him.

He had embraced me thousands of times but not in the way that he embraced Druantia. I felt like I was intruding. To make it more awkward Druantia kissed him with a longing that I well understood. I looked in the other direction at the hills. Seriously, I was staring at hills. I would’ve done anything to be able to give them some privacy. Regardless, I was going to be grilling Emrys about their history later, because obviously there was a major backstory that I was not aware of.

Emrys finally pried his lips away and spoke, breaking the silence. “Druantia, this is Morrigan.”

She released Emrys from her grip and then embraced me as if I were her long lost sister.

Her voice was like honey as she spoke. I could feel the magic in it. Though unlike Emrys, it was unintentional. She was just that powerful that she couldn’t hide it. “Morrigan, I feel as though I know you.”

“It’s an honor to meet you,” I managed to say, bowing my head.

“No formality is required here, my dear,” she said, releasing me from her embrace but still holding my hand.

She grabbed Emrys’ with her other hand and led us to the edge of the lake where we all sat on the soft grass. Mixed into the scent of the cherry blossoms I could smell the moisture from the lake. It was quiet and still, like glass. A breeze fluttered over us.

Druantia’s warm eyes stared out over the water. She began, “I get many visitors here. I know many in all the realms. Do you know how many realms there are, Morrigan?”

“Twelve.” I answered, not needing to think. Everyone knew that.

Druantia smiled. “Twelve. Twelve that you know of, yes. There are actually fifty-five.”

My jaw dropped. I looked to Emrys, his face betrayed that he knew this information already.

Druantia continued, “It is only myself and Emrys now that are left of the Druid Council. We were the only ones who knew how many realms there are. We were in your realm when it was still being created. This is what is left of our realm.”

I managed to outwardly compose myself. But only outwardly.

“But our story is a long one. One for another time, I suppose,” she said, patting my hand. “Do you know why you can only enter into this realm on Samhain?”

I thought for a moment before answering. “No, I suppose I never gave it any consideration. Only knew it to be the case.”

Druantia nodded. “Well let me do my best to explain it.” She waved her hand and a small white globe shone bright in the air. Then more colored globes, I’m assuming fifty-five, began to orbit quickly and randomly around the original small white one. It reminded me of seeing someone on a television show Emrys watched once, explaining what an atom looked like.

I stared at the display Druantia created and then she waved her hand and the orbiting slowed down drastically. She pointed to the center globe and said, “This is where The Creator resides. Where he is from. He can and does visit all the realms, and yet he is always there as well.” She paused for effect but I was no Emrys. I was not going to try to figure the riddle out. “This is where the Gods of all the realms are from. So it is in effect their home as well.”

“I guess I never thought of them as having come from somewhere else,” I found myself saying.

Druantia’s wise eyes stayed focused on the lake. “They never lived there for any amount of time so one would not think they would imagine it to be home. But then one would be wrong.”

Emrys said nothing but he turned from the water to look at Druantia. She spared him a glance and continued. “You are able to enter here on Samhain and exit here at the exact time the following year because that is the only time, once a year, that our two realms connect. See?”

I looked at the model floating in the air. I could see the small blue orb and the pink orb pass through one another, just the edges brushing together.

“So when our two realms connect, we can enter the realm?” I said, now understanding.

Druantia nodded. “Yes. There are other realms that your realm connects to. Some, like mine, once a year. Others that connect once a century, some daily, and so on. It is not random and since the realms travel around The Creator’s realm in various planes it can be eons before some of the realms connect. Some never connect to yours, so you would have to hop from one realm and go into another. Unless you knew to look for them you would never know they existed. Some are still there and are empty, and some never come into contact with your realm, so you are unaware of them.”

I kept staring at the model, still in motion. Druantia pointed to a giant globe that swirled black and red. “Watch this one.”

The model continued spinning on then slowed down once again. The giant red and black one began to engulf the small blue one, our realm, as a piece of the giant one also transected the small white one, The Creator’s.

I didn’t understand, but knew that couldn’t be good. Emrys and I looked at Druantia, not sure of the impact, and she explained, “The giant red and black one is what humans have come to call Hell. It is where the demons are trapped. The last time the three of these globes intersected was the day of the great battle that you were put into your state of sleep. The day the Gods gathered all the demons they could find and pushed them into that realm.”

“Does that mean that the demons can descend upon the Earthly realm again when this happens? And how much time do we have?” I felt sick at seeing the model continue to move. The black and red globe was twenty times the size of the small blue and white one. It was as if it was taking its time swallowing the bright blue orb as the color faded to an almost black.

“No, and yes I suppose.” Druantia didn’t waste any time explaining. “It is just the point that they can enter your realm. The Gods locked them away. But… they can also unlock it.”

I was so confused. “But why would they do that?”

Emrys shook his head and now spoke, “Because they are tired and they want to go home. It’s happening again isn’t it? They have found a loophole.”

Druantia placed her hand upon Emrys’ knee and pulled his head to her chest. He let her. I was clueless of what they referred to.

Druantia turned to me and spread her arms, gesturing for me to look at the horizon. “This was once home of all the Druids. Thousands of us. We were very prosperous and busy, visiting other realms, offering our healings and knowledge. Our realm is very, very old. We had been here millions of years. The Gods each passing millennial became more and more complacent. Then they hated us. They wanted to go home. But the only way Gods are allowed to enter the Creator’s sphere is if the realm they guard is dead. So they planned an attack and killed every living being. Our realm and three others were destroyed in the span of a day. The other realms were intersecting, the last one touching the Creator’s. It was an organized effort of all the Gods of the three realms to strike on the day they were aligned and they essentially hopped from one realm to the other and the other then into the Creator’s. The other realms void of Gods are void of life. My magic allows me to keep this place alive but I must remain alone, never leaving, to keep it so. I just cannot bear to leave it and let it die.”

My heart ached looking at Emrys and Druantia. I couldn’t fathom their loss.

I sat silently, letting Druantia compose herself until she was ready to speak again. “That is where the first great demons came from. The Creator, in his grief and rage at what the Gods had done, turned them into demons and banished them from his home. He made sure that every God in every realm understood that they could not actively be the ones to destroy a realm or this would be their punishment. To eternally be banished and to be hunted down and destroyed by his newest creation, The Tuatha de Danann.” “That is how and why we were created?” I whispered.

Druantia laced her fingers through mine. “Yes. You were meant to bring balance back to the realms. The Gods that were turned to what you call Greater Demons. The Lesser Demons are the beings Greater Demons have twisted and lured into joining them.”

I was still in shock but the model stared back at me. I feared I knew the answer but asked anyway. “What does this story have to do with the Hell realm?”

Emrys spoke this time, having pieced the same puzzle together. He looked to Druantia as he spoke for confirmation and she only nodded. “The Gods have found a loophole, like I said. They cannot destroy the realm, otherwise they’ll suffer the same fate as their brothers and sisters and be turned into demons. But you see how gigantic that globe is? It will be in contact for seven days with our realm and the Creator’s. If the demons were able to destroy the humans in a week’s span, on the seventh day, the Gods walk straight through the Hell realm right into the Creator’s realm and no rules are broken.”

Druantia said, “This plan has been in place for a very long time. Without Tuatha, Druids or Fomoire only the humans would be left, and they would fall quickly.”

“That is why we were put to sleep? To be out of the way? But why not destroy us?” I was sounding like Emrys.

“When you found out that the demons were placed in Hell rather than destroyed did that puzzle you?” Druantia asked me.

“Yes, I figured it was the Gods being the Gods. I don’t understand a lot of what they do,” I answered.

“And instead of destroying you, Artaius had you put to sleep?” she asked.

“Yes, I suppose so,”

Her calculating eyes went from warm to those of a hawk. “There is

still much we do not know. I suspect not all the Gods are on board for this plan. The Gods are fickle, though, Morrigan, you are right. Don’t trust them. I fear that the war that is coming will be fought on many fronts. Demons and Gods.”

I lost my breath at the thought.

“How much time do we have?” Emrys was thinking ahead of me.

“When you return to your realm,” she began, “you will have about one and a half years before the Hell realm begins to intersect your realm. It will begin on the spring equinox of that year and as Emrys said, will take seven days.”

Her honeyed voice held an edge and urgency to it. “We must raise an army. The Gods will no doubt unlock Hell, and holding the demons back is the only hope we have.”

“There are only three hundred of us left,” I replied solemnly.

“I know, Morrigan.” She stroked my hair as my mother would have. “There is always hope. The Creator will show us a way. I will do what I can on my end to help, and will be with you when Hell comes.”

“The Sword of the Tuatha. We need to find it. It was sent away and we don’t know where. It’s only one sword but…”

Druantia cut me off. “Yes the sword. That is why you really came. To find it. I can help with that.”

She stood and so did Emrys and I. She said, “The sword is the only one that can kill a God. Artaius wasn’t stupid, though. By binding himself to Arthur, and in turn Arthur binding the sword to him, the sword cannot kill Artaius.”

“What?” I shouted.

Druantia put her hands up. “You have one of the descendants of

Arthur, correct?”

“Yes, he is training with us,” I replied.

“Well then,” she said. “That is a simple remedy. He only needs to voluntarily put a single drop of his blood on the sword and freely give it to your King. That is all that it takes to undo that mess.”

“Oh, thank the Creator.” I finally breathed a sigh of relief. “So where do we find it?”

Druantia’s face hardened. “Undoing the bonding is easy enough. There’s good news and bad news about where the sword is. First of all, the descendant of Arthur is the only one that can retrieve it. You can go and assist on the quest of course, but he will be the only one they will turn it over to.”

“Who are they?” Emrys said cautiously. He seemed to already know the answer.

Druantia sighed. “The Godless.”

“Frak! Frack! And frack!” Emrys kicked at the grass as he shouted.

“This is actually a good thing, Emrys.” Druantia thickened the honey in her voice.

Emrys came unglued. “A good thing? A good thing? This is a realm that even the Gods fear. This is a realm that nobody knows about because nobody has ever been and returned alive. And you think this is a good thing?”

I was not liking the sound of any of this. I’d never seen Emrys this upset. Not good.

Druantia spoke more firmly to Emrys now. “By the Creator, get yourself under control Emrys, and just listen to me.” She turned to me since I had no idea what was going on other than this was going to suck. “Do you know of the Godless, Morrigan?”

“No,” I answered truthfully. I was still shocked at there being more than twelve realms. I was having a hard time catching up.

Emrys continued pacing with irritation written on his face. Druantia ignored him and spoke to me. “Word obviously got out to a few of the other realms what had happened when the Gods destroyed my home and the other two realms. The Godless are what you might call a Cyclops?” “A Cyclops? For real?” I couldn’t believe it.

Druantia nodded. “A little different than what your lore would suggest. They have been mostly myth and legends, even to the oldest of realms. They are giants, averaging thirty feet in height. They have one giant bulbous eye and instead of hair, they have long tendrils of flesh sprouting from their heads. Hideous creatures by our standards, but they are not evil.”

Emrys interrupted, “Except the whole killing and being eaten part.”

Druantia ignored him. “When they heard how the Gods had turned on the realms they feared that the Gods of their realm would do the same. They forged swords that were capable of killing Gods.”

“Like The Sword of Tuatha?” I couldn’t help interrupting again.

“Yes, that is where the sword came from. But it is just one sword. They

had enough for an army. They hunted down and killed all the Gods in their realm. That is why they are called the Godless.”

“How does their realm still exist without any Gods?” I asked.

Her voice was musical. “Their realm slowly began to die. No water, no trees or plants. No Gods to keep the world going. It became a vast wasteland. They feed on those who enter from other realms to steal the secret of how to forge the swords. They never enter any other realms because they know a God would risk punishment from the Creator, even being turned into a demon, to kill one of them. Your sword, the Sword of The Tuatha, was given as a gift from their king to your people long ago, when the Tuatha left your realm to battle demons. The sword not only kills Gods, but the slightest piercing of the skin with it is lethal to the demons as well. Since the higher demons used to be Gods, it works the same.”

“You mean to tell me that instead of fighting with regular swords against an army of demons that will only die if you take their head, which is no easy feat, they have swords that will kill demons and Gods with just the piercing of the skin?” I was jubilant. “That is the best news we’ve gotten.”

Druantia smiled. “See! I told you there was good news.”

Emrys had to poop on our moment. “And the killing. Don’t forget they kill all who enter, then they eat you. Oh, and Druantia, why don’t you fill Morrigan in on how it’s impossible to get there.”

Before my heart could sink Druantia answered him. “It is not impossible. Why, there is someone right now within your very realm that has a stone to enter and a Cup of Plenty to garner an audience with their King.”

Emrys looked over his shoulder at her and if there was such a thing as an evil eye he gave it to her. He turned and slowly walked to her. She was a tall woman but he was still much taller. He bent his nose down to her and his voice was sharp. “Even if we can get in. And even giving a Cup of Plenty to the King, there is no guarantee he will give us the sword, or more of them and let us return alive.”

“There are no guarantees in life,” she said flippantly. “But, a Cup of Plenty would mean a lot to a King in a land with nothing. It would mean drink for all, as much as they could swallow, for eternity. Living on only the blood of the trespassers has made them ravenous. A cup that would never run out, why there is no greater prize. And Emrys, you are very clever. Morrigan, you are the greatest warrior of the Tuatha. You two, upon returning, will take this human descendant of Arthur and go to New York City. The one you seek is frequenting a bar called Blood Moon. There you will find the Cup and stone in their possession. I am unsure who it is. My sources are foggy but I know he is there. That is what I know, and that is what must be done.”

Emrys hung his head in defeat. An impossible quest for sure. We had a few of those before, I thought. This blew those all away. We had no choice. No time to develop another plan. No use dwelling on it.

“Your sunset will be here soon.” Druantia softly whispered, her lips against Emrys’ neck.

I once again turned to the hills. “Emrys, I remember the way back to the Great Oak. I’ll meet you there.”

The least I could do was let him say goodbye to Druantia properly. This was one journey we might not return from. I flew back to the tree and waited for Emrys, my anticipation at seeing Neil building.