The water of Tenebre’s river was dizzily flowing down the valley, washing, in its way, the stones of different colors, which were lying on the bottom of the river bed. And the quick flow of the water was somehow reminding others about the passing of time, about memories left behind, and about life, that continued going further and further, despite all the tragedies, sadness, and happiness that could be found in the world.
Up the river, so close to its dizzy water, Anaya could be seen. She was mirroring her face on the blue-purple mirror of the river while her lost glance revealed a kind of loss in the abyss of memories.
Suddenly, she closed her eyes as if bothered by the sunlight, which was mirroring its golden arrows in the same water in which Anaya was mirroring her face. But even so, with her eyes closed, she kept feeling dizzy and lost because life was missing from her body for so long, and that day, feeling so much shining and life-giving pulsation from all around, Anaya felt how her chest was pressed by a miraculous and secret force, which she never felt before.
This made her slowly look toward the sun, still with her eyes closed. Then she smiled, feeling the warmth of the sunlight caressing her face, and then, a rebellious gust of wind whipped her hair on her back and shoulders, slowly moving it as if it was blown by the breeze of life.
„Vāḻkkai! (Life)” The old lady murmured and smiled again because, for a long time, she didn't say that word, for many years actually. But it was still a word that she loves and loved once. „Viti illāmal pōṉa piṟaku, nīṅkaḷ ēṉ vāḻkkaiyait toṭarkiṟīrkaḷ?” (Tamil) - „Why are you still near me, Life, when Fate is gone?”
Only the gust of wind answered her instead while it kept whipping her hair and moving her garments that even nature around was breathing in a sweet rumble of eternal happiness. Then, the water stopped its flow and its blue surface suddenly became transparent. Later it turned into a milk foam, and, from that water, Gaea showed up in front of Anaya.
The Titanide said nothing. She only stood like that, above the water, for minutes in a row, watching the old lady from in front of her, who was still with her eyes closed, watching the sun.
Actually, Gaea didn’t talk because she knew that those moments were saints for Anaya because only once in a year she could feel the gust of wind caressing her face, and also only that day of the year she could mirror her face in the same water where many years ago she ended with her life.
Eventually, Anaya opened her eyes and looked at Gaea, on whose face calmness and peace could be read. But Gaea also remembered the past and the same memories were seen reflected in Anaya’s glance. „Years pass like moments, Mother Earth, and we are also passing through life like the wind. Will we find out the secret of eternal life someday?”
Gaea smiled. She was used to such questions heard from the old lady’s mouth, but she felt that that day Anaya was even more nostalgic than usual. „We have only one life, Anaya and we can’t control its flow.”
„And yet, I would have given an eternity to have such a power in my hands.”
„Why? Why do you need an eternity when you still wander through this life for so long, much longer than it was necessary? Why not lead the steps of your soul toward Aeon?”
„Because I still want to feel that I’m living, Mother Earth. I still want to be a young virgin, to sing in front of my parent’s house, to dance next to the beloved man that makes my soul sing, and die once again in the arms of my love.”
„For this, you must reborn, Anaya. To feel once again the plenty of life, you must give your soul a chance to have a new shape.”
„This means to forget my former life.”
„And… what was so good in your former life that you can’t turn your back on it and forget the evil they did to you?”
Anaya shuddered, for a moment, and looked at the Titanide. Then she watched at the milky water: a younger Anaya, falling on her back in those waters, showed up like a dream of the old lady, and then, she saw the back of a man, squatting on the river shore and looking at the same waters that swallowed her body.
But Anaya couldn't see the face of that man, as she couldn't remember who he could be. Yet, something in him told her that he was waiting for a long time next to that water: he was waiting for a Fate to turn back the Wheel of Time, or maybe he was there to end with remorse and sad memories.
Gaea looked in the same direction, but she only saw how the man turned his back to the river and moved further.
On the river shore, however, in the same place where he had been, it was left a small flower of Blue African Violet, carefully put on the ground, after he first kissed it and tried to send to it his hidden love that way.
***
MANY YEARS AGO
It was a big celebration in the village from the valley. It was dance and music, and there were also young people grabbed by their hands there, one next to the other, and moved by the rhythm of life while glancing at the one who stole their heart, with glances full of love, full of longing, because youth it’s like a wild horse, which escaped from its prison, after being caught and kept captive for a long time because others thought that this way that horse will be submissive and listen to them.
But… can one stop the wave of life flow down? Can one tell his heart not to beat anymore when next to him is the one who makes the blood boil in his veins and madly flow? No, it’s impossible.
And this happened to the young Anaya too, who was dancing next to Kiran, a young man about 20, tall, slender, with black hair like the feathers of the crows and a mustache of the same color which was barely seen coming out through his dark olive skin. His eyes were blue, however: like the sky, like the river water, in which the flowing of the time and the dance of the rhythm of life could be also seen.
Anaya instead was his opposite: she had long, white hair, short in stature, with black eyes and white, milky skin. Actually, she was so white that she could be easily mistaken for a precious phosphor that had just been put out to be watched by the sun and envied by people.
But even so, despite that visible contrast between them, the two young people felt so attracted by the other one, like a magnet because wild horses, galloping through their souls, made them approach more and more while their fingers, unified in one fist, made them vibrate, their glances lurked at the other’s eyes and their lips, longing for a sweet kiss, were slowly moving, bitten by the white phosphor of their teeth and that colored them in an alluring red - a red of passion.
Kiran suddenly passed his arm at her back and approached her to his body, whispering in her ear: „let’s go there where we can be alone.”
The young lady hid her shy glance and, slowly smiling, she agreed. Then she followed him while he kept grabbing her hand, not to lose her in that mad crowd of dancers, excited by the rhythm of the music.
Their departure, however, hadn't been noticed, because nobody cared about their love, about two young hearts heated by the fire of a wild love because, on that dance floor, were many others that felt the same - wishing to feel it much more intense, longing to taste that forbidden apple of fleshy love and later to spend a life together in the sweet embracement of fate.
Outside it was a warm night, even though the playful gust of wind was whipping the young branches of the trees and making their leaves slowly tremble. But the sweet kiss of that gust of wind was also trembling the thin cloth of the young people’s garment, making them pleasantly shudder and deeply feel the secret call of their body’s longing.
Thus, tightly holding her by the hand, Kiran continued running toward the trees seen in the distance because there was their hidden place: their small Heavens which were hiding them from others because even if they were both young and free, Kiran couldn’t love her as he wished, freely, because, being poor and orphan, it was something that made him vulnerable while Anaya was the only daughter of the richest man in the village, who disliked the fact that Anaya was next to him and her father not only once threatened the young man with death if he doesn’t leave her alone.
But even so, Kiran’s love for Anaya was stronger while days passed by and the two young people were fighting for their love story: against Fate and against humans.
And, arriving under the trees, Kiran suddenly hugged her to his chest.
The young woman’s breasts hardened under the tender hug of the man, and her heart started to madly beat in her chest. But even if she loved those moments spent in his arms, she was afraid of what others would say, and also... she was afraid of her father’s anger.
That's why, when the young man suddenly kissed her and that kiss felt as if flames burned her, Anaya pushed the man away from her.
And when he felt her somehow trembling, he watched her. „Did I am too rude?” He asked, confused, seeing that she was trying to escape from his „trap”.
„It’s not this,” she stammered. „I just think that it’s not right what we are doing. Even if our love leads us toward this sweet abyss and we are rushing toward it, it seems to me that we should wait, Kiran. I… cannot be with you without my father’s acceptance.”
„But… he won’t accept this ever, Anaya. To be together, we must fight.”
„Yet, what you propose is madness. You are asking me to give up on… innocence for a life together. Do you at least realize what you are asking me?”
Kiran watched her, confused: her words hurt him because he decided this only when he understood that it was the final step that should be taken because he didn't see another path to walk onto to be with her.
Thus, if Anaya’s father had found out that they finally joined their bodies on that warm summer night, he wouldn't have had any other choice than to accept them.
But Anaya was opposing that idea and Kiran had the feeling that she hid something more than her fear for her father. „Are you sure that it’s only because of this?”
Anaya shuddered. „What else… can be? No, it’s only this,” she stammered, but she was lying because the young woman had a big secret - that wasn’t allowing her to freely live, love, or be happy as she wanted. „I love you,” she finally said and her sweet whisper made the man give up in front of her. „I’m only asking you to trust me and give me time. I promise we’ll make it. I promise we’ll be together. Just I need a little bit of time, ok? A short time for an eternity together isn’t that much.”
The young woman rose on her fingertips, put her palms on the man’s shoulders, closed her eyes, and kissed him.
And her kiss, long and innocent, made Kiran calm down, for, even if he was ready to give free reins to his passion, he knew that it meant losing her and he had better died than live without her.
The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
Then he closed his eyes too and fell prey to the sweet wave of emotions that surrounded them, like Anaya’s arms which were slowly embracing his neck, who approached her hot body of his, till the fire, which lived inside them, didn’t burn them completely and transformed the void in which they were spending their night into a mad arson of passion.
***
The next morning, Anaya decided that it was time to choose her own destiny. And, to fulfill this, she had to end with her father’s madness first, who, blinded by greed and love for money, did, in the end, a deal with the devil, and the price of that pact has been Anaya.
For many years, since she was just a 15-years-old girl, Anaya had to face that devil and see him every day because her youth and beauty had blinded him and he wanted her next to him all day long.
But… the devil’s power over the girl was limited because Anaya’s father, despite his greed, still kept some love in his heart for his daughter, and, when they signed their pact with blood, he could deceive the devil and, secretly, changed something on that contract, and he forced Anaya thus to spend only a few hours a day in the devil’s den and not an eternity as the devil had wanted at first.
And the name of that devil was Coallar, who saw her one beautiful spring morning while she was picking up flowers on the field and who had been immediately charmed by the abyss of her black eyes and he decided to have her at any cost.
That’s why, when Anaya’s father changed the contract’s conditions and he realized this only after he had signed it already, Coallar practically went crazy and, at first, he wanted to kill the man, but he couldn’t do this because he was tied by a blood covenant and, thus, forced to accept those conditions and have the girl with him only for a few hours a day.
Yet, Anaya was afraid of him, and, walking into the grotto that morning, she shuddered, feeling the coldness around her: she had also shuddered the first day she entered that grotto, five years ago.
And that day, as in the first day, she had flowers in her hair: fragrant flowers that made her seem like a fairy from old stories because Coallar fell in love with her namely seeing that she had flowers in her hair that day - an African violet, and the scent of the flower got to his nostrils, drove him crazy, and he saw himself kneeled in front of the girl.
But even so, even though she had been forced to be a captive, Anaya accepted that Fate and accepted to help her father, and, even if she hated this, she came every single day to Coallar’s den and spent time with him or her father would have suffered and the entire village too, and that meant that Kiran would have suffered too and she couldn’t allow this.
Actually, the young man also noticed her, while still being a teenager, one day when he passed through the village.
But both children were too shy to talk to each other at that moment. They preferred to keep the feeling in their chests alive till the perfect moment will come to confess it.
And the right time came later and also the first kiss. Then - had been the desire - to be together, one way or another. But, for this, Anaya had to rebel against Fate while she felt so weak, so unprotected in front of it. Thus, she chose to hide the truth and she did well because Kiran wasn't as strong as Coallar was and if he had decided to protect her, he could have been hurt or killed, but Anaya also didn’t know how to break the spell that was keeping her tied by Coallar.
„Why are you staying there and not approaching?” She heard the strong voice of Coallar, coming out of the depths of the grotto, and this made the girl shudder again, awakening from the flood of memories, and this happened because even if she heard that voice for years, she wasn’t used to this yet, as she couldn’t use to his presence, and this wasn’t because of his bodily presence because despite his age king Coallar was still good-looking, but the black aura, that was floating around him, made the young woman be afraid and want to run away from those cursed places.
In the end, she got her head together and tightly grabbed the handle of the boxes with sweets she prepared for Coallar.
Actually, Anaya wasn't doing this every day: she was doing this only when she wanted to get something from him and that day was one of those special days.
Thus, entering the hall throne, the young lady looked around. But he wasn’t there and this amazed her because she was sure that he was around, for she heard his voice talking to her not that long ago.
Suddenly, she felt him behind her, deeply inhaling the scent of her skin. And this made Anaya shudder again, being afraid of such movements of Coallar's, who wasn’t doing anything else than to make his desire grow more in his chest, but it was also increasing the disgust for him in the girl’s chest, a disgust that she has felt since she saw him for the first time.
„Something changed in you!” Coallar hissed through his teeth and, in his voice, anger was felt. „You are different today,” he said, and, moving his hand through her hair, he slowly walked around her. Then, he stopped in front of her and, touching her chin, he forced her to look into his eyes.
Anaya knew well what Coallar was able of: he could read the past, as he could read thoughts. So, she tried to fight with her inner she, trying to hide her feelings and memories.
But hiding something from Coallar was impossible and what he saw in her eyes drove him crazy: Anaya in the arms of another man.
A roar pierced the air of the grotto and its surroundings. But even if she was so afraid, Anaya tried not to show fear in front of him.
„How did you dare, bad woman? How did you dare to turn your back on me and betray me? Me, the king who wanted you as his queen, next to his throne?! You chose misery and poverty instead, and not the richness I could have given to you.”
Anaya smiled. „Why do I need richness if I can't have the one I love next to me? I better suffer from hunger, but to have always my beloved man next to me - the one who unconditionally loves me.”
„I loved you and I love you,” Coallar yelled, furious. „For you, I would have turned the world upside down and this only to see you happy.”
„I don’t need that much to be happy. For being happy, I only need so few and you know what is this.”
„What you are asking me - it’s impossible. I won’t ever give up on you.”
„Even after you saw my past?”
„I don’t care about your past. I care only about your future.”
„A future that I don’t want for me. Not next to you,” and her hand grabbed a dagger she had hidden in her girdle and its blade touched the soft skin of her throat. „For me, being next to you equals death. I better die than to keep coming inside of this grotto of shadows, where I know that I’m not the only one who stays by your side.”
Coallar furiously stared at her: he didn’t expect such a dare from her and also, he never thought that she would be able to betray him one day.
Yet, he was sure of something: he was sure that Anaya won’t ever give up on her madness. That's why the only chance to have her next to him was to defeat her in her own game. So, Coallar cunningly smiled. „Well then!” And his words amazed the girl, who glanced at him with curiosity. „If you want to be free, you must fulfill my last wish.”
„Which one?”
„Spend this night here. All night long and if you make it, I mean if you stay ‘till dawn, then I’ll release you, and, for this, you must drink this magical potion which will break my curse.”
What did it mean a single night for Anaya when she knew that at stake was her future at Kiran’s side? For her beloved man, she was ready to stay even more next to that monster, who was playing with her like a cat with the mouse before eating him: she was completely unprotected in front of Fate and confused about tomorrow.
But that night has been the worst of the ones she spent all her life and this was because she expected a calm night, even though Coallar’s shadow and the evil breath of that grotto seemed calm, but she had been wrong: all night long, she heard the growls of the wild animals, she saw shadows crossing the grotto, she had visions about reaching the Hell’s door, but the love in her heart helped her to turn back to life.
The next morning, she drank the magic potion as she promised. At first, she didn’t feel anything, only a big release that took over her soul and when Coallar told her that she was free, she ran out of the grotto, without even looking back.
Outside of the grotto instead, she finally understood that she had been deceived by the king: that potion was meant to steal her will and her mind.
Thus, she wandered the surroundings in deep delirium almost till dusk, seeing all the time only Kiran in front of her, stretching his hands and calling her to him.
Probably that vision had been the only one that helped her to wander so much. But, in the end, she got on the same field, covered with violets, where Coallar saw her for the first time as if something mystical had called her there.
Then, she collapsed on her knees and looked at the sky while her eyes filled up with tears and she whispered: „Is this the end?”
But she right away felt how Coallar’s hands touched her shoulders and forced her to look at him - thus she saw him like in a dream, smiling at her like a mad person and she could read on his lips: „not, my dear. This is only the beginning.”
Yet, before having her, Coallar heard her last words: „you are so pathetic, king. You prefer to have the one who had been already someone else’s woman, but only not to accept your defeat.”
Later, the time spent in Coallar’s arms had been a bad dream only because, right away after this, she filled her memories with the moments spent in Kiran’s arms because that night, after they ran out of the dance floor, under that clump of trees when she kissed him and the madness of love took over her, she accepted to be his wife and she gave herself to him as if her heart was telling her to do this because she’ll be deceived, in the end, by Coallar’s madness.
***
Months after that event, Anaya gave birth to a baby girl. But the young mother didn’t even look at her child because she knew very well whose child she was.
That's why the midwife took the baby away from her mother and headed toward Coallar’s den where Anaya told her to leave the girl.
Yet, on her way toward the den, the midwife met Ahi, who knew what was waiting for that girl to be next to his father and Tenebre, and he decided to take care of her. Then, he took the girl from the old woman’s arms and also took the life of the midwife because he didn’t want to leave alive witnesses of that shameful past.
But Ahi didn’t know what to do with the girl: he didn’t know how to take care of a baby and he also didn’t know where he should have taken her. Yet, he uncovered the baby’s face and, watching into her eyes, he shuddered: that girl, despite her half-human nature, had huge power. That’s why Ahi decided to name her Inmar and, to hide her from Tenebre and Coallar, he transformed her and gave her the power of a red fox, whose destiny was to lead an army of evil.
After that, Ahi brought the baby into his den and waited because he knew well that Fate, which seemed to be so cruel to that girl, was in fact fighting for her, and the one who had to take care of the baby was already on her way to them because you can't hide or run away of your destiny.
And as Ahi, Anaya also knew this and decided that it was time to end the curse that destroyed her life because after that day, after being a victim on the field covered by her favorite flowers, she stopped talking and she did everything not to see Kiran.
The young man thought that she avoided him because of the night spent together and he decided to give her some time. But he was wrong because that night hadn’t been the beginning of their beautiful love story, but its end.
And that morning, after the midwife went, Anaya got out of bed, looked for a clean dress, and put it on with slow movements, but sure. Then, she combed her long hair, but left it whipped on her back, and, barefoot, she left the house.
It was daybreak at that moment: a warm and so beautiful spring morning. And even if was still early March, the sun was brightly shining, filling the surroundings with its golden light and also warming the young woman’s soul, who was heading to the river shore.
Thus, getting on the river shore, Anaya looked at the water, mirroring her face on its surface, and, sadly smiling, she spoke for the last time: „you won, Tenebre. I’ll choose today as being the day of my death, instead of living always in your shadows.” Then, she closed her eyes and watched the sun, enjoying its sweet kiss.
Then, she heard voices, calling her name because her father found out about king Coallar’s indignity eventually and this drove him crazy, but he hadn’t time to lament because he knew well that his daughter won’t ever accept living after she had been humiliated: she better dies and the easiest and dignified way to die for her was Maranam River.
Even so, even if she heard them calling her name, Anaya turned her back to the river and looked in the distance, where she saw Kiran and her father running toward the river, intending to save her. But she knew that they don’t have a future to spend together, that it had been only a dream she had once. That's why she closed again her eyes and allowed herself to fall on her back and her body has been covered by water soon.
Yet, she has been reborn from the waters at dusk. But she had already the body and the face of the old Anaya and she didn’t remember her past.
But she wasn't alone there - on the river shore, Ahi and Gaea were waiting for her because Mother Nature felt sorrow for the young lady, who suffered because of a monster, and allowed her to live at least like a shadow because those who willingly gave up on their life didn't have another chance to have a new soul.
After that, Ahi put Inmar in Anaya’s arms and allowed her to take care of the girl. And the love of a mother suddenly jerked in her heart and Anaya started to cry, seeing the baby’s face, and she accepted to take care of her, not knowing that Inmar was her baby in fact.
Thus, many years passed after that day, but Anaya couldn’t remember her past and she had the right to enjoy nature only once a year: on the same day when she had chosen death instead of life and this was possible only if Gaea was next to her because no matter how much those who lived around Anaya hated Gaea, the old fox couldn’t hate Mother Earth. Per contra, she considered her as being her mother and sister, whom she could tell about the burden of her soul, ask for a bit of advice, and whom to smile because Anaya had been a woman that loved to smile and sing. But, in the end, she forced herself to live like a shadow.
Actually, about the fact that Anaya was only a ghost, knew only a few: Ahi, Inmar, Gaea, Dike, and Inlan Diar. The other ones could see Anaya only when the night sky was full of stars because namely the Magic revived Anaya for a short moment and gave her the right to face the world.