Day 1 of Midwinter, Sunrise

Leaving Ériu

Entering Annwn

There was a voice before there was a world. I had heard this voice before. It was the calm male voice from the sunrise of midwinter morning:

“The realm of Annwn welcomes you home, Bren.

You have been gifted no boon.

One relic is in your possession.

You have acquired:

The Stone of Destiny

Relic abilities unlocked:

Shrink/Enlarge- Stone of Destiny

Return to Sender- Stone of Destiny

Attention: Relic damage assessed

Effects unknown”

“Who are you?” I asked, still in the darkness of the in-between. There was no response, just silence and void. Then, I had an idea. Taking on a British accent, I said, “Computer! Tea, Earl Grey, hot.” Still silence. Oh well, it was worth a try. It made as much sense as anything else this morning.

There was no indication, anywhere, that I was still on Earth. In fact, there was nothing here at all. I floated in a vast nothingness, with not even an air current or temperature of note.

A swirling light started to slowly sweep back into my peripheral view. I became aware that the colors were beginning to organize themselves into patterns. A world began to form before my eyes. Objects and shapes came into being from those random color swirls.

Gravity returned and I found myself suddenly taking in a mouthful of water. There was splashing all around me. I coughed, underwater, and kicked hard to the surface.

When at last I could feel air, I found myself in the middle of a large body of water, surrounded by a completely foreign world. The landscape itself appeared to use a different visible light spectrum. The sky was a light purple hue. The clouds moved and changed shapes as if they had lives of their own.

My eyes scanned the water around me. I saw another person kick to the surface. Morias! I could see Fí fluttering above the water a few feet away. She gave us both an exasperated look. “Come on, ya wet noodles! We need to get you both out of this pool.”

I looked back at Morias to see if he was staying afloat, and it appeared he was at no risk of drowning. Most of his attention seemed to be focused behind us. I followed his gaze to a huge smoking mountain in the distance.

“Are we where I think we are?” he sputtered as he swam.

“You mean, are you swimming in the Heart-shaped Pool?” she asked with a gleam in her eye.

“Aye.” If I didn’t have so much water in my ears, I could have sworn I heard panic in his voice.

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But I let that little bit of unknown go for the moment. There was so much already that I didn’t understand. Fíadan could have just as easily said that we were swimming in a dinosaur’s nostril. At this point, none of what I was hearing or experiencing made any sense to me.

“Yea… For some reason the stone sent us here instead of Flamebright.”

Morias and I continued to swim away from the volcano and after a few minutes, we made our way onto a manicured shoreline. There appeared to be a pristine white marble curb running completely around this Heart-shaped Pool (whatever that was).

The edge of the water was very shallow. It reminded me of a kiddie pool that stretched for the length of a football field. We stumbled through the ankle-deep water and up onto the shore.

Before me stretched a verdant landscape that I had only seen in doctored Musical.ly videos. This place was green beyond belief, with the most beautiful trees I had ever seen. The blossoms and fruit were in every color in the rainbow, and maybe even a few that weren’t.

The landscape felt foreign to me for a few reasons. First, the temperature here was not middle-of-December freezing. The air temperature felt like it was in the mid-70s, and I immediately began to strip off the saturated winter coat that was weighing me down.

The second reason that this new realm seemed foreign to me was because of the sheer number of what appeared to be fairies littering the grassy knolls between trees. They stared at us. Some looked shocked to see us, while others looked angry.

Fíadan immediately flew up to a group of them and began a heated conversation. I couldn’t hear exactly what they were saying, but there were a lot of angry faces and a lot of fingers pointing in our direction. I turned to help Morias out of his own winter coat.

“Why do those…” I paused, not believing what I was about to say. “…fairies look so upset?”

He glanced at the crowds along the shoreline. “The Heart-shaped Pool is the most sacred body of water to the Tuatha. It looks as though the Ellyllon are now patrolling the Pool, for some reason.”

“Okay, Tathan…err… Morias… you need to tell me what’s going on here… Start at the beginning.”

“The beginning would take too long. But you are right, there are things you need to know, and I can tell you some of them. But I have been away too long to tell you other parts of the tale.”

I stared at the lush landscape. “What is this place? I heard a voice in my head call it ‘Annwn’.”

“Ah yes, that would be The Dagda. He was welcoming you home, I suspect. Annwn is where we are. Remember the stories I told you of Tír na nÓg?”

I nodded. “Yes, of course, but those were just stories.”

“Well, you are here now, my friend. You are in the Otherworld, the Land of Eternal Youth.”

I let out a deep breath, and looked around again. In the distance, I could see the head of a man sticking up above the trees. He was walking away from us.

I gasped. “What is that?”

“What do you think it is?”

“It looks like a freaking giant,” I blurted.

“Aye, it is. There are many giants living in close proximity to Mag Mell. Thankfully that isn’t a fachan or a trow. ‘Giant’ is an accurate term in this case.” He paused and seemed to spot something that interested him. “But it isn’t the giant we should be concerned with at the moment.”

“What should we be concerned with then?” How could he not be worried about a giant?

“The changeling.” Morias pointed to a man walking toward us.

The man appeared to be human, save for a slight point to his ears. He had an auburn-colored, well-manicured beard that rose slightly as he smiled in our directions. The fairies stopped arguing and turned to him as he approached.

“Can it be?” The man’s eyes went wide in shock. He grasped Morias by the shoulders. “Morias ó Falias? I would recognize you after ten thousand cycles of the moon.” He smiled widely and embraced Morias.

“I would hope so, Tadg. As it has been closer to twenty thousand cycles,” Morias said, hugging the man back.

“And in that time have you forgotten that swimming in the Heart-shaped Pool is frowned upon?” Tadg raised an eyebrow.

Morias looked embarrassed. “Gorias was our destination. I don’t know what happened.”

“Very strange indeed,” the man said, letting go of Morias. He turned to me. “And who have you brought with you?”

“Forgive me. Yes, introductions are in order.” Morias looked over to Fí, who wrinkled her brow at him. “Tadg mac Nuadat, this young man saved us from the Cailleach Bhéara. I couldn’t very well leave him behind.”

“Certainly not.” Tadg sounded horrified at the thought. “And does this young man have a name?”

Morias glanced at me and gave a very slight shake of his head. Before I could speak, he said, “I believe he said his name was Bren, but I can’t recall.”

“That’s right.” I wasn’t sure what exactly was going on between Morias and Tadg, but I knew when to follow someone else’s lead. “Bren Callahan.”

“Well… Bren Callahan.” The man’s tone became formal, “We are in your debt for bringing the famed scholar of Falias back to us, unharmed.” He took my hand, and shook it firmly, then turned back to Morias. “Father will be thrilled that you are… alive and well.”

Morias inclined his head. “Tadg, I am very excited to be home and talking with old friends, but we are wet and tired. May we get dried off and sit for a bit before we continue?”

“Of course.” Tadg bowed his own head slightly. “I will speak with the Ellyllon and smooth over your recent… aquatic recreational activities.” He turned and walked away.

Fi and Tadg nodded at one another as they passed. Tadg began gesturing to the other fairies in a pacifying manner, while Fí just muttered under her breath, “Little time, chuckleheads, and LOTS to talk about.”