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Once the world had it’s passions known,
Two families that had been rivals,
The Rains and Asters, with a hate all their own
Their contempt had made it’s solemn arrival,
A world of hate and murder and death,
When the Count of the Rain family’s life had an end with no safe revival.
And so through out the years, with every Rain’s breath,
The hate of the two families continues to spread,
Until fate began to pave these doomed families path.
A gift to the Asters, of the sacred power, just a shred,
In which they could see things so divine.
And to the Rains, a deed of satisfaction; to take care of the dead
For to collect the souls of Aster’s gift seemed far better than fine.
All their souls sealed into cards,
The gifts of the tarot, an immense power intertwined.
And now we take a pause at the story to regard,
That over a thousand years have now past.
The cards of the tarot are now like shards,
To tell the story of a mysterious family that is so vast,
So here we are, Nineteen Eighty Five,
Where love and hate now are in such contrast
Claudia Rain and Keith Aster are wed and thrive,
The wife is well pregnant with children; twins.
But even she knows she will not survive.
It’s not that her body is too small, or too thin,
But rather she knows she must give up her life,
In order to save her son from this gift’s greatest sin.
But by being a mother over a wife,
Claudia’s younger and only sister,
Could not help but blame her nephew for this strife.
Jedda had a hate that swelled like a blister,
A recognized hate from this family’s past.
This hate seemed only to cause Jedda to be forced into a hateful twister.
So now we go to the Christmas that is Claudia’s last,
The two months from here will go so fast…
The crimson waterfall tumbled from her head, the brush running
through it, dragging the locks straight, only to fail by curling once
again. The green eyes staring into the mirror had no look of dismay
upon them, as if that’s what she expected of herself. Almost forty
years of her life had passed, and of those forty years, she had learned
that some things you just had to let go. This was quite clearly one of
those things.
As she slid into a fur coat, fully aware of the chilling weather
outside, putting on her boots, and proceeding to walk out the door, she
gave the calendar a quick gaze. December 24th, 1985. In less than two
months, Claudia Aster would give birth to two beautiful children, a boy
and a girl. Both would look almost exactly alike if you disregarded
their gender, and both would have gifts beyond the imagination of
anyone she had ever known. A smile crossed her face, and she proceeded
to tie her hair into her customary evergreen bow. She then left the
apartment with a serene look upon her face.
It was only for one month a year that Victoria Aster ever visited
that dismal suite, and in two days, she’d be returning to her mystical
estate in which she was very much alone. Though to be honest, she
tended to prefer spending her time in that suite, if it meant she could
visit her family more. She smiled again, her hand running along the bar
of the stairs, and she gracefully guided herself down the long and
winding steps toward the bottom. It was only five floors, and it only
took her a few moments, but Victoria took her time with everything. It
was just how she was raised. Much unlike the busy people who sped past
her, ignoring the setting around them to appreciate their destination,
Victoria liked to admire the journey there, and the destination would
be more appreciated.
She opened the door, and saw that once again, snow had begun to
fall around her, and as she let her shoes touch the concrete beneath,
she gazed upward, doing something few adults would even think of doing;
she opened her mouth, and tasted the snowfall. The taste of sugar
danced across her taste buds, and she sighed, before moving on her way.
The city was rather crowded that night, as families would often
break the tradition of a Christmas dinner to take their families around
Dublin. Personally, Victoria found it silly. She had been so used to
spending time with her family, and not just walking around, more
focused on the figurines in the windows and how much things are because
the children want them. A sigh escaped the elder woman’s lips. Being as
old as she was-despite her youthful appearance-Victoria still
appreciated the old traditions which had seemingly passed by her at
some point. Nonetheless, she couldn’t help but admire the dancing
figurines in the windows, as children crowded around them, looks of
such amazement and joy in their fragile little eyes. She couldn’t help
but find it all too amusing.
The busy people passed her by, and while Victoria had taken this
same path every year, this night, she had still walked in that same
slow fashion, not caring what anyone thought. She treated everything
like it was the first time she saw it, and it always made her feel
happy. It was like home to her. Ireland was in her blood, and to be in
Dublin like she was now…
Before she even realized it, she had let herself reach her
destination. A tall cathedral seemed to welcome her, and as if it were
absentminded, she approached the cathedral, reaching the top of the
steps, reaching the doors. With one graceful movement, the doors had
opened, and she had entered, seeing that the inside of the cathedral
was empty, yet it didn’t matter to her. Midnight Mass was a few hours
away, and that meant that the clergy was preparing. She cast that
thought aside, and continued to enter, admiring the stone archways, the
gothic structure, and the statues of angels and crucifixes. She smiled
to herself, and continued walking down the aisle, the pews creating her
path.
An elderly man seemed to remove himself from the back room,
looking to see the dear Victoria, a smile crossing his features, and
she returned the smile, almost as if she were his mirror. It was then,
though, that her gaze shifted, and her eyes rested upon the well known
area of the church. The one place that knew all her secrets; the
confessional. His smile turned to a frown, and he nodded, beginning to
walk. She followed, though in her grace, it almost seemed like she was
leading as she entered the dark room, sinking into the chair, and
letting her red hair be merely held within that bow. A serene smile
crossed her features again, and she gazed at the man parallel to her
though the bars that kept her well guarded from him.
“Forgive me Father, for I have sinned.”
“What have you done, my child?” He asked, knowing that she hadn’t
preformed a single sin most likely. Or if she did, that wasn’t the
topic she was to bring up.
“I have seen the end,” She said in a wary tone, and he looked at her.
“Of humanity?” He asked, afraid to know the answer, but she smiled.
“Perhaps, but I will not live to see it. For in seventeen years, I shall be breathing my final breaths.”
A silence filled the small confinement, for a few moments, and then he spoke again.
“Milady,” He said solemnly, “I apologize…”
“No need to,” She said in a cheery tone, “Seventeen years is a
long time, and it happens to all of us eventually. I’ve come to terms
with that a long time ago. But that is not my purpose of being here. It
is what lies just before my grave that worries me, and what happens to
the world after my death has past. For you see, there are two green
eyed children whom fill me with enough worry to shake my very soul…”
The time passed, and she spoke the words her soul had been
burdened, and the time had passed until people began to congregate for
Midnight Mass. Victoria let herself out, thanking the elder priest for
his time, bidding him a merry Christmas, and a very happy new year,
until they met again.
She fastened her fur coat tightly to her body, and then began to
take off down the road, the wind now caught up to her, pushing her hair
back so that the curls were more like a river, and not the ringlets
that they normally were, the flecks of white falling and entangling
themselves in her hair. Only halfway down the road, her hair looked
like a mass of white and red, as if to say that she was older than she
appeared, or perhaps that was just the façade. No one knew much about
Victoria, how old she was, if she even could die, or if she actually
just faked her death and came back as the next seer.
But she knew the truth, and as far as she was concerned, the
truth would be well hidden until she was on her death bed. But it was
trivial until then.
Victoria-for once in a long time-was caught up in her thoughts
which stewed, that she had traveled faster than she expected, reaching
the door of her next destination sooner than she expected, knocking on
the wooden door of the small house on the outskirts of Dublin. Within
seconds, the doors were thrown open, and Victoria met the gaze of her
son, the blonde man with a goatee, and eyes as blue as the oceans she
would gaze at from her estate.
“Mother!” He cried in glee, and embraced her. The warmth of a youthful body around her made her smile, and she rubbed her eyes.
“Sorry to take so long, I had a few errands to take care of
prior.” She gave her son a kiss on the cheek, and entered the house.
There seemed to be a mix of what was only a millennium prior the
greatest enemies of Britain and Ireland. Now…it was like peace had been
made. Keith’s sister Jade, and her daughter, Freya, whom was only three
years old, all were gathered. Claudia Rain sat in her own chair, gazing
at the fire, her stomach swelling now with two children inside her, to
be born soon…
But her gaze shifted not to Claudia’s parents, whom both looked
the same, the mother wearing a butterfly pin that pinned back her
graying hair, and the man wearing an expressionless look upon his
slowly wrinkling face. Rather, Victoria’s gaze fell upon Claudia‘s
sister. Jedda was her name, and she seemed to be just gazing at the
fire, trying to get as close as she could before cinders would strike
her, and she would be forced to move backwards. There was something
about Jedda that disturbed Victoria, but her attention had been averted
mere seconds later, as Freya ran up to her grandmother, causing the
attention from her daughter in law, to be directed at her
granddaughter. Out of the corner of her eye, Victoria could see the
look in Jade’s eyes, a look of satisfaction, as if she knew that her
daughter would be the next seer. Victoria merely found it all too
amusing how the same look in those eyes was so much like the look in
her parents eyes, and her uncle’s eyes toward her cousin. In a few
years, Keith would be just the same toward his kin, but only Victoria
knew the truth. None of them would know until the night she would be
deceased, and by then they would be old enough to make their own
decisions.
But she didn’t need to be a seer to know this. It was merely a
repetition of history. Her eyes shifted back to Jedda, and the
inquisitive look returned. She approached the girl, placing a hand on
her small shoulder.
“Merry Christmas,” Victoria whispered, and slowly, the girl’s
neck craned to look at her. The look within those distorted eyes would
remain within Victoria’s memory forever, not the look of a child on
Christmas, but the look of an ancient soul, the hate of so many
families before embedded upon her face, and the fire burned within
those green eyes. Victoria had seen it once before, the night her
grandmother had died. The blue eyes in the window parallel to Cecile’s
deathbed…
The night passed quickly, and soon all were ready to feast.
Victoria couldn’t help but find it amusing, how Keith, Jade, and Freya
sat at one side, while both of Claudia’s parents, and Jedda sat at the
other. Claudia was at one end, and Victoria herself was at the other.
There was none irony as amusing as this one. Two families joined
together by marriage, but still separated by tradition. She merely
smiled, then stood, to give the toast.
“I hope all of you came with the hunger in your stomachs to eat
this meal set in front of us,” Indeed, the ham looked scrumptious, as
did the stuffing and the other additions, along with a large keg of the
finest wine in the kitchen, and grape juice for the children, “I only
wish to say this; our lives aren’t long, and we must learn to embrace
the love around us, and cast away the demons of our past, present, and
future…”
Her eyes fell upon Claudia, and she smiled, “May your children in
the near future bear a most wonderful future where there are no demons
to cast away.”
She then sat, and there was a silence, before all began to eat,
the conversation was minimal-as Victoria expected of those around
her-after all, history still burned cold in their veins, yet only
Claudia and Keith seemed to cast the hate aside for their love…
But alas, Claudia knew her fate was sealed, and soon the wheels
of time would turn. There, she knew that whatever was beyond would be
Claudia’s first footsteps after she saw and held her children, giving
them their first hello, and her last goodbye.
She felt tears burning behind her eyes. Oh, what a selfless
sacrifice Claudia was to make. To live in eternity to never hold your
children seemed like a nightmare, but one would easily do that to save
their children, and that’s what made Claudia a wonderful mother…
Her life was so precious, and yet here she was, just throwing it
away for the sake of her children’s future… Oh, how Victoria envied her
grandchildren to have such a loving mother…
The night passed, and as midnight approached, Victoria found it
only right to go home now. Keith and Jade rose, both offering to take
her home.
“I’ll be fine,” She said softly, the smile upon her face, her
sapphire eyes gave a warmth to her complexion, “No need to worry, I
trust this city with my life.”
“Times aren’t like they once were, Mother,” Jade protested, but Victoria held up a hand.
“I will be the judge of that,” She whispered, curtsying, bidding
them all a wonderful night, and let the family be, taking her journey
back to her apartment. Even now, leaving the home, those eyes still
burned the back of her mind, the eyes that did not belong to a child
like Jedda…
…And Valentine’s day came around. A time which many would spend
with the love of their life. A day for lovers, as they would buy each
other the sweets of their temptation, and enjoy those gifts with smiles
on their faces, and love in their beating hearts.
This was also the fateful day that Keeran and Elda Aster gave
their first screams of life, emerging from their mother’s womb covered
in blood s the fully naked newborns that they were. The nurse brought
the children to Claudia, whom was exhausted, the blood still flowing,
and her body gradually succumbing to her own mortal end. She held her
children in her arms, blessing them both with kisses upon their
foreheads.
She let out a final sigh, and smiled, “Hello, Keeran, Elda…” And
she closed her eyes, never to open them again. It was this day that
Claudia had met the beyond, and Keith had been left alone to help teach
his kin the meanings of life, and everything that they would need to
know to survive.
Victoria sat in the pew, her red curls strewn over her shoulder,
her eyes gazing at the stained glass window. The colors acting like a
prism, making the cathedral appear like paradise. She bowed her head in
prayer, the forest green eyes closed as the soft tremors of her words
came to echo through her ears, into her mind. The service had been
long, yet needed. She had refrained from speaking at the service. Keith
had spoken, but none from the Aster family had uttered a word. As they
had carried the wooden box that held Claudia’s gradually rotting body
to it’s tomb, Victoria saw the look of contempt in those three’s faces.
She was fully aware that both Claudia’s parents would never be seen by
Victoria or any of the Aster family for as long as they lived. Jedda,
however, was a different case. As the child stepped away from her
parents for only a moment to peer into the box-like hole that they were
about to place Claudia’s coffin, Victoria moved in, kneeling over so
that her red locks tumbled over Jedda’s shoulder.
“Aren’t you going to say goodbye to your big sister?” Victoria asked, but Jedda didn’t look at her, rather…just at the box.
“They killed her,” She whispered, glancing to Keith, where the
twins were placed within a stroller, “They killed Sister. I‘ll never
forgive them.”
Victoria frowned, “They didn’t kill her…”
“You speak lies,” Jedda’s voice was in a monotone, “You only say
that because you’re their grandmother. But it’s their fault. Had they
never been born, Sister wouldn’t had died.”
“We all die eventually…” Victoria began, but Jedda held a hand up to stop her.
“Sister was my everything, and they took her away,” She said in an acidic tone, “Now I can never have her back.”
Victoria’s mouth made an ‘o’ shape, but she merely stood up, and
backed away. There was no reasoning with this child, it seemed, “I hope
to see you again soon,” She whispered, then retreated, walking up the
cemetery, toward the cathedral.
And when they did meet again, Victoria could only pray that this
youthful child could perhaps not only see the crimson and the midnight.
At least, that was what she hoped.
~End Prologue.~
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