The day the cities were blasted to the heavens, was my ninth birthday. I saw a blackness all around me rising above the mountains that surrounded the village I had been secreted away to. The smoke rose and blackened the sky within minutes. The winds all but stopped. The birds and insects that usually filled the soundscape of the north Georgia mountains fell completely silent. The eerie scene caused trembles in my feet so I reached for Gamma's hand. She was trembling too. It felt like the whole world was trembling. There was a distant roll of thunder creeping in the horizon. And then....795Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhGTnKFDR9m
'Run'795Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3MWaNl7qth
It got real. The roll of thunder was creeping steadily over the mountains surrounding the little alpine hamlet. It wasn't just coming from one direction; It was engulfing us from everywhere.
'Hide. Go. Now.'
At first I thought it was the people around us at the Helen Presbyterian Church where we were attending sunday school before the regular service.
'Listen to me'
I looked up to the person who had been taking care of me since birth; No lips moved on her blank, pale face. It was then that I realized it was coming from my own head. I felt like I was going crazy. It was the end of the world and my own cabeza was going loco. My Gamma's hand squeezed tighter, but her eyes were still locked in disbelief.
'Not. Much. Time.'
I couldn't tell if God was giving me commands, an angel maybe, or even my subconscious was thinking these thoughts, even though I didn't know what a subconscious was at the time.
'I... am...'
The voice seemed strained and week, like it was fading.
YOUR MOTHER! Do as I say little Sol! Run to the river!'
Her voice picked up with a great vigor before release into a frail tone. The wind started to pick up and the dark clouds that blocked out the sun started to take on hues of Azul and verde and purple, rojo and Amarillo. All from different directions.
I squeezed Gamma's hand and looked back up at her ghost white face urging her down the road with my eyes since no other part of my body would break away from its frozen stance.
There was a loud squelch in my head piercing my inner ears. it lasted for a few seconds but it felt like trying to sit through a sermon without moving. My knees buckled and that shook my Gamma out of her trance. She looked down, her face still in shock.
'run. __________' There was an immediate hauntingly sustained beep after this last word. It was enough, though, to breath life into me. I planted my feet and tugged as hard as I could at the statue holding my hand.
"Gamma! To the 'Hooch!"
"Hooch?! What?" She pulled back with equal force and looked back at the target that captivated her only moments before. "huh-?"
'{Bzzzt blip}'
I felt a jolt of renewed energy and determination. I pulled again and started running a dead sprint as fast as I could just like I saw the football players do on TV. Gamma had no choice but to follow and was on my heels as fast as she could muster. It was only a hundred yards to the Chattahoochee river.
'{Bzzzt blip blip} tube....' The voice was back. faint, but I was able to hear it.
We reached the river and, on the bank was a two-person innertube that was used for tubing down the river these hot summer months. Gamma held the raft while I jumped in. She pushed us out to the current and then had a rough time getting in. She lost her footing twice, loosing a shoe in the process, but finally made it in.
'{beeeeeeeeeep}'
We traversed the rapids of the not so wild river, but I couldn't help but smile and feel like we were on some sort of pirate adventure. I had never been on the river with no one else on it before. The banks of the river, the streets, the roofs were all dotted with statues of people saluting to the sky in all different directions. I could see the most wonderful colors reflecting off the water from the tops of the mountains as the clouds slowly overtook them and began their slow crawl down the mountain side.
{Bzzzt blip blip, blip blip, blip beat, blip beat, blipbeatblipbeatblipbeat} TROLLS!'
The word flung my eyelids to full mast and the blood drained from my face.
"Trolls. Gamma, what's Trolls?"
"Trolls? I... Trolls?" She moved her eyes left and right for an answer and I'm sure she wondered what the heck was going on. Why would you be aski… Troll's Tavern?"
I whipped my head around as we fell down a rapid and just as fast made a dogleg to the north.
"Of course" Just then I spotted the Main Street bridge where there is a passage underneath it to get to Troll's Tavern.
"There it is."
"There what is?"
"Trolls."
"Trolls? Where?!" Gamma was just as confused as I was at this point and was half-way expecting anything to happen.
"The Tavern, we will get off there."
"Oh, ok." Her Norwegian accent really came out with that one.
"Paddle to the bank! We're going to miss it!" We paddled with our hands, both our torsos half-way in the water, as fast as we could. "Oh, no. The water is … too... fas…" I gulped in about a gallon of water and I swear a minnow as well. We didn't notice the water had really picked up. Apparently the Hiawassee Dam breached and the deluge was on its way. The current picked up and swept our exhausted craft back out to the middle of the river missing the ramp to the Troll Tavern.
"Here! Grab it!" A looped rope fell 20 feet down river from us. I grabbed at it first since I was in the front of the boat, but I missed. Gamma jumped from the raft and used her long basketball arms to hook both the rope and the raft at the same time. The now raging waters were to Gammas neck.
"Get on my back child. I can't hold this raft all day."
I jumped in the water and threw my arms around Gamma's neck like a spider monkey to her mom just as a medium sized tree trunk punctured the raft and carried it down stream at an unbelievable speed. I could hear the man who threw the rope arguing with someone as he was pulling us to shore. We grabbed the wrought iron fence that lined the ramp to the river and pulled ourselves up. We choked and gasped for breath trying to thank the man with the rope. He was still on top of the bridge yelling at someone, but when we got to our feet there was no one there arguing back.
'Go.'
The voice was back and strong. My stubbornness made me shake it off.
"Hey mister! Who you fightin' with?"
'GO.' I shook my head. Gamma collected herself and checked me over while glancing at the situation on the bridge.
"Someone yelled in my ear to 'THROW THE ROPE' over and over again as loud as they could, but none of these yahoos up here got the balls to own their shit! Hey tell me now! who was it?"
"Anyway, I saw you two floating down and the debris right behind you so I threw the rope and the voice stopped." He looked perplexed at me. His eyes wide, but face vacant. I saw an emptiness of answers inside him. Like he had nothing to give me as a parting gift. The air seemed to taste chalkier. It was getting darker, like the night was strangling the life out of the day.
'Go. Fest Hall. Horses.'
At this point I was all ears. If this voice said jump, Imma jumpin'. Even if this voice claimed to be my mother
'NOW.'
"This way Gamma." She followed the nine year old with reckless abandon behind the tavern and out the parking lot towards the Edelweiss Strasse bridge. The waters of the Chattahoochee were already up to the bottom of the bridge and the debris from forests and homes upstream were piling up. As we ran across the concrete bridge we could hear cracks and creaks under our feet. The bridge was about to give way. Just before the end of the bridge Gamma stepped on a broken beer bottle with her unprotected foot and the glass buried deep into her forefoot. She screamed in pain echoing the loud moan the bridge made as it twisted underfoot. She went down to her knee dragging me to an immediate stop.
'Don't... stop. Hors...'
"Shut up!"
"Huh?" She winced in pain and bewilderment.
"Come on Gamma. We have to go. There are horses up here. we need to get to them."
"What? How do you know there are horses?" She asked as she looked past me and examined the foreign object inside her with her fingers.
"I just do Gamma Connie. I do. Trust me. They are at the Fest Hall."
The bridge moaned. Gamma looked down. The bridge screamed. Gamma and I both looked back to the other side of the bridge at the busting concrete. The bridge started disappearing section by section coming straight for us. We ran for the edge leaving a trail of blood and tears on the way. We reached the edge and looked back at the rushing water. There was no sign there was ever a bridge there and the water was now lapping at their feet. The water stung Gamma's foot around her wound and she bit her lip.
"Come child. Lets go find those horses."
We walked briskly to the Fest Hall but we didn't see the horses.
'horses.'
"I know! But I don't see any horses!"
"Who are you yelling at? It may be the end of the world child, but you will keep your manners child."
"Gamma! Do you see any horses?!"
'Fence...'
"Don't you say horses again. Don't yo..."
'Horses.'
<sigh>
"Over here little one." Gamma called out from on opening in a fence. "Help me with this gate. The wind has picked up quite a bit." We struggled but we managed to get the gate opened wide enough to get the dual horse carriage to the street.
"Gamma. Look. Horses."
"uh huh. Horses." We both stood there for a second reflecting on how and why we had come this far.
"How do we..." I started to say.
"Don't worry. I spent a few summers on a dude ranch in Colorado." She said as she picked me up and settled me into the seat of the white carriage.
The darkness filled the sky, the streets, the air. The transformers started popping across town, momentarily lighting up the Swiss-German village with each pop.
'Valhalla.'
Gamma lifted her weary body into the pilot's seat of the carriage. She grabbed the reigns, and placed her hand on my knee.
"Well, you got us this far... Where to now?"
"I dunno. Valhalla?" With much hesitation.
"This is no time for talk like that. There's no need to give up no.... Wait. The castle."
"Heyah!" And with that, the two gelding, one black and one brown, raced out of the gate and down the long stretch of Edelweis.
"Where are we going Gamma? What is Valhalla?" I had to yell over the loud galloping over the pavement.
"We're going up the mountain, passed Loreley where your granpa used to work, remember?" Bewilderment came from my side of the carriage. "What I would like to know is: How have known where to go?"
I told Gamma about the voice. When it started and what it said. She looked in shock. "What is it Gamma?" They were coming up to their left turn at Brucken Strasse.
"I hope the old iron bridge is still in tact."
"No Gamma. No, that's not it. Don't lie. You always say its bad to lie." The street lights behind us were going out one by one. When I looked up I thought I saw a monster in the clouds.
"Your Mother," I had left that part out on purpose. "She woke from her coma just before she died. She was hysterical, just saying clips of words and phrases. But that was it. It was exactly what you told me, save for a few words here and there." There were tears in her pause as she held the reigns tight while they crossed the bridge. "That was your Mama you were talking to. I don't know how, but I know it was her. I was there, I heard her say it." She whipped reigns as they started up the hill towards Loreley Resort. "I was in the room when she was talking out of her head with her eyes rolled back and her heart crashing. The doctor's brought her back from the dead only for her to talk more. The last thing she said though, after 'Valhalla' was the most disturbing. Macy, your Mama, sat straight up and reached her arm out and said, "rise my little Sol. Protect them."
Lightning lit up the sky and thunder cracked in front of the carriage. A line of fire raced ahead of them high above their heads. The fire shot down the line and exploded the transformer off of the telephone pole and into the street in front of the horses. Gamma pulled back on the reigns, but the brown mare jumped at the sight before him and landed on the wrong side of the yoke. The black gelding fell sideways onto the ground digging the tongue of the carriage into a tree root and kicked the front left tire off the cart before it came to a rest on his torso. The jolt pitched the cart sideways launching the two inhabitants up the hill.
I got to my feet slowly with no real injuries and checked on Gamma. "Gamma Connie! You OK?! Gamma." Gamma sat up slowly as the brown horse, now loose from the broken cart, hung his head over the two females partially blocking them from the rising winds.
I helped Gamma up and steadied her on the strong gelding. She grabbed the horse's caramel mane and surveyed our surroundings. "We are real close now. It's just up the hill."
"The castle?"
"The castle."
The sky's fury was concealed by the trees, but the ground was starting to grumble under our feet. "We have to ride child. Go hop on what's left of the wagon." I hopped on the wagon using both my hands to pull me up. By the time I turned around, Gamma had mounted the horse, bareback, and was prancing toward the wagon. She looked to me like Xena or She-Ra on that steed. Gamma pulled me in front of her and with a swift kick, we were off sidestepping the transformer and continuing up the hill.
The grumbles under our feet turned into rumbles above our heads. As we climbed the winding road up the mountain, the rumbles grew to crumbles, twists, squeaks, and moans of rocks and trees taunting us from behind the dark vale that had enveloped the valley. The higher we rode, the darker it was.
Rolls of thunder shook the heavens in all directions. A sudden symbol crash of light and sound reverberated off the cliff face beside them sending them out past the center line of the two-lane road. A few seconds of silence rest in both of the riders' ears followed by sharp ringing and a warm release of fluid exiting the ear drum. The ringing gave way to a reality of calamitous noise coming from the dark abysmal sea ready to drown them at any moment.
What sounded like a bomb went off directly behind them and they both looked back into the nothingness but came up empty on a cause. Gamma looked ahead and I looked toward the sky as a brilliant streak of light zigzagged from one mountainous horizon to the other illuminating the myriad of colors dotting the dark clouds above like a Monet pinpoint painting. Gamma bribed the gelding for more speed with a couple of swift kicks to the hind quarters and a, "hyah!" I held on to the mane with renewed vigor.
A crash above our heads followed by an explosion of a large boulder at our side sent us careening towards the cliff face. My jeans tore and a million bees stung the side of my leg. All three of us were wide-eyed with wild imaginations of what was lurking, ready to pounce on us, above the black curtain.
"Ahead. There. The turn." Gamma was panting in unison with the horse.
Another loud crash above resulted in an explosion only this time it was right in front of us. Immediately the gelding jumped over the smaller boulder protecting us from the fragments. He winced as pain, though, as we heard the soft thuds of rock debris lodging into the horses belly. Still he pushed on. He knew the importance of getting to safety, or at least that it was certain death to stay there.
The cliff face followed the turn to the castle up the hill and disappeared under the coming bridge only to reappear on the other side to follow us the rest of the way. more creaks and moans could be heard above as they passed over the short bridge and up the hill. The sounds above them and the air were different here. The crashes were replaced my rustling and skittering of much smaller rocks that stung the backs of their necks and arms. The air tasted of sand and silt.
"Almost. There."
The grade of the road rose before them slowing the horse's progress. But at the same time a crescendo of cacophonous crashes came racing down the mountain beside them like a dragon coming in for a crash landing. Gamma tried one last time to coax wings out of the great steed. She pleaded and begged with her knees and voice, even throwing out a few bargains and ultimatums.
The gelding found his feet and mush up the hill picking up speed with each gallop. The trio met the instigator of the noise head on as it was barreling down the slope sideways towards them. All they had to do was beat the tree to the curve at the top of the hill and they would be safe, but that tree was coming on fast. Blood gushed from the gashes on the belly of the horse with each stride. The horse still gained momentum with each step, but with each step came a hitch. The large tree sliding through smaller trees like they were matchsticks gained more momentum itself and reached the top of the road two horse lengths ahead of the horse and still kept coming.
In a last act of defiance to physiology and physics the horse jumped over the bottom of the speeding pine tree clipping the root system with both feet. Gamma grabbed me with both arms and threw me clear of the horse falling sideways onto the now cracked pavement. I landed in mud and dead leaves that stained my favorite shirt but mostly hurt my pride more than anything else.
'Valhalla.'
I could hear sobbing and whinnying over the crashing rocks and trees and what sounded like screams coming from the valley below. I grabbed my collar and propped myself up on newly straightened legs and looked around for Gamma. Tangled in the mess of branches and debris was the gelding but no sign of Gamma.
I ran to the horse and immediately froze at the sight of blood spurting out from his cuts with every labored breath. Blood drained from my face and I fell to my knees, feet out to my side. I placed my hands down to steady myself, one on the horse and the other found worms on the road.
"Ewww. They moved!" The movement jarred my senses.
But, when I looked down, among the rubble and leaves and branches were fingers, not worms. The fingers moved slowly and belonged to a hand that belonged to an arm with liver spots and scratches that belonged to my Gamma.
"Gamma Connie!" I removed the leaves from around Gamma's face and found her eyes closed. "Gamma, Gamma, Gamma. No Gamma. No," I cried.
The dark clouds overhead were tightening like a noose. A great roar could be heard from all around. I looked around in a panic.
"Jiminy cricket that hurts!" Gamma's eyes and mouth came to life. Her body wiggled the brush off of itself revealing the behemoth that had whisked them out of danger thus far was now pinning the grandmother to the rumbling earth. I sobbed out of despair.
"Oh, child. No, no, don't cry now." She brushed the hair of my face and gave me a pinch on the cheek like she was just dropping me off to school. "All is Alright. Look."
She pointed to a wooden sign still in the ground with an arrow pointing straight ahead that read:
VALHALLA
'Valhalla.'
"Valhalla." I said with a hushed whisper like the voice in my head.
'Rise Sol.'
"The castle is just ahead child. Go. Go get some help."
"No, I'm not leaving you Gamma! No, no, no."
"Yes, now go." A plea traveled from Gamma's eyes to mine.
'Rise Sol.'
Without another thought I followed the arrow to the curve going down the slight downgrade ahead. As I followed the curve, the profile of a castle with a long building attached came into view. The Valhalla Castle Resort sign sat on top of ten foot doors. I ran right for them pushing the door with all my might. It didn't move. I looked behind me to see blue streak of color swirl in the parking lot ahead of a dark grey misty fog. Talking from inside brought my attention back to the door and read the pull sign on the handle.
I shook my head then pulled with everything I had and flew backwards to the ground as a distressed looking man flung open the door and looked around. He saw me after a second and bent down to grab me.
"What are you doing out there girl? People are dying. Get in here." He snatched me up by my arm and carried me inside. There were over a hundred people huddled in different parts of the large lobby that I saw once I was standing on my own two feet.
'Rise Sol.'
"I am on my feet!"
"Wha? Why were you out there little one?" Asked the tall, burly Austrian man.
'Rise Sol. Protect them."
"My Gamma is trapped out there, someone please go help her! Please!"
The wind picked up to flinging dead limbs and rocks at the windows. Three men ran past and out the door a fourth asked exactly where she was. I told him where to look; I sounded half dazed, I can't believe he was able to decode any of what I told him. He took what he got from me and raced out the door.
"Rise Sol. Protect them."
With my jaw drooped, I looked around the room. I saw a circular staircase in the corner that disappeared above and made a break for it while everyone else was distracted by the melody of debris. I mean, "rise Sol" right? But "protect them?"
I took two steps at a time flying with all my might to where only my faith knew I would end up. It went up floor after floor. I thought I heard someone calling after me, but I just kept climbing. Man, I had to pee.
'Rise Sol.'
"Yes, yes. Rise Sol. Rise," I said mockingly under my breath. I kept climbing up the stairs. The walls narrowed to some type of parapet as I went higher until finally I reached a metal door above my head. I could hear the wind whistling an ominous tune outside. I pushed the metal door with my hand, but it wouldn't budge. I looked around for a sign that said pull just to make sure I was going the right way with my force. Not seeing any pull sign, I decided to try pushing again. This time, though, with all my weight.
'Rise Sol.'
I screamed. I pushed. I hollered. and finally I got the rust metal trap door to budge and lock with about a one foot crack in it. I grabbed hold of the edges and slid my wiry body through the opening. I jumped up in victory not noticing that I was perched on a four foot by for foot slab about three hundred and fifty feet above the parking lot; Maybe a thousand feet to the valley floor below. The wind kick up from behind and knocked me in to one of only two sides to the covered watch tower made up only of wooden lattice and confederate jasmine. It was getting hard to breathe.
'Rise Sol. Protect them.'
"Rise?! What?!" I looked around in defeat. "I think I've gone about as far up as I can go!" I leaned on the lattice and shook my head.
"Well, I guess we go up Ma." I shook the lattice work that caught me to check its reliability. Please enough with the passing grade, I took off my Sketchers and climbed using the little holes for my toes and fingers. I reached the shingled arch and pulled my body up, wind whipping at my torn skinned leg. The weather vane was in the shape of a shield so I knew I was in the right place.
"OK... I'm here."
I took a second to see the Alpine village in the darkness at the bottom of the valley with only sparks of flickering light in the highest buildings. I could not see the river, but I could hear the massive power of the water as it was cutting new paths through the lower buildings of the Alpine village. The clouds were in every nook and cranny that I could see, but it seemed like the colors were fighting with them and holding them back. A few more screams could be heard from far off and I couldn't be shore if it was human or deer.
The monstrous clouds were mere football fields away in each direction. They were like slithering pyroclastic monsters raining down destruction. It was a stark contrast and almost a cruel tease to have these rivers in the sky of different colors racing with the clouds to their destination.
'Rise Sol.'
I felt a tingle in my arms and neck and my hairs stood at attention. I planted my feet in preparation of whatever unknown foe was coming next.
'RISE Sol.'
I could see the space around me lightening with a pale yellow tint. I straightened my knees, still holding tight to the weather vane, but I felt the wind start to take the weight off my feet.
'RISE SOL.'
I looked down and saw the weather vane six feet below my Hello Kitty socks, and a wave of yellow flowing up to me. It washed over me like a fire hose and came back and hit me again on my left shoulder, then again in the middle of my back. It hit me from all sides and lifted me higher. it pierced my heart, my thoughts, my very soul. I absorbed the color, all of it. But, that only caused the dark monstrous clods to race towards the castle, towards me, faster.
'Protect. THEM.'
I tilted my head back, spread my arms wide and... sang.
'Rise Sol. Protect Them.'
The only song I could manage at the time was the last song I heard at church before this whole adventure began. I heard the tune of Edelweiss in my head and sang the words we sing while holding everyone's hand in the congregation...
"Let thy love, perfect love,795Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyHh52iGEwc
Bless and keep us forever.795Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFZnmSBWobr
Let thy Peace, perfect peace,795Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvpm8DqROmz
Bless and keep us forever."
An energy came out of me like rays of a sun. I was told they were magnetic waves that resemble the make up of the magnetosphere. It was like I was the center of an atom and all these lines kept coming out of me in waves and waves until the whole castle was surrounded by them.
The dark clouds of nuclear radiation could not penetrate the yellow waves of energy emanating from me. The waves grew, but each time they pulsed, I felt an ice cutter float through my brain. The waves grew to protect half the valley. There was now a hole in the clouds where the afternoon sun was proudly shining through. The pain was becoming constant now as I began to scream, almost shriek. It was then that I bent back and released all the energy that had.
'{beeeeeeeeeeeeeep…………………………..} I fell to the roof of the parapet, the pointy shield of the weather vane catching my shirt as I landed.
I woke up after that on a couch in the lobby. There was a horrible smell under my nose, but it went away when I sat up. Everyone was huddled around me. Gamma was in the chair next to me with her leg up, wearing a blanket, a make shift splint, and an unyielding proud smile.
Epilogue
That was eight years ago, today. The day I was born again. Born to my true purpose. Each of you seated at this table were given gifts that same day. Others out there that we have each encountered have used their gifts as powers over people. For personal gain. I told you all this to remind of where we came from. To remind you of the importance to not lose sight of how we struggled or what we lost to get and keep these gifts. I stand before you pass on a message delivered to me that will help us finally defeat this abuse of power from these slave owners, authoritarian warlords, and those who use the gifts for nefarious purposes.
I, Solstice Dawn Rowe, deliver this message. It. Is. Time. Time, to rise up. RISE Warriors of Sol. And, PROTECT Them!
The Second Birth of Sol795Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBuBny2HLMv
Pheonyx DelSol795Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOEzMABF2sv
795Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJiE3MYhFFW
