Soleece

Once again, I woke up in a cold sweat in the middle of the night. It was becoming a regular thing now, and it was rather annoying. It was like something in me was telling me something was coming, something bad. I threw my legs off the side of my bed and grabbed my robe. Looking at the time, it was 3 am, time for my meditation. I changed into black sweatpants and a sweater. I snuck past my mother's room and into the kitchen. If she found that I was up sneaking out again, she said she'd turn me over to the king for punishment. I crept through the kitchen and to the back door. This was the only time to meditate because we weren't even allowed to roam the beautiful forest that surrounded our Kingdom. It was like we were in a bubble, and we were, under no circumstances, supposed to go out of the bubble.

Before making my next move, I looked behind me at the door leading to my mother's room. "There and back," I told myself as I slipped on my flops and turned the knob to the back door. I stepped out into the warm night air and looked up in the sky at the full moon that hung so beautifully above me. I stood on the porch for a moment before I slowly started inching toward the tree line. After a few steps turned into a full-blown sprint, I was in the forest.

The ground beyond the tree line was fertile and soft. The trees around me seemed to welcome my presence. The wind blew through my hair and eventually seemed like it was singing to me. I came to a stop once I reached the stream at the bottom of a small, very steep hill. I took a seat on the edge, knowing that, if I fell, it'd be very difficult to get back out. It was my usual spot, quiet and isolated. As I sat there, I breathed in and out, taking in the energies around me. I crossed my legs and laid my hands on my knees, palms up. Meditation is a practice that has been embedded in my soul since I was a little girl. It was one of the first natural things I did that made me stand out against the rest of my Kingdom. I didn't fit in with the rest of the people because I was a witch. A witch living amongst regular humans.

Growing up in this Kingdom, Bartra, was like living in my own personal hell. I never got along with anyone. They all treated me like shit. In school, the kids usually left me out of games and activities solely because I was different from everyone else, and they could feel it. My own mother didn't even like me. My father was the only person who ever really truly embraced me and the magic that dwelled within me. It was his words that kept me from changing into the person that everyone else wanted me to be. Then one day, my father disappeared without a trace, and there was nothing but darkness in my life.

As I sat on the edge of the hill that separated me from the stream, my meditation was interrupted by the rustling of trees in front of me. That was odd. I was usually alone. Three people walked out of the brush and into the clearing at the bottom of the cliff. They were all in robes that were very similar to the one my father had given me, only decorated with flowers and symbols. Immediately, one of the people made eye contact with me and stopped walking abruptly. He tapped the girl next to him on her shoulder and pointed to me. They talked amongst each other before focusing their attention back on me.

They were all looking at me now with either wonder or joy, I couldn't tell. I sat there for a moment before getting up and turning to walk back to my house before my mother woke up. Before I could get too far away from the stream, an apparition appeared in front of me. It was an older lady about the same height as me. I could tell she had black hair going down her back. I stepped back for a moment and tried to see her face, but it was blurry. While trying to analyze this apparition in front of me, I started to hear hurried footsteps coming toward me faster and faster, and then, everything went black.

****

I stood in the middle of a field that I'd never seen before. The field was a perfect circle, surrounded by trees. The wind blew so beautifully that it felt like a song. Off in the distance was a small cave that looked more like a crawl space. The sun beamed down on the field, blessing the crisp-green ground with its presence. As I turned to gather my surroundings, I noticed that in the middle of the field, there was a mattress and candles of all kinds surrounding it.

Suddenly, I heard rustling in the tree line. I watched as my pregnant mother walked out from behind the trees. She held her stomach and cried hysterically. My father was right beside her, seeming to be in a hurried state. Behind them were two women I'd never seen before. One of them was about my height with black hair, and she was absolutely beautiful. She wore a black robe with golden runes on it; she wore rings on pretty much every finger.

The other woman was clearly a doctor or nurse of some kind. They all seemed to be carrying the same hurried demeanor as my father. When they got close to the mattress, they laid my mother down, and the nurse kept telling her just to breathe and push.

While my mother was, apparently, giving birth, the woman with the black robe on started sweeping the grass with a broom. She sprinkled salt on the ground around them. Then she closed her hands, and a golden light started shining in between them. As she stood there, the light gradually grew into a sphere that she held in her hands. The sphere started growing larger and larger until it covered the entire field with a golden light.

I watched as wolves surrounded the field that was now protected by magic. The beautiful woman opened her eyes and addressed the wolves. "You are not welcome here!" She shouted, tears streaming down her face. She turned away from them and walked to my mother's side. The wolves turned their backs as if they were going to leave, but then they just sat down like they were guarding the circle against something, against what?

I watched as my mother screamed out in pain while giving birth. The woman held her hand and rubbed her head, guiding her through the birthing process. After about five minutes, a baby came out. "It's a girl." The nurse said, and then she clamped the cord and brought the baby to my mother.

"Soleece." My mother said, tears streaming down her face. They all sat there for a moment, and then I heard rustling in the trees. The woman kissed my mother's forehead before rushing to her feet with the baby, me. She handed me off to my father, and then she stood up tall and walked a few steps away from them, directly into the sun.

Just then, I saw what the wolves were protecting the circle against. More wolves. These looked different, though, more ravenous. They attacked the wolves that protected the circle with murderous intent, and the wolves protecting the circle fought back twice as hard.

While they were fighting, the woman's face became soaked with tears. She held one hand completely open with her palm facing the sun; in her other hand, she held her athame. She chanted, "Hecate, Apollo, I come before thee to break the bond. Break the bond with me and break the bond with him. Break the bond with me and break the bond with him. Break the bond with me and break the bond with him. Break the bond with me and break the bond with him!" She shouted this over and over as she pointed her athame at my mother, and a red light streamed from the edge of the blade as my mother screamed.

The pain in my mother's scream was equally matched by the pain in a howl heard by one of the feral-looking wolves. The screaming lasted for a long time as the red stream of light continued to shine on my mother. Eventually, it turned black and then disappeared. All at once, the screaming and howling stopped, and there was complete silence. The woman in the black robe grabbed me from my father and knelt by my mother, who was now unconscious.

She placed one hand on my mother's head and closed her eyes. Tears streamed down her face for a few minutes. When she opened her eyes, she looked at my father and handed me to him. The bloodshed around the magic circle ceased as the ravenous wolves retreated

****

I woke up in a place that I didn't recognize. I was in a huge room that was painted black with red furniture all around it. There were plants of all kinds sitting around the room, some even hanging on the walls. When I got up from the queen-sized canopy bed, the plants came to life. This definitely wasn't Bartra. I walked to the door and, as soon as I opened it, I was welcomed by the smell of bacon. I followed the scent down a large hallway that was also riddled with plants that seemed to bloom in my presence. I was hit with a sense of distaste as I walked through the house.

I walked down a flight of stairs and into what looked like the main room. I followed laughter and the sound of bacon cooking into the kitchen, where I found three people, dressed in armor, sitting on the island, and an older woman who fit the description of the apparition I saw before I was knocked unconscious. When she turned around to meet my eyes, I knew who she was. The woman from my dream.