The Fateweavers Call

Pictures hang from the walls, of me, Rae, and Pym, the youngest sister of the three of us. Pym is not here right now, as she went to work earlier. She works at the hospital downtown, where she is a nurse's aid. Rae and I both work at the library uptown, in New Lorveus, where we lived for the first 19 years of our lives, or at least, 18.

As I am the oldest of the three of us, I am currently 22. Rae is 20, and Pym is 18. Our mother still lives here, but the three of us have moved out, and now, live together in an apartment complex with three bedrooms, and two bathrooms. But when we enter the kitchen where our mother is, the scent of blood fills the air.

Dread coils around my heart, and I freeze in my tracks when I see it. When I see her.

"Rae," I rasp. "Stop walking. Now."

She does, and looks. Only to see our mother, laying in a bloody pile of skin on the ground. A scream fills the house, and it takes me a moment to realize it is me who is screaming. Rae grabs me by my hand, squeezing tight, and she darts from the room. I stumble after her, my feet smacking the floor as I slip in my mother's blood. Just as Rae and I reach the front door, and make it to the porch, a female wearing a long, blue dress and a gray sweater stands there, and she brushes by us.

I blink, and Rae shouts after her.

"Hey, who are you? What are you doing?!"

The woman stops and flips her coppery, curly hair over her shoulder. She fixes us with a steely stare, and shrugs. "I suppose you are her kids."

"Who are you?" Rae demands.

"My name is Elide. And I am here for her soul."

Rae opens her mouth, as if she will protest, but then, the mysterious woman walks over, kneels down beside our mom, and places her hands over her chest. Her hands begin to glow, a bright, cobalt blue shade. Rae looks at me, blinking like crazy.

"Are you seeing this, Lilith?"

"Y- yeah," I stammer.

Then, a white light flows up from our mother's corpse, and it drifts into the locket around the mystery woman's neck. She stands up and faces us.

"Where is your other sister? I have a proposition for you, all three of you."

"Uh, what's that?" I ask.

"Oh, well, I'll tell you when I get to meet your sister, not before. So, tell me, where is she?"

"We can take you to her," I say. Elide nods. "I just.... what are you going to do with my mom's soul?"

"Put her to rest," she says. "It is my job. I have to put those who are chosen by the Fates to rest when they have died. But .... I'm afraid your mother here was .... murdered."

"But who would have done that?" Rae asks.

Elide shakes her head. "I do not know, unfortunately." She looks around the room again, and back to me. "So, can you take me to find your sister? I need to talk with you three about something very important."

"Can't you just tell us now?" I ask her, narrowing my eyes.

She sighs and says, "I have also been chosen to take you three to the Weaver Society. It is high in the Jeryl Mountains, to the north of here. You three don't overly have a choice in the matter, either. If you don't come with me, you'll all be dead by Winter Solstice. But if you do, then you will be safer there than anywhere else."

I look at Rae.

"Let's ask Pym what she thinks."

Elide nods once. "Fair enough, I suppose. But don't take too long deciding. Because the forces who seek the death of every single Fateweaver in the Nine Realms is going to be hunting you three, who have not yet discovered your powers. So, you see.... this isn't the time to wait for something to happen. It is time to make something happen. Understand?"

I look at Rae, who shrugs and sighs. "For what it's worth, Elide, I'm in."

I sigh and nod. "Me too."

Elide smiles. "Okay. Well, take me to your sister."

¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤

When we reach the hospital where Pym works, we find her in the nurse's station. She looks up from her computer and frowns, and stands up. Pym is the youngest, but she's also the shortest of us. She has long, black hair, white, freckled skin, and big, round, blue-green eyes. I have short, black hair, but the rest of my features are the same as hers, aside from the fact that as the oldest, I'm also the tallest of the three of us.

Rae has long, black hair with dyed white streaks in it, but her eyes are more green than blue-green, like us. In that regard, she takes after our mom.

"Can we talk in private, Pym?" Elide asks.

"Who are you?" Pym asks.

"Her name is Elide, and she is trying to save us," Rae says.

Pym narrows her eyes. "I can't deal with pranks, you two."

Elide looks at the cameras all around. She sighs. "It isn't a prank, Pym. This is very important. Please come with us to somewhere private."

Pym sighs and shrugs. "Fine. But what am I supposed to do about my job?"

"This place isn't safe for you, Pym. There are .... people after you. You need to come with us, and we can keep you safe."

"Safe? From what?"

Elide sighs. "Please. I can show you the truth but I can't do it here in front of these cameras. So can you please trust me and your sisters long enough to come with us?"

Pym nods. She writes a note about having a family emergency, and then the four of us leave. We go to a back alley, about a block and a half from the hospital. Then, Elide explains everything that happened. When she's done, she explains about our mom's death. Pym sobs, and Elide shows her her hands, how they can glow. By the time she has convinced Pym that this is all real, and not a lie, Elide then tosses her hand up, and a shimmering light appears on the wall of the building to our left.

"What is it?" Rae asks.

"This is a portal," says Elide. "This will take us to another of the Nine Realms, a place called Voltheim."

Suddenly, a scream rents the air. Elide gasps, looking out of the alley and towards the sound. She turns to us. "Go! Into the portal, now!"

"What's happening?" I ask.

"Lilith, Pym, Rae. Go, now!" Elide shouts.

Rae grabs my hand, and then takes Pym's. Then, she drags us through the portal. And then, we are falling through a spectrum of light. And then, we are standing in knee-deep snow.