by M.M. Shelley
Chapter Twenty Nine - Eros
“Grasiella!”
She heard her name called out from the jungle. Missy looked very pleased with herself. Behind her was Eros. Grasiella had not thought she would see him again. She stared in silence as Tatiana welcomed them into the camp. She heard Tatiana ask them questions. She heard Missy respond to most of them.
“Eros came to the island a couple days ago, to ask me a favor. He wanted me to help you girls.”
“You did, Eros? You asked Missy for help?”
“Yes, Tatiana, I did.”
“Wow. Crazy.”
“He told me what had happened. I was more then happy to help out,” Missy said pleasantly.
“Who is he?” Tatiana saw another faerie hiding in the foliage of the jungle. He looked afraid to come into the camp.
Missy saw him. She walked over to him and offered her hand. He slowly took it and came out. “This is Reggie.”
“Hello.” Tatiana gave him a smile. She tried to look friendly. He was nearly shaking where he stood.
“Hi,” he said his voice a little shaky.
“Would you like some water or something?”
“No.”
“Ok, then.” She looked to Missy for an explanation.
Eros held the Painite stone out to Grasiella. His eyes glimmered at her mischievously, “It’s the Painite.”
Seeing the Painite, Grasiella felt a tremendous relief. Without thinking she jumped into Eros arms.
Laughing he said, “Your welcome.”
“Grasiella what is it?”
Releasing Eros she gave her sister a huge grin. “Look.”
“Is this the Painite?” she cautiously asked.
Grasiella nodded her head.
“How? How did you get this?” Tatiana couldn’t believe her eyes.
“It was all me.” Missy stepped forward pleased with herself, “With assistance from Reggie.”
“No, I had nothing to do with it.” He rushed the words out so fast they sounded harsh.
“Does Mnemosyne know you have it, Missy?” Grasiella held the Painite in her hands.
“Oh, I’m sure she does.”
“This means she will be coming for it.” Eros didn’t look too concerned with that.
“What are we going to do now that we have it? Do you have a plan Grasiella?” Tatiana took the Painite from Grasiella so that she could give it a closer look, so much had happened because of this stone. It was so small. It didn’t look like it could do much except maybe make a nice ring or something. Tatiana looked deeply into the stone. She saw a flicker from deep within its depths. She felt a heart beat. That was strange. Why would a stone have a heart beat? “Grasiella? This stone is strange.”
“It beats, as if it had a heart.” Reggie took a step back from the group. As he did, they felt the ground shake beneath their feet. The sky erupted. Mauna Kea had awoken. Black smoke billowed out into the sky, engulfing the blues with its black darkness, crackling rang throughout the jungle. “It’s started!”
Tatiana screamed, “What do we do!”
“You’re going to die now.” Mnemosyne had found them. She looked at Reggie disappointedly. “I had thought you were someone I could trust.”
“You’re charm on him no longer holds him bound to you.” Missy stepped in front of Reggie.
The look in Mnemosyne eyes held such contempt for Missy.
“You should leave now Mnemosyne. There’s no longer a reason for you to remain.”
“It’s only a few feet away from me in that girl’s hand. Do you think she is strong enough to defy my magic? I think not.”
Tatiana clutched the Painite in her hands.
Mnemosyne turned her glare onto Grasiella, “I never did finish the rest of my story. Did I?”
“I know everything that I need to know.”
“Hardly.”
“I know why you want this. You want it for your general. You think he will love you if you give this to him.”
“Where did you learn this from?” Mnemosyne demanded, shocked that Grasiella had such intimate knowledge of her past.
“I have my ways,” Grasiella answered, mysteriously hoping to distract Mnemosyne.
Mnemosyne did not reveal her anger. Instead she looked very smug as she crossed her arms before her. “You are going to die.”
“You want this because it could be used as some sort of weapon.”
“Originally, I had intended to bestow the Painite to him as a gift. Now, I’m not so sure. I’m the one who should be general. I’m stronger than him. I know all his secrets.”
“Leave, go become the next general.”
A strange look over came Mnemosyne. She remained quiet. Grasiella was waiting for her next move. Mnemosyne unfolded her arms. “Did you ever think about where the Cinerians came from?”
“Who cares, they’re all gone now.”
“No, Grasiella. They are not.”
“You told us already, Mnemosyne. You said that we descend from them.”
Mnemosyne held her own hand, examining it with a crazed look in her eyes. She was acting really strange. “Did you ever wonder where did they come from? You must know that they were not from this planet. One of the things the general is guilty of is sending our planet’s convicts and outcast here, to this place. The Cinerians,” Mnemosyne dropped her hands by her sides, “Many were against it, yet what other option did he have! Our jails were overcrowded. It cost too much to maintain them. Our people have traveled throughout the galaxies. Do you realize how much life can be found out there?” She raised her left arm out, pointing to the sky which had filled with black smoke.
“This planet was found by explorers. A desolate place if there ever was one. It was the perfect place. Then, on one of the expeditions, we found that this planet held a secret. One she was not willing to give up to us. A Painite stone was found, hidden deep within this planets core, the seed of the planet. It was the general’s idea to have the convicts and outcasts do the digging and mining.”
The general had met with a lot of protest, yet he didn’t let them keep him from his goal. Her father had told her all about it. He had been so outraged with what the general was planning.
“Of course we did not care how the mining was done. From what I understand, the Cinerians, as they were called, used the humans to do the work for them.”
“Until our ancestor put an end to it,” Grasiella said proudly.
“No,” Mnemosyne laughed, “Grasiella, your ancestor was one of us, as are you. What the general did not tell the convicts and the outcast was that once the Painite was found, they would become casualties.”
“Casualties?” Grasiella was not following, “for what?”
“The Painite,” Eros answered. “She wanted it to fuel her machine.”
“You learned about that, Eros?”
“What machine?” Tatiana asked.
“We had no use for this place, but we were at war. For all I know, we are still at war, which is why the general is on his way here.”
“At war with who?” Grasiella wondered.
“Grasiella, it doesn’t matter.” Eros knew what the end game was.
“The Painite will absorb the earth and with the earth’s energy, we will be able to have enough power to activate the machine. Once, activated, the machine will be able to end all wars, and we will dominate the galaxies’.”
