Category : Stories

Sub Category : Romance

“You have reacted that way every time I have told you since we met.”  she says with all seriousness.

My laughing stops immediately.  “Wait your serious?”

“Unfortunately we can’t take the time to do this like we usually do, but your feelings for me can only mean one thing.”

“It means that I love you.  It’s not complicated or anything.”

“Obviously you love me, that’s the curse on your soul.”

“Curse on my soul?”

“For as long as you stand immortal your love will come and pass for you to bear witness.”

“Sweetie, neither of us is immortal.  Your just a normal girl who has a wild imagination.”

“You’re not listening to me!  Those stories that you get from me are true stories.  They are our stories as true love across 60 centuries.”

“So the next thing your going to tell me is that you can prove it, but this time it’s complicated.”

“How in the hell did you know that?”  she asks genuinely surprised.

“Moreover there’s a prophecy that will lead to the end of days.”

“Okay, now you’re sounding weird.  Nobody knows that except my mother, sister, and I.”

“Don’t forget the Oracle who forecast it.”

“No, The First Hunter killed them during the 5th crusade.”

“Obviously, and it all falls to me to save the world, right?”

“That depends on how the spear reacts to you.”

“Nice touch, so if I pick up this spear I will gain magic powers and make the prophecy fulfill?”

“Well, the thing is I can only verify two curses for you.  If you pick it up and one overrides the other, well, I don’t want to think about it.”

“So I am going to review this, because this is weird.  If I am to believe this whole thing than I am a thrice cursed man.  Cursed first to be your love. Which can’t possibly be a bad thing by the way.  And my second curse is to be ’The First Hunter’ who is a super bad guy that hunts and kills ’subs’ for reasons no one can explain.  Finally, the third curse is one you don’t even know. It has something to do with what I will unwittingly do. This thing that I am going to do will release an apocalypse on the world.  Did I get it right?”

“Well yes, but how did know all of that?”

“It’s simple, I am dreaming.  In this dream I am being plunged into a modern fantasy universe with all the standard cliches that make them enduring.”

“So you don’t believe me?”

“Of course I do.”

“But you think this is a dream.”

“Sure, but if I don’t believe you then we have to go on some fantastical trip into the past to convince me.”

“Now your being foolish.  Time travel is clearly impossible.”

“So is the idea of a hidden culture of sub humans with strange and mystical powers.”

“No sub has ’strange and mystical powers’.  We all pretty much understand everyone’s abilities except the cursed.”

“Oh? So how does your power work?”

“The most recent scientific explanation states that while the manifestation of the ability can vary from one muse to the next the presence or touch of one stimulates the creative centers of the brain causing hyperactivity in these areas.  The hyperactivity of these areas creates a field of energy which has the effect of energizing the muse who originated it.”

“I wonder if I will remember all this in the morning.”

“You’re still not taking this seriously.” she says frustrated with my refusal to accept her discussion as fact.  “This is all probably too much to process at once.” Calming herself, she takes a breath and looks into my eyes ready to make another approach.  “I have something I have never understood. I hope you can explain it to me before we take the next step.”

She takes my hands inside of hers and looks deeply into my eyes.  Her usually sapphire blue eyes turn light blue and take on a glowing aura. “Why do you always say that loving me is not a curse?  Every lifetime you have ever spent with me has ended tragically and far too soon.”

Finally a topic slightly less ridiculous. I slow myself down to answer her.  “I think I know why, but I need to know them all.”

“Them all?”

“Every time we have come together since it all began.  The potter and the soldier were our stories right? Show me them all.”

“How did you… never mind your always able to figure stuff out like that. It’s a lot of painful memories.  Are you sure you want to see them all.”

“Absolutely.”

“I have never been able to do this before so I have no idea what will happen.” happen she shows some hesitation mixed with excitement

I look into her worried eyes and say nothing.  Her look slowly relents to one of contentment. “That look always wins me over.”  she says before leaning in towards me pausing millimeters from my lips. 

I place my hand gently to her cheek and kiss her for the first time since we met.  Her velvet lips fit perfectly against mine like two pieces of a puzzle finally fitting together.  A swirling mix of emotions overcomes me as her emotions flood into my consciousness. Moments later the memories start to flow into me.  First a jumbled mix of breathless moments after kisses, then more cohesive memories. The potter and the soldier and so many more. 

A fisherman who becomes a painter who died protecting her from a wild bear.

A blacksmith who shielded her from invaders.

A shopkeeper who hid her from the germans who shared her fate in the camps.

The stories go on and on, even the poet who was slain by “The First Hunter” and allowed her to escape.  I pause to wonder if there is a reason he looked like me. In all the story is the same each time and I know the truth I had held in my heart was the reality.

Our lips part and we sit back to take it all in.  Catching my breath I think to myself how I want to answer her question.

“Did you see?”

“Everything.”

“So now maybe you understand.”

“It is as I thought.  There is no curse.”

She stands up abruptly and flails her arms in the air. “How can this not be a curse, every time we come together you die!”

“Not one time in all those deaths did he, err I, die a death that was not worth dieing.”

“You die because of me!” she shouts, tears streaming down her face.

“I died for you.  There is a huge difference.  The man at our date last night died because of my actions.  He was trying to fight for something he believed in. Nothing there was your fault, in fact by your sisters sister’s reaction earlier, I would say it was her doing that made him what he became.”

“If I could bring myself to stay away from you…”

“We both know that’s not how love works.”

“So love is watching you die?”

“Love is sharing the roller coaster until the end.  I come back because I know there is no other coaster I want to ride.”

“Don’t take the spear Taylor.  I feel like I finally know you better than I ever have.  If you take it and change, then I might lose you forever this time.”

“He doesn’t have a choice in the matter.” comes the cold voice of the queen.

“If we decide to find a small corner of the world to make our own it is not your choice.” I retort childishly.  I really need to figure out why I am so harsh to her.

“Fate will only follow you, events this big have a way of bringing everyone into it despite our wishes.” she replies with surprising compassion, a strangely familiar tone.

“If I am to believe all that has come to pass than I have no choice but to believe you.”

Her face looked as though I had broken her heart for a moment.  “I am so very sorry Taylor, you will understand why soon enough.  Girls it is time to leave.”

“When your ready to understand the second part of your curse pick up the spear, your spear.  That will lead you wherever your fate is destined to take you.”

I look to the spear then back to the girls and they are gone.  The spear has the answers that Eve could not grant, but it will forever leave me changed.

There is but to reach for it.