Journee's POV:
I awake the next day to the smell of brewed black coffee and freshly toasted garlic bread. Climbing out of bed, I am led purely by my stomach's instinct as I walked out the door and headed towards the delicious scent of baked beans, roasted tomatoes, grilled sausages on a bed of button mushrooms and I sincerely do hope sunny side ups.
"Good morning! Isn't it a lovely day for a tour?" the host beamed at me as she set a large plate of breakfast before me.
"Good morning. These smell absolutely delicious." I dug in and little moans escaped my lips as I relished each and every bite.
After some moments, I realised that in my hunger daze, I failed to check on what I am wearing. Embarrassed, I am hesitant to look down. This kind lady hasn't said anything or looked at me weirdly yet. Maybe I got dressed without realising it? Did I lose parts of my memory?
I remembered my conversation with Ma'oz on how demons have been wiping out memories to hide their existence. Did some other demon try? Or Ma'oz? Is his spell malfunction and remove the wrong part of my memories?
"Ready for today?" Ma'oz placed a chaste kiss on the crown of my head. "Don't forget your coat." He draped a light pink Cashmere coat around my shoulders. Within, I am dressed in matching grey slacks and a t-shirt. Phew! I am dressed after all. Hold it right there, Jo! Did Ma'oz just kiss me on the head? Why is he playing the doting husband?
Ma'oz holds my hand as we walk away to the back of the castle. My mind is still on the fact that I don't remember anything after getting into the bathtub. It frustrates me like an ant bite I just can't reach.
"I changed your clothes with magic." Ma'oz said without looking at me.
"What?" I stare at him.
"I am beginning to think that the word 'what' is your favourite vocabulary. You know what I mean."
My cheeks flush a deep rosy pink. What did I think? Of course, he can do that. It's simple magic to him.
We head to the West Tower and our host promptly leaves after handing Ma'oz the keys.
"Where are we going?" Beyond this door, I can only see as far as the sunlight allows me to. The walls are bare brick, void of tapestry and ornaments.
Ma'oz doesn't answer.
Snapping his fingers, he leads the way, lighting my path with the glowing flame emitting from his open palm.
We might have walked for a kilometre or two, I am unsure. Like a moth attracted to the deadly flame, I watch the figure in front of me in fascination. Studying the way his ears move slightly when he pauses to think. No other muscle moves until the sound of him breathing out echoes through the narrow passageway. That is when we take another right, or is it left. I have lost count.
"We're here." Ma'oz closes his fist and puts out the magical flame.
As his overpowering frame moves to the side, I gasp at the beauty of this place. Who would have thought such beauty would exist underground?
A stream of water trickles down the walls, protecting its natural grey stone from the harsh decay of time, all the while smoothing the surface into a mirror-like function.
This is a genius piece of engineering! People of the old days are not as basic as we think.
I approach the statue of white marble. Its face is hidden by a sort of carved on veil, head downcast to the left. Rising up to embrace the light reflected from the water and walls, her graceful hands curve upwards to the right, as if beckoning the spirits of the air to join her dance.
Enthralled by this unusual sight, I allowed her to draw me close.
Careful not to thread on the shrubs of baby's breath that surrounds, I tip toed around, finding empty spaces to land my feet.
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Ma'oz 's POV
So, this is where he buried her.
Right in the centre of this stone clad room, artificial lighting shines on a statue of the Spirit of Sorrow and Retrospect. She has long been the symbol of everlasting sorrow which also signifies life and knowledge.
The Spirit of Wisdom itself.
I follow the little golden threads that surround the place. Unwinding them, I find myself standing to the Northwest corner. Here, somewhere among these flowers lies the lover of a previous demon king. An ancient corpse who will end this cursed bond and set me free.
The clues Damon found points towards the Northwest. But where? I condensed my power into the tips of my fingers, willing it to point me to the right direction.
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Journee's POV
It feels like déjà vu. Have I dreamt of this place before? It is so beautiful here. Surely, I would remember such a place…right?
I wonder around to the sunny spot. Standing just beneath the statue's shadow, I brave myself to touch the lines carved. Just movement, it seems like this statue has been dancing for all time.
"Who is this, Ma'oz?" I wonder if I would ever be this graceful. Perfect in its mysterious shroud, my heart yearns to meet her face.
"Humans call her Wisdom. But her true name is the Spirit of Sorrow and Retrospect."
Ma'oz lifts a finger and I float away from the statue, away from light and beauty. "Hey!"
"Shh." Placing a finger on my lips, Ma'oz's gleaming eyes flash across the room. He waves his hands in the hair and mutters words so ancient I am unable to find the root language in them.
If only I could understand what he is saying. I said wishfully in my mind.
"Come forth Spirit of Sorrow. Read fate and retrace the steps of the dead. I call upon the Sister's Fate. Lend me your eye, find me the answers I seek!" Ma'oz's voice is ice cold and his demure more commanding than I have previously seen.
Before I am able to ask him anything at all, hundreds of fireflies rise from the ground circling the statue. They form an army of light, moving faster and faster until the lines blur.
Out from the lot of them, a single golden light emerges, floating towards us like beautiful golden flower. From it, a ghostly apparition appears in this underground chamber. A child fair and lovely, she dances among the flowers in the meadow, singing to the birds and bowing to the sky.
Such a happy life. To be so beautiful and carefree. This is what everyone yearns to be and how we all wish to live.
No sooner had I completed those words in my mind, the child's playful laughter stops. Her face paler than the moon with eyes like the blood moon, she hikes up her skirts and runs.
Ma'oz and I float behind her, following her closely until she enters a humble hut.
"NO!! MAMA!" The sorrow in her cry pierces through my soul. Its sound causes the flock of birds to take flight, bringing away all possibility of happiness.
Deep within me, my memories surface. Oh, how I understand how she feels. It brings back the time my own mother passed away. How my future, life itself ended for me with her last breath. It was the first time I questioned the heavens and cursed fate. I couldn't understand why it had to be her to leave.
I felt a tear roll down my cheek.
As we watched, the scene changed, and the beautiful child grew into a lovely teen of maybe 16. No longer does she sing and dance. Her countenance is drawn, the hemp of her skirt 4 inches in mud as she tills the land beside her father. She toils from dawn till dusk, never taking a break even when she is unwell.
At 18, tragedy strikes again when her father is taken ill with the plague. The other villages advise her to leave her home and distance herself from doom and death.
I see how she takes her stand against them and admire her resolve as she continues to fight for survival while caring for her father and their farm.
A fast-moving reel, the child has matured into a woman in her 20s. Her father survived the plague but has lost his sight.
Weak and poor, they are ill-treated by the village children who throw stones and faeces at the house, sneer at her tattered clothes and call them names.
I cannot help but feel enraged by all these. My emotions are on overdrive, and I don't understand why I care so much. Maybe it is the magic in the air that makes one feel everything the spirits we watch went through.
"Ma'oz… I don't think I can continue watching." My voice choked up with sorrow, my heart clenched against my ribcage. I just want to scream at all of those naughty children and take this woman into my arms to comfort her. To tell her that she is the strongest person I have ever come across.
"Once the spell has started, we must stay until the end. There are repercussions for not obeying the rules of magic." Ma'oz explained as he kindly took my hand in his. This is the first time I have held hands with him. I marvel at how small I feel in comparison.
Unwillingly, I sigh and turn back to the scene unfolding. The farmer's daughter now stands beside a wholesome looking young man. By the looks of his stained tunic and slightly torn pants, he must also be a farmer.
The two of them smile so brightly, staring into each other's eyes. Golden threads appear around them, binding their hearts and their souls into one.
Even though the walls of their surrounding is bare save for a half-broken table and a bed of straw on the floor, I can feel how their feelings for each other makes even this poor hut feel like the grandest of palaces.
These memories swirl past us and in a flash, it looks like 2 years have passed. A new-born is wrapped safely in the arms of the farmer's daughter while her husband looks on proudly at his family.
A time of happiness, the heavens have blessed with the perfect gift, or so they think.
I watch in horror as the villages set the hut on fire, chanting away "KILL THE WITCH! KILL THE UNGODLY CREATURE!!"
Instinctively I flew into action, but Ma'oz holds me back. "It is the past. There is nothing you can do about it." He reminds me.
A portal opens in the middle of the hut and the man pulls his wife to her feet. "Go now. I'll handle them."
"No! I won't lose you. We must leave together." She holds her baby in one arm and holds a fist full of his tunic with her other.
"I will always love you. Fear not, my sunlight." He lays a chaste kiss on her lips and stares into her eyes for a long time before pushing her through the portal.
She falls further and further down the darkness. It overtakes her senses and as she passes out, so does my vision blur and fade.
"Journee! Journee! Wake up!" Ma'oz's voice calls to me, pulling at me, but I don't wish to leave. This love, this pure and unconditional love that feels my heart is far more beautiful, far more peaceful and I don't want to ever leave it.
"Remember me, my love. Do not forget the moments we have shared." Another male voice called out. "I am here. Embrace me as you once did." My heart yearned for his touch, to discover the source and to be forever safe again.
"Journee! Come back! Don't go…" Ma'oz's cried out, I feel the pain and anguish in his voice as he desperately clings on to my body, willing my soul to stay. "Don't leave…"
I felt a droplet of liquid fall on my cheek, rolling down the curve of my face and falling into my tresses.
Between fear and peace, who do I choose? Both have called me, and I must answer one. Which shall be my master? Will I ever be wise enough to make the right choice?
The two halves of my being want different things. I guess my selfish side wants to feel the pain and worry of another, translating it as a declaration of love. The other however wants only serenity, stability and all that is worry-free.
"Ignore the other voice!" Both male voices call out, disrupting my thoughts. "I am the one you seek. Come back…please…" Ma'oz and the other man beg. "I will give everything, anything if you please come back."
"…I love you. I love you. I love you. My heart, my soul and all of me that exists is yours. I will wear your name on my heart, be shackled to your bosom. I am your slave. Willing and wholly, I give myself to you. Just please come back to me…"