Awareness
POV: Lucien
After the incident with the master of Zen, I had sent him off to Pretre Jean with a sealed letter to have him examined for possession. It was rare for a God to possess a semi-mortal but it was an ability they had. I imagined that this God didn’t have the blessing of All Mighty since he seemed to be operating alone based on what Apollo had told Aphrodite. I wanted to see if the church could determine who it was that possessed him, they could. I had explained in the letter that the God who possessed this man was also the God who cursed Alexandra. Given the dangerous look in his eyes and a menacing grin, I didn’t believe him to be one of those Gods who were very merciful. I had wondered if he felt threatened by my feelings for Alexandra and I had wondered if she was even safe being around him. I also had to think about how I would act around her from here on out now that I was aware of my feelings for her. I wanted to be a man truly worthy of her and I wasn’t sure I was there yet. I know Aphrodite said I was compatible with her and who was to argue with the Goddess of Love but I had self-doubt. I had remembered one time when we were children, Melody said that a lady had to be worthy of her royal husband. I didn’t believe that to be true, I believe when you are in love a couple should strive to be worthy of each other every day. I went to be exhausted and mentally drained from what had happened earlier with my communication with Aphrodite and the encounter with the mystery God. I fell asleep wondering if he would show up again at some point.
I woke up the next morning feeling about the same as I had the night before so I desperately needed some form of caffeine. Luckily, my mother was sure to have the retreat stocked with every tea blend she made. She wanted to make sure Alexandra could have anything she wanted. My mother truly admired her demeanor and personality ever since the tea party so she was hyper-aware of her needs for this retreat. One of her tea blends had a good blend of caffeine in it. I had dressed in casual slacks and a light sweater since it was supposed to be cooler. I strode into the banquet hall where everyone else was having breakfast. Alexandra smiled up at me, “Good morning, sleepyhead.” I smiled at her and then turned my face away as I felt a blush creep up into my face. I heard Jess giggle and when I looked over at her she winked. When I sat down, I asked, “Can you bring me the vitality blend? I really need it this morning.” The servant told me he would bring me a cup right away. I covered my mouth to cover up the big yawn that was coming out of me. Alexandra smiled at me, “Was your date with Alesha so amazing that you lost sleep?” I widened my eyes at her, “Huh? What? No. I had a lot to think about from the meditation session.” Alesha giggled, “He didn’t get much clarity on his meditation. I imagine you were thinking about this Queen competition. You won’t find clarity, Lucien, because it is out of your hands. You probably should have thought through something else.” Her statement made me wonder whether or not the mystery God would have possessed that poor man.
Alexandra reached over and squeezed my hand, “Lucien, you look very troubled. Are you afraid that you’ll have to marry Melody?” She turned to Meldon who was sitting next to her, “No offense, dude.” I pulled up his hands, “None taken. I really don’t want her to marry Lucien either. He’s too nice for her. I also shudder to think what she would be like as Queen. She’s too insufferable as it is and she’s only the daughter of a Marquis.” Alexandra laughed, “Hard to argue with that. I speak from experience. I did nothing to her but right away she decided to hate me. Do you know why?” He nodded and looked down, “You’re seen as someone here to take what was likely going to be Melody’s plus you were raised on Terre. She thinks of humans as cattle and because you were raised there, you’re just as much cattle as the rest. She sees you as weak and powerless.” Jess laughed, “If only she knew what I know.” Meldon looked at Jess, “What do you mean?” Alexandra sighed and looked at all of us, “I’m going to reveal something that I just found out but I need this to stay here.” She looked pointedly at Litha and I knew that she was thinking she still couldn’t really trust her. She drew in a deep breath and closed her eyes, “I found out that I have multiple abilities and this is because I have a Goddess soul.”
I looked up at her and I nodded at her and she smiled back at me. I figured that to be the case when we were in Eden and it was revealed that her soul father was Apollo. The way Grand Pretre explained how being touched by the Gods is that a God or Goddess can create a soul and place it into a child that is planned by the All Mighty. This will give them the ability that the God or Goddess has, if a God and Goddess create a soul together then that child will have the same soul. When she leaves this realm, she will be able to ascend and serve the All Mighty by her soul parent’s side. This would give them multiple abilities from both her soul parents and from her bodily ancestors. I had wondered how many one person needed but like with everything the All Mighty had a plan. From what Grand Pretre said, the plan was to save Vellum from catastrophe. How she would do that was a mystery even to her but she saw Alexandra’s future as some great hero. I was snapped from my thoughts when Blake spoke loudly, “Well, I think we should now choose who is going out on dates today. What say you brother?” I had stared at him for a moment to try to wrap my head around what he was saying. I had been completely out of it and I had wondered if it was from a lack of sleep.
I nodded at the group, “We probably should since we had all decided that after breakfast would be the time to do so. It looks like I am the slow one to finish. My apologies that I am dragging the pace down. We can choose now and I will stay behind to finish my breakfast.” We all went over to the table to conduct the fire draw. Alexandra’s ember fell into Blake’s hands, Litha’s fell into mine, Jess’s fell into Meldon’s and Alesha’s fell into Derek’s. Alexandra and Blake would learn fencing from a fencing master, Litha and I would go into town on a shopping trip, Jess and Meldon would meet with a different Zen master that would teach them some stretching exercises and Alesha and Derek would go on a snorkeling trip. I turned to go back to my breakfast, bummed out that I was not going to go out with Alexandra that night. Jess stood behind and told Alexandra that she wanted some of that vitality blend tea. Jess sat down where Alexandra had been sitting before. She looked at me, “Okay, what’s eating at you? You were on edge before and now you are bummed out.” I sighed, “I should have known I couldn’t get anything past you. I had an…incident happen during my date with Alesha yesterday.” Jess leaned forward and placed her head on her hand, “Go on.” I nodded, “So the master sent Alesha out of the room so that he could counsel me. He walked her to the door and had a wicked grin on his face. It was terrifying.” Her eyes widened, “Did he try to kill you or something?” I shook my head, “It was a warn about how Alexandra was his.” She dropped her hand on the table, “Was that the God who cursed her?” I nodded, “I believe so. He possessed the master during the meditation. I found out that Gods can contact us when we are in a higher plane of consciousness. I wonder if they can possess us as well.” She furrowed her brows, “That’s terrifying for sure. Can you imagine they could just pop into you or Blake and mess with Alexandra at any moment?” I sighed, “That was exactly my concern.” She bit her lip and was chewing on it lost in quiet contemplation while I took a sip of the hot liquid in my teacup. She looked up after a long while, “I think we should tell her about this. She needs to know that he can come at her at any time.” I shook my head, “I’m hesitant to say anything to her given why we are here. It is best to keep her in the dark for now.” Just then I heard Alexandra’s voice, “Keep me in the dark from what?”
