Conversation with the Matriarch

Author's note:

This story is almost like a response to a challenge. My Fantasy Lit. professor

asked for an analysis essay comparing two short stories we read in her class; or

to write a good fantasy story, within the same parameters: 4 pages, double

spaced and it had to be a whole story, with a beginning and an end.

*~*~*~*~*

Menaris Bold Manor

7.26.4683

"Lillith?"

It was amazing how average she looked, how quiet her power was. The soft blue tunic style shirt she wore over stone grey trousers added to her disguise. And it was a disguise when the most ancient being presented herself as a Daughter of the Second. Witches were bold in our day and took pains to separate themselves from the more sedate woman of lesser power. Lesser because, as She explained to me when this whole thing started, every woman held great potential within herself; it was a beautiful benefit the Patriarch couldn't alter if he wanted the human race to survive. The ability to carry life was an unrecognized line directly to the Divine Ness, the all encompassing power that the Patriarch used to create the world, and we've been fighting his abuse of this power for the last 100 years or so. All in all, "Armageddon" was going in our favor, but these conversations were bound to help.

She opened a set of stygian eyes and stared through me in a way that made fear and desire run through my veins. I shivered.

"Are you cold little nephew?" The fire in the hearth flared higher and the temperature rose sharply, giving the air in my study a cloying quality. She hadn't even moved a muscle. I gasped and shook my head. When I could breathe again, I asked her to continue the story.

"He sent three messengers to fetch me back to Adam. The other two are insignificant; the third was my beloved Semangolf…"

*~*~*~*~*

Eden

Forgotten Day 51

"Sister, return to Adam. He commands it!"

"And who is He to command me?"

"He is father to us all. Why do you defy him?"

"Because he would have me submit to that whining fool, Adam."

"You would choose this life?" Semangolf, his gaze curious, stared hard at Lillith with a hint of something previously not found in an angel's eye. Something his brother Lucifer would see and it will spark a fire inside the Light Bringer. "In place of the paradise, Eden?"

"Yes." She defied.

*~*~*~*~*

Menaris Bold Manor

7.26.4683

"They dragged me back that day. Cut off my wings and dragged me - me - back to that infernal paradise. To that stupid man, that blind creature who would not see his true potential… or mine." Her anger made the paintings vibrate, though she remained eerily still with her fists clenched tightly over the arms of her seat.

"The pain of the removal made me weak." Her eyes snapped to mine, present but still as cold. She was looking at me now. "And that was the only time I ever lay with Adam. Even in my weakened condition I fought him. By the time it was over we were both scraped and bruised. That was when Semangolf returned. He saw us on the floor, weak and crying. Had we been mortal no doubt we both would have passed on."

"What has happened here? Why do you cry, Lillith? Adam?"

"Is that when he rescued you?" She'd gone quiet.

"No. That was the day he pulled our memories from us with a glance and took them to the Patriarch. He was gone for several days. Long enough for my wings nearly to be regenerated and long enough for Adam foolishly to have tried cutting them off again. Upon Semangolf's return, I had Adam pinned to a tree with the weapon he'd attempted to use against me. I intended to relieve him of his penis so he wouldn't be tempted to attack me again before my wings were fully regenerated. My angel surprised me and stopped me…"

Her mouth was curved in bitter sweet, wicked amusement.

*~*~*~*~*

Eden

Forgotten Day 67

"Leave him!"

"Leave us, Angel!" Lillith snarled.

"Leave him, Lillith, and come with me." The powerful voice changed from commanding to a sweet coaxing on the last. "I will take you home, but it must happen now. I cannot fight the will of the Father for long."

After an endless minute of staring into the eyes of a grim faced, pained Adam, Lillith turned and grabbed the hand of Semangolf, leaving Adam speared to the tree.

Outside the gates of Paradise, Semangolf praised the spirit in Lillith, and shared the verdict of the Father.

"You are a brave and curious fool." He smiled at her. "You have defied the Father and now you shall have to live without him. He was angry that you were both driven to such violence when it need not have been so. You are banished from this place forever; sentenced to eternity outside the garden."

Lillith smiled in smug satisfaction, victory gleamed in her eye.

"Perhaps." He said sadly. "This is my gift to you, Lillith, for you inspire me." Laying a hand over her womb the angel pulled her close. Wrapping his wings around her, he pressed their bodies together and Lillith felt a warm rush of love sweep through her. It spiraled down into a tight coil and exploded along every surface.

"This is your child, Lillith. Cherish her and teach her the ways that will be known to you and your line forever." With that he was gone, and Lillith finally felt the solitude of the desert.

*~*~*~*~*

Menaris Bold Manor

7.26.4683

"She was born on a cool night nine moons later. I named her Gai. Her father only saw her once after that, before the Father called all his angels to heaven, where they were commanded to remain, outside of human sight. Unfortunately my daughter was born after Eve ate of the tree. All my children are born mortal, and destined to die. It is a horrible curse." She was staring through me again, as if watching something else taking place behind my head. I thought she was lost in her memories.

The clock in the corner chimed twelve times. It was broken. It only chimes twelve, but it still marks every hour without fail. None of this changed the fact that our time was over. Lillith never moved. Afraid to touch, she isn't a kind woman; I called her name instead.

"Your home is being attacked," she answered. "There are three Arch Angels outside attempting to gain entry."

"Shit! What should we do?" I was ready to panic.

"Wait them out, little nephew. Wait them out. You should have heard enough of my story to know that I am as stubborn as the Patriarch himself." Smiling, she closed her eyes, to focus more of her energies on keeping them out.

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