Mayan Lover (11 page)

With a blush of embarrassment, she realized she
was sprawled on her ass, gaping at the goddess like an idiot. Gwen
struggled to her feet. “That sucked,” she blurted,
rubbing her butt cheek.

The woman smiled tentatively. “Do you know
who I am?” The woman touched her fingers under Gwen's chin, and
a flush of calm, clear euphoria bloomed in her. Gwen sighed. She
wasn’t afraid … at all. Part of her knew she should be,
but she couldn’t conjure fear when she looked at the stunning
woman.

“You’re either Ixchel or a delusion
of my nervous breakdown.” Gwen felt her natural humor roar to
life. Positive energy swept sadness, insecurity, guilt, and regret
away like dust in a breeze.

Ixchel fingers dropped and she laughed. Gwen
found herself spellbound by the sound. “Oh, daughter, you are
my joy and my light indeed.” With the word “daughter,”
intangible strings of truth and connection grew between Gwen and
Ixchel.

Gwen sucked in a breath. “You’re
saying the man I love isn’t crazy.”

“Definitely not. He was created by the Sun
God to be your mate. I am pleased you've come to love him, my light.
He is a handsome young man, is he not?” Ixchel whispered
conspiratorially to her, “You should see his father.”

Gwen liked her. Her eyes were midnight purple.
“So … Kinich is hot?” she teased, hoping to hear
Ixchel laugh again. This time she laughed with her.

“He is quite hot.” Ixchel lifted her
chin upward. “Don’t be puffing fire over that compliment
either,” she shouted to the ceiling. The room rumbled.

“If Arka was meant for me, why was he born
twenty-six hundred years before me?”
And I didn't meet him
before John?
She added mentally.

“There are only certain times when that
type of travel is possible in the human realm. You are my first and
only child. Kinich gifted his essence to Arka at the same celestial
instance. Time on earth does not coincide with time in the heavens.
To us you were both created simultaneously, though in human years
your physical births were years apart. Humanity sees time as a linear
occurrence, when in fact it twists and turns over itself. Arka
traveled to you on one of those rare intersections of space and time
that enabled his human body to Journey from his time to yours.”
She grinned in the face of Gwen dawning realization. “Now then.
Once this nasty comet is taken care of, you and I will have plenty of
time to catch up.”

“Ewww. Please don’t tell me Arka is
my
soul
brother.” Slowly the full impact of what Ixchel
said sunk in. “Wait … did you say comet?”

“The essence of gods can never
intermingle. Kinich and I could never have children together in that
manner. Gods and goddess spirits are created from the energy of a
single entity.” Like cell division meiosis, Gwen deduced. It
didn’t sound very romantic, but at least she wasn’t in an
incestuous relationship. “Kinich and I couple on an astral
plane … similar to your dreams with Arka, though far more
intense.” Oh, man. TMI—way too much information—to
have about your supposed goddess mother and sex.

“Good. You mentioned a … comet?”
She stifled the theme from The Twilight Zone in her mind and changed
the subject.

“Yes. You see, Kinich Ahau is immovable in
the universe. My orbit is with the earth. You and your mate Arka are
our anchors to the earth herself until you ascend. You embody the
power of our light.”

“That weirdly makes sense.” It
didn’t make any sense, really. Gwen tried to keep an open mind,
though she was starting to doubt that everyone else was crazy, and
that she had snapped. Light illuminated. It had no real power unto
itself ...

“You’re not crazy and I'll have you
know light is one of the greatest powers that exist in the universe.
Stop thinking like a human.” She lifted her hands to her hips.
“You
are
the Goddess of Moonlight … my light.
Accept that and everything else will be simple.” Gwen felt
Ixchel’s disappointment in her cells. Unlike the disappointment
she always felt from Carol, Ixchel’s disappointment was laced
with love and understanding.

Ixchel sighed. “Extend your left hand.”
Gwen lifted her arm straight out from her body. “Now look.”
Gwen looked down her arm. Rays of light shot out from each of her
fingers. She wiggled them and the light bent to her bidding. “Do
you believe now?”

“That is so cool,” she said on a
soft release of breath. It felt like a cool breeze coursed in her
bloodstream.

“Now concentrate. Envision the light
condensing, folding into itself, becoming a single powerful stream,”
Ixchel coached.

Gwen closed her eyes. Her arms shook with
tension. The cool breeze did not alleviate the beads of sweat coating
her forehead. The breeze within her raged to a gale, funneling down
her arm like a coned tornado stretching toward the first digit of her
hand. Gwen opened her eyes to see a formidable, laser-like beam. The
power of lasers was a relatively knew branch of science but the
capabilities were vast. The image of chamber walls disappeared and
the beam of moonlight at her command shot into the darkness of the
universe.

Ixchel’s hand lifted to her forehead from
behind, enabling Gwen to see farther down the path of the beam. A
large, boulder type of rock crossed the laser, absorbed the light,
and exploded into tiny pebbles. Gwen fisted her hand and the light
cut off instantly. A weapon … she was a weapon. She hated
weapons.

Ixchel's hand lifted from her head. “Ascension
will raise you and Arka to guardians of the solar system. Power when
used for good is never a weapon, daughter. It is your cautious
appreciation of your power that will make you a perfect Goddess of
Moonlight. Unfortunately, you are needed now.” He voice held a
measure of sadness.

Gwen pivoted to face her goddess mother. “I
get the feeling I may not like where this is going.”

She held up a single finger and cocked her head
like she was listening to something. “Typical men,” she
muttered and rolled her eyes. “Seems your mate has left the
decision to you.”

“Decision for what?”

“The comet targeting the earth requires
the light power that currently lies dormant in your mortal bodies.”

Gwen cut her off. “You call that dormant?”
She pointed in the direction the beam had taken.

“Being a god in human form is a far cry
from being an ascended god. Your spirit is merely astral in the
heavens right now, child. You can only remain in this place if you
fully ascend. Ascension happens when your human body ceases function.
Then you will take on the powers and abilities of your goddess
birthright.” Ixchel linked her fingers at her waist while she
spoke.

“So to destroy the comet, Arka and I will
have to die?” No wonder he'd passed the decision to her. Gwen
might have rolled her eyes like Ixchel if the prospect of making the
call to end Arka's life wasn't involved. To save her friend’s,
the people she cared for, Gwen would agree without hesitation in her
own behalf. But Arka … loving, amazing Arka? How could she
possibly condemn him to die with her? Her knees gave out, plopping
her back to her ass.

The Moon Goddess lifted her hand palm up. Gwen
floated up to eye level with her and found her feet firmly beneath
her again. “If that were the only option, you would have no
decision to make, though I must say, your immediate ascension would
please me. However, there is an … alternative.” Ixchel's
voice wafted with reservation. “You could choose to relinquish
the essence Kinich and I gifted to birth you and Arka.” Her
voice trembled. “Sacrifice your godhood and return the moon and
sunlight back to us. The Sun God and I will unite in effort to
destroy the comet.”

Give up the chance to have a normal
mother/daughter relationship? Well, sort of normal. She already felt
more love from Ixchel than she'd ever felt with her biological mom.
Or give up her chance to live a normal life, have natural children,
grow old. She wished with all her heart Arka were here holding her,
helping her make the decision that would affect them both.

Ixchel waited silently, yet Gwen could feel a
sense of urgency. “The comet is coming now, isn't it?”
Despair filtered in, overwhelming the sense of calm she'd been given
when she entered. Ixchel nodded slowly, her eyes reflected the
despair Gwen felt. “I can’t make this decision alone.”
It was too much. Too overwhelming. Their godhood or their lives …
a sob tore through her.

Ixchel’s expression held sympathy.
“Kinich, my torch.” She lifted her chin to the ceiling.
“Deliver Arka to me, please.”

The room shimmered; Arka stepped through an
oval-shaped tear with a blast of heat. He blinked at Ixchel, and then
his eyes met hers with a loving expression. Gwen dashed to his open
arms. His forehead touched to hers.
“My life is nothing
without you, my godhood means nothing without you, Gwen. Whether we
are together in human form or in the heavens makes no difference to
me. It is you who had built a life on earth. The world I knew was
surrendered upon my Journey. You are my world now.”

“
I feel the same … except—”
She felt selfish, but childhood hopes lingered in her mind.
“I
want children, Arka … your children. I want to leave a legacy.
I want to raise them in parental love … break the cycle I was
raised in. Yet how can I deny Ixchel and Kinich us as their
children?”

Arka stared into her eyes. “
With or
without godhood, we will always be their children. I would love to
have beautiful babies with your skin and hair and my eyes. Godhood or
life … one must be sacrificed.”

Gwen made the decision in her mind, and Ixchel
let out a small sigh. She released her hold on Arka and pulled the
Moon Goddess into her arms, hugging her mother for the first and last
time. “I know you love me and I'm so sorry, but I want to
live.”

Ixchel squeezed her in return. “Don’t
be sorry for following your heart. I understand … my light.”
Her voice broke. “I will be watching your life from the night
sky. Make me proud, have human children so their generations will
carry on, and above everything else, live a life of worth and joy.”
The process for releasing her essence flashed in Gwen’s mind.

Before Gwen could say anything more, her
conscience was propelled back into her body. Her hands, no longer
around her mother, pressed to the ground. The skull was cool against
her forehead, emanating nothing.

Arka lifted from his mirrored position, his eyes
clashing with hers. Without a word, he opened his arms and Gwen
surrendered against his chest, crumbling inside as he held her.
“Shhh, it’s going to be okay,” he whispered into
her hair. “Let’s finish our duty.”

She nodded. They stood side-by-side with their
skulls and touched the macabre faces to their hearts. Energy surged
from her cells to the center of her chest with a force that took her
breath away. The skull lit from within and shook in her palms as an
intricate part of her she hadn’t known existed left her body
feeling bereft and hollow. Glowing brightly, the skull absorbed the
last of her goddess essence. The phrase “you don’t know
what you’ve got till it’s gone” raced through
Gwen’s mind. She mourned the essence already. Slowly she lifted
the glowing amethyst over her head toward the heavens. Arka raised
his a moment later. The skull seemed to open its crystal jaw. White
light burst from between the perfect line of crystal teeth, rippling
as if it were waving goodbye, and sped away toward the slowly rising
moon. Her mouth felt like sandpaper. She swallowed the lump in her
throat and looked over in time to see a quivering mass of yellow fire
float up from Arka’s clear crystal skull and streak across the
horizon toward the sinking sun.

An instant later, both the sun and moon went
dark, as if a switch were turned off in them, plunging the planet
earth into an impenetrable blackness. The forest sounds silenced. No
wind touched a single leaf in the tress. The very air around her
seemed to close in. She’d never suffered from claustrophobia,
but this is what she imagined it must feel like. Arka’s arm
came around her shoulder, tucking her to his side, relieving her
encroaching panic with a touch.

“Oh, gods!” Arka exclaimed.

A single star appeared high in the heavens. Then
the tail of the comet became visible, stretching in a long cone shape
behind the hot missile barreling toward them at a speed that
terrified her.

Were they too late? The comet drew closer,
filling the blackened sky with its fury.
Please please please
,
she chanted in her mind. Maggie, Martha, Enrique, Arthur Hanson …
even Carol joined a parade of faces in her mind. The closer it came,
the harder her heart pounded in her chest. Her gaze was captivated by
the horrific celestial event.

The immense size registered, and the scientist
in her knew it was easily triple every impact crater known to man.
Loud and imposing, the sound of its travel reached through the dim
with an evil, high-decibel hiss. Gwen clutched the crystal in her
hands tighter, resisting the urge to cover her ears with her palms.
She braced her feet when the light of the comet illuminated the
earth’s atmosphere, making the earth’s halo visible.

Blinding, short, rapid blasts of white and
flame-filled lasers peppered the heavens in machine-gun style as the
sun and moon started blasting the comet from either side of the sky,
yet the comet seemed undeterred from its path of destruction, unfazed
by the powerful blasts of light it absorbed greedily.

WHOOSH
. All the air left her lungs as the
ball of deadly fire inexplicably imploded on itself. Her hair lifted
straight into the air with the force of suction from the implosion.
The up-draft reversed with an-ear shattering
BOOM
to blast
down hot air, nearly driving Gwen to her knees. The ground trembled
beneath her feet. The hemisphere bloomed in a fireworks display of
heated shrapnel. Red-hot particles spiraled off in every direction.
S
everal entered the earth’s atmosphere with a bright flare
and spiraled in a lazy ribbon of black smoke to earth.