All sentient life is connected. The appendages may be different, we may eat different things, and live in different universes, but at the end of the day, we’re all one big family.
It’s time to explore the branches of the multiversal family tree, and today, we present:
(Node 5 Prime 5 Earth Year 2024)
The Old House
– Issue 2 – Where Them Girls At Part 2
“I could trap you in this darkness forever, Supreme.”
Ariel felt like she had been flying through darkness for a long time and the voice seemed to come from the same distance ahead of her. She could feel her sister, Zana, too, and she could tell that she was safe because not only had she activated her ecstatic gland, but Ariel could tell that Zana was generating Essence. Even though this gave Ariel some relief, she didn’t know what was happening to her sister and even though she could feel Zana more clearly than she could before, she could also tell that she was not advancing any closer. She stopped, hovering in the unchanging darkness.
“Who are you?” Ariel asked. “What do you want?”
“I didn’t want anything,” the voice said. “I was just dwelling in a space that has been marked as my own in your realm thanks to your thieving uncle. He uttered my name and took my spoon, he practically begged me to haunt this space.”
“I know you,” Ariel said with realization. Pultine had told her about the evils that were born in the Fonlands when she became a Supreme, and the worst evil that Pultine warned her about was the source of all evil in the Fonlands, a thing composed of pure evil, vile thoughts and intentions made flesh. “Owuo,” Ariel said despite the reality that saying his name only gave him power.
“It sounds good from your mouth,” Owuo said.
“How are you allowed to exist on Earth like this? The Vodun allow this?”
Ariel heard a grumble, like Owuo expressed anger without words. “I am the Vodun of death!” He yelled and his voice echoed around the darkness with so much force that it felt like the sound pelted Ariel’s body. “I do not need permission from anyone but the mother-father and they are not intervening, so consider yourself, your family mine. There are things that I could use a Supreme Mmoatia for. There are dark times coming, and though that pleases me, others have tied my hands and I am recruiting beings of power. If you aid me in my heroic aims and help me repay my debt, then I will consider the debt your uncle owes to me paid.”
“And you will go back to the Fonlands?” Ariel asked. “Never come back here again?”
Owuo laughed. “You are sharp, Supreme. I will agree to leave your family alone and forget your uncle’s transgression, with the understanding that if he crosses me again, if he so much as mutters my name, he will be mine forever and I will not release him a second time. Do we have a deal?”
Ariel knew better than to make deals with the devil, and she was silent in the darkness for a while as she deliberated.
“Do we have a deal!” Owuo shouted angrily and it morphed into a wail of agony. Ariel thought he sounded wounded.
Then she felt arms wrap her and a body press against the front of her.
“I got you, sissy,” Ariel heard Zana in her ears, and as she heard it, she saw Zana’s golden yellow aspect begin to issue from her face like her entire head was on fire.
“Even my light couldn’t shine through the darkness,” Ariel said as she smiled at Zana.
“You ain’t trying hard enough, then” Zana said and her face was angry.
“I will not rest until your entire bloodline writhes in agony,” Owuo shouted. “And the baby Mmoatia will be first. No one fights their way out of my dark pit!”
“I just did,” Zana said and she flipped her large black wings that were as large as her sisters and flew them both upwards until they emerged through the hole in the porch in the backyard of the old house. They landed a distance away and Zana screamed at the house, shooting chaotic golden energy at the house that seemed to gather the light for a moment before it exploded in a fury of ash.
Ariel stood behind her sister, staring at her with admiration. She was a natural when it came to wielding the essence and Ariel was proud to have such a fierce ally on her side.
Zana turned to her sister as the glowing flame of her head subsided and her wings retracted into her back.
“You driving, and don’t ever bring this up again. Whatever that thing do next, you dealing with by yourself.”
“What happened in there?” Ariel asked.
“You know I don’t let nobody put they hands on me, I don’t care what they is,” Zana said, her face hardening as she talked. “They tried to lock me up somewhere, these demon looking things, scaly and shit. And I got mad and my head caught on fire…”
“That was light,” Ariel said and lifted a hand where a ball of the yellow white light appeared that was the inheritance of the daughters of Pultine.
Zana shook her head. “I’m done with this,” she said and walked toward the car.
Ariel didn’t argue. Zana could be stubborn, but Ariel knew that she would come around. In the meantime, Ariel wanted to know what Owuo was up to and she would have to go to the Fonlands to find out more.
PRL Serials 