Raius was worried about Ariel.
“She told you what she’s been up to?” he asked Whil who was distracted by the workers in the Aziza hive.
“I haven’t really had time, Rai,” Whil said with annoyance and then he yelled as a man riding a hippo rammed into one of the walls of the mound interior. There was a loud thud and the force of the hippo battering the dirt wall shook the ground and made the other workers grumble at the inexperience of the hippo rider. Whil sighed then turned back to Raius. “She was here wandering around like she was lost and one of the workers found her before she got hurt. It was strange, but she didn’t seem strange when I spoke to her. She just said she felt an urge to see the mound and she had that look in her eyes like she was recalling exactly what her body had been doing while her mind was elsewhere.”
“A premonition?’ Raius asked.
“Yes, like coming down after a premonition. She didn’t say this, I just recognized the look, I guess. How do you like the renovations? Some of the workers are careless, but things are chugging along nicely.”
Raius forced a smile and looked around at the mound interior that wasn’t full, but there was plenty of work happening to make it feel busy. Raius loved the Aziza mound. He had been born on the forest side of the Disc of Agê and the first time he traveled to the jungle, he was excited by the prospect of seeing the great mound that he had heard and read so much about over the course of his life. Both Raius and Whil were born during Partition, in the Dark Swamp forest in the overlap with Agbe’s disc. The two were born simultaneously, Raius from a lotus and Whil from a lilly, and they had the feathered wings of the famed Mmoatia. They were worshipped in the Dark Swamp for their strength and extraordinary Essence abilities that allowed them to manipulate moisture. Raius could also transmute water into other substances, like wine, oil, or even the blinding plasma of a star, but using these powers was taxing for him because he hardly ever used them. The two were mighty warriors of the Dark Forest, though they hardly had any chance to prove it in their adolescence. It wasn’t until they met Tracia, Pultine, and Ahdis did they ever engage in a true battle, and they were eager students of their Supremes after their initial encounter.
“Chugging on nicely,” Raius said, parroting the words of Whil who was very proud of his idea to renovate and revamp the aziza mound following Tracia’s discovery that all the azizas had abandoned it. The available mmoatia had convened at the empty mound and it was decided that they would offer it as home to any descendant of the azizas looking for a home in the Fonlands, including a large population of the umbatia of the Earther swamp that Pultine was so fond of. Whil had been so overcome with enthusiasm for revamping the mound that he volunteered to oversee renovations before the new inhabitants moved in. His work was appreciated but it had delayed the move of the umbatia from the Earther swamp because it took so long as he tried to get it just right.
“Are you worried about Ariel?” Whil asked and focused his attention on Raius for the first time since he arrived.
“I believe that she is warping space and time around herself,” Raius said. “Is there somewhere quieter we can talk? I think this is very serious. I only recently realized it because her magic is extremely sophisticated, and it may be a very big problem that we need to bring to the original Supremes.”
Whil led Rauis to a higher level of the mound interior and they sat inside of what had once been something like a theater where audiences gathered to watch azizas perform dances and shows of their Essence skills.
“What are you talking about, brother? How could Ariel be warping space and time? She is a daughter of Pultine, the manifestation of her Essence ability is light based.”
“Light manipulation is a common skill of the mmoatia, even if we seem to be the exception. Ariel is something that has never existed before. I spoke with the young man Zacchaeus from the other Earth realm, and the things that he says about Ariel make no sense, even though he believes it and has supposedly taken a break from finding the Superguardian to help her. What he told me made no sense, not until I saw Ariel. She was in the Earther swamp, and even though I didn’t talk to her, I had trouble remembering what was so incongruous about what Zacchaeus had told me.”
“You are speaking around the point, brother,” Whil said with frustration. “What did you learn from Zaccaheus?”
“He said that Ariel had an encounter with the Baron La Croix. Do you know of him?”
“It sounds familiar,” Whil said and he tried to recall where he’d heard the name.
“I think you are thinking of the Baron from the Voodoo religion in Louisiana…”
“Yes!” Whil said enthusiastically. “I was with Ahdis on Earth for one of her political fundraisers. The gulf region has really embraced the Fonlands, and the local religious practices that already existed there made it easier for them to accept us. There are humans who worship Baron La Croix, dark and scary folks. I hope Ariel isn’t in trouble with a death dealer again.”
Raius nodded sadly.
“Is she in New Orleans?” Whil asked.
“It’s not that death dealer, exactly,” Raius said, shaking his head. “There is a Baron La Croix in Outer Spacetime and he is probably stronger than his Fonlands equivalent. Thankfully he is confined to Outer Spacetime.”
Whil shook his head reluctantly. “I’m not interested in Outer Spacetime. I don’t even get it, the other realm has another realm on top of it? Get out of here.”
“I won’t offend you with an explanation,” Raius said with a laugh. “But the involvement of Outer Spacetime is an indication of how weird Ariel has been acting. Zaccaheus says that she’s been trying to free her uncle from Outer Spacetime. Apparently he was marked by Owuo, and the Baron La Croix of Outer Spacetime used his immense knowledge of the arcane to draw Owuo’s death magic into Outer Spacetime, presumably to make himself even more powerful. Beings of Outer Spacetime cease to exist outside of their realm, maybe he is trying to rectify that. Ariel’s uncle was inadvertently drawn into it because he wields death magic due his connection to Owuo’s.”
“This is nonsense,” Whil said frankly. “Wouldn’t someone have noticed death magic vanishing from the Fonlands and the other realm? Namely Owuo, and he would be putting a stop to it.”
“Of course,” Raius said, happy to hear that Whil had been paying attention. “The story Zacchaeus told me is impossible considering that as far as I can tell, death magic is not disappearing from the other realm and Owuo is still plotting in the Smiting Chamber to protect the multiversal structure, not protecting death magic. I know this, but when I saw Ariel, I remembered something, like there was a memory that didn’t exist until she was present to confirm it. I think that Ariel is somehow entangled to a recent past and whatever happened to her uncle, whatever may or may not be happening with death magic, didn’t happen in the past until whatever it is that is happening to her now.”
Whil looked blankly at Raius.
“You do hear yourself…?”
“I know, it sounds bizarre, but I think that it is true. Think about it, Whil. The Mmoatia are descendants of azizas, and the Azizas were originally born from the stars of Jo’s Disc. Jo is the Vodun of space and time, so maybe that’s where she gets it.”
Whil looked at Raius incredulously. “The Vodun of time? Space I understand, but time? Since when?”
“Well not time exactly, but she’s the Vodun of the invisible forces that govern existence as we know it and time is one of those things. But the why of it all really doesn’t matter. If what I think is happening is indeed happening, then Ariel has immense powers to warp time and space and she is existing in two time periods simultaneously and changing reality for everyone she interacts with. What I need to confirm is if Owuo remembers this or if it is only people who have interacted with Ariel.”
“I interacted with her and I don’t remember anything like what you are saying.” Whil said.
“When you talked to her, she had already come out of her premonition, right?” Raius asked. “Maybe the powers had stopped working by that point? I don’t know. But if it sounds familiar to Owuo, then it has to be real.”
“You’re going to just go up and ask him about it?”
“I know where to find him.”
“Good luck with that,” Whil said and he stood. “I need to get back. I don’t want anyone destroying the mound. Please keep me posted and if there is anything I can do, let me know. If what you say is true, it is possible that Ariel is not even aware of what is happening.”
Raius hadn’t considered that.
“Is it common knowledge that Time is under the purview of the Vodun Jo?” Raius asked Ahdis. He had traveled to Earth and sat with her at her beach house in Charleston, South Carolina. The house was large with a nice wooden patio off the back porch that overlooked her own section of the beach. It was early morning and the view as the sun slowly rose was calming. They enjoyed the breakfast that Ahdis cooked herself at a table on the patio, sitting in cushioned chairs as they sipped drinks.
Ahdis laughed. “Space. Time is Legba’s thing, I’m sure.”
The thick red curls of her hair wafted in the breeze off the water. Her skin was as white as ivory and heavily freckled with red dots in some places, including her exposed shoulders in the lacy top she wore. She was in pajamas, but she looked like she modeled them for an invisible photographer. Raius was also in pajamas, a tank top and long pants, and his copper colored skin was complemented by the palate of the sunrise.
“Is it?”
Ahdis shrugged. “I’m sure there is a book in the Void or Celestial libraries that can answer your question if you dare to brave those infinities.”
“I don’t think that it’s that pertinent to the matter at hand.”
“Are you worried about the threat that is making everyone go to the Smiting Chamber?” Ahdis asked.
“Yes, but that is not why I am here. Are the mmoatia descendants of the Azizas of Jo’s Disc?”
“I believe so, but it is not my area of expertise,” Ahdis admitted.
“I was asking about the relation of time to Jo’s disc because I thought it could account for what I think is happening to Ariel with the Baron La Croix.”
Ahdis narrowed her eyes at Raius and it changed the mood between them.
“You saw the Baron?” Ahdis asked. “You know that death magic is disappearing? How is that? I have seen it happening in dreams, but when I go to the Fonlands, it is still there. I know death magic, it is strong in the deep, and in my dreams it is being stripped away. I thought that I was having premonitions, but my dreams feel old, like I am remembering something that isn’t a memory. What does this have to do with Ariel?”
After listening to Raius’s concerns, Ahdis frowned. “That could explain why I only see it in my dreams, and why it isn’t known to others. But reality warping powers aren’t prevalent among Fonlanders of any disc. I don’t think the Azizas of Jo’s disc have that ability. We should go and find Ariel. It’s probably best to sort this out sooner rather than later.”
Raius agreed and they finished their breakfast before heading back to the Disc of Age where they hoped to find Ariel at the aziza mound.
PRL Serials 