The Goddess

What happens when one of the gods loses their minds?

The tree in front of me shook violently, under the stress of the power coming from within. It was quite a large oak tree, and very old. It creaked and groaned, it swayed and shook some more as I heard an echoing cry come from within the tree, for it was a hollow tree, with a single occupant inside.

 

"How long has she been like this," I asked, holding my coat closer to my body as a cool gust of air swept in circles around the tree. I stared at the man next to me, a wizened man who had seen far too much, and always seemed to have a look of regret upon his face. He too wore a coat similar to my own, but instead of jeans he wore slacks, brown slacks and a brown coat.

 

"Almost all night," He said, "but luckily, she has decided to stay within the tree. We're not sure why though, do you know?"

 

It dawned on me that he had never been unsure of something, had never asked me if I knew something. It brought a small smile on my face, "I know why she chose this tree, yes." I waited a few moments, relishing the feeling of knowing something this man didn't know.

 

"Well," he said, "Aren't you going to tell me?"

 

"It's where we first met," was all I had to say, for he knew all about my past with her. I looked at the small hole that led into the tree, the only entrance into the cavernous hollow oak tree, as light poured outside of it. I wasn't sure what the light source was, or what to except once I entered, so I walked closer to the entrance.

 

"We can't keep calling you in," I heard behind me, "Every time we need to calm her. You have to find a more permanent solution, or else..." He let the threat hang in the air.

 

I didn't turn around, I walked inside, to see a very odd sight. The entire inside of the tree was covered in emerald eyes, emerald gemstones in the shape of eyes that is. A single candle sat in the middle on top of a marble table, with a magnifying glass reflecting the light from the candle into the emerald, and each one was positioned to reflect the light from the single candle, causing a luminescent green glow to fill the room. I looked around the tree, noticing the emeralds made shapes and patterns if you looked at them a certain way. Some hung from the ceiling on web-like string, some looked to be infused into the bark, as if they had grown right out of the tree, though I knew this was not the case.

 

She sat in the middle, and did not look the same as when I had last left her two years ago, a day I regretted every day since. Her hair was still black, but dirt, twigs and what looked like cobwebs clung to her hair. Her skin was paler than normal, but you could barely see any skin from under the clothes she wore. She wore several different coats, one over another, over another, they were thickly wrapping her body. She also wore thickly padded snow pants, it looked like she may have been wearing several pairs of those as well. The strangest fact about her attire was that it was not cold at all, it must have been at least 82 degrees. Her face was the only uncovered part of her body, but it was covered in scratches and bruises. She was sitting on the ground, in the fetal position, rocking back and forth when I entered. 

 

I walked several feet closer, only to hear the most blood-curdling scream I had ever heard come from her, which caused me to buckle to my knees and cover my ears. I had shut my eyes, and when I opened them, she was standing over me.

 

"You shouldn't have come," she said, holding out her hand. I took her hand, and she helped me upright. I stared at this woman, the woman I had once promised myself that I would one day marry her, and felt afraid to be near her. 

 

___________

 

I remembered the day we had first met, the day I had heard a little girl cry. I had been a teenager then, back when we had first met. I had been taking a shortcut from school to home, when I had heard her crying coming from inside this old oak tree. She had been so pretty, wearing a simple white dress. I was stunned by how beautiful a young girl could be. 

 

"Why are you crying," I had asked this little girl.

 

She told me, "My mummy and daddy want too much for me, for my future."

 

"You must be eight or nine years old, you have a long time,"

 

She interrupted me, "I forget how you mortals perceive us sometimes, forgive me." Her voice had deepened, become that of a woman's voice. It had been unnerving to hear a woman's voice come out of a little girl.

 

"Mortals?" I didn't understand what she was talking about, but I felt very warm around her. Safe, secure, like nothing could hurt me while I was with her.

 

"Silly mortal, I'm a goddess." She laughed, and knelt down to the ground, breathing onto it. When she stood up, the earth shook and opened up for flowers and grass to spring forth out of the ground, as if by magic. I couldn't believe my eyes, I looked and she had a wicked smile about her. "What is your name, mortal?"

 

"Ethan, what's yours?"

 

She laughed again, "I can only tell one mortal my true name, for that mortal is supposed to be the one I am to marry. At least, that's what my daddy says."

 

I looked again at the budding flowers, and picked one up, a jasmine, and pinned it into her hair. She felt warm, inviting, I almost fainted merely from touching her. No other woman had had this kind of affect on me, so I was hooked. "How about I call you Jasmine, for the flowers you provided?"

 

"Okay, let's be friends," she smiled that wicked smile, and we left the tree, and had the most fun I had ever had, even to this day.

 

___________

 

She looked at me with a look of remorse, as if she took pity on me, when I felt more pity for her.

 

"Why are you doing this," I asked her.

 

She moved to the candle again, showing a brief smile but then returning to a frown. "I wanted our house to look pretty, for when you came. I knew they would send you, they always do" All those years ago, when I had brought her back to the tree; she had told me that this would be our house one day, if we ever fell in love.

 

"That isn't what I'm talking about..."

 

She still didn't look at me, "I know, I know." The nearby town was being ravaged by a tsunami and earthquake, but the nearest ocean and fault line was over 500 miles away. They had brought me in to talk to her, calm her down, it always ended up being me.

 

"Why," I asked again, "Innocent people are being harmed..."

 

Her cry echoed throughout the room, "You think I want to do this, I don't know... Where I am, when I am, or who I'm with sometimes. I can't..." She curled back into the fetal position, as I walked closer to her. I knelt next to her, cradling her in my arms.

 

"Sush now," I said, "Everything is going to be okay." I rocked with her, back and forth. Trying to relax and calm her. If I didn't do something soon, the whole town would be underwater, and completely reduced to rubble. As I rocked her back and forth, I felt a shimmering wave of what felt like sorrow wash over me. heading in the direction of the town. I had felt something similar to this, when she had caused it to rain ice cream, but the feeling had been that of excitement and joy. She must have sent something to the town, made situations worse perhaps.

 

"No, why do I do this? I can't stop it, can't control it." She was crying, her head on my shoulder. I thought for a moment, wondering what I could do.

 

"Have you tried seeing a doctor, a medicine man perhaps?"

 

"Nothing works, I've tried it all. The current medicines, from pharmacies, they don't work on a goddess. Some of the old ways work, herbs and spices, potions and flasks. I've been to every shaman and voodoo priest on the planet, none of them could help make me whole, help to unmake what I have made of myself." She spoke of what caused her fits of insanity and madness.

 

She had been very beautiful when I had known her, and we had fallen in love. Her father, I'm not sure who he was, had tried to banish me to India  and forbade her from seeing me, but she rescued me and took me away from India, brought me home. She had been ashamed of herself, that she could never appease her father, no matter what she did, more ashamed than she had ever been. She tried to fix one of her biggest flaws, the reason her father dissolved of her lifestyle, she lacked focus.

 

She had told me, "He yelled at me, "You lack focus, you need to concentrate your efforts on to more important matters, quit fooling around with that mortal. I had told him, "Fine, here you go!" She had tried to alter her mind and spirit, to clear her mind of all the distractions she had, but it had only exasperated the situation further.

 

"What happened," I said to her, "That night, when you lost your..." I was about to say it, but stopped.

 

"When I lost my what," she cackled, laughing hysterically, facing the wall, "My sanity, my mind?" She laughed again, it echoed throughout the tree, causing the tree to shudder. Several emeralds fell to the ground, and though I did not doubt they were real, they sahttered once they fell to the ground.

 

"You never told me," I yelled, "Tell me now, or I'm leaving you... for good." I had to yell, or else she wouldn't have heard me over the wind. I instantly regretted saying that, as she threw herself into a fit, causing the tree to literally lift up off the ground with explosive force and explode when it reached about a mile into the sky. The wind that had been swirling around us now shook us with gale force, it almost lifted me off the ground. I fell to my knees, trying to stay closer to the ground.

 

"You're the only thing," She paused, then yelled, "You keep me sane, when you are near. If you leave, I won't be able to control myself."

 

"That's a risk I'm willing to take, thousands of people are in danger, their homes are litterally being drowned and crushed at the same time." I wasn't sure if I would follow up on my threat, but I had to at least appear that I would.

 

She looked down at the ground, the wind finally died down, to almost a whisper. "I stopped it, the town is no longer in danger. I can't hold it in much longer, all this power. You would never understand what its like, to be in this shell, we don't look like this, where I come from." She would never tell me where that was.

 

"Tell me, make me understand." I knelt beside her and held her hand, stroking it with my fingers.

 

"I killed my father, my mother. My entire family ran in terror, they couldn't withstand the heat. I was one of the most powerful goddesses in all the realm, none could withstand my might, not even my parents. I was angry at him, for all the harm he had caused you." The ground underneath us shook momentarily, but violently, sending me to the ground. She knelt over me, her hand stroking my back as she coddled me.

 

I shook her off of me, and stood. "Why can't you control it, will your mind always be at rest? Without ease?" I was furious at her, but I couldn't understand why.

 

"I was only ever allowed to tamper with that which I understood, but not even the gods understood the mind, and that is where I was in folly. I can still hear the screams, the fire consuming their bodies." It was then that I noticed the tree had reformed right above my head, and fell right back on top of us. I almost fell over again, but kept my ground, barely.

 

"Why do I keep you steady, when all else fails?" Two years ago, she had asked for my hand in marriage, and I had declined. That was when her insanity had begun to spread to the populace. I had been asked by a select group of monks, who worshiped this goddess, several times. To stop her destruction, for she was supposed to bring peace to the world, not destruction and chaos. I had not been ready to commit, I had been afraid.

 

"You know why," She said, she did not elaborate. She loved me, more than anybody had ever loved me. She had protected me from ills, came to my aid when I had become financially unstable, and had even brought a loved one back to life, all to appease me. She was good to me, too good to me some days.

 

"Tell me your name, and I will marry you. Right here, right now."

 

She looked at me, not through me as she had before. She ran over to me, planting her lips on mine, and we embraced, as lovers do. After a few moments, we broke from our passionate kiss, and she moved her lips to my ears, whispering a single word into my ear, as well as two others.

 

"Marry me."