Book 1 - Chapter 18 - Sephira

Chapter 18

Sephira

            Alissa covered the young woman as best as she could with the shirt that she was initially going to use to bind the wound in her stomach, in order to spare her some dignity as Jonah took off his long duster and covered the lower part of her body.  Together they made her as comfortable as they could and left her to rest.  Alissa watched over the woman in case she woke up as Jonah went back to the first room to see if there were any clues to be found in the tapestries that would lead them to the tree that was in the tale.

            In the first room he located the tapestry that told the story of the woman's mother and, after watching the whole thing until it looped back to the start, did not find anything to help. 

            He moved on to the next tapestry. 

            It depicted the story of how the woman from the tube, then still a girl, had met her love.  It told of how as they both grew in age, so did their love grow for one another.  As the young boy became a man, Jonah was surprised to see the physical similarities between him and the young man in the tapestry.  By the time the couple had aged to adulthood, Jonah realized that the young man could have been his twin.  The tapestry continued the tale up to the point of the woman's mother dying and them starting their journey to wander the earth in order to find a home of their own. 

            Moving to the next tapestry in the room, he saw that it had just finished its loop and was starting over.  It started with the couple finding shelter in what Jonah presumed was the cave that they had been in when they found the door.  The couple, while using the cave to get out of a rain shower, wandered deeper inside, curious as to what lay further in.  Toward the rear of the cave, after passing through several larger chambers that were empty, they found a large chamber that housed many sarcophagi and had room for many more.  Realizing that they had walked into a large tomb, they said a prayer for the dead and as soon as the rain let up, they left. 

            A short distance away they came across the little stone village of Charne and, weary from travel, they rested there.  The villagers took them in happily, never asking about their past, but just accepting them as they were.  She soon became a woman who was greatly respected in the village as a healer, while her husband became a respected stone worker and craftsman.  Soon, the little village grew into a prosperous city

            The years flew by in the tapestry, until eventually the man that Jonah resembled was old and frail.  The next scene depicted him on their bed with his wife, still as young as the day that they had left the village near tree.  She was right there by his side, trying to make him as comfortable as she could in his last days.  Eventually, he fell asleep and did not awaken when she tried to stir him.

            Crying sorrowfully, she cleaned him up and dressed him in his best clothing, making him presentable before getting help to carry him to the tomb that they had found so many years ago.  The people of Charne placed him in a casket that was then placed in an ornate sarcophagus and left her there at his place of burial to grieve the loss of her love. 

            With that part of the story concluded, Jonah moved to the last tapestry, the one that they had watched before that had depicted the rape, torture, and mutilation which had led to the death of the woman.  It started with her leaving the tomb that held the body of her lover and followed her back to the house that had belonged to the two of them.  The time sped up, showing the growth of the city and the growth of the pyramid as it was built to deal with the increased deaths that came from being the booming population center that the city had become over the time that the couple had moved there.  The young woman lived alone throughout the many years that passed since, her only company being the people that came to her for healing or to deliver food to her as payment for her healing services. 

            The scene jumped forward to the time of her death and Jonah turned away, unable to watch the tragic scene once again.  When he finally looked up again, the scene of her death was finished and had moved on to a scene where the few people that survived the attack were burying their dead.  When they finished with everyone else, they took her body down to the bottom of the pyramid where the few remaining craftsmen had fashioned the outer part of the original tomb into the structure Jonah and Alissa had stumbled into earlier that day.  They placed her body in the glass tube which had been crafted with several technologies that Jonah was completely unfamiliar with.  Using tools that Jonah could not recognize to control the orbs, they sealed the door located at the back of the room containing the tube holding her which led to the chamber where her lover had been laid to rest so many years before.  They hid the door, blending into the wall that it was set in, in an effort to protect his tomb.  Then they hung the tapestries that Jonah himself was watching and they shut the door to the two chambers that held her body.  The citizens sealed the tomb, locking it and started to leave the pyramid.

            On the way out of the pyramid, there were shapes moving in the shadows that were cast by the strange lights that the people were using to illuminate their path.  One of the people went off to investigate.  What he saw caused him to scream, drop his light and go running toward the rest of the people that were in the tomb.   They were so frightened by his reaction that they too, ran, fleeing the tomb as fast as they could.  As they ran, shapes all around them moved.  The people fled terrified of the mysterious creatures that were lurking in the darkness.  One unfortunate citizen slowed long enough for his light to illuminate what it was that they were running from and was promptly killed as it was revealed to be the animated corpses of the people that had died violently in the attack on the city.  The hungry undead tore the poor man apart as more and more of them came swarming out of their resting places, picking off the citizens that were unfortunate enough to get caught in the tide of dead flesh.  Only a small group of the remaining survivors actually escaped to the outside of the pyramid where a mysterious mist was starting to form a roof over the valley that the city rested in, blocking out the sun.  They blocked the door to the inside of the pyramid with that stone table that Jonah had moved earlier in order to gain entrance.  Running down the steps of the pyramid, they fled, warning all they came across about what had befallen them in the pyramid.  The few remaining citizens of the city gathered everything that they could at the time and fled the city, declaring it a cursed and evil place. 

            The next scene the tapestry showed was of Jonah and Alissa as they entered the pyramid, it followed their journey down into the depths and ended with them finding and reviving the woman that had been in the tube.  Shocked that the tapestry had apparently recorded the events that occurred after it had been placed, he returned to Alissa to tell her all that he had seen.

            When he returned to Alissa, he saw that she had fallen asleep, the trials of the day having caught up to her.  Not wanting to disturb her, he laid down close behind her but far enough away so that he would not accidentally wake her if he felt like shifting around.  He closed his eyes to relax them as he tried to process all that he had found out about the woman that had been in the tube.  Considering the pain and agony that she had been in during her last moments, Jonah was not sure how she would act once she awoke.  He wondered if she would be violent, attacking anything that was near her. 

Will she be in a state of shock where she is unresponsive to any stimuli?  Or will she act like a normal person?  he thought as he lay there with his eyes closed.  For that matter, will she even remember anything that had happened to her?

            As he was lying there thinking about things, he heard a voice that was not Alissa's call out softly.  He could not make out what the voice was saying but it was one of the most beautiful and saddest voices he had ever heard.  It called out softly like a violin that calls out mournfully into the night air when playing songs to soothe the dead back to their eternal slumber.

            Straining he listened to the melodious voice, trying to make out what it was saying, eventually he was able to make out one word, Cain, but the rest was spoken too softly for him to understand.  Looking up at the young woman, he saw that she had shifted over on her side, facing away from him and she had curled up in a ball as she lay there where they had left her.  The duster and shirt that they had covered her with were lying beside her as if they had come off when she rolled on her side and Jonah could see from the way she was shaking softly that she was most likely crying.  Knowing the pain and loss that she had endured in her life, Jonah did not move, not  wanting to alert her of the fact that he was watching her.  Jonah was afraid that if she saw him while in the state that she was most likely in, that she might mistake him for her lover who was long dead.  Jonah knew that that would only hurt her that much more and did not want to place further strain upon what she must already be feeling.

            Suddenly, her head whipped up and her bloodshot silver eyes locked right on Jonah.  Fresh tears welled up in them as she leapt up and ran over to him, tripping on Alissa, who awoke with a start, before falling right on Jonah. 

            “Cain! Oh Cain, I thought I had lost you forever,” she said between sobs as she clung to him tightly.  “Cain, how I missed you.  I thought we would be apart forever and now you have finally returned to me my love.”

            Jonah was pinned underneath the naked woman, not sure what to say or do.  He tried to lift her off of him, but she held on tighter, burying her head in his chest while crying.  Jonah looked around desperately and saw Alissa sitting up, with a confused look on her face.  When she saw the naked woman on top of Jonah and he could tell that she was instantly fuming at the sight. 

            “Help me,” Jonah mouthed at Alissa.

            Alissa stood up and leaned over the woman that was clinging to her husband and tapped her on the shoulder, lightly at first, then more forcibly when she did not respond to the first tap.

            “Excuse me,” Alissa said politely when the woman turned her tear-filled eyes toward her.  “What are you doing to my husband?”

            “Huh?”  The woman asked blinking her eyes, obviously confused at Alissa's words.  “Husband?  No, this isn't your husband.  You are mistaken.  This is Cain, my husband.”  She turned back to Jonah.  “I would never forget your beautiful face, my love.  It has been so long, so long, but-”

            Alissa cut her off, pulling on the woman's shoulder so that she had to face Alissa again.

            “Missy, you are extremely misinformed,” she said the anger starting to rise into her face.  “This is my husband, Jonah.  Not your husband.  He has been dead for centuries, as have you, for that matter.”

            The woman blinked again, then wiped her eyes and looked back at Jonah then back at Alissa and back at Jonah once again.

            “My love, please tell the woman who you are,” she said, almost pleadingly to Jonah, her eyes beginning to fill again with tears.  “Please, tell her who you are, Cain, please.”

            “Yes, my love,” Alissa said through gritted teeth while looking Jonah in the eye.  “Tell her who you are.”

            “I... um... I-” Jonah stammered, as he blushed bright red.

            “Well?”  Alissa said sharply, raising an eyebrow.

            “My name,” Jonah said looking the naked woman who was on top of him in the eye.  “Is Jonah.  The woman behind you is my wife, Alissa.  I'm sorry, but we have never met before now, ma'am.”

            The young woman looked at Jonah, denial on her face.

            “No, Cain, please don't say such things!  We have been apart for so long.  Please, don't do this to me, please don't deny me.  You left me alone for so long since the day you died...”

            Her voice trailed off and Jonah could see recognition bloom on her face that the words she had just said were true.  Slowly she climbed off Jonah and looked around the room, seeing the hallway that led to the tapestry room, she ran toward it, sorrow oozing off of her. 

            Jonah looked up at Alissa, tears in his eyes.  She knelt down next to him, asking him what was wrong.

            “I really did not want to have to tell her like that.  She has been through so much and I feel like I have destroyed what little hope she thought she had.  I watched all of the tapestries in the other room, my love.  You have no idea the heartache that she has had in her life.  I think she had forgotten and I helped reawaken those painful memories within her.  I feel an ache in my heart because of that.”

            Alissa held Jonah next to her as he told her of the things that the tapestries had shown him, as well as the fact that he was a spitting image of her long dead husband.  Alissa nodded as she listened and soon found tears in her eyes as Jonah told her about everything the woman had endured.  When Jonah was finished, she gave him a sweet kiss on his tear-stained cheek and stood up.

            “Where are you going?”  Jonah asked.

            “I'm going to check on her,” Alissa said, giving Jonah a gentle smile.  “I need to apologize for acting like a jealous bitch and, maybe I can help her process things, especially since she went into the room that has the tapestries in them.  She might look at them and there is no telling how she might react.  I want you to stay here though, my love; I don't want you confusing her again till I have had time to make sure she is OK.”

            Jonah nodded and kissed Alissa's hand as she walked off toward the room that held the tapestries.

#

            As Alissa entered the room, she saw the woman with the silver hair staring at one of the tapestries.  On it was a young man who looked identical to Jonah and he was on his knee, kneeling before a slightly younger looking version of the woman.  A tear ran down her cheek as the young man on the screen pulled a ring from his pocket and placed it on the young woman's hand.

            Alissa approached the woman while clearing her throat loudly.  The woman was snapped out of the memory that she was living in while watching the tapestry.  She turned to Alissa.

            “Look, I'm sorry for acting the way I did in the other room,” Alissa said.  “My emotions were high at the time and seeing you like that on my husband... well, I was a bitch.  I'm sorry.  I knew some of what you have been through and I was rude in the way that I handled it.  You were obviously upset, distraught, and confused, and I used that to force Jonah into saying something that has most likely wounded you deeply.  There is no excuse for my actions in the other room.  I hope that you can forgive me.”

            “No, it isn't your fault,” the woman said smiling softly at Alissa.  “I was disoriented and I somehow forgot that Cain had died and seeing your husband... I... I don't know what came over me.  I just miss him so much, but I know he will never come back. I feel like I have been in a dream state since that time,” she waved a hand toward the tapestry that depicted her death and shuddered.  “I can’t remember anything other than darkness, constant darkness.  I am sure that something happened to me… Cain’s face is so clear in my memories after my death.  Cain’s face and darkness…”  Her voice trailed off as her eyes glazed over slightly before she snapped back to the present.  “I'm sorry for my behavior.  I was the one out of line.”

            “Is that Cain?”  Alissa asked pointing to the man in the tapestry.

            The woman nodded.

            “I can see why you mistook Jonah for him; they look exactly alike.”

            The woman nodded again.

            “Well, since we didn't get introduced properly,” Alissa said, holding out her hand.  “I'm Alissa.”

            “My name is Sephira,” The woman said, grasping Alissa's hand and then pulling her in close, giving her a hug. 

            She began to weep onto Alissa's shoulder. 

            “I can't believe how much I have forgotten.”  Sephira said as she cried softly.  Alissa tried to comfort her as best as she could.  “There are holes, holes, in my memory.  Parts of my life are blanked out altogether.  I don't even know how I got here or even where here is, I am so scared right now Alissa.  Scared.  I feel so alone and, right now, I just need some time to sort through the jumbled mess that seems to be my past.  These record-cloths are helping me piece everything back together, but please just give me some time to finish with them and process.  I will join the two of you when I am done.”

            Alissa gave Sephira a hug to let her know she understood and told her that if there was anything she needed to talk about to just find her.  Sephira nodded and turned back to the tapestries as Alissa went to rejoin Jonah in the other room. 

            When she rejoined Jonah, she told him the woman's name and explained that Sephira needed some space.  Jonah and Alissa decided to lie down and try to get some rest to try to stave off the weariness of the day.  Their stomachs were grumbling from not eating the entire day and Jonah wished that they had remembered to bring something to snack on.  Lying down in each other’s arms, the couple fell asleep cuddling one another.

            They were soon awoken by Sephira as she came back into the second room.  She immediately walked to the back of the chamber and felt around on the wall till she found the spot that she was looking for.  She pushed in and a section of the wall swung open revealing a large dark chamber beyond the new doorway.  Stepping into the chamber with no light to light her way, she vanished from sight as darkness surrounded her.  The couple got up and grabbed their hand torches then followed after Sephira. 

            They found her just inside the chamber that the doorway led into.  She was leaning over a large ornate sarcophagus, shivering, and Jonah informed Alissa that that was the sarcophagus that held Cain, her husband. 

            Jonah walked back into the chamber that had held Sephira and grabbed his duster.  He brought it to where she was leaning over the sarcophagus and draped the coat over her body which was still naked. 

            She looked up at him, staring into his eyes and thanked him softly as she slipped her arms through the coat and buttoned it up, providing herself a little modesty.  Turning back to the sarcophagus, she leaned down and kissed the lips of the man that was carved out of stone on its lid.

            “Goodbye, my love,” she said, tears running down her cheeks before dripping to the cold stone of the sarcophagus lid.

            With that she turned and walked past the couple, leaving the chamber that held her lover's body behind her. 

            As Jonah and Alissa exited the chamber, the door that was set into the wall slid shut behind them, blending in with the wall once more.  Sephira had the coat off once more but was busy in the process of putting on the shirt that Alissa had covered her with when she had been unconscious.  The shirt was long enough on her that it could almost be a short dress and as long as she did not bend over she would not be showing anything indecent for polite society.  With the shirt on she picked up the duster once again and slipped it on, causing her to take on a slightly comical look as she wore the oversized coat with a shirt that could double as a dress. 

            Vowing to find her some better clothing once they got back to their camp, Alissa stepped forward and helped Sephira roll the sleeves of the coat back to allow the woman some freedom of movement with her hands.  Sephira waited patiently while Alissa helped her and then once finished, she looked up at the couple.

            “So,” she said smiling, trying not to show the heartache that she was suffering from.  “What now?  You awoke me, so I am sure you must have your reasons.”

            Alissa and Jonah told her of the ceremony in Ib and how they received the stones that were embedded in their hands during their wedding ceremony.  They told her of the tale that they had been told about how a mysterious woman that resembled Sephira had come to the Ibians and told them how to undo the damage that they had caused to the world because of their greed.  She nodded and mentioned that she remembered a dream that resembled the nocturnal visit to the Ibians.

            “Okay,” she said.  “So, we need to go to the tree that my mother lived under because of the damage done when I was...”  She paused for a moment before continuing.  “Killed.  That event somehow corrupted the Yggdrasil and it has slowly been dying since, causing the planet, or at least the plant life around the planet, to slowly die off or become corrupted in some way.  Do I have that right?”

            “That is about the sum of it,” Jonah said, nodding.

            “Okay then,” she said smiling.  “Sounds easy enough, I know the way back to the tree.  That, I remember it like it was yesterday.”

            “Just one problem,” Alissa said, speaking up.  “The world has changed drastically since you last walked these lands.  That means it may not be as simple as you are thinking it will be.  Landmarks may have changed or disappeared altogether.”

            Sephira blinked, and then nodded.

            “Yes, I'm sorry,” she said.  “I had forgotten that so much time had passed.  You are more than likely correct, though I do remember it is far to the south of here, which at least points us in the correct direction.”

            “Do you remember how far to the south?”  Jonah asked.

            “Not off the top of my head.  We traveled for about five years before we finally settled down in Charne, and during that time, we traveled all over the east and west that falls in between as well.”

            “So, you have no clue how far we need to go then?”

            “No, I'm sorry,” she said, then perked up.  “I do remember a little town named Westerfield.  That was almost a straight shot to the east from the Yggdrasil.  From the tree you went east through Sylvan, the village that my husband was from, and kept heading east for ten days till you reached Westerfield.  Does that name mean anything to you?”

            “Westerfield?”  Alissa asked.  “That name sounds familiar, but I can't place it.”

            “I know it.”  Jonah said.  “It is extremely far to the south of New Babylon.  It would take us at least three months to get there, even on our cycles.”

            “Well then,” Alissa said, putting her hand on her hips with a determined look.  “It looks like we are heading south to Westerfield.”