Perspective

I stepped over the threshold into the room. It was alight with dozens of candles, soft music was playing from somewhere, the curtains were drawn to close out the night. I closed my eyes and inhaled deeply the scent of roses. I wanted to create a memory of this night for all my senses. I took off my shoes and padded softly across the floor. I felt rose petals under my feet and the gentle whisper of my gown as I moved. The room was so quiet, if a pin had dropped it would have sounded like an explosion.

I felt my heartbeat just under the surface of my skin, a new batch of butterflies were unleashed in my stomach. I turned around to face Ladislao. He was leaning against one of the bedposts with his arms crossed over his chest. He had the look of a scientist about him, surveying a particularly interesting specimen. A half smile curved itself upon his lips as he watched me.

“Do you see something of interest?” I quipped, raising an eyebrow.

“Something? No. Someone, yes. Tell me how long are you going to stand there?” he replied, raising an eyebrow of his own.

“As long as it takes for you to tell me how long you have been waiting for me. How many times have we been here, you and I? This seems all too familiar, yet with subtle differences.” I said. “I know I have done this before, in another life. How many other lives, do you suppose?”

“All of them, as far as I can guess, so that would make about 23. It was the reincarnation process that was most difficult to get through, though. Some times a hundred years would pass before I felt you again. Our souls are linked, Elianna. They have been since the dawn of time. That is the truth of immortality, my love, and of true faith. Without that connection, without the existence of Love, there is no immortality. Our connection will be completed for the last time, for eternity, tonight. After tonight, neither time nor space will keep us apart…we will be together forever.”

He then fell silent. He unfolded his arms and held out his left hand. Cupped in his palm was a ring. I walked slowly up to him and took the ring from his hand. The ring itself was a dragon; its tail arcing around to complete the circle with sparkling eyes made of the blackest rubies.

“Allow me,” he said, taking the ring and placing it on my finger, “With this ring, you belong to me always.”

I turned away for just a moment to catch my breath. I hurried to my cloak hanging up beside the fireplace. I reached deep into a pocket and grasped the ring I had hidden there. I walked back holding out my left hand. I had been saving this ring for just this moment.

The band was made of sterling silver with a circle of onyx inlayed upon the surface. It was surrounded by a circle of midnight blue sapphires. It was the depiction of the rarest occurrence of nature; a blue lunar eclipse, a symbol of my Goddess, Selene Noctiluca.

“With this ring, you are mine always,” I said, slipping the ring upon his finger, completing the first part of the Marriage Rite.

I walked away to the vanity where I began to undress. I removed everything from my body but the ring on my left hand. I then walked to the center of the room, holding an ebony silk sash. I beckoned Ladislao to do as I had done, undress and join me in the center of the room.

I then began to turn around in a circle counter-clockwise, keeping Ladislao behind me, inside the protective barrier I was creating. I stopped at each compass point calling upon the powers of each to guard and witness. I turned to Ladislao and motioned for him to kneel in front of me. With this I invoked the Dark Goddess:

“I am the Darkness behind and beneath the shadows.
I am the absence of air that awaits at the bottom of every breath.
I am the Ending before Life begins again,
the Decay that fertilizes the Living.
I am the Bottomless Pit,
the never-ending struggle to reclaim that which is denied.
I am the Key that unlocks every Door.
I am the Glory of Discovery,
for I am that which is hidden, secluded and forbidden.

Come to me at the Dark Moon and see that which can not be seen,
face the terror that is yours alone.
Swim to me through the blackest oceans
to the center of your greatest fears--
the Dark God and I will keep you safe.
Scream to us in terror, and yours will be the Power to Forbear.
Think of me when you feel pleasure, and I will intensify it,
until the time when I may have the greatest pleasure
of meeting you at the Crossroads Between the Worlds.”

When I finished speaking, I motioned for Ladislao to stand and I knelt at his feet. He then invoked the Dark God:

“I am the shadow in the bright day;
I am the reminder of mortality at the height of living.
I am the never-ending veil of Night
Where the Star Goddess dances.
I am the Death that must be so that Life may continue,
For Behold, Life is immortal because the living must die.

I am the strength that protects, that limits;
I am the power that says No, and No further, and That Is Enough.
I am the things that cannot be spoken of,
And I am the laughter at the edge of Death.

Come with me into the warm enfolding dark;
Feel my caresses in the hands,
In the Mouth,
In the Body of one you love,
And be transformed.

Gather in the moonless night and speak in unknown tongues;
The Dark Mother and I will listen.
Sing to us and cry out,
And the Power will be yours to wield.

Blow me a kiss when the sky is dark,
And I will smile,
But no kiss returns;
For my kiss is the final one for all mortal flesh.”

I got to my feet and began binding our left hands together with the sash.

“Let this binding of the cloth symbolize our souls and destinies weaving together to form our future together as one. As we will it, so mote it be!”

I dismissed the elements and bid farewell to the Dark Ones.

Still bound together we walked to the bed. Ladislao turned to me and began unraveling the sash, “Things will begin to get very interesting if we stay like this,” he instead started tying my wrists together above my head, “Besides, we wouldn’t want you flying away, now would we?”