The Story of A Goddess

Prologue:

“Are you sure that you want to go to earth?” The Greek God Travalias questiones his wife, “Why not send someone else?” Even as he asked this question he knew what her answer would be. It would be the same as it had been since the day they found out earth needed her, that was almost a thousand earth years ago, and he still wasn’t ready to give her up to those wretched mortals.

Sighing she turns to face him, her golden hair falling to her shoulders, her violet eyes searching his face, “Darling you know I have to be the one to go. The humans have forgotten me, so I am free to wander the earth.”

“Just be careful, & don’t forget me.” Travalias said laying his strong hands on her small delicate shoulders.

“How could I forget you?” She asked in a teasing voice, but something told them both that she wouldn’t know him, remember him, or even think of him while on earth. Unless her memory was jogged by a certain event, she wouldn’t know she was special to him, she wouldn’t know that she had someone out there waiting to hold her when she got home, guiding her gently from the heavens above. Well he would just have to make sure that she was reminded.

Leaning down he brushes his fingers over her jaw as his lips brush against hers. At that moment in time she was sure that she could feel his love for her down in the bottom of her soul.

She knew as a mortal she would never be able to understand how they were joined, as a mortal she would only know him as her guide, until she was reminded of who she was all she would think that she was special just because she was a witch, never even guessing that she was in fact an earthbound Goddess.

A small little man that had too much energy stuck his head around the corner of the door.

“They’re ready to see you now” He said in a high squeaky voice.

Sighing Travalias pulled away, his fingers brushing her hair back form her eyes, and “We’ll be there in a minute.”

“Her majesty Hera would like to speak with Availea before she takes her leave” The man says not letting the lovers cherish their last few moments together.

“I said LEAVE US BE!” Travalias bellows as the walls of their gold and silver room shook with the force of his anger.

“Travalias!” Availea exclaims, “How could you speak to another God like that?”

Bowing his head and looking at his hands Travalias replies “I am sorry my love, but he is rushing us apart, and whisking you off to a world where I can not go.”

“Come with me,” Availea pleads, “If one Goddess could do so much good, imagine just how much good a God AND Goddess could do.”

Sighing Travalias tries to explain without hurting the only Goddess he has ever loved, “I can not follow you, because you need me here. I can do so much more to help you from here. While it kills me to see you go, just know that you may not have another mortal around, but you are NEVER alone. I will always be close by, please forgive me now for all the trials I must put you through, know that it is not my choice, but these are trials and tribulations you must face to become who you are meant to be. “

“We should go” Availea replies biting her lips to keep the tears from falling as she pulls away from her husbands embrace and starts slowly towards the Golden hall.

“You know you can still change your mind.” Travalias whispers in his wife’s ear as they stood in the gold hall in front of a long table.

She smiles at him apologetically and says “I can not and for that I am truly sorry.” The hurt on his face at that point in time was almost unbearable, it was almost enough to condemn the human race to the fate that would claim them if Availea did not go to Earth.

“Have you chosen everything?” A strong voice demanded, with an almost tangible hate. Hera was speaking and the whole hall suddenly went silent..

“Yes I have.” Availea replies her head held high.

“Is everything ready?” Zeus asks. While Hera despised her Zeus lusted after her. They all knew that she would never betray Travalias though, so she did not see the reason for the hate.

“We have prepared some gifts for your trip, little one” Aphrodite informs Availea blessing her with one of her rare smiles she continues, “I give to you the knowledge that you are never truly alone, and that you are stronger than you seem. I also give the wisdom to find your way in the world. Remember my little one, you shall stumble a few times, but you will never truly fall from grace.”

“I give to you the ease of child birth, and my protection,” Artemis was the next to grant Availea her gift, “I give you also the ability to communicate with animals. This will come to your aid more than once in your life my dear friend.”

Apollo was the next to speak “I give you the love of music, may you never feel alone as long as you have a wonderful song playing. I give you the ability to express your emotions as you would here. I also grant you the gift of knowing, use these gifts well and your mission will surely be a success.”

“There is no one else, with a gift for the little Goddess?” Hera demands after a moment of silence.

“I have a gift for the one whose hands all of our fate rests in” Came a voice from the crowd. Stepping forward a tall figure in a black cloak bows to Availea, “To you my dear one, the one whose hands hold my fate, as well as all of the other Gods, I give you the ability of fast healing, we cannot have you dieing on us before you have completed your task, so I also give you the ability to withstand ALMOST any ‘accidents’ that may happen in your lifetime.”

“Who are you to offer such a gift to my wife?” Travalias demands as he reaches for Availea’s hand, the stranger removes his hood as the crowd gathered around the couple gasps and the speaker is revealed, “Hades, why do you offer this gift to MY wife?”

“I offer this gift to YOUR wife, you ungrateful fool, for in HER hands rests all of the Gods’ fates, while I am not keen on helping a good little Goddess like her, I must offer what I can to ensure my own existence continues.” Came the curt reply.

“If there are no other gifts for Availea, then it is time for her to take her journey.” Artemis says offering a sad smile, “Be careful, and don’t return to us too soon.”

In a flash of bright light the Goddess Availea was gone, and the Gods were left to hope and pray that she would succeed. But the question is, who were they praying to?

Mean while on earth in a large county hospital a scared sixteen year old welcomes the birth of her daughter, whom she calls Alisa Danielle McCabe.

Seventeen years later:

When Alisa McCabe awoke on her seventeenth birthday she knew that something big was about to happen, other then turning seventeen she felt that she was going to finally figure out why she always felt distant from the world and her family.

She dressed in a white peasant blouse, a long jean skirt, white sandals, she brushed out her long waist length honey colored hair and let it hang loose. As she did this she mused what could make her feel so distant from her family and world, “Maybe I’m a space alien, maybe Mom & Dad found me in a corn field when I was a baby and they decided to keep me.” She mused, “Or maybe they adopted me and are finally going to tell me that they did.” Nothing she thought of could compare to what she would find out later that night.

As she stumbled down stairs three voices chimed “Happy Birthday!”

“Thanks. Diet Coke please?” She croaked her eyes half shut as always in the morning even if it WAS her birthday she didn’t see the point in being up at 7:20. If it was up to her and the rest of the students at La Brea High School they wouldn’t start class until ATLEAST 10:30 and go till 2:00.

Popping the top off her Diet coke she waggled her fingers over her shoulder and headed for the beat up car that she used to get back and forth to school. Even thought it was a 1957 Chevy she loved it. She couldn’t imagine not having it. It was her dream car. The exterior was black with chrome trim and the interior was a bright brilliant white. It had been her sixteenth birthday present from her dad; they had spent every spare moment working on it.

She was running late when she finally stopped to pick up her best friend, Jeremy had moved to the small town in Colorado at the beginning of their sophomore year, she had been his “Student buddy” they had clicked almost immediately. Jeremy was from Anchorage Alaska and couldn’t wait to return. He hated the warm weather. Though living in Colorado it never got too hot.

While she and her friends considered her pretty Alisa wasn’t exactly going to win prom queen. She was short maybe 5’4 if that; she barely reached 5’5 in heels. The one good thing about her was her eyes, they were a dark almost metallic blue that was commanding and comforting at the same time. She was a little over weight but not by much, but what people really admired about her was her confidence, she radiated cool, (MOST days) But she wasn’t the stuck up kind of cool, more she was happy being who she was and nothing anyone said or did would change that.

“Hey Danni,” Jeremy said as he hopped in the car, a steaming cup of Cappuccino in his hands.

“Morning Jer.” Alisa replied stifling a yawn.

“Sip?” He asked offering the cup to her.

“Nah, we’re already late picking up Kiel and Kaeleigh, they are so going to kill us.” She joked as she maneuvered the car onto a main street. The Lager’s were a fine upstanding family of Colorado.

It seemed to take no time to reach the Lagers house, where Mr. Lager was out front polishing his brand new BMW.

“Hey Mr. L” Jeremy and Alisa called out the window as Alisa blew the horn.

“Dad, look at what I have to go to school in! (No offense A.) But don’t you feel sorry for me?” Kiel asked coming out of the house with his little sister trailing along behind him.

“No, I don’t., I DO on the other hand feel sorry for the four cars you totaled though.” Mr. Lager said dryly polishing a spot on the Beamer, ending the conversation right there.

Grumbling Kiel slides onto the cool leather of the seat and slams his door.

“YO! DUDE! Here’s a CRAZY new idea….HOW about we leave the doors on the hinges?!” Jeremy bellows as Alisa navigates the road carefully, laughing at the two bickering in the back.

After finding a decent parking spot the three friends headed for their first period class. They had all decided to match each others schedules and since culinary arts was only offered first period the three trotted off to make cookies in Mrs. Kellers class.

At first everything was going just like your normal Wednesday morning, they had split up into groups and were rolling out trays of cookie dough for the “Halloween Cookie Bake”.

And that day unfortunately Mrs. Keller had stuck Alisa and Jeremy mixing the dough while Kiel had to roll and cut out ghosts.

“Why haven’t you remembered yet?” A voice near Alisa’s ear whispered, she could feel the hot breath on the back of her neck, but when she turned around there was no one there. But while it was whisper she was sure that the voice was that of a male’s.

“Hey, Jeremy did you say something about me remembering something?” She asked pushing a strand of hair out of her face.

“No, and if I had I’d of just said “Hey Danni have you forgotten such and such?” Jeremy told her.

Pushing the voice out of her head she finished her task, the rest of the day went normally until it was time for bed. For as long as they had known each other the two friends always called each other to say goodnight, many people thought just because of this ritual that the two were a long time couple, but were in fact in no way romantically linked.

As the two hung up for the night the same voice from the culinary class said across her mind, “It’s time.”

“Time for what?” She called out softly.

“You to remember.”

“Remember what? Jason if that’s you I’m going to kill you” Alisa yelled, “Stop it where are you hiding? I swear you little brat if that’s you, you are SO dead! Come out right now or I’mma get mom!”

“Don’t worry little one” A stronger voice said from across the room.

Whirling around she was amazed to see a man that was easily 6’10 standing in her door way blocking the only exit that wouldn’t kill her..

“Who… are you?” She stammered groping behind her for something to use as a weapon.

The stranger opened his mouth and a musical laugh came out. “What don’t you remember who I am Alisa?”

“No, who are you?”

“Forgive me,” The stranger said bowing deeply, “My name is Travalias, and I am a Greek God, and I am at your service.”

“YOU are at MY service?” She asked in dismay.

“Yes, I am. And you my dear girl, are not just an ordinary witch. YOU are a Goddess.” Travalias said barely hiding the grin that formed from her disbelief.

“Are you sure that you have the right girl?”

“Yes, I can’t confuse you with anyone else.”

“Are you sure? I mean there’s a lot of girls with the name Alisa,. I mean it could be one of them.”

“No I could NEVER confuse you with anyone else.”

“Why?”

“Because of whom YOU are and who I am”

“And just WHOM am I?”

Sighing at this remark Travalias replies “You’ll remember soon enough.

“What am I suppose TO remember? I don’t know what I’m suppose to do.” Alisa said near tears.

“Who you are. WHAT you are.” Travalias said.

For the first time since he has appeared in her room a few minutes earlier Alisa noticed his eyes, they were like the blue of the sky on a clear day, the color of freshly cut grass in the spring when it is just growing, and the gray of the sea after a storm. They were beautiful and compelling but almost impossible to describe. His chest was flat and toned, it wasn’t tan but it was fair and that made him even sexier then any man that she had ever seen before. He wore a creamy white “skirt” it was a cross between a Scottish kilt, a Roman’s battle uniform, and it was made of a material not yet made here on earth. His feet were protected by sandals that went up about mid-way to his calf and were a crisscross of black and brown leather.

“Can I ask you something?” Alisa asked sinking down on to her king size bed.

“Yes, you can ask me anything you want or need to.” Travalias replied pacing back and forth across her room.

“Am I hallucinating? Am I awake? Or am I going completely and totally insane?”

At this Travalias stopped pacing and looked up at her, his eyes danced with a sort of mischief that she knew she had seen before but she wasn’t sure where, “No my dear, you are awake, perfectly sane, and perfectly lucid.”

“Okay, I just wanted to make sure that when I tell Jeremy and Kiel about this tomorrow I won’t be crazy.” Alisa rambled, “I CAN tell them right?”

“Of course, in fact you NEED to tell them.” Travalias said his grin widening, “They’re going to help you on a mission that the three of you have been chosen to do. Well at least one part of the reason you were sent to earth is to help the Mortals.”

“What do you mean “mortals”? I’M a mortal aren’t I?” She asked amazed.

“Ah, that my dear is what I’ve been hoping you would ask me.” He said finally getting to the point of why he was there, “YOU my dear Alisa are the Greek Goddess Availiea.”

“ME?! A GREEK GODDESS?!” She sputtered completely and totally in shock. “But I can’t be. I mean I’m over weight, I’m not loud and out going, I’m a witch nothing more.”

“Availiea,” Travalias said gently standing in front of her and using the name that he had longed to use since he had joined her in her room, “Take my hand will you? Trust me, I want to show you something.”

Standing she took his hand and was amazed at how small, delicate and fair her hand looked in his strong one.

“I have to hold you around the waist to, I don’t want to lose you again, you were most difficult to catch alone.” Travalias said sliding his strong arms around her waist. For some reason Alisa enjoyed this more then she had ever enjoyed anything. She felt oddly safe with this man whom she had just met a few moments ago. She finally felt like she belonged somewhere.

“Do I know you fairly well?” Alisa asked her hand going to a necklace that she had had for almost five years, it had been a gift from her ex boyfriend and she rarely ever took it off.

“Ah, I see you still have my charm.” Travalias whispered in her ear, his breathe warm against her cheek, “And yes, I’d say you know me fairly well.”

“But, how do I know you?” She asked turning her head to look up into his face.

“That my dear you have to figure out for yourself” He whispered close to her ear as they disappeared in a flash of brilliant golden light.

When Alisa became aware again she was standing in a long golden hall, at the very end of the hall was a long row of chairs that were at least a good ten feet tall.

Letting go of her waist Travalias said “Welcome home, Availiea”

Looking all around her at the blinding golden walls she was amazed to find that even though she had never been here before she felt strangely at home. Taking her hand Travalias led her into a room that was like a bedroom. In the middle of the room there was a large round bed that had a sort of golden gauze hanging down around it and silver silk sheets.

“Where are we?” She asked sitting down on the soft sheets they felt as cool as a summer rain against her hands.

“We are in my bedroom,” Travalias said lying down next to her.

Closing her eyes she let her fingers wander over the material as her mind searched where she had seen all this before, and how she knew Travalias. She didn’t know why but she loved his touch, it made her feel loved right down to her feet. Her mind hit on a few things but she didn’t really connect them until she felt his hand on hers.

“I remember who you are.” She almost cried, her eyes flying open, “You’re my husband, my lover, my souls other half.”

“Yes, I am” He said smiling and almost near tears at the same time.

“Oh my darling, I’m so sorry that I had forgotten you, I don’t know what came over me.” She said her eyes filling with tears, “I broke the one promise I made to you when I went to earth.”

Cupping her cheek in his hand he managed to whisper “It’s alright, now you remember. But do you remember everything?”

Shaking her head she leaned her head into his hand, “I just remember us, in this room. The late night talks, you begging me not to go, and us making love….” She stopped slowly as memory after memory came flooding back.

Turning towards him Alisa pressed her lips to his, as though he were her oxygen supply and she couldn’t get enough of it.

“Alisa….” Travalias said slowly pushing her away from him and looking into her eyes, his own shining happily.

“What? What is it Travalias?” Alisa asked her smile slowly fading, “Do you not want me because of my body?”

“No, of course not, there’s just so much to tell you, and so little time.”

Pushing her self up from the bed Alisa went to stand in front of the window, looking out it she was surprised to see that she could not only see the entire world but even all oceans on it.

Biting her lip so hard that she drew blood she kept her back to the bed so that Travalias wouldn’t see her crying, “Why did I go to earth?” She asked her voice betraying her conflicting emotions. She knew what he said was true but yet she had to deal with the rejection.

Coming up behind her he whispered in her ear, “Because you wanted to help the mortals.” As he said this his hands went around her waist.

“But, I AM a mortal.” She argued.

“No my dear, you are not. I have told you this already, YOU are the Goddess Availea.”

“Why would I give all this up? Why would I leave you?” She questioned turning towards him, her eyes connecting with his almost immediately.

Sighing, knowing that no matter what he said he could not explain to her, her own actions, “You left, because the mortals are in terrible danger, and if the mortals, die, so do we. Their belief in us, is what keeps us alive.”

“Well then why did I go? I mean why not send someone else?”

“Because, unfortunately, if a God that is still remembered, leaves Mt Olympus, then it could be dangerous not only for that God, but also for the rest of us, because our numbers would be weakened.”

“Again, I ask, why me? Isn’t it dangerous for ME to go down there? Aren’t I risking being erased or whatever it is?”

“No, you’re remembered in some long buried books, and spoken about. But there are no living people at least on earth that worship you anymore.”

“So, I’m a fallen Goddess?” Availea asked.

“No, my love, you are NOT a FALLEN Goddess, you are a Forgotten Goddess, who has been a chance to make her mark on the world again.” Travalias replied.