Dinner eventually passed, and more coffee was dispensed. Any kind of fatigue Magnus had from the long day was now gone, and the clock up on the wall was getting close to ten in the evening. "So, you told me at length what happened BEFORE all of...this." Magnus waved his hand around. "But, what about after you got here? It's apparent you have lived for a long time, but how much of that was here?" Adagio looked up with a little smile.
"I guess you aren't too scared to want to run. That makes you one of the good ones. The rest isn't quite as interesting, or at least I don't think so, but If you wish to know, I can tell you."
Magnus sat back in his chair a bit, gripping his steaming mug of coffee and nodding as Adagio continued with her tale.
~
"We awoke in a field of grass, amongst a strange land. I think I remember the smell of nature first. Natural but foreign. We were naked, we were afraid, but most importantly, we were human. I think I was the first one to cry out when I saw my body. The others followed suit soon after. It was horrifying, and something I would never wish on my greatest of foes. We tugged at our hair searching for our manes, Aria kept clawing at her skin, searching for her scales. Sonata and I tried to pull off our toes, only to come to the realization of our fingers. It was like being in the most real nightmare you can imagine. This land had turned us into...abominations. No offense to you, of course. It took us hours to get use to moving, let alone speaking to each other. The day turned into night before we had a chance to really react, and all on it's own. In fact, I think the biggest shock was how nothing had the tinge of magic in it like we were all use to. The first night was the hardest...it always is in anything you do or are. Always. We were cold, huddled under a tree. We heard lightning in the distance, but saw no creatures controlling it. It began to rain, and all I could do was laugh when it came. It kept me from crying like the others. I can remember shaking uncontrollably. It might have been from the cold, that's what I would like to believe anyway, but I'm sure it was fear. I rocked with the other two. After a time, I sang to them. I sang them to sleep with a lullaby. It had worked, and once they were snoring next to me, I was alone with my thoughts. This was it, this was our punishment. This is how we would die; could, naked, and alone, in a world that was nothing like our own. Where would our souls go? What had we done? WHAT had WE done? In the grand scheme of things, were we really evil? Surely our sins were as nothing compared to the one who sent us here, a pony of such magical power, the thought of him losing to us in nothing more than a musical battle caused him to flash us away to a realm of uncertainty and death. We had stolen very little, manipulated few...but it was for our safety, our survival. Was that enough to condemn us to this hell? I...I don't even know anymore."
"Sorry...got a little real for a moment. Anyway... We didn't know much about the world around us...it was strange. Wooded areas with things that grew on their own, small animals everywhere, the weather and the sky itself seemed to have a mind of it's own. We constantly reached out for magic...but none ever called out to us. Ever. We were able to keep our amulets, but I think it's only because they were actually part of us. Not anymore of course...they were around our necks on these...silk bands. I'm not sure what caused them to carry over, but the magic in them was intense. Now we just wear them. We had opportunities to remedy that, but it never came to fruition. It was too painful to try, and since there was no magic to aid it, having the stones be in us was not viable. We weren't sure where to go after we woke up that first morning. I picked a location, and pretended to know that I knew where we were. They believed me, and off we went. I can't give you an honest recap of how long we walked...It may have been months, possibly years. When you have no real way to keep track of time, it just blends. Everyday was the same...wake up, find food, walk. Then find more food, rest, keep walking. Walk until dark, find shelter, and then sleep. I know at one point, we finally reached a shore line to a massive ocean. When we saw it, Aria began to cry. It was the first time I had known her to show emotion. REAL emotion, and to see it was painful. She wept deeply, she pulled at her hair and dug at her skin. It was a hard moment for all of us. We had come from the sea, and now here it was back in front of us. Only it wasn't ours. I'm not sure why she cried...Thinking back now I think it may have been a mixture of homesickness and the fact that none of us ever really tried to settle our feelings on the whole...culture being destroyed thing. We also didn't talk much. We just walked and walked. It left us alone with our thoughts. Sonata would often be lost in nature but...Aria and myself knew what was going on. I know Aria refused to leave the beach for days, so we ended up making a bigger camp there than anywhere else. It was here...we had our first run in with what magic we DID have left. Or rather, what some of our magic had turned into when we crossed that veil."
"It was just another morning. I was collecting crabs to kill for later so we could have more meat while we could, and Aria was attending the fire. We both heard Sonata scream at the same time. We ran over to her thinking she was just stung by something again or pinched by a crab, so we didn't run fast, and I think I was even smiling, but we were wrong. She was digging her fingers into her skin near her eyes, rocking back and forth and screaming. I froze when I got to her. Her bleeding face, her eyes glassed over, her hair matted and skin covered and sweat, I think she had lost control of ... well...a few things. She was a total mess. I think Aria threw up when she saw it, but my mom instincts took over and I kept heading toward her. We didn't know what to do, so we sat their and held her close, begging her to stop, and telling her we were there. I kept petting her and kissing her face, and at one point just started humming. Her eyes were glassed over and pale white. I think I was the most scared, I always knew how fragile she was...and I had no clue as to what was going on with her. She finally stopped, then tried to scramble away from us. She was terrified, and didn't know if we were real. We had to hold her down as hard as we could, and try and keep her hands away from her face. Eventually she just laid there sobbing...she wouldn't talk to us. It was nightfall when she finally came over to us, whimpering. She told us we had to leave. We asked her why, but that became a mistake. She burst into tears again and tried to dig herself into the sand. Aria lost it, grabbed her, and shook her. When that didn't work, she slapped her...maybe a little harder than she should have. I wanted to stop her but...Aria kept shouting at her to get a grip. It was something I probably wouldn't have done, but it was apparent she needed it. She stopped and fell into Aria's waiting arms, holding her for support as she finally broke."
"She told us about an attack. She said she didn't know from what, they were mostly shadows, but they used primitive weapons to hunt us down, and kill us all. We asked her how she knew. And that's when she told us. She said she felt her amulet act up. She said it was shaking a bit and glowing, and felt on fire. This was weird because it had never had happened before. She touched it, and she said it felt like her mind had been ripped out of her. Shards of fire were embedding themselves into her mind, and all she could do was look on as it happened. She saw us, she them, and then she saw...what they did to us. She didn't go into too many specifics. I think she lacked the words to use, or they were just too terrible for her to try and make real. Whatever she saw destroyed her...and she was a mess. We knew we had to go, but we didn't know where. Her vision had shown her the WHAT, not the WHY or the WHERE. That was when it happened to Aria. She looked off into space, and I watched her pupils grow as big as her eyes. Maybe even bigger than that. She began to look around, she even took a few steps. Her hands were on her amulet, which was acting just as weird as Sonata had described. She finally looked out towards one direction. All she said was '...there...', and then she collapsed. She was cold and wet, and it was hard for her to catch her breath. We all huddled near the fire, and I spent most of the night sleepless. I was concerned something would happen to me. But it didn't. We left as soon as the sun rose. We went in the direction Aria proposed. I led the charge. I still had no idea where we were going but...I knew that I had to be strong for them. They were more uncertain than they were. As we continued our journey, the light came back into the eyes of Sonata, and even Aria began to lighten up and smile at a few things. Things were going back to normal, and it was like we were happy once again, despite all of the new confusion and mystery. Maybe it was weeks, maybe it was months, again, When you have no real way of keeping track of time, it just goes on and on. We stayed as close to the coast as we could to try and give us a sense of direction. Also, I think I did it for comfort. Alien sea or not, the waves still sounded the same. Most of what was off to our side seemed to be desert or endless plains and grasslands, so at least the ocean gave us food. It was intimidating to be honest, there was just so much LAND. Everywhere. More land than we had seen in maps of all of Equestria. The scariest part was, we were the only creatures we had seen so far that weren't just random tiny animals. For the longest time, I think I imagined it would only be us. Forever. That was until we saw the smoke, and then everything changed."
"Now before I say this part, I feel I need to bring back up what I said earlier. We are not evil. We are not bad. All that we have done, we have done for our survival, nothing more. That isn't to say...we are perfect. We are only human. Well, not really, but this fits now. Sometimes even the most caring and pious of people can fall sometimes, or even let things get over their heads. Again, we are not BAD people...but we have done some bad things. Now then, where was I? Oh right, the village. We saw the smoke from far away. We were afraid of it at first, it was just so different from what we had seen up until that point. But it was Sonata who spoke up saying that it was people. PEOPLE, civilization. We weren't alone! All of those nights wondering, all of those tears spent on absolute fear, it was ending. We began to run at what we saw at a full sprint. It was only halfway there that we began to question each other about what the main race of creatures would be there, but soon we didn't care. It as still scary, for all we knew, it was griffons. Maybe we had been sent back in time but were now cursed? We had just assumed it was a new world. But, the fear was trumped by the potential rewards. Just the fact that we weren't in a barren hell zone to die alone forever was like a sprawling oasis amongst a drought ridden land. We slowed down, out of breath and sweaty, when we got to what I imagine was some kind of fence or gate system. The village was small, very small. Maybe fifteen or so huts of straw and sticks. There was one large one in the back, and was surrounded by this barbed thorny fence. All of it looked very organic, like everything had been grown either for this purpose, or had just been applied to the situation. All of the buildings looked sturdy, but crude. A few animals were walking around freely amongst this compound, not really having concern for us or anything else, and there were people. PEOPLE. They looked like us, but were wearing clothes. Well, kind of clothes. Most of what they wore looked like just short flaps of cloth or hide in front of them. This was new to us on many levels. One of them stopped walking and turned to look at us. He looked almost as shocked as we were. He was carrying what looked like a tool of some kind...maybe for digging? He had slung it on his back, but was now brandishing it in his hand like a potential weapon in case we were not friendly. His bronze skin was almost the same color of the dirt around him. That was when we noticed something different about them too. MOST of them were all of the same color. Now, this was nothing new to us really, even back in Equestria, most of a group of creature, no matter the size, would usually have varying degrees of the color and patterns of skin...erm...fur. But these people were VERY similar. All different shades of dark husky browns, and nothing that could be called a pattern. And to be honest, I think that was when we first noticed our lack of patterns and patches. Our colors were different, and much more colorful than these people. Is that why we stuck out so badly? As the man saw us, he began to call out to, we assumed, the others. They didn't talk like my sisters and I did, but then again, we didn't talk like THIS, like we are right now, either at the time. Language has a way of being very odd. We were quickly surrounded by all of the men who had shown up. All of them had sharpened sticks and stone tools in their hands. They were all growling and some of them were shouting. I remember Sonata crying into Aria out of fear. I had gotten angry and began to shout. They backed off a little bit, but they began to herd us like cattle to the back of the compound. We were led into the village and brought into the big hut at the very back. The hut was much larger than the others that I could tell, and was more securely built. All of them looked at us with strange looks once we got into the main building. Some of them fear, others disgust. And it was only then we realized we were REALLY, truly naked. Completely. These people were not. I can remember thinking why this was the case. Clothes were not very prevalent in Equestria, and we hadn't had them when we got here. The women looked at us with hate and jealousy, and those men...they had an evil fire in their eyes. I can remember being a little afraid of what would happen next."
"We were in front of, what I assume to be their leader. He was old, and covered in all sorts of dried plants, jewelry, and dressings. He wore way fancier clothes than the others. The room was very smokey, and it was all coming from a corner where there was a guy huddled over a fire making something. I knew what he was. We had learned a lot about primitive tribes from what we took from the unicorns, some of those things were history books. I still had to give my girls an education, you know. He began to talk at us. I say at, because he was fierce and angry. We were not equal people to him. You could tell just by the...emotion that hung in the air. When we didn't respond, he grew angrier. I saw the spears start to rise up from the back from the men who were blocking us from making a hasty exit. I don't know what was said or what was going on, but I knew I had to do something. I thought fast. If Aria and Sonata still had some kind of power...maybe I did too. I had to, I was in charge. More importantly...I trusted my little ones, and they trusted me. It didn't make any sense to me that Sonata would be wrong and lead us into a trap, especially with one she didn't know about. I grabbed my amulet hanging around my neck and squeezed. Nothing...nothing happened at first. I felt my eyes pinch closed. I was afraid. I couldn't let them know. As my mind panicked and raced...I thought back to our childhood. I thought back to the horrible attack, I thought back to the destruction of everything we had. Their voices...their voices sounded the same. The cawing and squawking. All of the words I did not know struck cords within me. I felt an inner fire growing within the core of my stomach. A terrible loathing suppressed for years. I fed it more and more pain and hate and I began to smile as it became a roaring inferno. I could feel it rising in me, rising up and up. It rose and rose through my body, stopping at my neck. It began to fuel my magic, my inner spirit. My amulet roared to life with a dark red glow. I shouted and everyone turned to look at me. My voice was powerful as I yelled. It blew away the smoke in the room, and made all the savages freeze. The chief's eyes grew so large I thought they would leave his head. Behind me, I heard several of the spears drop to the ground, and heard scurrying as mothers snatched their children. All of them...except the medicine man in the corner. He turned and looked at me from the floor. His face was stoic, his eyes were glassy, but I knew he could see me, see me through his haze of magic and euphoria. I walked over to him and touched his face. I whispered to him. My voice was pleading, my eyes full of uncertainty. He looked up at me and smiled. He could feel my magic, and I his. I asked him to help us. I saw and felt the magic leave my amulet. His eyes shown red for only an instant, then returned to the pale milky color they were. He stood up shouting, he was excited! He walked to the center of the room where my sisters were and started to draw something in the dirt floor with a cane he had. All of the room was looking intently at it. When he was done, everyone in the room was as pale white as our saviors eyes, including the chief. He began shouting at everyone and waving his arms, and they all fled the room yelling at one another. The medicine man was pleased with himself and with what was going on. He simply stood there with folded arms. The chief got down off of his big chair, and got on the ground in front of us. The chief placed his forehead on the ground in our direction. He began to talk fast, and then sob. I knew I was still in complete control of the situation, even though Aria and Sonata were completely lost as to what was up. I walked up to the medicine man and kissed him on the forehead thanking him lightly, and then he walked back to the corner to do his own thing. Then I turned to the chief and told him to stand up. He looked at me. I said it again, angry. This time, I think he got it, and he got up. I touched his chest gently, like a lover to her special one, and whispered 'help us', just like I had done to the medicine man. Again, I watched and felt the magic leave myself and flow into him. The same red glow that had touched the medicine man shown in the chief's eyes, but the glow remained in them this time. He walked out still shouting. Things changed quickly for us."
"Now I will admit...we milked it for a while, but does that make us bad? I don't think so. This was about our survival. Within the hour, the whole tiny tribe had prepared a massive feast. We were led out of a special building, possibly a shrine, and were covered in honey, and had flower petals sprinkled on us. We were still naked, but I think they kept us naked on purpose. I know it didn't bother Sonata any, she was eating all of the attention up. Women kept tying flowers and herbs into her hair, laughing and kissing her as they did. All the little girls were running up to her and playing with her hair and hands. She grabbed their hands and ran in circles with them. laughing and singing old lullabies as she did. To say it was cute would have been a GROSS understatement. Aria was a little more than embarrassed, and chose to stay by he self when the party started. She sat over by the medicine man, who was attending a small pyre of his own by the fence line. For some reason, I think she felt safe near him. I didn't dare disturb her or him, any kind of security she could gather was worth more than it's weight in gold to me. I, on the other hand, assumed the role that I would carry, and have carried for as long as written history, and that is the role of Matron. They began to feast and play drums and a few other banging instruments of wood and hide. One of them played a long wooden flute. It was primitive...but wholesome. The idea a group of people were worshiping and serenading us to the fullest of their ability was empowering. I began to spin myself in circles around the fire, and I was laughing as I did. Soon some of the others decided to join me. Some of the men had joined in the dancing, chanting and shouting up at the amber sky. The women tried to join in as well, but were shouted down by the men. I stopped dancing and glared at them. I shot daggers from my eyes, and raised my hands to my amulet, which had begun to glow with a fiery backdrop. The women were then PULLED into the dancing, and greatly encouraged to join in our worship. I was pleased and started back up my own self indulgent dancing. We had a blast that night. They brought out alcohol at one point. It was raw and unfiltered, I think mostly being made of the grains they grew in fields behind the village. It was great. We partied and ate and danced well into the night, and into the morning sun. As it rose, I began to sing. There were no words, I was singing notes as I felt them come to me. When I did, my amulet began to glow brightly, as did Aria's and Sonata's. They walked up to me slowly, as if in a trance, and we grabbed each others hands and continued to sing. It lifted us into the air slightly as we sang, our amulets glowing like diamond hearts. We were covered in the light of the sun, bathed in its radiance as our own fell among the town. The people looked on in awe. Some of them even began to cry falling onto their knees. We were now their patron goddesses. They were our flock, our people. And we loved them."
"I won't bore you with the details, but we HAVE lived for a long time, and we still do. For the life of me I can't tell if it is our physiology...since we are the last of our kind, or if it is our amulets. Perhaps it is because of this world? Did we indulge in too much magic before our curse? ...where was I going with this? Ah, yes. The people. We ruled our tribe for over one thousand years. That's right, you heard me, one thousand years. Once we began to outlive many of them, the idea we were false gods left the unbelievers immediately. We began to learn their language, and helped to develop it into something les rough, and more fitting of us. They gave us names that we kept for a long time, and we even began to learn of the powers we could truly have as their gods, but also inside ourselves. We didn't need to feed so much off of negative energy because...well...there wasn't much of it. We were learning to adapt ourselves to just the overwhelming happiness of our people. We once thought only evil could sustain us, but in truth, any emotion directed at us can be utilized for our own ways. Aria was given a beautiful name, or at least...I think so. Really we all were. Oh dear...what was it again? They named her after...OH! That's it, they called her Coyolxauhqui. From what I could best get from it, they were naming her in honor of the moon. Aria spent so much time alone, and most of that at night just outside in the moonlight, I suppose it was just bound to happen. She became our moon goddesses, and in time I think she did what she did just to keep up the façade. She would sing to it, she would often sleep through the day, and patrol her kingdom at night. She was the protector of the ones who feared the night. Sonata, sweet little Sonata, they called her Xochiquetzal, I think they attached her to most things simple and beautiful. She adored the children, she adored flowers, mothers, anything pretty and good. She was always showered in gifts, but also the first to cry, the first to be sad or hurt. They loved her and everything she stood for. As for myself...."
"I...enjoyed some of the more...carnal desires in life. One thing that I PERSONALLY have learned is that, maybe due to the fact we are stuck in time, or due to some other factor, we cannot bear children. Yes. It is exactly what you think. They started to call me...Tlazolteotl...I still don't know what it was, but I had a few ideas. If any of them looked down on me, they hadn't the stuff to say it, and for good reason. I would...remove any issues that would arise in our growing city, and without fuss or fluff. I had a contingent of great warriors who were always within ear shot, and I was ruthless in my dispensing of judgement. I was the most sought after thing in our city as it grew, and the most respected and loved. And in turn...I would love our people, often taking a trophy...erm...husband, of sorts, every few years. Now now, don't look down on me like that. We all do things we aren't proud of. Not that I wasn't proud of this mind you but...I was often gifted the finest things. We were soon no longer adorned with sweet smelling flowers and spices, but gold and jewels. We were beginning to settle back into what we were before this whole ordeal when we took what we wanted from the unicorns. Never out of our means but...enough to be comfy. And we responded by sharing our powers, or doing whatever weird rituals they wanted with the rest of their made up gods. More than once, I would be carried onto the field of battle where the soldiers fought for our land. I would see them gaze up at me longingly, all of them the same desire in their eyes. Me."
"Soon, it came time for our mighty empire to merge with other smaller ones. Lest more lives be lost. We absorbed many people into ours, and we all shared one language, one currency, one pantheon, and one voice. We became a great and mighty empire. I of course...set in the notion it be named after myself. Perhaps it was vanity, but I felt that without myself, they would have never rose and aspired to what they DID in fact become, and they got it as close as they could. Your people would call it, in your history books, as the Aztec Empire. But if you are also keen on your knowledge...you will know it soon failed."
"They came from the sea on great wooden boats. Our scouts reported them hours ahead of their landing near our shores. We were more afraid than I think our people were. We went down to the shore to meet them, myself, my two sisters, and a good chunk of our personal guard. They were unlike anyone we had encountered. Groups of them, speaking in a strange tongue, and wearing metal armor. They planted a flag in the sand and sang out and cheered. They began to fall on their knees and pray looking into the sky as a robed man chanted out. Then...they found us. I approached them first. I tried to speak to them, but found I was met with averted gazes and reddened faces. I was still unclothed, but adorned in my war headdress and jewelry, my sisters the same. One of them men handed me a book, which I tossed aside into the sand with a smile. I was not about to show these strangers any sanctuary in MY kingdom. This was NOT a good move, as the robbed man moved in to strike me. His hand was caught, and then broken by one of my guards. This was not an ideal first encounter, but it could have gone worse. I allowed them to stay in our presence, as long as they did not interfere with the everyday lives on my followers."
" In the years to follow, they tried to convert my people to their people's god. Often when they were met with opposition, it was struck down. My people began to grow sick. The ones from the ocean stole our crops, they dug up our land and stole our riches. This was when I decided it was time we interfered. They broke my rules, and our dwindling population was looking to me for answers. We were now War Gods. The three of us went to their camp, naked, and covered in our finest jewels. We were sprinkled and covered in perfumes and spices, and our faces were painted for war. We came as three beautiful masks of Death. They looked at us with no words to speak as we walked through the open gate, ignoring the shouts and warnings of the gate guard. Their captain came out of his tent as we entered the fort. He began to shout, but no one responded. We had begun to sing a song as he looked at us. We could FEEL the raw evil energy of these people. The greed, the anger, the ignorance, and the hatred. I...I loved it. It filled us, drove us. We drank it in as we sang. The captain watched in horror as his men dropped their weapons and fell to their knees in front of us. Our chant had begun to bewitch the soldiers, removing any free will and self sense of self preservation they had. Outside, my warriors...not our peoples army, but MY personal warriors, were climbing the walls of the fort. They were waiting for me to give the word to strike, the word to end these foreign invaders. I approached the captain, and looked him dead in the eyes. I spoke to him, but in anger he clutched a golden cross around his neck. I think he began to recite something. I remember him looking up and crossing himself a lot. Some of the soldiers began to come out of the daze as he did. I panicked and ordered the strike. In an instant, smoke bombs rained down, covering the ground in a dark black have. My men rained down like spears from the heavens. It was over before it began. We killed them all but...it cost me half my men. Several of the soldiers still had the will to fight when the smoke came. I was angry beyond belief. I took a sword myself to end the captain but...Sonata begged me to let him go. She begged and pleaded not to end him, not to do this. So I did. This one act of kindness and compassion from an angry god would cost my people...and my kingdom...its existence."
"Years later, that same captain returned with a full force. There were so many ships...so many. He came with a holy army to purge the world of these 'false She-Devils'. Pathetic. But...he was victorious. They came in the break of day. Our gates stood no chance, and our weapons couldn't pierce them. I had to stand and watch my city burn. I looked out of my balcony as the fires began, and the screaming started. It...it was like being a child all over again. I had to bear witness to everything I- WE had built, and watch it be burned and torn apart. The shrieking...the smoke...the smell...I was finally pulled from my daze by a screaming Aria. Sonata was on the ground, in the throws of a vision. Something we hadn't bore witness to in a long time. When she came to, she was just as distressed as me. She said we had to run. Aria looked up at me, eyes full of darkness. She uttered one word. 'Boat'."
"We dressed in commoners rags, and ran to the beach. We took nothing with us, and Sonata cried the entire time. A small group of people were pledging allegiance to the armor clad men. They couldn't rely on their gods as their world was destroyed...and I don't blame them. They were being led onto a ship with prayers and blessings. We ... joined them. We tried our hardest to hide our faces and our amulets. We walked straight up to the one who had started this, the old captain I had spared. He looked the three of us in the eyes...and then allowed us onto his ship. I still think he knew, I'll never forget the face he made. It was the face of smug victory. The three of us cried that night as we set sail, the red glow still visible on the open sea from where our whole world was gone. Some of the others came to us, but not many. I know they blamed us. Blamed ME for what had happened to them. We weren't gods after all, we only pretended to be. And it cost us more lives than we know. Their blood was on my hands. It took many MANY days and nights before we hit a shore again. We were in another strange land with more strange people. We began to hide and blend in. Sometimes we would work, other times we would get what we wanted by force. We used our magic in small amounts, and never stayed in one place too long. This new land had cities and cities galore."
"It was not what we were used to, living this common rabble of a life, but we got use to it. We eventually made our way east into more foreign lands. It will never cease to amaze me how someone only a short walk away can speak an entirely different language. We were soon in a land that was FILLED with art, music, song, dance, laughter, and best of all...love. We spent much of our time there, Aria has quite the knack for oil paints you see. In time, distress befell that kingdom and we had to leave, this time going north across a tiny sea compared to the ones we had seen. We arrived in a land that was...again...very different from the ones we were at. The language, the architecture, the fashion, EVERYTHING was new. And once again, we had to learn it anew. We became noble ladies after a time, most in part of me, who was tired of living a beggars simple life. There was always negative energy to enjoy no matter where we went, and it kept us strong and fierce. Soon, we heard rumors of a splinter group, a collective of a religious grouping. A number of people were going to sail back west, to the lands we started in. The choice was obvious. This wasn't home, and it never would be. But the purity of the land we were in before....we had a craving for it again. We went with these pilgrims over the ocean. It was not easy, and life was tougher than we were used to. Using our magic was hard and tiresome. Most times we didn't."
"The rest of this story you know. At least, you would, IF, you paid attention in anything they taught you in your school. We lived with the pilgrims until our magic got out of control. Witch hunts happened. We ended up fleeing further west. We met and saw hordes of indigenous people. Not like the ones we knew before, but many similarities. Over time, the people who had crossed the ocean multiplied and expanded west with us. They fought wars, they made cities, they enslaved and destroyed, they built and created. We watched as this country grew and became mighty. We watched and bore witness to its every flaw. Its every change. Each time hiding when we could, taking pat when we wanted to. We moved often, but always made sure we were happy. When times got rough...I turned to Sonata and Aria who would find our answers for us. And then I would execute them or find a way to make them work. This is how we are here now. And this is how you now are in front of me, in our home, right this second."
~
Magnus was leaning forward, his eyes wide open with the sheer amount of information he had been given. Over to his side, Sonata was snoring quietly like a cat, her blanket pulled close to her, and a small line of drool coming out of her mouth. Aria, who was fighting sleep as well, stood up and walked over to her. She tried to rouse her from her sleep but was only met with weak noises and a pouty face. Aria smiled and whispered to Sonata. She got up briefly, but then climbed onto Arias waiting back. She was carried piggy back style away to her room, Aria singing a little lullaby as she went, and doing a little dance with her, holding her tiny hands. This left Adagio and Magnus alone in the kitchen.
"I...I don't know what to say." Magnus said this while shaking his head. She couldn't be lying, she couldn't be. It was all too specific, all too real. And her face, her face was stoic and genuine. Adagio only smiled.
"Most don't, you see. And I can't blame them, it is a lot to take in."
"But...what does all this have to do with me?" Magnus asked Adagio as she stood up to clear off the rest of the table.
"Everything actually in a way. Out of all we have done, all of it has been to further our survival in this place. The others consider it permanent now. This home, this world, this...life. But I do not. I never did, and I think I have found a way to get us home finally. It has taken almost two thousand years...but it's close. And you are our key ingredient." She looked over at Magnus with burning eyes.
"But...how? I'm just...nobody."
"No, to yourself you are nobody, but to us? Who is to say. I only know that you are our answer."
Magnus thought about her words. He was important in some way to a person thousands of years old. He couldn't help but smile. He felt like he was special, like the ones in all of those cheesy vampire romance books he would NEVER admit to being into. He looked up as Adagio was now in front of him, a small smile on her face.
"It's late dear boy, we should head to bed. It is almost...well...tomorrow." Magnus looked up after Adagio finished talking. Sure as the sun, she was right. It was close to midnight.
"Oh crap! I have to get home, my mom will be worried sick!" Magnus scrambled out of the kitchen, heading into the living room to grab his shoes. Somehow...Adagio was in front of the door. She had beaten him there.
"Whoa whoa whoa! Slow down skippy. What's the rush? You just got here, and what kind of host would I be if I let you go home at a time like this? Stay, be warm. You can head home in the morning." Adagio smiled at him warmly, sensually, almost motherly. Magnus felt compelled to stay...but he wasn't sure if it was her magic or something else. He started to feel warm, maybe even nervous? He finally nodded. "Oh good! I'll get the bed ready then." Adagio walked off into a hallway off of the main room. Curious, Magnus followed her.
Down the hallway were four doors. One of them was a bathroom, and currently had Aria in it brushing her teeth and taking off makeup. She looked at Adagio, then to Magnus with some kind of...sneer maybe? She shut the door with a huff, and Magnus was taken aback by it. "Don't mind her love, she's just...a poor sport." Adagio let out a giggle as she opened one of the doors. Magnus looked down the hall a bit more before following Adagio inside. One of the doors, the one closest to the bathroom at the end of the hall had a name drawn on it in crayon from the looks of it. It said 'Sonata'. Magnus couldn't help but smile. The other door was very plain with the exception of one silver star around the door handle. It had to be Aria's room. But that meant this last one was Adagio's...
Magnus was correct in his assumption as he followed Adagio into her room. It was elegant. Lavish and almost over done to a brash degree. It was modeled after something you would expect in a Victorian Era fancy, noble ladies room. The dominant color was a deep crimson that EVERYTHING adorned in almost every inch of the room...but as much as Magnus wanted to admire the room, he couldn't. He was painfully aware that only one bed was in this room. He was feeling a tightness in his chest. His breathing was starting to pick up and his mind was swirling with vast amounts of nothing. Too many neurons were firing all at once. Adagio went behind a silk curtain she had near her dresser and began to undress. Magnus could make out her silhouette VERY clearly. He know was having a hard time REMEMBERING how to breathe. A few moments later, Adagio came out in nothing but a crimson silk night gown. She had him, and she knew it. She gave him a wicked grin as she went to the bed.
"Um..." was all Magnus could get out as she climbed into the sheets of Egyptian cotton, pulling back the other side of the queen mattress's covers and looking at him. "Did...did you want me to crash on the couch or..." Magnus pointed a thumb back at the door. At this point, Adagio laughed.
"No silly...I want you to join me. I told you we don't have men over often." She twirled a lock of her hair as she looked at him. "What's wrong...do you not want to join me? I thought I was a good host." She crossed her arms and pouted looking away, only to glance back at him quickly.
"No, NO! You were! And I do! Well, I mean...ya I do, but isn't this..." Magnus had no real idea of what he wanted to say. He scratched the back of his neck. Adagio sung out another laugh at him.
"Come now...have you never shared a bed with a girl?"
"No. I haven't. In fact, I haven't shared MUCH with a girl." Magnus felt himself flush with dejection and embarrassment as he recalled all of his past failures with the opposite sex. He looked back at Adagio who was giving him a look he was...unfamiliar with. He gulped. Adagio climbed back out of bed and walked over to him slowly, seductively. She was purring, her eyes half closed as she got to him. Magnus took a deep breath as she started to talk to him, almost in a whisper.