Finding my Parents in Another World

A soft singing voice woke Zoe up from a fitful slumber inside her tent. She woke up rubbing her eyes sleepily. It was still dark outside.

It's Famina's turn to keep watch

Is that her voice?

It was an extremely sweet voice, and although Zoe couldn't understand the words, she felt melancholy in the tune of the song.

She quietly stepped out of her tent, and sure enough Famina was sitting in front of the fire, softly singing while rocking gently on the log she was sitting. In profile lit by the soft glow of the fire, her face looked even more beautiful and gentle.

Maybe because her expression has softened.

"Nice song." Zoe said in a low voice, starting Famina, who immediately turned red.

"J-just a passion of mine." She said, clearly quite flustered at having been seen.

Zoe laughed and went and sat beside her on the log.

Children are really cute.

"Did your mother teach you to sing?"

Famina nodded, and Zoe noticed the sad look coming back to her eyes.

"My mother was the best singer in our Church. My father often used to joke that he had married her for her voice. Lorna wouldn't even go to sleep without hearing her sing when she was even younger. And then..." Here Famina stopped, and her eyes glistened with tears.

"Go on child." Zoe said softly, putting her hand on her shoulder. Over the last few days travelling together, she had developed a maternal instinct for all three of these girls, but especially for Famina who had been thrust a heavy responsibility at such a young age.

Only two more years than Raorka

Famina shook her head, attempting to compose herself even as tears started falling from her eyes.

"You can't suppress grief forever. Grief is like a poison. It will slowly accumulate within you until it takes your very life. Unless you let it out. Let it out child." Zoe said, in as gentle a voice as possible.

Famina could hold back no longer. Her tears fell in copius amounts now and Zoe held her to her chest as she cried and cried and cried. Her cries were muffled on Zoe's tunic so that the sleeping Lorna and Simea would not wake up, but Zoe could tell from the shudder as sobs left Famina's body that this grief had been bottled up inside her for too long.

After some time when Famina stood up, her eyes puffy and red. But it seemed as if she had gotten some of her composure back.

"They made him watch you know?" She said in a broken voice.

"They made who watch?"

"My father. They stripped him naked and then tied him upside down on a tree and made him watch. They cut off his tongue first so he couldn't speak, just watch. As they repeatedly raped my mother. They made him watch her scream for help, they made him watch her moan. Then they made him watch as they crucified her. One of the brutes kept raping her even as the others were sticking nails in her naked body, nailing her to a wooden cross. Then they finally burned her alive. My mother, who had a much lovelier voice than me, who sang me to sleep since I was a child. The biggest memory I have of her voice is her screams as she was being raped and crucified and burned."

Zoe remained silent throughout this guy wrenching tale. She didn't know what to say, but she knew there was nothing she could say to alleviate whatever pain Famina would be feeling.

"They kept him alive you know? They let him go at the end. Didn't even kill him. Of course it didn't matter, my father had already gone mad. The second they had gone, he jumped off the nearest cliff."

"Who is they?" Zoe asked gently, and Famina's face became dark.

"Soldiers from the city of Falidar. Under the command of a general they called FatBeard. I don't know what his real name was, but the day I find out is the day my revenge will be complete."

At this moment Famina seemed like a completely different girl to the gentle nun who worshipped the Goddess of Bounty. Of course the trauma she had suffered was an appropriate cause behind her behaviour, but Zoe found this dual characteristic to be disturbing.

It can't be good for her to have this much rage always bottled up inside.

"How did you two survive?" Zoe asked

"My father had a bad feeling. General FatBeard was a friend of my father, in fact I had seen him around the house a lot of times before. That day he instructed us to hide in the basement. And General FatBeard was too obsessed with my mother to think about us." Here Famina paused again and looked at the fire intently.

"The Goddess protected me and Lorna." She said quietly.

.XX.

The next morning they reached the small fishing town of Castin. Most of the huts in the village was small, and Zoe was even surprised to see a huge church in the middle of the town.

"Isn't this blasphemous per the laws of this Kingdom?" She asked incredously.

Famina shrugged.

"We are on the very edge of the Kingdom. A thousand years back this region used to belong to the Kingdom of the Goddess, therefore there are still followers of the Goddess here. In fact all of us live in this town now, since it is one of the few remaining towns with an active Church. Anusuril lets us exist as long as we aren't too close to the Capital." She explained.

"And here we may be able to get some clues about the Trials of the Goddess." Simea chirped in. She was in a much better mood once they were out of the dangerous forest and in a more civilized and familiar town.

"Yeah you guys mentioned this before but what exactly are trials of the Goddess?"

Simea didn't respond, looking over to Fatima for guidance.

"Father Andrews will explain all in the Church." She said simply and smiled at Zoe. Since last night it seemed that she had warned up quite a lot to Zoe.

The four of them made their way towards the Church, with Famina leading the way. Simea was behind her and then came Zoe and Lorna. Over the last few days, even though Famina was the one with whom she had talked the most, Zoe had also warned up to the other two nuns, especially Lorna who was really just a mischievous child at heart.

"Bleh Father Andrews is gonna scold is again." Lorna said dejectedly sticking out her tongue.

"Why would he scold you?"

"Because he keeps telling us to be careful and stay away from bandits but we actually had an encounter with them this time." Lorna said forlornly.

Zoe laughed. "I'm sure he'd be more relieved than anything."

"You sure?" Lorna asked hopefully.

"Yes of course."

"If he gets angry will you trap him in one of those sand globes?"

"Don't you worry about that."

"But will you?"

Zoe made a show of looking around as if no one was watching and then showed Lorna the palm of her hand where she had made a miniature version of the sand prison. Lorna's eyes went wide with surprise and then with joy.

"You bet I would." Zoe said to the child with a wink.

.XX.

The Church of Castin was not only the tallest structure in the town, but it was also massive in width. The tall white spires of the Church rose up high in the sky, twisting and turning all the way. Zoe noticed there was no cross at the top.

Of course. Different world, different myths.

She assumed here the cross would be actively a blasphemous object for the members of this Church, considering how they had been persecuted.

In the middle of the Church stood a huge statue of what Zoe assumed must be the Goddess. In the Church she had woken up in, the statue of the Goddess was almost completely destroyed. Here however it was displayed in its full glory, except for the face which was blank. Stretching out in front and to the back of the statue were rows of seats, which were occupied by worshippers.

"Why is the face of the Goddess blank?" Zoe whispered to Famina.

"Because we don't deign to think that we are able to capture the beauty of our Goddess." It was a Priest who answered.

He was wearing flowing white clothes and a white cap on his head. He seemed much older than the three girls, in fact he seemed old enough to be Zoe's father. She surmised that this must be Father Andrews.

Father Andrews moved immediately to Famina and asked, "Are you alright my child? I heard of a skirmish with bandits near the First Church?"

Famina nodded. "Yes Father. We were helped by her." She indicated Zoe.

Father Andrews looked towards Zoe with gratitude.

"My utmost thanks to you stranger. In days like this, few people help members of the Church." Saying this Father Andrews bowed deeply to Zoe.

"Don't mention it. These girls are about the same age as my own son. There was no question of even thinking about abandoning them." Zoe replied hastily, somewhat uncomfortable at seeing this man so much older than her kneel.

Father Andrews nodded. "The power of the Church is not what it used to be. We have no gold to offer you as thanks. I hope our hospit-"

Here Famina quickly went up to the Father and whispered something in his ear. Father Andrew's eyes went wide and he looked over at Zoe once more.

"Ah I must apologise, I didn't realise you were an Otherworlder." He said, and Zoe noticed that his voice was now changed.

"Then it must have been the providence of the Goddess who sent you to us. Aah, aah to think it would come about in my time." The Priest seemed exhilarated, to the point where Zoe was afraid he would collapse.

"Excuse me Father. Famina mentioned a prophecy on the way. Can you please tell me what she meant?"

"But of course. The prophecy to save us all. You and your family are the key to saving us all." Father Andrews said and immediately collapsed on his knees in prayer.

.XX.

It was well over an hour before Father Andrews regained some of his composure. He then asked Simea and Lorna to go and rest in their rooms and asked Famina to accompany him.

"Sorry Famina, I'll take up just a bit more of your time."

"Of course Father, I want to be there for this too."

"Are you gonna scold big sis?" Lorna asked wide eyed, looking over at Zoe.

Father Andrews laughed. "Of course not my child. I need the help of your big sister to explain to our friend Zoe her what her role is."

Lorna seemed satisfied with that and went away to sleep along with Simea.

Father Andrews led Zoe and Famina to a small office room at the very back of the Church. This was an administrative office, and Zoe saw several papers and books strewn all over the office. Father Andrews took out two chairs and invited both of them to sit.

"Sorry for the mess." He said a bit sheepishly as Zoe and Famina sat down.

His demeanour however changed immediately when he began talking about the prophecy.

"Well Mrs. Zoe, as you may know, we follow the Goddess of Bounty. A thousand years ago we even had our own Great Kingdom. Unfortunately the Great War took everything from us, our land, our people and even our Goddess." Father Andrews sighed, and Zoe thought his eyes were glistening with tears. After a short while, he continued,

"It was said that when we had our Kingdom the Goddess herself would descend during prayers and hear our prayers. The Goddess herself assisted us in the Great War, lending us her strength. Unfortunately Anusuril used some unspeakable magik to win the war. No one left alive knows what they did, it is said the magik destroyed everything around it, even the casters themselves. However it also destroyed our Kingdom, as well as sealed away the Goddess. We don't know where she is, but we do know that she is trapped somewhere, waiting for us....nay waiting for you to save her."

"How do you know I can?" Zoe asked cautiously. She thought that the old man she had considered harmless was dangerously close to being a zealot.

What will he do if I can't save her?

"The prophecy. After the unspeakable magik, there was a Mist which swallowed up our whole Kingdom. From within the Mist the ones who escaped to Anusuril spoke of a prophecy. No one knows the text of it completely but here's the part we do know." Saying this Father Andrews took out a tattered sheet of paper from a drawer and lay it out in front of Famina and Zoe.

Zoe looked at the sheet. It seemed to be scribbled in some language she couldn't read, and there were lots of gaps in the text where the words had been smudged out.

"The complete text of the prophecy was lost while transporting it out of the Mist. We don't know who wrote this prophecy, but we believe in it with our whole heart." Famina said, and then she took the paper from the table and began to read it.

In the Shadow of Mist will rise

A family of forces intertwined

A mother whose....

A father whose sprit crac....

And a son born of their union

Who wields....

In a world where hope hangs by a thread

They shall emerge like a flame

Destined to challenge the dark enig.....

.....the Goddess of Bounty held cap...

Will call out to them....

Yet their path will be fraught with trials most dire

For the father,....and bold, will...in line....

The mother, strong yet..., face a fa.....than death

And the son, imbu....

.....

The Godde....reclaimed.

....

Here Famina stopped.

"You don't know how it ends?" Zoe asked quietly. The prophecy had raised more questions than it answered, and also had a much more ominous tone in it.

Father Andrews shook his head.

"We don't know how it ends but it speaks of the Goddess being captured somewhere and being reclaimed at the end. It also speaks of a family saving a world that is not there. You are the Mother in the prophecy, Mrs. Zoe."

"It also speaks of death and dire trials. You don't have the part of the prophecy which describes the trials we will face." Zoe retorted.

.....than death

....in line

These two phrases kept circling Zoe's mind, but the one she was most worried about was her son. There was no hint at all to Raorka's trial.

"Yes I am afraid we do not, and of course we cannot ask you to risk your life for whatever unknown trial to come. However....however if you and your family do nothing then this world will come to an end." Father Andrews dropped his head, refusing to meet Zoe's stare.

I can't

I can't risk my family for an unknown world.

Zoe looked over at Famina who was looking hopefully at her. She would have to crush the hope in those eyes. For a second it seemed as if Famina's face had transformed to Raorka's.

She really reminds me of him....

"All right I will do it." Zoe said, causing Father Andrews to look up, the joy clear in his eyes.

"But! But you must understand. My first priority is always my son and my husband. If I have to make a choice between saving the Goddess or saving my family, I hope you understand that I will choose my family always." 

"Of course, of course my child. That is to be expected." Father Andrews said in an an acquiescing tone.

However Zoe still wondered whether the old man had actually understood.