The true Name

In the evening's fading light you hurried from your tutor Fermissa Inventor's home, teary eyed and tired. You had gotten into hot water with her when you failed once again to attach your cooling spell to the cabinet, and once again she had berated you for bringing shame to the Inventor name. Though not family by blood, the name given to you at your birth by the Oracle tied you together as the Inventor name was not a common one, seemingly keeping within the same three families. Fermissa shared her conversation she had the other night with your sister's tutor, the handsome Henriett Inventor, and complained that she had no problem with the talented Amira, the new shining star of the Inventor name.

 

You pass by sai. Jordani Tailor and his clothes shop, the one shop that your mother never allowed you to buy from due to Jordani's tendency to make the classic shape of the toga more slim than was appropriate according to her. You, however, found him rather pleasant to talk to, and his style of design bold and pretty, even though you preferred the more loose fitting toga. It made it easier for others to not assume you to be either feminine nor masculine. You preferred to be indifferent, an inbetween, something no one seemed to object to. After all, the oracles in the tower of sky was usually seen the same way.

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"Sai. Iris! Do you have the time for some tea? I just got some that-", you cut Jordani off with a quick,

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"I'm sorry, not today," and hurried past him. Turning a corner into an alleyway where you had never ventured before, not looking where you went, you suddenly stumble into someone, spilling the parchment rolls over the cobbled ground. You bent down quickly, showering the stranger with apologies when you realize the stranger was too bent down to help. You looked up at them, realizing that the long haired, painted beauty had not yet said a word to you.

 

Her woolen toga hung heavy off of her body, and the dark reds and purples almost managed to hide the amulet that caught your eye as it swung around her neck. She handed you one of your scrolls and you smiled shyly as you took it from her, trying to hide your teary red eyes and got a better look at the golden symbol of a slivered moon and stars. The symbol of the Oracles, or as they were called under people's breath; "Lunatics'", the ones without a name, claimed by the moon and no longer with a mind of their own. That was how the rumors went, and you had no reason to not believe them at this time.

 

"You better secure them properly next time, Iris World-Ender." You stiffened at her words, not because it sounded threatening, but for what she called you.

 

"I'm not... I'm Inventor, Iris Inventor. I thought you all knew everyone's names on sight?" you chuckled, earning you a furrowed brow from the woman in front of you.

 

"Yes, I can, World-Ender." You stood there speechless, the silence of the night filling your every nerve before the woman breaks the fragile scene with her innocently asked question, "So, have you thought of how you want the world to end yet?" Your eyes wandered to whatever was not the woman in front of you, a nervous laughter bubbled out as you spoke,

 

"Is this a joke? Did my sister put you up to this?" You cling to the hope of hearing the comforting melody of 'just joking' from the woman's lips, but her brows only furrowed deeper.

 

"I am Oleander the Honest. I do not utter lies, World-Ender." You took a step back from her, and another, and another, clinging to the scrolls in your arms. You knew the titles of the high Oracles; the Wise, the Kind, and the Just. You had been told that the titles were a sacred thing to all Oracles, given to them by the stars above. The woman said nothing as you turned to run, your heart beating in pace with your steps. The buildings of schools and stores were replaced by large mansions, surrounded by vast well manicured lawns. Columns of marble held up glass ceilings over the paths up to the houses, and the soft glowing led light showered the lawns in continual sunset light throughout the night.

 

It didn't take you long to get to your house, the warm glow of fireplaces in every room shining out from the windows, welcoming you home. Your door opened by the beautiful Sebastian Servant, the halfling man your dad handpicked due to his propensity to live up to his name. He gave you a quick nod and stood aside for you to enter. Even though the house was lit up like daytime, you had to ask Sebastian where your family was. In a large estate such as this it would take you at least an hour if you looked for them yourself.

 

"Second floor, in the study sai. Iris", he bowed deeply before closing the door behind you, and you headed upstairs. The soft recorded voices of the singer Gorgiana came flowing out from the study, her soft tones calming you from your encounter finally. As you walked in you glanced at your mother, the only one of your parents there, though this was not unusual, before turning to your sister with a frown on your face,

 

"Today's joke was too cruel, Amira." Your sister put down her book and looked at you, a mirrored frown to yours playing upon her face.

 

"I didn't joke with you today, Iris, I was too busy with my internship. I only got home moments ago." You continued frowning and looked over where your mother sat in silence, reading the book that would be released the next weekend (your father knew the author). You pulled your sister in close and spoke in a hushed voice,

 

"I know you sent that Oracle to screw with me," and your sister huffed out a laugh before replying,

 

"I did no such thing! How dare you say I had anything to do with the Lunatics," your sister reclines in her seat, picking up her book again as if the conversation was over, but you couldn't let it go like that. You let your sister off too easily every time, but this had shaken you to your core and she had to face some consequence for that.

 

"Yes you did! Getting an Oracle to tell me my life's been a lie and I'm actually World-Ender is a horrible thing to do!" You burst out, louder than you wanted it to be. Your sister's eyebrows disappeared into her fringe and she shut the book with a loud bang.

 

"What? No, that's... I would never!" She started, mouth gaping like a fish out of water before the dragging of a chair made you look up quickly to see your mother standing over you. She held the book tightly in her shaking hand, knuckles white from the force.

 

"Could you.. repeat that, sweetie?" your mother said in a low and soft voice, one you recognised as dangerous. You swallowed once before repeating what you said with a slight quiver. The flush of your mothers cheeks were the only indication of her feelings, but she bore a look in her eye that you had had the displeasure of being victim to too many times. Your sister, being someone that usually did as she was told, protested as she saw your mother raising her hand, a red glow circling it. With a flash the glow surrounds your head and images of the Oracle, Oleander, pass your eyes together with the dropping of your scrolls, the scolding by your tutor and the vision of your home when you made it back.

 

"This is most unfortunate," your mother grumbled, shaking the remaining red glow off of her fingers.

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"Wait, what do you mean?" Your sister piped up, voicing her question before you even had the time to process the words. Your mother sighed loudly, and red glow was quickly replaced by a blue crackling around her well manicured nails.

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"Amira, please go to your room. I need some private words with your sibling, sweetheart", your mother's tone was sweet, almost cheerful, like she thought it would fool any of them that whatever happened in that room was a regular scolding. Amira gaped, like she always did when she was at loss for words, probably a thousand thoughts racing through her head as their mother pushed her gently out of the door and shut it behind her.  Now you were alone with your mother and her magic, and that strange blue lightning that you had never seen before.

 

Your parents, although influential people, would not be winning any awards for parenting, at least not your mother. Though you did not know it then, a parent who used magic against their own child was not something that was held in accordance with the law, but with no friends but your relatives who in all probability sided with your parents, there would be no way for you to know that at this point of time. While your mother turned to you again your eyes never left your mothers face. Her irises flashed in gold as she turned to you and the blue lightning made your hair stand on end by the raw power.

 

There was but a moment of calm as you found yourself accepting your fate, not knowing what you had done wrong even, when you saw your mothers lips move ever so slightly. It took you only a fraction of a second before you understood that the words were not for you, nor were they incantations for whatever horrible thing your mother had decided to punish you with. No, the words were for herself alone and as she whispered you could see the sounds as if they were heard. 'No potential and only destruction. I should have never let this disgrace grow.'

 

A ball in your chest, hard and cold, threatened to burst as you took in these words, the words that were not meant for your ears, but were definitely about you. Your mother, a woman that could show no love, wanted to put an end to you here, as if you were a bug staining her clean floor. You wonder if your sister had ever been subjected to the magical discipline, the kind that left no marks but on your spirit. A feeling of regret surged into you, filling the narrow space between your ribs. Thoughts of what your sister might have gone through without you stopping to think that you might not be alone. Could it have been that you weren't the sole target of your mothers fury? Could it have been that Amira, the golden child, knew your pain but you never bothered to ask. It was too much for you, too much sadness and anger to bear. Too much darkness that you never wanted to let in before. And that little bit of bitter hope that you weren't alone that made you feel sick.

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That magic that you didn't know what to do with started to rise inside you. Swirling around, filling your every vein. That magic you thought you couldn't control. You started realizing that maybe it wasn't that you couldn't control it, maybe it was that you didn't use it in the right way.

 

Maybe this was it, you thought. Maybe this was where you wanted your name to show its potential, your true name. A world is only as big as you want it to be, and yours has always only been your family. You held your chest tight, the soft fabric bunching up in your hand, and you let go. You gave into the feelings of despair and let it fill the room. You had never felt so powerful, surging with so much magic. The fireplace faded, the shadows grew, and no sound was heard. You drew a breath. One. Two. Three. You were still alive. As if in a cocoon of security, before you heard the slight squeak of the door swinging open and a voice calling out,

 

"Iris?" Amiras voice was shaky, and the shadows withdrew. Your little sister was still there and you looked around. You saw your mother in front of you, frozen with the golden eyes still, as if trapped in time.

 

"Amira!" You hurried to your sister's side, as her eyes darted around the room as you grabbed her cheeks to make her focus. "It's true, what the Oracle said," Amira looked you in the eye, stiff  and pale as she heard you speak.

 

"No, it's a joke. Someone joked with you, a cruel joke, just a joke.." she rambled before you shook her.

 

"Mother said I am only destruction, I think she is going to end me before I..." You couldn't finish your sentence, and you knew where to go next. If anyone knew what to do it would be the one how unraveled your life. There must have been a reason, you thought, for Oleander to cross paths with you at this time.

 

"Amira, I need to go." Amira only nodded, eyes still locked with yours. You let go of her, running into your room before whatever you did to your mother dissipated. Grabbing what you thought you would need. Amira only watches you as she slowly looks on from the hallway.

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You ran towards the street, a shriek echoing from your former home and you knew the magic you had unleashed in that room had finally released them. With hurried steps you walked through town, following the high tower in the distance. The tower was, and still is, taller than any castle and forbidden for any common folk to enter. It was said to be protected by the divine powers that be, but of that you were not sure anymore.

 

Up close that tower felt even taller, scaling up into the clouds, impossible to see the end of it. You walked up to the dark iron door, barring you from stepping inside. With no other option it seemed you could only knock, so you did. Three times the hollow ringing of your knuckles against metal sung but no one came. You did it again, but with the same result. A chuckle from behind made you turn, laying eyes upon the heavy toga from earlier tonight.

 

"It is a full moon, no one is here to greet you," the woman said softly and smiled. The full moon, a sacred day every month where the Oracles seeing was for the sky, granting them visions to share with the people, so what was she doing here, you wondered.

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"Oleander?" you tried the name she had given you, feeling its weight upon your tongue and finding it unlike any other you had uttered before.

 

"I must have given you quite the fright before, for you to flaunt your magic like this at once." She moved closer, as if floating. There is silence between you for some time, you shifting your bag around and her grasping her amulet, before you dare break it.

 

"What is my real name?"

 

"I told you this already, and it is not what you want to ask," she answered. You looked away from her, uncomfortable with how much she saw. With some hesitation you finally asked,

 

"What am I supposed to do?" Oleander smiled at this, letting her amulet go and a soft golden glow emanated from her palms. Light danced around her, and finally reached you, pulling on you to pay attention. A voice from nowhere spoke as Oleander closed her eyes, letting the light move as it pleased,

 

"Child of moon and stars, filled with the chaos of galaxies.

What you seek must be found at the divine crystalline, the bridge between worlds."

 

The voice faded with the light, leaving you and Oleander in the dim light of humming streetlights. Oleander was the first to talk,

 

"Let's not waste time, World-Ender, there is a long way to our destination." You clutched your bag as you watched her circle around to walk away from you.

 

"Our destination?" You asked her. She turned around, smiling a gently,

 

"I believe you do not know the way to the divine crystalline?" Raising an eyebrow at you. You grunted, and followed obediently. You figured that maybe if you did as Oleander told you, she might bestow you with more truths, things you wanted to know but dared not ask. Though Oleander was an Oracle, the all seeing eye of the moon and stars, you did not know that that eye was blind to what fate was planning for you.

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It took you weeks to travel, stopping in clearings and sometimes an inn for food and a warm bath. Never having been one to travel, barely leaving the nearest streets of your home, this was a new experience, but one you grew accustomed to quickly. The incorporeal voice rang in your head, day in and day out. Filled with the chaos of galaxies. Was this the magic you had, or was it something you had yet to discover within? No matter how many times you asked Oleander she did not divulge any wisdom.

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After week one you noticed the same faces in the crowd. Rugged and scarred, easy to see amongst the common people on the many marketplaces you visited along the way. You heard the motors of their bikes from afar and you knew that this could not only be a coincidence. You turned to Oleander, as calm as ever, as she led you to wherever you needed to be, and voiced your concern.

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"Yes, we are being followed," She answered calmly.

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"Then what should we do?" a panic boiling within threatened to erupt, you felt that ball in your chest turning in the same way as that night at home.

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"Calm yourself. They have yet to come close. The stars know and mislead them, they will be too late to perform their duty to your family."

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"My family? Wait, my family sent them?"

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"Yes, to kill you before you get answers, before you live up to your name, World-Ender." Your eyes traced the treelines around you, the sounds of rumbling motors echoing in the distance. You hadn't noticed that you stopped walking, until Oleander took your hand in hers and led you out onto an open field. "They are too late to do their duty," She said to you as you both traverced the muddy land. Your legs shook out of exhaustion when you felt Oleander letting your hand go finally. Stopping to catch your breath you did not see the large tree, hollowed and dark, before you at first, but when you finally looked up you could not help but gasp. You wondered how you hadn't seen it before and as you looked around you realized that the world had fallen away, a wall of fog surrounding you, protecting you.

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"W-where are we, Oleander?" You asked quietly as if you thought your words might scare the fog away. She walked up to the dead tree, laying her hands gently on its porous trunk.

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"We are here," She said in a breathy whisper and you had to stop for a second as you took the scene in.

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"This is it? This is where my life will change, by a dead tree on a muddy field?" You exclaimed and could not hide your disappointment. A chuckle, one you had heard many times before on your journey, reached you as Oleander's hands started to glow. Her magic filled every crevice of the trunk and you held your breath.

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"Your crystal, they need a token," Oleander panted, like she had run a marathon while you blinked. You hurried into your bag, finding the small crystal raven you had carried with you as a silent wish for your sister's safety. You held it up to Oleander but she did not take it from you. Instead you heard a low humming, from around but also from within. You gripped your raven tightly and threw it on a whim into the tree. A few seconds go by and you started thinking that maybe that was a stupid thing to do. You had gotten no instructions, no directions, but you threw your precious raven on a whim. Just as you thought to cry out of frustration, a wave of energy surged from the tree, throwing Oleander back from it. You hurried to her side and she stays unmoving while the tree continues to glow, and you realize it is not only glowing, it is growing as well. A thin branch reached up towards the sky, carrying a black raven. You stared at the bird atop the tree as it stared back at you, crystal eyes gleaming in the golden glow below.

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"Child"

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It bellowed out, the voice hugging you close from all sides.

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"You have journeyed here for answers and we are to give them"

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You scrambled up onto your feet, dry in the mouth and head empty of thought, but the words came anyway. "What do I do to live up to my name?" You asked.

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And I answered.

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