It had been a long time since Styx had experienced a winter like this. Sure, Lorraine had thrown her tantrums before on earth, but they had never been quite as intense as this Shaman storm had become. And with the azure spirit running around, Styx was not feeling up to doing much of anything. She didn’t care for freezing temperatures or snow or ice. Winter weather was just reminders of long dead memories that the oracle did not want to be rehashed. But of course, someone had forced her visions. They were no longer as controllable as they had been . Her emotions were all over the place and all she was seeing around her was the loss of people she had met and known. Watched their deaths. She had seen her own daughter’s demise in the period since the spirit sent her into the past. Styx had always wanted to know everything about everyone’s past, present and future, but that had been one thing she would never have looked into.
She needed to get away. Being stuffed into the cozy apartments in the castle was fine when it was desired, but Styx was beginning to get cabin fever, and though she was loathe to do it, she wrapped herself in her warmest cloaks and left the castle grounds for a walk. It was a lucky thing, she supposed, that the spirit had granted her the ability to manipulate time, as the snow fell much slower, keeping the oracle drier that she might have been in the full force blizzard. The owl, unwilling to leave his slumber, remained on his roost in the room, content to let the immortal one out on her own.
Snow crunched underfoot as the blonde moved from castle to the wood. There, the snow was caught by the tangled boughs of the canopy, and as far as Styx could tell, was more of a flurry anyway. No longer caring to slow the time she was away, the wind moved more quickly, and the animals ran faster. The baying of a hound could be heard somewhere in the distance – unmistakably dog, not wolf – and so Styx continued in that direction.
Greece had never had henges quite like these. There were small temples, to be sure, but they were cut stones, aligned to be perfectly held together. These, the dolmens, these megaliths were far more raw, with much more of the ancient magic in them. Truly, it made far more sense that these should be found in this world than some of the other locales. And it seemed they drew quite the crowd from those who lives had been long touched by the stars and their “childred.” Across the circle, Thyri was also admiring the stonework. Whether the oracle had been noticed was difficult to say, as Styx could not see much in the way of expression around the rocks, but words did tend to grab a listener.
“They are beautiful, are they not?”
image © paul bica @ flickr.com |
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