Chapter 3
Time seemed to stand still as Aoife embraced Michael. Standing there, wrapped in a golden leathery cocoon, Michael was tense, his muscles flexing, ready to endure what was to come.
Aoife felt the tension coming off Michael in waves.
"Be calm Michael, there is nothing painful in this. It will be a sensation the likes of which you have never known, but it does not cause pain."
Aoife's calm, safe tone reassured Michael. He relaxed into her embrace, still pensive but resolute with his decision and more open because of her reassurance.
As he relaxed Michael took in the sensation of being so close to Aoife. Her scent spicy and warm, as if walking through some exotic tropical market within which the humidity and raucous smells mingled together to form a musk that was almost a physical presence.
Then there was her heat. It radiated from her like a furnace. Not so hot to be intolerable but several degrees higher than the surrounding air. Enshrouding him in a warmth that ebbed and flowed around him as her chest rose and fell with each deep breath she took.
Reaching out a tentative hand, Michael gently touched the wings that surrounded him.
A small shudder rolled through and over Aoife at the touch.
Her skin was warm but surprisingly soft, it reminded Michael of the supple heat and texture of sun warmed leather.
Michael closed his eyes, relaxing into this moment of change and discovery.
"Good young one, that is good, relax. It is a simple thing that we do, simple but meaningful. You know me on a genetic level already Michael. You carry my essence within you. I am going to open myself to you now, we will share a connection deeper than lovers, deeper than mother and child. All of my experience, love, pain, fear, loss, joy will mingle with your own, as yours shall mingle with me. We will become more than we are in this moment. You will have my memories, as well as all those who came before you. It is a solemn and ancient sharing, a gift of unaccountable worth, for us both."
Aoife's words faded in Michael's mind as her soul, her essence, her energy and light engulfed his mind.
The images and feelings began to flash by at enormous speed. Michael immediately tensed, sensing bits and pieces of knowledge but having no perspective of the whole. He cried out both physically and mentally at the loss of those pieces he could not perceive as they came too quickly.
"Shhh, once the knowledge is given Michael, once it is a part of you, then you will assimilate it, nothing is being lost, all of it is yours. It resides within you, waiting until it is needed or summoned." Aoife comforted him once again as the transfer continued.
On and on it went, centuries of history, an ancient life given freely, born and made new once again in the sharing.
Tears streamed down Michaels face at the onslaught of emotion. The spectrum of feeling playing across his heart only to repeat again, over and over. Michael slowly slipped to his knees, Aoife's wings providing gentle support as he bowed under the weight of the responsibility he was being gifted. For that is what it was, a gift of such magnitude, encompassing millennia of experience Michael had no choice but to simply allow it all to flow into him. And in that moment of releasing the need to understand, of simply allowing it to happen, he was overcome by a comforting calm and yet the process still continued, Aoife's life becoming his life, as his becoming hers.
The rich tapestry of her life and his unfolding for each of them. Demanding that they live and breath and understand each of their evolutionary moments.
The warmth of a mothers wings embracing him...
Fear crystallized in the moment of first flight before the wind captured and held her in its cool embrace...
Rage from the betrayal of an ancient lover whose name...slipped by too quickly...but the after image of it's passing burned....
Unimaginable pain as talons rip through flesh...
Depthless loss as your kind wither and fade from the face of the world...
Joy unbounded found communing with a new race...
Untold deaths....
Untold births...
The unfolding and flowering of a new race...
All of it, everything in her long history played out for him, through him, became him.
For Aoife the impact was even greater.
While her life encompassed much of known history, it's length also subdued the emotions. Where her long life was punctuated by moments of great pain and promise, the experience of Michael's short frenetic life took Aoife's very breath away.
Simple joy as bright paper is ripped away to reveal the treasures of childhood...
The soft brush of lips, the warm moist sensual heat of newly discovered connection...
Adrenaline coursing as a hand moves over a wild creature born of another realm in the early dawn...
Excited congratulations for the first big bid awarded...
Overwhelming comfort waking up in a warm bed, a lover curled around you...
Unending anguish trying to pry open a casket lid for one last look at love...
So much pain, so much passion, so much life lived in such a short time. Aoife wept along with Michael as their lives intertwined, mixed and became something so much more than they were before.
Time passed slowly on the small stone landing beneath Nogardshire Castle. The world moved on above, people loved and lost, found joy and sorrow. But at the same moment, time had stopped below their feet as an ancient life and a compact life became something very unique.
"How do you feel Michael?"
Aoife's voice was gentle as she slowly pulled her wings up and away to set lightly on her back.
"I feel...whole Aoife."
Michael stood, arms stretching above his head, muscles slowly loosening from the tension of becoming.
"You have lived an amazing life my friend. Thank you for the gift of your memories and wisdom. I was so afraid to take this on Aoife, so fearful that I would not be up to the challenge. But I understand now."
"I know that I have already accepted, but I want to reaffirm that to you Aoife. I vow to do what is best for the clan, to stop those who try to create a world filled with chaos and pain."
