Nova's Dawning

We landed in a school, somewhere far away, in a place I didn’t recognize. There were young kids everywhere and there were two that stood out. One I immediately recognized as a young Bee and another girl who was tall and a little on the thick side, reminded me of me. Except she had Michy’s laugh and dark hair.

“Oh Michaela?” I heard a teacher nearby call. The thicker girl ran over and I noticed that she had my face. “This is Ophelia, your partner for this assignment. Have fun.” They ran off together with big smiles on their faces.

“You can call me Bee.” Ophelia said.

“Michy what is this...?” I asked, getting goosebumps.

She looked at me sadly and then we were sucked into something else.

“Michy, what is happening?!” I asked as we landed in a bright yellow room I had seen from my dreams. The young Bee sat on her bed playing a Ukulele I recognized as the one I had imagined in our closet, and Michaela watched eating a snicker doodle. It went dark again, and Michy finally spoke to me as a busy street came into view.

“Um... well, I.... we....” I heard Michy’s laugh and I turned around to face myself. She had dark hair still and this time she was much older, accompanied by an older Bee. They were heading into a tattoo shop, with pictures of best friend tattoos in their hands. I shook my head, not understanding what was going on. We followed them inside and they were talking to a tall man with a long beard.

“So, my best friend of forever is moving away. We want something like these, you can help right?” the other Bee asked. The guy happily nodded, taking the drawings and it was if those years of friendship were rushing back to me. A brick wall that I didn’t know was there was starting to crumble all around me.

“Michy please explain...” I said, but we were dragged into another dark room. Someone flipped on the lights, and there was Michaela, but she was on the floor with Mowgli, Jack, and Thea. Sam was the one who had flipped them on and she rolled her eyes.

“Please turn the lights off, Alex.” Michaela, mumbled.

“Get some sleep Michy. We have class tomorrow morning. Professor Ritz probably won’t like it if we are late, again.” The rest of them on the floor groaned and Sam laughed as she went to bed.

“Why does everyone have different names... I don’t...Are these your memories?” I said, trying to wrap my head around what I was seeing.

It went dark, and when there was lights again I saw Michaela, or Michy, on a computer, tears in her eyes. She began to sob and I walked closer.

“You won’t like it.” Michy said to me, tears in her eyes as well. I also noticed her accent was gone, but I continued on, needing to see why my face was crying, and I saw Bee on the screen. She was sobbing, wearing black. She was at a funeral, and when she showed the casket, I saw it was her mother. I had seen so many pictures of Bee’s mom to know that was her, and I remembered her. I remembered being picked up when I was kicked out from my desolate home, when she drove us around, baked us cake, made spaghetti, and I remembered her being my mom too, even though she hadn’t given birth to me. That woman had taught me about food, about life, and about magic. Both Ophelia and I had dived so deep into the craft that we considered ourselves expert witches even though we hardly told a soul. It had been something we had done together, until her mother had passed.

“No.” I said, watching this version of me and Michy sob, as I began to cry myself. The pain in my chest that I had passed off as heartburn came back with a vengeance, and I clutched my shirt.

“I told you so.” Michy said to me, her voice thick.

We were sucked into time again as we saw Michaela on a beach with my friends, the ones with different names, beside her.

“Do you really have to go back?” They asked her. She nodded sadly, and I remembered the feeling of content as I finalized the decision to move back home.

Before I could speak we were dragged into darkness and when we found ourselves able to stand I realized we were in a familiar hallway. I walked to the end, and there was a door. I opened it, and just like before there was a man, who was Osiris. I wanted to run to him, but that woman was in his bed, the woman who I now realized was Michaela. I squinted hard before I realized that he was the man with brown eyes.

I didn’t say anything now. Memories were starting to flood into my heart and I wanted to let this unfold. I heard Michy sigh heavily as we landed in another time. Michaela was back in that house that felt so familiar to me. She was sitting on the couch in the living room, her face somber. The other Bee came in the door and I realized the clock said it was four in the morning.

“Where were you Ophelia?” Michaela looked away from her, frustration in her voice. “It’s late ”

She shrugged. Her makeup was dark, and her hair was a mess. “It’s whatever.”

Michaela stood up, shaking her head. “No, it’s not. This is your life. You said you were going to go back to school. You said you weren’t going to let your breakup be the end of you, but this... I just... I don’t know what to do to help you.” Michaela was crying, and Ophelia looked unfazed.

“You can’t help me unless you can bring back my mom.” Without another second Ophelia went up to her room and Michaela stood there dumbfounded.

It began to come back to me and I looked at Michy, understanding beginning to take over me as darkness took over the room, but we were going to be stuck here until I was shown the truth, since that was what I asked for. The lights came back up, but they were dim.

It was late, and the moon was high in the sky. Michaela was surrounded by five candles and in the center was a picture of Bee’s mom. She lit the first one and whispered, “Air, flow through me on my journey and blow away the negative energy that attempts to enter.” The flame began to flicker rapidly, and she lit the next one. “Earth, allow each step I take to be soft and easy to follow.” For a second it seemed that the flame became green and then she lit the next one. “Water, wash away my fears and let me ride on the waves of fate.”

The smell of the ocean filled the room and she smiled as she lit the next one. “Fire, burn away my anger and replace it with the warmth that was taken from us.”

The room grew hot, and Michy threw her arms out as Michaela lit the last one.

“Spirits, guide me towards the place where I want her to be. ”

Michaela stood up and she had two pentacles drawn on her palms. She lifted her arms into the air and took a deep breath. “Goddess of time, God of Fate, open the gates of the universe to me and allow me to bring happiness to the ones I love. As you will so mote it be.” She clapped her hands together, and suddenly the room erupted in a blue light.

I saw Michaela’s blue light erupt before life began in the universe Michy and I had created.

Then we were at a cottage, a middle-aged woman was stirring something in a cauldron as the sound of two young giggles filled the room.

“Girls, dinner is almost done. Come and get it!”

The two little girls entered the small cabin and I immediately recognized them as Eris and Nova.

“Michy… What does this have to do with anything?”

“You wanted the truth Star. This will not end until you see it all…” With her accent gone she sounded so much older.

The girls were playing, and the mother was looking at them lovingly. One of them was playing with the wind, sending the smell of her soup towards her sister. Eris laughed and Nova went to touch her bowl and it froze over.

“Mother, she hast done it again!”

“Be nice! Or I wilt feed thou to Krampus this Yule.” The girls were instantly put in their place and Nova thawed out her sister’s bowl. The mother set her bowl down and went to pat her girls on their heads when her face went slack, and I knew she was seeing a vision.

“Mother?” Nova asked, unsure of what to do. When their mother came back to them, she looked unsettled and disgusted.

“Don’t touch me, foul child.” The mother flinched away, and the twins took a step away, scared.

“What did she see?” I asked Michy.

“The future.” She said grimly.

The room faded and I saw them, older and tired from battle. Eris lay on the ground near her mother. Nova was off to the side huddled around a group of what I assumed to be the first Moonlight class. Eris looked at her mother and she began to cry.

“I remember when thou used to love us. I know not what happened, but… I wish to see thou in the Heavens Mother.”

“My daughter, let me show thou what I have seen.” She was so much older now, and her frail looking figure seemed to be fading fast.

I recognized the vision sharing, but my attention went back to Nova. Her moon staff was cracking, but she looked back at Eris nervously.

“Fine. I will do whatever I must to save mine sister. Please, Isabella, do something.”

Isabella stepped forward, and I knew her right away. It was the first Valedictorian, the one who was Bee’s ancestor. Nova slammed her staff on the ground as her hand went up to the sky. “Great Goddess of Time, Great God of Fate take mine gifts and resituate. As thee will it so mote it be!” Her voiced boomed across the thundering sky, and suddenly Isabella was glowing blue. She stepped towards Eris, but even I could tell she was fading fast.

“Mother… I understand why thou did what thou did… I… am sorry.” Even though I could tell Isabella was pouring everything into her healing, it was as if Eris had given up on life, and she passed away.

Nova screamed and several of her friends had to hold her back.

The darkness faded over us and when we got light again, we were at Moonlight. Sitting in the front row was a girl who looked strangely like Thea, and a young version of the Dean. They were chatting and talking about the past of Moonlight.

“I bet the original class was super cool.” Said the young Dean.

“We could always find out… I am pretty sure one of the spirits from that class hangs out in the basement.” They nodded in excitement, but I knew how it would pan out from here.

The spirit was Eris, she would possess Thea’s relative, and then the young Dean would fight to protect her school and friend. The world faded around us, and for a second, I thought it was finally over, but the final scene was starting to unfurl.

“Please… give me my best friend back.” The Dean said.

We were outside the school now; the snow was falling lightly around them.

“Best friend this, best friend that. All anyone ever cares about is their best friend. Even me. I am Eris, twin to Nova, and we did a terrible thing. Let me show you land dweller.” Eris said through Thea’s relative, her eyes were bloodshot.

“I won’t fall to your tricks spirit!” the young Dean shouted.

“Tricks? How I wish my death were not but a trick!” She forced her way into the Dean’s mind, knowing her powers of seeing things that were hiding, and I knew she would be showing her memories of Michaela and Ophelia… “My sister and I shared the soul of Michaela. Our original form split itself into two halves to keep it from remembering what we had done, but of course fate is not that kind. My mother foresaw the destruction our soul would reap on this universe and resented us. I knew mine sister had been keeping a secret from me, but this was beyond my wildest nightmare. Isabella was Ophelia’s first reincarnation in this world, and there has been several more, and one more of Michaela’s two halves… My mother showed me…” Eris flicked in her host and for a second she began to faint but caught herself. “The next time thou wilt meet the soul reborn, it wilt decide if we continue without the very reason we created this world, or if we will destroy it all to make anew. Do not forget this warning land dweller.”

Finally, Eris’s host fell to the ground and the young Dean ran to her, knowing that all the life in her best friend was gone; it all went black again.

I opened my eyes to Michy’s living room and I jumped up, still trying to deny what I had seen.

“I told you... You wouldn’t like it.” Michy said in the corner, her face seeming to be younger now, but also familiar. I could see the connections between Nova and Eris, and me and Michy. This was real.

I looked at my hands and I looked at her. “So... we’re....” I couldn’t make myself say it.

“We used to be one soul. We split ourselves in two so that we would never remember and so that things could continue on for all of eternity, you heard the ghost.” She sighed, rubbing her temples.

“So... is this world fake? Will us knowing make the world come crashing down?” I had to sit down.

“No, of course not. Do you think that we were the first person to create an alternate universe? There’s always a ‘creator’ for every universe.”

“So, could I go back to the other one where Bee was alive?”

Michy shrugged. “That I don’t know. I would assume so, but the toll it would take on us, and yes us, because if you went back we would both have to go back, would probably almost kill us, and there’s no way to really pick a time on where to land, so we could put ourselves way before we were actually born or way after. On top of all of that, I believe that the old universe continued, just without Michaela, which was not good for Ophelia, as you have been seeing. Universe travel isn’t very popular, for good reasons. Plus, I don’t know if she actually dies in this world…”

I nodded, rubbing my temples. “I knew something was wrong with those visions… I just… I need to get to Osiris. Maybe he can help me. I think maybe he would be willing to help.” Michy shrugged, not really caring anymore.

“Is this why the Dean wanted to kill me, because you told her I… we, are the creator?” I asked, gathering my things quickly. I was worried about time, but only a few minutes had passed since I had arrived.

“That would make sense.” she said nonchalantly. I rolled my eyes at her, not being able to see how she had ever been a part of me, “I think she’s been trying to take you out since that dream spell, but I couldn’t tell you. I just don’t know…” I didn’t want to listen anymore, I bolted out of the door.

Luckily Michy didn’t live too far from Violet. I could see people dancing on the deck and there were several announcements about the show beginning soon. I fumbled through the crowd desperate for the green-eyed man I had fallen for in this world. Eventually I found him discussing engineering with some of the crew members.

“Star?!” He saw my disheveled look and I fumbled with my words for all about one minute. “Star, honey, what are you doing here?” The party was so loud I didn’t even hear my voice sounded muffled to me. “Wait, baby, slow down, you’re talking so fast, and so quiet.” Someone somewhere had turned the music up, and I wanted to scream. “Can you say that again? Sorry I still can’t hear you.” Then out of nowhere some buff guy was asking him questions and mentioned maintenance complications.

“Star, I’ll be right back. Don’t go anywhere, and we can go talk in the library.”

I felt defeated, and this time I knew why. The déjà vu was strong, but my anguish was growing. I heard the five minutes to sail warning and I darted towards the exit.

“Star?” I bumped into Sam as I was exiting and I saw Alex in return.

“Tell Osiris I’m sorry.” I said, and then I bolted.

It looked like she was going to go after Osiris, as if he could have done something, but once that ship set sail, it wouldn’t be back for a week.

“Have fun, guys.” I said to myself as I drove away, watching Violet detach from the dock.

I called the hospital on the way back, no longer caring about my safety. I told them who I was, and if I hadn’t been there helping her, or there when everything went down, they might not have told me, but because they knew they were truthful.

“We’re taking her in for surgery. If she would gain consciousness again, she could self-heal, but she’s essentially in a coma. There’s too much bleeding around the brain. We are going to do everything we can.” I thanked them for their time, and I got off the phone speeding back towards Michy’s. It was a similar situation as to what had happened with Ophelia’s mom, and I could feel the Gods laughing at me.

I walked in the door and she was still sitting in the spot where I had left her. I sat on the table in front of her. “Won’t she just be reincarnated?” I asked, trying to think of every angle.

Michy shook her head. “Her soul has been many healers in this world thanks to our spell, altering a lot of paths. We messed with death by creating a universe where people who were supposed to die, didn’t. He doesn’t like to be messed with... So, in this universe once this Bee passes, she will reach the ultimate place of peace, and that will be it for her soul.”

I groaned angrily. “We created this world for her, and now she’s slipping away! This isn’t what I wanted!” I jumped off of the table and began to pace. “What if we do try to go back to the other universe? She will live for a long time, there right?”

Michy shrugged. “I would guess so, but I have no idea what would happen to this universe if we leave it. It’s possible it would be fine, but even if it is fine it will haunt us very similar to what you’ve been experiencing since you got your gift.”

“I don’t care about that.” Michy held up her hand as if she wasn’t done.

“Do you really not care? You saw what was possible for you… for me. We can have very real lives here, and even though we know we created this universe, that does not mean we can’t be happy. Plus, there’s something else... The people that are here, they are real. Do you really want to leave them behind? Osiris, Sam, Jack, Mo, and Thea? They are your friends, and they do love you. Of course, our other friends loved us too, and we had no problem leaving them behind, so I guess it doesn’t matter. It’s not just your friends though Star, do you remember what our family life was life? You saw glimpses, but I remember everything. Are you sure about this?” She stood up, rubbing her neck.

“Yes. I won’t let her die.”

I paced around her littered house, books and papers everywhere. I tried to think of every option we had, but it seemed like the only one was to risk traveling back.

“Time has passed in the other universe hasn’t it?”

She nodded, “I’m assuming it’s on the same timeline as this one.”

“So, we couldn’t go back and just make ourselves not create this universe?” I asked, becoming furious with myself.

“There’s no way to pinpoint such a specific time, like I said, and this universe wouldn’t go away, we would just disappear, like we did from our previous one.” she muttered, sitting on the table I had been sitting on.

“GOD DAMMIT!” I yelled throwing my fists down on the closest table to me, popping open a spell book that looked a hundred years old. The pages were yellow with age, and Michy’s eyes widened when she realized what page I was on. I read over the spell twice and then a third time to make sure I was reading it right.

“That’s a lot of fooling around with time and such, and it doesn’t really mean anything will change, or that your request will be honored. You’ll still suffer from the echo effect. Even if in the same universe we don’t create this, we might still sometimes remember it.”

“We might suffer, and if we do, we won’t know. This could free her from everything, this could free everyone. God, I can’t believe I’ve done all of this.”

“We.” she said, quietly staring at the page with a grimace.

“Please. I need your help. You’re the side of me with the real magic... I can’t do this without you.” There were tears in my eyes as I felt a glimmer of hope. Now that I knew the whole truth, there was something else I realized. “You have Eris’s half, that’s why you remembered everything faster.” She just nodded, looking back at the spell.

“You do realize what this spell will do, right?” she asked, sighing.

“Yes, but she has to live.” My tears were steady then and Michy shrugged. “You loved her just as much as I did. Don’t you want to keep her alive?”

She paused for a total of two heartbeats. “Fine... just grab all of the stuff. I’m gunna get the last of the energy tea. I really should have just told the Dean I wasn’t going to be your mentor anymore when I found out, but I thought it would be cool to teach myself.” She mumbled to herself all the way to the kitchen and back as I collected the candles and every other ingredient it called for.

When she came out with both of the glasses she sighed heavily.

“Your friends are coming to come and try to stop us, but we will be gone by the time they get here. There’s still no guarantee we’ll land where you want us to. Are you sure about leaving them and the potential future we could have? You saw the babies, the beautiful kitchens…”

“We did a selfish thing back then… Even though it’s been so long, I know that we have to set things right…” I wanted to cry so bad, but the longer the night went on, the more I could feel the fact that Belladonna was leaving this earth.

“Back then we thought it was selfish to let her continue in a world where everyone she loves is gone… We won’t always get what we want.” Michy said to me.

I nodded. “That’s the point of this.” Recognition lit up in her eyes, and it was quickly replaced with sadness. My heart ached for my friends, especially Osiris, but there was no turning back at this point. She lit the candles and called the elements. We felt the circle come alive as the last flame flickered in the wind. Michy looked to me and I took the bowl in my hands.

“Goddess of time, God of Fate take us back from whence we came, to the time and place we received the name. Let past be present, on the wings of the butterflies, that time regain, this is our will, so mote it be! ” I blew into the bowl and the butterfly wings that had been in there began to flutter until they were swarming around me and Michy. I heard the door slam open as the butterflies completed covered us and then we vanished from that universe.

I landed on the ground, not sure where I was, or if Michy was a part of me again, but I felt incredibly different.

“Michaela?” I heard the familiar yet strange teacher’s voice. I looked up and I saw her, the young Bee standing next to the teacher, waiting in excited anticipation to get her assignment partner, which would create the greatest friendship that had withstood time and the universe. I knew that in that moment I had to decide my fate, so I made my choice and pretended to faint.

In the weeks to come I would watch as my former best friend grew close to someone else. She was someone we had made fun of, but it made me happy to see her thrive. With watching her grow, I would grow myself. My memories of our once phenomenal friendship would begin to fade, no matter how much I would write and rewrite them. A part of me still remembered Michy’s words about it being selfish to let Bee live in a world where everyone she loved was gone, but in the end, it hadn’t even mattered, because at least she was alive, and would probably reincarnate for centuries to come.

As Michaela, my parents were divorced and had been since I was little. No looming family reputation to live up to, just a sense of overall disappointment. I had siblings in this world, and I tried to keep touch, but it was hard to think of having sisters when a part of my soul had been Eris. My memories were fading, but the feelings I had of dread would sometimes return to me and I would pass it off as a panic attack. The worst part about the echo effect has been the sadness. Sometimes it enters my head, then my heart, and eventually my bones, until I want nothing more than to undo the spell and run into the arms of my other friends. I believe the weight of my reformed soul would crush someone who hadn’t made this choice of their own free will.

Years would pass before I would see Ophelia again after we separated schools. With never meeting me, there were a lot of things that she went through that I couldn’t witness, but there were a lot of things she overcame. The last time I bumped into her was about a year ago. I was drinking coffee with Alex, who was visiting me after we had graduated college and I had moved back home. Bee was wearing a suit, a coffee in one hand, and a ring on the other. Her hair was shorter in the back with the front being longer. She had a briefcase, and Alex accused me of checking her out.

I didn’t even have the strength to say two words to her. She had paused for a second to look at me, but her cat eye glasses turned back around, and her freckled face was gone once again from my life.

Later that same day I met up with my brown eyed husband, and we talked about adult things like the bills and budgeting in our stainless-steel kitchen. However, when I would look at him, I would see the flash of those green eyes, and I would furrow my brow, wondering if it was my haunted memories or just a trick of the light.