Folklore of the Ancients

    Once every couple decades or so, when the sun shines and the moon glows, there appears a shimmering demon standing in the center of a crossroads. This netherworld being is called forth from the depths of darkness by a simple person, one of ordinary merit who has a powerful dream. One that the person would do anything to see come to fruition. It has to be a dream so important to that person that they would be willing to sacrifice anything in the world for it, including the very thing that makes them human. The price for bargaining with a demonic force is one's soul. This is the story of the extent one girl would go to just to accomplish her dream.

    Elizabeth was a girl of merely eighteen, searching for her way in the world. She had just left her tiny rural home in Idaho and moved to the big city for college. Not knowing anybody, she often felt like she was the only person around. The easiest place to feel alone is when you're surrounded by people. Trapped in the prison that is New York City, Elizabeth often found herself stumbling along on the sidewalks not knowing where she was going. On one day in particular, she was walking along, nose stuck in a book, lost in the world of make-believe; she aimlessly stumbled into a fellow pedestrian who started yelling out of rage. Feeling agitated and admittedly scared, she darted into the nearest store.

    As she entered, a fragrance of incense engulfed her nose. As she looked around, Elizabeth noticed that the only lighting in the store was a multitude of candles, all of different colors. Piled around the room were many books. She approached the nearest one and as she picked it up, she realized that the title was in a language she was unfamiliar with. Seemingly out of nowhere an older lady appeared behind her, a faint sound similar to the cracking of a whip was all that announced her sudden presence. Elizabeth quickly turned around frightened, dropping her book.

    Stammering, all Elizabeth could manage to say is "Wh-wh-who are you?"

    "I am no different from you. A woman trapped in a world of mist. Of people who rarely stop to wonder."

    Remembering the book, Elizabeth picks it up and decides to ask, "What language is this?"

    "It is an ancient language, one of magik," the lady responds.

    "Magic? That's silly. Everyone knows there's no..."

    "Such thing as magik? That's what everyone says until they see it for themselves," the storekeeper finishes.

    Out from behind a curtain at the back of the store appears a younger girl, dressed simply in a wavy and slightly tattered black dress.

    "Don't mind her. That's how she talks to most people when they ask questions that she feels they should already know the answers to," says the girl.

    Recognizing the girl, Elizabeth simply stares at her, wide eyed, and amazed. For yesterday, the girl’s hair was closely cropped with the length no longer than her shoulders, but it now resides just around her waist.

    "Yes, I am in your class at school. My name is Orlinae. Yours is Elizabeth, I believe. Oh you notice my hair? I thought I'd grow it out last night," states the young girl.

    "But how? It couldn't have grown that fast."

    "As my grandmother hinted at, magik has many powers."

    "Well if magic’s so powerful, what exactly can it do," Elizabeth questioned.

    "If they tell me that the bees don't make honey anymore then what am I supposed to tell you? And if they tell me that the ocean is tired of her shores, then tell me, what am I supposed to tell you when I can tell you anything but the truth?" answers the old lady.

    "Why can't you just tell me this truth?"

    "Because truth is the one thing that every individual must find for his or herself," the young girl says.

    "Here, take this and it will help you learn everything that you want to know," says the grandmother as she reaches up on a shelf and removes a dusty old book.

    "Thank you, I think," says Elizabeth as she exits out the front.

    Hurrying back home, she wonders what was so special about this book. Getting upstairs to her apartment, Elizabeth throws her bag on the kitchen table and goes in her room. Turning on the lights, Elizabeth sits down in her armchair and reads the title, Knowledge of the Ancients.

    After many hours of reading, she is still skeptical and yet, at the same time, oddly curious. The text of the book is in some archaic form of English, completely different from even the works of Chaucer and Shakespeare who wrote many centuries ago. One passage however, was written in plain words, as if written very recently. Curious she decides there must be something meaningful in what was written then.

    "The one way to find happiness, true and pure happiness, lies at the crossroads in life. The ones where you must choose a path, and forever be on that course. Picking the right course leads to pure bliss. Pick the wrong one and you may never be the same."

    Doing research on crossroads, the only thing Elizabeth could find on a topic that even related to magik had to do with an old folktale about meeting a demon at the crossroads and having your fate determined that very day.

    A strange and yet oddly comforting feeling of confidence settled on her every time that she thought about the passage. This continued until one day Elizabeth decided that she would search out a rural crossroads. Travelling far outside the city limits, she found an intersection of roads where each seemed to perfectly represent one of the four cardinal directions.

    It was a dark and dreary night, one unlike anything Elizabeth had ever known before. Parking her car off to the side of the road, she got out and slowly walked to the centre of the intersection. She couldn’t seem to not noticed how that there was no cars, people, or signs of life around. The only light around was the blush of the full moon in the sky, clouds slowly drifting across it. Suddenly a quick wind picked up, and as she stared down the road heading south, a young woman appeared, walking towards her. Dressed in a white satin dress with flowing red hair, the color of flames, and vibrant green eyes, the woman stopped merely feet from Elizabeth.

    “I am who you search for. I am the answer to your every dream. I am Lilim, daughter of Lilith. What is it that you seek?” said the woman; the sound of her voice seemed as beautiful has a choir of angels.

    “I only want to be happy. I want my true love.”

    “Very well, that you may have.  Come closer and let us seal the deal.”

    “What is the catch? What do you get?” asked Elizabeth, with a hint of fear.

    “I receive my payment from another, so that you may live your life here and now.”

    Hesitantly, Elizabeth ambled closer to the woman until, when within an arm’s length away, Lilim grabbed the girl and suddenly kissed her. The world began to spin, faster and faster, sounds and sights blurring into one cacophonous blur. All of a sudden, Elizabeth found herself in the middle of her living room, lying on her couch. Hearing the shower running, she jumped up and ran to the bathroom. Through the curtain, she could see the silhouette of a female.

    “Who are you?” Elizabeth screamed, ripping aside the shower curtain.

    Standing there was a beautiful girl, roughly the same age as Elizabeth, with brown hair and hazel eyes. Water still running and body wet, the girl stepped out of the shower and immediately grabbed Elizabeth, hugging her.

    “Hunny, what are you talking about? Oh never mind that. I’m just glad you’re home. Come on, showers still going. Let’s get you clean after that hike.”

    “Stop it, get off me, and tell me who the hell you are and what you’re doing in my shower!” exclaimed Elizabeth, confused and furious about the situation as a whole.

    “Liz, what are you talking about? It’s me, Meg. You’re girlfriend! What’s gotten into you? Did you hit your head or something? Maybe we should go have you check out.”

    Backing away, she went into the other room, confused and wanting to figure things out. Noticing the pictures on the wall, she stood there frozen. Adorning her living room walls were six different pictures, all of her and this Meg girl, with one of them picturing the two of them kissing.

    Finally connecting the dots, the demon woman named Lilim must have had one cruel sense of humor making a woman her ‘true love.’ All of her life, Elizabeth had imagined falling in love with a handsome man, having kids and dying old and happy with him by her side.

    With all of this being too much to handle, and overreacting completely, she ran to the balcony window opened it and stepped out onto the ledge. Not wanting to spend her life trapped with a woman, something beyond her ability to work with at the moment, and not wanting to take the time to rationally deal with the situation, she jumped.

    While falling towards the roadway, seven stories downward, images flashed through her mind. Flashes of the demon, plain as day, spoke to her.

    “Living a life of adversity does not mean that it is not happy. True love can come from anywhere. Acceptance merits life. For this, you must be my own plaything forever.”