Goddess Divine

     What is eternal life? Helena was young for a Goddess, not created as the Greek Gods and Goddesses of Earth’s mythology and yet the same. Did they still exist? Was life eternal if you don’t exist anymore? Did they cease to exist when people stopped believing? 
    Helen knew that they didn’t, she knew Aphrodite and the other Gods and Goddess of Greek mythology did live on, well those that hadn’t killed each other in their quest for power. She had even met some during her time traveling between the dimensions.The majority of them were  incredibly happy, living among people and living lives like people. 
    What better way to serve the people and blend in than to be one of them? Non-believers were a problem, but they were also part of the solution. They made it easy to hide. 
    Helena had opened a Finnish Restaurant serving homemade meals that transported you back in time to a soft flaky pastry or the warm cozy bowl of soup that your grandma would make. She opened it up just outside the workplace of her charges and they couldn’t resist coming in for lunch most days. She had done so after her other covers had been outgrown and stayed in Marva and Carmen’s lives just on the fringe. Watching, waiting, and protecting the girls, but mostly allowing them to lead as normal a life as possible. That would all change. Destiny had a plan for these girls, and she planned to see that the light had a chance. 
    This world and this assignment had left her with a lot of time on her hands. Time to dream of a better future and to relive the past. She missed her home dimension. While the technology of this realm had advantages and made some things easier, it made others harder. People had lost touch with the elements here, with the moon and stars and with the magic that permeated it all. 
     She thought back to earlier times, to the time before people roamed the lands and before darkness tainted the realms. Helena touched her hair, gently plaiting it down her back. There was a magic in a woman’s braid, a magic that had started with the Goddesses. Today she loosely braided the strands together with thoughts of relaxation, cleansing and calming. She knew on other days she might need to tightly French braided her hair for productivity, energy, motivation, and defensive magic. She gently wove a silver thread into the braid to connect her to the moon and anchor her. She didn’t want to get lost in the past, well not for too long anyway.
    Women over the next thousands of years would never know the reason or the meaning, but some would instinctively plait their hair into intricate braids, sometimes adding elements of earth such as flowers, or ribbons of color each having their own magic. But reflecting was not what she was here for today. 
    Helena had traveled back in her memories to find something that would give them a way to save the future. It was too late for Alta and Rodna was close to falling also .  Earth was full of non-believers and Shadows. Her home realm of Zandor was Piru’s current focus and now it was overrun with darkness, demons and evil. She pulled a little tighter on the braid, returning herself to the moment. She needed protection to walk through her life a second time, but she also must allow herself to fall into the memory. With a twist of her fingers, she was there. A part of it once again as time was nothing to a Goddess and every now and then she needed to relive it.

    In a time before humans walked the land, magic was plentiful. Helena remembered her friendship with Vellamo. The thought made her braid tingle and the Goddess appear, her long brown hair woven into a loose braid and her sea foam green dress waving in the wind. There was something she was trying to remember about the first time Piru had been bound and sent to the bottom of the sea with Kvenland.
    “Hello my friend.” Helena said and embraced Vellamo. It wasn’t often during these years of crisis that the Goddesses had time to see one another but when they did it was a treat and to travel back into time
    “To what do I owe this blast from the past?” Vellamo asked.
    “We are so close to returning magic to Zandor. When you bound Piru and sent him to the ocean floor, it was the first time the Devil had anyone stand up to him. How did you do it?”
    “I wish I knew what the magic recipe was but to be honest, I was just so angry that I threw everything I could think of at him and a few things that I hadn’t considered. I wish I’d more power because the monster escaped too soon. The biggest thing I learned is we must bind his powers and weaken him, maybe even figure out a way to strip him of his powers.” Vellamo said, fire flashing in her eyes at the memory.
     “Your love for the people and anger at the betrayal were powerful emotions, but not binding. The collapse of the island was part of the magic and the fact that he was under the island helped, so I must congratulate you my dear, on the magnificent binding spell. It really was something no one had done, during that lifetime or any other. No one has ever stopped Piru. Why can’t that happen now?”
    “Helena, you know my actions had consequences. By binding the dark, the universe took the power from us, and we are forbidden to interfere in the lives of mortals. Even discouraged from interacting with them. I thought that was why you and Valdin left Zandor for earth or wherever you call home now.”
     “I know, I know.” Helena said with a twinge of sarcasm “I wasn’t planning on getting involved, just a chance to relive the past and find a piece of information I have always wondered about. I’m not sure why the universe doesn’t punish him for getting involved with humans, or what happened on Alta, but I guess he’s been smart enough to have his deamhans do all the dirty work.” Helena said.
    “Now, Helena my friend, I worry about you and your connections to the humans.” Vellamo said with a twist of her own braid, woven with a golden ribbon. The connection was broken and the Goddesses returned to their worlds. Helena hoped the information gathered from the conversation may yet help them save Zandor from becoming another piece of the Devil’s realm.