Beauty Incarnate

I came up with this while bored one night, it will be posted in two parts as it is to long for one.

Part 1/2

They talk of one who once existed in eternal revelry, her immaculate beauty could captivate even the strongest of men, she was a goddess to the ancient Egyptians, a Warrior Queen to the Byzantines, and a seer to the Greeks, but as the ages past she stayed even as the world crumbled around her. Until one day she disappeared and for 3000 years was forgotten, until one day there were reports of a most beautiful woman who had appeared in different parts of the world carrying a simple message " Death, destruction, fire cleanses all, man shall bear witness to humanity's fall".

Now at this time I was but a young man of 21 and hearing these rumours I decided to investigate for the idea of someone with possible knowledge of the ancients intrigued me greatly. So I began my research correlating all recent sightings and as I'd suspected there were many varying reports of what she said and how she looked. The most conclusive sightings seemed to be from the Baden-Württemberg region of Germany where local druids had claimed to have been visited by their goddess of the hunt, as this appeared to be my best chance at finding something I bought my tickets and travelled to Germany within the week.

Upon arrival at Stuttgart international I knew I should obtain directions as soon as possible, after asking around a bit I met a man named Franz, he was to lead a hunting expedition for boar in the Black Forest and would take me to the monastery as he would be passing it on his way deeper into the forest. I arranged to meet him in two days at the tavern of the town in which we would set out from, I made sure to acquire proper hiking gear from a store before taking the bus to the town of Übererde, the tavern I was to stay at was called The Eber Kopf a rustic looking place with the air of a hunting lodge but with all the modern amenities we had come to enjoy.

The two days passed quickly, I spent them wandering around the town enjoying the sites of an old place nearly untouched by time, I returned to the tavern and was finishing a beer when Franz arrived to escort me to the monastery. The Black Forest is quite nice during the day as the large pines stand tall casting a permanent shadow on the forest floor yet there was still an air of apprehension as we entered. We arrived at the monastery just after one PM and I thanked Franz for his help and we parted ways, I proceeded up the steps to the monastery courtyard where I was greeted by a man who called himself brother Vogel, he explained that he didn't receive many visitors as the way here was not the safest but he was glad nonetheless to have someone to talk with. As day turned to night I prepared to leave back to town determined to return tomorrow and inquire then about the woman, but brother Vogel advised against this however as the forest was not safe to travel alone at night due to the large presence of wolves and other things that he was reluctant to mention. So I stayed that night and had a hearty meal of Kaiser rolls and venison stew, a room was set up for me in a small alcove that the monk used for his studies.

It was this night that I first saw her, I began dreaming that I was wandering around a destroyed city looking for supplies when something appeared to move behind a crumbling building, I cautiously moved to investigate and upon rounding the corner I saw her, I was awestruck and amazed for standing before me was the most immaculately beautiful woman I had seen in my life, no one I had ever met or seen in movies could compare I fell to my knees and cried at this sight of perfection, she did not speak to me on our first encounter she merely smiled and seemed to fade away. I awoke in my bed back at the monastery, confused yet at peace. I found brother Vogel out in the courtyard praying in the early morning air, I told him about the dream I had, hearing this he became very interested and we walked over to the small library and I was shown an ancient tome from the 1150's describing a brief visit by someone fitting the description I gave. After a few hours of pouring over old texts and the research I had brought with me we decided that there was not much more we could learn, I was sent back to the tavern as brother Vogel said he had some praying to do on the matter and that he would contact me before I returned to Canada if he found anymore information.

I fell asleep quickly that night in the much more comfortable room of the tavern and was again visited by the woman, this time however it was as if I was awake yet dreaming as I could see her floating above my bed. She wore a flowing gown of sorts, it appeared white but with ever changing streams of blue, greens, and gold and her hair looked to fade in and out of visibility at once being clear and yet of the brightest golden blonde imaginable, she spoke to me this time in a language that was unknown to me and yet I understood, her voice was that of a great orchestra mixed with the wondrous sounds of nature and as she spoke her lips never moved for it was as if I heard her in my mind. I was told of great destruction that was to befall the earth in 10 years time, and upon learning this I awoke to the sound of birds outside my window though I could not recall opening it.

Part 2/2


This day was to be my last in Germany and since my flight was not leaving until 10:30 PM I spent my time visiting some local attractions and taking a scenic tour of the old parts of the town. It was around 8 PM and I had just finished packing and was preparing to board the bus back to Stuttgart, when brother Vogel ran into the station looking rather excited, " You must come with me now, something big has happened and I assure you it is worth your time!" I hesitantly obliged him as I did not want to miss my bus, yet I believed this was the culmination of why I came here in the first place so I did not turn him down. Brother Vogel did not speak much on our way to the monastery, as we were entering the forest I felt a strange sensation of calm come over me as if a light was permeating through the darkness and fear of a forest at night. As we got closer to the monastery I could see a faint glow coming through the trees, I asked brother Vogel about this and he informed me of some old standing stones behind the monastery and that they were "again active" as he put it. This intrigued me and I had forgotten at the time about catching my bus or plane, after walking a while more we arrived at the standing stones, and I beheld a most magnificent sight. Situated in the centre of four stones was what I can only describe as a liquid mirror with what looked like luminescent tendrils snaking from it into the trees and causing them to appear to breathe as these tendrils invaded all the cracks in the bark causing the trees to light up in a brilliant blue and produce a multitude of coloured sparks as did the "mirror". As I returned my gaze to this mirror the woman from my dreams stepped from it followed by two guards dressed in what appeared to be armour made of the same flowing material as her dress, and these guards were as perfect in appearance as she was. She spoke with brother Vogel in the same unknown language I had heard the night before, after they had spoken he informed me that I was to go with them back through the "mirror", after telling me this brother Vogel and the guards stepped through and disappeared and I was left alone with the woman.

She approached me then and as she walked I could feel a warmth and happiness like never before, I took her hand and as I did this I felt and saw a flurry of images and understood everything, from the creation of her race, through to the creation of earth, and the evolution of humanity, and it's eventual destruction. I then went with her and we walked through the mirror and as it closed I felt true peace.


As I write this I am now 745 years old, as she said in my dream exactly 10 years after I entered the portal, on April 16th 2026 the earth was destroyed as it collided with the Brown Dwarf Star Nirbiru, I now reside with the love of my live on the planet Illyerium 5400 light years away from earth in the Virgo Cluster, I have all the knowledge I could want as the Illeriyans have turned entire moons into massive libraries, they have found how to become biologically immortal, and they have lived on for seven billion years in peace and prosperity. But as long as she is with me I will happily wait out the eons in eternal peace.

a reply to: The Arbiter of Lies

Nice story with great writing!

Thanks mate,if there was one thing I enjoyed from my time in school was writing short stories, if I ever find some old notebooks maybe I'll post some that I wrote years ago. a reply to: Quantum12