Maria Spotlight - Eternity and a day

"You're not at your destination yet, Emily. Finish it!"

And he touched me again. A beam of light, brighter than the sunniest day itself, escaped from my inner being. It swept over the land that had once belonged to my father, like a deadly storm. In this all-devouring power I heard his words clearly.

"A dark Phoenix will rise from the ashes of its wrath."

There was nothing left. Where once there had been a blooming farm, there was now an absolute emptiness. My parents' house, gone, the pigsty, gone, the lake behind our house, gone, everything was gone and lay on the ground as lifeless dust. I had freed myself from the tyranny of my parents' house, or rather had been freed. My saviour stood by me, my power had not harmed a single hair on his head and he looked as beautiful as ever.

"Come, my dear", and he offered me his hand, "it is time to leave this place."

"And where are we going?"

"Where no one can hurt you anymore."

With the rising sun we left the former land of my tormentor. We made it to the border of the nearest forest, when curiosity seized me. I stopped.

"Who are you?"

He too stopped. "You owe me an explanation after what happened", I insisted.

"Yes, I do, indeed." He walked towards me, a sparkle of red in his eyes and although I had now left my fragile cocoon, I was afraid. He stopped in front of me, the evil sparkle had disappeared.

"I am the Devil, Emily!"

A moment of absolute silence, my heart suspended its rhythm for two beats, impulses crept along my nerves, which ensured that my body was simultaneously flooded with icy cold, but also with murderous heat. I stared at him spellbound. This one moment, this one sentence changed my world fundamentally. His statement moved in a paradox, it made sense and yet none.

"The shadow on our farm, that was you", I whispered reverently.

"Yes, I was with you the whole time. You have no idea how long I've been looking for you."

"Looking for me? What does that mean?"

"That I asked you at the market for a special healing plant was just a test. I had to make sure that you were really who I thought you were; and I was not disappointed. Look, Emily", he stepped out of the shadows into the light, the sky above him broke open and threw warm rays of sunlight through the branches of the trees, "I am not sure how well educated you are in matters of religion, but my person is real, I am the Devil incarnate and I have chosen you to be the first witch."

"The first what?" Now I understood nothing at all, my head was roaring heavier than the sea in a storm.

"A witch is a being with special powers, just as you have them. Let's call them magic powers. Didn't you see what you did to your parents and your brothers? It was just you, I only gave you the push you needed out the door."

"But why me and where does it all come from?"

"That's a very good question, Emily, but in order to answer it, I must go back once in my own history." He leaned against a tree trunk, his face now lying completely in the shade again. "Eons ago a heavenly being named God created the earth and because he did not want to be alone, he created the angels, his children, who were to live with him in the kingdom of heaven until the end of all days. I was one of those children, but I never felt loved, much like you. So one day I set out, started a rebellion to overthrow my father. In vain! He crushed my rebellion with the help of his loyal followers and banished me from his heavenly kingdom forever. But where would I go? And when I was all alone in this dark hour, a new kingdom opened up for me, far below the heavens. It seemed to open its gates only to me and welcomed its new king."

"Hell!" I whispered.

"Yes, my new home. Destined for me by my father. It was not enough for him to humiliate me, no, he burdened me with a task for the rest of my life that I would never have wanted for myself. So much for that, but there is more. Now we had heaven on one side and hell on the other. But in between there was another power. It's called nature. It was not my father who created mountains, forests, rivers and oceans, it was her. She is something very special, she can create and destroy at the same time, she is moody and calm at the same time and she has produced a child who has the same qualities as she has."

The Devil looked at me, I understood.

"I am that child!"

"Yes", he approached me again, "nature is the harmony between the four elements", suddenly four bright balls of light shot out of his palms, which formed into symbols, I didn't know why, but instinctively I recognized them.

"Earth, Fire, Water and Air", I touched the symbols and named them correctly one after the other.

"Amazing!", he said with a fine smile on his lips, "do you now see why you are her child and why you are so well versed in her? Only a child of nature is capable of this, as you have proved on the market. My little test to unfurl you."

"Then why do you call me a witch and not a child of nature?", I asked him in surprise.

"A clever objection. There is a father for every mother. I would certainly not be the Devil, if I had not had my fingers in the pie. The world knows when to change, Emily, to influence the course of history at the right moment. Your mother put these destructive forces in your cradle, I just needed to find you at the right time and make sure that the power within you came to life."

"And how did you know where to find me, and especially when? I mean, if you believe the lore, you're very old."

"Which is exactly why I'm so overjoyed to have finally found you. The question was never why, but when. In an ancient prophecy, I found hidden in a book in the deepest bowels of hell, your arrival was foretold. It said a dark Phoenix would rise from the ashes of its wrath and the dark Lord would come to guide and mould it. Here I am, and here you are."

I was therefore already in this structure before the world even knew my name. Escape would not have made sense, because gradually I understood what I was destined for. Besides, he cast a mysterious spell over me. A great contribution to this was certainly his flawless appearance.

Even though I was aware that he was the Devil, the person who according to the stories was responsible for the evil in the world, I could not escape my fate. I had left scorched earth, a desolate world lay behind me.

"I realize this must come as a real shock to you, Emily. But you will see I am different from your family. Unlike them, I have no wish to harm you. So if you can trust me, you will have a far better future than you have ever dreamed of."

He stretched out his hand and handed it to me, I read trustworthiness in the black iris of his eyes. One last time I looked back in the direction of my former parents' house. Without hesitation, I put my hand in his and immediately felt safe.

A long walk followed my farewell from the old world in the direction of the west. It led us through thickly wooded terrain, past a stream that shot wildly and thunderously down the mountains. The Devil did not talk, he went ahead and I followed him. I did not feel the need to talk either, although I could have asked him so many questions, but it seemed inappropriate to pester him with annoying questions. On a mountain dome we finally took a rest. From there I had a fantastic view of the world below. For miles and miles a forest stretched before our eyes, I saw the course of the river meandering through the valley like a scar. The daylight was already dying and so everything was bathed in a reddish glow. The warm light touched my face.

"And now, my dear, I would like you to close your eyes and concentrate completely on the surroundings", he interrupted my thoughts.

Before the sun finally set, I did as he asked. The eyelids of my eyes folded down and I focused my mind on the world below. What I then heard and felt astonished me. I didn't just feel the wind, I felt like I was a part of it. Every movement it made, every branch, every leaf it touched I felt on my skin. I heard a slight murmur that crystallized more and more into clear voices the more I paid attention to it.