Vestiges

 It is impossible to observe without feeling, and by feeling she is failing. Is that why she was placed here? Told to observe one and only; prove herself able to withstand the stresses.

Water warps reality; all knew that though it was never truly understood, only by the Gods. Water is not a true reflection, even children grasp that but the liquid replicates more than the outward experience; it magnifies the emotion. if you feel good then the joy becomes amplified; depressions spirals out of sadness. Stare too long and you will be lost in the paranoiac well. A stagnant pond to be avoided.

So someone had to observe. Underines were burdened to ensure the void was kept in check. Vestige became too concerned, allowed her own emotional state to interfere with the mortal realm. She only wanted people to feel good so she had reflected back joy, heightened peoples sense of well being until delirium set in. No one died but many lost their connection and so the void became larger.

She was given a last chance; if she could not prove herself now then she would be sacrificed. Souls could either keep the void at bay if karmically balanced or add to it if they were unstable. For every unstable soul another had to be sacrificed to keep the balance.

Vestige was now merely a reflection, bereft of physical form; barely enough will of her own to hold her attention; and she was assigned that particular stretch of river due to the feelings of longing and haunted beauty that had been associated with it. Yet as soon as Vestige saw the freshly pupated soul of Camellia and saw the light shine forth she knew that she would transgress against the Gods again; she was going to fail again.

Camellia was virgin; a new soul born to the world without any karmic debt or clutter. Only a few came into existence each generation as so few people attained enlightenment that the karmic cycles became more impenetrably dense and never ending; more opportunities to lose themselves to the void.Camellia shone pure; unsullied and she represented all that was longing in Vestige.

It wasn't a life that she had; it wasn't even a shared existence. She could barely hold the reflections firm. Many of the Underdines were experienced, their ego-scaffolds firm which made the loneliness palatable.Camellia, being a virgin soul, knew of the Gods only by proxy; as concepts only. She knew of sacrifices, knew who to kowtow to when but not why. She was not allowed to take part in the sewing of autumnal seeds in case she upset Demeter, but did not believe in her. 

So when her reflection in the Lamus smiled at her for longer her first reaction was one of existential horror. The Gods existed after all! Her reactions were torn between running away in abject terror or sobbing uncontrollably, so she chose the latter.

"Little Sunshine, do not cry! Please, do not cry." Vestige whispered.

"My mother calls me little sunshine. How do you know? Are you a Goddess?"

"I am no Goddess, just an underdine." Vestige replied.

"You are too beautiful to be 'just' anything..." Camellia said, unable to take her eyes off the waters now.

"I am but a reflection of you, Little Sunshine; your inner beauty."

"I am not as beautiful as you."

"To me, you are."

And so developed something secret but doomed. Camellia would come to the waters edge and they would bathe in each other; the love flowed and for a time that was enough. The girl was growing though, her womanhood beckoned and the innocence soon gave way to a longing; reflected back and amplified. One day it was desire that was cast about in the eddies of the reflection and the warp initially frightened them both.. but it soon became too powerful for them to ignore any longer.

"I want you." They said to each other, bare fingers intertwining in the waters.  A faint breeze perturbed the waters.

"Your desire for me is too deep, you will drown." Vestige warned, and the reflections slowly tumbled in sympathy.

"But to live without you will surely mean my death regardless. I will wither, never again to bask in your cool embrace." Camellia felt another breeze on her cheek and the water fluctuated in tune to her desperation.

"I am but your reflection, little Sunshine."

"That I can only see once... that may have sustained me for a whole day at one time but I crave your succor more and more. Without you I am nothing."

"But I am your reflection; I do not exist without you."

"Then there is no alternative for either of us." The first caress was tentative, brushing the surface of the water, sending shivers along their reach. The strokes became deeper, urging, desire formed from despair; stronger currents than either had experienced before. The urges stirring deeper and deeper until they could hold out no longer. Abandonment, a frenzy; a drowning of passion....

When finally sated the surface was smooth, no eddies or whirls to betray their presence and where there had once been a spring, a gentle flowing of sweet nectar had now become a stagnant pool, sullied by the void, punctuated only by the vestige of tears.