Page 34 of Rise of the Morrigan

I leaped from the woman and dove into one of the children—a young girl, not yet come of age. Once my spirit touched her soul she, too, sprung to her feet and with a rope wrapped it around the thief's neck. She pulled. I lent her my strength. She pulled harder. The man gagged as he struggled to get free. She wouldn't allow it.Iwouldn't allow it. I whispered to the girl—it was subtle enough that she'd think the thought was her own. She tied the rope to the back of the carriage and kicked the bandit's flailing body to the ground.

I knew what to do next... even as the rest of the thieves who'd surrounded the carriage before began to scatter.

I spoke to the horse. It began to gallop, dragging the first thief behind the carriage, his wounded crotch leaving a trail of blood-stained dirt behind them.

And then, I heard the man cry again. No, not the bandit. It was the father who had been slain before...

Thank you, goddess!

Had I just answered my first prayer? Perhaps, as a goddess of death and war, it was only the prayers of the deceased I heard.

As he cried to me, as I answered, my own body dissipated in a cloud of smoke.

I reappeared... elsewhere. I stood before a giant cauldron. A flame raged beneath is and the potion inside of it was raging at a full boil. The potion itself swirled with several colors—reds, purples, and greens. Every bubble that boiled to a pop released sparks of golden magic into the air. The Dagda had said I'd usher the fallen to the cauldron of rebirth. This must've been it.

"Where am I?" the man asked. I looked up, and the father who'd died just moments before stood before me.

I cocked my head. All of this was new to me, too. But I certainly didn't want to let this man know that I wasn't entirely sure what I was doing. I was agoddess. I had to act like one.

"You are in Samhuinn, the land of the dead."

"So it's done... I am... dead?"

I nodded.

"And you are... I know you are a goddess... but what should I call you?"

"I am the Morrigan," I said, trying my best to communicate benevolence through my smile.

"And this cauldron..."

"The cauldron of rebirth," I explained. Thankfully, as Anand, I'd studied the ways of the druids. I knewenoughto at least sound like I'd done this before. "Like the seasons, our lives pass through seasons of growth, seasons of maturity, and seasons of decline. But once we've reached the season of death the cycle continues through rebirth. Once you enter the cauldron, your memories of your former life will be wiped away, but the wisdom you've gleaned will remain with you. You will carry that wisdom into your next life."

"Will I be able to return to my family?"

"It is beyond my control where or when you shall return." In truth, I wasn't sure if I had any say in such matters. Perhaps I did. If so, I didn't knowhow."You may return as a child born just moments after you passed. Or, you might return a thousand years later..."

The man sighed. "I wish I could tell my family goodbye... I wish I could hug my children one last time..."

Tears welled up in my eyes."May the life you lived be a token of your love always present in their memories."

The man nodded. "Thank you."

I extended my hand. He took it and carefully dipped his toe into the boiling cauldron. He smiled, pleasantly surprised that despite the temperature, it did not scald his flesh. After all, he didn'thaveflesh anymore. He looked at me, nodded as if to signal his gratitude, and stepped inside.

The potion simmered and popped...

And he was gone.

I blinked.

I was back on the earth. Back in the form of the raven. I extended my wings and took off again into the skies. Was this what I was destined to be for eternity? Was I supposed to be the one who guided souls from death to rebirth? I didn't know what to make of that. Not like I'd ever had any real experience with death. I'd experienced loss, sure. I'd lost my mother. I'd lost Grainne. As Babd, Macha, and Anand my experience with death was limited. But I'd done more than help this man enter the cauldron of rebirth. I'd also saved his family.

Icoulddo more than guide the souls of the dead. I could save lives. I could intervene in the world... in tragedies like an attack on a family by bandits. Affairs when death lurked over people's lives, ready to pounce. Whenever murder was schemed in a human heart. Perhaps I could even affect the outcomes of war.

It was only when blood was shed that this man's prayer, his plea, found my ears. Chances were, even in the short time I'd been the goddess of death, other people throughout the world had died, too. But I never met them at the cauldron. Why not? I didn't know. Perhaps some other gods or goddesses guided others to the cauldron. I was, after all, a goddess of war. Was it since this man died a violent death, and not quietly in his bed, that I was the goddess who had purview over his soul's reincarnation? Or maybe it had to do with the gods or goddesses he'd revered in life. Either way, I'd helped this man by protecting his family on his behalf. I'd seen him through death to rebirth. It was an honor.

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