Free The Claiming of the Children (The Veil of Death) by D. K. Manning Page B

paintings and murals that depicted the landscapes and creatures of the planet called Earth. They heard not the sounds of bird song but that of instrumental music, laughter and good cheer. Food weighed down the tables; goat meat, fish and fruits of the forest tickled their senses and caressed their taste buds.
     
    ∞
     
    The mortals saw only the trees, stream and meadow -and when a goat disappeared, a search would ensue for the wolf believed to be the hunter of their livestock.
    And if by chance a mortal did see one of the immortal beings – it would be to look upon a person whose body flickered with a multitude of colours and electrical threads.
    With terror they would flee; refusing to go back to the meadow that they claimed ‘to be haunted’.
     
    ∞
     
    Zeus studied the barrier and realised from where Hera had sourced the material to craft such an illusion. “My wife dares to steal a thread from the fabric of life?”
    He was about to unleash a thunder bolt and send it crashing into the barrier but sighting more threads, he narrowed his eyes in anger as he realised that that was not all that Hera had stolen.
    She had stolen an electrical thread from the memory of every single one of the children and woven it into the barrier.
    His wife had even manipulated the party down to the finest of details as to who would be the last guests to leave it; Eurynome’s daughters – the Three Graces, creators of the lightest of energies - joy, laughter and merriment; comfort, kindness, compassion and grace.
    Zeus turned and looked at Eurynome and as he stared into her eyes that were the colours of ocean blues and fresh river greens he promised to her that his wife would be severely punished for her crimes.
    Eurynome nodded her head to acknowledge his words and when she spoke hers, she ensured that they were filled with the forces from Cold Dread.
    “Your wife has bound my three daughters into an Attendance Ruling. She has them imprisoned so that her party can be filled with the joys of laughter, dance, music and song.” She turned away from Zeus in anger and settled her gaze unto the echoes of the words that she had just spoken. And when she had manipulated them into one thousand frozen icicles, she instructed them to wait for her command.
    Zeus looked down into the party. “Which human being is my wife?” He asked her.
    “Your wife has already transformed herself into another creature and is walking the Earth. Hera would rather be bound to mortality than meet her punishment for what she has done unto every single Immortal Child.”
    “I will find her,” Zeus said and turned his attentions upon the invitation.
    If the lettering woven within the cobweb had come from his wife’s life-force then he would seek the scent of her Jealousy.
    But when Zeus touched the pale-green thread, the cobweb and its lettering disintegrated. “You dare to taunt me with your games of jealousy.” Zeus whispered to the absence of his wife.
    He knelt down, collected up some of the green coloured particles and rubbed them between his fingertips; what materials had his wife used if not from her Self?
    He now sighted his own energies of blues, silvery-greys and whites within the green and this told him that his wife had broken the seal of her promise – the promise to never harm the Immortal Children. She had used the seal of that promise and crafted her party invitations with it.
    “Hera!” Zeus shouted out his wife’s name. “Hera! You dare to feast your Jealousy on the children? I command you to the Realm of the Universe. Meet thy punishment!”
    Zeus waited… and waited.
    But still Hera did not answer his commands.
    He unleashed a rage of thunderbolts and lightning and sent them crashing over the Earth.
    His wife might ignore his words but she would not dare ignore his rage.
    But the continued absence of Hera told Zeus that that was what Hera was intent on doing.
    “So be it.” Zeus said and was about to transform into a golden eagle