Saturn's Curse

I am watching the clock. No, it is watching me. It is ever changing while I sit still. It seems to me a strange thought once one knows the true meaning of time. 

A clock measures the succession of events, but what is there to measure as I sit here? The time it takes for a bead of sweat to roll down my neck? Or what about the growth of my hair? Nothing changes besides the slight movement of air, the rustling of my skirt, and the eternal beating of the clock.

My name is Yaga, deemed the Queen of Deception and Alienation. I was punished by my husband, The God of Time. Now, I sit alone in this room with nothing to do but watch time pass me by.

There are no mirrors in this room. I have no way of telling my wrinkled face from the juvenile visage I once had and cherished. I can no longer see if my hairs grow the chocolate brown they once did, or if now they grow the color of gray skies. All I can do is wonder, and wait.

Many centuries ago, before my great fall, I was a young princess living in the Castle Jaluya. In those days, I was a lighthearted young girl. I knew that I was destined for Greatness, after all, my father had been named the King of Truth and those around me hailed my presence as if I was The Truth incarnate. Many questioned my beauty, whispering, “How could it be, a mortal child born so immaculate?”

In this prison like room, seemingly as expansive as time itself, the walls are a light green. They are speckled with blood, my own. Countless times I have attempted my own murder, and each time I have resulted unsuccesful. Some might say it is the sound of the ever ticking clock that drove me to do it. Others say I did it out of spite of my husband, hoping to break the curse he released onto me. But no, a person like me could never break such a curse through death. Only through the miserable and long years I must wait should I ever hope to return home. 

As a young woman of seventeen years, I was held as my father’s most precious jewel. In the eyes of my many notable suitors, I was held accountable as a woman for every word spoken, every step taken and every thread sewn into my heavenly dresses. Being my father’s prized possession, The King believed no suitor was satisfactory in taking my hand lest it be a God himself. And so my fate was woven when Saturn came down from his planet in the sky and proposed to me with a ring of ice from his own celestial palace.

Sometimes, when I stare at the cornerless walls around me, I think of his love. Powerful is not strong enough a word to describe his love. It has only ever been unleashed in my presence, this incomprehensible feeling of unity. It was deep, encompassing, and boundless. At times, I became overwhelmed with such an extreme presence, as humans are incapable of comprehending such amounts of love so holy. But on the day we wed, I was pronounced Saturn’s queen, and as a woman does when she marries her husband, I became a part of him and he a part of me.

Saturn is time-bending. He is capable of experiencing the Universe in ways humans may never even begin to contemplate. He is the creator, the sustainer, and the killer. He is the blink of an eye, and he is eternity. When Saturn smiles, he lights the universe, but be careful because cruelty lies deep within his eyes. And do not to offend him, as he is most known for his ruthless nature.

A long time ago, my childish desires led me to this infinite cell in which I now reside. I was young when first was wed to him, and held a fire inside of me that at the time could not be put out. My decisions were based solely on where my passions and soul guided me, and my thoughts never followed logic. But he saw that, too. He witnessed the fascination for life inside that led me on this fateful journey, as if he himself chose my destiny.

My spirit led me to the Center of the Earth. I was 20 and tremendously in love. But do not imagine me to be a simple lady, as true love is never experienced without true pain. When Saturn caused me chaos, I pleaded for Peace, and when he wanted my Love, I became his chaos. So when my dark lover forbade me from entering the Center of the Earth, I felt I must do so out of the defense of my life and our love.

I left in the middle of the night 2,202 years ago, with my guard dog, Sharvara. We raced underneath the stars, following the shining Ashteroth in the sky. We were led to the water’s edge of Saturn’s kingdom and dove in with eagerness. I held my breath for thirteen days as Sharvara and I traveled through the mystic Saturnine Ocean. All of my fears of consequences were erased the moment my skin touched the water.  Betrayal, disobedience, pain, hatred and death escaped my mind and body as I traveled closer towards the deepest, darkest corner of his ocean.

As we reached the bottom of the sea, we entered the first gate to the Center. For two years, my beloved Sharvara guided me through the layers of the Earth, through Silver, Gold, Pearl, and Quartz. He protected me throughout many perils including evil spirits, fallen angels, crocodiles, and throughout many dangerous routes to reach the Center of the Earth, and then finally, the Magma. 

The Magma is considered a legend in some cultures, but I can assure you that the liquid and its magical properties are legitimate. The weeks in which I began my descent into the Magma core of the Earth, I climbed through gigantic solitary mountains of Quartz, and I prepared for where the crystal met Magma. I did not sleep for one week and two days because the crystal mountains reflected the effervescent glow of the Magma below them too brightly for my eyes to rest.

Keep in mind, reaching the Magma is not just any normal feat. Thousands and thousands of great warriors, strong kings and queens, and princes and princesses have attempted to reach the Magma at the Center of the Earth, but Saturn is the only being I know of that has reached it, and returned alive. The legend states that any living being, whether Human, Angel, or God, who drinks of the fountain of the sacred blood, Magma, will achieve immortality.

Immortality. I imagined myself at the top of the highest mountain in the world next to Saturn, watching society, cultures, life, death, birth, joy, suffering, everything that this Earth consisted of with him. If I had immortality I would own the key to the universe’s deepest questions, and to my lover’s deepest soul. It was my forbidden fruit. Saturn understood my curiosity and love towards this treasure, so when he saw my destiny in his dreams one night a few weeks after our wedding, he knew he had no other choice but to forbid me from leaving. The morning after he dreamt the premonition, he came into my chambers very solemnly. He explained that I am never to step foot past the deepest stone in his ocean. He did not tell me why. I was devastated.

The land of Quartz Crystals is the most beautiful place I have ever walked through. The land is full of illuminated clear and rose colored mountains covered in small weeds that sprout flower buds made of light pink stones. As I arrived towards the edge of a Rose Quartz cliff where beneath it the Magma stirred and flowed, my eyes began to go dark and I walked forward with an empty mind, as the Magma slowly engulfed my vision and mind. 

I was walking, running, swimming, drinking all at once inside the magical liquid. I suddenly had no anxieties, fears, hatred, pain like I was one with the liquid surrounding me. I needed no oxygen, only Magma to keep my heart beating. But Saturn had been watching me, and although it felt like an eternity for me inside the beating heart of the Earth, he snatched me with his giant hands out of the boiling and orange Magma in an instant and I soared into the sky like a volcano eruption. 

I cried to the Sky. I screamed in pain and in anger. I pleaded to be let down. I feared being hurt, being punished. I did not drink enough Magma. Oh, Great Saturn, have mercy. I am sorry.

As Saturn carried me from the Center of the Earth, through Space and Time, it rained large drops of Holy Water. It fell on my head as I cried, the waters mingling and flushing into my skin and hair.

We flew like birds. We passed planet after star after planet for many years, and I lay asleep in his hand. We traveled through many foreign galaxies to arrive at where I live today. 

Saturn placed me inside one of his black eyes. I am still so much a part of him, now I see and have seen everything he does. The light green room I stay in is the waiting room in which I watch time pass me by. I wait for the day that eternity ends, when Saturn falls. I live as long as he does, we are bound forever. Now, I live as his Queen of Deception and Alienation since my betrayal has deemed me so in his eyes. As fate may determine my free will, I destroyed the love of Saturn. He has granted me immortality, but in return, now I must watch the world from the Destroyer’s perspective.