Her powers are diminishing with every new day. Morana, once a powerful goddess of winter and decay, is slowly but surely passing into oblivion. For a goddess who draws power from the fear of mortals, the modern world is a death sentence. She has already seen many of her brothers and sisters disappeared. One by one they just faded away from the minds of mortals.
That will not be her destiny. She is Morana, the embodiment of terror, fading away is not an option.
Morana cannot sit idly anymore. She has to ignite the spark of fear in the hearts of men again.
But how?
How can she again make the mankind fear her? What will make men and women tremble on a mere mention of dreadful Morana? The answer was so obvious. She has been too merciful to the world. They have even found ways to counter winter and cold. If they sense once more how harsh and cruel winter can be, they will surely return to their old ways.
To bring the worldwide winter, Morana decided to come down to the world of men and cast a powerful freezing incantation. For the freezing incantation to take place, spell itself, must be cast from a very powerful place - a Triglav mountain peak, where the three-headed god is laid to rest.
Morana took the mythical bridge to the world of men. The last time she was here it was so different. When she passed through the barrier between the worlds and found herself to be just another face in a rush hour in some busy city. Streets were crawling with people hurrying to their destinations while passing next to her were some mechanical chariots. Noone was paying attention to her, no one even recognized her. What was even worse she didn't know what to do, where to go.
She stopped the first women she saw, she intended to ask her for direction. But that ended as a total failure. A young blond woman just looked at Morana and said: "Take a bus , I don't know- why don't you use your cell phone?"
"Cell phone?" Morana asked, completely ignorant of what the young girl is talking about.
"I have no time for candy camera or pranks, besides it is not funny" - young girl rushed away fastly from Morana.
"That girl is surely a village idiot, I will try someone else."
Morana then saw a sharply dressed man eating a piece of bread. - "Excuse me, mortal, can you direct me to Triglav mountains"
Man in his late thirties just looked at Morana with disgust, threw some pennies at her and left without saying a single word.
"What is he thinking, acting like I am begging him for something?"
She tried a bit later with an elderly couple, and also with a person of a suspicious gender, and again the result was the same, she wasn' able to get any answers.
Obviously, the mortals are trying to keep her away from Triglav. They probably know her intentions. She has no other choice but to figure out for herself how to get to Triglav.
To find a way to her final destination she really should find out where she is now. Talking to humans is futile, and she also has always been bad at talking to animals. Talking with other deities is also not an option because they will surely try to stop her.
While she was trying to find an answer solution hit her, literally. She was hit by a large mechanical contraption that was carrying a large number of mortals, it was different from other mechanical carriages, it was bigger. Contraption run without even stopping, in fact, it even picked up speed. Although she was no gentle soul herself, she found the behaviour of the controller of the contraption quite rude. But never mind that, she remembered what the first girl told her - "Take a bus ".
So this must be a bus. Mortals use it to get from one place to another."Solution to my problems, she thought"
She walked down the street when she saw a big sign with the image of a bus. This must be where that magical bus picks up passengers. So she waited and waited until the bus arrived. She climbed aboard when a guy in a blue shirt and a blue hat asked for a ticket.
"I don't have it" - Morana replied, now completely angry at how nothing is going her way.
"No problem, I can sell you one" - replied the driver politely.
Morana gave him a fistful of gold coins, but the driver remained unimpressed. "I am sorry, but I don't take children gifts, I need real money"
Morana was now furious - the mortals have all agreed to stop her. She just left allowing herself a threating snarl. She sat on a bench and a threating cry turned into a sad whimper, and lastly into a loud desperate cry.
Her agony was interrupted by a deep and a powerful voice - "It is a shame to see such a beautiful woman cry, is there anything I can help you with? "
Morana looked at a tall, handsome man standing over her. She could see that his intentions were genuine, and at the moment he seemed like her only solution.
"Oh yes, young sir. I would like to get to Triglav mountain, it is really important."
"That is a long way from here, but you are in luck, I actually live near the park, I only live here. I would be more than glad to give you a ride." - replied the man, with a hint of flirt.
Morana obviously accepted the offer and got into a mechanical chariot with the man. His name was Jan and he worked as banker, broker, something like that, something with money. She didn't understand him much exactly, but she smiled a lot during the ride. He was an.... enjoyable company, maybe even more than that.
But duties are duties. When they got to her destination, they parted ways, maybe even there was a bit of regret in both of them. Regret that their ride didn't last, just a bit longer.
Morana now recognized the mountain, where mighty god Triglav is laid to rest. She just needed to climb the summit and cast the spell. Soon the whole world will tremble before, well all world, except maybe Jan, he is a really nice guy.
When she was climbing up the pathway she encountered a checkpoint and some guards.
Guards politely but firmly asked her "May I see your ticket for entering the national park?"
"Those bastards, they will never let me get up to the top."
"I will pay for the lady" - the voice came from behind her. It was Jan. Oh sweet Jan, always to the rescue.
"Thank you again, my saviour"
"You are more than welcome, my beautiful passenger. Now, what do you say that we explore the beauties of this national park together?"
"I would like that very much." - Morana blushed and offered him her hand.
Two of them spent the most romantic evening on a beautiful mountain. He made her laugh, he made her skin crawl, he made her feel alive and powerful again. She didn't even remember the spells or the eternal winter, all the time she was with Jan.
Humans really have a way of stopping Morana achieve her goals.
This is my entry for the #constrainedwriting contest organized by @svashta
Image sources:
https://lady-morana.deviantart.com/art/Hekate-Jones-2-171946677
https://getbybus.com/en/blog/triglav-national-park/