Animus, Part II: In the Caldera

Abstract

In the town English town of Bath, there is a UNESCO heritage site called the Roman Baths. Here the Romans built and expanded on the hot spring nestled in the Mendip Hills where the locals worshipped. The Romans also built upon the legend of the Suli, the goddess of this sacred spring. The Romans left Britain in 410 A.D., and with their departure, the baths and temples returned to the mire. My thesis is an excerpt from a broader work that explores what became of the Suli and other gods like her. The work revolves around the protagonist, Aster Dale, a new Suli who can time travel through the water. This work aims to explore themes such as kairos, or timing, opportunity, chance and mischance, or the qualitative aspects of time, versus chronos, linear, chronological, quantifiable time, layered into Aster’s search for the meaning of home when one is both god and human. These pages are Aster reflecting on her formative years spent in a caldera learning to use her gifts after her mother has gone missing.