The Secret of Namana (The Arnaka Saga Book 2) Read online

  4 The Time Is Now

  Elena startled awake. She hadn’t even realized she had fallen asleep. The exhaustion had finally won. Her head against the passenger-side car window, she had slept peacefully until Marco hit a bump in the road.

  She rubbed her hands over her face. She had grown accustomed to the visions of Arnaka and didn’t always feel disoriented by them anymore, but today she did. An attack that claimed the lives of their teachers had awakened her and Marco from sleep. That, coupled with the bizarre and terrifying experience of defending their lives from the aggression of demons, was proving too much for Elena on this beautiful evening.

  She had felt forced to accept a complete replacement of her belief system, and she didn’t regret or doubt that; she knew what she had learned over the last several months was the real truth. She had to proceed from that place of knowingness to honor herself now. Really, she had no choice. Once she identified the magic of this life, she could not turn from it.

  Still, her emotions overpowered her then. She and Marco chose to leave Sedona even before Marian’s staff could carry out the burial arrangements their beloved teachers had requested, and they only did so because their task was urgent. The message Elena had been hearing so insistently lately was proving true. The time is now. There was no time to waste. Their mentors had taught them the importance of their roles on earth.

  Elena looked around. “Where are we?” she asked.

  When she had fallen asleep, Marco was driving on a well-traveled highway. Now, he was driving down a narrow dirt road into the woods. Fortunately, Marian had left them a four-wheel drive vehicle that was well suited for off-road terrain. Elena knew fortune really had nothing to do with it. Marian had foreseen much of what would happen after her death. Marian’s staff had loaded their car with state-of-the-art camping gear, food rations, and water. Manolo had handed Marco the keys, and there was nothing left for them to take care of but the driving.

  “We are close to the pyramid. I thought we could camp here for the night,” Marco said while looking at Elena. She appeared tired and troubled. “Will that be alright with you, amore?”

  Elena was too exhausted and overwhelmed to think anymore. She nodded weakly. Almost anywhere would have been okay for her at this point. She wanted to lie down, close her eyes, and shut out the world, even if for a short while. She stayed in the car while Marco set up camp for them.

  Even though he put up the tent and arranged everything else they needed quickly, Elena fell into a light sleep while she waited.

  “Amore, everything is ready. Come now,” Marco said as he helped Elena over to the tent. She barely managed to kick off her shoes before climbing into her sleeping bag. Within seconds, she was asleep again.

  Her dreams would be deep and otherworldly. They would take her to a place she would struggle to return from. The edges between the worlds were already blurring.

  -----

  Ashta and Anak looked at each other worriedly. They stood outside of the open doorway to Sina’s room where Tahn and two of the other temple masters fussed over her limp body, trying to make her comfortable. The twins glimpsed Tahn leaning over Sina, applying a healing ointment to the laceration on her head. From the smell that wafted out into the hallway, Ashta could tell it was some of the same healing ointment that Kaanra had gifted to them. While Tahn was a gifted healer, he had not surpassed Kaanra as an herbalist, and Tahn used the superior ointment Kaanra had made to speed up Sina’s healing.

  Sina’s raven hair had matted around the wound, soaked in her blood, and the severity of the blow to her head only became obvious once Tahn cleared this distraction. Sina’s attacker crushed her skull. Flecks of flesh and bone crumpled away as Tahn disinfected with the gentleness of a butterfly, swooping in and out to remove what ought not be there, leaving the healthy tissue intact.

  Finally, when he had done all he could, Tahn covered the wound with a light gauze material so it could aerate while staying clean. Then, he made himself comfortable in a chair by the bed; he would take the first shift of watch. Tahn was spreading his hands open toward Sina’s head when the other masters exited the room and pulled the door shut behind them, but not before Ashta glimpsed faint light coming from Tahn’s hands.

  Tahn would do his magic on Sina’s head while he accompanied her. He would turn the light source energy that all of Creator’s children could connect with toward Sina to assist in her healing. He had witnessed this energy—the Creator’s divine healing energy—perform miracles before. He prayed for such a miracle now.

  He knew a miracle was possible, and so he hoped that Sina’s survival was in the highest good of all concerned, because he also knew that was the only way he could pray for a specific outcome. Creator gifted humanity with the unknown. Only the Creator understood what was ultimately best in any given situation.

  Although like most humans, Tahn had wished to find out the future many times before, believing it would make immediate choices easier, life had taught him that what he thought was the best might not be so. Tahn’s depth of wisdom was limited; his scope of understanding the destiny of all living creatures on the planet was necessarily incomplete.

  In that exact moment, a hawk flew across Sina’s open window, its distinctive call trailing behind it, echoing nature’s grandeur. Tahn smiled a knowing smile, and his heart swelled in gratitude at the message the hawk brought with his fly-by. Hawks saw the big picture; they looked at the world from above and discovered what the mouse from its vantage point on the ground could not see.

  As the last of the hawk’s call dissipated into the air above and the river water below, Tahn released any expectation of Sina’s recovery. Whatever was best for everyone involved would occur, even if that meant Sina would die.

  With a placid smile, Tahn stood, hovering his hands over Sina’s head. His hands were already warm from the energy streaming through them.

  Things were back to normal with the pupils of the Temple of Laresu’u Kal, at least that is what it seemed like. They had completed their morning moving meditation behind schedule, but the ancient ritual had returned inner peace to them after the chaotic morning. As the pupils went about their daily chores, their thoughts infrequently turned to the smoke attack and to their ailing master. Aware that the temple masters were wise and able to make sound decisions, the apprentices trusted they would take care of everything, and the students turned their focuses to the immediate tasks at hand.

  As children ranging in age from seven to twenty-one were prone to do, laughter and play became a greater part of the day as the sun moved through the sky. Of course, not one of the students knew what was at stake. Dann’s final prophecy was wholly unknown to them. They were unaware of the severity of Sina’s injuries and of the absence of Master Kaanra from the temple grounds. They were unaware of the importance of the twins’ destiny or what the twins had done in their absence from Arnaka. And so the students focused on the peaceful principles they learned from temple life, finding joy and astonishment in the beautiful surprises of life. In this way, the day advanced.

  Ashta and Anak were not similarly unencumbered; they were familiar with the dangers of this world. They vividly understood that there was a war going on, one that could not only take lives, but worse, claim light. Ordinarily, they would turn to Master Kaanra for wisdom and guidance. But he was gone. They did not know where he had gone or how long he would be away.

  They could not talk to Sina about this mysterious prophecy either. While aware of this doman that Kaanra had apparently left in search of, she was clearly unable to help them. That left only Tahn. He may have something to contribute, but he was ignorant of what Ashta and Anak had confronted while they were away. Ashta did not know how familiar Tahn was with the etheric war going on. But he was the logical choice, and so the twins made their way back into the hall that bordered Sina’s room.

  The twins knew whatever course they chose to take, there was no time to spare. This final prophecy was important enough to send Kaanra of
f in search of the mysterious doman, lamenting that the time had come for him to do something he wished he did not have to. Ashta and Anak had already done much they wished they did not have to, and they hoped Kaanra was wrong in believing the twins would be pushed to do something lamentable. But Kaanra was the wisest man they had ever met.

  Anak steadied himself, and then he rapped on Sina’s bedroom door. The sound was soft out of respect for the ailing master within.

  There was no answer. The twins found that odd, and, after the unexpectedness of this morning’s attack, Anak grew alarmed and gently pushed the weathered wooden door open. Immediately, the twins realized why there had been no answer to their knock.

  Tahn stood above Sina with his eyes closed. His hands hovered above the gaping wound in her left temple, but Tahn was barely in his body anymore. He had become more than a human inside a body; he was an etheric being standing on this earth.

  He streamed pure light energy from above, through hands pointed at Sina. Tahn’s personal energy remained intact. He used none of it. He tapped into something else entirely. He accessed something gentle and loving, something powerful and infinite, something otherworldly and divine, and that force was healing Sina rapidly.

  Ashta and Anak stood in awe at the beauty of what their eyes encountered. Not only was there a swirling of light and color beneath Tahn’s hands, but he himself was glowing a soft incandescent yellow. The twins had witnessed Tahn’s healing gifts before, but they had never seen him like this.

  Ashta was surprised to find tears moistening her cheeks. The intensity of the scene they walked in on overwhelmed her. Ashta knew with renewed vigor then what she had always known: there was hope for the world. There was great light in humanity, enough light to vanquish darkness with finality. Love was a powerful force, and it could bring about miracles. It could move mountains. And she and Anak would do what they needed to do to move mountains also.

  With a predictable shared knowingness, the twins backed out of Sina’s bedroom and pulled the door closed behind them without making a sound. They could not interrupt such a moment.

  Tahn never opened his eyes. He never looked up. He never even heard them enter the room. His consciousness was somewhere else, connected to something greater than any of them were. It was this magic that illuminated the room.

  Ashta and Anak would try again to talk with Tahn before leaving. But regardless of what Tahn might say, the twins already knew their return to Arnaka was short-lived. They would have to venture out into the unknown once more.

  They did not know where Kaanra went or even what he was truly looking for. They did not know what additional elements there might be to their destinies for this lifetime. But it did not matter, because they were always connected to the greater All of Everything. The twins’ spirit guides heard them and offered counsel and strength.

  Their friends needed them now. The twins did not discover what a doman was or what the final prophecy entailed, but they were certain that a great injustice had claimed their friends just several days before. Extraterrestrials stole the cousins’ souls in a clear violation of sacred universal law, and the brave Baldub and Carn pursued their attackers into the dark unknown to rectify the injustice.

  Until Ashta and Anak learned of a more important task, they could begin by supporting their spirit family. The cousins’ souls must be recovered to allow for their further reincarnation into human bodies, and Baldub and Carn could use the support of their fellow light warriors. When the twins last saw them, Baldub and Carn were jumping through a hole that connected them to another world.

  Neither Ashta nor Anak knew which plane the extraterrestrials came from, or really anything else about them, but they knew the love they felt for their friends and the importance of the preservation of universal law. They would set out to find Baldub and Carn and the lost souls of Mana, Dahn, and Marn. If fortune was on their side, they would head in the right direction to be able to assist Kaanra with his mission as well.

  They were convinced they had to leave, but how do you follow friends that were swallowed into an inter-dimensional hole in the sky that closed permanently in one final gasp a fleeting moment later? Anak reached for Ashta’s hand. They headed toward the River Haakal.

  5 An Extraordinary Meeting

  Elena slept soundly the whole night, only waking when the new day’s sun snaked through the tent’s folds and shone on her face. She lay on the east side of the tent; Marco lay on his side facing the west. The sun’s wakeful reach gave him reprieve for a while longer.

  Elena unzipped her sleeping bag as quietly as she could, and then put on the sneakers that Marco had thoughtfully placed right next to the tent entrance for her. She unzipped the tent, hoping Marco would not stir, and stepped out.

  The morning was glorious, though a chill hung in the air. Elena crossed her arms across her shirted chest for warmth. Her breath hung in the air before her, suspended in a cloud of condensation. The sun would warm the air, but it had not yet.

  She was lost in the array of colors that tinged the still-dark sky above the jagged horizon of mountains, when she heard the faraway call of a coyote. It was a lonely call; she could sense that. Another call rang out, and Elena turned toward the direction of the sound. She saw the silhouette of the coyote against the mountain backdrop, much nearer than she thought.

  When her eyes found the coyote, the coyote found her. Even though the distance between them was still too great to make out many details, their gazes held. The coyote stared into Elena’s amber eyes for a long time, so long that Elena recognized this was not an ordinary meeting of two beings. Something else was at play. Here, a wild animal stood still, staring into her eyes, for no reason that was apparent to her. This was an extraordinary moment.

  Elena didn’t dare move. She didn’t want to disrupt the moment she could not understand, but appreciated at a deep level just the same. She forced herself to breathe slowly and evenly because she kept catching herself holding her breath in attempted stillness. She wanted to get closer to the coyote, even though the rational part of her knew that approaching a wild animal was not a safe thing to do.

  But she felt drawn to him. She resisted her impulses, focusing instead on her steady breathing and the intensity of his animal stare. Just as she bypassed her rational mind and felt her foot lift in calculated, cautious movement, the coyote began walking toward her. Startled, although she had been about to do the same thing, she put her foot back down and stayed where she was. She watched the careful gait of the coyote as he made his even approach.

  The coyote did not look down; he did not watch where he stepped. His eyes were trained on Elena, and, as he drew closer, Elena began to get nervous. But her heart overturned her mind in unconscious deliberation, and she held her ground.

  Her gaze was steadfast. The air was crisp and unmoving. The coyote’s eyes reflected orange in the still-sparse light of the sun as he walked into it. Then he stopped suddenly, without a sound. He stooped his neck and stared even more intently into Elena’s eyes.

  Coyote was close enough now that Elena could make out the details of his face, even though the dim light challenged her eyes to focus. He looked young and fierce. He stood in a crouch, and Elena could not tell if his stance was threatening.

  Elena had not experienced anything like this before. It was intense. It was powerful in a way that pushed all thoughts from her mind. She didn’t do anything. She didn’t think anything. She stood and stared and was amazed.

  Later, she would think of all the things she could have done. She would remember Marian and Victor’s teachings and think that perhaps she should have tried to talk to the coyote telepathically. She would wonder if Coyote had some message for her that she failed to receive because she didn’t do the right thing. She would wonder what this peculiar visit from this animal meant.

  But this would happen later. Nothing happened now, other than an extraordinary, quiet moment shared by two beings equally unsure about each other. Elena heard a sl
ight rustling sound from within the tent. Marco was stirring, likely looking for her to make sure she was all right. Coyote heard the rustling too, and he turned and walked away.

  Elena was standing in the same spot when Marco called out for her, long after Coyote had faded into the distant mountains.

  -----

  The water lapped at their feet. Ashta leaned back into Anak as they sat atop the roots of one of the ancient trees at the edge of the River Haakal. The tree roots sprawled into the water. They had come to the river with no particular intent other than to listen. They were not there to pray or to ask for direction, but rather to receive whatever guidance already awaited them.

  Ashta closed her eyes. She listened to the flowing water that always brought her peace. She felt how Anak’s rhythmic breathing moved her subtly as his chest inflated and deflated against her back. She moved her feet around in the water, enjoying the way the water felt against her skin. She wondered about life and its mysteries with child-like enthusiasm.

  She did not know what the next moment held. All of life was an adventure into the unknown. Was it really that different to ponder how to save their spirit brothers and sisters in another dimension than to contemplate the immensity of the next moment’s possibilities? Almost anything could happen.

  A smile that reflected the warmth of the sun spread across Ashta’s face. Anak wrapped his arms around his twin in mutual contentedness. They shared a beautiful series of moments at the water’s edge, and, although they received no specific messages as to where they should go, they knew themselves supported by the universe. It was not yet time for that guidance.

  They walked back to the Temple of Laresu’u Kal as radiant sun beings; their yellow hair and yellow eyes appeared wild as they caught the glint of the sun overhead. Despite the tragedy that had befallen the temple that day, the world was a beautiful place, ripe with potential, and they could not see it any other way.