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

  When Payuu let go of Anak, they all felt better, even the master in the room who had not participated in the embraces. Master Shixou also felt lighter as she sat in a chair next to Sina’s bed holding her hand. Shixou gazed at the pale and drawn face of the fallen master, and then she turned to look out the window. Below, the River Haakal rushed on, as if unaware of the human tragedy that had befallen the Temple of Laresu’u Kal.

  Although Sina had woken from the deep slumber of unconsciousness, her fate was unsettled. The blow to her head caused severe internal damage; her attacker had crushed her skull. Sina’s body was doing what it could to mend itself, but Ashta realized Sina’s soul might choose to let go of this earthly world.

  Sina slept now, exhausted from her body’s efforts at recovery. Outlined by the weight of a blanket, Sina’s body looked frailer than Ashta remembered it.

  “She has woken, but she does not remember anything,” Payuu said gently.

  Master Shixou fixed her stare more intently on the river below. She was unhappy about this.

  “She does not remember her name. She does not know what she is doing here at the temple. She does not know what happened to her. She has forgotten everything.”

  Payuu looked at the twins pointedly to make sure they understood the rest of what he left unspoken. He meant that she had also forgotten about Dann’s final prophecy and her role in protecting it, and that the twins should not mention it.

  Payuu paused. He exhaled loudly and rubbed his hands across his face. Payuu’s dress was always immaculate, and now his white robe was wrinkled and worn; he did not appear to care that he was disheveled. He looked around the room, then at Sina, and then back to the twins again.

  “You are leaving?” he asked.

  The twins had placed their packs just outside the door, but they still wore their swords.

  Anak answered, “We believe we must. We must do what we can to help change”—he gestured to Sina on the bed—“all of this.”

  There was a moment of silence while Payuu took it all in.

  “We do not know what we are meant to do, but we will seek the way,” Ashta said so delicately that she barely disturbed the air.

  The mission they were heading off to fulfill was unknown to the twins, but its importance was not. There was a sense of reverence for the magnitude of what was taking place in the world and that they were destined to play a part in it.

  “Will you all be okay here at the temple while we are gone?” Anak asked.

  Although Payuu and Shixou were temple masters charged with the management of the Temple of Laresu’u Kal and Ashta and Anak were not, the twins were concerned for their temple community. It was a time of solidarity.

  Payuu exhaled loudly again before answering. When he spoke, resolve tinged his reply with vigor. He was small, but strong, and the courage of his convictions stood behind him.

  He nodded. “Yes, we will be well. Master Shixou and I are strong.”

  At the mention of her name, Shixou tore her gaze from the mesmerizing water and looked at them. Ashta was surprised at the resolute look in her face. A force was brewing within these temple masters that Ashta had not anticipated. Yes, they would do well in their absence.

  “Masters Quon and Yaku are also strong. We will prepare, ourselves and the students, for whatever may happen. We will all begin training. If the world needs more light warriors, we will respond to its call.”

  Ashta raised her eyebrows. This was unexpected.

  Master Payuu looked the twins in the eyes. There was no escaping his intensity now.

  “May your journey be blessed. We will hold you in our hearts and in our prayers.” He bowed his head to them. “Until we see you again, journey well.”

  When he raised his head, Payuu did not look at the twins. Instead, he and Master Shixou turned to look out the window at the same moment, as if in coordinated movement. The twins walked toward the door, exiting through the snaking smoke of clearing herbs Shixou burned. Ashta and Anak strapped the satchels across their backs and left the smoky haze behind. The way of the light beckoned.

  -----

  It took Elena some time to return fully to her body. Going within Coyote’s consciousness had been both powerful and unexpected. She struggled to bring her own consciousness firmly within her physical shell.

  Marco did what he could to help her. In the time Marco apprenticed with Manay Quispe in the Amazonian jungle, Manay taught him many techniques his people had used for generations. Just as Manay would have done, Marco removed Elena’s shoes and socks, and he placed her feet on the earth. The ground was still cool from the chilled night, but Elena’s feet adjusted to the cold quickly.

  Right away, Elena felt more connected to her earthly body. She spread her toes wide in the dirt and allowed Mother Earth to ground her. The sun shone bright and strong on Elena. It warmed her from within.

  Marco did for himself as he had done for Elena, and soon he too was enjoying the feeling of the dirt sliding against his bare feet. He didn’t walk barefoot on the earth often enough. He knew how important it was to be connected to nature, but still, he forgot too easily, embroiled in the conveniences of an artificial world. Those comforts carried a great cost; being disconnected from the rhythms of nature was dangerous for the soul.

  Among the sprawling trees and the flowing hills, it was easiest for Marco to remember that he was part of it all, that he was part of nature; indeed, he was one with it. Creator made human beings from the elements, just as Creator made all things in nature. Earth, wind, fire, and water were within everything in different measures. Humans carried the energy of water in their emotions and fluidity, and they carried the passion of fire in the courage of their hearts.

  Human beings were simultaneously creatures of the heavens and of the earth. Marco felt most alive when he was absorbing the heat of the sun and the moisture of the waters. It was here, in this pure openness, that magic was most accessible. It was here that he was fully a creature of spirit.

  Marco stared into the sun that still rode the jagged line of the horizon. He felt its glow light him from within. His yellow hair glowed like the mane of a lion, and his skin breathed, fully alive, in response to the energy it absorbed from the sun. When Marco turned to look at Elena, his yellow eyes were afire; the magic of Arnaka shone through his stare.

  Elena abandoned her seat on a rock and moved to the ground. She lay down on the bare earth. Her hair snaked and spread out behind her, catching flashing glints of sunlight. Against the contrasting brown dirt, her hair seemed like an intricate network of delicate and precious strands of gold. She smiled. She felt better now that her body was fully supported by the earth. She spread her fingers in the soil and remembered how much she had enjoyed playing in the foothills of the Andes as a child.

  Marco left his perch on an adjoining rock to join her. He ran his fingers through the dirt, sitting on the ground in silence next to his beloved. When Elena was ready, she shared with Marco what she could of her experience with Coyote, telling him in hushed tones what she did not fully understand. Marco did not fully understand it either, but it made him happy.

  After Elena finished her story, she and Marco sat there for a long time without speaking. They held hands and smiled into the sun.

  10 The Pyramid Revealed

  After the unusual beginning to the day, Elena and Marco didn’t know what to do with the rest of it. They were acutely aware of the imbalance between light and dark in the world, and they knew there must be something urgent they needed to do, but they didn’t know what that something was. Besides, they were still emotionally and physically exhausted from the experiences of the last few days, and what they really wanted to do was rest and enjoy quiet companionship.

  They allowed themselves to indulge in their desire for nurturing for part of the day, but, when the sun climbed overhead, the reality of their teachers’ deaths and the responsibility that now fell on the snuggled lovers nudged them into action. They left their campsite as it was
, planning to camp there again that night, and they drove off in search of the pyramid.

  Since Marco learned of its existence, he had made plans to visit it many times, but something thwarted those plans every time. He now understood it was because he was meant to discover the pyramid with his beloved at his side. Elena was the key to the pyramid. It was part of Marco’s destiny to find it, but Elena held a necessary answer to the mystery.

  Through miles of corn and alfalfa fields, they traversed several small towns. Already, Elena could feel something unusual crackling in the air around them. The towns felt strange to her. She tried to speak with Marco about it, but she didn’t know how to express what she didn’t yet understand. Her attempts at eloquence ended with, “It just feels weird.”

  Marco agreed. There was something unusual about the area that he couldn’t quite identify, and that something pricked his senses with awareness.

  Outside of the last town, the pavement ended and dirt roads began. The dirt roads were maintained for the use of hunters, and so the roads became increasingly rougher as Marco drove farther away from the nearest town. They passed cows, deer, horses, and turkeys, all with their young, making the setting idyllic; animals grazed or looked off into the sun.

  Hunting was a popular past time in the area. Elena involuntarily shuddered at the thought. The animals surrounding them had nowhere to hide or run from their pursuers.

  Remembering she was a powerful being and could do something to remedy the injustice of the situation, she sent out prayers of protection for the animals. The prayers swirled around the animals in the unseen world and held fast in the light.

  Lost in thoughts of the fate of the animals that surrounded them on all sides of the road, Elena momentarily forgot the passing of time and their whereabouts. When Marco parked the car off to the side of an unused road among sharp and scraggly desert bushes, Elena was surprised. She stepped out of the car and looked around.

  The landscape was certainly beautiful, but she noticed nothing unusual. She looked at Marco questioningly. He grinned. It was the biggest smile Elena had seen on his face in days; it lit up his eyes. There was always some kind of mischief behind that grin.

  Marco walked around the car and pulled Elena to him. He casually draped his right arm around her shoulders. His smile deepened; the skin around his eyes crinkled. Then, he pointed with his left arm. The pyramid was almost directly in front of her, yet somehow she had not seen it. But now she did. There was no missing it.

  She gasped in shocked surprise. How was it that no one else noticed there was a pyramid in the middle of this lost Utah landscape? Now that she had seen it, it seemed impossible not to see it.

  Out of a seemingly endless expanse of full, rich sagebrush and ancient juniper trees that bent and twirled at every angle as if they themselves carried the energy of the wind, rose up a pyramid as large as those of Egypt. And now, the two beloveds were there.

  These were not just any beloveds. They were the golden twins reincarnated. They were those who had been having visions of the pyramids and what they would accomplish within them long before they even met.

  Elena grinned at Marco. These were exciting times. They grabbed water bottles and took the first step toward a better understanding of the merging of lifetimes, their destiny, and the power of love and of true beloveds. With that very first step, the world had already changed.

  -----

  Although they left Arnaka for the first time in answer to Archangel Michael’s call to duty just weeks before, leaving felt different this time. Much had happened in the short period of time since their initial departure; they could not look at anything in the same way. They were changed people. It was the inevitable result of the intensity of experiences they shared, both positive and negative. They now knew more about their abilities, but they also better understood the extent of danger.

  They were now leaving apparent peril behind at their previously safe haven of temple life and heading into certain danger outside Arnaka’s boundaries. Whereas they left Arnaka in the dark of night last time, this time they left in the daytime. The landscape lit up by the sun offered a contrasting perspective.

  Ever connected at a deep level, the twins looked at each other and breathed out. They released any worry, frustration, and temptation to entertain notions of powerlessness. They chose instead to focus on those thoughts that would support a positive outcome. They both knew better than to dwell on fears; they always had.

  As young children, they learned the power and energy of thoughts. They had long been skilled at monitoring their minds to ensure they drew happenings of a high vibration to them.

  Since returning to Arnaka as light warriors with experience in etheric battle, things had been unusual. They had to adjust old patterns to the new energy they held within. But there was something else as well. In witnessing firsthand how Creator could take life at any moment, Ashta was more vividly aware than ever of the importance of living life to its fullest. This could not be an intention for the future, and it certainly could not be one for the past that was already complete; embracing life had to happen in the present, the only true moment she ever had.

  Witnessing life’s fragility made Ashta question this long-standing practice of monitoring her thoughts. How could she live every moment to its fullest when she was monitoring her thoughts to ensure the best possible outcome into the future? Could she truly be in the present if she was using that moment to create the future? Surely, there was sufficient magnificence surrounding her at all times to provide stimulus for thoughts of a high vibration. Was that high frequency not sufficient to draw future situations into her life that would match that vibration?

  Ashta looked around her as she and Anak walked. They had already left the temple behind. Without Master Kaanra to see them off, there was less of a sense of ceremony in their departure this time. They headed toward the point where the water between the island of Arnaka and the mainland that was home to other civilizations was narrowest. They already knew where it was from their previous journey. They had a while to walk still, and they walked leisurely so as to be comfortable in the high heat of the midday sun.

  Everywhere Ashta looked, there was beauty. Nature, no matter its variation, was always exciting, always engaging. Whether it was the infinity that Arnaka’s vast desert sands mimicked, or the lush and enchanted oases the River Haakal birthed, or the bizarre and different landscapes Ashta had seen only in visions and dreams, it was all magnificent.

  Perhaps Creator made everything so beautiful so it would be easy for divine creatures to hold the high frequencies and energies necessary to connect to the All of Everything. Besides breathtaking beauty, Creator also added change, so human beings could never grow bored. The heat, the cold, the drought, the rain, the wind, the stillness, the day, the night—they all brought change, guaranteeing that every moment would be new and different, fully exhilarating, and charged with potential.

  The secret was in appreciating everything in fullness, in deep gratitude, extending the present moment and making it truly lived. It was not in consciously controlling emotions and thoughts. This made so much sense to Ashta; she could not understand how she had not figured it out sooner. Her heart suddenly felt lighter and her mind freer. She was liberated from a great burden she had not even realized she carried.

  The human experience was truly remarkable in the opportunity it afforded for constant betterment and expansion. Ashta’s step became bouncier and her spirit more energized. She reached out and took Anak’s hand in hers. Her gaze looked forward with enthusiasm for all that is, all that ever was, and all that ever could be.

  She swung her arm back and forth as she had done with her parents as a child. Anak swung back.

  -----

  The pyramid was already affecting Elena and Marco energetically. Elena felt a magnetic pull toward it that she was certain Marco had to feel too. He held her hand and set the pace, eagerly moving toward the pyramid he had dreamt of for so many years. His lo
nging for understanding could reach a culmination in just a few hours. He did not want to delay.

  Despite Marco’s hurried pace, it would take them several hours to reach the pyramid and then climb it. Marco had gotten them as close to the pyramid as he could in the car, but there was still a lot of rough terrain between their parked car and the pyramid. Elena was grateful for Marian’s foresight as she dodged prickly bushes and thorns in the sturdy hiking shoes Manolo packed in the car for her.

  Everywhere, beautiful juniper trees dotted the seemingly inhospitable desert. Each tree was unique; its trunk and branches twisted to the tune of its own life essence.

  Elena was so focused on the careful placement of her feet that she didn’t notice the deepening red of Marco’s face until they had almost reached the pyramid’s shadow. When they stopped for a water break, Elena looked at Marco with alarm. He was sweating profusely; sweat dripped down his face in generous rivulets.

  His shirt and shorts were soaked, even though Manolo had given him clothing that supposedly encouraged sweat to evaporate before the fabric could absorb it. Admittedly, it was hot, and Elena was sweating too, but not like this. Still, she would have accepted Marco’s insistent claims that he was okay and that they should continue, but then she looked closely at his eyes.

  “Amor, I know you want to continue, and I know this is important to you. It is to me too. But your eyes are scaring me. They are completely glassy and dazed. I don’t think you are well.”

  “No, no. I am fine. We must keep going,” Marco said, even as he sat on a jutting rock to catch his breath. His chest heaved.

  “Io posso farlo. Sono sicuro.” I can do it. I am certain, he added, not even realizing he was speaking in his native language. Elena spoke Italian and moved forward without pointing out that perhaps he was reverting to his native Italian because he was unwell.