Reunion: By The City of Refuge

* "Passage to Eden", Ivan Torrent, Immortalys

One step more.

She looked up at the night sky to see the stars.  They shone brightly against the moonless expanse above her.  She blinked and turned her eyes to the horizon.  She could almost see the outlines of a city.

She had left her white steed in the care of her companions after it was wounded in the last battle, one that had taken much of their energies and had pushed them to seek the inner sanctums built by the great elders in the mountains.  They had stayed there for a period of time and tried to pass on the songs of their journeys to each other and to those who were willing to listen as they recuperated from the deep wounds when their Motherland fell.  The white steed, decked in nobility its own race was known for, chose to stay in the inner sanctums and bid its farewell to her the morning she left for her next voyage.  Some chose to stay in the mountains.  They settled in small villages as they tried to remember the glory of Mu.  Some decided to continue their journeys to find new places to settle.  Some were drawn to find others whom they have left behind to answer the Clarion Call.  For Wa Su Nah, she felt she needed to journey to another great land.  To her understanding, her task was done and she was free to receive what is due to her by the Great Spirit.  She was called to go North, to walk by foot as necessary, and take only what is needed in her personal migration.

Now, she was on her journey to find the City of Refuge, to find those who survived the Great Upheaval.  Her process of healing was drawing to a close.  It was time to find a new home for her to live out the rest of her days, and to put behind her undertakings as a warrior of Motherland Mu.  She has fulfilled the sacred covenant, and in peace she will try and find those who can continue the next journey with her.  Until she is called again, until such a time she hears the Great Goddess summoning for her again.

One more step, she pushed herself.

As if to encourage her, a soft breeze gently touched her face.  She stopped, almost as if she was splashed with cold water in the middle of the night.

She raised her nose, allowing the smell to fill her senses.  A familiar scent.  She closed her eyes and took in more air.

"This scent."  Her heart pounded as if it wanted to burst through her chest.  "His scent."

Her eyes darted straight to where the tiny lights beckoned to her.

How many years has it been?  How long have they been apart?

The wind, her faithful messenger, had now brought to her a familiar scent.  One that smelled of home.  Her home.

"He is here," it said.

With effort, she took more steps towards the city.  Her body almost shaking as she calmed herself and focused on releasing the tension from her aching legs.  She had been directed to the right place.

She felt her heart swell, and she felt a force flowing up from the earth through her body, a renewed strength.

She knew his scent.  She knew it so intimately, and now she is breathing it again.  She remembered how it felt to be against his skin, remembered how strong his arms were, and how warm and deep the kisses they shared.

Her exhaustion from this journey to the City of Refuge left her.  It did not seem too long and too arduous now.

"He is here."  She whispered.

She took another step, pushed her body up the small hill and raised her head to see how much farther she needed to go.

She stopped as she saw an outline of a tall man waiting.

For once, everything was still.  Under the stars, under the sky waiting for a new moon to appear, the recognition was undeniable.

"Wa Su Nah."  It was his voice.

Not even her tears dared to fall.

Her lips parted but only a short, quiet sigh escaped from them.

She felt a smile form.  She closed her eyes, took in a long breath, and saw...

Their parting, his buried tears, his confusion, his battles, the pain and the injuries inflicted upon him.  She felt all of them.  She felt his anguish and his fears.  She saw the many battles he fought and what it took to overcome them.

She breathed out, still with her eyes closed, and saw...

His hands reaching up to the sky on a clear day, and his searching eyes on the nights he read the stars and wandered aimlessly with many moons passing.  She felt his strength and his courage, and the hope he carried with him.  She saw his spirit, bright and beautiful, as it has always been.  She felt his tenderness as he cared for those who sought his help, his fervency as he fought to save others.  She saw him in his pure, glorious form, and her whole being felt at peace.

She opened her eyes, bringing herself back to where she was - on the hill, by the City of Refuge with the man she loves waiting for her.

He started to walk towards her.

"Wa Su Nah."  He called her name again.

She smiled as he came to her.  She held out her arms to reach for him - a warrior like she was and is, her warrior.

One step more.

"I am here," she said.  "I am here."

Tree of Life in the Desert

"The Wolf & The Moon" by BrunuhVille (https://youtu.be/HEf_xrgmuRI)

As her feet touched the sand, her walk as steady as she held the steed’s reins as they both traveled on the expanse of the desert, she understood that all is just falling and coming together as they should be.  In the many moments that her tears fell, when her Heart fell into silent and profound prayers, in the times she felt alone in her journey, the wind would blow, caressing her skin and her soul.  It was the sole reminder that the Universe is still with her, inside her, constantly guiding her steps.

The heat seared through her cloak, but her resolve to reach her destination had numbed her.  She knew it would be more days and nights before she reaches the Council, where all shall be discussed and hopefully decided.  All sacrifices are accounted for.  All lives, great and small, who have given their own energy to usher in the New Dawn, will be honored at the Great Circle.  All deaths are replaced with new life, as energy is never gone.  Only transmuted, created again and recreated again, and reborn into another form.

What joy it was to remember, in the days she felt exhaustion and the disbelief of what had befallen her home, her Motherland, that all was just as according to what was written.

She looked at her horse who also understood its own task, smiled and offered a prayer of thanks for the magnificent creature that has kept her company over the past weeks.

“I sing the song of the Goddess, She lives inside me.  I sing the song of the Goddess, and heal and heal and heal,” she whispered as she walked and rode through the desert.  Her eyes ever on the distant horizon, but her feet as careful as the hooves of the horse trudging beside her.

When the time struck midday, she stopped and looked around her, looking for any sign of life.  All she saw was a small stone several feet away.  She picked it up and felt its imprints on her palms.  She closed her eyes. 

‘Rocks and stones tell stories for they survive time.  They may turn to grains of sand and dust, and become rocks and stones again.’

“Tell my story to the stones, tell my story to the rocks, and my stories will survive the Ages, my stories will be heard again and again, and so children will listen, children will learn, stories I carry, stories on the stones.” She sang as she laid her things on the ground.  She ran her hand across the white steed, a time of rest is in order.

She unwrapped a blanket, unfastened her cloak and bared her shoulders under the heat of the sun.

“I am daughter of the Sun, the Moon and the Stars, and of the Heavenly Bodies.  I am Here and I am Now.  I am Time and endless, and I am anchored on this Earth, I reach the Heavens.  My feet are my roots, my arms are my branches, the Tree of Life, Goddesses and Gods eternal.  My song is my life, my life is my prayer. I am! I am!”

She knelt and held the stone between her hands, then she closed her eyes.  Her horse knelt near her blanket, and waited.

A time of rest is at hand. 

She started with her Heart.  A soft touch of pink that suddenly burst inside her.  And then as quickly as the wind can go, she saw her body encapsulated in pale, comforting colors.  Bright but not blinding, strong and yet gentle. 

She felt her Heart reach down, as her legs took solid form, and her feet became roots, then downward, downward they went.  Her Heart opened up and an energy burst again, upward, upward.  She saw branches and leaves grow.

“I am daughter of the Sun, and the Moon and the Stars, and of the Heavenly Bodies.  I am anchored to the Mother and the Father, the Goddesses and the Gods, and I am in balance, I am in between.  I am beautiful and ugly, strong and frail, I am balance personified.  I move and grow, and I die and I am reborn in grace.”

She felt her body harden.  And then she felt the wind.

‘Sing your song, sing it long. You are the Tree of Life.  Sing your song, sing it strong. You are the Gift of Life.’

The pain and the exhaustion, the confusion and anger, she purposely shot down and out of her sphere.  She grew more.  The Tree that she has imagined and has become became the many colors of crystal, brightening the spot she knelt on.

“I anchor myself to the Mother, the Goddesses” she sang as her roots reached the core of the Earth, warming her.  “I anchor myself to the Father, the Gods” she sang as her branches reached the heavens and into space, cooling her.  “I am the Tree of Life, existing then and now and forever.”

A time of rest is in order.

The wind blew from behind her, and then the tears fell.  They were not hers, she knew.  They were the tears of the people whom she left behind, and those who are waiting for her, and those who are hurting and in pain, those with hope and with courage.  The tears were not her tears.

And she allowed them to fall.

She closed her palms still holding the stone, allowed the emotions to run through her.

“I honor you,” she called out.  “I honor all of you, and your tears, and your pain, and your anger.  I honor your sacrifice, and your chosen paths.  I honor your hopes, your dreams and your wishes.  I honor your courage and your lives.  Let me be of service as I release all that I could so that I may honor myself too.”

The tree that she was grew, and grew.  Then as best as she could, she remembered all the people she has come across with, her family, her fellow warriors, her friends, her spirit guides, her animal friends.

Into their hearts she sent the same pink energy that emerged from her and connected them all to the Tree that was her, that was the Universe.  She allowed them to grow into her and allowed them to grow on their own.

“It is not mine to bear alone,” she cried.  “And so I give it back and bring it up to the light, that all may be healed and sent on its way.”

The wind kept blowing gently.  No longer was she in the desert but in a beautiful garden and the Tree that glittered in pale, healing colors of blues, greens, pinks and yellows, and all the other gentle hues that absorb the tears that fell from her eyes.  The sand turned into the same colors, into soft crystals, and everything that she can see and imagine and reach.  She raised her vibration, touching everything and everyone, and extending to all the souls she has, is and will be connected with.

But a time of rest is necessary.

And so she continued to breathe, and kneel, in silence, and allowed tears to fall.  Her body was regaining strength, her Spirit nourished once again.

From her mind’s eye, she saw the Tree of Life that she has turned into during that moment of prayer she was having, and she knew, all is as it should be.  All is well.

She relished the moment for as long as she could, until she felt she has cleansed the energies enough so that she may continue on her journey.  Then with the help of the wind on her back, she started to fold the branches of the tree, started to retract the roots, smaller and smaller the tree became until it turned into a pink seed inside her Heart.  She kept it there, and she felt lighter.

She opened her eyes, and then opened her palms.  The stone had a different feel to it now.  She smiled, then took a deep breath as she looked into the horizon again.

“Almost there,” she looked at the horse which had its eyes on her as well.

She stood up and gave it some water after drinking herself.  The white stallion was in all fours again as she folded her blanket.  She gave it some food while she took a bite of bread.  There was plenty more in her sack.  She fastened her things up on the horse’s back then told it to wait.

On the spot where she knelt, she dug a few inches and placed the stone.  Then she covered it with sand.  She wrote in ancient letters across the sand with her fingers, humming, then with her right hand slowly running above the writings, she closed her eyes.  The sand writings were being erased without her touching them.

“May it be so,” she whispered to the wind.

 She stood up and climbed up the horse, then nudged it so that it would start to run.

They were already miles away when the exact spot where she placed the stone the sand stirred.  Then water slowly sipped through.  The sand turned into limestone then turned into clay then into fertile soil.  Brown and moist, the ground kept stirring.  Then a small little plant shot out and then a wave of grass quickly grew around the area.  The plant rose and became a tree from the acacia family, and as the grass and more plants grew around the tree, a bed of rocks rose from the earth near the tree and from there sprung water.  Then out came insects and lizards, beetles and crawlers, and from the sky there came several birds which landed near the water to drink. This small haven in the middle of the desert expanded for several thousands of feet or so, with the tree standing gloriously for any traveler to see.

Underneath it all, the stone which she held in her palm in prayer, had served its purpose.  It moved a little, then settled on the spot, smoother and ready to tell the Young One’s tale.

‘Rocks and stones tell stories for they survive time.  They may turn to grains of sand and dust, and become rocks and stones again.’

Storm Bringer, Bringer of Dawn

YouTube: "To Glory", Two Steps From Hell

"I need time," she told the Old Man as she struggled to stand up.

The rain continued to pour.  'It is unnatural,' she thought. It never rained when they took on each other to train.

Her teacher flicked a finger, and she was thrown back again, her body already battered from his attacks.

"Tell me, Young One," he said, "Will time wait for you?"

She felt her hands shake as she tried to push herself up again.

"You ask for time, you ask for understanding.  It is almost as if you are asking for mercy."  The tone was grating.

"I am not asking for mercy!" She fought back her tears.  The Old Man laughed. "I am NOT asking for mercy!"  She repeated as she crawled on fours.

"Then what do you want, Wa-Su-Nah?  What are you crying for?"

The tears fell as the rain fell.

She heard a distant song from home.

'Storm Bringer, Bringer of Dawn, carry the torch, carry on.  Storm Bringer, Bringer of Dawn, sing your song, carry on.  Sing the song in your heart, sing it long.  Storm Bringer, Bringer of Dawn.'

"You knew," she said.  "You knew it was going to happen!   Why only now?  Why just now when it's too late to save Her?"

"Is it too late?"

She took a handful of earth and tried to clear her mind.  Rage can be confusing.  Rage can be an enemy. "Is it not?" She shouted through the rain.

"Because all things must come to pass as they should pass, and because we - you and I - have the power to make our own choices," he answered.  "And because they have made their choices too."

"So we have to suffer because of them?  Our families have to die because of them?  We lose the Motherland because of them?"

"Every action will merit a consequence."

"Their actions will kill the Goddess."

She saw the quick narrowing of his eyes, and before she could take another breath, she was thrown into the air again.  'This is it,' her mind wandered.  'The end of this all.'  She felt her back hit something hard.  She was too weak to cry now.  All she has ever done was cry.  She wanted to stop crying.

"The Goddess retreats because She will bring forward the ills in this world.  To give birth, She must honor Her womb.  She must rest.  She must gather Her strength.  And while She rests, He must act.  He must do what He can to prepare for Her coming again."  He glided across the field and stood where she could clearly see his weathered face.  "You, of all people, know this."

"I..." She failed to find the words.

"She will not allow Her children to live among those who prey on Her goodness.  She will not allow Her children to suffer, and so will He.  There must always be balance, a time of reckoning," he said. "Did I not tell you this?"

"Purification," she whispered as she saw a lightning flash across the sky just above the two of them.

"Those who will not heed will know Her wrath."  He looked beyond the shores of Rapa Nui.  "She will take into account what She has lost, and what must be saved."

She closed her eyes.  "And no one can stop Her."

"Time will not wait for you, Young One," he said, his eyes still far away.  "Do not ask for it."

The rain suddenly stopped.

She blinked.  'Yes, of course,' she thought almost foolishly. 'He can control the elements, can alter the weather.'

"Stand up, Wa-Su-Nah."  The Old Man's voice was firm.  "Remember that you carry hope for Her."

She wiped her eyes, and anchored herself on the rock she fell on.  She stood up with shaking legs and took a deep breath.

"Stand up and fight for Her."

She moved her arms, a clockwise motion, then vacuumed the energy around her.

"Heal yourself."  He called out as he distanced himself from her, preparing for her attack.

A silver light burst out from her body as she anchored herself to the Earth and reached out to the Heavens.

"She heals as you heal," he continued.  "But you must fight when the time comes, because She will need you to defend Her and Her children."  

'Carry the torch, carry on.  Sing the song in your heart, sing it long.  Storm Bringer, Bringer of Dawn.'

"I am not alone!" she cried out.

"You are not."  He echoed.

She looked up and raised her arms to the sky.  There was no need for any incantation now.  She knew she just had to believe in it.

'Storm Bringer...'

A lightning flashed followed by a reverberating thunder that shook the entire island.  The rain fell again, sudden and heavier and angrier.  It was her this time.  It was her turn to control the elements, to let the Old Man know she understood her power.

She looked at her teacher.  She knew he was tired, and she knew he did not have much time left with her.

"Anger is good, let it fuel you."  He spoke to her in her thoughts.  "But do not let it destroy you."

She moved her arms again, counter-clockwise this time, then aimed at the Old Man.

He did not even move nor blink an eye, she saw.  He just gave her a sad smile.

A lightning struck the ground near her and split it open.  He nodded.

"Know She is always with you," he said.  "Then, Now, and in the next lifetimes."

A blinding light enveloped the small island, and all fell into a deep and deafening silence.

'...Bringer of Dawn.'